The long street was silent, buildings with gray eaves stood tall and low, staggered, their upturned corners like waves within the black ocean of the night, solidified in time.

Old Head Yao walked slowly with his hands behind his back, Chen Ji followed silently. He had many questions he wanted to ask, for example, where was the Northern Julu Continent, did he know a young person named Li Qingniao, and what were the Forty-nine Heavenly Layers?

But he knew he couldn’t ask, he could only bury those doubts deep in his heart.

Old Head Yao said, puzzled, “Usually your mouth is as chatty as old cotton cloth, why are you so quiet today?”

Chen Ji’s heart tightened. “It’s still because of the matter in the Zhou residence. You told me not to mention it.”

Old Head Yao suddenly asked, “Did you kill someone?”

Chen Ji was silent for a long time. “No.”

Old Head Yao let out a light “huh” and didn’t ask any more.

Along the way, the old man really didn’t ask about tonight’s matters again, as if nothing had happened.

They walked for about an hour before Chen Ji saw the grand vermilion lacquer door of the Jing Wang Fu in the distance. Guards holding halberds stood in front of the door, wearing iron armor. The stone lions on either side of the door were majestic and imposing.

Two white lanterns hung under the gray tiled eaves, with the words “Jing Wang Fu” written on them. The plaque above the door was written in gold lacquer with “Zheng Da Guang Ming”.

Physician Yao didn’t enter through the main door, but led Chen Ji towards the side of the Wang Fu. There, a medical hall named ‘Taiping’ was located right next to the Wang Fu.

The plaque above the door read four large characters: “Gai Bu She Qiong”.

Old Head Yao pushed open the medical hall’s large door and stepped over the high threshold. Inside the room, a kerosene lamp was lit on the long counter.

Outside were the dark long street and the night, inside the room was an orange-red warm light, as if the world was black and white, and only this medical hall had color.

It was also as if as long as Chen Ji walked in, he could take shelter from the wind and rain and find peace here.

Old Head Yao stood inside the doorway and glanced at Chen Ji sideways. “Throw away what’s in your hand. We don’t need this plaything in the medical hall.”

Chen Ji was startled and threw away the broken porcelain piece he was still clutching in his hand. Blood was still stained on the broken porcelain piece.

He looked at the medical hall’s high threshold and Old Head Yao’s hunched figure, and finally stepped inside, closing the door and blocking the black night outside.

…

…

This medical hall was a small siheyuan, separated from the Wang Fu by only one wall. In the center of the courtyard was a gnarled apricot tree.

A majestic crow perched on a branch, and flew away when it saw someone coming.

Old Head Yao seemed tired and waved his hand, saying, “Go to sleep.”

Chen Ji still stood where he was, not moving… where should he sleep? The back room of this siheyuan had three rooms. He didn’t know which one was the correct choice. If he walked into the wrong place, it might cause suspicion.

Old Head Yao saw him not move and suspiciously turned back. “Why aren’t you going to sleep?”

As he finished speaking, a thin, tall young man wearing a long gown emerged from the west wing room. He looked at Chen Ji with disdain and said, “Chen Ji, you just went to deliver medicine and were delayed for so long, even bothering master to come find you… Master, are you tired from walking? I’ll boil some water for you to soak your feet and then rest.”

Chen Ji silently looked at this… senior brother.

How could someone be so overly flattering?

Old Head Yao said, “All of you, go to sleep. Don’t delay tomorrow’s early class.”

“Okay,” the thin, tall young man neatly retreated back into the west wing room.

Chen Ji followed him in. Inside the room was a large shared bed. A burly figure was snoring soundly in the innermost part, completely unaware of what had just happened outside. The thin, tall senior brother slept in the middle of the shared bed, and his bed position was by the door.

Inside the apprentice bedroom, the wooden windows were old, and there was no other furniture except for some basins and jars.

In the dim room, the thin, tall senior brother wrapped in a quilt sat on the shared bed, his eyes shining as he stared at Chen Ji. He lowered his voice and asked, “What happened? Why were you gone for so long?”

“Nothing happened,” Chen Ji shook his head. He climbed into the quilt tiredly and quietly looked at the wooden beam above the room and the long-standing spiderwebs.

That thin, tall senior brother turned over and lay down, muttering, “Forget it if you don’t want to say!”

The room fell quiet again, only the sound of breathing remained.

Only at this moment could Chen Ji stop and properly think about his situation: Would Jiaotu and Yun Yang let him go? Certainly not.

The ability he displayed tonight was definitely not something a medical hall apprentice would have, and he just happened to appear at a Jing Chao spy’s home. How could those two snake and scorpion-like people not be suspicious?

But why did they let him go? Was it because of his master’s identity, or did the opponent have other plans?

No matter why, Chen Ji’s best choice now was to stay in the medical hall. This medical hall was next to the Wang Fu, and the opponent might have scruples about doing anything.

Just thinking about it, Chen Ji’s pupils suddenly contracted.

A cold breath was spreading throughout his body from his dantian, swallowing the warmth in his muscles, bones, and blood.

That was… the ice flow that had drilled into his body when Zhou Chengyi died. At that time, he only felt a coolness, as if it was an illusion. But now it was like a fierce beast trapped inside Chen Ji’s body, angrily seeking an exit, but always unable to rush out of Chen Ji’s body.

Bang.

Chen Ji heard the sound of his blood flowing like an avalanche, as if blood vessels were flowing not with blood, but with ice sand.

It was as if a sword was hidden inside his thin body, or a dragon that existed thousands of years ago. Chen Ji felt as if he was in a dark, deep pool, being dragged to the bottom by a desperate hand.

The cold was piercing.

Chen Ji struggled to turn his head and look at the others in the room, only to find that they were sleeping soundly, completely unaware of anything. He wrapped the quilt tightly, but the cold air was from the inside out. Even if he covered himself completely in the quilt, it was no help.

Could it be Zhou Chengyi’s wronged soul clinging to his body?

Gradually, before he could think clearly, he curled up into a ball and fell into a dazed state.

He didn’t know how much time passed, but the loud sound of a rooster crowing came from the distant horizon, the sound seemingly penetrating through layers of thin fog, tearing the thin fog apart.

Chen Ji woke up with a start and sat up in bed, as if he had just been fished out of the water, breathing greedily.

His hands and feet were ice cold. What had just happened wasn’t a dream; that ice flow was still raging.

…

…

Outside the window, the thin sunlight was blocked by the white paper window, making the room dim.

Beside him, two senior brothers were still sleeping soundly, covering their heads side by side. The rooster’s crowing didn’t seem to affect them; they were still snoring.

Just as Chen Ji was in a daze, with a creak, the room door was pushed open.

It was his master, “Old Head Yao,” holding a bamboo strip and standing at the door, his face full of disdain. “The rooster has crowed and you’re still not up. People who know know you’re apprentices, people who don’t know would think you’re some family’s legitimate eldest son.”

Saying this, he waved the bamboo strip and hit.

Chen Ji struggled to flip over and put on his clothes, dodging to the side. “Master, I’m already up!”

Old Head Yao saw the situation and went to hit the others. A series of wails rang out as the two senior brothers were hit by the bamboo strip and scrambled to cover their heads. “Master, don’t hit! We’re up, we’re up!”

But no matter how the two senior brothers dodged, the bamboo strip always accurately fell on their bodies. The little old man with the hunched back was clearly already ninety-two years old, but his body and hands were exceptionally agile.

Old Head Yao waved the bamboo strip and drove the three people into the courtyard, saying coldly, “Stand stake!”

Chen Ji originally thought the early class in the Taiyi Hall would be reciting medical books, but he didn’t expect it to actually be standing stake?

He turned his head to look, only to see the two senior brothers simultaneously posing in strange postures. It wasn’t a horse stance, but more like a posture of carrying a giant stone on their shoulders and climbing a mountain ridge.

Before he could secretly learn, with a “pa” sound, the bamboo strip had already fallen crisp on his body. The moment the bamboo strip and his body made contact, it was as if a kind of pain exploded from the seams of his bones.

The heart-piercing pain, accompanied by a cold and weak feeling, suddenly made Chen Ji almost faint. He imitated the two senior brothers’ appearance and stood the stake, while Old Head Yao laughed coldly. “Don’t pretend to be weak in front of me, it won’t work. And don’t think that flattering will make me not hit you.”

Saying this, the bamboo strip fell on the thin, tall senior brother’s body again. “Liu Quxing, did I not tell you? What kind of ghost are you standing?”

Liu Quxing said with a crying voice, “Master, aren’t we learning medicine? Why do we learn this every day?”

Old Head Yao laughed coldly and hit him with another bamboo strip. “Still dare to talk back? Heaven has three treasures: sun, moon, and stars. People have three treasures: essence, qi, and spirit! Without essence, qi, and spirit, you won’t learn anything!”

In just a quarter of an hour, the three senior brothers were hit by the bamboo strip and wailed. Chen Ji was also punished for the first time, and he was the one among the three brothers who got hit the most, because he was the most unfamiliar with this posture.

However.

At a certain moment while standing the stake, a warm flow surged out from Chen Ji’s lower back, slowly offsetting the cold air from last night.

This warm flow was sometimes present and sometimes not… or rather, it generated when the action of standing the stake was correct, and it didn’t when the action was wrong.

Chen Ji adjusted his posture according to the feeling. When there was a warm flow surging out from his lower back, he maintained the posture and didn’t move. It was as if someone had prepared the answer for you, and you just had to follow and draw.

Old Head Yao walked to his side at this time, originally wanting to casually hit him with a bamboo strip, but found that Chen Ji’s posture was completely correct. He raised his hand but had no reason to hit…

Later, Old Head Yao simply didn’t look at him and only hit the other two senior brothers.

Chen Ji didn’t know what was special about this posture that it could actually offset the ice flow. He silently observed the appearance of the other senior brothers, who didn’t seem to feel any benefit from standing this stake.

Could it be that only he could feel this warm flow?

Half an hour passed, and the ice flow inside Chen Ji’s body was suppressed back to his dantian and remained still. He breathed a sigh of relief. If this ice flow continued to rage, it would be hard to say whether he could survive today.

Old Head Yao laughed coldly. “Okay, today’s early class is over. Chen Ji has made progress.”

The three senior brothers grinned and rubbed their injuries. If they took off their clothes now, they would definitely be blue and purple all over.

“Quickly go wait for your families at the main hall door. Today is the day to pay tuition. If I don’t see the tuition, you’ll immediately pack your bedding and go home!” Old Head Yao said coldly. “Chen Ji, when your family comes later, remember to ask for money. Last night’s lost medicine money was three hundred and twenty wen. Not a single wen less.”

Chen Ji was startled.

Family…

Did he still have a family in this world?