Upon returning home, Lin Yue had the two men in the cellar come out and demonstrate their skills.
Their lightness skills were about on par with each other. When the tall fellow executed his lightness skill, he zipped past and kicked up a gust of wind; anyone who wasn't deaf could hear him coming. It was far from Lin Yue's ideal technique.
Song Jiqing's lightness skill appeared light and fluttery. Tapping lightly on a roof tile, he took flight with very little sound, though it was still a far cry from treading on leaves to fly.
Still, it satisfied Lin Yue's fantasy of a knight-errant's lightness skill.
Next was their sparring match; at most, both of their martial skills were half a step into second-rate.
This was indeed somewhat disappointing, but looking at their shabby appearances, one knew better than to expect too much.
It would have to do for now.
"Thank you, Third Junior Brother! Take a look first, Third Junior Brother, and if there's anything you don't understand, just ask me!" Song Jiqing said with tears in his eyes.
Holding their bowls, the two wolfed down their first meal of the day.
Lin Yue flipped through their techniques. She recognized every character on the paper individually, but once strung together, they made no sense to her.
Cultivation techniques were often written to prevent unauthorized learning, using concise wording or specialized terms to keep outsiders from learning them.
For example, an ordinary person would see "The bright moon shines among the pines" as a line of poetry, whereas some transformed it into a martial mnemonic passed down by word of mouth. If even a word was missed or omitted in transmission, future generations would end up learning it wrong, showing just how much learning a technique tested one's comprehension.
After studying them for a long time, Lin Yue ultimately chose the Guiwu Technique. She had Song Jiqing explain the core principles of the technique so she could comprehend it herself.
This was also a good chance to test whether that burst of energy in her body was internal energy, and if it could circulate along a different route.
Lin Yue assumed the posture, looked inward, and mobilized that energy according to the technique. She meditated for nearly half a shichen, beads of sweat oozing from her forehead, before she finally succeeded in mobilizing that energy, even if it was just a tiny thread.
An excited look appeared on Lin Yue's face. It worked!
Lin Yue didn't rest until she had practiced into the dead of night, and the next day she went back to doing odd jobs.
For several days in a row, Lin Yue went to Ji Shi Hall by day and practiced her technique by night, until she was finally able to get that energy to circulate smoothly along the new route.
She couldn't wait to step outside, looking at the brick house nearly one zhang tall under the moonlight, eager to give it a try.
Song Jiqing stepped forward to demonstrate it once and shared the key points: "Junior Brother, when performing the Guiwu Technique, you must rally your energy and relax. It's best to go up in a single breath without being nervous. Back then, I also practiced several times—"
Before he could finish his sentence, a breeze swept past him. Someone flew down like a bird spreading its wings, their left foot tapping precisely on a stone to leap again, only stopping after running a few steps to disperse the momentum.
"You struck gold, Brother Ji! What impressive talent," the tall fellow said, jutting out his two thick eyebrows as he nudged Song Jiqing beside him with an elbow.
Song Jiqing ignored him, his expression solemn as if he were troubled by something.
The light, airy feeling was exceedingly familiar, almost like a dream. Perhaps because she had practiced lightness skills in her dreams since childhood, she flew so smoothly without worrying about falling and being unable to take off again.
Lin Yue stepped back, ran forward a few steps to build momentum, and circulated her technique. Rallying her energy, she kicked off the wall twice and bounced off to leap backward. Suddenly, her body was suspended in midair, as though gravity had been offset by that energy. She felt like a balloon floating in the air before drifting down, landing right on the roof in an instant.
Looking at the dashing youth atop the roof, Song Jiqing continued, "—practiced squatting several times before starting to jump! Still, you jumped quite well, Junior Brother, just a tiny bit worse than I was back then..."
Lin Yue didn't hear a word of what Song Jiqing said. Immersed in the thrill of flying, she took a deep breath, rallied her energy, and leaped straight down from the roof, gliding forward a short distance before landing.
Seeing this, Song Jiqing shut his mouth. Back then, he had fallen down and taken a faceplant.
Feeling no discomfort for the moment, her body was instead warm under the effect of the warm current, filled with energy yet much lighter. Lin Yue smiled and praised, "Not bad."
A few days later, Lin Yue was able to leap continuously with her internal energy for the duration of a cup of tea, reaching her absolute limit. If she went on any longer without her internal energy keeping up, continuing to use the lightness skill might drain her energy dry and cause internal injuries.
"Hey! Junior Brother! What are you doing? Junior Brother! I can help split wood and light the fire..."
"Little brother, can you wait a bit before making us leave? I haven't even eaten yet!"
The two were pointed at with a long staff and driven backward toward the door.
Lin Yue booted them out. Just as she was about to close the door, both of them immediately stuck their feet into the crack, looking every bit like shameless rascals.
"Junior Brother, why be so distant between brothers? If there's anything you need, just tell me. Why drive me away? Do you really have the heart to let your senior brother wander the streets?" Song Jiqing cried out in deep grief and indignation.
"Little brother, your senior brother is right! At worst, we'll just eat less..." The tall fellow put on a pitiful expression.
Lin Yue drew out her red staff and shoved it right into their faces.
"Are you leaving or not?"
"Don't be reckless, Third Junior Brother... Ow!"
With a sharp bang, they were ruthlessly locked outside.
Lin Yue closed and locked the door properly, letting those two gluttons yell outside all they wanted.
In less than half a month, they had eaten half a tael of her private savings. If she kept feeding them, she'd end up sleeping on the streets with them.
The two shouted outside the door for a while before going quiet. When Lin Yue opened the door the next day, they were already gone. Lin Yue immediately went to Ji Shi Hall to request half a day off and moved out of Fengkou Alley right away.
In the blink of an eye, two months passed. Lin Yue's internal energy had grown slightly, and her lightness skill had improved significantly in speed, roughly matching half a running horse. The noise she produced was also reduced considerably, though it had not yet reached the quietness of a walking person.
She found a recipe for a health-nourishing medicinal bath to unblock her meridians, detoxify her body, and nourish her skin, which helped her energy circulation slightly.
There were also martial medicinal bath herb packs on the market that claimed to widen and toughen meridians, but most were merely health-nourishing fakes. True martial-grade ones were held by martial arts halls, reputable medical clinics, and top experts. They were expensive, with varying side effects—showing noticeable results for those with low aptitude, but proving to be of little value for those with higher aptitude.
Though she was an apprentice doctor, most of what she learned was for treating minor injuries and illnesses. Formulating a health-nourishing version was fine, but a martial-grade version was asking too much. Books on martial-related herbal medicine were precious and not easily obtained, and even Tongren Hall only had books recording common herbs and prescriptions for them to study.
Good things were passed down through single lineages and kept hidden away. She had no background, no channels, and no power, nor did she want to be controlled by others just for a medicinal bath.
However, according to Song Jiqing, her bone structure was decent enough. While ordinary medicinal baths did little for her, reaching the first-rate level wouldn't be a problem for her. Cultivation itself was a process of polishing one's meridians. Without such opportunities, she could simply bide her time. Though slow, living free and unconstrained was quite nice.
Yun Ling, the young lady of the Yun family, became engaged. The groom-to-be was Liu Cheng, the eldest son of the direct line of the prefecture capital's Liu Estate. He was well-read, handsome as Pan An, and the two were a perfect match in social standing and mutual affection.
Ma Lin had clearly known this news early on, becoming gloomy and listless every day.
One day, when he didn't show up at the clinic, Lin Yue thought he might have committed suicide. She hurried to his residence and knocked on the door, but received no answer.
She scaled the wall and climbed in.
Standing atop the courtyard wall, the view inside was completely clear. Medicinal herbs, earthenware jars, and various tools were neatly arranged. A figure in pale silver clothes slept leaning against the door frame, still wearing yesterday's clothes. An overturned wine jar lay beside his hand, its alcohol drained dry, leaving a dark patch of wetness on the ground.
Rallying her energy, Lin Yue tapped her toes, leaped forward, and landed.
The wine jar on the ground was set upright and laid flat as a youth squatted down. She reached out and shook the shoulders of the man before her.
"Doctor Ma, wake up!"
Only after Lin Yue shook him a few times did Ma Lin respond. Frowning, he murmured, "Ling'er," before opening his eyes and gradually making out the person in front of him. Taking a deep breath, he raised his hand to press against his throbbing head.
"Lin Ze, why are you at my house?"
The youth before him answered with utmost gravity, "I thought you had committed suicide for love, so I came over to see if there was anything I could help with."
Hearing those words, Ma Lin gave a self-deprecating chuckle. "I don't have anything that needs helping with."
With that, he went back to leaning listlessly against the door, lowering his eyelashes to hide the desolation in his eyes.
After a long while, he asked in annoyance, "Why haven't you left yet?"
"If I go back, I have to work. Here, I can slack off for a bit." Lin Yue put on an honest yet sly expression.
"I usually see you working so hard. Who would've thought you were someone who slacks off?"
Lin Yue moved a stool to sit beside him. "A conventional life is so boring."
"You don't act like a woman." Ma Lin turned his head to study the person on the stool.
"Your words and behavior are hardly any different from a man's. If I hadn't known beforehand, I really wouldn't have been able to tell."
"Being so meticulous down to such a degree... is it really just to learn medicine?"
"Traveling through the world as a woman poses many inconveniences."
"Did you run away from home?"
"You could say that." Lin Yue recalled what Hanxiang had asked her to inquire about and couldn't help asking, "Doctor Ma, is there a grudge between your two families?"
Ma Lin stopped talking, his gaze sinking heavily as he looked at the ground.
"Are you and Yun Ling siblings?"
"No."
"Then it must be a grudge from the previous generation."
Lin Yue recalled Ma Lin's background. In their youth, the fathers of Ma Lin and Yun Ling had traveled north and south together, as close as brothers. After returning to the prefecture capital to marry and have children, they had arranged an infant betrothal for their offspring. When Ma Lin was ten, his parents were accidentally struck and killed by runaway horses, after which he was raised by his eldest uncle. The Yun family didn't break off the betrothal and instead took great care of him.
Perhaps there was more to the story. "Why hold it against Yun Ling?"
Ma Lin stared blankly at the herb rack in the courtyard, only speaking after a long silence: "Some things just aren't possible."
After being down for a few days, Ma Lin returned to Ji Shi Hall to see patients.
A few days later, Yun Ling sent someone with a letter. After reading it, Ma Lin calmly continued seeing patients, performing normally, but the next day he didn't show up at Ji Shi Hall.
As usual, Lin Yue climbed over the wall, lying on a lounge chair and staring at the sky, slacking off while getting paid.
The intoxicated Ma Lin really couldn't stand the sight of it. He said, "You're my medicine apprentice. Can't you make me a bowl of hangover soup?"
Lin Yue leisurely pulled out a white porcelain bottle. "I have medicine here. Want some?"
Swallowing his annoyance, Ma Lin silently scrambled up and went to the back courtyard to cook hangover soup for himself.
Two days later, Ma Lin returned to Ji Shi Hall to see patients.
Half a year later, Yun Ling was married. On the street, suona horns and copper gongs chimed joyfully in a festive atmosphere as Liu Cheng rode a tall horse to the Yun Manor to escort his bride away.
Ma Lin had gone to watch as well. For the next few days, he didn't go to Ji Shi Hall to see patients, staying home and drinking himself into a stupor, unable to be woken no matter how he was called, falling quite ill.
Since he hadn't taught her medicine yet, and fearing he might damage his brain, Lin Yue finally stepped in to brew him a few bowls of hangover soup.
After looking haggard for a few days, he dragged himself up and went back to Ji Shi Hall to see patients.
Two months later, word arrived that Yun Ling was pregnant. It was on that very day that Ma Lin began teaching Lin Yue medicine.
Ten months later, Yun Ling gave birth safely to a son. The instant he heard the news, Ma Lin smiled—whether he was offering blessings to Yun Ling or had finally let go. Casting aside his former gloom, he transformed back into that easygoing Doctor Ma.
Ma Lin taught everything all at once, and during those ten months, Lin Yue acquired most of Ma Lin's medical knowledge, including the authentic Ma Family Tendon-Stretching and Bone-Setting Technique.
Combining this with medical science, she re-examined Tai Chi and gained a deeper comprehension of its principles of striking after the opponent moves and using the opponent's force against them. Building upon the original health-nourishing Tai Chi, she comprehended a few one-hit-kill moves.
Ma Lin's eldest uncle began pressing him to marry and settle down. His eldest aunt scouted many young women for him, but he didn't like a single one. Since he wasn't her blood son, she couldn't force him, so she targeted the equally unmarried Lin Yue instead to make an example of her.
Matchmakers wore down the threshold, bothering Lin Yue so much that she steered clear whenever she caught sight of them.
Another year passed like this. Having checked out all the suitable families in the prefecture capital for Ma Lin, his eldest aunt gradually stopped interfering.
In the second year, with both master and apprentice remaining single, scandalous rumors gradually began to spread.
"When a woman gets older, it becomes hard to find a husband. Do you plan to spend your whole life like this?" Ma Lin asked.
"There's nothing bad about being alone."
System Name: Sign In and Receive Life System
Host: Lin Yue
Lifespan: 33/7,151
In the blink of an eye, ten more years passed. Lin Yue was now thirty-three years old, yet her appearance remained forever frozen at eighteen. With her lifespan reaching over seven thousand years, she had no choice but to disguise herself as aging.
By now, Ma Lin had reached middle age without taking a wife, while Yun Ling already had three children. During this time, Yun Ling had visited. She had learned the truth from the old woman who served her grandmother: back then, under the instigation of Yun Ling's mother, Yun Ling's grandmother had plotted to eliminate the mistress her son kept outside. By a twist of fate, the scheme resulted in striking and killing Ma Lin's parents instead.
Yun Ling felt deep guilt, but Ma Lin merely smiled and urged her to go back, telling her that her children were still waiting at home.
After Yun Ling left, Lin Yue requested a month's leave from Ma Lin and returned to her former town alone.
Her return this time was mainly to deliver medical books to the Chen family to resolve karma, and incidentally to check on Sanya's situation.
Having been away for ten years, the small town remained as it had been, though things had changed and the people were no longer the same.
Chen Ping was in his thirties, sporting a beard and thin cheeks. He truly possessed the demeanor of an elderly physician in his middle age. It took Lin Yue quite a while to recognize him.
Without disturbing him, Lin Yue went to Lin Family Village.
The Lin family had built brick houses. Her siblings had settled down, started careers, and borne many children. Her parents had grown old, their hair completely turned white.
After observing secretly for a while, Lin Yue departed and went to Wang Family Village.
Sanya was twenty-eight years old, with rough skin, wrinkles at the corners of her eyes, and sorrow between her brows—a visible toll of constant toil.
It was evening when Lin Yue arrived. Sanya was cooking while her mother-in-law stood watching beside her, unable to conceal the disgust in her eyes. Wang Dashi had a cold attitude, and Sanya remained silent throughout, blue-purple bruises and scars showing on her arms.
After dinner, she went to the backyard, numbly gathering newly dried vegetables, when a pebble suddenly landed at her feet.
Subconsciously following the direction from which the pebble was thrown, Sanya saw a warm, familiar figure under the shade of the tree, and her expression turned dazed.
Lin Yue picked up another stone and tossed it to startle her awake, gesturing for her to come over.
Sanya froze for a few breaths before opening the courtyard gate and walking over. Lin Yue led her to a secluded spot before stopping.
Along the way, Sanya hesitated, feeling flustered and frightened, afraid to step forward.
Yet that was her biological elder sister who had grown up with her since childhood; she wouldn't harm her.
"Second Sister?"
Lin Yue responded, "It's me."
"Are you a ghost?" Sanya asked, her eyes earnest.
Lin Yue went silent for a moment, then described the prosperity and openness of the outside world.
"I'm alive. I work as a doctor outside, made plenty of money, have my own house, and live better than the Chen family in town. I can eat my fill every single meal... I came back to find you this time. Do you want to leave with me?"
To convince her, Lin Yue pulled out dozens of taels of silver.
Sanya had never seen so much money before and immediately froze in place, staring fixedly at the silver.
Not until Lin Yue asked her again did she snap back to reality, looking hesitant.
"But I'm already married. In life I belong to the Wang family, and in death I'll be the Wang family's ghost. If I leave, what will my husband do? I can't leave..."
"If you want to leave this place, I can give Wang Dashi a sum of money so he will grant you a divorce. If you're afraid it will ruin your reputation or the Lin family's, I can fake your accidental fall off a cliff or being eaten by wild beasts."
"There are plenty of ways, as long as you're willing."
However, Sanya only asked one question: "Can you cure Dashi?"
Lin Yue studied her for a moment. "I'll try."
When the moon climbed high, Sanya drugged her husband unconscious, after which Lin Yue quietly snuck inside.
After a full examination, she prescribed some medicine. Taking it would only give him a slight chance, but not much.
Yet it was enough to make Sanya's eyes light up with joy.
Lin Yue asked her once again if she was willing to leave, and Sanya's answer was as expected.
Not everyone had the courage to abandon everything and leave the mire behind; besides, certain mindsets were deeply ingrained.
There hadn't been much affection between them to begin with, and Lin Yue had never been one to strive for things that held little importance to her. Thus, she had no intention of meddling any further.
Wang Dashi had already been examined by Chen Ping and knew the issue lay with himself.
Having understood the situation, Lin Yue still taught Sanya how to cover up the lie using tales of ghosts and gods, left behind some silver and medicinal herbs, and quietly departed.
Before leaving, Lin Yue told her, "I probably won't come back again. Don't tell anyone you saw me."
Sanya opened her mouth, her face filled with melancholy, ultimately only saying, "Second Sister, take care."
Lin Yue went to visit Chunya and gave her some money. Passing through town, she snuck into the Chen family residence, leaving behind a few medical books, some silver, and precious medicinal herbs before departing the small town.
In the blink of an eye, five more years passed. Lin Yue had cultivated the Guiwu Technique to great accomplishment, and the same went for Tai Chi. Executing her lightness skill, she could now tread on leaves and fly. Her internal energy was profound; she could easily lift the four-hundred-jin stone table beneath the scholar-tree and go three days without sleep without feeling tired, though she consumed food by the basinful at every meal.
Over these past few years, the second grandson of Ma Lin's eldest uncle had come to the medical clinic to serve as a steward. Ma Lin took no stance, but the doctors and apprentices working at the clinic all knew what it signified, and many began fawning over him.
Perhaps because Lin Yue hadn't taken a stand, or perhaps because they suspected her of having a sleeve-cutting relationship with Ma Lin, she faced workplace cold violence and verbal attacks out of Ma Lin's sight. Lin Yue turned around and reported them. Ma Lin told her to leave, implying that if things were like this while people thought she was a man, his reputation in his golden years would be completely ruined if she were discovered to be a woman.
And so, Lin Yue had no choice but to leave.
Before leaving, on a dark and windy night, she gave the entire Hongwu Martial Arts Hall a thoroughly rough time, giving special attention to Qin Wenshou, who was in his forties. She crippled all three of his legs, ransacked his house, acquired over three thousand taels of silver, distributed it to those victimized families, and gave most of his estate to Ma Lin.
Bidding farewell to Ma Lin, whose hair had begun to turn white, she bought a small donkey, changed back into female attire, slung her pack over her shoulder, and headed north out of the prefecture capital against the morning dew to wander the ends of the earth.
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