Complete one practice method every day

Heavy dark clouds pressed down on the horizon, and the damp, earthy smell filled the air.

In the distance, rumbling thunder echoed across the horizon, threatening to unleash a torrential downpour at any moment.

Chen Yue carried the chicken coop, trudging along the muddy path, cold sweat mingling with the dampness on his forehead, his back already clinging uncomfortably to his sweat-soaked clothes.

He was an ordinary person in modern times. He fell asleep with his eyes closed the night before, and when he opened them again, he found himself transported to this strange world that resembled ancient China, where he became an apprentice at a pharmacy in a county town.

Although they were called apprentices, they were actually even more lowly than the servants in the mansion. Every day, they did rough work such as chopping wood, carrying water, and running errands. They didn't learn any proper pharmacology or medical skills.

A few days ago, I accidentally offended the manager of the pharmacy, and now I've been arbitrarily assigned this arduous task.

They went to the remote countryside to collect roosters, claiming that "fresh, live free-range chickens are needed for medicinal purposes," but Chen Yue knew in his heart that it was just a deliberate attempt to make things difficult.

Why bother coming all this way to buy roosters when you can buy them anywhere in the county town? Chen Yue considered buying them secretly in the county, but judging from the look in the manager's eyes, he seemed to be waiting for Chen Yue to do so.

The round trip was a dirt road of dozens of miles, and to make matters worse, we ran into this deadly torrential rain.

The rooster was startled by the strong wind and became restless, flapping and struggling from time to time. Chen Yue's wrist ached from lifting it. He looked up and saw a section of dilapidated temple eaves peeking out from the woods not far away. He knew that if he delayed any longer, he would probably get seriously ill from the rainstorm.

If he really gets seriously ill, as an apprentice, whether he can pull through is truly a matter of fate.

Thinking of this, Chen Yue simply picked up the chicken coop and rushed into the long-abandoned dilapidated temple.

The temple gate was long since decayed, half-open to reveal the pitch-black interior. The statue of the deity was decapitated and limbs broken, covered with thick dust and cobwebs. Dry firewood was piled in the corner, and the ground was covered with broken stones and tiles, exuding a cold and deathly atmosphere of long-abandoned place.

Chen Yue closed most of the crooked temple door behind him, first placing the chicken coop in the corner, then gathering dry firewood and, with the help of the flint he carried, painstakingly lit a bonfire.

Orange-red flames leaped up, dispelling some of the damp chill and tearing a small opening in the darkness of the temple.

The flickering firelight cast the distorted image of the broken statue on the earthen wall, sometimes appearing grotesque and twisted, sometimes silent and eerie, sending chills down one's spine.

Chen Yue approached the fire to dry his half-wet clothes, took out the hard, dry rations from his pocket, and ate them in small bites with the cold water from the water pouch at his waist.

The wind grew increasingly violent, pounding against the dilapidated temple doors with a howling sound, and the rumbling thunder grew closer, causing dust to fall from the temple roof.

Just as Chen Yue swallowed the last mouthful of dry rations, a blinding white light suddenly ripped across the sky, followed by a deafening clap of thunder that shook the eardrums. The next second, dense raindrops began to fall.

Tap, tap, tap!

Before the echo of the thunder had faded, a knocking sound suddenly rang out outside the temple gate.

The sound wasn't loud, but it sounded particularly jarring in the deathly silence of the deserted temple. Chen Yue's muscles tensed instantly, and he subconsciously reached for the wood-chopping knife beside him.

Chen Yue did not respond, but the person outside the door had no patience to wait. The dilapidated temple door was slowly pushed open a crack, and rainwater poured in through the crack, carrying a biting chill.

The newcomer was dressed in a straw raincoat and a bamboo hat, carrying a bamboo medicine basket on his back, looking like a herb gatherer. When he saw Chen Yue and the fire on the ground, a look of joy appeared on his face under the hat.

"Young man, the rain is too heavy. Luckily there's a fire here. Could we borrow a place to warm up?"

The herb gatherer's voice was hoarse. As he spoke, he took off his straw hat, revealing the face of a middle-aged man with a dark complexion and deep wrinkles at the corners of his eyes.

He unloaded the medicine basket, which contained some common herbs.

As soon as the words were spoken, the rooster in the chicken coop in the corner seemed to have been completely terrified by the thunder. It had only been flapping its wings from time to time, but now it suddenly started struggling wildly and desperately ramming against the coop.

Chen Yue looked at the herb gatherer in front of him, quickly sizing him up from head to toe. He looked honest and simple.

After a moment of silence, Chen Yue slowly nodded, stepped forward and closed the half-open temple door completely. A second before closing the door, he glanced outside the temple.

The rain poured down, turning the world into a white blur. Apart from the raging wind and rain, not a single person could be seen. On the ground, besides Chen Yue's previous footprints, there were no other traces.

After thanking him, the herb gatherer sat down on the other side of the fire, stretched out his icy hands and brought them close to the flames, quietly warming himself for a moment.

Inside the temple, only the sounds of wind and rain, the crackling of burning firewood, and the desperate flapping of roosters filled the air, creating a somber atmosphere that made it hard to breathe.

"Young man, are you from around here?" the herb gatherer asked, rubbing his hands together.

"Just passing by," Chen Yue replied briefly.

"I went into the mountains to collect medicinal herbs, but I didn't expect to encounter heavy rain. Luckily, there is this temple."

The herb gatherer pulled a bag of dry rations from his robes and began to eat some flatbread. "The night is long, how about I tell you a story to pass the time?"

The herb gatherer looked up at Chen Yue, a faint smile playing on his lips. The firelight cast shadows on his face, obscuring the emotions in his eyes.

Chen Yue picked up the last crumbs of dry rations from his palm and ate them. He looked up at the herb gatherer, a faint smile suddenly appearing on his previously tense lips. "No rush. Before hearing your story, I have an even better one. Would you like to hear it?"

A hint of surprise flashed in the herb gatherer's eyes, followed by intense interest. He leaned forward slightly and said, "Oh? What interesting thing do you have to tell me, young man?"

"I was an apprentice at a pharmacy in the county town. I watched the doctors see patients every day and saw many people seeking medical treatment."

Chen Yue's hand holding the machete twitched slightly. His tone was calm. "Patients often fear acupuncture, fidgeting and restless. It's always a headache. Do you know how to solve this?"

The herb gatherer frowned slightly, his face full of curiosity, and subconsciously asked, "I really don't know what to do, please enlighten me, young man."

"It's very simple!"

Before he could finish speaking, Chen Yue suddenly exerted force on his wrist, and the woodcutter's knife he gripped slashed out with a sharp, cold light along the firelight. There wasn't even time for a gasp to be heard in the dilapidated temple; only the soft sound of the blade cutting through the air could be heard.

The herb gatherer froze on the spot, his curiosity still lingering on his face, his smile frozen at the corner of his mouth. A crack slowly appeared on his neck, and the next moment, his head rolled straight to the ground, rolling to the edge of the campfire, the crimson flames illuminating his still-shocked face.

The wind whipped rainwater into the temple through the cracks, the bonfire leaped up and then fell back down, and the temple fell silent again, with only the endless wind, rain and thunder outside the window and the increasingly faint crowing of the rooster in the corner.

There was no blood.

Not a drop of blood! What a bizarre thing!

Chen Yue gripped his wood-chopping knife tightly, staring intently at the corpse on the ground. The head had rolled off face down, motionless. The headless body lay slumped beside the fire, its fingers twitching slightly before settling still.

The temple was deathly silent, save for the crackling of the fire and the uneasy clucking of a rooster in the corner.

Chen Yue took a deep breath. He had often overheard the apprentices chatting in the pharmacy, saying that if you walked on the road at night too often, you were likely to encounter unclean things. Chen Yue just listened to it as a ghost story from his previous life and didn't care about it.

After all, Chen Yue had heard even more bizarre ghost stories in his previous life.

On the contrary, there are martial artists in this world who can move swiftly and agilely. Chen Yue has seen this with his own eyes. In fact, there are often injured gang members who come to the pharmacy for treatment after fighting.

Chen Yue's predecessor had tried to practice martial arts, but made no progress. Chen Yue even suspected that his predecessor had practiced too hard and ended up practicing incorrectly, which led to his death.

After Chen Yue came to this world, he also tried to practice martial arts, since it was obviously possible to change his fate. However, after a while, Chen Yue completely gave up on the idea.

It wasn't a matter of whether he tried hard or not, but that there was absolutely no effect, and he was in pain all over his body. Chen Yue was worried that if he continued to train, he would suffer the same fate as his predecessor.

Suddenly, the head moved.

It flipped over, face up, eyes open, staring straight at Chen Yue.

"You're very brave!"

The head opened, and the voice was exactly the same as the herb gatherer's, but it sounded particularly eerie in the silent, dilapidated temple. "How did you find it? Aren't you afraid of killing the wrong person, of taking lives so lightly?"

Chen Yue didn't say anything, but directly unbuckled his belt. He was still a virgin in the past. Chen Yue had heard those people say that if you really encounter such a strange thing, virgin urine is useful.

"You—!" The head's expression changed drastically, and it wanted to say something, but it had already been soaked in the boy's urine.

The urine poured onto the head and the headless torso beside it, immediately producing a hissing sound and white smoke rising from it. The herb gatherer let out a piercing scream, a sound unlike a human voice, sharp and shrill, echoing through the dilapidated temple.

Chen Yue ignored him and soaked the herb gatherer's head and torso.

The white smoke grew thicker and thicker, and the head and torso began to twist and deform, with charred marks appearing on the surface.

"Stop! Stop now! I'm a pitiful person too. I went up the mountain to collect herbs and encountered..." the herb collector shouted, but Chen Yue's movements did not stop at all.

Enraged, the herb gatherer screamed, "If you kill me, you won't survive either! You'll die a far worse death than me! Stop now, you still have a chance!"

Chen Yue ignored him, squeezed out the last drop of urine, rushed to the chicken coop, grabbed a rooster, swung his machete, and the rooster's head fell to the ground, blood gushing out!

Fortunately, he bought a rooster today. He had heard that these strange creatures were afraid of rooster blood. Chen Yue didn't know if it would work, but since he had one on hand, he naturally had to give it a try.

The scalding chicken blood was poured onto the head and torso of the herb gatherer, and an even more intense sizzling sound rang out, with white smoke almost filling the entire temple.

Chen Yue's eyes lit up slightly. It worked!

The herb gatherer's screams reached their peak, then quickly faded, eventually turning into a sob and then silence.

Chen Yue dared not delay. He drained all the rooster's blood and poured it on the charred and twisted thing. Then he picked up the chicken coop, pulled open the temple door, and rushed into the downpour.

If he could, Chen Yue would like to kill the remaining two chickens as well, but if all the chickens were gone, even if Chen Yue could return to the pharmacy in the county town, he would probably not be able to pass the test in the end.

As for telling the pharmacy about encountering something strange, Chen Yue suspected that if the pharmacy heard about it, his fate would probably not be good.