Complete one practice method every day

Three sparse wisps of beard, and he wore a dark blue fine cloth robe, spotless. Tu Shan's gaze swept around the courtyard, finally settling on Chen Yue.

He walked slowly closer and stopped three steps away from Chen Yue. He didn't look at Chen Yue's face or ask him why he was in such a sorry state. He just lowered his eyes and his gaze lingered on the three roosters for a moment.

Then, the corner of his mouth twitched upwards very slightly.

Tu Shan didn't say a word. He turned around, put his hands behind his back, and walked back along the same corridor he had come from, unhurriedly.

The oppressive atmosphere in the courtyard only gradually dissipated after Tu Shan's figure completely disappeared around the corner of the corridor. The apprentices resumed their work, but their conversations were much quieter.

Only then did Liu Jing dare to step forward. He tugged at Chen Yue's sleeve and said in a very low voice, "Chen Yue, you...you just left the pharmacy yesterday, and Xiao Liu followed you out right after."

Chen Yue's body stiffened slightly.

Xiao Liu was the most obedient apprentice under Tu Shan, and he was usually the one who ran errands and gathered information.

Liu Jing glanced quickly in the direction of the corridor and continued, "He didn't return for almost an hour. He went straight to Steward Tu's office and stayed there for quite a while..."

Chen Yue took a slow breath, the cool air filling his lungs. He raised his hand, patted Liu Jing's shoulder, and forced a smile.

"Okay, thanks, Liu Jing."

If he hadn't left the city yesterday and gone to that damned countryside to collect chickens, what awaited him today would probably not have been Tu Shan's silent glance, but rather a harsher reprimand, or even being kicked out of the house.

Chen Yue picked up the chicken coop and walked to the small compartment in the corner of the backyard where live animals were kept, and settled the three roosters there.

Then, as usual, he went to the water vat, filled a basin with cold water, wiped his face and hands haphazardly, and went back into the house to change into his own set of coarse old clothes.

The day's work begins.

Grinding herbs, cutting herbs, drying herbs, sorting herbs, cleaning... each task is a tedious and physically demanding job.

The dark spot on my chest was constantly sending waves of cold, stinging pain through me, and I was also experiencing bouts of dizziness and weakness in my limbs.

Chen Yue gritted his teeth, forcing himself to concentrate. His hands kept moving, and sweat seeped from his forehead, mixing with the still-high fever, making his vision blurry at times.

Time crawled slowly amidst the mechanical repetition and physical torment. In the afternoon, when the sun was at its strongest, he finally got a moment to catch his breath.

Chen Yue dragged his almost broken body back to the apprentice's room in the corner of the backyard, which was crammed with seven or eight beds.

He practically collapsed onto his bunk, not even having time to take off his shoes. His eyelids felt as heavy as lead, and his consciousness quickly sank into darkness.

His sleep was restless; the flickering firelight in the dilapidated temple, the herb gatherer's eerie smile, the rolling head, the piercing screams, the gushing chicken blood, the writhing black spots on his chest...

Various fragmented images intertwined and rolled around. Chen Yue was sleeping very soundly, yet it was as if he was struggling in an endless nightmare.

He didn't know how much time had passed when a shaking pulled him out of the deep darkness.

"Chen Yue? Chen Yue! Wake up, it's time to get up, dinner time is almost over!"

It was Liu Jing's voice, tinged with anxiety.

Chen Yue suddenly opened his eyes, momentarily disoriented. Dim light streamed in through the small window; it was already evening. He took a few quick breaths and touched his forehead.

It felt cool to the touch. Although I was still sweating a little, the scalding heat from before had mostly subsided.

Chen Yue slowly exhaled a breath of stale air, his tense nerves relaxing slightly. The low-grade fever had subsided, at least temporarily alleviating the physical discomfort.

He propped himself up, his body aching, and nodded to Liu Jing, who looked at him with concern, to indicate that he was alright. Faint noises drifted from outside the apprentices' quarters; dinner time was indeed almost over.

Dinner consisted of brown rice porridge and pickled vegetable dumplings, which he swallowed whole with cold water drawn from the well in the backyard. The food brought some warmth, but Chen Yue's face remained frighteningly pale in the dim light of the oil lamp.

Liu Jing, holding a bowl, moved closer to Chen Yue. Taking a quick glance at Chen Yue while drinking his porridge, he frowned and whispered:

"Chen Yue, you look pale... are you really alright? How about we ask Doctor Qin, the resident doctor at the front clinic, to take a look at you tomorrow? Just say you're tired, and get a couple of inexpensive diaphoretics."

Chen Yue shook his head and swallowed the last mouthful of porridge.

He knew that this paleness and weakness were mostly caused by the dark spots. Ordinary doctors probably couldn't figure out the cause and might even attract unnecessary attention.

Thinking of the black spots, a thought stirred within him. His gaze swept across the dining hall; the other apprentices were either engrossed in their food or chatting quietly in small groups, paying no attention to their corner.

He leaned forward slightly, lowering his voice to a level that only the two of them could hear:

"Liu Jing, I've often heard you guys talk about ghosts... If we really happen to encounter one, besides things like virgin urine, chicken blood, and dog blood, are there any other methods?"

Liu Jing was clearly taken aback by his sudden question. He paused for a moment, then glanced around instinctively before lowering his voice and speaking with uncertainty:

"Those are all old-fashioned methods passed down from our ancestors. Whether they work or not... who knows? Oh, I've also heard that practicing martial arts can help."

"Practicing martial arts?"

"Um,"

Liu Jing nodded, recalling, "I've heard people from martial arts schools on the street boast about how they have abundant qi and blood, making them immune to all evil spirits. They say that martial artists have so much yang energy that ordinary unclean things don't dare to get close. But that's only for masters who have truly mastered their skills, right? Someone like us..."

He pursed his lips and didn't say anything more.

These apprentices at the pharmacy, barely able to afford enough to eat, had no energy left to practice martial arts. Even the Iron Mountain Fist passed down in the pharmacy was rarely mastered.

Chen Yue's eyes flickered slightly, a hint of thought flashing in the depths of his eyes. Then, as if casually mentioning it, he steered the conversation to the medicinal herbs that would be dried the next day.

Liu Jing, without suspecting anything, continued the conversation.

Night was falling.

The noise in the backyard of the pharmacy gradually subsided. The apprentices, exhausted from a day's work, dragged their weary bodies back to the dormitory and fell asleep immediately.

Soon, a chorus of snoring and teeth grinding filled the air.

Chen Yue did not sleep.

Although the afternoon nap was disturbed by nightmares, it also managed to replenish some of my energy, and now I feel a kind of morbid excitement.

He knew that this wasn't because he had rested well, but rather a form of self-protection where his body was forcibly overdrawing its mental energy under the pressure of the crisis, and it wouldn't last long.

Chen Yue quietly got up and left the room.

The moonlight was cool and clear, like mercury spilling onto the ground. The night wind blew through the narrow alleyways, bringing with it the faint sound of distant watchmen's drums.

Chen Yue walked to a relatively open area in the center of the courtyard, took off his outer garment, and wore only a thin inner garment.

He took a slow breath, assumed a starting stance, and began to practice a set of boxing techniques with slow and awkward movements.

Iron Mountain Fist.

This is a rudimentary boxing style taught to apprentices by Huichuntang. The shop assistants in the pharmacy deal with medicinal herbs all year round, so they also need to be in good physical condition.

This boxing style may seem simple, but it is extremely difficult to master and requires years of hard work to achieve any real success.

Most apprentices, including Chen Yue's predecessor, only learned the basic moves, at most just getting their muscles loosened.

At this moment, Chen Yue's movements were ridiculously slow. Each move was like an old man taking small steps, or like he was struggling to move through the air.

Raising his hand, lifting his foot, turning around, clenching his fist... he performed every subtle movement with utmost seriousness, trying hard to recall the vague impressions left from watching other apprentices practice, as well as the fragmented key points from his predecessor's memories.

The muscles were trembling slightly, not from exertion, but from the weakness of the body.

After a slow and leisurely round of punches, Chen Yue was panting heavily, with fine beads of cold sweat on his forehead. His cheeks, which had just been slightly relieved by sleep, had lost all color again and turned as pale as paper.

He leaned against the medicine drying rack next to him and took a while to catch his breath.

But Chen Yue did not stop.

Gritting his teeth, he got into position again and started the second round.

This time, it was even more difficult than the last. My movements were distorted, my breathing was disordered, and it felt like a huge rock was pressing on my chest, with each exhale causing a burning pain.

After barely finishing one round of punches, Chen Yue's legs went weak, and he almost collapsed to the ground, only managing to stay upright by grabbing onto the drying rack. Sweat had already soaked through his undershirt, clinging tightly to his skin.

Chen Yue knew he had reached his limit; if he continued training, he might just follow in his predecessor's footsteps.

Chen Yue did not immediately return to the house, but instead walked to the small medicinal herb garden at the foot of the courtyard wall under the cool moonlight.

There, some common and easy-to-grow herbs were planted for the apprentices to identify. The herbs under the moonlight looked different from those in the daytime; the outlines of the leaves were blurred, and the scent was much fainter.

He crouched down, enduring the aches and dizziness in his body, and carefully examined the plants.

This process is somewhat easier than boxing, but only to a limited extent. When extremely tired, concentrating becomes exceptionally difficult.

As the night deepened, Chen Yue finally couldn't hold on any longer. He stood up unsteadily and slowly moved back to the room filled with a pungent smell.

A strong stench of sweat, foot odor, musty smell of old straw mats, and various other indescribable body odors assaulted the senses.

If he had just transmigrated, this smell would have been enough to make him faint. But three months have passed, and his nose has become numb, or rather, his body has long since become accustomed to this living environment.

Chen Yue groped his way back to his bunk and lay down fully clothed. A wave of exhaustion washed over him, gradually swallowing up his initial excitement.

His eyelids closed heavily, and just before his consciousness sank into darkness, he seemed to feel the dark spot on his chest throb slightly beneath his clothes.

……

"Chen Yue! Get up now! You'll get a beating if you're late!"

"The water tank is empty! Who's going to fetch some water?"

The cacophony of voices, the clanging of tools, and the shouts of urging and cursing jolted Chen Yue awake from his deep sleep like a blunt hammer. He opened his eyes abruptly; the sky was already beginning to lighten, and the room was a scene of bustling activity with people moving about.

Almost instinctively, Chen Yue focused his mind, and a familiar ripple appeared in the air before him.

The translucent panel quietly emerged.

Daily Settlement

[Efforts to grind, cut, and identify herbs will earn you +20 experience in herb identification.]

[Practice Iron Mountain Fist diligently; Iron Mountain Fist experience +10.]

[Name: Chen Yue]

[Skill: Herb Identification (Beginner 53/100)]

[Skill: Iron Mountain Fist (Beginner 10/100)]

[Source: 1]

Chen Yue's gaze froze on the panel, his heart suddenly pounding.