Where's my golden core? Did you think I removed a kidney stone?

The next seven days passed quickly.

Su Ye went to work as usual every day. That's just how life is in the hospital. When things get busy, it's already dark before you know it. You're tired, but because you're so busy, time seems to fly by.

During these seven days, Su Ye clearly felt that Zhang Yuanping's attitude towards him had changed significantly. Although he had been very nice to Su Ye before, there was something else going on now. Also, their temporary "small group" was slowly starting to take shape and had a more stable core.

Wang Luo is always making a racket in the group chat, sending as many as eighty messages a day. Wang Dandan is still lively, short in stature, but the most talkative, always complaining about how bad the cafeteria food is, how difficult the teachers are, and how troublesome the patients are. Su Bei always gently picks up on the conversation, keeping the conversation flowing without interrupting or stealing the spotlight.

Over the course of seven days, they actually organized several of their own activities in a very professional manner.

Once, after finishing a night shift, the four of them went to the back gate of the hospital for a barbecue. Another time, on a rest afternoon, Wang Dandan insisted on dragging everyone to sing karaoke, and she ended up singing the craziest song, while Wang Luo shouted along, almost hoarse from yelling. Yet another time, when Su Bei's rotation was about to end, the group gathered together to drink milk tea and chat about which departments they wanted to work in and whether they wanted to stay in the hospital.

These things are all very ordinary.

But it is precisely this ordinariness that sometimes makes Su Ye momentarily dazed.

It felt as if I had truly and completely integrated into this world.

Like those absurd dreams from a past life—overtime, rented rooms, and sudden death at the workplace—they are gradually being covered up by the everyday life before my eyes.

However, Su Ye never forgot the most important thing.

Spiritual practice.

He didn't miss a single day of the seven days.

Work during the day, practice meditation at night.

With each practice session, Su Ye tried to further refine his breathing technique, adjusting, filling in gaps, and optimizing the wonderful rhythm between his breath and heartbeat.

What he wanted was not a barely usable prototype.

It is not a book on breathing techniques, but a book that truly belongs to you.

A law that you can keep pushing forward, a law that can support you all the way.

Unfortunately, the progress is frustratingly slow.

Although the efficiency of spiritual energy entering the body is much higher than before, the feeling of "absorbing the spiritual energy of heaven and earth into the body with the breath" is not stable. Sometimes I can smoothly absorb seven or eight strands of spiritual energy in one night, and sometimes I get stuck at a certain rhythm, struggling back and forth for an hour, and in the end I only catch two or three strands.

Indeed, he was improving every day, and Su Ye felt that his physique was growing into a "non-human" state.

However, it is extremely difficult to truly integrate these scattered changes into a complete system of cultivation.

Sometimes, when Su Ye stood by the window, feeling the night breeze, he couldn't help but sigh.

The process of cultivation, starting from nothing, is indeed incredibly difficult!

He even felt a little nostalgic for the academic systems he had once studied, systems that had already been thoroughly researched.

Mathematics, physics, medicine—no matter how difficult, at least predecessors have paved the way. But now, the path he's on doesn't even have a map; he's completely feeling his way across the river.

Thinking of this, Su Ye couldn't help but recall the man who fainted during the marathon.

Li Tong.

After that day, Li Tong seemed to have completely disappeared from his life.

There was no follow-up visit, no phone call, and no return to the hospital for examination.

Su Ye had originally thought that since he had left his business card, Li Tong would contact him even if he experienced any further health problems. But seven days passed without any news.

This left him somewhat disappointed.

Because that time was almost the closest he ever came to the nascent form of a fire-type golden core.

"His fire-type golden core is showing signs of taking shape, and it is being born from his heart."

"The heart belongs to the element of fire..."

Su Ye sat at the table, twirling a pen in his hand, his thoughts drifting deeper and deeper.

One's own golden elixir grows in the kidneys; it is a water-based golden elixir, with effects primarily focused on the spirit, enhancing memory, comprehension, perception, and deduction abilities.

What about fire-type golden cores?

Since it grows in the heart, what exactly are its special effects?

explosive force?

speed?

A dramatic increase in Qi and blood?

Or is it more related to the heart itself?

Su Ye tapped the table lightly, suddenly recalling what he had sensed in his palm when Li Tong was unconscious that day.

That heart drives the breathing, blood, and even some unseen energy within the body, creating a strange rhythm.

It was from that rhythm that he first truly grasped the rudiments of breathing techniques.

Su Ye's eyes gradually brightened.

"Could it be spiritual energy?"

"No, or rather, it's not just spiritual energy."

"The heart... is more like a giant engine."

For someone who has truly embarked on the path to the extraordinary, the heart may be the most fundamental source of motivation.

In an average person, the heart is responsible for supplying blood and sustaining life.

The heart of an extraordinary being may also be responsible for "igniting" the entire body.

Ignite the blood.

Ignite spiritual energy.

Ignite the power that supports the physical body to transcend its limits.

Su Ye suddenly realized something.

And then I became even more excited.

My chest felt like it was being scratched by cat claws, an unbearable itch.

He was now almost certain that he had reached the threshold, but he didn't know what lay behind the door, or what kind of qualitative change the heart would bring after true evolution.

The less you know, the more excited you become.

However, these things can't be rushed.

Su Ye knew very well that the worst thing in cultivation was to be impatient.

Taking too big a step can easily lead to injury.

The heart is something you shouldn't mess with.

He was silent for a moment, then muttered to himself:

"If I have the chance, I should still look for books on ancient martial arts and flip through them."

Even if nine out of ten sentences are nonsense, as long as you can find a clue in the wisdom of the ancients, it is better than struggling alone.

After saying this, Su Ye chuckled and shook his head.

A modern medical genius studies breathing techniques at night and thinks about ancient martial arts manuals during the day.

This is somewhat ridiculous.

Just then, my phone vibrated.

In the small group chat, Wang Luo suddenly tagged him.

Su Ye clicked on it to take a look.

[Wang Luo: @Su Ye, you've become so famous lately, Ye-ge! My colleagues are all talking about you, saying that a medical genius has emerged in Jiangcheng, capable of bringing back the medical guru, Grandpa Zhou Jingtang, to the forefront!!!]

That's how it is in group chats; once someone starts talking, they immediately start chattering on and on.

[Wang Dandan: Not only that, but I even heard people talking about you when I was taking a dump in the women's restroom today. They were saying you're the "new face of the hospital."]

[Wang Luo: Hahaha, the newly appointed face of the group, I'm so proud!]

[Wang Dandan: Come on, what's it to you? Get lost, you piece of trash.]

[Wang Luo: ? Feed me peanuts!]

[Wang Dandan: I suggest that Su Dailao wear a mask and sunglasses when going out in the future to avoid being surrounded by onlookers]

Wang Luo: Hahahahahaha

[Wang Dandan: To be honest, it feels pretty good. A big shot from the province actually snuck into our group.]

【…】

The group chat was in an uproar.

Su Ye stared at the messages for a long time without saying a word.

In the end, he just leaned back in his chair, looking somewhat troubled, and gave a helpless laugh.

People fear becoming famous, just as pigs fear growing fat.