A master of both medicine and martial arts, he picked up a beautiful CEO as his wife.

On the morning of the third day, guests arrived at the mountain gate.

Four people arrived. The young man in the lead wore a moon-white long robe with a warm jade pendant hanging at his waist. He walked with his chin slightly raised and his eyes looking straight ahead, never glancing to the sides.

The visiting card that was presented was decorated with gold leaf.

"Xie Shao of the Canglang Xie Clan." Cen Heming glanced at the invitation, then casually placed it on the table. "What brings you here?"

"I have come on my father's orders to deliver a New Year's gift to Elder Cen." Xie Shao cupped his hands and smiled very politely. "I also have a request. An elder in my family injured his lung meridian two years ago. We consulted many famous doctors, and they all said that he needed a 'Three Yang Stabilizing Pill'. The formula for this pill is only kept in the alchemy room of Nirvana Mountain."

Cen Heming sneered: "Thirty-seven people died at Nirvana Mountain just half a year ago, and our mountain gate was even smashed. Your Canglang Xie Clan is the first to come knocking in the past six months."

Xie Shao's smile froze for a moment.

"Elder, please calm your anger. When your sect was in trouble before, my father intended to send someone to help, but the journey was long and communication was impossible..."

"Alright," Cen Heming interrupted him. "The formula is here, but the herbs are gone. If you want the pills, you'll have to wait three years."

Xie Shao's gaze had already slipped away from Cen Heming. He was looking at the courtyard.

To be precise, he was looking in the direction of the quiet room at the east end of the courtyard—where a man and a woman were walking out side by side. The man was wearing a gray-blue Taoist robe with the sleeves rolled up; the woman was wearing a very plain white shirt and trousers, clearly dressed as someone from the foot of the mountain.

Xie Shao's pupils contracted slightly. Even from across the courtyard, he could feel something seeping out of the woman's body, bit by bit.

Cool. Lingering. Like a piece of ice suddenly pulled from the bottom of a well on a sweltering summer day. Pure Yin for a thousand years. The rumors were indeed true.

"Who are these two?" Xie Shao's voice unconsciously softened slightly.

"I am a person from Nirvana Mountain," Cen Heming said calmly.

By the time Ye Feng and Lin Yuqing approached, Xie Shao had already composed himself. He stepped forward and politely bowed.

"My name is Xie Shao from Canglang."

"Ye Feng".

"Ye..." Xie Shao raised an eyebrow slightly, as if searching for something in his memory, then suddenly realized, "Oh, it's that Dr. Ye from Dongyang. I've heard so much about you."

The "oh" was drawn out a bit. Ye Feng smiled but didn't say anything.

"I've heard that Mr. Ye is very famous for his medical skills in Dongyang," Xie Shao said gently. "He has saved countless lives and also shielded the Lin family from a lot of trouble. It's truly remarkable."

"Just trying to make a living."

"Mr. Ye, you are too modest." Xie Shao's tone became even more gentle. "However... there is something I don't understand. My father once visited the alchemy room on Nirvana Mountain to ask for medicine. At that time, the alchemy room was guarded by several elderly gentlemen with white hair. Now that the alchemy room has reopened, it is managed by a young face like Mr. Ye—"

He paused.

"Isn't it a bit too hasty for your sect to pass on this legacy?"

In the courtyard, several disciples who were working slowed down. Cen Zhao stood under the eaves, his brow furrowed.

Just a few days ago, he thought this junior uncle was a self-taught amateur. But in the past three days, he personally witnessed seventeen townspeople being carried up the mountain and then walking down; he personally witnessed this person not sleeping all night, squatting on the ground and scooping them out one by one.

These words from outsiders didn't sound pleasant. Ye Feng, however, laughed.

"I don't know if it's urgent or not," he said. "Young Master Xie just said that your elder's lung meridian was damaged?"

"Yes."

"What year was the injury?"

"The year before last."

"How did you get hurt?"

Xie Shao was taken aback: "What... has this to do with pills?"

"There's something going on." Ye Feng took two steps forward and stopped. "Let me guess. Your elders are martial arts practitioners, their style is based on soft power, and they're around sixty years old. The injury wasn't from a fight, it was from them going astray. And it wasn't just once, it happened three times in three years."

Xie Shao's smile froze. The courtyard fell silent.

"That last time," Ye Feng continued, "was in winter. At night. He coughed up blood, a dark color, frothy. From then on, he would get short of breath on rainy days, couldn't lie flat, and needed two pillows. Right?"

Xie Shao's face paled inch by inch.

"How...how did you know?"

"You said it." Ye Feng pointed at him. "I've been watching you ever since you entered the courtyard. Your left shoulder is half an inch higher than your right, and your right foot lands harder when you walk—this is a problem you developed from practicing that soft-style martial arts with your elders since you were little; the whole family follows the same pattern. The jade pendant on your waist has its tassel worn down to half, which means you've been running around every day this year, visiting all the famous doctors."

"As for the Three Yang Stabilizing Pill—" Ye Feng chuckled, "What is this pill used for? Tonifying the lungs, relieving asthma, and replenishing qi. But it has a rule: if the lung meridian is damaged by external injury, it will take effect immediately; if the lung meridian is damaged by one's own qi deviation, it will cause immediate death."

"I'm asking you," he looked at Xie Shao, "did the person who prescribed this medicine for your elders tell you this sentence?"

Xie Shao opened his mouth, but couldn't utter a single word.

"I didn't tell him." Ye Feng nodded. "Then when you go back, you'd better find out who this kind person is."

Even the sound of sweeping in the yard stopped.

A fine layer of sweat beaded on Xie Shao's forehead. He had two plans for this trip north: one was to explore this mountain and find that "pure yin" practitioner; the other was to seek the elixir. He spoke so eloquently and maintained such a composed demeanor, all to avoid being outdone.

But he never expected that this "person from the mountain" would expose everything about his family, from head to toe, just by living in a courtyard.

And he couldn't refute a single word of it.

"May I ask...may I ask you, sir," he began with difficulty, his tone completely changed, "about the illness of the elder in your family..."

"It can be cured."

"really?"

"I've treated five people in Dongyang," Ye Feng said, rolling down his sleeves. "But I won't treat you."

Xie Shao froze: "Why?"

Ye Feng raised his eyes; the smile was still there, but it had turned cold.

"Because of what you just said."

"You say my Nirvana Mountain passed on its legacy too quickly."

"The bones of my thirty-seven nephews from Nirvana Mountain are not yet cold," Ye Feng said, enunciating each word clearly. "You are standing on their graves to talk about our family's lineage."

"Young Master Xie," he stepped aside, clearing the path to the mountain gate, "I've noted down your elders' illness. Come back when you've figured out what to say."

"I'll treat it."

Xie Shao stood there for a full ten breaths.

The three attendants behind him turned a deep purplish-red, one of them already had his hand on his waist. Xie Shao reached out and gently pressed that hand down.

Then he took a step back, straightened his clothes, and bowed deeply to Ye Feng. This bow was much lower than the one he had made when he entered.

"I have spoken out of turn."

He straightened up, turned around and left, his back ramrod straight.

The disciples in the courtyard looked at each other, and after a while, someone whispered, "The Xie family of Canglang... they're a family that can shake three provinces with a stomp of their feet in the south."

Cen Zhao stood under the corridor, watching the moon-white figure leave the mountain gate, before finally grinning.

He himself didn't realize that there was a hint of pride in that smile.