Urban Martial Saint

Inside the mountain belly of Medicine King Mountain, Lin Tianyou sits cross-legged in Divine Doctor An Shiping’s Pill Room. In this room, there are at least a hundred books, all of which are the secret manuals of Divine Doctor An Shiping’s years of medical practice. Lin Tianyou must read and memorize all these books to thoroughly inherit the legacy of Divine Doctor An Shiping.

Of course, while the number of books seems substantial, each book’s content is not much. Divine Doctor An Shiping did not have modern electronic printing methods; these secret manuals were still handwritten by him with a brush, character by character. The amount of content each page can hold is vastly different from modern electronically printed paper.

Lin Tianyou has been in this mountain for a full two days, spending all his time in the Pill Room, carefully studying An Shiping’s secret manuals. Initially, when he met An Shiping, he doubted An Shiping’s words. He even considered An Shiping might be a madman, for how could anyone say things like resurrecting the dead?

However, after seeing the first secret manual An Shiping handed to him, his doubts vanished completely. The contents recorded in An Shiping’s secret manual were things he never dared to imagine. Yet, as a fellow doctor, he could instantly tell these methods were absolutely effective. Not only effective, they were akin to magic. Especially one chapter, though it recorded ancient medical methods, Lin Tianyou compared them to many modern diseases and found the method effective for them as well. He even faintly felt this method might be worth testing against cancer.

After reading the first book, Lin Tianyou was completely captivated by the secret manuals. For two whole days, he had read nearly half of the entire collection, only sleeping for three hours, under An Shiping’s insistence that he rest, otherwise he would have kept reading relentlessly.

For two days, Lin Tianyou did not utter a word, keeping his focus on the books even while eating, drinking, and attending to personal matters. Though silent, amazed by the secret techniques within these books, he felt his life’s worth finally validated. To witness such miraculous methods was worth living for. As they say, ’If one learns in the morning, death in the evening is acceptable,’ Lin Tianyou now embraced this mindset, acquiring such knowledge was worth dying for.

Divine Doctor An Shiping had also stayed in the Pill Room during these two days. Observing Lin Tianyou’s sleepless and tireless study of the secret manuals, he felt gratified.

An Shiping set this day’s plan decades ago, deliberately leaving his descendant behind to establish such a scenario to select someone who could inherit his legacy. He always believed a healer’s heart should be unbiased, saving lives regardless of the person’s morality. Thus, he crafted this plan to test one’s mindset; Lin Tianyou met his criteria perfectly.

However, finding someone meeting his standards wasn’t the most challenging part; the key was whether this person had an interest in medicine, which was uncertain. Lin Tianyou’s performance exceeded An Shiping’s expectations and brought him joy. With such a successor, he was now unburdened.

Amidst a soft rustling sound, Python Xiao Lu suddenly appeared at the Pill Room entrance. Xiao Lu’s head carried a tray with five pills and a basin of clear water—the food Lin Tianyou had daily.

An Shiping took the tray and gently petted Xiao Lu’s head. Xiao Lu affectionately nuzzled against An Shiping’s arm before leaving the Pill Room.

”Come, have some food first.” An Shiping placed the tray beside Lin Tianyou and snatched the book from his hands.

”Let me finish this part first,” Lin Tianyou tried to grab it back but was stopped by An Shiping’s hand.

”Eat first,” An Shiping said with a gentle smile, setting the five pills before Lin Tianyou.

Over the past two days, Lin Tianyou had learned about An Shiping’s character, and without further attempt to snatch the book back, he took the pills, starting with one he popped into his mouth.

The pill melted in his mouth, transforming into a refreshing liquid that spread through Lin Tianyou’s abdomen. This liquid did not linger in his stomach but navigated through his viscera like a lingshe, remarkably mystical.

This wasn’t Lin Tianyou’s first experience with this kind of pill, and he was no longer astonished as the first time. He sat cross-legged, closed his eyes, and followed An Shiping’s previously taught breathing and meditation methods, guiding the refreshing liquid along a trajectory within his body.

An Shiping watched beside him. During Lin Tianyou’s breathing and meditation, visible white mist rose above his head, looking quite strange. But An Shiping felt utterly gratified, knowing the reason behind it, which remained unknown to Lin Tianyou.

For these days, everything Lin Tianyou consumed were these pills, a result of thirty years of An Shiping’s painstaking efforts.

The first pill Lin Tianyou consumed was called Marrow Cleansing Pill, which cleanses impurities and stagnant air from the body. Humans consume grains and inhale air, inevitably causing waste deposit within their bodies, particularly in modern society where pollution is increasingly severe, making waste deposition more profound. These wastes are particularly detrimental for a martial artist. If one wishes to master unsupassed martial arts, they need to utilize inner strength to clear waste from the body, which is the fast-acting effect of the Marrow Cleansing Pill.

The second pill, called Foundation Pill, primarily tempers the meridians. To cultivate strong inner strength, one must first train the meridians. If the meridians are weak, no amount of inner strength can be exerted. Just like Ye Qing, who, despite having peak master-level inner strength, due to inadequate meridian strength, would break the meridians by forcefully exerting inner strength. The Foundation Pill’s role is to fortify the meridians, expanding the meridial pathways, thus enabling the body to withstand potent inner strength.

The third pill, named Meridian Clearing Pill, is mainly used for unblocking meridians. Martial artists, upon reaching adulthood, if unable to achieve internal energy release, generally lose hope as their meridians are completely obstructed. The role of the Meridian Clearing Pill is to clear the meridians, capable of forcibly unblocking them, and allowing further inner strength cultivation even with previous blockages—a miraculous feat.

The fourth pill, Enlightening Pill, is used primarily for opening acupoints. Though having unobstructed meridians is a prerequisite, the most critical is whether the acupoints where meridians merge can be cleared. The Enlightening Pill’s function is to open all acupoints in the body. This task is exceptionally arduous; it’s possible to open a few acupoints in the body for ordinary people, but entirely opening all acupoints to achieve complete unity surpasses difficulty—particularly the governor and conception vessels, known as Life and Death Acupoint, are the hardest to clear. Yet once these are activated, the body’s full potential is unleashed, allowing inner strength to reach its acme, a prerequisite for becoming a peak master.

Though Helian Tiehua told Ye Qing about peak masters, he did not explain how top-level masters become peak masters. The distinction between top-level and peak masters is precisely due to peak masters having opened the governor and conception vessels, while top-level masters haven’t, and this is the difference. Only by opening the governor and conception vessels can inner strength be practiced to its acme. If these vessels remain closed, regardless of power, acme remains unattainable, hence the gap.

An Shiping’s creation of the Enlightening Pill is akin to grasping nature’s essence, forcibly clearing all bodily acupoints using medicinal methods, including the governor and conception vessels. If Lin Tianyou can open these vessels, it equates to complete renovation, equipping him with the prerequisite to become a peak master.

In truth, although the first four pills are extraordinarily rare and valuable, the most cherished is the final pill, named Vitality Pill. This pill is crafted from precious herbs gathered across the nation, consuming An Shiping’s heart and soul over thirty years. Its efficacy is to enhance one’s inner strength!

An Shiping’s intent was not only to pass down his medical prowess but also to create a peak master, as his own strength was exceptionally formidable. His legacy includes both medical knowledge and martial arts.

However, An Shiping knew his remaining time was limited, realizing it was impossible to impart all martial arts entirely to his successor. Hence, he devised these pills to transform his successor into a peak master. The efficacy of these Vitality Pills is immensely powerful; once fully consumed, they ensure even one lacking martial arts skills can ascend to a peak master!

Lin Tianyou had no idea of the miraculous effects of the pills he consumed; his focus was primarily on the books. Eating seemed to him a time-consuming task, and he did not bother about the specifics as long as he was fed.

It took Lin Tianyou an hour to finish the five pills. Because for each pill consumed, he had to follow An Shiping’s breathing methods to absorb the medicinal effects, costing time.

After finishing the five pills, Lin Tianyou drank the water in a few gulps, immediately grabbing the book and resumed his engrossed reading.