The Taiping Medical Hall had always been a peaceful place, standing quietly on Anxi Street.
No matter how many vendors came and went with the changing seasons, the medical hall remained a constant, providing a sense of security to those who passed by.
But recently, the medical hall had become unusually lively.
The young master and the princess had climbed over the wall, and Liang Gou’er and Liang Mao’er had taken up residence here.
Laughter, the crackling of the stove, and the constant flow of wandering martial artists filled the air.
Chen Ji stood at the door, looking at Old Yao with a complicated expression.
"Master, did you bring them here so that Liang Gou’er could teach me sword techniques?"
Old Yao stood with his hands behind his back, his tone indifferent.
"The Liang family’s sword techniques are unmatched in Yuzhou. In this world, there are many who possess skills, but few who truly understand the path. Learn well."
Chen Ji was curious.
"What’s the difference between skill and the path?"
Old Yao answered slowly, "The path is a direction, intangible and vast. Skill is the road beneath your feet. Remember, when the path guides the skill, the skill will flourish. But if skill tries to guide the path, it will inevitably decline."
"Then why are you having me learn sword skills first?"
"Learn them first. How to transition from sword skills to the sword path is a secret of the Liang family. But now, the Liang family has no heir, and this knowledge might be lost. Who knows? Liang Gou’er might just decide to pass it on to you one day. Oh, and by the way, since you’ve been making a lot of money lately, you’ll be covering the food expenses for these two."
Chen Ji became wary.
"You’re still eyeing my meager savings?"
Old Yao nodded.
"Yes, I am."
Chen Ji: "..."
At that moment, Liang Mao’er’s voice came from the backyard.
"Excuse me... where are we supposed to sleep?"
Chen Ji quickly walked in.
"You can sleep in the apprentice dormitory. The shared bed can fit five people."
Liang Mao’er hurriedly waved his hands.
"No, no, that’s too crowded. My brother can sleep here. I’ll sleep in the kitchen."
Chen Ji smiled.
"It’s fine. We can squeeze in. Winter is coming, and the kitchen will be freezing."
"Alright..."
Liang Gou’er was already snoring loudly.
Liang Mao’er gently placed him on the bed and removed his shoes and socks.
After finishing, Liang Mao’er didn’t sleep himself.
Instead, he turned to Chen Ji and said cautiously, "Um... I can help with chores. Cleaning, cooking, washing clothes—I’m not afraid of hard work."
Before Chen Ji could respond, Liang Mao’er grabbed a wooden basin, collected the dirty clothes and socks from the apprentice dormitory, and went to the kitchen to fetch some wood ash.
He squatted in the courtyard, scooping water and scrubbing the clothes, as if afraid the medical hall might change its mind and refuse to shelter them.
Wood ash and soapberries were the natural cleaning agents of this era.
Wealthier households might add mint, skullcap, or lotus leaves to give the clothes a faint fragrance.
Liang Mao’er, with his chubby frame, struggled to squat.
After a moment of thought, Chen Ji brought him a small stool.
"Sit and wash."
Liang Mao’er looked up and smiled.
"Thank you... I’m sorry for causing you trouble."
Chen Ji observed him.
Without Liang Gou’er around, Liang Mao’er didn’t seem like a martial artist at all.
He looked more like a hardworking employee from a small eatery.
"Do you two really have no money left?" Chen Ji asked, puzzled.
"I’ve actually saved a little, but I can’t let my brother know," Liang Mao’er said with a honest smile.
"I’m planning to save enough to buy a few acres of land in the countryside near Luocheng. That way, even if my brother doesn’t work for the wealthy, we can still survive."
"That won’t be enough for your brother’s drinking habits."
"We’ll figure it out when the time comes..."
After Liang Mao’er finished washing the accumulated clothes of Liu Quxing and She Dengke, his stomach suddenly growled.
Liang Mao’er looked embarrassed.
"Um... is there any food in the medical hall? Anything is fine. I’m not picky."
Chen Ji brought him a large bowl of leftover corn porridge, a plate of pickles, and four coarse grain pancakes.
Liang Mao’er devoured them all in one go, wiped his mouth, and silently looked at Chen Ji again.
Chen Ji took a deep breath and brought out four more pancakes and another plate of pickles...
After Liang Mao’er finished, Chen Ji said quietly, "Your brother needs to teach me sword techniques soon."
"Ah? So urgent?" Liang Mao’er was taken aback.
Chen Ji said seriously, "If he doesn’t teach me soon, I might change my mind..."
Liang Mao’er quickly asked, "Have you practiced sword techniques before?"
"No, I haven’t."
Liang Mao’er thought for a moment.
"Then I can teach you the basics. I know the fundamental sword techniques."
With that, he waved his chubby arms a couple of times.
"When my father taught my brother, I also learned a bit. But I’m not talented, so I didn’t master it."
Chen Ji watched Liang Mao’er’s awkward movements and changed the subject.
"Was your brother always like this?"
"No," Liang Mao’er said quickly.
"My brother didn’t drink before, and he never went to those kinds of places. Back then, he was the greatest swordsman in Yuzhou. With just one sword, he wiped out the bandits from three mountains. Any martial artist coming to Luocheng had to pay their respects to him first."
As Liang Mao’er spoke of his brother’s past glory, his eyes filled with nostalgia and admiration.
Chen Ji asked curiously, "What happened after that?"
Liang Mao’er’s tone grew somber.
"Then my sister-in-law appeared. She was beautiful and gentle, and she treated my brother and me very well. She saw my brother practicing sword techniques and insisted on learning from him. But after she learned, she disappeared. From then on, my brother stopped practicing and started drinking."
The Liang family’s sword techniques were a closely guarded secret, not just a family tradition but also because they understood the dangers of sharing the path of cultivation.
Yet Liang Gou’er had shared his techniques, and this was the result.
Chen Ji asked curiously, "Did your sister-in-law ever reappear?"
Liang Mao’er thought for a moment.
"My brother said she might have returned to the northern Jing Dynasty..."
Before he could finish, Liang Gou’er, drunk, leaned against the doorframe and shouted angrily, "I told you not to mention that again!"
Liang Mao’er shrank back.
"I won’t, I won’t."
Liang Gou’er glanced at Chen Ji.
"You really want to learn sword techniques?"
"Yes," Chen Ji said sincerely.
"Then tell me, why do you want to learn?" Liang Gou’er asked.
"To protect myself."
Liang Gou’er burst into laughter.
"Then you shouldn’t learn sword techniques! Sword techniques are bold and unrestrained. To learn them, you must first have the confidence to split mountains, not talk about self-protection. The moment you think about protecting yourself, you’ve already abandoned your sword."
Chen Ji thought for a moment.
"Then what should I learn?"
Liang Gou’er tossed his sword to Chen Ji and pointed to the kitchen.
"Bring a piece of firewood. I’ll know what you should learn after you chop it."
Chen Ji fetched a piece of firewood and stood it in the courtyard.
He drew the sword and swung it along the grain of the wood.
The blade got stuck in the surface of the wood.
Only then did he realize that Liang Gou’er’s sword was unsharpened!
How was this possible? An unsharpened sword had sliced through Lin Chaoqing’s hat mid-air?
He looked at Liang Gou’er.
"Why isn’t this sword sharpened?"
Liang Gou’er said nonchalantly, "Because it doesn’t need to be."
Chen Ji didn’t know how to respond.
Liang Gou’er had chosen the most pretentious answer between "the most serious" and "the least serious."
At that moment, Liu Quxing and She Dengke were also awakened.
They peeked out from the doorframe.
Liang Gou’er carefully examined the cut Chen Ji had made, though it was unclear what he was looking for.
Without a word, he took the sword from Chen Ji and casually swung it.
The firewood in the courtyard split in two, the cut surface smooth.
Liang Gou’er turned to Chen Ji.
"The sword is domineering. The Liang family’s sword techniques are straightforward—whether you have an opening or not, I’ll strike, and you’ll be full of openings. But in your hands, the sword doesn’t seem like a sword anymore. It’s more like a blade that seeks out weaknesses, like a sword that takes the unconventional path. So you shouldn’t learn sword techniques. You should find someone to teach you the sword."
"Is it that one’s personality determines their path?" Chen Ji pondered.
"The heart and the intent must align. If the path you walk doesn’t match your heart, you won’t go far," Liang Gou’er explained.
Liang Mao’er, standing to the side, was confused.
"Brother, didn’t you say before that the sword is the king’s path, similar to our family’s sword techniques?"
Liang Gou’er looked at Chen Ji meaningfully.
"The sword I’m talking about isn’t the one at your waist. It’s the sword seed from the Jing Dynasty’s Martial Temple. So you shouldn’t learn sword techniques from me. You should go to the Jing Dynasty’s Martial Temple to learn the sword."
Chen Ji was stunned.
He had once been taken by the icy current to an ancient battlefield, where someone had asked him, "Who stole my sword seed?"
Could the sword seed they mentioned be related to the one in the Jing Dynasty’s Martial Temple?
Chen Ji asked, "Can I only learn it at the Jing Dynasty’s Martial Temple?"
Liang Gou’er thought for a moment.
"There might be someone in the Ning Dynasty who practices it, but the last time they made a move was over ten years ago, and everyone who saw it died."
Chen Ji fell into deep thought.
If he really had to go to the Jing Dynasty’s Martial Temple to learn, would he have to make a great contribution in the Ning Dynasty, rise through the ranks, and eventually be transferred back to the Jing Dynasty?
But how long would that take?
Liang Gou’er looked at him and said, "Don’t practice sword techniques anymore. Practicing now will only lead you astray, and it’ll be hard to correct later."
Liang Mao’er whispered, "Brother, if he doesn’t practice, where will we live? What will we eat..."
Liang Gou’er quickly changed his tune.
"You can start with stance training and footwork! As the saying goes, teach punches but not footwork, teach footwork and you’ll be beaten by your master! Footwork is the foundation of all strength. Without it, you’ll only use the strength of one arm when you punch. But how much strength does one arm have? With footwork, the power comes from the legs, through the hips, to the waist, and then to the arms. That’s how you gather the strength of your entire body into one point..."
Before he could finish, someone called out from the medical hall’s entrance, "Chen Ji! Chen Ji!"
She Dengke looked over, and Chen Ji frowned.
They both recognized the voice—it was Chunhua.
She Dengke hesitated but ultimately didn’t step out.
Chen Ji walked to the entrance and asked curiously, "Miss Chunhua, what’s the matter?"
Chunhua’s eyes were still swollen from crying.
She handed over an invitation and said softly, "My mistress invites everyone from the medical hall to attend the prince’s literary gathering this afternoon. She said she has important matters to discuss with you."
Chen Ji opened the red invitation.
It read: "On the evening of the tenth day of the ninth month, we will host a banquet, inviting the literati and scholars of Luocheng to share in our camaraderie. We hope you will grace us with your presence."
—From Zhu Yunxi of the Jing Prince’s Residence.
The literary gathering was hosted by the young master, but the princess wanted to use it to discuss the Liu family matter with him?
Chunhua looked at Chen Ji pleadingly and gently pulled up her sleeve, revealing whip marks from a cane.
Chen Ji shook his head.
"Miss Chunhua, showing me this won’t change anything. If I don’t want to go, even if you’re whipped again, it’s none of my concern."
Chunhua grew anxious.
But then Chen Ji’s tone shifted.
"However, tell the princess I’ll be there."
...
Today’s chapter ends here.
The author’s new book, "Rebirth: $100 Million Daily Income": When the wheel of fate begins to turn.
In this life, Lin Dong will become the hand behind the scenes, living the life of a top-tier rich heir.
(End of chapter)