After a few moments of idle chat, Lin Sha suddenly fell silent.
Without moving a muscle, she strangely shot upward, disappearing among the rafters.
A moment later, the sound of footsteps echoed.
The laughter arrived before the person did. "Hahaha, Junior Brother Qiu, still practicing Alchemy so late at night!"
Du Youqian smiled faintly and looked up, just in time to see Yang Wenwan striding in. "Big Brother, you must have been busy with official duties until now. The lives and fortunes of the soldiers and civilians of the Three States rest on your shoulders. You must take good care of yourself."
He glanced over at the person beside Yang Wenwan: the expert known as Mr. Si, hidden beneath a hood. He was always unsmiling, watching everything that approached Yang Wenwan with a vigilant gaze.
Du Youqian didn't greet Mr. Si, as he knew he wouldn't get a response even if he did.
'Lin Sha's Martial Arts have reached a new level,' he thought. 'She was so close to Yang Wenwan, yet she wasn't discovered.'
'She's probably only a hair's breadth away from the Innate Realm.'
'Although for many people, that hair's breadth is a gap they might not cross in ten or even twenty years.'
'But for a prodigy like Lin Sha, breaking through shouldn't be too difficult.'
'And she's... only just turned twenty!'
'Such talent is truly enviable.'
Yang Wenwan laughed. "Junior Brother, you jest. I am an Innate, so I won't damage my foundation even if I don't sleep for days on end. You, on the other hand, Junior Brother, though your Martial Arts are progressing rapidly, your foundation is not yet solid. You shouldn't stay up late so often and harm your body."
Du Youqian could only nod helplessly at his words.
'Do you think I *want* to practice Martial Arts?'
'I have an Immortal Cultivation Technique, so why would I bother with Martial Arts?'
But he had no choice. According to the information he had from the end of his last life, Momenan was supposed to be a Land of the Dead Spirit, likely a place where Spiritual Qi was actively dissipating.
Within this Land of the Dead Spirit, in the mortal regions, the Spiritual Qi was far too thin and riddled with impurities.
Moreover, in this reincarnation, Du Youqian had gained two more Spirit Roots, disrupting the balance. The bonus that the Five Elements Spirit Absorption Technique provided for having Five Spirit Roots was gone.
On top of that, he didn't have a body of Innate True Qi to convert into Magical Power.
His Cultivation speed wouldn't just be a turtle's pace; it would be a snail's pace.
So, after a few days of meditating and performing Circulations, Du Youqian decisively gave up and switched to practicing Martial Arts.
'It would be better to become an Innate Martial Artist again and then switch to Immortal Cultivating!'
However, even though he had a lifetime of experience in Martial Arts, possessed a body with supreme martial talent, and even brazenly skimmed some medicinal herbs from time to time to concoct supplements for himself, he simply hadn't been training for long enough.
At this point, he was still far from the Innate Realm.
He could barely hold his own against that physician from Xuanhu Hall. Compared to Long Ruzhen or the Lin Sha of six months ago, the gap in their abilities was still vast.
At best, he could be considered to have just squeezed into the ranks of first-rate experts.
After a few more pleasantries, Yang Wenwan suddenly changed the subject. "I know that you are a man of great ambition, Junior Brother Qiu."
"Big Brother, you're mistaken about that. The glory and wealth of the mortal world hold no attraction for me," Du Youqian said seriously.
"Of course I know that. I know what you want," Yang Wenwan said, his tone as warm and familiar as an older brother's. "Junior Brother, don't worry, I won't stand in the way of your future. It's just that I'm truly short on talent here. If you'll just help me for a while, I'll take you to a good place. Whether you can stay there will depend on your own destiny, but I have faith that you'll be able to."
Du Youqian's heart stirred. "Big Brother, could you be talking about..."
Yang Wenwan cut him off. "It's enough that you know it in your heart. Some things are not meant to be spoken aloud."
Du Youqian knew Yang Wenwan wasn't a charlatan who relied on deceit and trickery.
Since he had given such a firm assurance, it seemed he really did have some connection to the Cultivators within the Han Kingdom.
"Big Brother," Du Youqian said with a smile after a moment of consideration, "actually, I also know how to forge weapons. My skills may be crude, but I can still help ease your burdens."
Yang Wenwan didn't doubt him and let out a hearty laugh. "Oh? I didn't expect you to have such a skill, Junior Brother. Excellent. Tomorrow, I'll make arrangements to have a room prepared for you, along with the necessary tools and materials. I'll also assign you a few assistants."
Du Youqian nodded. "Then I thank you, Big Brother. Also, if I'm to divide my attention to forge weapons, I won't have as much time for Alchemy. Why don't you select a few clever and trustworthy physicians, and I'll teach them some of my humble insights?"
Yang Wenwan's eyes lit up. "Junior Brother, are you serious?"
Even the perpetually stern Mr. Si couldn't help but give Du Youqian a second glance.
"I am."
Yang Wenwan immediately said, "I'll arrange it at once. Junior Brother, on behalf of the soldiers and civilians of the Three States, I thank you."
With that said, he turned and left, as swift and decisive as a thunderclap.
After Yang Wenwan left, Lin Sha once again slid down silently from the rafters, hanging upside down. "What was that cryptic exchange all about? Where is he going to take you? Why did you suddenly agree to forge weapons for him and even pass on your peerless Alchemy techniques to people he designates? He's promised you all sorts of benefits over the past six months, and you were never once tempted."
Du Youqian smiled faintly and asked in return, "Do you believe Immortals exist in this world?"
Lin Sha hesitated for a moment, then shook her head. "Those are just baseless legends."
"Haha, let's say they are just legends for now. Just imagine—and I'm only saying 'if'," Du Youqian said with a half-smile, "what if Immortals really do exist? In that case, what do you think an Innate Grandmaster amounts to compared to an Immortal?"
"The Immortals of legend can move mountains, overturn seas, and pluck the stars and moon from the sky. If Immortals truly existed, an Innate Grandmaster would be nothing more than an insect before them. But there are no Immortals in this world! If there were, why would they allow so much suffering to exist?" Lin Sha's voice grew more and more resentful as she spoke.
'I wonder what she's been through?'
After a long silence, she asked, "Young Master Qiu, could it be that there really are Immortals in this world? I... I don't believe it! It's impossible, absolutely impossible!"
Seeing her so emotional, Du Youqian couldn't help but form a few theories.
But he said nothing.
Lin Sha was lost in thought for a moment, then suddenly asked, "Young Master Qiu, I've known you for a while now, and you never showed any knowledge of medicine before. Yang Wenwan investigated you, too. You've never even read a single medical book, nor have you been in contact with anyone special. Your explanation to him was that all this knowledge was just stuffed into your head overnight, that no one taught you. And Yang Wenwan just laughed and said that perhaps you had awakened the wisdom of a past life, a gift from the heavens, and didn't probe any further. At the time, I just thought he was joking."
At this, Lin Sha's eyes shot wide open. "So, Young Master Qiu, Yang Wenwan actually believes that Immortals and reincarnation exist. He even thinks you're a reincarnated Immortal. And you believe all this too, don't you?"
Du Youqian smiled without answering.
Lin Sha didn't press the matter. She shot upward again, disappearing behind a rafter.
Only a single sentence drifted down, its final words echoing in the room.
"I've been observing those women for a while. They're a bit foolish, but they're decent people. You might as well take them in to take care of your daily needs. Don't worry, I won't kill them."
Du Youqian chuckled and shook his head.
'I'm completely devoted to seeking the Great Dao.'
'How could I possibly waste more time on women?'