At five in the afternoon, the sun was still vicious. However, the anatomy building of West Hua Medical University, nestled in a bamboo grove, was quite cool.
In a classroom on the second floor, the anatomy teacher, Yu Ke, stood at the lectern giving a lesson, a skull in her hand.
Below, some students listened attentively, some were dozing off, and others were playing on their phones. But most were fiddling with the bones on their desks.
These were real human bones and also the teaching tools of the anatomy classroom. From the smallest finger bones to the largest skulls, they had the full range. For students just beginning their study of anatomy, they held a great deal of fascination.
The bell signaling the end of class rang, and Yu Ke stopped her lecture. She gave an order to a dark, thin student in the front row, "Zhao Yuan, put the teaching materials away, and don't forget to check the inventory."
"Yes, ma'am." Zhao Yuan put down his textbook and rose to collect the bones, not forgetting to call out a reminder. "Everyone, please leave the bones on your desks when you go. Don't take any with you." Then he turned to his roommate, Wang Rongfeng, and said, "Hey, can you grab me some dinner on your way back? Same as usual—my meal card is in my drawer. Thanks."
"Got it," Wang Rongfeng replied.
Zhao Yuan came from a remote mountainous region and his family was poor. After his academic advisor found out, they helped him get a job as a general assistant in the anatomy building. The pay wasn't much, but if he was frugal, it was enough to cover his monthly living expenses.
This was the last class of the afternoon. After putting away the bones, Zhao Yuan began to clean the anatomy building. The other three assistants had also arrived, but they didn't join the work. Instead, they gathered together, cracking melon seeds and chatting.
Unlike Zhao Yuan, these three hadn't become assistants for the meager stipend. They were there to pad their resumes in order to join the student union. Not only did they look down on Zhao Yuan, but they also bullied him at every turn, often dumping their work on him while they slacked off and enjoyed themselves.
The sound of footsteps echoed as a teacher approached.
The moment they heard the footsteps, the three slacking assistants put on an act of diligent work, successfully fooling the teacher.
The teacher glanced at the four of them and said, "A corpse will be delivered tonight. You four handle the reception."
"Why at night? Can't they deliver it during the day?" asked the assistant, Wang Lei.
The teacher answered, "The body is in another city. Apparently, it's the corpse of a homeless man that went unclaimed. The university was just notified, so we sent people to retrieve it. With the round trip, it won't arrive until tonight."
"I see." Wang Lei nodded. He and the other two assistants, Zhou Peng and Sun Ke, said in unison, "Leave it to us. We guarantee it'll be handled perfectly!"
The teacher left, satisfied, even praising the three of them before he went.
After seeing the teacher off, the three turned and surrounded Zhao Yuan. In a commanding tone, they said, "This is your job now. Make sure you handle it properly, or don't blame us for what happens to you!"
Zhao Yuan frowned. "The teacher said the four of us were supposed to..."
Sun Ke cut him off viciously. "We're letting you do it. That's a compliment. You dare try to bargain with us? Do you think you're qualified?"
With that, the three turned and left, treating Zhao Yuan as if he were nothing. They knew he treasured this job and would complete the task no matter how hard or tiring it was.
The corpse arrived at the anatomy building a little after eight that night.
With the driver's help, Zhao Yuan carried the body into the dissection room. After logging it in the registry, he opened the lid of the formalin pool. A thick, pungent odor billowed out, so strong that even with a mask on, Zhao Yuan was left gasping for air.
Several corpses floated in the formalin pool, an unsettling sight.
This was the pool where bodies were stored. Once the theory portion of the anatomy class was over and practical lessons began, the teachers would hook a corpse out for the students to dissect with their own hands.
Just as Zhao Yuan was about to place the body into the formalin pool, he suddenly noticed a tattoo-like pattern on the corpse's chest. At a glance, it looked like a human face, but it was hard to see clearly because of the grime.
'Why would someone tattoo a face on their chest? Was it a relative or a lover?'
Driven by curiosity, Zhao Yuan took a cotton ball, dipped it in alcohol, and cleaned the grime from the corpse's chest. To his horror, he found that the face on the corpse's chest was incredibly familiar!
Zhao Yuan's jaw dropped, his expression like he'd just seen a ghost. He gasped in a trembling voice, "Isn't... isn't that me?!"
The face on the corpse's chest was identical to his own!
To see your own face on the chest of a stranger's corpse... could anything possibly be more terrifying?
Zhao Yuan felt the hairs on his body stand on end.
Suddenly, a sharp pain pricked his hand, as if he'd been stabbed by a needle. He quickly pulled his hand back, but a single drop of blood had already passed through a hole in his glove and dripped onto the face on the corpse's chest.
A dazzling, blood-red light burst from the corpse's chest and shot straight into the space between Zhao Yuan's eyebrows.
"AHH—" Zhao Yuan cried out in pain. It felt like something was being stuffed into his head, causing an unbearable, throbbing ache.
Immediately after, the bloody light started from Zhao Yuan's Baihui Acupoint at the crown of his head and spread throughout his body, constantly stimulating his meridians and acupoints. It felt as if he were being continuously electrocuted, a pain beyond words!
This continued for several minutes before the situation improved as the bloody light faded. The face on the corpse's chest had also vanished.
Zhao Yuan gasped for breath, sweating profusely. As the intense pain disappeared, he felt an unprecedented sense of comfort. He also sensed a powerful new strength within his body, which had been weak from malnutrition.
Furthermore, he discovered that a strange seed had appeared inside his mind.
This seed emitted a faint glow, and it would appear whenever he held his breath and focused his mind.
'What is this thing?' Zhao Yuan was filled with astonishment.
Suddenly, the seed's shell cracked and a tender sprout emerged, shimmering with a verdant light that dazzled Zhao Yuan. He felt a stream of information flood his mind.
From this information, he learned the origin of the seed.
This was an Inheritance Seed!
This corpse before him was no homeless man. He was a supreme Venerable from the Cultivation World, a Witch King of his generation who carried out the Celestial Dao to save the world—Wu Peng!
Wu Peng entered the Dao through martial arts and proved his Dao through medicine, his Cultivation reaching the pinnacle of the Cultivation World! But he wasn't content with this and sought to break through to the realm of a Saint. Unfortunately, the path to sainthood is fraught with peril. Despite Wu Peng's immense power, he did not succeed, falling under an endless Celestial Tribulation.
On the brink of death, he converted all his life's knowledge into an Inheritance Seed, hid it within a clone, and forcibly tore open the void. The clone escaped the destruction of the Celestial Tribulation with the Inheritance Seed, only to end up on Earth by a twist of fate, where it was found by Zhao Yuan.
'Cultivation World… Carried out the Celestial Dao to save the world… Failed to become a Saint…'
Zhao Yuan's face was a mask of shock.
Were Cultivators actually real? And he had just received one's inheritance?
'I'm not dreaming, am I?' Zhao Yuan pinched his arm hard. The sharp pain told him this was no dream.
After a long period of shock, Zhao Yuan accepted reality. Then, a new question surfaced in his mind.
'How do I access the knowledge Wu Peng left in the Inheritance Seed?'
The moment the thought arose, the enchanting, jade-like sprout on the seed once again bloomed with a soft green light, transforming into a sheet of text that floated before Zhao Yuan's eyes.
The calligraphy was flowing and energetic, filled with an artistic beauty and philosophical depth.
The passage began: "A Witch communicates with the heavens above and commands the earth below. In their left hand, they grasp all living things; in their right, they govern Divine Demons and Demon Ghosts. They are the teacher of a hundred schools, the ancestor of ten thousand techniques! A Healer brings order to the world on behalf of Heaven, healing humans, Ghosts, Demons, and gods! A Witch Doctor is the representative of the Celestial Dao, the supreme existence in the world! However, the path to achieving the Witch Doctor Dao is rugged and difficult. Only those with great perseverance and great wisdom may succeed!"
'Whoa, the Witch Doctor Dao is that amazing?'
Zhao Yuan was excited, but he also understood that to reach the state described in the text, he would probably have to cultivate the Witch Doctor Dao to its absolute peak. For him right now, that was a far-off dream.
A quick glance at the Information Leaf revealed three main categories: Cultivation Techniques, Medicine, and Miscellaneous Arts.
Under the Cultivation Techniques section was a Guiding Technique called the Four Saints Technique, which could be used to temper the flesh and strengthen the bones and muscles.
The Medicine section mostly contained content related to the Basic Theory of Traditional Chinese Medicine. It was the distilled essence of Wu Peng's research over millions of years, incorporating his understanding of the Yin Yang Five Elements and the Celestial Dao. Moreover, it was written in simple terms, explaining profound concepts in an easy-to-understand manner that made it very conducive to learning.
Zhao Yuan was certain that as long as he could master this content, his medical skills would be absolutely top-notch!
In addition, there was a collection of medical cases and a few prescriptions.
The Miscellaneous Arts section contained other knowledge Wu Peng had mastered, such as the zither, chess, calligraphy, and painting, as well as magic tricks, Oral Skill, and so on. Compared to the first two categories, the amount of content here was simply massive.
According to the Information Leaf, the Four Saints Technique was an introductory Cultivation Technique. Only after successfully completing Muscle Strengthening and crossing the threshold of the Martial Dao's Body Refining stage would the Inheritance Seed bestow new Cultivation Techniques and other knowledge, such as Talismans and Arrays. This was to prevent Zhao Yuan from rashly attempting techniques he couldn't yet handle, which could damage his body and lead to Qigong Deviation.
The same was true for medicine. No new content would appear until Zhao Yuan had thoroughly mastered the basic theories.
Proceeding step-by-step was the one true path.
As for the miscellaneous arts, Wu Peng viewed them as things for relaxation, so there were no restrictions.
"This is great! My dream can come true!"
After reading the contents of the Information Leaf, Zhao Yuan was ecstatic.