3: Chapter 3 No Way Back

On the day of the medicinal bath, Li Changsheng nearly died in his room.

The moment the medicinal power surged into his Meridians, it was three times more violent than he had anticipated.

He followed the Spirit Ape Standing Stake technique to guide the medicinal power to impact his damaged Meridians, but instead of being repaired, the cracks were torn even wider.

When the intense pain hit, he clearly felt his heartbeat slowing down.

Once.

Twice.

Three times.

Then, his vision went black.

If it weren't for the sudden burst of warmth from the Dao of Longevity at his brow, which forcibly protected his heart's Meridians,

He would be a corpse by now.

"This isn't right."

Li Changsheng murmured.

"I modified the original formula to reduce the potency by half. Logically, it shouldn't have been this violent..."

Suddenly remembering something, he snapped his head up to look at Li An.

"Who collected the herbs?"

Li An was startled by his gaze. "It... it was Steward Wang from the storehouse..."

"And the prescription? Who saw the prescription?"

"No... no one. I just gave the list you wrote to Steward Wang, and he gathered them accordingly..."

Li Changsheng closed his eyes and took a deep breath.

Then, he lifted the cloth covering the herbs next to the bath barrel, poured out the remaining dregs, pinched a piece with his fingers, and brought it to his nose to sniff.

Three seconds later, his expression darkened completely.

"The amount of Bone-Breaking Grass has been doubled."

Li An was stunned.

"How... how could that be..."

"Someone altered my formula."

Li Changsheng threw the dregs back into the barrel and leaned against its side, staring at the ceiling beams. Suddenly, he chuckled.

It was a very cold laugh.

He thought that since he had transmigrated, possessed a Golden Finger, and was a master of medicine, he could develop steadily and surely.

He had forgotten where this was.

This was a world of martial arts.

A place where the strong prey on the weak, a dog-eat-dog world.

"Young Master, what... what should we do? I'll go complain to the Family Head!"

"Complain against whom?"

Li Changsheng looked at him.

"Do you have proof? You delivered the prescription, you fetched the herbs—who are you going to accuse?"

Li An opened his mouth but found no words.

"And even if we had proof, what then?"

Li Changsheng closed his eyes.

"Between a crippled Young Master and a storehouse manager, do you think the Family Head would punish the person in charge of the storehouse for my sake?"

Li An lowered his head and fell silent.

The room remained quiet for a long time.

Li Changsheng suddenly spoke.

"Li An, continue."

Li An grabbed his sleeve.

"Young Master! You almost died just now!"

"And?"

"So you can't go on..."

"Li An."

Li Changsheng interrupted him, turning around to stare into his eyes.

Those eyes were terrifyingly calm.

"I'm asking you, if I give up now, what will happen?"

Li An stammered.

"You... you would recover from your injuries properly and be restored in three years..."

"How old will I be in three years?"

"Nine... nineteen..."

"Nineteen years old, Fourth Level of the Houtian Realm."

Li Changsheng calculated for him.

"Li Changhu is fifteen this year and at the Third Level of the Houtian Realm. In three years, he'll be eighteen and at least at the Sixth Level. Do you think the Family will give resources to me, or to him?"

Li An went silent.

"I'll ask you again: if someone dares to alter my prescription today, what about tomorrow? The day after?"

Li Changsheng spoke word by word.

"Three years... do you think I can survive for three years?"

Li An's eyes grew red.

"Young Master..."

"Therefore, I have no way back."

Li Changsheng wrote a new prescription.

"Tomorrow morning, take this prescription and go to the town to get the herbs. Remember, don't go to the storehouse; go to the town."

Li An took the prescription, his hands trembling.

"Young Master, this... this is the same as the original?"

"The same."

"But you just said the medicinal power was too violent."

"It wasn't that the power was too violent; it was that someone increased the dosage."

Li Changsheng interrupted him.

"I calculated the original formula. With my Physique, there was a forty percent chance of success. Now that someone has helped me increase the dosage, the probability..."

He paused.

...is less than ten percent."

Li An's hands shook even more violently.

"Then you still want to try?"

Li Changsheng didn't answer. Instead, he walked to the window and pushed it open.

"When my father went out for experience years ago, he died unexpectedly. The cause of his death is still a mystery."

He suddenly said, "Do you think it was an accident?"

Li An froze.

"My Qi Deviation—was it an accident?"

Li Changsheng continued to ask.

"Someone altering my prescription—is that an accident?"

Standing behind him and looking at the Young Master's back, Li An suddenly felt that this silhouette was very unfamiliar.

The Young Master who, for five years, had only known how to bury his head in training and ignore the outside world seemed to have changed.

He had changed so much that Li An almost didn't recognize him.

"Li An."

"Yes."

"Go to sleep. Go get the herbs early tomorrow morning."

Li An opened his mouth to say something but ultimately just nodded. "Yes."

As he reached the door, he suddenly heard Li Changsheng say:

"Don't tell anyone about tonight."

Li An looked back and saw the Young Master standing by the window, half his face hidden in shadow and the other half illuminated by moonlight.

He couldn't understand the expression on that half of the face.

The door closed.

Li Changsheng was left alone in the room.

He walked back to the bath barrel and looked at the cold medicinal soup.

Tomorrow, he would have to start over.

Another forty percent chance.

No, now that he knew someone was watching him, every step tomorrow—fetching the herbs, decocting them, entering the bath—could meet with an accident.

The probability might not even be ten percent.

But he had no way back.

As he lay back on the bed and closed his eyes, he suddenly remembered what the Grand Elder had said before leaving a few days ago:

"Seven days from now is the Family Monthly Assessment. If you can get out of bed, you might as well go take a look. Some things are more real when seen with your own eyes than heard through rumors."

The Family Monthly Assessment...

The day after tomorrow would be the seventh day.

Early the next morning, Li An went to the town to fetch the herbs.

Li Changsheng lay in bed with his eyes closed. He appeared to be sleeping, but in reality, he was using the meager bit of True Qi he had just recovered to investigate his Meridians bit by bit.

Last night's surge of medicinal power had nearly killed him, but it wasn't entirely without gain.

Under the nourishment of the Dao of Longevity, those torn meridian cracks had actually begun to heal.

It was slow, but they were indeed healing.

It was more than three times faster than normal speed.

"So that's how it is..." he murmured.

"To build after breaking—the premise is that after breaking, there must be something to help you build."

The Dao of Longevity was that "something."

If this hypothesis was true, then while others using the Spirit Ape Standing Stake might have a one-in-ten chance of survival, for him, there might be an eighty percent chance of success.

Maybe even higher.

As he was thinking, footsteps sounded outside the door.

Li Changsheng opened his eyes and instinctively looked toward the door.

It wasn't Li An.

The footsteps were too heavy, too solid—it was a practitioner.

The door was pushed open.

The one who entered was Li Changhu.

He hadn't brought his lackeys today. Standing alone at the door and looking at Li Changsheng on the bed, his face lacked the arrogance from three days ago, replaced by a complex expression.

"I heard you almost died yesterday?"

Li Changsheng leaned against the headboard and didn't speak.

Li Changhu walked in and stood by the bed, looking down at him from a height.

The two stared at each other for three seconds.

Then, Li Changhu suddenly pulled a small cloth bundle from his robe and tossed it onto the bed.

"What is this?"

"Blood Ginseng."

Li Changhu said.

"Ten-year-old. My own portion."

Li Changsheng was stunned.

He looked up at Li Changhu, confusion appearing in his eyes for the first time.

"What do you mean by this?"

Li Changhu didn't answer and turned to leave.

As he reached the door, he stopped and said with his back to Li Changsheng:

"I didn't know about the matter of altering your prescription. But Steward Wang is my third uncle's man. I'll apologize to you on his behalf."

Li Changsheng's brow furrowed.

"You're apologizing?"

"It's not for you."

Li Changhu turned his head back, his gaze sharp.

"It's for the Li Family. In the Three-Clan Competition in six months, I don't want to see the Li Family lose to the Wang and Zhao families."

With that, he pushed the door and left.

Li Changsheng looked at the small cloth bundle and remained silent for a long time.

Then, he opened the bundle, looked at the stalk of Blood Ginseng, and suddenly smiled.

"Interesting."

He put the Blood Ginseng away and closed his eyes.

When Li An returned, he saw the Young Master sitting cross-legged on the bed with his eyes closed, a faint, indiscernible smile on his lips.

"Young Master? The herbs are back."

"Good." Li Changsheng opened his eyes. "Boil the water."

"Now?"

"Now."

This time, he was fully prepared.