novelraw Chapter 15 : Legacy of the Divine Physician
Chapter 15 : Legacy of the Divine Physician
Chapter 15: Legacy of the Divine Physician
“Do you regret it?”
Granny Gui had appeared beside Li Yunqing at some unknown moment, silently, her gaze fixed on Jiang Yu’s departing figure.
Li Yunqing paused slightly, her tone still calm and without fluctuation. “I do not.”
Those were her true thoughts. If he had heard them, then so be it.
In the future, she was destined to cancel this engagement. Letting Jiang Yu hear it now meant he would not harbor hope—and thus would not suffer greater despair later.
Hearing Li Yunqing’s calm yet resolute words, Granny Gui asked again, “Do you harbor resentment?”
Li Yunqing turned her head, looking at the somewhat sorrowful Granny Gui, and immediately understood the meaning behind her question.
She was asking whether she resented her family for treating her this way.
“I do not,” Li Yunqing replied calmly. “I am fortunate to have been born into such a family.”
“Since childhood, my father has cherished me, and my elder brother has protected me. That is why I was able to grow up carefree.”
“Compared to the daughters of common families, I am fortunate a thousandfold.”
“What is happening now is merely the way of the world. Why should I resent them?”
“Yes… this is the way of the world.” Granny Gui sighed suddenly, sorrow still lingering in her voice, yet now tinged with a sense of release.
She spoke softly, “This old woman has lived fifty or sixty years, yet I am not as clear-sighted as a little girl.”
Back then, she had been dissatisfied with her family’s control and arrangements, fleeing from an arranged marriage into the martial world, seeking freedom and adventure.
Yet she had never expected that because of that marriage, her family would be destroyed—none survived.
Since then, she had become Granny Gui, a wandering soul in this world, with no home to return to and no kin to rely on.
And thus, she had trapped herself in this world.
“If one day, you break off the engagement, and the Jiang Family does nothing to you or your family—”
“But your family declines because of it and is destroyed by other families… what would you do?”
Granny Gui murmured softly, as if filled with doubt.
Hearing this, Li Yunqing pondered. In this era, women were like goods or wealth, deprived of freedom—it was cruel beyond measure.
Without strength, a woman could never control her own fate, not even her own preferences.
Yet she did not hesitate in the slightest. Her tone was firmer than ever before:
“Repay kindness with kindness, and slaughter all enemies!”
To live in this world without repaying kindness or avenging grievances—what kind of person would that be?
“Repay kindness with kindness… slaughter all enemies?”
Granny Gui murmured softly. Her cloudy eyes flickered, and it was as if she had come alive in that instant.
She looked at the young girl before her with a complex gaze. Though she appeared gentle, her heart was resolute.
Soft on the outside, strong within—clear in love and hate. Her words, thoughts, and actions were without regret, without guilt, utterly transparent.
At this moment, Granny Gui felt a trace of envy.
If she had possessed such clarity back then, perhaps her family would not have been destroyed, and she would not have become a wandering soul in this world.
After a moment of thought, a relieved smile appeared on Granny Gui’s face. “Are you willing to learn medicine from me?”
Li Yunqing paused, a hint of joy appearing on her face. She stood and bowed solemnly. “Disciple Li Yunqing greets Master.”
Inheritance was regarded with great importance in this era.
To learn someone’s legacy was to become master and disciple—like father and child.
How could she not understand this?
Even though Hall Master Liu had not paid much attention to her, by learning the martial arts of Mingyu Martial Hall, she was already his disciple.
This was something that could not be changed.
“Good, good, good!” Granny Gui’s smile deepened. She took out a thin book of barely a dozen pages from her robes and placed it before Li Yunqing.
“Ghost Gate Needles?”
Looking at the title, Li Yunqing was slightly stunned.
The Ghost Gate Needles were renowned in the martial world—said to determine life and death with a single needle. It was both martial art, medicine, and poison technique.
“This is my lifetime’s legacy—the Ghost Gate Needles, known in the martial world for determining life and death with a single strike.”
Granny Gui’s voice softened. “Take it. From today onward, follow me to learn alchemy and medicine.”
“Thank you, Master!” Li Yunqing bowed again solemnly, taking the book and quickly flipping through it.
At this moment, Granny Gui seemed to have set down a heavy burden.
She was extremely satisfied with Li Yunqing.
Patient, calm, quick to learn, and with exceptional martial talent.
After Li Yunqing finished reading the Ghost Gate Needles, Granny Gui spoke, “Come, follow me to refine medicine!”
With that, she turned and walked into the room, looking at the medicinal herbs filling it.
“All things in this world counter and complement each other.”
“The same applies to medicine and poison.”
“The Ghost Gate Needles transform medicine into needles. Each needle is both medicine and poison, mutually restraining and supporting each other—able to heal and to kill. One needle determines life or death.”
As she spoke, Granny Gui began preparing medicine and refining poison.
Li Yunqing followed behind her, learning quietly.
Lines of text flashed rapidly before her eyes.
“Medical and Poison Refinement experience +10.”
“Medical and Poison Refinement experience +10.”
With Granny Gui, a divine physician of the martial world, personally guiding her—and with her photographic memory—Li Yunqing progressed extremely quickly.
In just one afternoon, her proficiency in medical and poison refinement directly advanced to major mastery.
Though no new traits emerged, she was still filled with joy.
In this world, martial arts were powerful, but medicine and poison were no less so. Both were means of protection, neither inferior to the other.
Granny Gui seemed to have something on her mind. For two consecutive days, she taught with all her effort, without the slightest slack.
It was as if she wanted to pour everything she had learned in her lifetime into Li Yunqing’s mind.
Two days later, in the medical courtyard.
Li Yunqing stood before a medicinal furnace. Her slender fingers picked up herbs and tossed them into the furnace with fluid, effortless movements.
“Gurgle, gurgle!”
Inside the furnace, thick medicinal liquid boiled violently, filling the courtyard with fragrance.
After the time it took to burn an incense stick, the furnace opened. Nine Ghost Gate Needles—neither metal nor wood, yet gleaming with golden and silver light—appeared before her.
They emitted a rich medicinal aroma, as if condensed from the essence of countless herbs.
Li Yunqing picked up a needle pouch and swiftly stored each needle, her movements smooth and precise.
“Not bad. These nine Ghost Gate Needles, refined from dozens of herbs, cannot bring the dead back to life or regrow flesh from bone, but they are no inferior to miraculous elixirs.”
“Next, begin refining poison needles.”
“Remember—medicine and poison are one and the same, mutually dependent. They can heal, and they can kill.”
Granny Gui spoke, watching Li Yunqing refine medicine with increasing skill.
“What an intelligent girl!”
“Gentle outwardly, strong within, clear in love and hate. Who knows what heights she will reach in the future?”
In just two days, Li Yunqing had already learned all of her skills.
Even she felt shocked by such talent.
“If that old man Liu finds out he missed such a genius, I wonder what expression he’ll have?”
Granny Gui’s smile deepened—she very much wanted to see that moment.
After another hour, Li Yunqing opened the furnace and stored nine poison needles. Only then did Granny Gui step forward.
“All that I know has now been passed on to you.”
“From today onward, you are the Divine Physician of the Ghost Gate of this generation.”
“This medical hall—help me take care of it. Everything here is yours.”
“I will inform that old man Liu.”
“You are my disciple—he would not dare neglect you.”
Granny Gui seemed to have finally let go of everything, her entire being subtly transformed.
“Master?”
Li Yunqing spoke softly, puzzled. “You…”
Before she could finish, Granny Gui interrupted, “As you said, some grudges must be settled.”
“Repay kindness with kindness, and slaughter all enemies!”
“Now that the Ghost Gate Needles have a successor, I have no regrets. It is time for me to take care of my own matters.”
Granny Gui no longer seemed bound by anything. Her aged hand patted Li Yunqing’s head as she smiled. “If I return, everything will remain as before.”
“If I do not return, you need not grieve. Everyone must die—it is only a matter of time.”
With that, she picked up the bundle she had prepared long ago and walked out of the courtyard as she spoke.
“If I can die without regrets, then in the underworld, I can face my parents and kin.”
“Otherwise, even living this life, I would never find peace.”
Hearing her master’s words, Li Yunqing paused slightly, watching that no longer hunched figure, and bowed deeply.
She did not stop her, nor could she. She only spoke softly:
“Master, if you return, all is well.”
“If you do not return, as your disciple, having received your kindness, I must do something.”