[Fourth Year]
[Your wealth has dwindled after four years of not running any business. The savings from your previous trade life are nearly gone.]
[Shen family did not cover your migration costs, nor do they provide food or housing now that you're in Wuhan. You are treated politely, but clearly seen as an outsider.]
[You can barely survive on your current silver—just enough to keep yourself fed until your education finishes, which should take another two years.]
[You begin looking for ways to earn income.]
[Wuhan proves far more competitive than your old county. Dozens of apprentices fight for each opportunity. You find yourself shut out of clinics—your background isn't impressive enough.]
[Your minor ties with the Shen family offer no help; they're struggling financially themselves and won't take on nonessential staff.]
[You're forced to ration food. There are days you survive on water and dry herbs. You quietly begin to regret the expensive bribe you paid years ago, questioning your path.]
[Fifth Year]
[You decide to attempt the Shen family's internal doctor qualification exam early, despite the risk.]
[Shen Lang, recognizing your effort, gives you a recommendation.]
[You fail the paper portion of the exam by just two points—scoring a 68 when 70 is needed.]
[Your master doesn't criticize you. "You're progressing faster than most," he says. "Next year, I believe you'll pass."]
[You accept it silently, hiding the fact that you're running out of rice.]
[Sixth Year]
[You finally pass the exam.]
[You're hired as a full doctor by the Shen family for a starting wage of 50 silver per month—a generous amount for a newcomer.]
[You now operate under the family's banner, allowed to treat patients more freely.]
[This year, you also fully decipher the Shen family's secret '34 Silver Needle Technique.']
[You dare not use it openly within the family clinics—doing so might invite suspicion or punishment.]
[You begin modifying the technique quietly in private.]
[With your accumulated knowledge and soul cultivation, you developed a new diagnostic method known as the Thirteen Veins of Yin Resonance.Although you lacked the ability to influence or heal with your soul directly, your white soul had become sensitive enough to enter another person's body and sense internal disruptions — like damaged organs, weak meridians, or spiritual imbalances.You retained the Shen family's Thirty-Four Silver Needle Method for actual treatment, but you discarded nearly half the diagnostic theory behind it. Instead, you relied on your own soul's perception.][This fusion technique allowed you to detect issues more accurately and prescribe needles with far greater precision — leading to faster recoveries and improved success rates.Despite still depending on physical needles, your use of soul-based diagnosis gave your method a strange edge. It felt uncanny to others, but results silenced any doubts.]
[Seventh year, a renowned first-grade martial artist came to the Shen family clinic. His vitality was fading from an unknown condition. For months, he had sought help from elite doctors across counties, but none could diagnose the cause. All agreed: he had less than six months to live.]
[He eventually turned to the Shen family, receiving personal treatment from their highest-ranking healers. But still—no progress.]
[You expressed your desire to examine him. The martial artist dismissed you outright. In his eyes, you were just a junior doctor, unworthy of his remaining time. Knowing you lacked the power to change his decision, you didn't press further.]
[Time passed. Your reputation steadily grew. Two years into your career, you had already surpassed most mid-grade doctors—especially in diagnostics. Thirteen Veins of Yin Resonance had proven itself repeatedly.]
[Three months later, the same martial artist returned—this time seeking you. Desperation had finally broken through his pride. "Are you still willing to take a look?" he asked.]
[You agreed.]
[You had him lie down and placed a single needle at the Heart Meridian—a move others found absurd.]
["Only one?" the warrior muttered.]
[You didn't reply. Quietly, you released your white soul, sending it like a pale tendril through the needle and into his inner body.]
[From the outside, it looked like basic acupuncture. But inside, your soul twisted and slithered through muscle, blood, and organ tissue—searching.]
[Shen Li's white soul tendril glided silently through the martial artist's body—probing, sensing, navigating meridians and flesh. As it neared the narrow passage between the heart and spinal column, something pulsed unnaturally.]
[A second heartbeat.]
[Soft. Faint. But undeniably foreign.]
[When Shen Li extended his will and touched it, it twitched. It wasn't part of the host—it was feeding on him.]
["It's alive…" he muttered.]
[You reported the findings to the First Grade martial artist. At first, he scoffed. But when you described the precise sensation—the unnatural pulse between his thoracic vertebrae—his face darkened.]
["…I've had suspicions," he said slowly. "But I didn't think… it was that."]
[He asked you to remove it immediately.]
[You shook your head.]
["It's latched too close to your heart spine. If I try to remove it, you'll die from blood loss before we even suture the wound. This thing picked its home carefully."]
[Still disturbed, the martial artist asked around. Shen Lang—your master—confirmed your diagnosis.]
["If he truly found a Heart-Spine Leech, it makes sense no one else could see it. They're known to bury into hidden meridian paths and disguise their rhythm."]
[You asked for a solution.]
[Shen Lang replied: "We can't cut it out—not from that place. But if we know what kind of person planted it… he might be able to procure a Poison that spreads across the entire body. The host might suffer some damage—but the leech will die first."]
[The martial artist thanked you silently. His mind was already calculating who to hunt.]
[This time, he didn't walk away with despair—he left with purpose.]
[Year 8][Your previous success diagnosing the First Grade martial artist became your silent badge of honor. Word spread among the inner circle—not because you bragged, but because he did.]
[You didn't just find a parasite. You gave a dying warrior hope.]
[Now, high-ranking clients began trickling into the Shen Family Clinic—asking for you.]
[Shen Family noticed. Your monthly salary rose to 150 silver, a clear signal: you were no longer "just" an apprentice.]
[You were one of their key assets now.]
[Year 9][With financial pressure easing, you began to enjoy your days again.]
[In the morning, you tended to patients]
[Shen Family expressed interest in learning your diagnostic method.]
[Though rooted in their own tradition, your approach had evolved far beyond the original Shen techniques—your use of soul-awareness, white-soul probing, and revised needle placement made your method over 60% different.]
[In the medical world, anything under 30% similarity was considered original. Given that both methods targeted the same human body and you were trained under their lineage, some overlap was inevitable.]
[You understood that even if you shared your technique openly, no one could accuse you of plagiarism. You had taken a familiar road and built an entirely new path.]
[With that in mind, you began preparing a sanitized version of your method to pass on
[You prepared a simplified version of the Thirteen Veins of Yin Resonance and presented it to the Shen family. You removed all traces of soul-related content and only kept the diagnostic and needlework techniques.]
[Your methods were well-received. For those unfamiliar with the Shen family's original Thirty-Four Silver Needle technique, your work was nothing short of genius.]
[A few elders raised their brows, noticing familiar touches—but since the core structure had been completely altered, they couldn't say much.]
[Compared to your Thirteen Veins of Yin Resonance, the Shen family's original technique looked outdated—stiff and inefficient. But they didn't voice it.]
[They had already taken something significant from you. While you kept your deepest secrets hidden, what you had offered was already enough to serve as a new legacy technique for their core disciples.]
{Year 10: Unexpected Arrest}
[You were suddenly arrested by the Wang family. Without explanation, you were brought deep into their core territory.]
[You passed through wide empty plains—fields trimmed and weeded like foreign gardens. Then, to a modest-looking house.]
[Inside sat a man who looked no older than thirty.]
[You were ordered to examine him and determine what sort of gu worm infected his body.]
[Once you started your diagnosis, you realized—it was almost identical to the case you'd seen years ago, hidden between the heart and spine.]
[But this man… he wasn't thirty. He was at least sixty. And even so, his body was far stronger than any First Grade Martial Artist you'd ever seen.]
[You reported your findings, admitting you couldn't name the worm.]
[The man listened calmly, then looked directly at you.]
["Idiot."]
[In the next instant, before you could even respond—your chest collapsed inward.]
[You blinked in confusion. The pain hadn't even registered yet.]
[Then you looked down and saw it.]
[He was holding your heart in his hand. Still beating. Because of speed and momentary panic you couldn't leave your body before death.]
[Death Event: Soul Detached][You Have Died.]
[Your soul drifts from your body, silent and weightless…]
[Simulation Ends – 10 Years Passed][Please Select One Reward]
Physique and Foundation (Year 10)(Developed vitality, resilient stamina, stable nerves, toxin resistance, heightened senses, and practical knowledge from countless real-world medical cases)
Memory Imprint(A decade of diagnostic mastery, modified Shen family techniques, soul-tentacle control, and experiential insight into gu parasites and subtle afflictions)
Item: Beating Heart(The final heartbeat torn from your chest by a tyrant — now infused with residual soul power. As an item, it holds lingering hatred and karmic resonance.
Shen Li chose Memory Imprint, and in the next second, a torrent of fragmented methods, failed experiments, and buried insights surged into his mind.
His body trembled.
Formulas danced behind his eyes. Diagrams of meridians, medicinal charts, failed surgeries, soul-stitching rituals, and countless refinements to the Thirteen Veins of Yin Resonance flashed like lightning. It was as if he had personally lived through every attempt—every success and every fatal mistake.
For a brief moment, Shen Li felt like his skull would split open from the sheer weight of it all.
Then, silence.
And understanding.
He sat down slowly, sweat dripping from his brow.
His expression darkened, a deep frown settling on his face."So there was a stronger path than First Grade…"
He had been holding back for the sake of building a supreme foundation, delaying his breakthrough, waiting for the perfect cultivation method. But reality kept mocking him—each time he advanced, a better technique would appear, a higher realm would be revealed.
The real issue wasn't the lack of techniques. It was the cruel rule that bound all cultivators:A person can only cultivate one true inner art in their lifetime.Once chosen, there was no turning back. No second chances.
And Shen Li hadn't chosen yet.
Shen Li muttered to himself, "Now I have an iron bowl… one that can feed me for life. I won't ever fear going hungry again."
Although the memory imprint had gifted him with priceless knowledge, it also left him mentally exhausted. The weight of a decade's worth of experience compressed into a single moment had drained him.
The next month, just as in past simulations, the wildfire began.
Thick black smoke curled above the hills outside the city, and the scent of burning timber carried on the wind. News of the spreading fire reached Wuhan within days. Panic stirred among merchants and villagers alike.
But Shen Li didn't panic. He had seen this before.
One month later, Shen Li quietly began releasing his stockpile
He didn't flood the market—no, that would be foolish. Instead, he sold in small batches, watching prices like a hawk. Firewood, charcoal, dried rations
His name wasn't on any merchant ledger. The goods were passed through side hands and quiet stalls.
The smarter buyers suspected something, but no one could prove it. Just another prepared man who saw the signs early.
He had learned his lesson.
Last time, he had nothing to fall back on. He was unprepared, naive—even complacent. That cost him his life.
This time… no more.
Every time Shen Li showed talent, success, or even mere potential… Gao would appear.
Sometimes friendly. Sometimes curious. Always deadly.
[And each time, Gao's strike came only after Shen Li's light started to shine.
"No one like him should be allowed to thrive under a city lord's watch… unless someone powerful wants him there."
He marked Gao's known warehouse. The merchant's trade routes. Which guards seemed loyal. Where Gao's apprentices visited at night.
He knew he was already in Gao's vision.
Shen Li had a plan.