Miraculous Effects

After desperately pushing himself to the limit for an entire day, the progress of Five Animal Play had risen by a pitiful one percent.

But Xie An was overcome by an unprecedented joy:

Lifelong Legacy really worked!

For Xie An, who had lingered before the gates of hell for so long, this was undoubtedly his only lifeline!

From now on, as long as he pushed himself to the limit, his progress would increase. Once it reached perfection, he would break through.

Perhaps there would be even greater surprises after he completed Initial Glimpse...

After two lifetimes of merciless torment, Xie An no longer expected to be some favored son of heaven or monstrous genius. But this golden finger had given him tangible hope.

As long as he worked diligently, even if his progress was slow, so long as he persevered, how could he fear having no future?

"I'm so hungry..."

He rubbed his shriveled belly. The food he had eaten at noon had long since been completely digested, and he was hungry again.

Since Xie An had suffered his stroke, his organs had undergone total failure, causing his appetite to rapidly decline. Even when he saw greasy meat dripping with oil, he could barely work up an appetite.

When had he ever felt such a powerful hunger, such desperate longing for food?

People said hunger was the most unbearable feeling, but at that moment, Xie An clearly felt that being hungry and wanting to eat... was also a kind of blessing.

Xie An called He Chunli in from outside and had him bring dinner. He also told He Chunli to keep a close eye on Zhang Bing's actions. That man's intentions were crooked, so they had to guard against him.

After eating his fill, Xie An still didn't dare sleep.

He could clearly feel that he was still in a state of extreme weakness caused by organ failure, and he was terrified that he would be gone the moment he closed his eyes...

As the saying went, the older people grew, the more they saw through things.

But from Xie An's own experience, that really wasn't true.

The older people grew, the more unwilling they were to accept their fate, and the more they feared death.

Over the past month, he had lived in fear of death, terrified that one day he would close his eyes and never open them again.

When people were young, they knew their lives were long and that they wouldn't simply fail to wake up after closing their eyes, so they could sleep peacefully.

But once people grew old and were struck by illness, they could feel the fear of death at close range. They would truly begin to wonder whether they might close their eyes one day and never wake up again...

"It's still early. I'll practice for a few more hours."

Xie An was afraid to die...

He practiced bitterly until the dead of night. Only when he was utterly exhausted, unable even to open his eyes, did Xie An finally sink into a deep sleep.

The next day.

Xie An opened his eyes.

"Thank goodness..."

After hurriedly washing up, Xie An ate breakfast and returned to his room to practice Five Animal Play.

For the next several days, every time Xie An opened his eyes, he felt it was a stroke of luck...

He lived each day as if it were the last day of his life.

Aside from taking his medicine on schedule, he gritted his teeth and practiced his technique.

The intensity of his Five Animal Play training had reached a truly maddening level.

Although Xie An knew that, with the support of Lifelong Legacy, practicing Five Animal Play could extend his life, the problem was that his life had already reached the point of the oil running dry and the lamp burning out. It was rapidly dwindling...

One side was increasing while the other was decreasing. He was completely racing against death!

If his increase couldn't offset his decrease because he failed to practice diligently... then even with a cheat, he might still die.

He was now in the most dangerous stage and truly didn't dare stop for even a moment.

Seven days later, evening arrived.

After finishing a day of practice, Xie An finally noticed something strange inside his body.

A stream of heat had remained in his lower abdomen without dispersing.

This was a sensation he had never experienced before.

Previously, after practicing Five Animal Play, a warm current would indeed surge through his body. But as time passed, that warm current would disappear.

It was more or less like how the body grew hot after strenuous exercise, then slowly returned to normal.

But this time was different.

It was already late autumn. The night was deep and heavy with dew, and the cold wind cut to the bone. Xie An clearly felt that his body was no longer as cold as before.

The warm current lingered in his lower abdomen, continuously generating heat.

The numb weakness in his hands and feet, as well as the soreness in his lower back and aching limbs, had improved dramatically and persistently.

The panel before him displayed:

Five Animal Play: Initial Glimpse (10/100)

Xie An let out a long breath. "Although the progress is only one-tenth, my body has already improved dramatically. I should have temporarily passed the stage of racing against death. At least I don't have to worry about closing my eyes every night and never waking up again!"

After being crushed beneath the fear of death for more than a month...

He had finally escaped the fear of death at close range.

Only an old man who had personally experienced such terror at death's door could understand... what bliss it was to escape that feeling.

"Tonight, I can finally get a good night's sleep."

Since suffering his stroke, Xie An slept soundly for the first time.

The next day.

Xie An didn't open his eyes until the sun was already high in the sky.

Bright sunlight streamed through the thin window paper and spilled across his face, warm and pleasant. He could also hear sparrows chirping outside the window.

Xie An touched the warm copper foot warmer beneath his quilt, and for the first time, a relaxed smile appeared on his face.

The customs and culture of this world were much like those of ancient times in his previous life. Some elderly people were afraid of the cold, so they would wrap a copper pot filled with hot water in a cloth bag and place it beneath their quilts for warmth.

It was commonly called a "copper foot warmer."

Although Xie An's body had visibly improved, he was old after all, and this autumn was particularly cold, so he still couldn't do without the copper foot warmer for the time being.

Wuqiao Town belonged to Qingwu County under Nanyang Prefecture and lay along the southeastern border of the Great Qian Dynasty. The eight-hundred-li Great Yin Mountain to the east blocked the warm currents entering from the Eastern Sea, making the climate in this region especially cold.

Whenever late autumn arrived, frost covered the rivers in ice, and snow would occasionally fall. The villagers had to dig cellars and store food for the winter. Even so, people still froze to death during the bitter winter every year.

And when food became scarce in autumn and winter, the bandits who usually hid in the mountains would descend to plunder villages in order to survive.

To endure autumn and winter, the common people had to face not only natural disasters but also mountain bandits. Survival was truly difficult.

Fortunately, constables were stationed in Wuqiao Town, and there was also a martial arts school with a martial master overseeing it. The villagers living in town were far safer than those from the surrounding villages.

Li Manor was a prominent household in town. They had hired martial artists as guards, so ordinary bandits didn't dare casually lay a hand on the Li family's property.

That was also why Xie An had remained at Li Family Pawnshop all this time.

Without martial arts to rely on, leaving a prominent household in these chaotic, war-torn times... would truly make survival difficult.

"Practicing Health Cultivation Technique for seven days has already produced such miraculous effects. If I continue for the long term, my Root Bone and strength will surely improve tremendously. It may not be impossible for me to learn martial arts after all. If I can master a good set of martial skills, then I'll finally have the capital to establish myself in this troubled world."

Xie An rolled out of bed and began another day of cultivation.

Just after lunch, Master Li sent a young maidservant to visit Xie An.

Xie An knew this maidservant. Her name was Chunlan.

She was the senior maidservant at Madam Li's side and held considerable status within Li Manor.

"Master Xie, the master said that you've been taking medicine all this time, yet your health hasn't improved. Continuing like this isn't a solution..."

Xie An immediately understood.

For more than a month, Li Manor had been spending money on medicine for him, and the expenses were considerable...

Seeing that he hadn't improved, they no longer wanted to waste this money.

Although the cost of the medicine wasn't much to Li Manor, Xie An was ultimately only a servant and retainer of the Li family.

In this world, it wasn't uncommon for servants to work as skilled laborers. Their treatment might not be poor, but servants were servants in the end...

Xie An had long since grown accustomed to this chaotic world, so he felt no resentment toward society.

"What does Master Li intend to do?"