Body Immune to Six Diseases

This fellow's Lantern of Life came to an end.

Corpse valuation: Xuan Grade, Sixth Rank.

Record of Selling Corpses awarded one item: Medicinal Bath of Six Diseases Immunity.

Zuo Zhuan, Duke Zhao's First Year, states: "Excess breeds six diseases—excess of cold causes cold ailments, excess of heat causes heat ailments, excess of wind causes limb ailments, excess of rain causes abdominal ailments, excess of darkness causes confusion, excess of light causes heart ailments."

"Six Diseases" thus represents "all diseases."

A jar of medicinal liquid appeared in Lin Shou's hand.

The liquid is placed in hot water to create a medicinal bath; soaking the body allows absorption, training the "Body Immune to Six Diseases," henceforth free from illness.

In a person's life, there is birth, aging, sickness, and death.

These are what Buddhism calls the "Four Sufferings."

The Body Immune to Six Diseases can eliminate the suffering of "sickness."

This is a fine thing indeed.

In this world, nothing is more aggrieving than sickness.

No matter how rich you are, mountains of gold, a top-tier tycoon—if you happen to catch the flu and no cure is developed in time, bam, you're gone. Isn't that a loss? Isn't that unjust?

The suffering of sickness comes and goes, often haunting a person's entire life, making it unbearable. With this Body Immune to Six Diseases, from now on, there will be no more plague or illness.

The next day, Lin Shou went to buy a large wooden bathing tub. Common folk generally didn't keep such items; only wealthy families or temple "warm rooms"—public bathhouses—had them. Ordinary people bathed by pouring water over their heads or washing in the river.

He initially thought about borrowing one from a temple, since he'd only use it once, but Lin Shou figured there might be other medicinal baths in the future, so he simply bought a new tub for cleanliness and hygiene.

In the morning, after the corpse was collected, he first went to Ning Luowei's place for some tofu, then returned to close up shop and prepare the medicinal bath, lest that female rogue come over on her own and try to peek at his body again.

He heated water in the tub, poured in the jar of medicinal liquid, stripped naked, and soaked himself.

Warm steam rose as the medicinal bath enveloped his entire body.

A faint tingling and numbing sensation spread all over, like a massage, cycling repeatedly, extremely comfortable—almost enough to ascend to immortality.

Tsk, bliss.

Lin Shou soaked in the bath with his eyes half-closed, enjoying it, nearly drifting off to sleep from the comfort. Then, in a haze, he seemed to see ripples in the tub's water, as if something alive was swimming in the medicinal bath...

Lin Shou was startled. He opened his eyes wide to look again, but saw nothing—just the bath. He tried squinting once more, and again saw something alive swimming, a vague shadow beneath the water, like a small infant. But when he tried to focus, it vanished.

This medicinal bath was eerily strange...

Lin Shou had initially thought of using the Compendium of Materia Medica to analyze the bath's formula, but failed. Aside from a few auxiliary herbs he could identify, the key main ingredients were all unrecognizable—or rather, not recorded in the compendium.

Now, seeing this eerie infant shadow forming in the bath, Lin Shou felt even more that this wasn't something concocted from ordinary herbs.

The Strength Pill and Dog Skin Plaster were the same; perhaps he was just unskilled and lacked knowledge.

Lin Shou studied the bath for a while with no results, so he let go of his thoughts, relaxed, and enjoyed it. Before long, he fell asleep from the comfort.

When he woke again, the sun was setting in the west.

The bath had cooled, the water now clear—the medicinal effects fully absorbed by his body.

Lin Shou climbed out of the tub. There was no physical change, unlike the obvious strength boost from the Strength Pill or Dog Skin Plaster, nor the surge of qi in his body from the Snake Gallbladder and ginseng. This bath seemed to offer no enhancement to physical ability, but...

Lin Shou calmed his mind and sensed it. He could clearly feel a "sense of peeling away"—the four sufferings of life: birth, aging, sickness, death. The suffering of "sickness" was being peeled away from his body like silk from a cocoon.

Renunciation, renunciation... Hum!

A divine light flashed in Lin Shou's eyes, then withdrew inward. The suffering of "sickness" was completely stripped away. He could feel it clearly.

The Body Immune to Six Diseases was complete.

From now on, the suffering of illness would never touch him again.

No more colds or fevers, no more viral infections, no more organ diseases, no more spicy food causing rear-end pain.

Tsk, with such a healthy body, what joy in life could be greater!

After stitching up the Heavenly Punishment corpse, the harvest was substantial. Through the Record of Selling Corpses, Lin Shou had obtained an excellent Body Immune to Six Diseases.

Additionally, from the Lantern of Life, he gained some clues about that "Heavenly Punishment." Since it was a contagious disease with major implications, Lin Shou felt it necessary to investigate.

Tonight, there were no corpses to stitch. Just as the lanterns began to glow and the night was fine, it was a good time to visit the brothels.

Lin Shou locked up his shop and headed to the Eight Great Alleys.

Unlike the Jiangnan water towns with their many master craftsmen and intricately carved pavilions, the pleasure quarters of the Capital City were often hidden in the courtyard houses of winding alleys.

When the moon rose above the treetops, colored lanterns were hung, flickering in and out of sight among the maze of alleys. There were many singing birds and painted ladies, much rouge and powder.

Jinghu and yueqin, drums and sheng—the bright, lively Xipi arias and the low, mournful Erhu tunes. Don't think the famous stars of the pear garden were all glory; the courtesans raised by the Anhui troupes could sing Peking opera for ten years and still never leave the alleys.

It was the same as the actors and stars of Lin Shou's past life—those who made it out achieved fame and success; those who didn't wasted their lives away.

In his past life, news of stars getting plastic surgery, Botox, or sleeping their way to the top already felt distasteful, making him sigh at how far artists would go for fame and profit. But that was nothing compared to the crueler, more inhumane methods of ancient times.

Lin Shou entered the Eight Great Alleys, where scantily clad courtesans could be seen everywhere soliciting customers. A delicate, charming figure rushed straight into his arms.

"Sir, save me! Thieves are chasing me."

Lin Shou looked down and saw her clearly. He thought to himself, Well, well—no wonder those noble playboys loved keeping young male concubines. Seeing is believing.

The opera troupes of the Capital City maintained a practice of raising catamites, each year taking in over a dozen young boys with regular features, fine brows and eyes, and fair skin—all purchased from other regions, with Suzhou, Hangzhou, Anhui, and Hubei providing the finest specimens. They were taught how to speak, how to walk, and how to cast their glances.

At dawn, their faces were washed with diluted meat broth, they were fed egg whites, and their soups and dishes were also extremely rich and refined. At night, medicinal ointment was applied all over their bodies, leaving only the hands and feet untouched, said to vent fire and poison. After three or four months of this, they became as delicate and lovely as maidens, and a single backward glance would radiate a hundred charms.

Then, according to the beauty of their features, the clarity of their voices, and their differing natural endowments, each was trained in what suited them best—learning two or three acts of Capital opera, and studying the arts of serving in the bedchamber.

This was nothing less than a living method of turning males into females. If one recorded the entire process, by today's standards, it could be written as a guide to raising medicine maidens.

Lin Shou looked at the young catamite who had crashed into his arms. Born with a male body, yet raised to be more alluring than any woman. When a woman flaunts her charms, it still carries a hint of worldliness, but when a man does so, it seeps into the bones and burns the heart, like standing at the edge of forbidden ground and testing its limits.

Damn, this little fairy was something else. A cross-dressing powerhouse was truly terrifying. Good thing he had strong willpower—if it had been anyone else, they'd have been bent straight out of shape.

Lin Shou glanced behind him. Among the crowd, there seemed to be a few servants and house stewards searching for someone. The young catamite had his face buried in Lin Shou's chest, so Lin Shou conveniently used his clothes to shield him.

Once the searching servants had left, the young catamite pulled back from Lin Shou's embrace and clasped his hands in apology.

"I have offended you, sir. This humble one is Yao Hesheng. A thousand thanks for your life-saving grace. If you do not disdain this humble one's lowly station, sir may call for me at Boss Mei's Spring Elegance Hall in the days to come. Today is rather inconvenient, and I hope you will forgive me."

Having said his piece, the man hurried off and vanished from sight.