Ling Zhi

Biodata

Feature	Value
Name	Ling Zhi (凌芷)
Alias(es)	Boss Ling; Doctor Ling 6 8
Gender	Male 6
Affiliation	Yao Luochen Pharmacy, Nuoding City; former disciple of the Nine Heart Begonia Family patriarch, Ye Han 8 15 16
Occupation/Role	Physician, pharmacy proprietor, and Duan Qingya’s employer and medicinal mentor 6 15
Status	Alive; unable to cultivate following severe meridian damage 15 16
First Appearance	Chapter 5, as the unnamed pharmacy proprietor; named in Chapter 6 5 6

Background / History

Discipleship and Injury

Ling Zhi was the last disciple Ye Han accepted during his travels across the continent. While traveling with his master, he was gravely wounded in an enemy ambush that damaged all his meridians. Ye Han spent three days and nights healing him, but Ling Zhi remained unable to cultivate 15 19.

Upon waking, Ling Zhi found a Nine Heart Begonia Family token but no explanation for his master’s absence. Fearing that Ye Han had abandoned him, he left and used his remaining money to open a pharmacy. He kept the token but avoided returning to the family to learn the truth 15.

Hiring Duan Qingya

Boss Wang of Tiantian Pharmacy repeatedly sent people to pressure Ling Zhi into selling his business. Consequently, Ling Zhi initially mistook six-year-old Duan Qingya’s apprenticeship request for another scheme and physically carried him outside 6.

When Qingya insisted on being tested, Ling Zhi deliberately chose a complicated prescription. The boy had thirty counts to memorize it, then one incense stick’s burning time to locate and measure its ingredients. Qingya’s performance overturned Ling Zhi’s judgment; he apologized and hired him for one Gold Soul Coin per month, rising to two after a year 6.

Over the following six years, Ling Zhi provided Qingya with medical books, access to pharmacy ingredients, and opportunities to visit medicinal-herb markets. He also accommodated the boy’s academy classes 6 8 11 15.

Supporting Qingya’s Development

When Qingya reached level ten, Ling Zhi approved leave for his first soul-ring hunt and advised him to hire a strong team. He contributed 180 Gold Soul Coins without requiring repayment and accompanied Qingya to Spirit Hall to guard against unfair treatment. At Qingya’s insistence, he accepted a prescription that accelerated burn healing for future patients 8.

After the hunt, Ling Zhi worried that Qingya’s unexpectedly powerful soul ring had come at the cost of a high-interest loan. Qingya reassured him that the snake’s gallbladder had settled the additional payment 10.

Qingya later gave Ling Zhi the Stimulant Potion formula to sell, establishing a commercial use for his medicinal work before leaving Nuoding City 14.

The Token and Missing Letter

At Qingya’s graduation farewell, Ling Zhi revealed his past and entrusted him with the family token. If Ye Han still acknowledged Ling Zhi, Qingya was to introduce himself as Ling Zhi’s disciple; otherwise, he was to return the token and formally close their old bond. Qingya accepted and promised to send news 15.

At the family estate, Ye Han asked after Ling Zhi’s health and explained that he had left both a token and a letter before returning to his critically ill grandfather. He had expected to find Ling Zhi when he came back. Learning that the letter never arrived, Ye Han suspected his subordinate Xiao He had failed to deliver it; Xiao He subsequently died in another attack. The discovery clarified the misunderstanding for Qingya and Ye Han, but the provided chapters do not show Ling Zhi receiving the promised explanation 16.

Personality

Ling Zhi is protective of both his patients and his apprentice. He refuses to buy expensive, average-quality medicinal ingredients when prescribing them would burden ordinary patients, and he supports Qingya’s soul-ring hunt without treating the contribution as a debt 8 12.

Although initially suspicious and dismissive of Qingya’s age, he readily admits his mistake once shown evidence of the boy’s skill. Their working relationship becomes affectionate and playful, with Ling Zhi openly praising his apprentice to patients 6.

His separation from Ye Han remains a source of sorrow and insecurity. He acknowledges that fear of the truth has prevented him from approaching his master himself, yet declines to take credit for whatever Qingya might achieve through the token 15.

Abilities & Skills

Medical Practice

• Diagnosis and prescribing: Identifies a patient’s illness and writes a prescription within a quarter of an hour during Qingya’s first working day 6.
• Medicinal knowledge: Maintains a varied ingredient stock and supplies Qingya with books covering the continent’s medicinal materials 6 8.
• Herb procurement: Visits markets when soul-hunting teams return with rare herbs, judging purchases by quality, price, and suitability for patients 11 12.

Assessment of Potion-Making

• Recognizes that Qingya’s brewing depends on precise personal understanding of ingredients rather than a fixed sequence of steps 10.
• Understands that watching the process is insufficient to reproduce Qingya’s ingredient-sensing talent; he remains astonished by Qingya’s simultaneous operation of five tools 10.

Cultivation Limitation

• His damaged meridians prevent cultivation, and Qingya cannot sense soul-power fluctuations from him 15.
• No cultivation rank or named Martial Soul is documented for Ling Zhi in the provided chapters.

Equipment / Items

• Nine Heart Begonia Family token — Engraved with a begonia crest and preserved as proof of his discipleship. He gives it to Qingya to present to Ye Han 15.
• Hidden storage compartment — Concealed beneath the pharmacy floor and opened by moving medicine-cabinet drawers in a particular sequence; contains the token’s wooden box 15.
• Burn-treatment prescription — Qingya’s formula for accelerating burn recovery, accepted for the benefit of pharmacy patients 8.
• Stimulant Potion formula — Supplied by Qingya for sale 14.

Relationships

• Duan Qingya — Apprentice, employee, and later acknowledged disciple. Ling Zhi supports his studies and first soul-ring hunt, then entrusts him with resolving the uncertainty surrounding Ye Han 6 8 15.
• Ye Han — Master and Nine Heart Begonia Family patriarch. Ling Zhi fears rejection, while Ye Han’s later account reveals continued concern and a missing letter behind their separation 15 16.
• Boss Wang — Rival proprietor of Tiantian Pharmacy who repeatedly pressures Ling Zhi to sell his pharmacy 6.

Notable Quotes

“I, Ling Zhi, swear on my reputation as a physician of many years that as long as you complete the task, I'll take you on as my pharmacy apprentice.” 6

“Whatever happens, put your own life first.” 15