The tall guy blocked the second male lead, and didn’t forget to report to the Qin family, especially to Qin Father and Qin Mother. “Uncle, Auntie, I’ve been playing games with Old Qin lately, and we bumped into Uncle Cheng by chance. Uncle Cheng said he’d inherited a legacy and isn’t the same as before. We didn’t believe it, but we didn’t take it seriously either.” He glanced at his good buddy, then dropped his voice to add, “Xiang Feng told us that was Uncle Cheng...”
Qin Mother flicked her son’s forehead. “The entanglement between the Lu family and Mr. Cheng isn’t our business. How do you think you’re qualified to add insult to injury?”
The guy in the wheelchair clutched his forehead dramatically. “Mom! Another flick and I’ll really be stupid!” When his little act was over, seeing his mom about to shed tears again, he hurriedly grabbed her hand. “I just felt like I wouldn’t have many years left, so I wanted to live as I pleased. When someone provoked me, I just fell for it...”
Qin Father cast a glance at his son, who after the acupuncture looked like a different person. He knew clearly his son would never again be so depressed because of his health. Pleased yet still stern, he reminded them, “You two need to think carefully about how to properly apologize to your Uncle Cheng. The ancestors said, ‘Leave a line for others in everything.’ That’s wisdom you’ll need to remember.”
Qin Mother chimed in quickly, though her voice was a bit thick from crying, “If Mr. Cheng can heal you, he can heal his own son as well. That’s between their family. If Mr. Cheng hasn’t asked anything of you, don’t meddle. Your father and I will also think about how to thank Mr. Cheng.”
The two friends exchanged glances, but didn’t say anything.
When the tall guy got home, he was not at all surprised to get a message from his good buddy. “I won’t let Xiang Feng get away with this.”
Meanwhile, after seeing the whole Qin family off, Qin Jingzhou went online and made an appointment for ancient martial arts certification at the Ancient Martial Arts Association’s official site. He also took time to make the “Ling Yi legacy” he’d concocted seem more convincing and aged. Once done, he sat by the window, placed the laptop on his knees, and logged into the online game the original host had been obsessed with for years. As soon as he logged in, dozens of mocking private messages flooded in.
Qin Jingzhou read them with interest, took a sip of water from the teacup at hand, and mused, “The original host didn’t have many friends, but it wasn’t so bad that so many people would be lining up to scold him.” He casually replied to someone who managed to call out the original host without a single curse word, “Xiang Feng’s assistant?”
The second male lead’s name was Xiang Feng.
He didn’t get a reply; instead, the two buddies who’d gotten the news hurriedly logged in.
The guy in the wheelchair was the leader of the biggest guild on this server. The moment he logged on, he bombarded Qin Jingzhou with messages. “Xiang Feng is up to no good! Uncle Cheng, what should we do? I don’t dare act without your say-so.”
Qin Jingzhou couldn’t be bothered to answer any questions. He’d come online just to mingle with this crowd that kept flaming the original host, looking for clues.
Other than Xiang Feng’s assistant, everyone else was just hired to do the flaming. Nothing suspicious.
The System knew what its host was checking for. “Ruling out memetic contamination?”
Qin Jingzhou hummed in reply. “This world looks vibrant, but my gut tells me something’s off. If we can rule out the worst-case scenario, that’s good.” As he spoke, he hit the “Log out” button. “By rights, the second male lead should be using the original host to goad the antagonist, not with such childish means. Why not set him up with a rich woman or an all-powerful tycoon?”
System agreed, “Yes.”
He didn’t realize that logging off so abruptly actually jump-started the two buddies, especially since the one in the wheelchair had just learned from his grandfather what real Gu martial masters could do. Pressing his chest and curling his toes, he fired off orders.
As for the assistant whose views had been reshaped by the Cheng family, he followed through with perfect precision.
Anyone in the guild who’d taken money to flame was immediately kicked by the guy in the wheelchair. It was one thing for ordinary players, but anyone with a guild contract was summarily fired and held liable for damages per their contract.
In an instant, the entire guild—and the whole server—was in chaos.
In Hua Country’s 1.2 billion population, there were fewer than a thousand registered Gu martial masters. Of those, the vast majority specialized in physical skills; true “Mage” masters were one in a million.
And among those rare “Mage” masters, only three had extraordinary healing abilities, and two of them were so old they’d basically retired from the world.
The next day, Qin Jingzhou had just finished washing up and was about to order breakfast when a call came in from an unfamiliar number. He answered. The voice across the line sounded truly delighted: the Ancient Martial Arts Association had sent a car to pick him up.
Half an hour later, carrying a bag of soy milk and fried dough sticks, he walked into the relatively low-key exterior of the Association with the driver.
The young woman at the reception smiled like the sun when she saw him and ignored the breakfast in his hands. “Master, this way, please!”
In a small conference room of the Ancient Martial Arts Association, the Vice President explained the organization and the current state of Gu martial masters. After hearing everything, Qin Jingzhou took a sip of tea and told his System with a sigh, “I’m playing a Ling Yi now, things are going to be lively.”
“One of only two, how could they not treasure you.”
Next, according to procedure, he channeled a bit of the faint true qi he’d simulated with “Saintlight” from the game into the Association’s detection device.
The original host had boasted online two days ago about having “just reached mastery,” so it wouldn’t make sense today to pour out a torrent of true qi.
The detection device dutifully gave its result after thirty seconds: fire-type true qi, with verified effect promoting tissue regeneration.
The Vice President, who had been waiting excitedly for the results, grinned wide—a withered apple coming alive—and personally took over the rest of the paperwork.
Qin Jingzhou sat in the conference room with a straight face, eating his breakfast. With all the formalities wrapped up, the documents were placed neatly in front of him.
Since they’d made a move, Qin Jingzhou put forward the “Ling Yi Main Manual” he’d prepared. Seeing the Vice Presidents so afraid to even touch the ragged book, he kindly offered, “It can handle being photographed, it won’t fall apart.”
The Vice President called his assistant to bring a camera, and under Qin Jingzhou’s gaze carefully snapped pictures of every page, then filed and registered the whole thing on the spot.
Declining the Vice President’s invitation to lunch, he took an Association car back home.
Back home, Qin Jingzhou logged onto the Association’s website. Sure enough, there he was on the Gu martial masters list. The photo and name were both blurred for privacy, but his “Ling Yi” profession was highlighted in bold red.
Qin Jingzhou couldn’t help but laugh, “Could they be any more eager?”
In the afternoon, the guy in the wheelchair showed up for his next acupuncture session right on time.
His entourage hadn’t changed since last time—same good buddy, same assistant, same bodyguards.
The wheelchair guy, Qin Er, had found new hope in life and was back to his old outgoing, talkative self.
Although he tried to restrain himself around Qin Jingzhou, he still couldn’t keep his mouth shut. “Uncle Cheng, is the new Gu martial master at the Association you?”
Qin Jingzhou didn’t even raise his eyelids. He picked three silver needles from the box of alcohol, then held them over the candle.
Qin Er, intrigued, asked, “Uncle Cheng, why aren’t you using true fire this time?” He went on to explain, “Yesterday my grandpa told me a ton about the ancient martial arts world...”
Qin Jingzhou’s hands moved fast. All three needles went in, and Qin Er’s eyes went wide, unable to say a word.
The tall friend caught a look at Qin Jingzhou’s expression and marveled quietly, “You have a mouth, but sometimes I wonder why you ever open it. Uncle Cheng doesn’t even bother answering you.”
Even Qin Er’s assistant couldn’t help but laugh.
The bodyguards hung their heads, snickering.
The tall guy wasn’t wrong. One of Qin Jingzhou’s three needles really was for “shutting up.”
After an hour, Qin Jingzhou told the tall friend to wash his hands and come remove the needles from his buddy.
The tall friend was overjoyed. Honestly, he liked being given errands by Uncle Cheng, and now, to actually take out the needles himself was the icing on the cake.
Still, having told himself not to be surprised no matter what happened, as soon as his fingertips touched the top of the needles, it was like an electric shock, and he drew his hand back.
He was better than his buddy, at least, no screaming, but very restrained he managed to utter, “Uh, this…”
Qin Jingzhou lounged lazily in his chair, pointed at the needles, and said nothing.
Left with no choice, the tall friend tried again and this time easily removed all three needles, carefully dabbing his buddy’s head with a cotton ball.
Qin Er rolled his eyes, realized he could talk again, and dove in, “Uncle Cheng, it didn’t even hurt as much this time!”
Qin Jingzhou put down his teacup. “So you like it to hurt more. I can accommodate.”
If Qin Er could stand, he’d already be clinging to Qin Jingzhou’s leg for mercy. “No! Uncle Cheng, that’s not what I meant! That was just nonsense!”
This time, the tall friend burst out laughing. He couldn’t remember the last time his buddy was this lively.
Truth was, Qin Jingzhou had purposely made the acupuncture more effective. After all, the first case should make a splash. So after the second round, Qin Er could even feel slight sensation in his left leg, though still unable to move it.
On the way home, Qin Er actually fell in love with pounding on his own left leg...
His tall friend studied him a while. “You really did… hurt your brain.”
Qin Er punched him and laughed. “Get lost!”
When he got home, Qin Er saw his aunt—who happened to be the vice dean of the most prestigious private hospital in the Capital City, and had come just to see for herself how well he was recovering.
He hadn’t even changed. Even though the acupuncture this time didn’t hurt as much, he’d still sweated through his clothes. He went straight to his aunt and showed off by flexing his toes.
His aunt checked him over thoroughly, thrilled at her nephew’s improvement, but then her expression turned strange. “So he’s… actually not a fraud…”
Qin Mother quickly grabbed her sister’s hand. “That’s not something you can mention anymore.”
Qin Er’s aunt nodded. “I know what’s appropriate. But his son isn’t doing so well. Why do you think… he doesn’t care about his own child?”
Qin Er felt that sounded off. He hurriedly asked, “Aunt, didn’t Lu Jiuxiao only get a small burn on his face and nothing serious?”
His aunt frowned. “Where’d you hear that? Lu Jiuxiao’s been in the ICU this whole time!”
Qin Mother reacted fast. “That’s just some nonsense my son’s troublemaking friends said.”
Qin Er took the phone from his assistant and said, “I’ll ask Uncle Cheng right now!”
Qin Jingzhou, receiving the message, pushed up his glasses. “I suppose it’s about time I made my appearance.”