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墨書 Inktalez
Cui Ming was deep in thought, trying to figure out how to deceive himself. Currently, he considered Switching Heaven and Earth, but without any dice on hand, he preferred Poker cards. If dice wouldn't work, he thought about conjuring up a die in his mind.
Cui Ming pondered throughout the night without sleep, and it wasn't until around ten in the morning that dawn broke. He finally got up to boil some water for a cup of tea. At the same time, he noticed that his originally light blue Force now had a hint of green. What was going on? Was he fatigued? Or perhaps lacking in vitamins? Cui Ming thought long and hard. Was his True Origin Power sprouting? Please, True Origin Power was golden. Could it be that he was poisoned? What was happening? Would he meet an untimely end?
The colors of Force varied widely, with no unified truth; aside from gold or golden yellow, which were universally recognized as the colors of strong Force, other colors had no fixed definitions. Cui Ming was at a loss—he didn't understand and felt no abnormalities. He decided to observe for now.
It wasn't until he descended the mountain that Cui Ming realized he was feeling a bit neurotic and understood that staying up late was a bad habit, especially since he had bumped into trees twice—once with his arm and once with his nose. The clever Cui Ming also worried that the female doctor might have poisoned him already. With limited knowledge, he couldn't discern anything. He felt that he should read more literature when he had the time, learn more about Force, and also gain some knowledge about poisons; after all, poisons could indeed kill, and cultivators were not immune to all toxins.
At three in the afternoon, he finally escorted the female doctor out of the forest after much struggle. Ignoring her, Cui Ming returned home to his cave and dove into his tent to sleep. He rarely stayed up late; his instances of doing so could be counted on one hand. Occasional late nights left him feeling drained and unwell. Coupled with the poor quality of sleep from the previous night, Cui Ming desperately needed rest. This was the limitation of cultivators; although their sleep quality was high, they were still human and required sleep—they had no choice.
He slept soundly for an hour but woke up once to relieve himself, which disrupted his slumber significantly. As he fell back asleep, dreams began to take shape—Cui Ming dreamt of dice. Unlike when awake, this die appeared slightly green. It seemed true that what one thinks about during the day manifests in dreams at night. The good news was that the female doctor hadn't poisoned him; however, it served as a warning to be cautious around ordinary people—those whom cultivators often overlooked could potentially bring about their demise.
Upon waking, Cui Ming noticed that his Force still retained a faint hint of green but dismissed the possibility of being poisoned again. In this situation, he decided to consult the female doctor.
"Poisoned?" she questioned after a moment's hesitation before adding thoughtfully, "Unless your body is very weak."
"What do you mean?" Cui Ming pressed.
"The Bamboo Rice I brought is infused with herbs that have... blood invigorating properties."
Seeing her hesitance, Cui Ming frowned and asked, "You added something to it."
"..." The female doctor focused on grinding herbs for a while before finally admitting, "Yes."
“……” Cui Ming recalled the first night, eating Bamboo Rice. He hadn't slept well and felt a bit hungry, but he only finished half of the Bamboo Rice because he didn't like vegetarian meals. After a while, he got up to use the bathroom. There was some commotion at that time, but he was quickly distracted by the Red Dragon. Facing the Red Dragon for the first time made him a bit nervous, and adrenaline was pumping through him. Cui Ming asked, “Does this medicine have side effects?” He didn’t pursue it further; it seemed pointless. What concerned him more was the color of his Force. Sometimes, the color could change due to illness, and once it changed, it wouldn’t revert back. Cui Ming certainly didn’t want his Force to turn a sickly green; no man would like to see a flashy green Force, even if they liked the color green.
The female doctor blushed slightly but still said, “You’ll urinate more frequently. Depending on your constitution, it should last about one or two days. If your constitution is poor, it might take four or five days. I noticed you enjoy fatty wild boar meat and prefer meat over vegetables; I suspect you have fatty liver disease. The liver is the body's main detoxification organ, so if you have fatty liver, it might take six or seven days.”
“Oh.” Fortunately, Cui Ming had a good temperament and didn’t blame the female doctor for prescribing the medicine. He sighed in relief; it seemed unrelated to her.
“Wait a moment; I’ll check your pulse.”
Cui Ming stopped and sat down at the doctor’s gesture, extending his hand to disperse the protective Force around his pulse area. He questioned, “Can checking the pulse reveal fatty liver?” I haven’t read much; don’t try to fool me. Training with Force and Six Elements can make the body strong but does nothing for internal organs.
“No, it gives an overall understanding of your physical condition.” After checking his pulse for a while, the female doctor said, “For someone your age, your health isn’t great—spleen deficiency and qi deficiency. I recommend you exercise more and arrange a reasonable diet: don’t indulge excessively or practice complete abstinence. Avoid foods like shark fin because they contain high levels of mercury, which can severely harm the liver.”
Cui Ming asked, “What about sharks?” He knew that shark fin was part of a shark's body.
“Sharks also have high mercury content; eating them regularly can lead to poisoning.”
“Ah…” Cui Ming nodded. Near Dawn City and Training Island, there were quite a few sharks. As an esteemed practitioner, one should have discerning tastes. To be honest, shark meat wasn’t particularly special; however, eating sharks seemed fitting for his status—eating ordinary fish felt rather dull.
The female doctor continued, “Moreover, most shark fins served at Three Continents Hotel are artificial. Consuming artificial shark fins can damage your kidneys and increase cancer risk; it’s extremely harmful.”
“Oh.” He learned something new; Cui Ming only knew that eating a single type of food was bad but hadn’t realized there was so much more to it. So he listened as the female doctor lectured him; she seemed somewhat apologetic for putting him in this situation and introduced some dietary combinations. In the end, she gave Cui Ming several books to read on his own.
Thus began the health-conscious journey of twenty-seven-year-old Cui Ming.
……
Well, actually, the so-called health regimen boils down to a few key points. The first is a balanced diet, combining both meat and vegetables. The second is to exercise more. The third is to maintain regular sleep patterns. The fourth is to avoid indulgence without completely abstaining. The fifth: no smoking and minimal drinking. And that's about it. The most important of all is the second point—exercise more.
Among various forms of exercise, swimming is the best...
In fact, Cui Ming can swim, and he swims very well. He can do backstroke, breaststroke, and freestyle. He excels at diving; if he progresses gradually, he can eventually reach three and a half minutes underwater. However, his endurance isn't great. Without using force, relying solely on stamina, Cui Ming can only manage twenty meters in calm lake water. Swimming has many benefits, the greatest being that it doesn't wear out the body, unlike running or climbing mountains, which can be damaging to the feet, knees, and lower back. Gymnastics and weightlifting are even worse.
So he swims and trains; after all, there's nothing else to do. It's strange that Lich seems to have forgotten about him; it's been half a month with no news at all. Even Warden hasn't come by. The only visitor has been Flower Aunt, who inquired about his living supplies. She provided rice and seasonings but nothing else. In any case, Cui Ming can hunt; there are mountains and seas filled with endless food.
On the eighteenth day, still no news; Cui Ming started building a boat.
By the twenty-third day, after finishing the keel, Warden finally appeared: "Cui Ming, the master invites you to dinner this afternoon." It sounded a bit awkward, but now it was close to the summer solstice; daylight began at eleven in the morning and sunset was around four in the afternoon. Soon it would be polar night. After polar night ended, daytime would gradually extend until summer solstice began.
At dinner, Lich's family of three was present. Lich still had a somewhat fatherly demeanor as he served food to his children. In Lich's main house were two women over fifty years old; they were among the first batch of consorts who remained in the main house to handle chores like cooking—compared to others, they were quite fortunate.
When Cui Ming arrived, he intended to stand aside, but Lich invited him to sit down and said to his son: "Baor, greet your teacher."
The boy glanced at Cui Ming and suddenly reached out to touch his face; all the soy sauce on his hand ended up smeared across Cui Ming's face. The boy burst into laughter: "Sister, a mouse stole some oil!"
Damn that mischievous child.
Lich didn’t scold him but said: "Baor, this is Cui Ming; he will be your teacher from now on, understand?"
The son ignored Lich and continued to play with his food, his hands digging into the bowl of rice. At that moment, his sister tapped his hand with her chopsticks and said, "Call the teacher."
The son immediately looked at Cui Ming obediently and said, "Teacher."
"This child has an extraordinary appearance; he will achieve great things in the future," Cui Ming said as he wiped his face, looking at Baor with satisfaction and nodding. There was a step missing in the process—divination and fortune-telling. There are two types of fortune-tellers: one type flatters, claiming exceptional talent, which pleases the parents and encourages them to nurture their child, hoping it might actually come true. Even if decades later the son turns out to be useless, no one would bother them. The other type uses scare tactics, saying the child needs to do something to ward off misfortune; this is morally low and primarily aimed at scamming money, often leading to beatings. It’s best for a non-superstitious young person to say something nice when accompanied by a superstitious elderly woman bringing a child for fortune-telling.
Lich said, "Cui Ming, Baor is still too young and doesn’t understand much. If you need anything, just talk to Yun'er. Since Yun'er has nothing else to do, she can listen to your lessons too." Yun'er was his daughter.
Cui Ming replied, "I'm not here just to teach; I first need to observe what interests Baor."
Yun'er chimed in, "My brother likes slingshots; does that count?"
"Of course it counts," Cui Ming said. "Strategy can be combined with other disciplines; however, I can't cover everything. I start with the Magic System, which is what Uncle He guided me to understand about fortune-telling. The crow is approached from the Animal System perspective, allowing control and command over crows. Since Baor likes slingshots, we might explore the Enhancement System or the Transformational System. Uncle He, I see that although Baor is only five years old, he has the physique of a seven or eight-year-old."
Lich nodded. "I've been using secret techniques to enhance his physique; he can now train in the Six Elements. However, his comprehension skills are still lacking, so I plan to wait a bit longer. Yun'er teaches him literacy and arithmetic every morning; her level isn’t very high either. Cui Ming, why don’t you take over as well?"
Cui Ming nodded in agreement. "Alright, it's an observation period for now; cultural classes will suffice."
Lich continued, "Yun'er, you should take your brother over to Cui Ming's place every day for one or two hours of class. Warden, have someone set up writing boards and such; move everything over there. The child is getting older; it's time for him to start learning instead of just playing all the time."
As soon as they decided on this plan, Warden acted quickly. In one night’s time, Warden built a bamboo house on the hillside near Cui Ming's residence. A few former consorts helped set it up with a desk and a blackboard; the bamboo house had three open sides and was still being repaired but would be completed in a couple of days. (To be continued.)
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