Descendants of the Medicine People (Please bookmark, recommend, and click)

“Rabbit?”
Jiang Feng carefully set the rabbit on the table, worry etched on his face. “It seems to be injured, Miss, could you have a look at it?”
The young lady examined it closely. “This is no ordinary rabbit. It appears to be a first-tier Luminous Beast, a Nightfall Rabbit.”
Luminous Beasts were a special kind of wild creature. While humans needed to obtain the Heart of Clarity Seed to wield the power of clarity, these beasts were born with such abilities. Some Luminous Beasts were gentle, others fierce, but all possessed unique powers thanks to clarity.
There were both strong and weak Luminous Beasts, but even the weakest could be dangerous to ordinary people. Yet the world had its own rules: Luminous Beasts were very particular about their habitats. On the outskirts of Mount Taiwu, only regular animals roamed; Luminous Beasts were rarely seen there. The deeper one ventured, the more numerous and powerful the Luminous Beasts became. In the heart of the mountains, it was said, dwelled high-tier beasts no one in the Jiang family dared approach.
Jiang Feng’s little valley lay on the mountain’s edge, a place considered safe, free from Luminous Beasts. How, then, had this rabbit appeared?
The young lady fetched a book, leafed through it, and said, “According to this ‘Compendium of Extraordinary Beasts,’ this Nightfall Rabbit is less than a year old, its abilities are weak. It may have been chased here by wild animals. Look, it’s wounded here.”
Her hand glided gently over the rabbit’s body, and a soft white glow enveloped it. The wounds healed swiftly; only its fur was still patchy, the injury otherwise invisible.
Jiang Feng looked up and gazed deeply at the young lady.
The people of the Medicine Folk could heal themselves and others. Jiang Feng could only hasten his own recovery a little, but the young lady possessed a prodigious healing ability, a sign of her potent bloodline.
She was believed to possess an “ancestral bloodline,” the true reason for her high standing within the Jiang family.
The Jiangs were descendants of the Medicine Folk, their veins carrying the blood of the ancients—a prestigious lineage in the region of Luming Town. But after so many generations of intermarriage, the bloodline had thinned.
The Heart of Clarity Seed existed in different grades: one ring at the lowest, nine at the highest. Only those with five or more rings were considered “high-grade.”
Yet now, even young men of the Northern Jiang branch, at sixteen, typically only obtained one- or two-ring seeds. Such seeds were too weak for meaningful cultivation. Over the past ten years, few youths had passed the Grand Examinations; even those who did managed only the lowest county test. The Jiang family was visibly declining.
But the young lady was different. At birth, she was found to possess a rare ancestral phenomenon—a bloodline over ninety percent pure.
Everyone believed that, at sixteen, she would surely gain a high-grade Heart of Clarity Seed.
Thus, she was treasured, painstakingly nurtured.
Gifted and diligent, she mastered all the Jiang family’s martial arts by the age of twelve, and was provided with countless techniques to study. Though she lacked the time to learn them all, her breadth of knowledge was unmatched in the family.
The longer Jiang Feng spent in her company, the more he admired her. He believed that, upon obtaining her Heart of Clarity Seed and cultivating to a certain level, she would surely pass the Grand Examinations with ease! Not just the county test, but the prefectural and provincial as well. Then, in the Nine Heavens Continent, in the Empire of Zhu, another dazzling star would rise—her name spoken alongside the likes of Xi Longshou and Wang Qianchuan!
The young lady’s long lashes fluttered. She exclaimed softly, “How adorable, there’s a birthmark behind its ear!”
Jiang Feng looked down, and indeed, behind the rabbit’s ear was a pink mark, shaped like a cherry blossom petal. Though the young lady had healed its external wounds, the rabbit’s eyelids drooped, and it remained listless, barely clinging to life.
After a while, the young lady said, puzzled, “Its wounds have healed, and there’s nothing wrong inside, so why hasn’t it recovered?”
After a closer inspection, she decided, “Let’s keep it here for now and observe.”
Her snowy fingers stroked the rabbit’s silken fur, her pink-tipped nails as lovely as petals. Jiang Feng watched her hands for a moment, then felt his cheeks grow warm.

He scratched his face, changing the subject: “Miss, in just a month, you’ll come of age, won’t you?”
At sixteen, one reached adulthood; the trial to obtain the Heart of Clarity Seed was the most important rite. Once fused with the seed, a new chapter of life began.
The young lady’s hand paused, but her expression remained serene. “Yes, one month more.”
Jiang Feng thought to himself, No wonder she’s the young lady. If it were me, I’d be too excited to sleep. But she remains so calm—how impressive.
He mused aloud, “After you obtain your Heart of Clarity Seed, you’ll start formal cultivation, then prepare for the Grand Examinations? With your talent, you’re sure to achieve outstanding results! Have you thought about which sect you’ll join afterward?”
“Which sect…?” The young lady’s voice carried a faint, bitter smile. “Any that will have me would be wonderful…”
Jiang Feng agreed, “Yes, as long as you obtain the seed and pass the exams, any sect would be great. But I think you should aim even higher! Cloud Brushing Sect? Soaring Dragon Sect? Miss, I think you could try for the Four Great Academies!”
At the mention of the Four Great Academies, Jiang Feng’s eyes shone.
Gu Zhu, North Gate, Western King, and Sunward—the Four Great Academies—had stood for a thousand years on the Nine Heavens Continent. Nearly all its most illustrious figures had emerged from these schools.
They were the dream of all young people—a badge of honor.
At this, even the young lady straightened. She murmured, “Yes, if I could enter one of the Four Great Academies, I could die without regret!”
…
Meanwhile, Lady Jiang had just returned and was indignantly speaking to the family patriarch, Jiang Tengqing.
“That little wretch, that thankless turncoat, actually threw me out!”
She slapped the table. “The eldest son of the Cheng family of Baishi City—that’s a match you wouldn’t find even by lantern-light! She doesn’t even care, it’s… it’s outrageous!”
Jiang Tengqing was sipping tea, and at these words, his eyelids rose as he glanced at her. “The Chengs of Baishi City aren’t the Chengs of Longze City. She’s not wrong. For the Medicine Folk, strength and bloodline are everything. Once she fuses with a Heart of Clarity Seed, better families might come calling. When the time comes, if we spread the word, perhaps the main branches of Zhou, Lin, Cheng, Gu will come to our door!”
The Chengs of Baishi were but a distant collateral branch of the mighty Chengs of Longze, their strength incomparable.
Lady Jiang, after a moment’s thought, grew excited as well. “Such a good match—she doesn’t deserve it!”
“Whether she does or not, you know best,” Jiang Tengqing said lazily. “The Medicine Folk’s bloodline is a coveted treasure, but what use is it if taken? Who knows how long she’ll even live. Why waste your breath?”
Lady Jiang snorted, “Exactly. No matter how good your fortune, you must live to enjoy it!”
The couple exchanged a knowing smile. Suddenly, a steward hurried in to report, “Master, Jiang Twelve just came back from Mount Taiwu, saying he was beaten by Jiang Feng from the Southern Jiang branch.”
“Jiang Feng?” As clan leader, Jiang Tengqing couldn’t know each of the thousand members by name. But upon hearing Jiang Feng, his expression changed. “Isn’t he raised with the Southern Jiangs? How could he possibly defeat Jiang Twelve?”
The steward had already investigated. “A year ago, for some reason, Jiang Feng caught the young lady’s eye…”
When he’d finished, Jiang Tengqing’s face was clouded, and Lady Jiang hurriedly said, “Master, that little wretch does have some ability. If she trains him well, what if he causes trouble for us?”

Jiang Tengqing shot her a look. “Mind your tongue. That’s our eldest young lady! Hmph, there’s no need to worry!”
He raised his cup again, voice cold. “If he had the ability to cause trouble, he’d have to get a Heart of Clarity Seed first! If that boy could fuse with one, he wouldn’t still be here…”
“But he’s managed to win the young lady’s favor—that’s something, at least…”
As the couple conversed inside, outside, a young man stood listening by the corridor, his expression shifting between light and shadow.
…
…
“Martial arts are the path of strength, and the most important strength is clarity. Without clarity, martial arts are rootless trees; they can never reach their true potential.”
“I know the Heart of Clarity Seed is important, but…I have an idea…”
Jiang Feng gnawed on the end of his brush, frowning in thought for a long time. He drew a figure on the paper—a man, clearly. Then beside him, he sketched a woman.
“The bodies of men and women, their height, weight, muscle distribution—all different. In fact, every individual is unique. Why, then, can different people use the same martial art? It doesn’t make sense.”
The young lady stroked the rabbit absently, raising her brows. “It would be ideal to tailor martial arts to each person. But who could possibly do that? Besides, even for the same person, weight changes daily, their clarity grows stronger with training—they’re always changing. If they needed a new martial art for every little change, it would be impossible to design, let alone learn.”
Jiang Feng nodded. “That’s true. So martial arts must allow for some flexibility. But I still believe different people should have different techniques.”
He thought for a moment, then wrote a few lines: “What if we break a person down into various factors—height, strength, speed, explosiveness, willpower—and include them all? By finding the right formula, we could produce the perfect result.”
The young lady was surprised. “That’s a novel idea, but wouldn’t it be terribly complicated to calculate?”
Jiang Feng replied, “It would, but we could leave room for adjustment, and keep optimizing. When calculations are simple, we get a rough result; with enough data, we get something much better…”
He spoke with enthusiasm. The young lady regarded him with a strange look, as if seeing him for the first time.
Such bold innovation, if realized, would shake the world!
She smiled faintly and nodded. “Not bad. Let’s give it a try!”
Jiang Feng nodded vigorously. He especially enjoyed these conversations with her. No matter what wild ideas he had, she would listen earnestly and offer sincere advice, as if she had infinite patience and could accept anything from him.
His gaze burned with excitement, and he was about to continue when the door swung open with a bang. Someone strode in, sneering, “A man and a woman alone together—shameless!”
…
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