After sending off the profusely grateful Huang Jingji, Lianshan Xin returned to the clinic and took the initiative to ask, "Father, you said those things to Huang Jingji on purpose, didn't you?"
"What?"
"The cultivation technique, the pills, and your conditioning treatments—Huang Jingji can't bypass me for any of them. Relying on that, I can keep him completely under my thumb."
Lianshan Jingcheng shook his head. "Everything I said was purely from a physician's perspective regarding diagnosis and treatment. You're overthinking it."
Lianshan Xin smiled. "Father, being stubborn with your words isn't a good habit."
Tsundere behavior was long out of style.
People who refused to speak up had to swallow their losses in silence.
Fortunately, Lianshan Xin possessed keen eyes.
"Father, have you been holding back your best medical skills from me?" Lianshan Xin shifted the subject.
He had realized that even with his cheat activated, he had only tied with Lianshan Jingcheng's medical skill.
What he didn't know was that even with his cheat, he had actually lost.
Lianshan Jingcheng had already noticed what was wrong with Huang Jingji before Xin had even turned on his clairvoyant vision.
What he had muttered to He Miaojun in private was precisely the "joyous occasion" of Huang Jingji being sterile yet having a house full of children.
It was just that telling the person involved was far too awkward.
Though Lianshan Jingcheng saw through everything, he was not Lianshan Xin, so he had chosen that silence was golden.
Faced with Lianshan Xin's baseless accusations, Lianshan Jingcheng was so exasperated he laughed. "Since you were little, how many times have I tried to teach you medicine? Did you ever put your heart into it? All you care about is corpse-dissolving powder and concocting poisons. You wouldn't touch proper medicine at all!"
Lianshan Xin sophistically argued, "Father, my time is limited! I have to practice martial arts and study for the exams. If I had to learn medicine on top of that, I really couldn't split myself in two. I can only be selective."
What he had was a clairvoyance cheat, not a cloning cheat; he truly didn't have enough time.
"Deep down, you simply don't think medicine is important," Lianshan Jingcheng grumbled.
Lianshan Xin did not deny it.
"A minor physician treats disease; a great physician treats a nation. Little Xin, you look down on medicine."
Lianshan Jingcheng strove to reassert his paternal authority, not hesitating to invoke outsiders to elevate his profession: "You should know that even among the Nine Great Grandmasters of the Nine Heavens you just joined, one is known as the 'Heavenly Physician.' In the court or across the jianghu, their status is not a bit lower than that of the Heavenly Sword."
Lianshan Xin shook his head. "The Heavenly Physician is a recluse within the Nine Heavens. Aside from His Majesty, ordinary members of the imperial family can hardly summon him. He is entirely devoted to researching his medicine. Formidable as he is, I can't emulate someone like that."
Lianshan Xin naturally knew the Heavenly Physician's name. After all, the man was Lianshan Jingcheng's idol and a monument in the hearts of physicians across the realm.
For a student of medicine to reach the level of the Heavenly Physician meant they had not lived in vain.
Rumor in the jianghu had it that the Crown Prince and his imperial mother once waited outside the Heavenly Physician's door for an entire snowy day. The Crown Prince had even knelt in the snow, but in the end, the Heavenly Physician never opened the door.
He merely sent word out: "Without a Thousand-Year Snow Lotus, the Crown Prince's frail constitution is beyond mortal power to mend."
Even after that, the Crown Prince and his mother didn't dare retaliate in the slightest; they still had to offer their thanks.
Because the Heavenly Physician had saved the Emperor's life.
Twice.
That fact alone cemented the Heavenly Physician's unshakeable standing in Great Yu.
However, the Heavenly Physician rarely showed his face and never involved himself in the court's power plays or jianghu struggles. Most of the time, it felt as though this Great Grandmaster didn't even exist.
Factional lines within the Nine Heavens were complex. Even without knowing the full inside story, Lianshan Xin could figure that much out with his rear end.
And with the head of the Heavenly Physician's branch being such a reclusive master, no matter how powerful it was, Lianshan Xin could never join it.
"The Heavenly Physician saved His Majesty's life twice, so he has the right to be a reclusive master. I don't have that seniority or merit. Trying to emulate him would just ruin me. Dad, you picked a completely inappropriate example."
"Hopeless piece of wood!" Lianshan Jingcheng snapped in fury. "Get out of here and go to the academy!"
Having invoked his idol only to see his son display not an ounce of respect or admiration, Lianshan Jingcheng found it intolerable.
Lianshan Xin chuckled helplessly.
His father's reaction was practically that of an obsessed fan.
"Fine, fine, fine. The Heavenly Physician is amazing. But with a track record like his, even if I wanted to copy him, I couldn't."
Where on earth was he supposed to go save an emperor's life twice?
"Unless you're secretly the Heavenly Physician, Father. In that case, I really could just lie back and coast, never taking the hard road again."
Lianshan Xin spoke from the very bottom of his heart.
Consequently, his gaze was utterly sincere.
Lianshan Jingcheng gave him a thin smile. "Just what are you hoping for?"
Lianshan Xin: "..."
He knew that tropes where someone grew up only to discover their family was filthy rich were pure fantasy.
After eighteen years together day and night, with his observational skills, Lianshan Xin had never seen any sign that his family had money.
In all probability, they really were dirt poor.
Having thoroughly abandoned all illusions, Lianshan Xin looked up and let out a long sigh.
Then, his spirits revived, he strode vigorously out the door of Huichun Hall.
If his parents weren't grinding hard enough, then he'd just have to grind extra hard himself.
Watching Lianshan Xin regain his drive, Lianshan Jingcheng shook his head with a sigh.
"Ever since Little Xin joined the Nine Heavens, why has he become so paranoid?"
He Miaojun walked out from the back hall and handed Lianshan Jingcheng a piece of pastry.
As he ate, she complained, "I told you he shouldn't have joined an organization like the Nine Heavens so casually. Everyone says members of the Nine Heavens suspect everyone. I used to think it was just a rumor, but now it turns out to be true."
Lianshan Jingcheng said helplessly, "It might really be an occupational hazard. First he suspected you of being the Demon Cult Leader, and just now he was testing my medical skill... I've always been pretty good at medicine. Little Xin has assimilated into the Nine Heavens' culture so fast—investigating his own family first! It seems the jianghu rumors about the Nine Heavens aren't just true; they actually understated things."
Whether at court or across the jianghu, the Nine Heavens had an unsavory reputation.
Now, He Miaojun and Lianshan Jingcheng found their prejudices further deepened.
"Dear, do we usually put a lot of pressure on Little Xin?" Lianshan Jingcheng scratched his head.
He felt he had never been the kind of parent who obsessively pushed his child to succeed.
He Miaojun shook her head. "In the past, Little Xin wasn't good at martial arts and was only average in his studies. We never reproached him, nor did we give him any pressure."
"Then where did such immense ambition come from?" Lianshan Jingcheng couldn't understand.
He Miaojun went quiet for a moment, her voice tinged with guilt. "It's because of my health, isn't it?"
"Dear, your health is already fully recovered."
"The hidden repercussions of the Thousand-Year Snow Lotus have already manifested in Little Xin. That was the price of curing me. Husband, I'm the one who harmed Little Xin."
Lianshan Jingcheng immediately said, "Fret not, my dear. From what I see, Little Xin is embracing it gladly. Aside from being filial to you, I can see that in his very bones, he refuses to lead an ordinary, quiet life. Let us... do our utmost to shield and guide him."
"That is all we can do. Regrettably, there is little we can truly help him with."
"We will do our best."
The two reached an accord.
Meanwhile, at that very moment, Lianshan Xin received news that Qi Shiyun was breaking through.
Immediately, a shiver ran down his spine.
*Oh no. The cat's about to be let out of the bag.*
Chapter 46