If one hears the Dao in the morning, it is good to die that very evening!

"Ahem..."

Huang Shizhen withdrew his hand and coughed heavily twice, a thick glob of phlegm streaked with blood escaping from his lips.

"Daoist Huang, are you alright?" Chen Jue immediately noticed the other man's abnormal state and rushed forward to support his softening body.

At that moment, Liu Shiqing, who had gone outside to close the gate, returned to the courtyard. To her shock, Huang Shizhen—who had been full of vitality just moments before—now had a complexion like gold leaf, and his feet were completely submerged up to the ankles in the tightly tamped yellow clay of the courtyard.

It must be known that this kind of tamped yellow clay, while not as hard as proper floor tiles, was laid using a special ancient technique. It remained unmuddy in the rain, left no imprint from a heavy mallet, and pressing down on it felt much like pressing against solid stone. Such ground could occasionally be found in old rural houses during one's childhood, but it was now nearly extinct, perhaps only visible in deep mountain hermitages and old estates.

Yet, this solidly tamped yellow clay had been forcefully compressed by Huang Shizhen into two footprints three inches deep, illustrating just how terrifying the explosive kinetic energy of their brief exchange had been.

"Uncle-Master!" Liu Shiqing cried out anxiously as she ran forward, her face a mask of concern, assuming Huang Shizhen had suffered a deviation in his internal cultivation.

"Ahem... I am fine... Shiqing, go to the first row of cabinets and fetch the jar of Toad Jade Ointment, and bring a bottle of medicinal wine for bruises as well." Huang Shizhen coughed twice more before sitting heavily down upon a master's chair in the courtyard, supported by Chen Jue.

Though he had sustained internal injuries, his eyes shone with extraordinary brilliance as he looked at Chen Jue and murmured, "To hear the Dao in the morning, one may die content in the evening! A Golden Elixir Real Person is truly transcendent and refined beyond the mundane!"

"Daoist Priest, you should rest a bit and catch your breath. I am not in a rush to leave, and we have plenty of time to exchange pointers. There was no need to resort to life-risking measures." Seeing the man's obsessed expression, Chen Jue realized that he had fallen deeply into fixation with his cultivation.

"It is nothing! Master Chen Jue need not concern himself! It was merely swallowing Qi to pierce an acupuncture point, which slightly injured my heart and lungs. Applying some ointment and medicinal wine and resting for half a month will heal it completely."

"When I practiced the Greater Toad Qi within the Golden Toad Skill in the past, I frequently suffered Qi deviations and internal injuries during the initial stages. If not for my late master's profound learning and his presence to regulate my breath and aid my recovery, it would have been difficult for someone with my aptitude to sublimate my force into internal transformation and refine my organs and marrow at this age." Huang Shizhen forced a smile, gesturing for Chen Jue not to worry. Although he appeared to have sustained internal injuries and his complexion was far worse than before, his overall spirit was actually superior to how it was before the injury—clearly having gained profound insights from their spar.

Martial arts were like this; true mastery could rarely be attained through solitary closed-door practice alone.

Aside from someone like Chen Jue, who possessed a status panel allowing him to witness his continuous progress, genuine experts in reality had to improve gradually through repeated sparring and testing against others.

Of course, it was also because Huang Shizhen's martial arts were profound, having reached the wondrous realm of channeling force deep into his internal organs, coupled with the heart-strengthening and lung-bolstering effects accumulated over years of practicing the Golden Toad Skill. If an ordinary person suffered a Qi deviation that injured their heart and lungs, they would not even be able to get out of bed for labor without three to six months of quiet recuperation.

Yet for Huang Shizhen, a full recovery would take only half a month, demonstrating the formidable regenerative capacity of his heart and lungs.

Just as he was speaking, Liu Shiqing hurried over holding a white porcelain jar and a wine bottle. This Wudang Daoist clearly held deep respect and concern for her uncle-master.

Seeing that the medicine had arrived, Huang Shizhen hurriedly lifted his martial arts tunic and was about to apply the ointment and medicinal wine himself when Chen Jue stopped him.

"Daoist Huang, let me apply the medicine for you!"

"Although I only recently learned medical principles, I at least possess the skill of soft internal force application. Having me apply the medicine will yield much faster results than mere rubbing." Chen Jue took the porcelain jar and medicinal wine, offering his assistance.

"Very good! Then I must trouble Master Chen Jue to make a move!" Huang Shizhen nodded. With his profound mastery of Qi cultivation and years of running an outpatient clinic as a Daoist priest, his ability to read people and situations was exceptionally acute.

Knowing that Chen Jue's offer came from a place of genuine goodwill and sincerity, he did not refuse and directly agreed.

It must be understood that this kind of internal force, when applied to a person's body, could prove fatal if the slightest error occurred.

Chen Jue and Huang Shizhen were meeting for the very first time with only shallow interaction, yet to entrust his life so readily into Chen Jue's hands was a clear testament to his unwavering faith in the character of a Golden Elixir Real Person.

"Loquat, toad venom, jade dew... these are all medicinal herbs that moisten the lungs and clear heat!" Chen Jue picked up the porcelain jar, opened the lid, sniffed it, and glanced at the characters "Toad Jade Ointment" written on the bottle. Realizing this must be the specialized healing secret medicine accompanying the Golden Toad Skill, he asked no further questions, took a piece of white gauze handed to him by Liu Shiqing, and evenly applied the ointment.

He first poured some medicinal wine into his palms, then gently exerted force with his hands against Huang Shizhen's chest and back, using the wine to promote blood circulation and remove blood stasis. Once the medicinal wine had mostly evaporated, he placed the ointment-coated gauze precisely over the other man's heart and lung regions.

"Daoist Huang, relax! Next, I am going to employ the force-generating method of soft internal power," Chen Jue warned. Huang Shizhen nodded, closed his eyes, and sat limply in the master's chair with his entire body slack.

Chen Jue held the white gauze in one hand to prevent it from slipping, while his right hand had its five fingers closed together, moving as gently as a fan as he patted Huang Shizhen's heart and lung area through the gauze.

With his eyes closed in meditation, Huang Shizhen felt a wave-like soft force gradually permeating through his skin, sinking into his pores, and finally reaching his burning heart and lungs.

"Such brilliant soft internal power!"

"It's even more gentle and subtle than my late master's!" Huang Shizhen silently marveled as he closed his eyes to comprehend the force transmitting through his chest and back.

Chen Jue struck repeatedly with light, exceptionally gentle motions. This was enhanced by the newly awakened [Rigid and Soft Interwoven] state of his Level 5 Tai Chi, while his internal force output remained continuous, producing muffled, rhythmic *pa-pa* echoes that softly reverberated through the courtyard.

After more than ten minutes, aided by the medicinal potency of the Toad Jade Ointment, Huang Shizhen felt his heart and lungs refresh and soothe, subduing the scorching pain of the injury. He suddenly opened his eyes, parted his lips, and spat out a hot glob of phlegm mixed with blood threads.

After expelling this second mouthful of hot phlegm, the breath escaping Huang Shizhen's lips no longer carried the metallic scent of blood, indicating that his injuries had healed by more than half.

Seeing this, Chen Jue smiled slightly, withdrew his force-generating right hand, and asked, "Daoist Huang, do you feel better?"

"Much better! Thank you, Master Chen Jue!"

"Your soft internal force is far more pliable and yielding than that of my late departed mentor, and you were able to continuously unleash internal force for so long without a single lapse..." Having spat out the bloody phlegm, Huang Shizhen felt immensely refreshed, his complexion returning to a healthy ruddy glow, though the look in his eyes as he gazed at Chen Jue grew somewhat complex.

Huang Shizhen felt that Chen Jue's physical stamina was simply too boundless!

After all, his late master had also treated his internal injuries in this manner before, but the old master's internal force output could never exceed five minutes—unlike Chen Jue, who had continuously exerted force for over ten minutes without flagging.

If such stamina were applied to combat, it would undoubtedly sweep through the martial arts world without a single match.

Of course, Huang Shizhen would never have guessed in a million years that the young man before him was not only a Real Person who had formed the Golden Elixir just like his late master, but also a monstrous cheat who relied on a status panel to transcend physical limits.

When ordinary internal force experts stirred their intent, unleashing internal force a dozen times would cause their hearts to race violently, leading to heavy panting and a drastic drop in stamina.

Yet after more than ten minutes of soft internal force application, Chen Jue did not even break into a light sweat, demonstrating just how unfathomably deep the physical stamina brought by his 3.85 Constitution attribute on the panel truly was.