Chapter 30: Striving for Self-Improvement

After the recent incident with the horde of ghosts, Yun Jiao fully realized how weak she truly was. If it hadn’t been for the ancestral master residing in the temple, she and the old man might have perished here. It was obvious that this world, riddled with supernatural events, was far more dangerous than the one she came from.

As the saying goes, “Superstition kills.” Now she completely understood the true meaning of this phrase. It really could cost lives!

She realized that if she wanted to survive in this world, she had to strengthen herself. Another saying goes, “Knowledge is power.” Clearly, she didn’t know enough yet.

So she dug out all the intact books preserved in the temple, along with the advanced teaching materials given by the ancestral master, and began studying them seriously once more.

Her body was different from those of this world; without a spiritual meridian, the path of cultivation was essentially closed to her. Like the talismans drawn by the old man—though she could replicate them exactly, what she produced were useless scraps devoid of spiritual power. As for forging magical artifacts or practicing mystical techniques, that was out of the question.

She was like the only insulator in this world, destined to be cut off from mystical arts. The ancestral master had been right—spiritual medicine was her only, and best, choice.

A spiritual healer was essentially a doctor of the cultivation world, specializing in treating injuries caused by otherworldly beings, or accidental wounds suffered while practicing spells and techniques. In short, they treated all sorts of strange illnesses no ordinary person could contract.

Healing as a spiritual doctor relied on medical skill and accurate diagnosis. While spiritual energy was also required, most of it could be substituted with the use of artifacts.

She had originally been a doctor anyway; healing and saving lives was her profession. Though spiritual medicine was completely different from the treatments she had studied, some of the theories overlapped.

At first, she thought spiritual medicine was like traditional Chinese medicine, using herbs and similar remedies. Yun Jiao worried that since she had studied Western medicine, her training might not apply. But after reviewing some prescriptions, she realized that even Chinese medicine wouldn’t help here. The herbs and spiritual plants mentioned in these books, along with the treatment methods, were things she had never heard of, belonging to no category of medicine she knew.

She quickly understood that the medical system in this world might be entirely different from hers. In other words, even Chinese medicine was irrelevant. She had to start from scratch.

Fortunately, her ancestral master was an excellent teacher, and the materials provided were detailed. Perhaps because of the pile of assignments she had previously handed in for the Heart of the Mystical Arts, they even included the most basic knowledge—diagrams of meridian networks, the flow of spiritual energy, acupoint usage, and so on.

Through her intensive study, Yun Jiao gradually grasped the structure of spiritual medicine.

Spiritual medicine was divided into four stages: body medicine, mind medicine, mystic medicine, and soul medicine. It was said that body doctors healed the wounded, mind doctors revived the dead, mystic doctors could commune with immortals, and soul doctors could merge with heaven and earth.

Though the slogans sounded impressive, Yun Jiao thought it was probably no different from the levels of internship doctors, licensed doctors, attending physicians, and chief physicians. The deeper she studied, the more she felt that many of the theoretical concepts overlapped with the medicine of her own world. In fact, the two systems could be interwoven and combined.

To distinguish the differences between them, she reorganized all the spiritual medical data in the temple along with the ancestral master’s materials, compiling them into a complete set of Detailed Explanations of the Differences Between Eastern, Western, and Spiritual Medicine and Executable Treatment Plans for Various Difficult and Complicated Diseases. However, all her research remained at the theoretical stage, severely lacking in practice.

Only through practice could Yun Jiao be confident of truly entering the field of spiritual medicine. To master it fully, she would need even deeper study.

Thus, she studied for a full three months.

During this time, Bai Yu watched helplessly as the bookshelf, once left with only a few dozen volumes after being destroyed by a female ghost, visibly grew fuller with her progress. In just a few short months, it was packed with books and even looked close to overflowing.

And these books were not purchased, nor bestowed by the ancestral master—they were all written by Yun Jiao herself. Bai Yu had once flipped through them out of boredom, only to close them immediately.

He had only one impression: dizzy!

Although the books contained no mystical power and couldn’t harm one’s spirit, they could still damage the eyes. Page after page of dense symbols and text that made no sense. Just one glance left him seeing stars. He had no idea how the girl managed to write them, and what’s worse—she kept producing more!

“You’re still reading, girl?” Bai Yu thought she was just frightened by the female ghost and wanted to quickly learn some skills for self-defense, so he couldn’t help but intervene. “Cultivation isn’t something you need to rush. I know those ghosts were scary, but don’t forget—we still have the ancestral master here.”

He patted her shoulder, smiling foolishly, and said, “With him around, forget a hundred ghosts, even a hundred demons would be nothing to fear. Instead of wasting time, why not cook a few more bowls of soup for the old master? Oh right!” Suddenly remembering something, he added, “What time is it now? Shouldn’t we have lunch?”

Yun Jiao glanced back at him, wanting to shoot him a look of disdain. As usual, she failed. Her face stayed its eternally serious mask. So she simply turned away, ignoring the fool.

“I’m serious. Besides, what’s the use of you studying all this?” Bai Yu pressed on when she ignored him, raising his voice. “Girl, I don’t mean to discourage you. Spiritual doctors are indeed respected, but there are very few of them in the entire mystical world. Still, they only excel at healing and saving people. They’re no good at exorcising demons or subduing spirits. Since you can’t learn mystical arts, if you’re studying spiritual medicine just to deal with ghosts, you’ll only be disappointed. If something like last time happens again, you still won’t be able to fend them off.”

Yun Jiao paused, then set her book aside and looked at Bai Yu seriously. “I’ve already thought of that.”

“Exactly, so why are you still—huh?” Bai Yu froze. “You thought of it? Then why are you still…?”

“That’s why I came up with a remedy.” She suddenly fixed him with an unwavering stare.

The way she looked at him sent a chill down his back. He instinctively stepped back. “Wh-what… remedy?”

“I don’t have spiritual meridians, so I can’t study mystical arts. But…” Her eyes swept over him from head to toe. “You do.”

“…Me?” He suddenly felt prickly all over.

“Oh, I almost forgot to tell you—I applied to the ancestral master for a set of mystical arts manuals a while back.” With that, she spun around and lifted a huge stack of books from her desk, shoving them into his arms one by one. “This is The Art of Controlling Ghosts. This is Heaven’s Descent. This is Reincarnation Curse. This is New Language Spell. And this is—”

“…”

She went on introducing them one by one, and when she was finished, she turned back to the overloaded bookshelf, pulling down pile after pile. “Knowing your limited comprehension, I spent some time organizing detailed explanations of each technique. You should be able to understand them.”

“…”

“Oh, and on the lower shelf over there are some notes on difficult concepts, along with simplified examples. If you ever come across something you don’t get, check those out.”

“…”

“You’re right, as a doctor I have no combat ability. If danger comes again, it’ll be up to you.”

“…”

“Don’t worry, it’s not too much. Just two… three… four dozen… uh, about half a bookshelf. You should be able to get through it in three months.”

“…”

“I already told the ancestral master—after three months, he’ll test you. Don’t worry, it’s just a little monthly exam. Very simple.”

“…”

“Study hard. I believe in you!”

“…” Damn it!

Every day he just wanted to renounce his discipleship!

(End of Chapter)