8. Commit an act of violence
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[You had a blissful night with Tong Jia, earning 6 Remaining Points].
As dawn barely broke, Song Cheng glanced at the message.
The young wife beside him rubbed her hands together, exclaiming "It's so cold, so cold," then she took a pair of panties from the wooden table beside the bed and began putting them on under the covers. A little while later, she got up, pulled on her coarse socks, got dressed, and in front of the copper mirror, while combing her long hair, she said, "It should be nice weather today, remember to take all the medicines on the rack out to the courtyard to sun them."
"Okay."
Song Cheng obviously hadn't recovered his strength, his legs were a bit weak, especially the insides of his thighs.
He was physically weaker than the young wife, and although he started off energetically, over the past few days, he was actually crushed by the hostess's tenacity.
Tong Jia mumbled, "I hope there are still people coming to the clinic today... The heavy snow just passed, and there aren't a few who have been invaded by the cold evil."
Creak...
The door opened.
The hostess ran out the door to prepare breakfast.
Outside, the sound of the village night watchmen returning home traveled along the muddy path; the thieves hadn't appeared in the past couple of days, which slightly diminished the shadow of "the grain merchants being robbed."
Shortly, when Song Cheng also got up, two steaming bowls of soup and pancakes were already on the table.
There were two bowls.
The hostess pushed one bowl towards him and said, "You eat this one."
Song Cheng sniffed.
The bowl she pushed his way smelled of meat, with bits of cured pork sprinkled in the wheat broth. However, the hostess's own bowl had none.
"Just make do with this for now. When the grain merchants return to the county, I'll go and weigh out some meat."
"Thank you, wife," Song Cheng said.
The hostess gently laughed, "You're too skinny, you really should eat more."
In her eyes, Song Cheng was far too weak, barely stronger than a man who couldn't even truss up a chicken. If bandits were to invade the village and they needed to flee, she feared she would have to carry Song Cheng on her back as they ran for their lives.
Song Cheng was still blind, and in all likelihood, he wouldn't possess any significant skills in this lifetime; might as well fatten him up.
...
During the daytime, Tong Jia went to sit in the hall.
Song Cheng hung and dried herbs in the backyard, washed clothes with the accumulated snow water, then chopped firewood, and swept the floor...
After a spell of busyness, he took a short rest and glanced at the "Pagoda Visualization Method (Yellow Level, Grade D) (Minor Accomplishment (6/8))" on the plank.
'Add points.'
6 points invested.
The progress of the Pagoda Visualization Method quickly surpassed Minor Accomplishment and became "Great Achievement (4/16)".
A mysterious sensation emerged.
After prolonged Night Wandering, he finally made further progress; his control over the Out of Body Divine Soul became much more profound.
He was like a fisherman who constantly faced storms at sea, he knew which weather conditions allowed for the Divine Soul to leave the body, and also how to safely "return to the carcass" without the body suffering harm.
Even though his physical constitution still couldn't match this skill, he was now able to minimize the wear and tear on his body by shortening the duration of his Night Wandering.
'I can Night Wander now.'
Song Cheng opened his eyes.
It was still light out, but he was already looking forward to the night.
...
...
Night fell.
After a busy day, Tong Jia was exhausted. She lay in bed without doing anything with Song Cheng, simply leaning on her man and chatting for a while about things like, "Four patients came today, all with cold-induced illnesses like Sister-in-law Caihua and Sister-in-law Baojin," and "If this many people come to the clinic tomorrow or the day after, I'll have to go to the mountains to gather herbs."
As she talked, she fell asleep.
Song Cheng moved slightly to the side, changing from leaning against the hostess to each of them sleeping on their own side of the bed.
This wasn't out of disgust, but after achieving Great Achievement in the Pagoda Visualization Method, he was very aware that "once the Divine Soul leaves the body, the carcass enters a state similar to death," the body begins to cool down. If he stayed close to the hostess, he feared he might freeze her awake and then... scare her.
After moving apart to sleep, he waited a bit, making sure the hostess was deeply asleep before he closed his eyes.
In Visualization, the nine-story pagoda appeared in the void.
The young Divine Soul ascended step by step, and upon reaching the ninth story, it leaped out.
The Divine Soul broke out of the body!
This was his first time in reality.
He saw himself; his body was indeed as during the practice: delicate, frail.
He also saw the hostess sleeping next to him.
The hostess was only wrapped in a silk pouch, with two pale ribbons hanging around her neck. Her neck was snow-white and plump, her cheeks were lovely and peaceful, and her ink-black hair spread out like an open white plum blossom in the night.
This sight was many times more beautiful than the pale sketches he saw through his blind eyes.
Thinking of the petite beauty he flirted and quarreled with every day, who allowed him to arrange her hair and adorn her, and with whom he lived his days, Song Cheng felt his heart melt.
He was destined for immortality, yet... he didn't have time to think about living forever.
Now, all he wanted was to live a good life with the mistress of the house.
No one should die!
Survive!
The Yin Soul that left the body began to drift away, squeezing through a gap in the window and floating into the wilderness, where the icy wind surged like the waves of a frosty Long River.
As soon as Song Cheng sensed it, he made a judgment.
"I must return within half an incense stick's time or else... I will fall seriously ill tomorrow."
Having made up his mind, Song Cheng quickly floated up and began his patrol.
The Yin Soul state was much faster than the physical body, like the wind.
And data observation could be done directly by "seeing through walls" with his sight.
Song Cheng passed by house after house, scanning the people inside them.
First, he wanted to see if there was anyone in the village harboring ill will towards his family.
A little while later, he had already toured most of the village.
Among the villagers, very few had a strength of "1~1"; most were "0~0".
This wasn't strange, as all the strong men had been conscripted.
As for goodwill, most fluctuated between 50~70.
This range should be considered normal, with 50 being not so fond and 70 being a relatively good impression.
Seeing that time was about to run out, Song Cheng prepared to return, as today was just a small test of his abilities.
Suddenly, he paused, his attention drawn by three pieces of data behind a wall.
Two of them were normal, with strength "0~0".
But the third had a strength of "3~4"!!
In Tang River Village, this was already unbeatable, okay?
And what alarmed Song Cheng even more was that this being with a strength of "3~4" only had a goodwill of 40 towards him!
Song Cheng was practically like a lady, never venturing out of the main gate, seldom stepping beyond the second, and almost never leaving Rejuvenation Hall, always treating people with kindness... When had he offended someone?
How could he have offended someone?
No!
It was not just directed at him, but also at the mistress of the house.
Song Cheng looked gravely at that house.
It belonged to Yune.
His expression changed slightly as he floated to Yune's back door, slipped through the crack like a transparent, flat piece of paper, and then quickly looked inside.
He saw a short young man straddling the bed, riding Yune, and viciously humiliating her.
Yune's face was covered in tears, but she covered her mouth as if afraid of alarming the mother-in-law in the next room.
A dagger was placed against Yune's throat.
That dagger seemed very sharp; even with only the moonlight seeping through the paper windows, it still gleamed with a cold light.
Song Cheng recognized the short young man.
He was Ding Siyu, the eldest of the three Ding brothers.
His second brother Ding Siyan had come to his house a few days earlier to inquire if anyone had died from a fall.
Suddenly, Ding Siyu, caught up in his vile act, fully pressed down Yune and set the dagger on the table.
His strength data momentarily changed back to "1~2".
Witnessing this beastly scene, Song Cheng felt both hatred and fear.
He knew that Yune's mother-in-law had been seriously ill and bedridden, and to treat her, Yune had been spending money on medicine and buying food from other households...
While she was fulfilling her filial duty, she had also caught the eye of someone with ulterior motives.
He suspected that Ding Siyan must have also visited Yune's house, serving as a scout, hence the current scene.
In the middle of the night, if there were two people inside the house, Ding Siyu would not achieve his aims unless he truly resorted to violence.
If that day...
That day, he had truly been bedridden with severe injuries.
Would the one suffering humiliation at the hands of Ding Siyu now be the mistress of the house?!
The Yin Soul could not touch physical objects.
Song Cheng felt the air turn as cold as a glacial river, rushing towards him, as if his soul were about to freeze solid.
He had stayed outside for too long; if he didn't return soon, at best he would catch a cold and get sick, at worst, he would die.
Song Cheng could no longer watch, he had to turn around hastily and hurriedly return, not feeling any warmth until he re-entered his physical body.
He shivered under the covers, as if he had just been pulled out of an icy hole on a winter's day.