"""
[You spent a happy night with Tong Jia and gained 6 remaining points].
At dawn, Song Cheng glanced at the information.
The young lady beside him rubbed her hands, exclaiming, "So cold, so cold," then took underwear from the wooden table by the bed and put it on under the covers. After a while, she got up, pulled on her coarse cotton socks, dressed, and looked into the bronze mirror, combing her long hair as she said, "Today should be a nice day, Brother Cheng, remember to take the herbs from the rack outside to dry."
"Okay."
Song Cheng clearly had not yet recovered his strength, his legs were a bit weak, especially the inner thighs.
His strength was weaker than the young lady's; at first, he had some momentum, but in these few days, he was overwhelmed by the mistress.
Tong Jia murmured, "I hope someone comes to the clinic today... After the heavy snow, many must have caught the cold."
Creak...
The door opened.
The mistress ran out to cook breakfast.
Outside, the sound of watchmen returning home through the village's muddy paths could be heard; thieves hadn't appeared these days, making the shadow of the "grain merchant being robbed" fade slightly.
After a while, when Song Cheng got up as well, the steaming hot soup buns were already on the table.
There were two bowls of soup buns.
The mistress pushed a bowl toward him, saying, "You eat this one."
Song Cheng sniffed it.
The bowl pushed toward him had a meaty aroma, with diced bacon sprinkled in the noodle soup. But the mistress's bowl had none.
"Make do with this for now. When the grain merchants from the county come back, I'll get some meat."
"Thanks, my lady," Song Cheng said.
The mistress chuckled lightly, "You're too thin, you should indeed have some more nourishing stuff."
To her, Song Cheng was too weak, just a bit better than frail; if real bandits came to the village, she might have to carry him while fleeing.
Song Cheng was still a "Little Blind Boy," likely having no skills in this lifetime, so it was better to keep him sturdy.
...
During the day, Tong Jia went to the clinic.
Song Cheng dried herbs in the backyard, washed clothes with melted snow water, chopped firewood, swept the yard...
After some busywork, he took a break and glanced at the panel showing "Pagoda Visualization Method (Yellow Level Grade D) (Minor Accomplishment (6/8))."
'Add points.'
He allocated 6 points.
The progress of the "Pagoda Visualization Method" swiftly surpassed the Minor Accomplishment, becoming "Great Achievement (4/16)."
A mysterious feeling emerged.
After long-term night wandering, he finally took a step forward; his control over the "Out of Body Divine Soul" became more profound.
Like a fisherman on a stormy ocean, he knew what weather allowed "Out of Body Divine Soul" and how to safely "return to his body," ensuring no harm to the shell.
Even though his physique still didn't match the skill, he managed to minimize physical depletion by compressing his night wandering times.
'I can night wander now.'
Song Cheng opened his eyes.
The day was still bright, but he was already looking forward to the night.
...
...
Night fell.
Tong Jia was exhausted from a long day, lay on the bed and did nothing with Song Cheng, just leaned on her man and talked about things like, "Four patients came today, all with colds like Sister-in-law Caihua and Sister-in-law Baojin," "If so many come tomorrow or the day after, I'll have to gather herbs in the mountains," and so on.
As she talked, she fell asleep.
Song Cheng moved slightly aside, changing from leaning against the mistress to sleeping on his own side.
It wasn't out of disdain, but after achieving Great Achievement in the Pagoda Visualization Method, he clearly knew that "once the soul leaves the body, the body will enter a death-like state, becoming cold," worrying that if he stayed close to the mistress, she'd wake up from the cold and... be frightened.
After separating, he waited a bit, ensuring the mistress was asleep, then closed his eyes.
In visualization, a nine-layered high tower appeared in the void.
The young divine soul ascended step by step, leaping out at the ninth layer.
The soul broke from the body!
This was his first time in reality.
He saw himself, and indeed the shell looked as it did during cultivation: delicate, frail.
He also saw the mistress sleeping beside him.
She wore only a silk pouch, two moon-white ribbons draped across her neck, her snow-white neck piled with softness, her face quietly beautiful, and her ink-like black hair spread out like a white plum blooming in the night.
This beauty was indescribable compared to the pale sketches in his blind vision.
Thinking of this delicate lady teasing and flirting with him every day, arranging flowers and jade, living life together made Song Cheng's heart melt.
He was immortal, but... he didn't have time to think about immortality yet.
Now, he only wanted to live well with the mistress.
No one should die!
"Live on!"
The Yin Soul out of body began to drift away, slipping through the window cracks and out into the wild, the cold wind surging like the waves of a long river of frost and snow.
Song Cheng sensed and judged slightly.
'I must return within half an incense stick's time, otherwise... I'll be severely ill tomorrow.'
Knowing this, Song Cheng rapidly floated up, beginning to patrol.
In the state of the Yin Soul, he was much faster than in his flesh, like the wind.
And data observation could be completed directly by "sight through walls."
Song Cheng passed house by house, scanning the people within.
He needed to first see if anyone in this village bore ill will toward his family.
After a short while, he had toured most of the village.
Among the villagers, very few had a power of "1~1," mostly "0~0."
That wasn't surprising, as all the able-bodied men had been taken away.
As for favorability, most fluctuated between 50 and 70.
This range probably belonged to normal values, 50 being not very fond, 70 being somewhat favorable.
Seeing the time drawing to a close, Song Cheng prepared to return, after all, today was just a preliminary attempt.
Suddenly, he paused, three data points beyond a wall caught his attention.
Two were normal, with power "0~0."
But the third had power "3~4"!!
This was invincible in Tang River Village, right?
What made Song Cheng more apprehensive was that this power "3~4" presence had a favorability of only 40 towards him!
Song Cheng was basically as if he were a woman, never stepping out the front door or into the second gate, almost never leaving Rejuvenation Hall, and always being amiable, when did he offend someone?
How could he have offended someone?
No!
It wasn't just targeted at him, but at him and the mistress.
Song Cheng seriously scanned the house.
It was Yune's house.
His expression shifted, drifting to the back door of Yune's house, slipping in as a transparent flat piece of paper through the crack, then quickly looking inside.
What he saw was a short boy straddling Yune on the bed, frenziedly humiliating her.
Yune's face was tear-streaked, covering her mouth, seemingly afraid to alarm the old woman next door.
And a dagger was positioned at Yune's neck.
The dagger seemed very sharp, even with only moonlight filtering through the paper window, it still shone coldly.
Song Cheng recognized the short boy.
It was the eldest of the Ding family's three brothers, Ding Siyu.
The one who asked him recently if he had fallen to his death, was his second brother, Ding Siyan.
Suddenly, Ding Siyu, getting more excited, completely subdued Yune, placing the dagger on the table.
His power data instantly reverted to "1~2."
Watching this beastly scene, Song Cheng felt both hatred and fear.
He knew, Yune's old mother-in-law was seriously ill, bedridden, and in these days Yune spent money on medicine and buying food from other households to treat her...
That surely was filial piety, but it also caught the attention of those with ill intentions.
He suspected that Ding Siyan had likely scouted Yune's house as well, hence this scene occurred.
At this hour, if there were two people in the house, Ding Siyu wouldn't succeed unless he actually committed a crime.
If that day...
If that day, he was truly bedridden due to severe injuries.
Then, now, being humiliated would it be the mistress!?
Yin Soul couldn't touch physical things.
Song Cheng felt like air currents akin to icy rivers surging everywhere, his soul almost freezing.
He had been outside too long already, if he didn't return, he'd at least catch a cold, or worse, die.
Song Cheng couldn't watch anymore, had to turn sharply and swiftly return, until he slipped back into his body, feeling a hint of warmth.
He shivered fiercely under the quilt, as if just pulled from a winter's ice hole.
"""