"Tch, coward. Afraid your little lover next door will hear?"
Haitang bit his hand, leaving several clear teeth marks.
Ning Beichen yelped in pain, swatting at her. "Are you a dog?"
"Hmph! Knowing I'm here, you still dare bring another woman? It's good I didn't throw a curse at both of you."
Haitang pinched him, retaliating for Ning Beichen slapping her earlier.
"I had no choice. Besides, she's not my woman, she's my boss."
Ning Beichen replied somewhat guiltily.
"Boss? I think she's your wife. Liu Yilin's beauty captivates even me, a woman. Do you dare to swear that you have no feelings for her at all?"
Haitang snorted, her jealousy palpable.
"Why wouldn't I dare? I swear..."
Ning Beichen only managed a few words before he stopped, not daring to continue.
Though Haitang was in his arms, did he really have no feelings for Liu Yilin?
That was likely not the case.
"Why did you stop swearing? Got something to hide, haven't you?" Da Feng Novel Network
Haitang suddenly flipped over and straddled him. She produced two red ropes from somewhere and tied Ning Beichen's hands.
"Haitang, what... what are you doing?"
Ning Beichen started to panic.
"What do you think?"
Haitang looked at him with a smile, like a bandit chief, and Ning Beichen was her captured lady of the mountain.
"Ah!"
"No!"
"Yamete!"
...
In the medicine vat next door, Liu Yilin heard none of the commotion. She was entirely focused on battling the pain in her body.
She hadn't expected rebirth to be so agonizing. She had no energy to pay attention to anything else.
But then again, it was called rebirth, so it was bound to be an uncomfortable process. The medicinal power was surging through her, violently altering her body. Countless cells died, only to be replaced by more robust ones, reshaping her bones and sinews inch by inch.
Why did ancient sects prioritize disciples with good bones and aptitude? It wasn't hard to understand. With good bones, one's progress in any cultivation would be swift; they'd grasp things instantly.
Someone with good bones would achieve in one year what others took ten. How could that be compared?
Aptitude was simpler. It was like some people having photographic memories. If you were a dullard, taking a year and a half to understand a single sentence, you wouldn't even reach accomplishment in cultivation, you'd likely drive your master mad.
Were there the "greatly wise but appear foolish" types?
Of course. But being "greatly wise but appear foolish" was also a form of aptitude. Not everyone could be Guo Jing.
So, for Liu Yilin, her high intelligence was her aptitude. Her aptitude was beyond question, and aptitude was something innate, something beyond remedy.
What she lacked were bones.
While bones had innate and acquired aspects, some people were born with good bones, while others weren't. However, bones weren't fixed; they could be changed, unlike unalterable aptitude.
The reason Ning Beichen agreed to teach Liu Yilin martial arts and cultivation, besides their ambiguous relationship, was her excellent aptitude. If it were Liu Yixin, even if she kowtowed until her head bled, Ning Beichen wouldn't agree to teach her.
The night wasn't long, especially for Ning Beichen and Haitang. After their fierce, "Nezha stirs the sea" battle, they opened their eyes to find the sky bright.
But for Liu Yilin, it was an agonizing night. She felt as if countless ants were gnawing at her body. The pain, so intense she couldn't cry out, was unbearable.
Fortunately, her strong will allowed her to endure it. However, as dawn broke, she could no longer resist and fell into a deep sleep.
When she woke, she found herself no longer in the medicine vat, but on a clean wooden bed.
After a night of bone restructuring, upon waking, she immediately noticed the difference.
She felt as light as a swallow, and could even hear the chirping of insects several kilometers away. Looking into the distance, she found her eyesight to be incredibly sharp, clearer than it had ever been.
Bone restructuring inherently enhanced the human senses. If one had cultivated from a young age, the changes wouldn't be as dramatic. But for someone like her, undergoing such a transformation at her age, the change felt earth-shattering.
Liu Yilin gazed at her surroundings with disbelief, filled with curiosity.
When she focused her gaze on a single point, that point seemed to slow down, like a slow-motion replay.
When she pricked up her ears, she could hear the sound of a train running on its tracks.
Keep in mind, the railway was tens of kilometers away from her location.
Before, she had never understood Ning Beichen's world. While she knew he was powerful, she had no idea *how* powerful he was.
But now, looking at this transformed world before her, she suddenly had an epiphany. The things she couldn't comprehend became crystal clear.
"Yilin, you're awake."
Ning Beichen's voice came from outside the door as he knocked.
Liu Yilin immediately snapped back to reality. Her eyes, clear as a spring, looked at Ning Beichen, her heart filled with excitement.
If not for this man, she doubted she would ever experience such wonder in her life.
In the past, she had always dismissed martial arts, believing them to be for the crude and unrefined.
Furthermore, she didn't believe that true martial arts existed, thinking them to be merely ways to strengthen the body, like barbaric sports such as boxing or mixed martial arts.
But now, she realized she was wrong, profoundly wrong.
After experiencing the many events with Ryan and others, Liu Yilin understood that extraordinary powers did exist in this world, and so did people with such powers. Ordinary individuals were like ants before them.
"Beichen, I feel like I've become a different person. I can see more clearly, hear sounds from farther away..."
Liu Yilin, suppressing her excitement, recounted her changes to Ning Beichen.
"Yilin, you're incredibly fortunate. The success rate for bone restructuring is less than half. And of that successful half, those who can enhance their senses immediately after the procedure, like you, are less than one in ten."
Ning Beichen exclaimed in admiration after listening.
"Am I really that lucky?"
Hearing the probability, Liu Yilin was even more thrilled. After all, who wouldn't want to be the best?