The Failed Pill Master, The Forbidden Disciple

He Linyuan kept his hands steady while the pill furnace spat out another black lump. He had made a life out of ruined medicine. The clan called it waste, but he could read a failure the way others read a map. When a sealed will names him heir to a dead man he never met, he expects silver, land, or trouble. Instead, it demands obedience, and the demand points straight at the one method every elder fears. Linyuan refuses at first. Each refusal costs him time, tools, and the chance to save people who are already slipping away. He also has to stand under the gaze of his own master, a man whose silence can feel kinder than speech, and far more dangerous. By the time the forbidden path is finally ...