# The Medical-Martial Hero
## Prologue: Spring and Autumn in the Grove of Physicians
Practicing medicine to save the world, cultivating virtue and nurturing the spirit;
Walking the path of the hero, eliminating evil and upholding good.
A physician treats the body, and heals the heart as well;
A hero vanquishes evil, and saves lives too.
Medicine and martial arts, cultivated as one,
Make one peerless beneath heaven.
Inscription from "Spring and Autumn in the Grove of Physicians"
Spring, the fifth year of Kaibao in the Great Song dynasty.
Among the mountains of the south, in an unremarkable little village, a lean, middle-aged man stood before a dilapidated thatched hut, holding a pottery bowl filled with dark brown medicine. On the wooden stool before him sat a withered old woman, her eyes full of longing for life and fear of death.
“Granny, drink this medicine. I’ll come back to take your pulse in three days,” the middle-aged man said gently, though a trace of worry lurked in his eyes.
The old woman took the bowl with trembling hands and drained it. The bitter taste made her frown, but she forced herself to smile at the man. “Thank you, Divine Physician Ye. I suppose this old woman’s life will be dragged out a little longer yet.”
The man known as Divine Physician Ye shook his head. “There’s no need to say such things, Granny. Illnesses vary in severity. If you take good care of yourself, there’s no reason you can’t live for several more years.”
“Divine Physician Ye, did you run into any trouble on your visit this time?” A flicker of concern crossed the old woman’s eyes. “I heard the Zhao Family Escort Agency down the mountain has sent people everywhere to hunt you down for revenge.”
Divine Physician Ye smiled faintly. “It’s nothing. The young chief escort of the Zhao family was on the verge of death…”
