Chapter Eighty-Seven: Guardian of the Way

A pharmaceutical foraging trip to Heavenly Source Mountain in Money Family Village?

Chen Yushu was startled.

This had come so suddenly. In a daze, he had been assigned work?

On the matter of his identity as a wanderer between the living and the dead, however, he was not too surprised. After all, he possessed the ability to read vital qi and see the strength of a person’s breath, even the level of their incense-based cultivation. Naturally, others with complete inheritances could do the same.

Such as that geomancer, Lu Yizhi.

Even with his vital qi sight, Chen Yushu could not see through the man’s true strength. That did not necessarily mean the man was extremely formidable, or that he had surpassed Master Ma and reached the level of more than three incense sticks’ worth of cultivation, but he was certainly no weakling.

“Yes.

“The head of the Liu family has fallen gravely ill, and they are missing one principal ingredient for refining the elixir.

“There used to be a yield of that ingredient on Heavenly Source Mountain in Money Family Village, within our River Ring Town, which is why the Third Miss took the initiative to go there and see whether she could find it.

“As for safety, there are quite a few people going along, so there is no need to worry too much.

“Besides, this is also a rare chance for you to temper yourself, so I took the liberty of agreeing to it.

“And that is not even counting this Foundational Elixir.”

As he spoke, Su Ming drew a small wooden box from his robes and handed it to Chen Yushu.

“Foundational Elixir? What does it do?”

Chen Yushu asked curiously.

“The Foundational Elixir is a top-grade medicine for martial artists to build their foundation and establish their furnace.

“It can not only strengthen the body and blood, but also enhance a martial artist’s physical potential and open the meridians and acupoints.

“Once taken, it still cannot truly compare, in the long run, with the children of wealthy families who have taken precious medicines and rare elixirs since childhood. But it can narrow the gap.

“It will also allow you to lay a firmer foundation for the future, so you won’t fall too far behind because of insufficient physical potential.”

Su Ming smiled faintly and explained, “This elixir is priceless and rarely available on the market. Only because the Liu family is a medical clan and possesses the inheritance of the Valley of the Medicine King can they refine it themselves.

“Just one pill would fetch more than three hundred taels of silver.”

“So expensive?”

Chen Yushu quickly reached out and accepted it.

He no longer resisted the matter of Su Ming having arranged for him to join the gathering party.

“Expensive things have their reasons for being expensive.”

Su Ming understood very well how important this elixir was to Chen Yushu at present. Otherwise, he would not have deliberately sought this one out for him. Then he continued, “Take it at once. I will protect the way for you.

“That way, you can add a little more strength before departure.

“Although Heavenly Source Mountain is not especially dangerous, and the Third Miss and the others will be traveling together, caution is never a mistake.

“In the wild, anything can happen.”

“Yes, Master!”

Chen Yushu did not dare delay. He hurriedly opened the wooden box.

At once, a pill as large as an infant’s fist, white and lustrous throughout, appeared before him.

Without hesitation, Chen Yushu picked up the elixir and swallowed it in one gulp.

“Quickly, take up your stance and cultivate,” Su Ming barked.

At once, Chen Yushu felt a surging heat welling up within his body, endlessly radiating outward.

That force was ten, even a hundred times stronger than the Nourishing-Origin Soup.

It was torrential and scorching, pouring almost instantly into every part of his body.

Not daring to hesitate even for a moment, he immediately began the Medicine King Stance.

The perfected Medicine King Stance, paired with that breathing method that seemed made to fit it perfectly, caused Chen Yushu, on the very first stance, to feel strands of force arising within him and swiftly rushing to every limb and bone.

Then came the second stance, the third stance...

He quickened his movements again and again, and his breathing rhythm accordingly grew faster and faster.

Before half an incense stick’s time had passed, he had already gone through the Medicine King Stance once.

Medicine King Stance +18

Then he felt, all at once, a violent and overwhelming force surging endlessly through his body.

Full, abundant, rampant.

For the first time, he felt what it was like to have power in abundance.

He even had the sensation that if it continued increasing, he would be burst apart from within.

“Switch to the Medicine King Locking-Force Art!” Su Ming seemed to understand his condition and quickly reminded him.

Chen Yushu nodded.

The Medicine King Stance was the martial art used to absorb and transform the elixir’s medicinal power, while the Medicine King Locking-Force Art was for expending it.

Only by working in tandem could they help him rapidly absorb and transform the Foundational Elixir’s medicinal essence, eventually turning it into strength that belonged solely to him.

Thus he swiftly changed to the Medicine King Locking-Force Art, controlling the force within his body as it flowed rapidly along his veins and channels.

During this time, Su Ming repeatedly struck Chen Yushu’s body with his palm.

Each time he did so, Chen Yushu immediately felt strands upon strands of cool energy swiftly pour in, entering the place where the Foundational Elixir sat within him and wrapping around it.

As that cooling power enveloped it, the Foundational Elixir, which had been continuously releasing heat and medicinal force, clearly slowed.

“Inner force. Inner force.

“This is Master’s inner force.

“He is using it to envelop the Foundational Elixir and reduce the rate at which its medicinal power is released, so I can absorb and transform it to the greatest extent.”

In that instant, Chen Yushu understood.

After all, the Foundational Elixir’s effects were too strong, and it kept releasing its power continuously. Although part of it would be absorbed by his body, much of that energy and medicinal potency would still disperse, resulting in waste.

That was why Master had said he would protect the way for him.

If not for this, and if he relied only on his own cultivation to consume it, one Foundational Elixir would probably only be enough to absorb a small portion, while most of its medicinal power would be wasted for nothing.

A pill worth more than three hundred taels of silver.

Its value was substantial.

Any trace of waste was a crime.

Chen Yushu likewise focused his mind and devoted all his effort to controlling the force as it circulated through his body.

At this moment, the force within him was too fierce, too plentiful, filling him with a sense of extravagant abundance. As it coursed within him, he even felt as though his veins and channels might be forcibly blown apart.

Of course, such overbearing force also raised the effect of his cultivation and training to an extremely high level.

Soon, after one full circuit, Chen Yushu’s flesh and skin rapidly contracted. Great beads of sweat, along with threads of filth and traces of blood, were driven out of his body.

Then he clearly felt his skin and flesh become tougher and more compact.

As though they had been tempered by countless sessions of training and pounding.

When he pinched himself, he did not even feel pain; he could truly sense the improvement.

Medicine King Locking-Force Art +33

“One session and I’ve gained thirty-three points of experience?”

Chen Yushu’s eyes lit up.

He also understood that this was because the force was too surging, making the effect on skin and flesh training especially strong.

It was a passive, forceful enhancement, yet it still registered on the status panel.

“Continue with the Medicine King Stance.”

At this point, Su Ming spoke again, and once more struck Chen Yushu several times, slowing the elixir’s consumption.

Chen Yushu did not dare be careless and began practicing the Medicine King Stance again.

Then came the Medicine King Locking-Force Art.

The two martial arts were practiced in alternating succession.

Chen Yushu, for his part, seemed tireless.

Half an hour, one hour, two hours...

Medicine King Stance +19

Medicine King Locking-Force Art +37

Medicine King Stance +17

Medicine King Locking-Force Art +32

...

The experience of both martial arts also rose rapidly.

Especially the Medicine King Locking-Force Art: after only three sessions, its level broke through and reached proficient. Then, after nine more sessions, it reached the minor accomplishment stage.

He had not even had time to savor, in detail, the changes brought by the improvement.

Only when Chen Yushu felt the Foundational Elixir within him had been completely exhausted did he finally stop.

The medicinal power was gone.

Only then did Chen Yushu cease.

By this point, his entire body was covered in a crust of dried blood.

It was a mixture of congealed blood and impurities expelled from within him while cultivating the Medicine King Locking-Force Art, and it had wrapped his whole body in a grim shell.

“All right.

“Go and wash yourself quickly.”

Only then did Su Ming finally let out a long breath of relief and hastily instruct him.

“Yes, Master!”

Chen Yushu also knew he must be filthy at this point. He did not dare delay, and hurried downstairs toward the rear courtyard.

“My speed is much faster.

“Even without using the Eight-Step Chasing Cicadas technique, my actual speed is no slower than when I do.”

As he ran, Chen Yushu immediately sensed the changes in himself.

His steps were steady, his body light as a swallow.

Each stride was like having springs under his feet, allowing him to leap with effortless height far beyond before; naturally, he could jump higher and run farther.

Downstairs, a group of apprentices were busy at work.

As time passed, the upheaval from before had no longer exerted much influence on the surrounding residents.

Life had to go on; if one was sick, one still needed a doctor.

Naturally, business in the pharmacy had also fully recovered.

The apprentices were all running themselves ragged.

When Chen Yushu rushed past them, some of them did not even react in time.

“Was that Chen Yushu just now?

“Why is he moving so fast?”

“Seems like there’s a bit of a fishy smell too? Did he fall into a cesspit as well?”

As they spoke, everyone instinctively looked toward Wang Kui, who was making medicine in the decoction room.

He had taken several days off, and had just returned today.

Yet after coming back, he seemed somewhat taciturn, as though the incident from last time had left a shadow in his heart, and he could not be bothered to pay attention to anyone.

...

After a thorough washing, scrubbing himself two or three times over, Chen Yushu finally stopped.

“This time taking the Foundational Elixir, my improvement was enormous.”

Only then did Chen Yushu finally turn his mind to his gains.

First was the Medicine King Stance.

Chen Yushu cast his gaze onto the status panel.

Medicine King Stance: Mastered (395/800)

The experience value had already passed the halfway mark.

One must know that before this, his Medicine King Stance had only just recently reached the mastered level.

And now, he was already not far from the next realm of perfection.