Chapter 198: Hearing One and Understanding Ten

Under Shen Ping's guidance, Duan Rong began to prepare the medicine. Once the pig's bladder had been boiled through, he added the several medicinal herbs he had been decocting into the large iron pot.

Having boiled for a long time, the pungent stench of the bladder had completely dissipated.

The entire courtyard was permeated with a heavy, urinous odor...

But when Duan Rong poured the decocted herbs along with their juices into the large iron pot, the stench that had been incessantly steaming upward suddenly vanished; instead, a faint, exotic fragrance began to emanate from the large iron pot.

"This is..." A flash of intoxication crossed Duan Rong's eyes.

"Don't smell it!" Shen Ping immediately barked, "This fragrance is poisonous!"

Duan Rong jumped away instantly, shot a sidelong glance at Shen Ping, and said, "Couldn't you have said that sooner?"

Shen Ping laughed strangely and said, "Inhaling a little won't be much of a problem, it just makes one a bit randy..."

Duan Rong's eyelids twitched, and his gaze, sharp as a knife, carved into Shen Ping.

Ignoring Duan Rong's glare, Shen Ping ordered on his own, "Once the fragrance has fully released, roast the Asparagus, Gastrodia, and Corydalis until charred, grind them into powder, and sprinkle them into the pot."

Duan Rong sighed and buried his head in his work. When encountering a fellow like Shen Ping, he could only sigh.

Duan Rong roasted the Asparagus, Gastrodia, and Corydalis until charred, ground them into powder, mixed them evenly, and then, at the precise moment, sprinkled the mixed powder into the pot.

Duan Rong's technique in handling the various medicinal materials appeared very seasoned. Whenever there was a minor detail, just as Shen Ping was about to open his mouth to remind him, he would suddenly realize that Duan Rong had already noticed it and was already doing it.

This showed that Duan Rong had a full understanding of the medicinal properties of these drugs, and even had a certain grasp of their properties after being mixed, which could not help but make Shen Ping marvel.

This kid was only seventeen or eighteen years old, yet he already had such accumulation and insight into medicinal properties.

Truly strange and marvelous!

Shen Ping reckoned that at Duan Rong's age, he did not have such attainments, and he had the benefit of family learning, born into a family of the Medical Path, having been influenced by it since childhood and raised amidst the scent of various herbs.

Shen Ping had originally been quite confident in his own talent for the Medical Path, but after seeing Duan Rong, he suddenly felt that he was merely indistinguishable from the masses.

Duan Rong took the roasted, red-hot donkey hooves out of the fire pile and placed them on a stone in the courtyard to cool.

Then, holding the charred donkey hooves in his palm, he stood before the large iron pot, infused his palm with Internal Breath, and ground his palms together like a large millstone, crushing the donkey hooves into powder and sprinkling them into the pot.

After that, it was a matter of boiling it wildly over a high fire!

The firewood inside the stove burned fiercely...

Seeing that it was about to boil dry, Duan Rong looked at Shen Ping with an inquiring gaze.

Shen Ping raised his eyelids, glanced at the large iron pot, and said coldly, "Keep boiling! Increase the fire, and don't stop until I say so!"

Hearing this, Duan Rong stuffed a few more large pieces of firewood into the stove.

Seeing that the large iron pot had boiled dry and even a faint burnt smell could be detected, Duan Rong glanced at Shen Ping, but he still hadn't called for a stop.

It was not until the faint burnt smell in the large iron pot turned into a heavy, charred odor that Shen Ping suddenly shouted, "Extinguish the fire!"

Hearing this, as if receiving an order, Duan Rong slapped the edge of the large iron pot with one palm, causing it to fly out horizontally. Duan Rong executed the Cloud Snake Step, his figure flickering, and with a light flick of his toe against the bottom of the pot—it was unclear how he did it—the large iron pot landed steadily on the ground.

Shen Ping couldn't help but praise, "Good skills!"

Duan Rong's skills were naturally excellent; although his Internal Breath had not yet reached the Fourth Layer, his blade technique was already at the Great Accomplishment realm, and the punches and kicks he executed casually were naturally not unconventional.

"While it's hot, add a ladle of clear water and stir it evenly." Shen Ping, sitting in the gazebo, announced the final step for preparing the medicinal paste.

Duan Rong immediately walked to the large water vat, scooped up a ladle of clear water, and poured it into the large iron pot.

A cloud of white smoke immediately rose from the large iron pot. Duan Rong picked up a rolling pin, bent over, and began to stir inside the pot.

After finishing the stirring, Duan Rong used the rolling pin to scoop out a bit of the paste, walked to the gazebo, and handed it to Shen Ping. Shen Ping took it, sniffed it with his nose, and nodded, saying, "Hmm, not bad."

"Kid Duan, your technique and awareness are really not bad! For a first-time preparation, it's not inferior even compared to what I make! Remarkable!"

Hearing this, Duan Rong just smiled with feigned simplicity.

He shoveled all the paste from the large iron pot with a wooden spatula and put it into an earthenware jar.

Then he carried Shen Ping back to the bed in the Inner Room, used the newly brewed paste to smear all of Shen Ping's wounds, and wrapped them tightly with bandages.

Shen Ping had just recovered from a major illness, and guiding Duan Rong in preparing the medicine had been quite taxing; he was already very exhausted. Not long after Duan Rong wrapped his wounds, the newly brewed paste had an excellent pain-relieving effect. As the medicinal strength took hold, Shen Ping felt a series of comfortable, cooling, and tingling sensations at his wounds, which suddenly relaxed his tightly wound nerves, and he soon fell into a deep sleep...

The newly brewed paste indeed had miraculous effects; in just two or three days, Shen Ping was actually able to get out of bed.

Every day, Duan Rong would also perform acupuncture on Shen Ping once to help him circulate his Qi and recover. Shen Ping would occasionally discuss issues regarding acupuncture techniques with Duan Rong, and some of Duan Rong's views would often leave Shen Ping greatly astonished.

A few more days passed, and Shen Ping no longer needed to wear bandages; most of the shallower wounds had already scabbed over, and he only needed to apply the paste to the deeper wounds each day.

During these days, Xiao Zongting had found time to visit Shen Ping and was very happy to see that he was recovering well. However, Hu Huanhuan never came again. The food box she had left behind was still on the side table in the Inner Room. Twice, when Duan Rong happened to enter the Inner Room, he inadvertently saw Shen Ping staring at the food box, lost in thought.

Seeing that Shen Ping had almost recovered, Duan Rong threw himself back into his daily, frantic training.

Whenever Duan Rong practiced Standing Stake in the courtyard, Shen Ping would sit in the gazebo, drinking clear tea and flipping through the miscellaneous books Duan Rong had scavenged from the book stalls on Antique Street.

Shen Ping would occasionally look at Duan Rong practicing Standing Stake in the courtyard with slight surprise; if his calculations were correct, this kid spent nearly nine hours a day practicing Standing Stake.

"This temperament is just like Xiao Zongting's; he is simply a martial arts fanatic!"

At every mealtime, Duan Rong would carry the food box left by Hu Huanhuan, go to the street to buy some food, and eat with Shen Ping in the gazebo.

After a few days, Duan Rong had learned Shen Ping's tastes, and what he bought were basically the foods he liked.

During meals, Duan Rong would occasionally tentatively ask Shen Ping some questions, mostly about the relationship between medicinal properties and the circulation of Internal Breath. Shen Ping could often analyze seemingly very complex problems clearly and profoundly in just one or two sentences.

Duan Rong often felt as if the clouds had parted to reveal the sun.

After chatting several times, Duan Rong was convinced that Shen Ping had deep attainments in the aspects of medicinal properties and the circulation of Internal Breath.

Unlike Duan Rong's joy, Shen Ping appeared calm on the surface, but his heart was already surging with waves.

The questions Duan Rong asked often hit the mark.

They were all critical questions at the key nodes of Medicine and Martial Arts Dual Cultivation. These were problems he had spent years of his life pondering and researching before he finally understood them.

And his answers were by no means easy to understand; some parts were even quite abstruse and profound, but Duan Rong seemed to understand as soon as he heard them, and could even draw inferences about other cases, following up his answers with new, extended questions.

One could truly say he hears one thing and understands ten; his comprehension was extremely high!

(End of chapter)