Chapter 484

"A forced melon is not sweet, and they are divided in heart and mind," He Lingchuan said with a smile. "Although they have 100,000 troops stationed on the west side of the Panlong Plateau, I suspect that since General Hong has already led the Panlong Army back, these 100,000 troops won't attack rashly." "Why?" Sun Fuling blinked. "They've already come; how can they return without success?"

"These two countries have coveted the Panlong Wasteland for years; they actually don't want to stop us from returning east, right? After all, once Lord Zhong takes all the soldiers and civilians away, this place will likely be theirs." He paused. "For decades, they fought to the death for this piece of land; now that they have a chance to get it for free, they should be too happy to be anything else."

"Then they not only came but also joined forces—how do you explain that?"

"Forced by pressure?" He Lingchuan had already finished a pear. "They have always been backing those small countries in Xiji; they can't just let them go, right?"

Sun Fuling smiled: "What's wrong with that? They don't take those tiny little countries seriously either."

"Then the pressure comes from somewhere else, for example... Beijia?" He Lingchuan stood up to get water to wash his hands. "Beijia has always hoped we would return home via the Jin Xi Corridor, and they wanted to send troops to suppress the rebellion in Xiluo, and they persuaded Baling to open the Jin Xi Corridor. Why are they so kind?"

"Do you think they want to eliminate us on the way?"

"Definitely," He Lingchuan sneered. "At the very least, they want to weaken our strength until we are scattered. As a result, we refused to take the Jin Xi Corridor and wanted to find another way, and Beijia wasn't having it."

"So I judge that the Baling and Xianyou coalition force is just putting on a show by lining up their troops; at most, they will fight a few small battles, and they will soon fold their flags and stop the troops, each returning home," he inferred. "The reason for stopping the troops is also easy to say: they successfully prevented the Panlong Army from advancing east, which is enough to explain to all parties."

Unknowingly, he had begun to analyze the war situation, and he spoke with great logic.

Sun Fuling's eyes flickered, and she tilted her head to look at him: "I hope it's really as you expect. By the way, you've been out for so long—have you been practicing the flute and the xun properly?"

He Lingchuan spoke almost at the same time: "By the way, I have one more thing to consult."

The atmosphere between them had eased, and Sun Fuling smiled until her dimples showed again: "Speak, don't be so polite."

"Have you ever heard of the 'Elixir of Immortality'? Also known as the Longevity Drug."

Sun Fuling asked curiously: "Where did you hear that?"

He Lingchuan scratched his head: "I saw it in a casual book in the Wenxuan Pavilion once."

"Which one?"

"Uh, I don't remember." It was just an excuse anyway. "It seems you have heard of it?"

"That is a legend of the Beijia Nation. Alo's master is a great pharmacist; he might know more." Sun Fuling stood up and went to the tank to feed the fish. "Why don't you go ask him?"

"Now?" He Lingchuan looked at the sky. "It's a bit late."

"He went to Alo's house today; I just ran into him."

Alo's house was nearby; after all, everyone lived in wooden houses. He Lingchuan stood up immediately:

"Are you coming?"

Sun Fuling smiled and shook her head: "I still have to grade homework. For the past half month, people's hearts have been unstable, and even the little ones' homework has been perfunctory; I must straighten it out properly!"

He Lingchuan saw the murderous intent in her smile and couldn't help but shiver, hurriedly heading out the door.

More than a quarter of an hour later, he knocked on Alo's door.

The master and apprentice had just finished eating. Alo was washing the dishes, and when he came to open the door, his hands were soaking wet:

"Why are you here?"

"Looking for your master to ask a question." He Lingchuan squeezed in after saying this and bowed to Helian Chen, who was sitting at the table. "Master Helian, long time no see."

Helian Chen was wearing a pair of crystal glasses and reading a book. Hearing this, he took them off: "Little He? Long time no see."

He Lingchuan took out a few prescriptions from his sleeve and handed them over: "Last time, thanks to you for prescribing the two medicines for the Emperor's Flowing Pulp, I benefited greatly. I collected a few prescriptions and a few jars of medicinal wine in Yuheng City as a small token of my gratitude."

He took out a few more jars of wine from his storage ring, and Alo stepped forward to take them.

The wine came from Yuheng City and was real, but the prescriptions were not.

They came from Zhitian Township in reality.

As the main production area for medicinal herbs in the Chi Yan Nation, Zhitian Township naturally has many specialty elixirs, and the main formulas are not difficult to obtain. Of course, each pharmacy would also make minor adjustments to the proportions, having so-called secret recipes.

The great pharmacist had specially prescribed the medicine for him last time, helping him maximize the benefits of the second Emperor's Flowing Pulp; this favor had to be returned.

Helian Chen took the prescriptions and checked them one by one, nodding quickly:

"Not bad, not bad. Hundred Marsh Pill, Scale-Slicing Elixir... these names are truly interesting."

With his attainments, he could naturally see the essence at a glance, and even his smile became warmer: "This Scale-Slicing Elixir seems to be a specialty of central Beijia; how could it be found in Yuheng City?"

He Lingchuan broke into a cold sweat; this old man's knowledge of pharmacy was broad, and he was really not easy to fool. He could only say vaguely: "Perhaps it spread from Beijia? Merchants travel all over the world, exchanging what they have for what they lack."

"Hmm, that's possible!" I don't know if Helian Chen saw through it, but he nodded anyway. "This prescription has some discrepancies with what I know; it has been improved quite a bit."

This child is very sincere; very good, very good, not as dull as Alo.

He Lingchuan laughed it off. After all, he sent a prescription from over a hundred years later; how could it not be improved?

Seeing Helian Chen smiling all over his face, he struck while the iron was hot:

"By the way, I would like to ask the master, have you ever heard of the 'Elixir of Immortality'?"

Helian Chen's reaction was the same as Sun Fuling's, asking him for the source. After being brushed off by He Lingchuan, he stroked his beard and said: "It's been a long time since I heard anyone mention that."

He Lingchuan knew there was a chance as soon as he heard that: "You know about it, right?"

"Hmm, this is a so-called 'divine medicine' spread in Beijia, which can prolong the life of the user. If they were originally weak and sickly, they would soon be able to strengthen their body after eating it," Helian Chen recalled. "I traveled to Beijia in my early years and happened to be there when the Treasure Tree King bestowed an Elixir of Immortality upon a subordinate official, who took it on the spot. Hmm, these kinds of drugs all require on-the-spot consumption; you are not allowed to take them back yourself."

"Taking one, how many years of life can it extend?"

"There is no fixed number for that; after all, everyone's constitution is different, and the constitution of monsters and humans is different." Helian Chen thought for a while. "I heard it's at least ten years or more, and at most a few decades?"

"Only ten years and they dare to call it a divine medicine?"

"You are truly a youth who doesn't know the sorrows of the elderly," Helian Chen laughed loudly. "If a person is at the end of their rope, let alone ten years, they would be willing to exchange their entire family fortune just to live ten more days! Moreover, this medicine also has the effect of strengthening the body; if you are a cultivator, it can also keep your cultivation base from regressing."

Cultivation base, like age and strength, will eventually decline.

He Lingchuan immediately asked: "Who made this medicine?"

"The prescription is in the hands of a few people in Lingxu City; even the monster kings of the various vassal states do not know it." Helian Chen shook his head. "I don't know exactly who is in charge. I heard that the formula was leaked once before; Beijia should have managed it more strictly later."

He Lingchuan asked the key question: "Do you know about Pulp Beads? It is rumored that this is one of the materials for refining the Elixir of Immortality."

"I haven't heard of that," Helian Chen pondered. "However, a good friend of mine from my youth came from a prominent family in Lingxu City. Once, after drinking, he mentioned that his father had taken the Elixir of Immortality and said that the most important medicinal primer was bestowed by the gods. Without this medicinal primer, the Elixir of Immortality could not be made at all. Therefore, only Lingxu City in the whole world produces the divine medicine."

"Only bestowed by the gods?" He Lingchuan thought of Mr. Mai's monster hunting and bead taking.

If what Wan Song said was true, these Pulp Beads were eventually to be kneaded into the alchemy furnace to refine the Elixir of Immortality. That is to say, for every Pulp Bead, a corresponding medicinal primer must be matched.

Has the Beijia Nation been poaching the lives of its own citizens to refine divine medicine?

This is a bit strange.

It's not that it wouldn't do this, but... it could have done it openly and honestly; at worst, it could throw out a few noble reasons, and naturally, some people would be willing to offer their lives. Why be so sneaky?

Could someone be making medicine in private?

But the medicinal primer is bestowed by the gods; what can you do without a medicinal primer? This matter doesn't make sense from either side.

He thought for a while: "I can understand humans craving the Elixir of Immortality, but monsters too?"

"The direct consequence of the weakening of spiritual energy is the shortening of the lifespan of living beings. Whether it is a monster or a human, as long as they live in this world, they cannot escape this principle." Alo served warm water, and Helian Chen took a sip. "Monsters are generally longer-lived than humans, but there is always an end."

He Lingchuan felt a stir in his heart: "Is the Ba the same? It was originally transformed from a dead person; does it also have a lifespan?"

"Ba?" Helian Chen was a little surprised to hear this name. "Are there still such things now? I heard that it hasn't been seen since the medieval period."

"Yes, in Beijia." That's right, at this time, the Chi Yan Nation had not yet been established, and Fushan Yue's father had just begun to show his talent.

"In a place like Beijia, it's not strange for anything to appear." Helian Chen shook his head. "Although the Ba originates from yin turbidity, it relies on yang energy to survive just like other living beings; otherwise, why would it absorb essence and blood? As time passes and the Ba gets older, the turbid energy in its body increases and its vital energy becomes rarer. This is no different from a human, except that it has a longer lifespan, returning to dust after three or four hundred years."

He Lingchuan thought for a while and asked again: "Then what about the great monster Zhu Erniang of the Ghost Needle Shi Lin? She is a monster immortal who has lived from ancient times to the present; how did she get rid of the shackles of life and death?"

"This great monster is very interesting!" As soon as Zhu Erniang was mentioned, Helian Chen became energetic, even throwing his book onto the table. "Panlong City has been a neighbor to it for so many years, but we never had the chance to understand it. It just so happened that after the Great Battle of the Ghost Needle Shi Lin, General Hong brought back a claw tip of the spider monster, and we finally had the chance to study it properly!"

He Lingchuan looked at the light in his eyes and subconsciously touched the goosebumps on his arm: "Is there a conclusion?"

"No, how could it be that fast? There are too many secrets on these ancient monster immortals! Just pondering the way monster energy operates in its body could take many years of research, but—" Helian Chen's eyebrows were about to fly off. "This monster immortal has mastered at least two major skills: one is hibernation, and the other is molting!"

(End of chapter)