Chapter 22: Nine-Turn Bone-Transforming Pill

Guan Zhong’s words were all reasonable, but Guan Huchen had secrets he could not reveal, not even to Guan Zhong.

He shook his head: “Even if I clearly expressed my intent to pledge allegiance, that brat Yu Yu merely glanced at me from the corner of his eye, sneering, and told me to prove myself in the coming campaign to quell the rebellion of the Thirty-Six Western States.”

Talking nonsense like ‘Great Qin values talent alone, military merit comes first, rewards follow achievement, and ability is always recruited.’

He himself is the perfect example.

Thanks to his ties with the Meng family and Imperial Consort Li, he was appointed general at thirteen and became a Third-Class Yangyang Marquis by fifteen.

Along the way, he merely tagged along with Great Qin’s ‘Ten Great Generals’—the ‘God of Killing,’ the ‘Soldier Butcher,’ the ‘General King’—and scooped up battle merits for free.

This rebellion of the Thirty-Six Western States sounds terrifying, but in the heartland of Zhonghua, it’s a fruit ripe for the picking.

That brat Yu Yu snatched the fruit before anyone else could reach it.

When he returns to Xianyang with the glory of crushing the Thirty-Six Western States, who knows what honors the Emperor will bestow upon that bastard.

“Master, watch your tongue!” Guan Zhong’s face turned pale.

Calling him ‘that brat’ was already unbearable, yet Guan Laoya dared to say ‘bastard’ too.

Given the Yangyang Marquis’s habit of exterminating ten clans for any slight, once the Guan household is punished for speech, his entire family will perish.

Almost simultaneously, thousands of miles from Hengsha Pass, in the Black Tiger Ridge encampment of the Yangyang Marquis, a short, fat middle-aged man with prominent ears opened his eyes and chuckled strangely: “Guan Laoya is truly Guan Laoya—dare to say anything suicidal, even slander the Marquis himself, and even call him a...”

Even as a trusted aide of the Yangyang Marquis, he dared not utter that word.

“I must report this immediately to the Marquis—turn Guan Laoya into a dead old duck!”

He rose from his seated posture, intending to leave his tent and head to the adjacent command tent.

Before pulling back the tent flap, he suddenly halted: “Guan Laoya’s Thousand-Mile Eye is a flawed artifact, but it’s still an immortal’s eye. The Marquis became a general at thirteen and has long sought to assemble both the Thousand-Mile Eye and the Thousand-Mile Ear as his personal aides—eight years have passed, yet he still hasn’t succeeded... Cousin Tianming’s divine art is incomplete, and he cannot descend from the mountain anytime soon.

Moreover, the Marquis knows that Daoist Qingsong has applied for the Nine-Turn Bone-Transforming Pill on Guan Laoya’s behalf.

Right now, the Marquis still holds some hope for Guan Laoya; merely whispering behind his back probably won’t warrant death.

After all, the Marquis... sigh!”

The Marquis’s origins are no secret in Xianyang—countless people speak ill of him behind his back.

This Great Qin general, with his enormous flapping ears, returned to his own tent and resumed his seated meditation.

His large ears trembled slightly, as rings of transparent ripples converged from all directions into his earlobes.

“Guan Laoya, I’ll keep a portion of my spiritual sense fixed on you—mind your own conduct!”

Huchen didn’t know his private conversation in the family hall had already been overheard; he still sneered: “That brat Yu Yu is a bastard with an unknown father—doesn’t everyone in Great Qin know that?”

And don’t act so shocked—you’re my companion; I trust you.

Only before you can I bare my soul without restraint and relieve my pent-up bitterness.

Even my own elder brother can’t hear me utter a single word against any noble of Great Qin.

I understand far better than you the ferocity and cruelty of Great Qin.”

Huchen spoke these words calmly, yet the very calmness revealed how utterly natural he believed them to be.

Guan Zhong trembled with emotion, his face flushed red.

“Master, your humble servant, your loyal... wuhuu...”

He burst into tears.

“Enough—you’re about to become a grandfather—don’t act like a weeping child.” Huchen waved his hand.

He was forty-three; his eldest son had married five years ago, but his lineage remained thin.

Guan Zhong, his same age, had a daughter-in-law seven months pregnant.

Guan Zhong wiped the moisture from his eyes, his heart warmed by devotion, and rallied his spirit: “Master, the Yangyang Marquis looks down on you because your immortal eye isn’t strong enough yet?”

Isn’t seeing a thousand li as clearly as palm lines enough? How strong must it be to qualify?”

“Will taking Daoist Qingsong’s Nine-Turn Bone-Transforming Pill fix it?”

Huchen said: “Whether or not the Yangyang Marquis favors me, I desperately need a Nine-Turn Bone-Transforming Pill.

You know I have an immortal eye, but you don’t know that immortal eyes have ranks and realms.

Fundamentally, the immortal eye is one form of divine eye technique—ultimately, it’s an innate ability.

Innate abilities stem from a ‘divine spark’ bestowed by heaven and hidden within one’s bloodline.

This ‘divine spark’ is itself a kind of qi, just like the immortal qi cultivated by cultivators, the dragon qi stored in dragon veins, or the earth qi—all derived from primordial qi.

But the ‘divine spark’ of innate abilities is most unique and exceedingly rare, existing only within living beings, unlike earth qi or heavenly-spiritual qi, which surge freely in blessed lands and sacred mountains.

Some are born with extraordinary talents, possessing innate abilities others lack.

For example, innate super strength, or my immortal eye.

Compared to ordinary people, those with innate abilities are naturally gifted.

Yet even among those with innate abilities, some possess stronger ‘divine sparks’ and greater quantities.

Of course, the most crucial step is acquiring the ‘divine spark’ from nothing.

The quality and quantity of the ‘divine spark’ can be enhanced postnatally.

The simplest, most effective method to enhance the ‘divine spark’ is through divine elixirs.”

Huchen’s eyes gleamed with anticipation, his voice growing excited.

“The Nine-Turn Bone-Transforming Pill is the finest elixir in the world for reshaping tendons and bones.

When perfected through nine transformations, it borders on divine.

Swallowing one pill might even birth the rarest of all—immortal bones!

I dare not dream of immortal bones—yet at least I can repair the flaws in my Thousand-Mile Eye.

For example, distance: currently, I can only see a thousand li away.

I’ve heard the Thousand-Mile Eye of the Jade Emperor can stand at the Southern Heavenly Gate and survey all Four Great Continents.

Four Great Continents—how many ten thousand li is that?

Also, my Thousand-Mile Eye’s divine spark is unstable, easily triggering violent spiritual fluctuations that alert the target.

If a cultivator uses talismanic arts to veil the sky, they can likely block my surveillance.

In Shu, few powerful cultivators can reach the limits of my immortal eye.

But Zhonghua is filled with geniuses, every corner teeming with cultivators.

In the Great Qin court, there are even Golden Immortals...

Honestly, I can’t blame Yu Yu for looking down on me—in front of those immortals, my immortal eye is utterly useless.”

Seeing his master’s despair and self-loathing, Guan Zhong immediately comforted him: “Master, no need for modesty! Compared to the blessed lands of Zhonghua, what is your birthplace of western Shu?

For the same innate ability, nobles of Zhonghua acquire divine elixirs and spiritual medicines effortlessly.

You’ve lived over forty years before even discovering a path to enhance your ‘divine spark.’

You had to beg Daoist Qingsong for medicine—enduring countless hardships.

Nobles of Zhonghua may have eaten divine elixirs since birth.

It’s not that you’re inferior to them—it’s that your resources are inferior.

Under identical conditions, you would surpass them all, matching any noble of Great Qin!”

At this, the old servant’s face darkened with worry: “You said the pill requires nine transformations, bordering on divine. If the Nine-Turn Bone-Transforming Pill is so precious, will Daoist Qingsong really give it to you so easily?”

“Not a gift—it’s what I deserve.”

Huchen cried out excitedly: “Look where we are now!

Even near the northern desert, at Hengsha Pass, we have Guan family pharmacies.

You’re an elder of the household—you know what our pharmacies primarily deal in.”

Guan Zhong’s heart stirred—he sensed the truth.

For years, the Guan family had purchased vast quantities of herbs from the Western States.

Among them were century-old red fruits, millennium-old polygonum, ten-thousand-year ginseng—divine herbs and immortal fungi.

Beyond what the master and his sons needed for daily cultivation, many divine herbs remained.

Or rather, what they used for cultivation were merely inferior-grade herbs.

The finest specimens were always preserved.

The Guan family’s alchemists lacked skill—they feared wasting hard-won spiritual materials... though their skill wasn’t bad at all; in Shu, they were unmatched—but compared to Great Qin’s Daoist palaces, they were nothing.

“In recent years, the Guan family has been seeking Great Qin alchemists to help brew divine pills—has it succeeded? Has Daoist Qingsong agreed to brew for us?” Guan Zhong asked, excited.

Huchen shook his head: “Daoist Qingsong covets the Guan family’s century-old accumulation of divine herbs, but his duties are too heavy—he must shuttle back and forth among the Thirty-Six States.

He proposed a deal: in exchange for my military merit in quelling the rebellion of the Thirty-Six States, he’ll secure me one chance for Master Ge, a Great Qin alchemist, to brew a single batch.

We’ll trade all the divine herbs in our family vault for the raw materials to brew one furnace of Nine-Turn Bone-Transforming Pill.

If not for this carrot dangled before me, how could I have defied my ancestors’ orders, abandoned my studies at home, and accepted the appointment as Commandant of the Iron Cavalry under the Qinghe Commandery Prince?”

He was the second son; his elder brother Guan Wenlong was military, he was scholarly—both served in Shu’s court.

Three years ago, their father died in melancholy.

Both chose to return home for mourning, observing filial seclusion; the Shu King approved and praised them as paragons of filial piety.

Last mid-year, the Thirty-Six States formed an alliance to attack Shu; elder brother Guan Wenlong voluntarily returned to court, advising the Shu King and helping the Qinghe Commandery Prince draft the ‘National Protection Strategy’ to seek aid from Great Qin.

Guan Huchen, however, was ordered by his great-grandfather to continue his studies in seclusion.

In truth, even without his great-grandfather’s reminder, Huchen had no desire to return to the army as a mere ‘cannon fodder.’

The Thirty-Six-State Alliance—ignoring other vassal states—just Lu State alone had ten renowned human immortals.

Should he go to the front to die?

Once the Yangyang Marquis crossed the Liusha River, Huchen began to stir.

He wanted to serve under the Yangyang Marquis—and ultimately bring his talent eastward to Great Qin.

But according to Old Lord Guan’s divination, Huachen should wait another ten years before rising to prominence.

Already restless, and now with the promise from Qingsong Daoist Acolyte, Huachen could no longer hold back—he immediately left the mountains, leading the Shu Royal Guard to join Marquis Lieyang in confronting the million-strong army of the Thirty-Six States.

Huachen not only participated in every major battle, but after the initial suppression of the Thirty-Six States’ rebellion, he took on Qingsong Daoist Acolyte’s mission, delving deep into the Western Sands Desert to use his Thousand-Mile Eye to track down the “Sand Barbarian Feathers,” leading to the story just told.

One could say Huachen’s military exploits were truly illustrious.

“Pity that the essence of the Thirty-Six States’ rebellion was Lu State’s attempt to overthrow the Human Emperor, yet on the surface it appeared merely as a threat to Shu.”

“As a Shu general, my military merits were not earned for Great Qin, but to defend my own country and serve King Shu faithfully. Alas, what a pity,” Huachen sighed in regret.

He earned merit for Shu; it was King Shu who should reward him, not the Human Emperor of Great Qin.

Had he already joined Great Qin’s army and become a formal Great Qin general, even if he returned now to rescue his homeland, it would have been serving the Human Emperor and earning merit for Great Qin—his name would surely have been included in the Human Emperor’s edict of reward.