Chapter 53: Peiyuan

Sanyin Temple, backyard.

After busying himself for the better part of the day, the small booklet in his hand—half diary, half notebook—was the only trace left behind by that Fengshiren, and also Chen Ci's only spoils of war.

It was truly quite a loss; he had suffered a heavy deficit of six Soul Fixing Talismans.

Chen Ci had only skimmed through it briefly outside; inside were some corpse-stitching techniques, cultivation notes, and medicinal formulas, the detailed contents of which he only had time to examine after returning.

There was not much of use; after a long while, Chen Ci put down the booklet, and while sipping tea, he judged and analyzed the cultivation knowledge within it.

Peiyuan Body-Nourishing Pill.

Lingxu Flying Head Method.

Only one medicinal formula and one spell still held value, and this Lingxu Flying Head Method, tsk, Chen Ci judged it to be the bait thrown out by some so-called great power—the kind with a hook.

A straight hook, at that.

This Peiyuan Body-Nourishing Pill had an effect somewhat like the Ten-Complete Great Replenishment Pill of the mundane world; it was a secret medicine for strengthening the body, and while it had no great use for True Qi cultivation, taking it could accelerate the recovery of physical injuries and clear the blood and Qi.

The Fengshiren's booklet recorded that after a severed limb was stitched on, taking this pill for three days would allow it to heal, though the flexibility of the severed limb would not be very good.

And the Lingxu Flying Head Method was the very art of head-swapping for Longevity that the Fengshiren had obsessed over day and night; after taking the Peiyuan Body-Nourishing Pill to strengthen the physique, one could practice this method.

First, one could fly the head away from the body for a night without dying, traveling through the mist.

Then, one could refine one's own fine head from solid to void, so that ordinary injuries could not harm it.

Once the head was refined from void back to solid, the art was considered complete; if one's physical body were damaged, one only needed to fly out to find a human body, swallow its head to take its place, and that would count as rebirth.

"This is truly a fully automatic Dharma Artifact refining method."

Chen Ci couldn't help but retort: "To bite such a straight hook, this fellow's death was truly not unjust; did he never feel that he was no longer acting like a human?"

This Lingxu Flying Head Method was somewhat similar to the Skull Demon Method, which ranked high in the He Mountain Sect; the Skull Demon Method was refined by He Mountain Sect cultivators using the heads of those who died violent or miserable deaths, then refined with the essence and soul of flesh and blood; the more living beings it consumed, the more fierce its power became, which was very formidable.

But the Skull Demon Method still required the He Mountain Sect cultivator to refine it personally, while this Lingxu Flying Head Method only required dropping a seed and waiting to harvest; the gap was simply too large.

Chen Ci patted the Five Yin Evil Qi Bag at his waist and curled his lip: "Look at others, then look at yourself; Adai, you are already a mature Dharma Artifact, you should learn to refine yourself."

Five Yin Evil Qi Bag: "."

Chen Ci committed the formula for this Peiyuan Body-Nourishing Pill to heart, then twisted his True Qi in his hand, completely pulverizing the small booklet; the Fengshiren no longer had any traces left in this world, vanishing like smoke.

This... was the second cultivator to die by his own hands, right?

Although it was all forced by circumstances, he was a bit too natural about it.

As expected, he had already learned to follow the customs of the land.

Chen Ci was silent for a moment, then gave a dumbfounded smile; if he didn't act, should he just let others kill him for nothing?

Pretentious.

This Peiyuan Body-Nourishing Pill, while called a pill, was actually a decoction.

Peiyuan Body-Nourishing Soup.

With the experience from that booklet, it took only one day for Chen Ci to master the concoction of this Peiyuan Body-Nourishing Soup; after all, if even that Fengshiren could refine the pill, how difficult could it be?

The main ingredient was only one: Yingxue Red.

Or rather, flesh and blood essence.

Chen Ci glanced at the progress on his Gold Finger.

Peiyuan Method: Not yet entered/3/100

This Peiyuan Body-Nourishing Pill and the Bigu Pill were both the most basic of pills, and the function of this Peiyuan Method was even more similar to the medicine-gathering method within the Small Heavens Qi Absorption Pill Method; however, the medicine-gathering method extracted the essence of plants, while the Peiyuan Method extracted the essence of flesh and blood.

"The origin of this Peiyuan Method is likely extraordinary as well; it is probably an introductory link to some great art. At this rate, I fear it won't take a month for the Peiyuan Method to be mastered and extract flesh and blood essence."

"And this Yingxue Red is actually somewhat similar to Essence Refining."

Chen Ci looked at the hundreds of pounds of fresh flesh and blood before him, his expression shifting slightly.

However, Essence Refining prioritized the soul first and flesh and blood second, while this Yingxue Red was purely flesh and blood essence; there was still a slight difference.

But the problem now was that he seemed to have added another method for squandering flesh and blood, and the amount was not small.

One hundred pounds of fresh flesh and blood could yield one portion of Peiyuan Body-Nourishing Soup; in just this short while, he had already consumed over five hundred pounds of flesh and blood.

Or, one set of fresh adult internal organs could yield one portion of Body-Nourishing Soup, and it was recorded in the booklet that by offering fresh internal organs to the Life-Death Divine Sovereign for one day and one night, and after praying for the Divine Sovereign's blessing, using the Body-Nourishing Method to capture the Blood-Ying Red would never fail.

Hmm...

If he continued like this, would he still have a chance to turn back?

Chen Ci felt a bit melancholy; who wouldn't want to travel with clear Qi surrounding their body, to be surrounded by sword light when facing an enemy, to raise a hand and use the Five Thunders Orthodox Method, and to be called a True Monarch when meeting others?

With his current path of cultivation, no fewer than several hundred living beings died at Chen Ci's hands every month; if not for the Soul Fixing Talisman washing him clean every month, he feared that every gesture would be shrouded in blood Qi, and whenever he encountered trouble and opened his mouth to smile, it would be a "Jie-jie-jie."

"Sigh, forced by circumstances, it is all forced by circumstances."

Chen Ci shook his head slightly and drew a bottom line for himself: do not use humans... do not use innocent people to practice the method; as long as he kept his original heart, he surely would have a day to set things right.

Once the Peiyuan Body-Nourishing Pill was refined, he would first find some living beings to test the medicine; although this soup, like the Bigu Pill, did not have many complex methods, thinking of the Fengshiren's end, one could never be too careful.

"Longhu Military Seal, what does this mean?"

Chen Ci looked at the decree sent over, feeling somewhat puzzled: "Isn't it tomorrow that I enter the mountain?"

"Reporting to True Person Chen, my master says that since the True Person is willing to accept the decree to suppress the demons, you must enter the camp today and set out directly tomorrow; military matters are dangerous, and one dare not take them lightly."

Liu Heming was also wearing a well-fitting Daoist robe today, and he was no longer as timid as the servant of the past; the saying "residence shifts the spirit, nourishment shifts the body" was true—he hadn't seen the boy for two days, yet he already possessed a certain bearing; it seemed that staying by Ge Laodao's side had helped him gain quite a bit of insight.

Chen Ci: "." It was all quite formal.

"Fine, I will prepare, and I will go to the prefectural office in an hour."

Chen Ci took the decree, which contained only one sentence: This is to order the He Mountain Sect Changping County Deacon Apprentice Chen Ci to eliminate demons.

The signature was also not Ge Zhou the old Daoist, but Longhu Shan Jiuzhuan Guan.

Very well, he would go and see what the disciples of this great immortal sect looked like when they fought, and how they differed from the He Mountain Sect.

Chen Ci pondered briefly, tidied up, packed his protective items, and headed toward the Changping County prefectural office.

Changping County, prefectural office.

The government office, usually quiet, now possessed a cold, stern atmosphere like a military camp; the old Daoist Ge Zhou sat in the center of the hall, while the Wang Family Head of the Family, Wang Qingyuan, stood to one side clad in armor and holding a weapon, with three youths who bore a slight resemblance to him standing behind him.

Outside the hall stood twenty yamen runners and constables, presumably the best hands in the county, wearing leather armor, hands resting on their waist sabers, their expressions somewhat tense.

Then there was Chen Ci, sitting on the left side, also one of only two people sitting in the hall.

"This old Daoist is not skilled in the methods of military formations, but I know one thing: orders must be executed and prohibitions must be observed."

The old Daoist Ge Zhou scanned the crowd, his gaze lingering on Chen Ci's face for a moment longer before he continued: "Rest well today; we break camp and depart at the hour of the rabbit tomorrow."

Chen Ci rubbed his chin; he had originally thought it would be a few cultivators teaming up to go on a quest and directly flatten Qingquan Village, but he had not expected it to be a method of military formation, pushing forward steadily.

Besides, is it the case that in the entire Changping County, he is the only one who didn't pay money?

In this world, to think it actually falls to him, a He Mountain Sect Apprentice, to raise the moral baseline; can things get any better, ah!

(End of chapter)