Chapter 29: Ten Thousand Spirit Pill

Xu Qing's trip yielded a rich harvest. The scattered silver taels and gold leaf envelopes obtained from presiding over the funeral were, of course, needless to say.

But the biggest harvest was the information and rewards obtained after "liberating" the old physician.

This physician, who was recognized as a foster father by Fourth Master Li after his death, was not simple.

His original name was Yang Chunfu. His family was wealthy, and he had loved Daoist books and medical classics since he was a child. He declared his ambition at thirteen, and at fifteen, he bid farewell to his parents and went to Mount Henglu to study and seek the Dao.

There was a Songyun Temple on Mount Henglu. The temple master, Ge Hongwen, was a master of the Dao. In the bitter winter, he could make the withered branches all over the mountain bloom green, and in the year of great drought, he could make the mountain streams flow long and the well water under the mountain remain constant.

After hearing the various deeds of the Immortal Master Ge in the town under the mountain, Yang Chunfu was determined to worship under his sect.

However, when he happened to meet the temple master Ge Hongwen on the mountain road, the other party said he had the fate but not the method, and advised him to go back and not waste his good years on the illusory immortal Dao.

Because there were no so-called experts in this world, nor were there any divine powers or immortal methods that people talked about.

At that time, Ge Hongwen said this, but when he turned around, he was like a cloud crane and clear wind, floating across the mountain stream more than ten feet wide, and flew straight to the Daoist temple on the mountainside.

Yang Chunfu was stunned at the time. If this wasn't an immortal method, what was it?

Thinking that he had always yearned for these things, and now the mysterious Dao was close at hand, how could he easily give up!

Facing Yang Chunfu's persistence, Daoist Ge let him be, letting him build a hut under the mountain, and didn't care about his daily visits to the mountain.

After three years of spring and autumn passed like this, Daoist Ge saw that he was truly stubborn, so he called him into the temple and taught him the introductory method of cultivation.

Yang Chunfu was overjoyed, but after three years of hard cultivation, his heart turned to great sorrow.

After three years of cultivation, he hadn't even touched a trace of the true rhyme of the mysterious gate.

It turned out that he really had no fate for immortal cultivation!

It wasn't that Daoist Ge had deliberately deceived him at the beginning.

Seeing that the stubborn stone had finally opened its mind, Ge Hongwen showed a gratified smile. Before parting, he passed him a medical book and some methods of treating diseases and saving people, and let him go down the mountain early, so as not to waste his years.

Since then, Yang Chunfu returned home, provided for his parents' old age and funeral, and then scattered his family wealth to travel and practice medicine to save the world.

During this period, he encountered many strange things, but what he encountered more were natural and man-made disasters.

Among them, man-made disasters were greater than natural disasters.

He went to the northwest, just in time for the mutiny of the Beizhao Prefecture soldiers. The corpses that had nowhere to be placed piled up like mountains, and under the plague, the number of lives taken was more than one hundred thousand.

Passing through Yaozhou, there was an earthquake, and the dams filled with rice straw couldn't stop the monstrous flood. In just a few days, the tide flooded five commanderies and thirty-six counties.

Later, he traveled to Quyang, Hejing, Jiangning, and other places, where there were many people with ulterior motives who established sects and formed groups, using evil words to bewitch and incite the hearts of the people...

Yang Chunfu saved the world and people, practiced medicine for more than sixty years, and finally exhausted his efforts, but couldn't save those who died of hunger and disease.

He only learned medical skills, but didn't learn the immortal methods to make people full and content.

This year, Yang Chunfu was eighty-nine years old. Daoist Ge had calculated his fate, saying he couldn't live past "nine."

Until one day, when the evil thugs of the Jinmen Gang said he couldn't treat diseases and save people, he suddenly understood that learning medicine in troubled times couldn't save the world.

"If I had known, I should have studied and taken the imperial examination..."

Yang Chunfu's life touched Xu Qing more than anyone he had "liberated" before.

He re-recognized this world from the other party's perspective.

Besides the fleeting appearance of immortal methods, there were more ubiquitous disputes here.

The old physician probably didn't understand the truth behind the Jinmen Gang's trouble until he died.

Endless wars; corrupt insects that greedily collected wealth like wolves and tigers; evil sects that eroded people's hearts and had ulterior motives.

Whether the murderer was the Jinmen Gang or the Heavenly Heart Sect didn't seem to matter anymore.

The information collected this time only made Xu Qing realize one thing: if he wanted to lie in the corpse peacefully in troubled times, he must cultivate immortality like Daoist Ge!

If it still didn't work, then it could only be that his cultivation wasn't deep enough!

Both encountered the guidance of a true cultivator, but the lives of Squire Liu and Yang Chunfu were completely different, yet they reached the same goal by different routes.

The former was for himself, scheming all his life, but ended up in a bleak end.

The latter was for others, exhausting everything, but failed to achieve his wish.

But this didn't prevent Xu Qing from admiring Yang Chunfu.

This was also the reason why he was willing to spend his heart to handle his funeral.

Yang Chunfu saved the world and people all his life. If no one he had saved came to see him off after his death, it would be too desolate.

Fortunately, Fourth Master Li didn't let him down.

After this matter, when Xu Qing counted the rewards for "liberating" the old physician, he found that the skills or items obtained were mostly related to medicine.

A human-grade superior "Collection of Hundred Herbs," a human-grade middle-grade "Acupuncture Method of Jia and Yi," and three earth-grade inferior "Ten Thousand Spirit Pills."

Among them, the Collection of Hundred Herbs could identify most of the common herbs in the world.

In ancient times, Shennong tasted a hundred herbs to identify medicinal properties and clarify pharmacology. Now there is the Collection of Hundred Herbs for future generations to dispel diseases and strengthen the body.

Xu Qing thought about it and finally put this skill suitable for opening a pharmacy aside.

He didn't intend to change his profession to become a pharmacist. Compared to collecting and selling medicine, he preferred to stay with the dead.

The Acupuncture Method of Jia and Yi was also a wonderful medical technique for treating diseases and saving people. For many diseases that didn't need medicine, this acupuncture method could cure them.

Of course, patients who needed medicine could also use this set of acupuncture methods for auxiliary healing.

Xu Qing looked at his mortuary shop. The people lying in the corpse here didn't seem to need this set of acupuncture methods.

As for the last three Ten Thousand Spirit Pills, he was very interested.

These three pills were different from common pills with a single purpose. Each Ten Thousand Spirit Pill could be used in different scenarios.

For example, putting it in a bowl of arsenic-laced water could resolve the poison of arsenic.

Feeding it to a person who was like a withered tree, about to die of old age or illness, could extend the other party's life by ten years, or cure a serious illness!

Even for that Prefect who had unspeakable hidden troubles, one pill could make him regain his male prowess, even if he fought for three days and three nights in the flower houses of Changdeng Street, it wouldn't be a problem.

However, there were only three Ten Thousand Spirit Pills. Xu Qing thought about it and finally sealed them properly. For such unreasonable pills, taking them out at critical moments often had a greater effect.

Early the next morning, Xu Qing, who had swallowed the moonlight and yin energy all night, took down the door panel and left the shop.

The old physician's matter was over. Today he was going to the agency to ask about buying a house.

Passing through several streets and alleys, arriving at the entrance of the agency, before Xu Qing even entered, he saw a distressing figure.

Enemies are bound to meet.

Zhao Zhonghe, who was talking to Third Master Huang, seemed to have a premonition. Turning his head, he happened to see Xu Qing's disgusted eyes.

"Third Huang, we'll talk about your business later. I'll handle my business first!"

After saying that, Zhao Zhonghe moved his saber and stepped forward, blocking someone's way.

"You have such big guts, you even dare to steal my things!"

Xu Qing frowned and said: "What does the constable mean? What did I steal from you?"

Zhao Zhonghe reached out to his waist. The place where the dog-beating stick used to be was now empty.

"Don't play dumb with me. My stick must have been stolen by you!"

Xu Qing moved sideways, distancing himself, and said impatiently: "I don't have the stick you're looking for. If you're really looking for a stick, why look for me? I don't have that hobby. If you want to look, go to the male brothel; there are plenty of shit-stirring sticks there."

(End of chapter) ===== CHAPTER 30 =====