Chapter 559: Seeking to Refine Great Medicine

The New Year holiday was leisurely; while recuperating, Zhou You did not forget the "meritorious officials" running about outside.

In the Wanli Zhaohai, the first avatar, Lu Zhigang, was still soaking in a large vat; the human-shaped pickled vegetable was not only well-marinated but thoroughly cured.

He couldn't even eat a meal of dumplings during the New Year; it was hard on him.

The second avatar, Moyunzi, was located in a nascent sect named "Kukong Shan" in Caoshu Zhou.

The powerful martial artist of Kukong Shan was named "He Bugong," a mid-stage Martial Venerable who had obtained the full support of six or seven noble families to establish a sect in this mountain range, building a foundation from nothing.

The newly founded sect had a hundred tasks waiting to be done, but the most urgent priority was to compile the boxing canon.

If the mountain gate's foundation was a sect's hardware, then the boxing canon was the corresponding software.

After a Disciple entered the sect, what clothing they wore, what foundational boxing techniques they practiced, the rules for rewards and punishments, the standards for food and lodging, and so on...

Everything had to be explicitly stipulated and resolutely executed from top to bottom to ensure order and hierarchy.

No matter how capable He Bugong was, he could not attend to every single detail, and since he held absolute power over the sect's rules, he could not share this with others.

Therefore, following the conventions of other sects, he invited scholars well-versed in literature to help.

Besides Zhou You's avatar Moyunzi, eighteen other white-haired scholars were invited into the mountains to meet and discuss all day long; sometimes they would haggle over a single word for half a day, arguing until they nearly came to blows.

He Bugong was not in a hurry; he was a Martial Venerable with a lifespan exceeding five hundred years and had sufficient time to complete this grand project.

His sight and hearing covered the mountains, and every move was under his control, so Moyunzi had to remain Dormant for the time being, unable to escape.

There were also the Great Snake, the Great Crane, and the Great Earthworm...

The Great Earthworm remained Dormant at the bottom of a ten-thousand-meter valley, guarding the Medicine Field of Blood-Drip Pearls, waiting for enough to mature before notifying Zhou You to come and harvest another batch.

The Great Crane and the Great Snake acted separately, searching for the few Medicine Fields left behind by the Black Cloud Mountain.

The locations of the Medicine Fields were all in remote areas with poor access, or places infested with beasts and poisonous insects; coupled with the vicissitudes of time, it was not easy to find the locations in one's memory.

Through his connection with the Great Snake and the Great Crane, Zhou You knew they had found the ruins of three Medicine Fields; as expected, after the passage of time, the first two had turned into ruins, containing nothing but weeds and moss.

As for the vicinity of the third and fourth Medicine Fields, several very powerful martial artists were active; they not only possessed excellent boxing skills but were also equipped with powerful blood-energy divine weapons, with defenses in the sky and on the ground, forcing the Great Crane to retreat several times when it approached.

Despite this setback, the Great Crane was not discouraged and asked Zhou You to dispatch the Great Snake to help, to swim over from underground.

The more powerful the people involved, the more it indicated that this Medicine Field still held hope; this was a hard-won harvest.

Everything was unfolding according to plan...

Zhou You had a large quantity of Blood-Drip Pearls on hand but lacked the ability to process them; if left for too long, they would rot. Taking advantage of having sufficient Experience Points, he raised his Alchemy to Lv50 in one go, which was the threshold for a Lingzhi Pharmacist.

Nearly a million Experience Points were poured in, and the effect was immediate; countless knowledge from the Medicine King Canon, combined with the cross-disciplinary insights from poisons, gu, and other "stones from other mountains," lit up the "database" nodes in Zhou You's mind.

In a brief moment, Zhou You's knowledge reserve and experience had leaped to the level of a Lingzhi Pharmacist.

What remained was practical operation, coordinating his brain and hands to transform from a theoretical Lingzhi Pharmacist into a practical one.

He first tried his hand at refining several types of high-grade Secret Medicine with difficulty comparable to the Silver Tide Whale Swallowing Pill; the process was no longer the stumbling mess it once was, as if helped by a divine spirit, with many details skipped over, naturally as smooth as flowing water.

Failing at most two or three times, he easily conquered a pill, mastering all the tricks and difficulties of its refinement.

On the eve of the Lantern Festival, Zhou You had already mastered over a dozen types of Mid-grade and high-grade Secret Medicine.

Secret Medicine could no longer stump him; it was estimated that among Herbal Pharmacists, few could match Zhou You's skills. The next hurdle was the Lingzhi Pharmacist level.

Zhou You had two types of heavenly treasures in his hands; the white mushroom samples in the Great Crane's nest were too few to waste, while the Blood-Drip Pearls were abundant and continuously produced by the Medicine Field, making them the best items for practice.

In the Medicine King Canon, there were several recipes for Great Medicine using Blood-Drip Pearls as raw materials.

Too many auxiliary materials, difficult to prepare—discarded; high investment, low output, poor cost-effectiveness—discarded; ancient and severely outdated content—discarded.

Finally, Zhou You selected a type of Great Medicine called "Snow Bud Pill."

Besides the main ingredient, the Blood-Drip Pearls, there were thirteen other auxiliary medicinal herbs, all of which could be procured through the channels of Xingren Tang.

A rough calculation showed that to refine this medicine, at least 700,000 to 800,000 taels of cost would need to be invested, with no guarantee of success.

Thinking of this, the fact that the Medicine King Sect's medicine was so expensive was truly understandable.

Zhou You increasingly realized the importance of a sect to a powerful martial artist: gathering supplies, providing funds, maintaining Medicine Fields, providing Great Medicine, and so on; no wonder every Martial Venerable wanted to establish a sect.

Even a lone traveler like Bai Shiwu had to marry into a noble family, often finding himself unable to act as he wished.

A single copper coin can stump a hero; without money, one cannot move an inch! "Are you truly going to do this?"

Hua Youxing looked at the list of supplies to be purchased and remained silent for a long time; although Zhou You kept his mouth shut, she could roughly guess what it was.

What kind of grand project was this! She couldn't help but advise, "If you want to refine medicine, you can entrust it to the Medicine King Sect. With my Hua Family's guarantee, we can keep your secret, and even the service fee can be at the internal price."

What a virtuous wife, but refining medicine was not just a matter of money.

The Blood-Drip Pearls concerned Martial Venerables, and refining Great Medicine involved a Lingzhi Pharmacist.

Don't look at the Medicine King Sect as being indifferent to the world, solely focused on making money in the secular world; if they learned of this, it was hard to say how they would react.

Zhou You was also doing it for the sake of Hua Youxing's maiden family, not wanting them to be dragged into a difficult situation.

"To tell you the truth, I am supporting a Herbal Pharmacist who has hope of breaking through to become a Lingzhi Pharmacist."

Zhou You's explanation did not satisfy Hua Youxing. "Isn't that Qi Fengzi? Who else could it be?"

"It's not her; it's an old-school pharmacist. He is old and experienced."

Zhou You gritted his teeth and whispered to her, "I accidentally obtained a few heavenly treasures on the battlefield and thought I'd take a gamble. If I can refine them into Great Medicine, perhaps I can use it to honor Senior Yin Sanfen and ask him to take action in the future."

Upon hearing the name of Yin Sanfen, Hua Youxing took it seriously; this Martial Venerable was a figure whom the entire Medicine King Sect held in immense awe.

At Zhou You's level, befriending him and asking him to take action once was already the limit; if he could solidify the relationship, it would surely be infinitely useful.

"I understand. I will never leak this matter and will help you to the end."

Hua Youxing also understood the stakes; when it came to Great Medicine, the Hua Family's connections in the Medicine King Sect would be useless. Once the sect found out, there might be a forceful seizure by those looking to steal the nest.

"Is that senior reliable?"

Zhou You thought about it; he himself was quite reliable, so he made a gesture. "He can refine ten types of pills at the level of the Silver Tide Whale Swallowing Pill."

"What?"

Hua Youxing was shocked for a long time, unable to speak.

(End of chapter)