Chapter 52

Pan Yun sat sighing before the mountain gate, the black cat crouched beside her, also sighing.

There were too few people on the mountain; there was no way to earn merit.

Pan Yun was a practical person; if no merit, then earn money!

The next day, she slung a small basket on her back and followed Wang Feiyin's heels with Seeing Miao Zhen and Miao He to dig up herbs.

"Senior Brother, what's the most valuable herb in the mountains?"

"Purple lingzhi," Wang Feiyin said. "Precious things are never easy to obtain; it grows mostly on the roots or dead trunks of oak trees, its cap and stalk both black and hard like wood, its flesh brown."

Just then, the group reached the cliff's edge, and across ten or so zhang away rose a slanted cliff face. Wang Feiyin pointed at it: "See that? There's one growing on the slanted peak."

Pan Yun eagerly stepped forward two paces. "Where? Where?"

"There!"

Under Wang Feiyin's pointing, Pan Yun finally spotted what seemed like a black-brown lingzhi embedded in the mountain. She blinked. "Why does it look like a rock?"

"That's why it's also called Stone Lingzhi."

Wang Feiyin waved his hand and walked off. "Come on, staring won't help—you can't pick it anyway."

Pan Yun, feeling indignant, retracted her gaze to speak—then suddenly noticed the bottomless cliff at her feet, shrank back in fright, and her legs went weak from pure instinct.

Miao He: "Little Auntie, you're afraid of heights."

"No," Pan Yun said. "I've been a thousand meters up, even flown through the air—how could I be afraid of heights?"

Miao He looked unconvinced. Seeing Miao Zhen asked outright: "Was it in a dream?"

Pan Yun didn't answer. She ran after Wang Feiyin. "Senior Brother, if we little ones can't pick it, why don't you?"

The cliff face looked as if it had been cleanly sliced off by a single blade—smooth, impossible to climb—but she figured, given Wang Feiyin's cultivation, even if he couldn't fly with objects, he could still use momentum to ascend easily.

Wang Feiyin: "I don't lack money. Why risk my life for such effort?"

Pan Yun's voice cracked. "You don't lack money?"

Wang Feiyin affirmed: "I truly don't lack money."

Pan Yun snorted inwardly—this was as unbelievable as his claim that he wasn't afraid of heights.

Herb gathering wasn't just for profit; in the Three Pure Ones Monastery, mountain herb collection was mandatory training. Wang Feiyin skillfully led them to a slightly gentler slope, pointing at the trees: "These are all herbs. Peel them."

Miao He and Seeing Miao Zhen efficiently set down their baskets, pulled out knives, cut a circle around the tree trunks, then another circle forty to fifty centimeters above it, made a vertical cut, pulled out small knives, carefully pried open the slit, and peeled off a full forty-to-fifty-centimeter ring of bark with their hands.

Pan Yun understood after one look. She pulled out two knives from her own basket, mimicked their peeling while asking: "Is this Houpo?"

"Yes. Little sister, you're clever—you recognized it without learning. Then tell us, what are its effects?"

Pan Yun shook her head. She knew the Houpo tree, but didn't know it was medicine.

Wang Feiyin didn't idle—he peeled beside them, calling out: "Miao He, tell your little auntie."

Miao He: "It warms the middle, descends qi, transforms dampness, and moves stagnation. It enters the spleen, stomach, lung, and large intestine meridians. It treats chest and abdominal distension and pain, indigestion, intestinal obstruction, dysentery, and phlegm-induced wheezing."

Wang Feiyin listened, satisfied, and nodded: "Good. See how its flowers have already bloomed, yet you can still smell their fragrance? The flowers can be used medicinally too. When autumn comes and the fruit ripens, the fruit can be used as well."

Thus, amid Wang Feiyin's endless chatter, they peeled tree bark all morning, stripping every Houpo tree within sight. Four baskets were packed to bursting, and Wang Feiyin pulled out two hemp sacks to hold the rest.

As they peeled bark, they recited herbal formulas. Now Pan Yun's mind was full of the "Houpo, Dahuang, Zhishi" from the *Jin Kui Yao Lue*, the "Houpo, Zisuzi, Chenpi, Banxia" from the *Heji Jufang*, and the "Houpo, Dahuang, Mangxiao, Zhishi" from the *Shanghan Lun*.

Then they took a different path back, stopping along the way to gather Zhishi that had fallen.

Wang Feiyin carried one large basket on his back, one hemp sack in each hand, his body looking bare except for his robes—yet he reached behind his waist, pulled out another folded hemp sack, tiny as a fist.

When he unfolded it, the sack was large enough to hold two Pan Yuns.

He handed it to them. "Gather everything you can see." Pan Yun took the sack and squatted with Seeing Miao Zhen and Miao He, tossing fallen Zhishi into it. As they did, she asked: "Senior Brother, how much does Zhishi sell for per jin?"

Wang Feiyin glanced at her. "Different processing methods yield different medicinal effects—prices vary accordingly."

"Herbs' prices shift with the market. The last time I sold Zhishi was last time—I don't know the current price."

Pan Yun: …

Wang Feiyin pulled out water and dried rations, glanced at the three children, and smiled warmly, waving them over. "Stop for now. Come eat lunch. I see plenty of Zhishi here—we'll likely be gathering until afternoon."

The three were indeed thirsty and hungry. They dropped the sacks and dashed over.

Pan Yun was deeply serious about earning money. She asked: "Senior Brother, how do you prepare the formula for Zhishi?"

Wang Feiyin was very pleased with her eagerness to learn. He handed them water as he spoke: "Then I must mention our ancestral master Ge Xianweng's *Zhouhou Jiu Zu Fang*. Other formulas aside, once back, you must memorize the entire *Zhouhou Jiu Zu Fang*."

Miao He immediately raised her hand. "Senior Uncle, I've already memorized up to Volume Three."

"Good, good," Wang Feiyin praised. "Pan Yun, Seeing Miao Zhen—even though you don't specialize in alchemy, you must still learn. When I teach Miao He acupuncture and herbal preparations, you'll attend too. Practice your hands."

Pan Yun declared she could master this path: "I'm intelligent. Though my studies in talismans and arrays differ slightly from the sect's, I'm certain I'll soon integrate them fully. I have plenty of time—I can study alchemy and medicine as diligently as Miao He."

!. Read

Wang Feiyin first spoke to Seeing Miao Zhen: "Don't emulate her. First, she truly has extraordinary talent. Second, she's arrogant. Since you've chosen to specialize in astronomy and shamanic rites, focus solely on that—don't scatter your attention."

Seeing Miao Zhen, whose mind had wavered, immediately solidified her resolve and nodded.

Wang Feiyin then turned to Pan Yun: "Fine. I'll teach you seriously."

He didn't sense Pan Yun truly loved alchemy or medicine—she was probably still after money.

Still, he didn't stop her. A child eager to learn, with the ability to do so, deserved encouragement.

"Ge Xianweng's *Zhouhou Jiu Zu Fang*, as the name implies, contains emergency formulas and methods for sudden illnesses—all cases are examples of sudden death. The remedies include herbal prescriptions, acupuncture, and various external treatments."

Seeing they were growing drowsy, Wang Feiyin chose interesting cases to tell them: "Do you know how to treat a dog bite?"

Pan Yun, having eaten some dried rations and drunk water, was half-asleep under the dappled sunlight filtering through leaves. "Get a rabies vaccine."

Wang Feiyin ignored her. To Miao He and Seeing Miao Zhen, who had widened their eyes, he said: "Kill the rabid dog, smear its brain on the wound—it cures it."

Pan Yun also widened her eyes, sat up straight. "That's actually a good method—similar in principle to a vaccine."

Wang Feiyin asked her: "What is a vaccine?"

Pan Yun thought a moment. "A vaccine is a virus without toxicity—like a bandit who has no intent to kill. It enters my home; my guards see it, recognize it as a bandit, and kill it.

Later, when a toxic virus enters the body, it's like a murderous bandit trying to break in. Since they look identical, my guards recognize them immediately as bandits, rush out, and slaughter them before they can act—stopping them outside the vital organs. That's a vaccine."

Seeing Miao Zhen and Miao He stared blankly, but Wang Feiyin, a seasoned physician, understood at once—he slapped his thigh and said, "Exactly! Some people bitten by mad dogs don't fall ill for one or two days, some for three or four years, and some may go over a decade without going mad—but one day they suddenly snap, because the bandit was hiding in their home and hadn't yet manifested."

They wait until the household guards grow lax, then leap out from ambush and strike with one blow."

Wang Feiyin spun around in delight, laughing heartily: "Yes, yes! Under these circumstances, first smear the wound with the mad dog's brain, then force a bandit to walk boldly through the door, so the guards spot him and kill him."

Once a bandit appears in the house, the guards will surely search every corner thoroughly—they'll start looking everywhere and eventually find the hidden bandit, ha ha ha…"

Miao He stared, dumbfounded, and asked dully, "Is this medicine… or fighting bandits?"

Wang Feiyin smiled warmly and patted her head. "Treating illness is like killing bandits—the same principle, the same principle."

He looked approvingly at Pan Yun. "You're right—you truly have exceptional talent, ha ha ha…"

Wang Feiyin's laughter echoed throughout the valley.

Pan Yun lifted her chin proudly.

The lucky number for this chapter is any number ending in 1—screenshot as proof,

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(End of Chapter)