A Loose Cultivator's Path to Longevity

Chapter 69: Chapter 68: Taming

”Um... Fellow Daoist, can we leave now?” the old man asked cautiously.

It was no wonder he was so careful; Lü Zhong was a bit frightening.

His cultivation had reached the Qi Refining Fourth Layer, and on top of that, he had mastered multiple Magic Skills that only Sect Disciples were supposed to learn. He was clearly no ordinary Loose Cultivator. If he had any wicked ideas, the two of them, grandfather and grandson, would meet their end here today.

Lü Zhong didn’t speak, just watched them with a faint, unreadable smile.

Only when cold sweat began to bead on the man’s forehead did he flip his hand over, revealing a stack of Evil Exorcism Talismans. He said slowly, ”If I’m not mistaken, there’s a problem with this notebook, isn’t there? If you tell me the hidden secret, these five Evil Exorcism Talismans are yours.”

’Phew, that scared me to death!’

The old man had almost collapsed on the spot, held up only by the thought of protecting his grandson.

But after hearing Lü Zhong’s words, he couldn’t help but feel a surge of pleasant surprise.

Five Evil Exorcism Talismans were equivalent to Five Spirit Stones.

These Spirit Stones weren’t enough to pay the ”authentication fee” to enter the market, but it was enough for the two of them to stay in the Luoyan Collection outside for another year.

At this thought, the old man’s attitude became respectful. ”Fellow Daoist, you have a truly keen eye. When my ancestor wrote this notebook, he did indeed leave a few hidden tricks in the recipes. He passed down a mnemonic phrase to us: ’every three is two.’”

Lü Zhong nodded and handed him one Evil Exorcism Talisman to show he was serious.

Receiving the Evil Exorcism Talisman, the old man grew even more excited and explained, ”What ’every three is two’ means is that in the recipes, any mention of the number ’three’ should be read as ’two.’ For example, the recipe for Laiwei Vine calls for thirty qian, but the correct amount is actually twenty qian.”

’Is this some kind of encryption?’

Lü Zhong had to admire the old man’s ancestor for coming up with such a method to encrypt recipes.

It might seem like a simple number swap, but its effect on a recipe was enormous.

This was especially true for the multiple Spirit Medicines used in the recipe. Forget the huge ten-qian difference after applying the mnemonic; even an excess of half a qian of Laiwei Vine could drastically change the efficacy of the Mouse-Breeding Pill.

This was related to the Medicinal Spiritual Qi contained within the Spirit Medicine.

The properties of various kinds of Medicinal Spiritual Qi were extremely complex. Different types produced different effects; some could increase one’s cultivation, while others could rapidly heal the body.

Medicinal Spiritual Qi could also react with each other in very complicated ways.

Sometimes they would merge and multiply their effects; other times, their toxicity would skyrocket or plummet.

An overdose of a certain medicinal ingredient would not only fail to benefit the final product but could even reduce its efficacy.

”Are there any other secrets?” Lü Zhong asked slowly, handing over another Evil Exorcism Talisman.

The old man accepted it with both hands, checked if it was real, and said with a wry smile, ”One mnemonic is enough. The more information you try to hide, the more complex it gets, and the greater the chance of it being lost to time. For a crucial secret like this, the simpler and shorter, the better.”

Seeing that he didn’t seem to be lying, Lü Zhong fulfilled his promise and handed the remaining Evil Exorcism Talismans to him.

After taking the talismans, the grandfather and grandson left, thanking him profusely.

Standing at the cave entrance, he confirmed they had truly left before turning back, ready to take the Yellow Jade Rat with him.

Regarding the Yellow Jade Rat’s domestication, it was impossible to sign a contract with it before its Metamorphosis into a Demon Beast. It could only be managed with a carrot-and-stick approach. Only after it transformed into a Spirit Rat could a Slave Contract be signed.

Since Qi Refining cultivators couldn’t use Divine Sense Projection, this step required the purchase of a special Contract Book.

Lü Zhong did a quick calculation and realized that raising a Spiritual Beast was no easy task.

’If I take this Yellow Jade Rat, not only will I have to spend money on a Slave Contract, but I’ll also need to concoct Mouse-Breeding Pills to improve its innate talent. That’s another considerable expense. And then there’s the Spirit Beast Bag to store it, which is also quite valuable.’

All told, it would cost at least two hundred Spirit Stones.

But with great investment comes great reward. If he could really nurture a Spirit-Seeking Rat, the returns would be astonishing. Even selling it to a shop would bring in a considerable sum of Spirit Stones.

Inside the cave, the Yellow Jade Rat had hidden in a corner, still trembling at the sight of Lü Zhong.

It wasn’t that it didn’t want to dig a tunnel and escape, but the Green Frost Sword was held against its neck. The slightest movement would cost the rat its life.

”Are you going to get in yourself, with food and board included, or should I knock you out and stuff you in?” Lü Zhong said viciously, holding a large bag out towards the Yellow Jade Rat in the corner.

When the Yellow Jade Rat didn’t move, he repeated himself.

It still didn’t budge.

’Strange, does it want to choose death over dishonor? Looks like I’ll be having an extra dish for dinner...’ Lü Zhong muttered to himself.

Just as he was about to make a move, he saw the Yellow Jade Rat cautiously extend a paw and point to the Green Frost Sword at its neck. Its small eyes were full of grievance, welling up with tears.

Its shifty, rat-like expression seemed to say, ’It’s not that I don’t want to get in the bag, sir! You have to move the sword first!’

Realizing this, Lü Zhong quickly moved the Green Frost Sword away.

A moment later, the Yellow Jade Rat nimbly scrambled into the bag and obediently curled into a ball.

...

The journey back to his small courtyard in the bamboo forest was uneventful, and Lü Zhong arrived safely.

With the ever-active White Cloud Shield in place, he wasn’t afraid the Yellow Jade Rat would dig its way out. After all, the protective Array was spherical, and its protection extended underground, preventing enemies from tunneling or burrowing in.

Lü Zhong marked out an activity area for the Yellow Jade Rat, designating it as its new living space.

Next was to set some rules; he had no interest in being a pooper-scooper.

A ”friendly” exchange took place.

He had to admit, although the Yellow Jade Rat was spineless and timid, it possessed a fair amount of Spiritual Attribute.

At the very least, it could understand Lü Zhong’s intentions.

After a round of the carrot-and-stick treatment, the Yellow Jade Rat learned where to relieve itself, how to dig its own burrow, and even seemed to understand when its daily mealtime was.

...

「In the days that followed.」

Lü Zhong began to study the process of concocting the Mouse-Breeding Pill.

The recipe was structured according to the principles of monarch, minister, assistant, and envoy herbs.

The monarch herb was two qian of Seven-Star Flower, which would sharpen one’s Spiritual Sense. There were two minister herbs: twenty qian of Laiwei Vine and eight qian of Spirit Pine Bark, both of which enhanced the effects of the Seven-Star Flower. The assistant herbs were one qian of Thousand Core and two qian of Blood Boiling Stone, which served to reduce and temper the toxicity of the monarch and minister herbs. The envoy herbs acted as harmonizers, and there were eight of them in total, including Heart-Pulling Grass and Guinan Stone.

To refine medicine, one needed a medicinal cauldron.

A medicinal cauldron usually had three legs and two ears, similar in appearance to an Alchemy Furnace, and could be used for concocting medicine.

Concocting the Mouse-Breeding Pill could only be described as painstaking. The process required not only repeated steaming and boiling of the ingredients but also precise control over the heat to prevent the medicinal properties from changing drastically or being lost.

It was an extremely laborious process, repeated over and over.

Lü Zhong spent three days and ruined five batches of medicine before he finally succeeded in concocting one batch. He then took the refined medicinal liquid, mixed it with honey and flour, and rolled it into pills.

In total, he obtained one hundred and three pills.

After rolling the liquid into pills, he still needed to select the viable ones according to the recipe’s instructions.

The purpose of this selection was to weed out the substandard pills.

However, because he had learned the Qi Observation Skill, this step was much easier for him. He only needed to discern the color of the pills’ Medicinal Spiritual Qi to pick out the ones that contained none, or those whose Spiritual Qi color was clearly off.

After a careful selection process, only thirteen Mouse-Breeding Pills remained.