A Loose Cultivator's Path to Longevity

Chapter 70: Chapter 69: Meeting Huang Shuyuan Again

After selecting the herbs, the next step was to test the pills.

Without enough experience in concocting medicine, the only way for a novice like Lü Zhong—who could only crudely follow a recipe—to determine a pill’s true effects was to test it.

This testing, of course, would be done on the Yellow Jade Rat.

After calling over the Yellow Jade Rat, Lü Zhong fed it a Mouse-Breeding Pill and began observing its reaction.

’Good, no vomiting, no bleeding from the mouth or nose... Hmm, it’s starting to convulse. I need to write that down.’

After observing for an ancient hour, and seeing that the Yellow Jade Rat wasn’t about to die, he rewarded it with half a jin of wild boar meat and waved it away.

The entire testing process couldn’t be completed in a day, as the pills also took some time to take effect.

After half a month of observation, Lü Zhong determined the effects of the first batch of Mouse-Breeding Pills.

It was a success, but not a complete one.

After taking the Mouse-Breeding Pills for some time, the Yellow Jade Rat’s sensitivity to Spiritual Qi did indeed increase, but not to the extent described in the recipe. It also suffered from side effects: short-term convulsions after ingestion, followed by three straight days of nonstop diarrhea.

He refined a new batch. The diarrhea disappeared, but a new side effect emerged: vomiting blood.

Side effects like this appeared one after another.

After more than half a year of trial and error, Lü Zhong finally managed to refine a Mouse-Breeding Pill with effects close to what the recipe described, its only side effect being drowsiness.

’They say the process of Alchemy is ten, even a hundred times more complex than this. I can’t even imagine it!’

The thought of how the Yellow Jade Rat had nearly died from poisoning several times during the testing process sent a wave of fear through Lü Zhong.

It wasn’t that he felt sorry for the Yellow Jade Rat; he was more concerned about the Spirit Stones he had invested. If all that money had gone down the drain, it would have been a massive loss.

Even refining a simple pill was this difficult. For Alchemy, which involved the much more complex transformations of Medicinal Spiritual Qi, the difficulty would likely increase exponentially. Never mind all the Wasted Pills it would produce; the testing process alone would probably burn through a huge sum of Spirit Stones.

’No wonder they say Alchemy is just burning Spirit Stones,’ Lü Zhong mused.

...

In the Quiet Chamber, a stick of Soothing Incense—worth Ten Spirit Stones—had already burned more than halfway down.

This incense was used to calm the heart and mind, and it was often miraculously effective when breaking through a Small Realm.

With a soft POP, Lü Zhong’s entire body trembled. A ring of Spiritual Light erupted from thin air inside the Quiet Chamber, and his aura began to swell. He had opened another meridian, bringing him one step closer to achieving the Grand Circulation.

Having broken through to the Qi Refining Fifth Layer, the Spiritual Power in his body increased by another fifty percent.

Lü Zhong opened his eyes, a look of joy on his face.

’I’ve finally broken through!’

This breakthrough came more than two months earlier than he had anticipated.

He owed this speed not only to years of diligently taking pills and refining his Qi, but also to his Four Spirits Technique. The purifying properties of its Spiritual Power accelerated the dissipation of Pill Poison, which in turn shortened the cycle between taking pills.

This was how he managed to break through ahead of schedule.

Lü Zhong sat quietly for a while longer, carefully savoring the changes brought by his breakthrough, before pushing the door open.

The Yellow Jade Rat was already waiting for him outside.

After more than half a year of taking the pills, its body was still the size of a stray dog, but its fur had grown much glossier. Recently, it had even begun to emit a faint Demon Qi; it was not far from its complete Metamorphosis into a Spirit-Seeking Rat.

Seeing it stand on its hind legs, its little paws restlessly wringing as if it didn’t know what to do with them, all while wearing a pitiful expression, Lü Zhong couldn’t help but laugh.

”You’re not so dumb, are you? You know these Mouse-Breeding Pills are good for you.”

As he spoke, he poured out two Mouse-Breeding Pills and fed them to the Yellow Jade Rat.

...

Lü Zhong left his residence and went straight to a Dharma Robe shop.

He had been planning to buy a Dharma Robe for a while, but he’d been forced to put it off. Between refining the Mouse-Breeding Pills and focusing on his cultivation breakthrough, he simply hadn’t had the time.

Now that he finally had some free time, he was determined to buy one.

Just as he was about to enter, a familiar figure emerged from within.

”Fellow Daoist Lü?”

Lü Zhong looked up and saw it was Huang Shuyuan.

”Ah, Fellow Daoist Huang! It’s been a long time!”

She had put on some weight, but her cultivation hadn’t progressed much; she was still lingering at the Qi Refining Third Layer.

Her features, however, had grown even more striking. Paired with her cool, aloof air, she frequently drew the gazes of male cultivators. One man was so busy staring at Huang Shuyuan that he walked right into a wall.

Noticing the change in Lü Zhong’s aura, Huang Shuyuan seemed a bit dazed. ”I can’t believe it’s only been a little over a year,” she said. ”Your cultivation has reached such a level, while I’ve been stuck in place.”

”’I’ve just taken one more step than you, it’s nothing special.’ Happy for the rare chance to meet an old acquaintance, Lü Zhong struck up a conversation. ’Yanling Mountain Market is full of opportunities. As a Talisman Maker yourself, it shouldn’t be hard for you to earn Spirit Stones.’”

”Sigh... It’s not that easy.”

Huang Shuyuan sighed and couldn’t help but vent her frustrations to Lü Zhong.

Back in Qingliu Square, she had been full of confidence. But upon arriving at Yanling Mountain Market, she discovered that even for a Talisman Maker with a grasp of the Talisman-Making Skill, establishing a foothold here was no easy task.

Leaving aside daily expenses for food and necessities, the monthly rent alone was more than she could handle.

If not for the savings she had to fall back on, she probably couldn’t even afford to rent a place in the Sixth Ring anymore. She’d have to move to the Seventh Ring and live with the common Loose Cultivators.

”’At the end of the day, it’s because Arrow Avoidance Talismans just don’t sell for a good price here. Even if I work around the clock making talismans, skipping meals, the Spirit Stones I earn are only enough to cover basic living expenses.’”

Indeed, just to scrape together this month’s rent, Huang Shuyuan had been forced to sell her Dharma Robe.

After hearing Huang Shuyuan’s story, Lü Zhong felt his decision to go with Li Dong in search of the Coffin Mushroom had been absolutely correct. If he hadn’t mastered how to make the Evil Exorcism Talisman, his own situation probably wouldn’t be much better than hers.

”We rarely get news from Qingliu Square over here. Do you know what the situation is like there?”

At his words, Huang Shuyuan sighed heavily.

”Qingliu Square is gone.”

”What!” Lü Zhong was stunned.

”’Three months after you moved, Fellow Daoist Lü, the Five Spirits Sect and the Qingyang Sect went to all-out war. Qingliu Square changed hands several times amidst the incredibly fierce fighting and was turned into a wasteland by the two sides. Our fellow Daoists either died or fled. It’s nothing but ruins now.’ Recalling the scene, Huang Shuyuan couldn’t stop her body from trembling.”

She herself was nearly caught in the crossfire several times. Luckily, she had the foresight to buy a Golden Light Talisman for protection; otherwise, she would have died senselessly in the war.

”’Later, in a bid to turn the tide, the Qingyang Sect laid a trap after capturing Qingliu Square. They buried a Tier Two Corpse Refinement of unknown origin there. Two Foundation Establishment cultivators from the Five Spirits Sect, along with over a hundred of their disciples, walked right into it. Not a single one survived. Now that Tier Two Corpse Refinement is still entrenched there, and no one dares to provoke it. Qingliu Square exists in name only.’”

Lü Zhong sighed, never having imagined Qingliu Square would meet such an end.

”’Let’s not talk about this anymore. I need to get back to Talisman Making.’ Huang Shuyuan sighed again as she spoke, then asked for Lü Zhong’s address. ’By the way, where are you living now, Fellow Daoist Lü? I’d like to visit sometime if you’re free.’”

When Lü Zhong told her, and she learned that he was living by himself in a small courtyard in the Fourth Ring, Huang Shuyuan looked even more disheartened.

This time she said nothing more. With a slight bow and a forlorn expression, she departed.