Medicine Master Disciple’s Cultivation Notes

Chapter 1: You Call This a Spiritual Root?

"Cultivation, the most important thing is the spiritual root!"

The white-haired Grand Uncle squatted on the ridge of the field, speaking earnestly to the three heads sticking out of the ground.

"Without a spiritual root, you cannot seek the immortal arts. Without the immortal arts, you cannot achieve longevity and freedom. This old ancestor is one hundred and eighty years old this year. Those old coffin-stuffing contemporaries of mine have long turned into black soil, and now the grass on their graves is already three feet high."

"Why is that?"

"Isn't it because they failed to grow spiritual roots and couldn't receive the Medicine Master's favor!"

"As the saying goes, spring brings birth, summer brings growth, autumn brings harvest, and winter brings storage. You three are the most talented children in the village, and now you've reached the age to take root and sprout."

"Don't blame this old ancestor for being harsh with you, this is all for your own good. The earlier you grow a spiritual root, the better the effect of drawing qi into your body..."

After rambling on for a while, Grand Uncle picked up a gourd ladle, scooped clear water from the bucket beside him, and sprinkled it over the three heads.

The early spring ground was still ice-cold, and with the mountain spring water poured on top, it felt like his brain was about to explode.

I don't think people and corn can be compared.Li Qiuchen shivered while silently complaining in his heart, but didn't dare voice any objection.

Grand Uncle was the eldest in the village, and everyone respected him. His words were unquestionable.

Right now he's pouring mountain spring water on you, but if you dare to argue, who knows what he'll pour next.

Drawing on his experience reading web novels before transmigrating in his previous life, he felt there was a big problem with the village's cultivation method.

The term "spiritual root" didn't seem to be interpreted this way, right? Were they cultivating spiritual roots or actual roots?

But there was no helping it. Ever since he could remember, everyone in the village had cultivated this way.

Perhaps this was just how things worked in this other world.

Buried on the left was Hong Yang. Grand Uncle said he had a naturally yang and masculine body, most suitable for spiritual root growth. Unfortunately, his yang energy was too strong, affecting his brain, making him a brute since childhood.

Buried in the middle was Yingcao, the great-granddaughter of Grand Uncle's own granddaughter. It was said that she had been taking secret medicines since childhood to improve her constitution, her whole body pickled with a floral fragrance. She was supposedly the child in the entire village with the most hope of cultivating to immortality.

Li Qiuchen was buried on the far right. He had heard from the villagers that his family used to have great prestige in the village, with many cultivators in the clan. Unfortunately, ten years ago, his cousin went mad while cultivating immortal arts and slaughtered the entire household, then fled to escape punishment.

Only Li Qiuchen, who was still wearing split-pants at the time, was left behind, surviving tenaciously on his own until now.

After Grand Uncle finished watering, he looked up at the sun, muttered a few more instructions, and was about to leave when he heard Yingcao let out a pained groan. His expression instantly changed, and with a thump he dropped to the ground, getting close to Yingcao's face to carefully observe her condition.

"Ancestor, my stomach hurts..."

"Stomach pain is normal. Good girl Yingcao, endure it a bit more, and Ancestor will buy you candy!"

"It really hurts..."

Li Qiuchen's eyes widened as he watched in horror as black blood vessels emerged on Yingcao's face, tearing open her skin at a visible speed. From her face, mouth, and inside her ears, clusters of emerald green sprouts bloomed forth.

"Spiritual root! Spiritual root!"

Grand Uncle danced with excitement, grabbed the water bucket and dumped it over Yingcao's head, then turned and ran off at full speed.

Li Qiuchen's gaze moved past the now-unconscious Yingcao to meet Hong Yang's equally horrified eyes.

This is a spiritual root?

Yingcao growing a spiritual root was a great celebration for the entire village. In comparison, those two things that only got watered but didn't sprout seemed quite an eyesore.

Buried in the ground for a full three days, Li Qiuchen and Hong Yang were finally remembered by Grand Uncle, dug up from the ground and tossed aside.

It wasn't that he wanted to abandon them, just that he needed to make room for Yingcao.

Now that entire acre of land belonged to Yingcao alone. Within a radius of ten zhang, not a single blade of grass was permitted to compete with her for nutrients.

Li Qiuchen wasn't envious in the slightest.

Returning home, he took a cold shower and changed into clean clothes.

There was no food at home, the stove hadn't been lit in who knows how long.

Someone was treating them to dinner tonight.

On the way back, Hong Yang had said they'd go eat noodles in the evening.

Although Songlin Village was called a village, its population was actually quite large, with about three hundred households.

Because those who practiced immortal arts all enjoyed longevity, every family had children and grandchildren filling the house. Counting them all, there must be several thousand people.

In any other village or town, they definitely couldn't support so many people but here, where even people could be planted in the ground, other crops went without saying.

The village had shops, inns, and even a noodle restaurant.

Hong Yang's only hobby in life was eating pulled noodles.

Like Li Qiuchen, he was an orphan with no one at home to cook for him.

Another reason was that Songlin Village's pulled noodles truly had an exceptional flavor.

The noodle shop owner, Guan Damu, was a man with a story.

In his early years, he had ventured out into the jianghu and learned excellent ironworking skills. The blacksmith shop next door was also his. Besides forging farming tools for the village, he would privately also craft some extremely powerful mechanical hidden weapons.

But Grand Uncle considered these to be frivolous tricks and sternly rebuked him for forgetting his roots, ultimately having them all sealed away.

Boss Guan's noodles had one characteristic, the soup had a meaty flavor, but there wasn't a single strand of meat in the bowl. Noodles could be added, soup could be refilled, but meat was absolutely not available.

Meat in the village had to be collectively provided for the cultivators. Everyone else could only smell the meat aroma and gnaw on bones.

Li Qiuchen had always suspected that Boss Guan secretly went hunting and ate alone in the back kitchen, but he had no evidence.

"No wonder Grand Uncle is so happy. The village hasn't produced a spiritual root in many years. I remember the last child to grow a spiritual root was the Li family's eldest daughter."

The villagers all cooked at home, so the noodle restaurant didn't have many customers to begin with.

Boss Guan was usually a man of few words, and it was only with Hong Yang and Li Qiuchen, these two children who came regularly to eat noodles, that he could chat a bit.

The Li family's eldest daughter was Li Qiuchen's cousin who had wiped out her entire family.

Because her methods had been too ruthless, she had now become a taboo in the village, and no one dared discuss her openly.

Li Qiuchen ate his noodles silently, not wanting to discuss this topic in depth.

He had been too young then and didn't even remember what his cousin looked like.

"I don't think spiritual roots should look like this!"

Hong Yang wolfed down a bowl of noodles and said sullenly.

The villagers always liked to joke about him and Yingcao, saying that when the two grew up, they'd marry Yingcao to him. He had taken it somewhat seriously.

Now seeing Yingcao transformed into this state, his heart was filled with shock and anger.

Boss Guan laughed, "Then what do you think spiritual roots should look like?"

"I don't know, but this definitely isn't right, is it?"

Hong Yang snorted coldly, "Uncle, you've been outside the village. You even told me you've seen immortals. Do the immortals outside also look like this?"

"I never said that."

"You said it that time when you got drunk."

"That was me bragging. You believe what a drunk man says?"

Boss Guan flatly denied it.

Hong Yang turned his head and stared at Li Qiuchen, asking, "What do you think?"

I haven't been outside the village either, how would I know?

Li Qiuchen hesitated for a moment, then nodded, "You're right."

"Then let's run away!"

Hong Yang lowered his voice, "I don't want that kind of thing growing in my belly. Let's dig up Yingcao and take her with us when we run!"

Big Senior Brother makes a good point but do you think just us two little kids, taking along a half-dead little girl, could get very far?

Li Qiuchen had considered this before but Songlin Village's location was too remote, surrounded by deep mountain forests, mountain after mountain, hiding who knows how many wolves, tigers, and leopards. For six months of the year, heavy snow sealed the roads, a vast whiteness where you couldn't tell east from west, south from north.

Where would you run to?

Hong Yang's brain didn't work very well, but it wasn't completely useless.

He naturally thought of this point too and turned to Boss Guan, "Uncle, how did you get out of the village back then?"

Boss Guan chuckled foolishly, "That year there was heavy snow. I got lost in the mountains and fumbled my way out in a daze."

Hong Yang sighed.

Li Qiuchen thought to himself that this man's mouth didn't contain a single truthful word.

You fumbled your way out in a daze, so how did you find your way back?

Of course, this kind of taboo topic didn't need to be explained in detail to two little kids.

Although Hong Yang hadn't thought of this layer, he wasn't discouraged. After pondering for a long time, he slapped the table, "I'll go find the mountain guests!"

Though the village was remote, it wasn't truly isolated from the world. After spring began each year, mountain guests would enter the mountains, and merchant caravans would pass by. The shops in the village that didn't open for half a year but lived off the earnings of the other half were mainly prepared for them.

There weren't many, but they came every year.

Finding mountain guests was indeed a solution, but the mountain guests might not be willing to help. In these times, anyone who dared to venture into the deep mountain forests to dig for mountain goods, which one wasn't a fierce person who lived on the edge of a blade?

Li Qiuchen had also considered this route, but after seeing that group of mountain guests last year who looked no different from bandits, he had ultimately chosen to give up.

Relying on heaven or earth was not as good as relying on oneself.

After finishing the noodles and returning home, Li Qiuchen sat on the kang, opened the hidden compartment by the wall, and took out a yellowed thread-bound ancient book.

Everyone in the village cultivated, but their methods were all different.

Some played with insects, some trained their physiques, but most villagers couldn't recognize a single character. They all followed Grand Uncle in worshipping the Medicine Master and seeking his grace.

This method couldn't be considered particularly profound, but it did have some effect. As long as one worshipped devoutly and recited the Medicine Master's divine name day and night, one could dispel disasters and difficulties, prolonging life.

To this day, the village had eighteen elderly people over one hundred years old, each with a rosy complexion and long, steady breath, even able to work in the fields. For ordinary people, this was already a blessing beyond what they could ask for.

The Li family also worshipped the Medicine Master, but what they cultivated was ocular arts.

It was said that the Li family's ancestor once cultivated a pair of Yin-Yang Dharma Eyes that could look up to observe the nine heavens' jade palaces, look down to observe the nine depths of the Yellow Springs underworld, perceive the changes of yin and yang, and distinguish all things in the world, with infinite wondrous uses.

In the past, they had been the village's foremost clan. Even Grand Uncle had to maintain a respectful attitude toward Li family members.

Unfortunately, hundreds of years of inheritance had been burned clean by his eldest cousin in a single fire.

Back then, the Li family had a collection of three hundred scrolls. Now only this "Wisdom Eye Collection" that Li Qiuchen had dug out from the ruins remained. It could hardly be considered a cultivation method, at best it was just a supplementary teaching material.

The book only discussed knowledge about how to prepare medicines to maintain the eyes. There wasn't a single word about actual cultivation techniques.

The Li family had originally also had a medicinal garden specifically for cultivating spirit herbs to refine medicines, but those aged medicinal materials had all been scraped clean by his eldest cousin, dug until the ground was riddled with holes.

Over these years, relying on the introduction to medicinal materials in the "Wisdom Eye Collection," Li Qiuchen had done his best to gather some spirit plants and replant that medicinal garden, restoring some of its former appearance.