Medicine Master Disciple’s Cultivation Notes

Chapter 10: A Sunny Day Doll Hanging Between the Rocks

The meat mass mixed with pill liquid fell into the river water. The surrounding schools of fish were immediately attracted.

Li Qiuchen casually scooped and caught a two-chi-long crucian carp from the river.

The four or five catty crucian carp struggled twice in his hand, then gradually went limp.

Fresh vitality transmitted from his palm into Li Qiuchen's five internal organs.

In that instant, he even faintly produced a feeling of having already tasted the fish meat's delicious flavor.

This was the seventh day after he'd escaped Songlin Village and regained consciousness by an unknown riverside.

Whether he was willing or not, the Medicine Master's blessing had already fused with his physical body.

Blessings also had gradations of high and low. The blessing he'd received far exceeded Grand Uncle's level.

This wasn't speculation but a visible fact.

According to the family's inherited cultivation method, cultivators had to meditate and enter concentration, absorb heaven and earth spiritual qi to gather within the body, circulate the greater and lesser heavenly cycles, cleanse marrow and temper bones, and cast off the shackles of mortal flesh.The Medicine Master's blessing directly changed his constitution. He completely didn't need to meditate and enter concentration. Heaven and earth spiritual qi would actively gather. Of course, if you insisted on cultivating yourself, it could also have twice the result with half the effort.

Back when Li Qiuchen hadn't yet cultivated, he could use the naked eye to see through where the crayfish spirit's life essence was located. Now paired with the Medicine Master's blessing, he could, like just now, after observing where the crucian carp's life essence was located, effortlessly absorb the vitality contained within.

Cultivating like this was simply too easy.

So it was no wonder the old ancestor Li Jingyun spent large portions in the book expounding the Medicine Master great Dao's essence, lest descendants produce misunderstandings.

Human nature couldn't withstand temptation.

Since one could so simply raise their strength, who would still be willing to earnestly cultivate? Meditating for half a day couldn't compare to the cultivation gained from catching fish once.

So it was unsurprising that those past Medicine Master believers became rats crossing the street that everyone wanted to beat.

Grand Uncle obviously didn't have this ability. Even if the book "Jingyunzi" had always been in his hands, he might not necessarily understand its true meaning.

Li Qiuchen suspected that the blessing level he'd obtained was sufficient to rival that old peach tree.

As long as given time, after successfully cultivating, he should also be able to find some poor, remote countryside place and build a pig pen...

This thought was too dangerous.

I want to practice something proper!

As a transmigrator, Li Qiuchen was very clear about the principle that there were no free lunches. The most expensive things in the world were the free ones. A blessing like this that seemingly required no price to be paid, dare you say it wouldn't need to be repaid later either?

He didn't want it, but had no choice.

Within just seven days, under the influence of the Medicine Master's blessing, Li Qiuchen had been completely transformed.

Now when he stood by the river, he couldn't even recognize who that person in the water's reflection was.

Every morning when he got up, he could smell a foul stench emanating from his body. Pieces of dead skin fell from his body.

The child in the reflection now fundamentally didn't look like a village kid who pissed in mud. With rosy lips and white teeth, delicate skin and tender flesh, he looked more like a pampered young master from the city.

Was this right?

Many people in Songlin Village were cultivating, but at most they just gained some strength, usually didn't get sick, and extended their lifespan somewhat. He'd never heard of anyone who received blessings and could also beautify.

Li Qiuchen's strength had of course also increased. Over these seven days, he felt his strength growing larger and larger, already about reaching the level of an ordinary adult. His eyesight had also improved. Looking out, all the movements in the surrounding mountain forests were completely visible.

According to Grand Uncle's explanation, the three of them had reached the age to take root and sprout.

They just lacked cultivation methods, like seeds in the ground that had reached the season but hadn't been fertilized and watered.

Now beginning cultivation, they quickly broke through the soil and grew vigorously but why didn't muscles grow?

Cultivating to the face, what was that about? Could it be that in the future I'll have to rely on my face to make a living?

Theoretically speaking, as long as one followed the river downstream, one would always find people's homes, but Li Qiuchen wasn't in a hurry to leave the mountains.

Conditions in the mountains were indeed harsh, but what if he encountered another pig pen?

Right now, having just begun cultivating, he still didn't have any means of self-protection.

Although the wolves, tigers, and leopards in the mountains were equally dangerous, after receiving the Medicine Master's blessing, he could control himself to emit a woody aura, merging with the mountain forests, causing those fierce beasts to lose interest in him.

Yesterday he'd encountered several wild wolves that came to drink water by the river. Those wild wolves had no hostility toward him at all. Perhaps in the wolves' eyes, he was a walking Chinese cabbage.

Li Qiuchen's personality was relatively cautious.

To escape Songlin Village, he'd secretly plotted for a full two years. Neither Grand Uncle nor the old peach tree had produced the slightest suspicion toward him.

Now he also didn't mind being a wild man in these old mountain forests for another couple of years. After he figured out the family's inherited cultivation method, he'd go out adventuring.

Additionally, there was another benefit in these mountains, which was that he could gather medicine.

The Li family's cultivation method needed to be supplemented with pills, and these vast mountains were a natural medicinal garden for him to freely harvest.

Ordinary mountain guests who wanted to dig up an old ginseng had to expend considerable effort carefully searching in the mountains. But Li Qiuchen, relying on the family's inherited Yin-Yang Dharma Eyes paired with the Medicine Master's blessing, could easily find those rare medicinal herbs and spirit plants from among bushes and weeds, in rock crevices.

Some medicinal herbs he recognized. Some he didn't recognize. But none of this was important.

As long as he pulled them out and held them in his palm, he could directly absorb the medicinal power within. Even if they carried some toxicity, for the Medicine Master's blessing it also didn't matter. The damage to his body could quickly recover.

Too convenient.

Li Qiuchen felt very emotional in his heart.

This kind of blessing was like phones and the internet. Once you got hooked, you could never go back.

Although he temporarily didn't plan to leave the mountains, he still needed to understand the situation in the mountains.

When formulating the escape plan, Li Qiuchen had asked Boss Guan to draw him a map.

In this era there were no satellites in the sky. Boss Guan also wasn't a professional surveyor. The map he drew looked like it had been gnawed by a dog. You completely couldn't tell which was which.

But no matter what, at least it depicted the general directions.

The mortal dynasty of this world was called Great Chu. It already had thousands of years of historical inheritance. The national territory was extremely vast. It could be said to be the literal meaning of "under heaven there is nothing that isn't the king's land, to the edges of the land there is no one who isn't the king's subject."

Great Chu's heartland was in the nine provinces of the Central Plains. Beyond the nine provinces were the four frontiers of east, south, west, and north. Beyond the four frontiers was still the boundlessly vast, rarely traveled primordial wilderness.

The place where Li Qiuchen was now located was within Yun County of the Blackwater Garrison Command in Great Chu's northern frontier.

Even within the northern frontier, Yun County was located in the far north. The climate was dry and cold. For at least six months of the year, heavy snow fell and the land froze. From Yun County going north two thousand li, crossing Blackwater River was the extreme northern primordial wilderness.

It was said that there the accumulated snow never melted year-round. Ten-thousand-year glaciers covered the earth. The environment was extremely harsh. Ordinary people had difficulty surviving.

Songlin Village was located in the northwest of Yun County, amid vast mountain ranges.

This entire mountain region stretched for thousands of li. It had no specific name. Mountain paths were rugged and difficult, rarely traveled by people. Wolves, tigers, and leopards overran it. Usually even the government's forces had difficulty penetrating deep.

So it could nurture a bizarre existence like Songlin Village.

A village of over three hundred households. Li Qiuchen had grown this big and never seen government people come to collect taxes. Maybe the government fundamentally didn't even know there was a village here.

So right now he also had difficulty confirming his specific location.

Li Qiuchen broke off a straight tree branch to use as a walking stick, shouldered his bundle, and followed the river water downstream.

Traveling by day, cultivating at night, several more days passed.

On this day he came to a mountain stream and discovered that this place had beautiful scenery and abundant spiritual qi. The surrounding medicinal herbs were densely distributed. It looked like a good place to settle down.

Just as he was planning to find a suitable place to set up, he casually looked up and saw a strange thing stuck in the cliff wall.

Li Qiuchen's eyes lit up. Could this be the kind written about in novels, a divine artifact accidentally dropped in the mortal realm by an ancient big shot during a fight?

What was that saying?

Oh right, this object is fated with me!

But looking more carefully, he was greatly disappointed.

It was a crane.

The measure word wasn't used incorrectly. It was a white crane with its beak stuck in the cliff wall... how to describe this appearance? You know kingfishers, right? The kind of silly birds that fly too fast and accidentally nail themselves to trees, cosplaying sunny day dolls.

Exactly the same appearance. Who knew how long it had been hanging up there? It had already thinned into a dried bird.

Li Qiuchen stood below and looked for quite a while, not knowing how to evaluate it.

Could it be... it actually was an ancient divine artifact, just deliberately crafted by its owner into this appearance?

Otherwise how do you explain it? A pig crashed into a tree, it crashed into a rock? Its beak inserted and couldn't be pulled out?

Perhaps hearing footsteps, the white crane hanging on the cliff wall suddenly twitched. Its two claws feebly swayed, as if expressing that it wasn't completely dead yet.

Should he save it or not?

To be honest, Li Qiuchen didn't really want to save it, because he couldn't understand the origin of this appearance.

What good bird strikes this pose?

Legend had it that an ancient general was patrolling camp at night. On the road he saw a tiger and was greatly startled. He hastily drew his bow and shot an arrow. The next morning when he looked again, he discovered it was just a rock, and his arrow had actually entered the rock and couldn't be pulled out.

That was a fake tiger. You're a real tiger!

And taking a step back... already starved to a stick, there wasn't much meat left either.

Li Qiuchen hesitated for quite a while, then began moving rocks.

After the rocks beneath his feet were piled high enough, he climbed up, grabbed the white crane's head, and gradually applied force with both hands. However, that bird beak was like it had 502 glue on it, completely motionless.

After Li Qiuchen tried several times with no results, he picked up a rock and fiercely smashed it toward the beak. The dying white crane instantly opened its eyes wide and frantically struggled, flapping its wings.

Once, twice, three times... crack!

The slender bird beak finally broke apart. The white crane fell to the ground with a thump, opened its mouth, and let out a shrill, miserable cry.

"Gaaaah!"