novelraw Chapter 4: The Medicine Master's Blessing, Wondrously Unmatched
Chapter 4: The Medicine Master's Blessing, Wondrously Unmatched
Legend has it that in the primordial chaos of ancient times, yin and yang were reversed, the five elements were in disorder, and the rise and fall of the mortal world could happen in an instant.
A sage descended into the world, named the Medicine Master, who made twelve great vows to universally save all beings in the world.
The Medicine Master had the form of a thousand hands and hundred eyes, illuminating the boundless world with his own infinite radiance.
Whatever was sought, nothing was refused.
The suffering of mortals was nothing more than birth, old age, sickness, and death.
Worship the Medicine Master, and one could obtain longevity.
Worship the Medicine Master, and one could cure stubborn illnesses.
Only benefits, without needing to pay any price.
Where could you find such a wonderful deity?
The ceremonies for worshipping the Medicine Master in Songlin Village were divided into medium sacrifice, great sacrifice, and super great sacrifice.Medium sacrifices required all villagers, young and old, to set up incense altars at home during festivals and holidays. Family members would kowtow and worship in turn, calling out the Medicine Master's divine name and offering melons, fruits, and fresh seasonal produce.
Great sacrifices were personally presided over by Grand Uncle, leading all the villagers, young and old, to the old peach tree at the village entrance to offer three sacrificial animals, burn sacrificial texts, and break peach branches to dip in divine water to pray for blessings for the whole village.
Super great sacrifices were only passed down by word of mouth among the villagers and seemed not to have been held for a very long time. It was said they were only held when someone in the village cultivated to immortality. At that time, more sacrificial offerings would be presented to seek the Medicine Master's merciful protection.
Coming out of the noodle restaurant, Li Qiuchen jogged all the way to the village ancestral hall.
Pushing open the door, he saw Grand Uncle sitting in a chair with his head lowered, dozing off. Li Qiuchen's gaze swept over the crayfish spirit without lingering, and he walked straight toward Hong Yang in the corner.
"Mmph?"
"Shh..."
Li Qiuchen put a finger to his lips, signaling Hong Yang not to make a sound, and took out a small knife to quickly cut the ropes binding him.
Hong Yang stared fixedly at the crayfish spirit hanging from the roof beam, afraid it would make any noise. However, the crayfish spirit only watched them with a half-smile, saying nothing.
It didn't even open its mouth to beg these two little brats to take it along when they escaped.
Why?
Hong Yang couldn't understand any of this.
In a daze, he followed Li Qiuchen in escaping from the ancestral hall and running to the village entrance. Hong Yang suddenly stopped and said, "Wait, I have to rescue Yingcao!"
"There's no saving her. If you don't hurry up, when Grand Uncle wakes up you won't be able to escape!"
"I know!"
Hong Yang gritted his teeth, "Xiao Chen, the three of us grew up together. I can't leave her here alone. You run first, I'll go back to save her!"
Li Qiuchen said helplessly, "Stop talking nonsense. If you dig her up by yourself, how long will that take?"
Hong Yang laughed dryly, a bit embarrassed.
The two turned back, casually stole two shovels, and ran all the way to the fields.
Yingcao's lonely little head was still buried in the ground. All the weeds around had been pulled clean, and the air was filled with the smell of medicine. The few emerald green tender shoots growing from her five sense organs and seven orifices exuded a strong vitality.
The two swung their arms and used every ounce of strength to dig furiously.
Fortunately, Yingcao was still a child and wasn't buried deep. The ground had also been constantly watered, so the soil was soft. If it had been an adult buried here, even if they dug until nightfall they might not have been able to dig the person out.
Hong Yang had fierce strength. In just a few moves he dug more than a chi deep. While digging, he actually still had the energy to talk.
"Xiao Chen, did you know about all this stuff long ago?"
"What stuff?"
"About Grand Uncle."
"I knew a little."
"Then why didn't you say so earlier?"
"If I'd told you earlier, would you have believed me?"
"How do you know if I'd believe you or not if you didn't say?"
"I'm telling you now that Yingcao can't be saved, that digging her up will just be a corpse. Do you believe me?"
Hong Yang immediately fell silent.
He fiercely dug down with the shovel. Seeing that the soil was somewhat loose, Hong Yang stepped into the pit with one foot, hugged Yingcao, gritted his teeth, and pulled hard, directly pulling her out from the ground.
"Run!"
Carrying the ice-cold Yingcao who had no reaction on his shoulder, Hong Yang threw down the shovel and took off running.
The two ran wildly all the way. Not distinguishing east, south, west, or north, they charged straight ahead along the winding mountain path.
They ran like this for half an hour. Seeing that the village was no longer visible behind them, Hong Yang collapsed by the roadside, gasping desperately for breath.
After finally catching his breath and looking back at Yingcao, stiff as an old tree root, all his grievances instantly surged up and tears fell like rain.
"Why did it turn out like this?"
Seeing Li Qiuchen catch up from behind, Hong Yang grabbed him and shouted, "Tell me! You tell me! Why did it turn out like this?"
"Wasn't it like this from the beginning?"
Li Qiuchen asked calmly, "Every household in Songlin Village is cultivating, but in all these years not a single proper cultivator has emerged. Don't you think that's strange?"
"Huh?"
Hong Yang looked completely confused.
People are like this, they don't know pain until it hits them, much less when he was only a child of about ten years old. Every day he was too busy playing wildly with every moment he had. Why would he think about such complex questions?
"Grand Uncle is one hundred and eighty years old this year. How did he get this lifespan? Why does the Medicine Master favor him so much?"
Li Qiuchen said softly, "The answer is very simple. There is a monster in the village that eats young boys and girls, but it's not the crayfish spirit, it's Grand Uncle. Do you think he was so happy when Yingcao grew a spiritual root because he was happy for Yingcao? Was he really doing it for Yingcao's good?"
"Wait a minute!"
Hong Yang hurriedly stopped him, "My head is a bit confused right now. Tell me slowly. When did you find out about all this?"
Li Qiuchen shrugged, "Two or three years ago, I think. At that time I originally wanted to find out about my family's affairs from the villagers' mouths, but none of them were willing to mention it. Later, after making various inquiries, I learned that ten years ago, my family's eldest cousin, like Yingcao, also grew a spiritual root. But unlike Yingcao, the spiritual root didn't grow out from her mouth."
"And then?"
"Then Grand Uncle wanted to scheme for her spiritual root. She discovered it in time, killed her whole family, and successfully escaped..."
"Wait a minute!"
Hong Yang hurriedly interrupted, "What about the middle part? Grand Uncle wanted her spiritual root, so why did she kill her own family?"
"That's not important."
"It's very important! Don't just skip over the most critical part for me!"
Li Qiuchen said helplessly, "Even if I told you, you wouldn't believe it."
"Don't worry about whether I believe it or not, just say it first!"
"Do you think there are many people in our village?"
"Quite a lot, right? I once heard mountain guests passing by say that our village's population is almost catching up to a town..."
"Actually, there aren't that many people."
"Huh?"
"Of the more than three hundred households and over two thousand people in the village, more than half have been turned into puppets by Grand Uncle. The remaining living people have only been left alive to continue adding people to the village."
"What?"
Hong Yang was dumbfounded.
Such explosive statements had exceeded his psychological tolerance.
"Everyone in the Li family, from top to bottom, has long since become Grand Uncle's puppets. The Li family's cultivation method was also taken by Grand Uncle long before my cousin burned it in a fire. It's hidden in his house."
"You even know this?"
Hong Yang was completely stunned.
You already knew that your family's cultivation method was at Grand Uncle's place, but you could resist not stealing it?
Even if it was just stealing a look, then secretly cultivating would be good... wait, have you already practiced it?
Feeling Hong Yang's dubious gaze, Li Qiuchen shook his head, "I haven't. Are you rested? You don't think that after running just this little way, Grand Uncle can't catch up, do you?"
"You definitely secretly cultivated. Otherwise, how could you run so far with me and still not be red-faced or out of breath?"
"How about you put Yingcao down then?"
"I won't!"
Hong Yang refused without hesitation, "She can definitely still be saved. I'm going to take her to find a doctor! When we were little, we agreed that when she grew up she would marry me. I can't just give up on her like this!"
She didn't say that, her mother told you that. You remembered wrong.
When she stole my family's cultivation method from Grand Uncle and gave it to me, she said she only thought of you as an older brother... this kind of thing that's detrimental to brotherly affection is better not told to you.
Li Qiuchen silently calculated in his heart. If nothing went wrong, he and Hong Yang, carrying Yingcao, should be able to run about twenty li.
This wasn't random guessing.
Last year when that inexperienced group of mountain guests were double-crossed by the village, the fellow with the fastest legs only ran twenty li before being caught and brought back by Grand Uncle the next day.
Hong Yang sat for a while, recovered some strength, knew the seriousness of the problem, and couldn't be bothered to listen to Li Qiuchen's gossip anymore. He gritted his teeth, shouldered Yingcao, and continued on the road.
Where this road led, he didn't know. He only knew that outsiders would take this road into the mountains. So conversely speaking, he could also get out.
At this time, Grand Uncle should have already woken up, but for the time being wouldn't realize they'd run this far.
After all, when Li Qiuchen left, he hadn't brought anything at all. It really didn't look like he was fleeing far away.
Nor would anyone believe that two children carrying a corpse could run very far from the village.
The ancients had a saying, "Natural overcomes scheming"... no wait, it's "No move defeats all moves."
I have absolutely no preparation, no plan. How could you possibly predict my next step?
This should buy more time.
The mountain path was rugged and difficult. The two walked and stopped along the way, not knowing exactly how far they'd gone.
It wasn't until the sun slanted westward and the sky grew dark that a dilapidated earth god temple appeared beside the road ahead.
Hong Yang's stomach was growling. He turned to ask Li Qiuchen, "Xiao Chen, did you bring any food?"
Congratulations! You finally thought of this!
Li Qiuchen pulled out a flatbread from his chest and handed it to him, "Only this."
Hong Yang swallowed and gritted his teeth, "Break off a piece for me. Keep the rest for yourself."
"Take it all."
Li Qiuchen stuffed the flatbread into his hand and said, "You've expended too much energy. If you don't eat, I'm afraid you won't be able to walk tomorrow when you get up."
"Then what will you eat?"
I'll go back to eat.
Li Qiuchen smiled, "Don't worry about me. In the mountains, where can't I find food?"
Hong Yang thought about it and agreed. Now that spring had begun, the mountains were full of living things. People wouldn't starve to death, so he nodded, "Tomorrow I'll go hunting in the mountains!"
It would be best if you can last until tomorrow.
Li Qiuchen turned his head and looked in the direction they'd come from.
Green mountains and clear waters, lush and verdant. He couldn't hear any sounds, but it seemed that something in the darkness was silently watching him.