novelraw Chapter 42: Drawing the Carved Bow Like a Full Moon
Chapter 42: Drawing the Carved Bow Like a Full Moon
Li Qiuchen had no idea the government pursuers behind him were so conscientious and responsible. Even after escaping beyond the aggro range, they still refused to give up, determined to eliminate evil thoroughly and arrest this old demon.
He slept so soundly he lost track of time. When he woke up again, he didn't even know what time it was.
The Spirit Gathering Pill's medicinal power had finally been completely digested, and his cultivation had once again improved.
Mohe the Perfected Being's true cultivation was at least at Qi Refining perfection, or had even already built his foundation. Li Qiuchen wasn't clear on the exact level because what he saw was just the battle-damaged version.
Even so, Mohe the Perfected Being's strength far exceeded his. Without the white crane's cooperation and subjecting him to various schemes, Li Qiuchen would have had no chance of victory in a direct confrontation.
Even in that state of exhaustion, the residual life energy within his body had greatly benefited Li Qiuchen, directly filling five more levels of his Dragon Court's Thirty-Three Heavens. Now he was already at the eighth heaven.
He estimated that if he just took one more Spirit Gathering Pill, he could advance to the tenth heaven and enter the middle Qi Refining realm but in the short term, he really didn't want to try again. That medicinal effect was too domineering. Cultivating with it was like being tortured.
No matter how delicious braised pork was, if you had to eat ten jin at once, you couldn't handle it either.
After eating, even your farts and diarrhea would have oil in them.
The white crane wasn't around, having run off somewhere to play. This return was hasty, and they hadn't caught any food. Given the stupid bird's nature, it was probably battling various mud snails and crabs by the river.Li Qiuchen pulled out this trip's harvest from his bracelet.
First was the jade pendant Mountain God Jiang Tingyue had gifted, along with two bottles of Spirit Gathering Pills, twenty pills total. He and the stupid bird got one bottle each. The stupid bird had eaten one pill, and he himself had already eaten two.
Second was the equipment dropped from Mohe the Perfected Being, a magical treasure composed of a complete set of twenty-four prayer beads.
This thing hurt like hell when it hit people.
Although Li Qiuchen didn't have much pain sensation at the time, he was still struck dizzy with stars in his eyes.
The prayer beads felt very heavy in hand. Each one weighed at least two or three jin. Twenty-four together totaled over sixty jin.
Without the storage bracelet, Li Qiuchen wouldn't have picked them up even if you beat him to death.
If they were simply heavy, any stones randomly dug from the mountains would be heavier than them.
Their true use was to be sacrificed into mid-air and shot out like cannonballs to smash people but Li Qiuchen hadn't mastered the incantation for controlling this kind of magical treasure. In his hands, it was really no different from bricks.
Playing with it in his hands for a moment, Li Qiuchen suddenly felt these prayer beads of unknown material had a familiar flavor.
He deployed his ocular technique to look carefully and saw that embedded in the center of each prayer bead was a dark pearl the size of a grain of rice.
So that's it!
I was wondering why dark pearls could sell for so much. Turns out these dark pearls extracted from stone clams could be considered a kind of earth and stone attribute crafting material!
Li Qiuchen thought to himself that with so many dark pearls in his possession, if he mastered weapon crafting methods in the future and forged a set of powerful magical treasures for himself, how awesome would that be?
Embedding them in prayer beads to smash people—what kind of thing was that? What a waste of heaven's gifts!
Indeed, people couldn't imagine things they'd never seen. With Mohe the Perfected Being's knowledge, he could only use magical treasures of this level.
If it were me, just watch how I'd use them.
Unfortunately, it couldn't be switched.
Study, study! Li Qiuchen now infinitely yearned for learning and progress.
Full of emotion, he walked out of the mountain ravine, but didn't see the white crane's figure. The sky also had only white clouds, with no traces left by flying birds.
With nothing else to do, Li Qiuchen decided to tend to his medicinal garden.
With the Medicine Master's blessing bonus, there was no need to consider whether planted herbs could survive. They just grew wildly.
The century-old nightshade tree that had been transplanted earlier—after going out on a trip and coming back, it was covered with fruit again. And this time, the nightshade berries looked even more plump and full, like black plums, showing a faint tinge of red.
Li Qiuchen picked the ripest-looking fruit and popped it in his mouth. The taste was sweet, with no trace of sourness.
The good news was this fruit was getting more and more delicious.
The bad news was its toxicity was gone.
Toxicity actually wasn't a very clear concept.
Just like chocolate—people can eat it without issue, but dogs will die from it.
Would you say chocolate counts as deadly poison?
The fruit produced by a century-old nightshade tree carried trace amounts of toxin that could produce hallucinogenic effects.
Now Li Qiuchen couldn't feel this toxin's effects at all. He wasn't quite sure if he'd domesticated the nightshade tree, or if he'd developed drug resistance and his body no longer rejected it.
Probably both factors were involved. He could catch some small animals later to do an experiment.
As for other herbs, quite a few had grown to the point where they could be harvested. According to the records in "Jingyunzi," they could be used to prepare medicine to help with body tempering and cultivating his ocular technique.
Very stable.
Everything was steadily improving. Li Qiuchen was very happy but his good mood didn't last long.
Tending the medicinal garden took two hours. Seeing the sun about to set and the white crane still hadn't flown back, Li Qiuchen finally felt something was wrong.
It wasn't yet time for migratory bird migration. Even if the stupid bird was going to leave, it wouldn't fail to say goodbye to him, right? Its pills were still with him.
Could it be some accident had occurred?
...
At the foot of the mountain, the young general slowly lowered his carved bow, coldly watching the white crane soaring at the horizon fall after being struck by an arrow.
Behind him was complete silence.
The vice-general hesitated for a long while, then moved to the young general's side to quietly remind him, "Young Master, that's a crane."
"I'm not blind."
"The Bai family..."
"Do all the cranes in the three prefectures and twenty-one counties of the entire Blackwater Defense Commissioner's jurisdiction belong to the Bai family?"
"Ultimately, it's still inappropriate..."
"What's inappropriate about it?"
The young general said expressionlessly, "I'm executing military duties, sweeping away evil demons in the countryside. This wild crane repeatedly spied on us. Did it think I wouldn't notice because it was far away? Can the Bai family's face be placed above the Defense Commissioner?"
These were angry words.
Having gone deep into the mountains for many days without finding any trace of that demon, the young general had long been holding back anger.
Casually shooting down that wild crane hovering at the horizon was just venting emotions.
At the vice-general's reminder, although he felt some regret in his heart, being young and proud, he couldn't lose face in front of his subordinates.
The Bai family? Patrolling north and south, eliminating demons and protecting the way—what a grand reputation.
If they really came knocking to question him, he also had his explanation.
There were no obvious markings. Who knew it belonged to your Bai family's bloodline?
"Withdraw."
Seeing it was already late, and continuing forward wouldn't find any clues, with his subordinate soldiers somewhat weary, the young general finally had thoughts of retreat.
He turned his horse's head and directed his gaze toward the Song brothers who had been following the troop all along, their faces full of confusion and fear.
"Your identities are questionable. First follow me back to the county to verify your identities. If you're truly good civilians, would you be willing to join my army in the future?"
The Song brothers exchanged glances. Coming to their senses, they quickly knelt and kowtowed, "Thank you for the General's appreciation. We brothers are willing!"
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