Medicine Master Disciple’s Cultivation Notes

Chapter 9: Today I Escape the Cage

When Li Qiuchen woke up, he found himself lying by the riverside, soaking wet. His bundle had been scattered, and gold and silver trinkets were strewn all over the ground.

The several pills he'd stolen from Grand Uncle's house had all dissolved into medicinal soup, and even that cultivation method book was completely soaked through.

It could only be described as utterly wretched but Li Qiuchen didn't complain. He sat down on a rock by the river and laughed heartily.

He'd finally escaped!

Since he could remember, he'd lived in the village, or rather, lived in that pig pen.

The more he knew, the more oppressed he felt.

Now that he'd finally escaped the cage and regained his freedom, no matter what price he'd paid, it seemed very worthwhile to him.

Boss Guan and Hong Yang were nowhere to be found. Presumably they'd been washed to other places by the river water.

This was already the best outcome. At least the crayfish spirit hadn't broken its promise. Being scattered in the end was a matter of its capabilities, not a matter of its demon character.

Only, it was a pity about Yingcao, who hadn't been able to escape.Li Qiuchen also hadn't expected that Grand Uncle would be so utterly conscienceless as to strike at his own direct blood relative. By the time he realized the problem, it was already too late.

Although the deep mountain forests were full of dangers, no matter what, the environment was still better than the pig pen of Songlin Village.

At least now he could finally cultivate in peace without worrying about strange things growing out of his body...

After recovering his condition, Li Qiuchen began to sort out his belongings.

Besides these things he'd rolled up from Grand Uncle's house, he didn't have a single hair on him, and he also hadn't eaten in a long time.

Wilderness survival was a big problem for a child.

Fortunately, heaven leaves a way out for people.

While drying out the books, Li Qiuchen noticed that the several pills that had dissolved in water attracted fish from the river. Some fish even leaped onto the shore, eagerly competing to gulp down the flowing medicinal liquid in big mouthfuls.

He almost effortlessly caught seven or eight plump fish over a chi long with his bare hands, then carefully stored away the pill residue again.

Although it looked like people couldn't eat them anymore, the fishing effect was still quite good. For his time in the mountains coming up, he'd probably have to rely on them to solve the food problem.

He built a fire. While roasting fish, he also dried his clothes. After this ordeal, the clothes on his body were also tattered and torn. If the weather weren't warm, he might have frozen to death in the mountains at night.

Li Qiuchen sat by the fire and sorted through his harvest.

Grand Uncle's house had a lot of gold, silver, and jewels, but he'd only taken a few ingots of silver. He hadn't taken much of anything else.

First, to reduce weight and facilitate escape. Second, out of caution.

There was an old saying about "a child carrying pure gold through a busy market." This saying was mainly used to describe an idiot.

Although gold was precious, right now he didn't have even a bit of self-protection ability. Not only could he not spend it, it would easily invite deadly disaster.

Part of the silver in the bundle had been lost in the river. Now only twenty taels of scattered silver remained. Saying it was a lot wasn't much, but saying it was little actually wasn't too little either.

The truly most valuable thing was actually the tree core he'd snatched from the old peach tree.

This was completely a gambling act of pulling teeth from a tiger's mouth, but if it weren't for this thing, Li Qiuchen couldn't possibly have pulled Boss Guan and the crayfish spirit onto his pirate ship.

The piece of tree core he'd obtained weighed about two or three catties. White and tender like new bamboo shoots, it faintly emanated a strange peach blossom fragrance. Just smelling it made him feel that the accumulated pain and fatigue in his body were swept away.

This was a superior medicinal ingredient. It could be eaten raw like the crayfish spirit, or taken back to be made into medicine like Boss Guan. Or perhaps if he encountered someone knowledgeable in the future, maybe he could even sell it for a good price.

In any case, the benefits were numerous.

After filling his stomach, Li Qiuchen picked up the half-dried "Jingyunzi" and opened the wrinkled pages.

This book had been soaked in water and could no longer be preserved long-term.

Fortunately, what it described was the Li family's exclusive inherited ocular arts. After cultivating, at worst one could obtain a photographic memory divine ability and memorize all the content in the book.

Having transmigrated and been reborn in this world for many years, finally escaping his shackles and able to formally step onto the cultivation path, Li Qiuchen's mood was also very excited.

"Jingyunzi" wasn't purely a cultivation method. It was actually an autobiography written by the Li family's ancestor, Li Jingyun.

Li Jingyun's family had fallen on hard times in his youth, but he was intelligent from childhood. Relying on talent and effort, he was admitted to Beihai Academy, one of the four great academies of the northern frontier. Afterward, he traveled the four directions and guarded Shilong River for a hundred years, but still couldn't break through the Golden Core realm to nurture a Nascent Soul.

However, during this period, he happened to encounter the Medicine Master manifesting divine miracles and comprehended the great Dao of longevity.

Medicine Master...

Li Qiuchen was now a bit sensitive when he saw this term.

In the book, Li Jingyun provided a very lengthy explanation of the "Medicine Master."

The so-called Medicine Master was essentially the great Dao of longevity.

Cultivating immortality also cultivated longevity, but it was somewhat different from the Medicine Master's longevity.

Immortal cultivation's longevity was a means. The ultimate goal was freedom and ease. While the Medicine Master's longevity focused on longevity itself.

In the Medicine Master's eyes, "life" was above all else. They believed that the suffering of all beings had its roots in death, and only longevity could achieve liberation.

This "life" could be one's own life or could be others' lives.

The Medicine Master's great Dao itself had no distinction between good and evil, right and wrong. You could cultivate yourself alone, or you could universally save the world.

But cultivators naturally focused more on their own lives. To extend their own lives they would stop at nothing. Among them, the simplest and most effective method was none other than plundering the Medicine Master's blessings from others to extend their own lifespan.

Over time, these Medicine Master believers who only cared about their own longevity and had no moral bottom line became notorious evil demons and heretics, inviting pursuit and killing by righteous cultivators. It could only be said they brought it upon themselves.

In the book, Li Jingyun recorded in detail the means of receiving the Medicine Master's blessing and plundering others' blessings.

The Medicine Master's great Dao universally aided all living beings in the world. As long as one worshipped devoutly and praised the divine name, one could obtain blessings and extend one's lifespan. This method had no aftereffects, but the lifespan gained wasn't very obvious either and was difficult to quantify specifically.

For example, if you were originally supposed to live to eighty, but because you believed in the Medicine Master you lived one more month, this little bit of added lifespan, unless you looked at the Book of Life and Death, you fundamentally couldn't feel it yourself.

To further obtain more of the Medicine Master's blessings, one needed cultivation methods corresponding to the Medicine Master's great Dao.

Li Jingyun left behind an incantation in the book, as well as three pill formulas.

Cultivating according to the incantation and supplemented with pills, one could obtain longer lifespans.

Li Qiuchen directly skipped over this passage of text. Right now he really didn't want to have any connection with the Medicine Master.

Not until the latter half of this book did Li Jingyun begin recording the family's inherited Yin-Yang Dharma Eyes cultivation method.

The cultivation method's name was very plain and simple, just called the "Li Clan Method," divided into body tempering and ocular arts, two parts.

It likewise came with several medicinal formulas for body tempering.

As for the medicinal formulas paired with the ocular arts, they weren't in this book. Perhaps Li Jingyun was exceptionally talented and felt it unnecessary.

On the contrary, the Li family's descendants couldn't reach that kind of talent of the old ancestor, so they compiled the "Wisdom Eye Collection" as a supplement.

Whether this cultivation method was high-grade or not... without other reference objects for comparison, Li Qiuchen really had difficulty evaluating it but having it was better than not having it.

Moreover, I'm a grand transmigrator. How could I remain depressed and long dwell beneath others?

At this point, shouldn't the system come online?

After reading through all of "Jingyunzi," the sky had also darkened. Li Qiuchen, cherishing dreams of a beautiful future life, curled up under a tree root, closed his eyes, and entered dreamland.

Hah...

At the third watch of the night, Li Qiuchen sat up with a start, covered in cold sweat.

He'd been frightened awake.

In his dream, Li Qiuchen had already been living a beautiful life of eating big chunks of meat, drinking from big bowls, with beautiful wives and concubines embracing him left and right.

Suddenly, a pair of flawlessly perfect jade feet appeared before his eyes.

In a daze, he looked up and saw countless emerald green shoots lunging toward his face.

A voice as if from an extremely distant place whispered softly in his ear.

Thus have I heard...

Li Qiuchen's hair stood on end. He instantly woke up, only feeling a stuffiness in his chest and abdomen. He couldn't help but retch.

A mouthful of fresh blood mixed with not-yet-digested roasted fish spewed from his mouth. Mixed in were also some emerald green shoots and tender leaves...

But I clearly didn't eat any grass roots or tree bark!

Li Qiuchen was extremely terrified, realizing he'd probably fallen into the same situation as Yingcao.

A spiritual root was growing from inside his body!

But I clearly didn't do anything...

Wait, I finished reading "Jingyunzi"!

The old ancestor was really harmful! He actually poisoned the book!

However, different from Yingcao's situation back then, Li Qiuchen hadn't lost consciousness, and the spiritual root also hadn't grown out from his body. Instead, it looked like it had been digested by him.

After calming down, Li Qiuchen closed his eyes and, following the ocular arts cultivation method recorded in the book, performed internal observation.

Actually, his eyes had long since awakened the family's inherited talent. He just hadn't cultivated it. Now that he'd obtained the correct cultivation method, he could use it directly.

Closing his eyes and silently circulating his energy, casting his vision toward his own body, everything including skin, flesh, and bones was clearly visible. Even his own energy circulation meridians could be seen very clearly.

Li Qiuchen carefully observed and discovered that extremely tiny tender shoots were continuously growing inside his body, but these shoots hadn't yet grown large before being absorbed and digested by his own body.

Just like plants performing photosynthesis, even if he completely didn't cultivate now, just relying on digesting these shoots could also increase his own strength.

Could this be... the Medicine Master's blessing?

A flash of inspiration struck Li Qiuchen's mind, then he became even more terrified.

What did I do to receive the Medicine Master's blessing? I only read a book. Old ancestor, there's no need to scam people like this, right?

But thinking it over, he felt it shouldn't be a problem with that book.

If reading books could really receive the Medicine Master's blessing, then why would Grand Uncle painstakingly grow spiritual roots? He could just refine pills and read books at home every day.

Then where exactly was the problem? How did I, someone who fundamentally doesn't believe in the Medicine Master, receive such an honor...

Li Qiuchen suddenly shuddered. He thought of something.

"Jingyunzi" recorded that devoutly worshipping and praising the divine name was only the simplest, lowest-grade method.

As long as what you did aligned with the true meaning of the Medicine Master's great Dao, you would receive the Medicine Master's glance and blessings would descend.

And over these years, he'd only been wholeheartedly doing one thing.

That was surviving!