Lastly, Lü Zhong didn’t forget to make a trip to the grand market.
The Vein Tempering Formula was ant for dicinal baths, and preparing one was quite troubleso. While not as complex as Alchemy—which involved fusing and transforming dozens, even hundreds, of types of dicinal Spiritual Qi—it still wasn’t a task just anyone could handle.
At the very least, one needed to understand so dical principles and the basic thods for harmonizing dicinal Spiritual Qi.
Every trade has its experts, and professional matters should be left to professionals.
Lü Zhong was busy with Talismans and the Array Dao, leaving him no ti to focus on anything else.
Therefore, he needed to hire a dicine Boy.
A dicine Boy was a type of profession, sowhat similar to an Alchemy Boy. They typically learned the basics of the Alchemy Dao through self-study or by apprenticing under a master, giving them the fundantal ability to identify Pill Formulas.
After asking around, he found there were many kinds of dicine Boys.
So could serve as concubines, while others were professional dicine Boys trained for apothecaries. The prices varied drastically depending on whether they had cultivation, showing that the classifications were quite detailed.
Lü Zhong’s requirents were simple: the person just needed to be able to read prescriptions and understand basic Pill Formulas.
After looking around, he selected a mortal dicine Boy with no cultivation, whose price was quite reasonable. This saved him nearly seventy percent of the Spirit Stones he would have spent on a cultivator. The girl had a pretty appearance, at least she wasn’t unpleasant to look at, and she was young. ’She probably doesn’t have too many ulterior motives,’ he thought. ’She should be easy to manage.’
He asked the dicine Boy, whose na was Xia Lan, a few questions, and she answered them all clearly and logically.
"The Seven Vein Flower... due to the different dicinal properties of its parts, the flower and leaves must first be prepared with realgar wine that has been cellared for ten years. This removes their yin-cold dicinal properties. At the sa ti, the root and stem must be sliced. If conditions permit, they can be air-dried in the shade in a place with dense Spiritual Qi for an even better effect..."
He asked her about seven different herbs in succession, and Xia Lan answered every question without a single mistake.
Only then did Lü Zhong nod in satisfaction and call for the Shopkeeper.
"She’s the one. Bring the indenture contract."
Buying the dicine Boy outright was considerably more expensive than leasing, but he considered the fact that he owned a shop. Even if he had no imdiate use for her later, he could always send her to work in the Talisman Shop.
After paying fifty Spirit Stones, Xia Lan was his.
He picked up the indenture contract and confird that the aura left on it was indeed the girl’s.
This step was crucial. To maintain order, the Lingyue Sect had stipulated that the illicit sale of people was a serious cri.
If he were caught in such a situation, even though he was a Foundation Establishnt True Cultivator, he would inevitably be "invited" for a trip to the Law Enforcent Hall. He would then have to pay a sum of at least four-digits in Spirit Stones to get out of it.
Therefore, being extra careful was necessary.
Lü Zhong took her back to Immortal Intent Square, buying a batch of tools and utensils on the way. These were all necessities for preparing dicine, such as grinders, mortars, and earthenware pots, as well as a dozen or so red clay stoves for decocting herbs.
As for firewood, he didn’t want to fill the courtyard with smoke and fire. He planned to set up a simple fire-starting Prohibition himself to directly catalyze Spirit Stones into flas for decocting the dicine. This would also make it easy to control the heat, saving a lot of manual labor—after all, he had only bought this one dicine Boy.
After bringing her back, Lü Zhong gave her so instructions and then returned to the rear courtyard.
According to the Jade Vein Technique, the skill had to be activated during the dicinal bath. This ant he needed to familiarize himself with the energy circulation routes in advance. Fortunately, after so many years of cultivating Immortal Dao Techniques, he had long since morized the eight ridians of the Minor Circulation by heart. He just needed to get accustod to the new technique’s circulation thod.
He spent the ti studying the technique until the middle of the month arrived.
"Master, the dicinal liquid is ready!" Li Hejun called out sweetly from outside.
Hearing this, Lü Zhong rose and went to a side room in the Central Courtyard. The room had been tidied and arranged to serve as the place for his dicinal baths. In the center stood a wooden barrel, tall enough to fit a person.
The room was filled with a pungent dicinal aroma.
Bai Ling, who had a cultivation base, was fine. The others, however, were choked by the fus until their eyes stread with tears, despite covering their noses and mouths with silk scarves. Every one of them had a flushed face, a testant to the liquid’s potency.
BUBBLE... BUBBLE...
The viscous, ghastly green dicinal liquid was constantly bubbling.
Lü Zhong dipped his hand in to test the liquid and found it to be both scalding and sticky; he could pull it into threads between his fingers.
"Ma-Master, can you really soak in this?" Li Hejun asked, watching from the side. ’If he actually gets in, he’ll probably be stewed alive,’ she thought, unable to keep from worrying.
"It’s fine," Lü Zhong replied. "For a cultivator, it’s just right."
He dismissed the others, leaving only Bai Ling in the room to attend to him. With her help, he removed his clothes and entered the dicinal barrel without hesitation, imdiately letting out a groan.
There was no other reason; the sensation was simply too intense.
The Sinking Yin Lotus was supposed to have a neutralizing effect, mitigating the negative properties of the dicinal liquid.
Lü Zhong had originally wondered if he could save money by omitting that one ingredient. After all, a single stalk of Sinking Yin Lotus was expensive. Due to its scarcity, a hundred-year-old specin could sell for as high as three hundred Spirit Stones, which accounted for ten percent of the formula’s total cost.
’But now it seems,’ he thought, ’this is not an expense I can afford to spare.’
’There’s another important reason: I still have the Spirit Forging Fire in my body!’ Lü Zhong ntally noted this lesson. At the sa ti, he activated the Jade Vein Technique, channeling the dicinal power that had seeped into his body toward the ridians of the Minor Circulation.
Instantly, a sensation like a torrent of fire washed over him.
At that mont, his entire body turned bright red, just like a cooked shrimp.
One Minor Circulation after another, his ridians were gradually tempered and protected by the power of the Vein Tempering Formula. A change was beginning, but it wasn’t obvious. It would take at least a hundred such baths to see any significant effect.
’I really wish this dicine was fake!’
Lü Zhong gritted his teeth, continuing to endure the agony.
The first dicinal bath always had the best effect. If he could endure it, it might even have a slight effect of cleansing his ridians and marrow. This was specially noted in the Cultivation Technique’s description; in other words, it could subtly improve his innate aptitude.
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