Heart Nurturing Pill

The Heart Nurturing Pill was a spiritual pill that nourished and protected the heart meridians. It was among the most common varieties of spiritual pills, and many rogue cultivator alchemists could refine it. Liu Xiaolou had seen this kind of pill before. One day two years ago, his teacher had returned wounded and sent him to buy one at the town market. He had indeed managed to purchase it, at the price of two spirit stones per Heart Nurturing Pill.

At such a price, it was also one of the cheapest among all spiritual pills.

Of course, even the cheapest spiritual pill was not something one could easily afford. Liu Xiaolou would naturally be reluctant to spend his own spirit stones, but Lord Xingde had some—two spirit stones lying in his shoulder bag.

He snapped at Lord Xingde indignantly, "Didn't you tell me to leave? Do you want a Heart Nurturing Pill, or do you want me gone? If you really make me leave, then just wait to die!"

Having vented his anger, Liu Xiaolou still hurried down the mountain. He traveled through the night to Tianmen Market a hundred li away, found a shop called Chunhua Workshop, and asked inside. They did indeed have Heart Nurturing Pills, but the asking price was three spirit stones!

Thinking the price too high, Liu Xiaolou went to five more shops in succession. Three had Heart Nurturing Pills in stock, while the other two required a wait of three to five days. Naturally, all of them charged three spirit stones as well.

Liu Xiaolou could not bargain the price down. The shopkeepers and attendants of those establishments did not seem to have any intention of haggling with him either. After leaving the sixth shop, he could not help feeling lost. Did I really have to put in one spirit stone of my own? Or have Lord Xingde repay me later? But with Lord Xingde's habit of turning his face and denying everything, making him pay it back would probably be difficult. At most, he would count the debt against refining the array disk? But then wouldn't Liu Xiaolou be losing badly? He had saved Lord Xingde's life; refining an array disk for him should not have cost any spirit stones to begin with.

Just as he hesitated, someone suddenly said in a low voice behind him, "Brother, are you buying Heart Nurturing Pills?"

Liu Xiaolou turned around and saw a wretched-looking man in a bamboo hat speaking to him. Yet the man's gaze remained fixed on the pedestrians coming and going through the streets and alleys, drifting about restlessly.

Liu Xiaolou was thoroughly familiar with this manner of doing things. Wasn't this the worn-out routine of the heroes of Wulong Mountain?

So he shook his head, unwilling to pay the man any mind, and prepared to avoid him.

But the wretched man followed close behind him and continued, "One spirit stone per pill."

Seeing him stick to his back like dogskin plaster, Liu Xiaolou grew impatient and exposed him outright. "Brother, if you want to pass off fake goods on someone, you've found the wrong target..."

The other man immediately said, "Inspect the goods first, then pay the spirit stone."

Liu Xiaolou sneered. "Find somewhere secluded and knock me out with a club?"

The man said again, "Inspect them right here."

Liu Xiaolou sighed. "Brother, who knows what kind of damned thing you'll show me? Some incense, some medicine—how many steps before your stuff knocks a person down?"

The man froze for a moment, then a smile appeared on his face. "You are an expert, sir... Rest assured..." As he spoke, he retreated three big steps, leaving a safe distance between them, and tossed over a small bottle. "Please take your time examining it. Oh, and you may hold your breath."

Liu Xiaolou caught the bottle instinctively and looked around. They were in a bustling, lively part of the market, where crowds flowed endlessly past. From time to time, cultivators sent by some unknown great sect patrolled by, watchfully staring at every passerby.

He truly could not think of what trick the man could still pull. After turning it over several times in his mind, Liu Xiaolou held his breath and carefully opened the bottle.

Inside lay a round spiritual pill that gleamed with a dark reddish-black light.

His heart stirred. He poured the pill into his palm and gently rolled it about, discovering that its color was exactly the same as the Heart Nurturing Pill he had bought years ago.

He loosened his breath slightly, and a faint, secluded fragrance mixed with pungency entered his nose, making him nearly sneeze.

As an inheritor of the Three Xuan Sect, Liu Xiaolou was absolutely an expert at handling fragrances. The Three Xuan Sect's cultivation method granted extreme sensitivity and discernment toward smells. He would not dare claim it was unmatched beneath heaven, nor even unmatched throughout Jingxiang, but it was more or less unrivaled in western Xiang. With a slight circulation of his cultivation method at the tip of his nose, he immediately identified the characteristics of this scent—it was precisely the Heart Nurturing Pill he had bought before!

The pill was genuine, but why was the price so low?

"Your pill... where did it come from?" Liu Xiaolou worried that it might be stolen goods, perhaps even spiritual pills from some Renowned Great Sect shop in this very market. If its origins were improper, accepting it rashly might bring trouble.

The man smiled and approached again, lowering his voice. "You truly are one of our kind, sir. To be honest, this pill came from Miaofeng Mountain and was refined by a Grand Alchemist of the Miaofeng Pill Sect. Its effects are no inferior to those of the great sects."

"Miaofeng Pill Sect?" Liu Xiaolou was deeply puzzled. He did not seem to recall such a sect among those occupying blessed grotto-heavens.

The man chuckled. "The alchemist's cultivation is profound, and his Alchemy Dao exquisite, but his reputation has yet to spread. Should you need anything in the future, you may find me again. I am permanently based at Tianmen Market, and I am easy to locate."

Liu Xiaolou nodded. "Brother, may I ask your honored name?"

The man cupped his hands. "I am Yan Sanfei. And your honored surname, sir?"

Liu Xiaolou answered vaguely, "My surname is Liu."

Thus, the two completed the transaction. Lord Xingde's injuries were serious, and Liu Xiaolou did not know whether one Heart Nurturing Pill would suffice, so he bought two and used up both of Lord Xingde's spirit stones from the shoulder bag.

Having bought the Heart Nurturing Pills, Liu Xiaolou did not linger for even a moment. He hurried another hundred li and returned to Xingde Temple late at night.

The moment he entered the room, he saw Lord Xingde sprawled beneath the bed, his face white as paper and utterly unconscious. There was no telling when he had fallen from it.

Liu Xiaolou hastily helped him back onto the bed and checked his pulse again. His pulse was weak to the extreme. The true essence that had previously obstructed Liu Xiaolou's examination was scattered and sealed within the essence pools of various acupoints, no longer able to gather together. His condition was exceedingly perilous.

He took out a Heart Nurturing Pill and forcibly stuffed it into Lord Xingde's mouth, using his technique to make him swallow it. Then he sent a stream of true essence into Lord Xingde's body, delivering the medicinal power dissolved from the Heart Nurturing Pill, thread by thread, to his heart meridians.

One Heart Nurturing Pill truly was not enough. In the latter half of the night, Liu Xiaolou had no choice but to give him the second. After struggling until dawn, Lord Xingde's complexion finally improved. Some life returned to his face, and he opened his eyes as well.

After waking, he sat cross-legged and circulated his cultivation himself. Only then did Liu Xiaolou stop, no longer using his own cultivation to aid Lord Xingde's healing. But he was already exhausted.

After this night, Liu Xiaolou had more or less sounded out Lord Xingde's cultivation. He knew Lord Xingde had opened the three Hand Yang meridians, the three Hand Yin meridians, the three Foot Yang meridians, and the Foot Taiyin Meridian among the three Foot Yin meridians—a total of ten meridians. Of the Foot Jueyin Meridian he was currently cultivating, more than half the acupoints had also been opened, with only seven left unopened.

Though he had not reached the Qi Refining tenth layer, he was already at the Qi Refining ninth layer—a bona fide expert!

What kind of setback had an expert like him suffered to be wounded so severely? It had probably been the work of a Foundation Establishment expert, hadn't it?

Still, it was hard to say. Combat strength and cultivation level were not necessarily closely linked. If he had provoked a disciple of a Renowned Great Sect, then even if that person's cultivation had not reached the ninth layer, as long as they possessed high-grade artifacts and spiritual pill enhancements, Lord Xingde would be bound to suffer—Liu Xiaolou had yet to see him possess any particularly formidable treasures.

That day, Lord Xingde finally got out of bed. Looking at Liu Xiaolou, he said, "I want to eat meat. Fresh meat."