Pill Complete, Two of the Ten Supreme Delicacies (Please Read on Tuesday)

Pill Complete, Two of the Ten Supreme Delicacies (Please Read on Tuesday)

When he arrived before the Half-Mountain Courtyard,

Lu Qing was surprised to find that his master was not practicing martial arts in the open space before the door.

He went inside to take a look and found that the door to the Medicine Room was still tightly shut, with a faint medicinal fragrance wafting from within.

Knowing that his master was still refining medicine inside, he did not make a sound to disturb him.

Instead, he set the bucket in a corner, consciously took out a broom, and began sweeping the courtyard.

Seeing her brother cleaning, Xiao Yan also dragged a little broom out from the corner to help.

By the time the siblings had nearly finished sweeping the entire courtyard, Lu Qing finally heard the sound of a door opening from inside the house.

Right afterward came the Old Doctor's hearty laughter.

"You two, have you been here long?"

Seeing Lu Qing and Xiao Yan cleaning the courtyard, the Old Doctor asked.

"Not very long, less than half an hour," Lu Qing answered truthfully.

"Grandpa Chen, Xiao Yan helped Brother clean too." The little girl held up her broom, asking for credit.

"Grandpa knows. Xiao Yan is the most well-behaved." The Old Doctor immediately praised her.

"Hehe." The little girl was instantly delighted at receiving praise.

"Master, did you not sleep all night?"

Seeing that the Old Doctor was dressed exactly as he had been yesterday, Lu Qing could not help asking.

"That's right. The path of medicine refinement allows no carelessness. Especially with Blood Replenishing and Qi Boosting Pills, it is best to complete everything in one uninterrupted breath and form the pills directly. Only then can the ginseng's medicinal efficacy be preserved to the greatest extent." The Old Doctor nodded.

"Then should Master rest for a while?" Lu Qing asked with some concern.

"That won't be necessary. It was only one sleepless night. This old man's body has not deteriorated to that extent." The Old Doctor waved his hand. "Besides, old people naturally need less sleep. Missing a little makes no difference."

Lu Qing observed him and found that his master's complexion was still rosy and his spirits high, without the slightest trace of fatigue.

He knew his master was telling the truth.

That made sense. His master was a martial arts powerhouse of the Inner Organs Realm. How could merely staying up all night affect him?

"Then, from what Master says, those Blood Replenishing and Qi Boosting Pills..." Lu Qing's eyes lit up.

"They have already been refined." The Old Doctor took out a snow-white porcelain bottle. "That Old Mountain Ginseng yielded twenty Blood Replenishing and Qi Boosting Pills in total."

"With the aid of these twenty Blood Replenishing and Qi Boosting Pills, not only will it be much easier for you to enter the Qi Blood Realm, but once you do, your cultivation progress will be extremely rapid."

Lu Qing accepted the porcelain bottle and felt its pleasing weight in his hand.

Then he suddenly asked, "Master, is the effect of these Blood Replenishing and Qi Boosting Pills best only after one has entered the Qi Blood Realm?"

The Old Doctor paused before replying, "That's right. Blood Replenishing and Qi Boosting Pills are among the best auxiliary pills for the Qi Blood Realm. Refining just one can bring considerable improvement. Countless Qi Blood Realm martial artists would pay a fortune just to obtain a few."

"Then if I take them before entering the Qi Blood Realm, would that not be somewhat wasteful?"

"Some medicinal efficacy would indeed be wasted, but your bodily foundation is somewhat weak. Without the aid of pills, even though you have already begun the Body Nourishing Fist, it would probably still take some time for you to enter the Qi Blood Realm."

Hearing his master's words, Lu Qing smiled. He did not ask further, instead changing the subject.

"Master, this disciple went fishing yesterday and caught two strange-looking fish. They seemed quite unusual, so I wanted Master to take a look at them."

"Oh? What good thing did you catch this time?" The Old Doctor was interested.

He knew that his disciple was exceptionally gifted at fishing and often caught fish that were far from ordinary.

These days, he had never lacked small fish here.

Fried small fish tasted excellent and went perfectly with wine, to the point that his two jars of treasured aged brew were nearly finished.

"This is the first time this disciple has caught this kind of fish. It is not large, but it is quite strong. It feels very unusual."

Lu Qing took the bucket containing the Golden Loach out from the corner of the courtyard.

The Old Doctor leaned over to look. When he saw the golden Golden Loach swimming inside, he identified it and suddenly widened his eyes.

"This thing is a Golden Loach!"

"Master knows this fish?" Lu Qing asked.

"Of course I know it." The Old Doctor looked rather excited. "Do you remember the Red Moon Carp you caught before? Master once said it was one of the Ten Supreme Delicacies."

"Could this fish also be one of the Ten Supreme Delicacies?" Lu Qing's heart stirred.

He truly had not expected that.

"That's right. This fish is also a Rare Fish, called the Golden Loach, and it too is one of the Ten Supreme Delicacies. However, it ranks much lower among the Ten Supreme Delicacies, near the bottom, so its flavor is somewhat inferior to that of the Red Moon Carp."

"Yet although its flavor is slightly lacking, there is one aspect in which the Golden Loach surpasses the Red Moon Carp: it has powerful nourishing effects and is most suitable for those with weak constitutions."

"I told you before that your Red Moon Carp was bought by a noble person in the city to nourish his wife's body."

"After that noblewoman ate the Red Moon Carp, her health improved greatly, but she was still somewhat frail."

"If she had eaten this Golden Loach that day, she likely would have recovered completely."

The Golden Loach truly was one of the Ten Supreme Delicacies.

Lu Qing was astonished.

By that count, he had already caught two kinds of fish among the Ten Supreme Delicacies from the river outside the village.

That tiny country river concealed two, perhaps even more, Rare Fish. It was truly thought-provoking.

Was it because of the Blood Apricot, or some other, even more unknown reason?

Lu Qing could not help thinking more deeply about it.

The Old Doctor had clearly thought of the same question.

"A Qing, where did you catch this Golden Loach?"

"Right where I caught the Red Moon Carp last time." Lu Qing did not conceal it.

"That little river outside the village can actually contain both Red Moon Carp and Golden Loach?"

The Old Doctor realized that something was unusual.

"Master, is there something wrong with that?" Lu Qing asked humbly.

"It is indeed somewhat unusual." The Old Doctor said, "But as for the reason, this old man cannot say. However..."

"However what?"

Seeing that the Old Doctor's expression seemed somewhat grave, Lu Qing hurriedly asked.

"The matter of Rare Fish being hidden in the river outside the village must not be mentioned to anyone else in the future." The Old Doctor said solemnly. "Rare Fish are hard to come by and extremely valuable. Once word leaks out, it may not be a good thing for the village."

"This disciple understands."

Lu Qing understood what his master meant.

A man is guilty because he possesses jade. Rare Fish were simply too valuable.

If others learned that the river outside the village contained Rare Fish, there was no telling whether someone might try to seize the river and drive away the villagers.

He had seen many such examples in news reports in his previous life.

When that time came, it would be no different from a calamity for the villagers of Nine Li Village.

It seemed that if he caught Rare Fish again in the future, he could not reveal it to outsiders.

Having understood this, Lu Qing immediately made up his mind.

Even if he caught Rare Fish again in the future, he would not take them out to sell.

In any case, he and the Black Little Beast had already reached an agreement. At most, after catching Rare Fish, he would exchange them with it for ginseng.

"It is good that you remember."

The Old Doctor nodded. He knew that his disciple had always been clever and did not need excessive instruction.

However, another matter instead made him curious.

"Didn't you say you caught two Golden Loaches? As I recall, Golden Loaches have always appeared in pairs and never travel alone. Where is the other one?"

"The other one was eaten by the Black Little Beast."

Lu Qing gave a wry smile, then explained how the Black Little Beast had insisted on eating a Rare Fish.

He only left out the agreement he had made with the little beast.

"Originally, I wanted to keep both Golden Loaches, but that little beast would not let it go, so I could only give it one."

"So that was it. That is no matter. That little beast gave you a Centennial Wild Ginseng; courtesy demands reciprocity, so it is only right to let it eat one Rare Fish."

The Old Doctor did not find it regrettable.

"Master, only one Golden Loach remains, so please enjoy it. Consider it a small token of this disciple's filial respect." Lu Qing said.

"It would be somewhat wasteful for me to enjoy such a fine thing alone." The Old Doctor smiled. "Let us eat it together instead."

"Speaking of which, you caught this Golden Loach at exactly the right time. If you are lucky, perhaps you will enter the Qi Blood Realm today."

Hearing this, Lu Qing could not help but freeze.