Revelation 1

After leaving the medical clinic, Lin Sheng did not hurry back to his residence. Instead, he headed toward the pharmacies on the street.

Aside from visiting Zhang Ding, he had other matters to attend to on this trip.

As a town that had formed alongside Yangping Mountain, Yangping Town had more pharmacies and medical clinics than vendors selling wild game.

After all, when entering Yangping Mountain to hunt, who could guarantee they would not be injured?

Given the dangers within Yangping Mountain, nearly every team that emerged came back with injuries of one kind or another.

Besides the Beast Hunter Hall, quite a few outside hunters entered the mountain as well. Once these people were injured, they would naturally choose the nearest Yangping Town for treatment, so the town had no shortage of medical clinics and pharmacies.

He casually found a fairly large pharmacy on the street and walked in.

When he came back out, he was carrying several small medicine packets and a thick book.

The packets contained a few medicinal brews to nourish the blood, qi, and sinews, while the book was a copy of the Compendium of Herbs.

It recorded some relatively common medicinal herbs and poisonous plants, along with their medicinal properties and toxicity.

At the end of the book were also some accounts concerning pills, which was exactly what he needed.

After all, he still needed to figure out the pill he had obtained from Ma Qiang. It was also necessary to learn about various medicinal herbs and poisonous plants, lest he suffer a loss from them in Yangping Mountain someday.

After buying some more rock goat meat from the street, Lin Sheng finally returned to his residence.

In the room before Lin Sheng lay two red pills the size of quail eggs.

One was dark red, while the other was scarlet.

The dark-red pill was the Blood Nourishing Pill, his reward from the Beast Hunter Hall's recent mission.

The scarlet pill was the one he had obtained from Ma Qiang.

Lin Sheng first picked up the Blood Nourishing Pill and carefully sniffed it beneath his nose. A faint bloody smell drifted from it, but he felt nothing else.

"Is this the Blood Nourishing Pill?"

Turning the pill over in his hand, Lin Sheng did not hesitate for long before tossing it directly into his mouth.

A Blood Nourishing Pill cost around twenty taels of silver. It was not particularly precious to him; with his current wealth, he could buy several.

Moreover, the pill's effects mainly targeted martial artists who had not yet entered the Body Tempering realm. As a Body Tempering martial artist, he naturally did not need to worry about the medicinal power being too fierce.

As the pill entered his stomach, Lin Sheng quickly felt its effects.

A current of warmth rose within his body, gradually stirring his qi and blood into activity.

Feeling the changes in his body, Lin Sheng immediately went out into the courtyard and began practicing the White Ape Leg Technique.

Huff... huff... huff...

As his legs swung, they whipped up gust after gust of fierce wind.

Only after an hour had passed did Lin Sheng stop.

"It does have some effect."

He wiped the sweat from his forehead and muttered to himself.

When practicing the White Ape Leg Technique before, he could keep going without interruption for about half an hour before needing to rest. Now, with the Blood Nourishing Pill's medicinal power in him, he could persist for a full hour in one breath.

Moreover, his qi and blood seemed to have strengthened by a trace. Of course, it was not obvious. After all, this was only the lowest-grade Blood Nourishing Pill. Achieving such an effect was already quite good.

"Although the effects of a single Blood Nourishing Pill are not very obvious, if I take several of them, the boost to my qi and blood will still be quite considerable."

Lin Sheng thought of the geniuses from those great powers in the county city. They surely did not lack pills. With vast medicinal resources poured into them, their physiques, qi and blood, and cultivation speed would undoubtedly surpass ordinary martial artists by a great deal.

After resting briefly, Lin Sheng resumed his training.

He only stopped when he felt the Blood Nourishing Pill's medicinal power within him fade away.

By then, the sky had already darkened into evening.

After washing up simply, Lin Sheng began lighting a fire and cooking.

His meals were simple: meat, and nothing but meat, without the slightest bit of vegetables.

With his current means, he could afford such basic indulgence. Naturally, he no longer needed to live as frugally as before.

While cooking, he began flipping through the Compendium of Herbs.

Lotus Leaf Orchid, found in damp mountain forests. It resembled a lotus leaf, but its leaves were dark blue. It could alleviate the effects of miasma in the wilderness...

Red Snake Grass, scarlet throughout, with leaves shaped like little snakes. Extremely poisonous...

The Compendium of Herbs contained rather detailed records, mainly introducing the relevant plants. Every page also had matching illustrations. Though the drawings were quite simple, they still allowed one to make out the characteristics of each plant.

That made the high price of two taels of silver worthwhile.

He quickly flipped to the final pages of the book, where information on pills was recorded.

"Herb Pills, Beast Pills, Spirit Pills... I never expected the path of pills to have so many twists and turns."

After a long while, he put down the book, a thoughtful expression appearing on his face.

According to the book, pills were mainly divided into two major categories.

One type was refined primarily from various plants and medicinal herbs. Such pills were called Herb Pills.

The other type was refined primarily from materials taken from exotic beasts. These were classified as Beast Pills.

Compared with one another, Herb Pills mostly had mild and balanced medicinal properties, while Beast Pills were more domineering and placed certain demands on the user's physique.

Furthermore, Beast Pills contained more pill poison and could not be consumed in excessive amounts.

Therefore, Herb Pills were somewhat more valuable than Beast Pills of the same grade.

The method of distinguishing Beast Pills from Herb Pills was also simple. The easiest way was to tell from their smell.

"Then it seems Ma Qiang's pill should be a Beast Pill."

After all, that pill carried a bloody smell. It should have been refined using exotic beast blood as its main ingredient.

"As for exactly what pill it is, Lin Sheng had already reached a conclusion."

"Scarlet as blood, and its scent can stir one's qi and blood—it should be a Blood Cultivating Pill, one rank higher than the Blood Nourishing Pill."

With a flick of his wrist, the pill appeared in Lin Sheng's palm.

"I never expected Ma Qiang to have a Blood Cultivating Pill. It was probably Ma Long's doing."

Turning the pill over in his hand, Lin Sheng did not rush to consume it. Instead, he took out a small knife and scraped off some powder.

He then caught a stray dog outside and threw it into the courtyard.

He smeared the Blood Cultivating Pill powder onto a piece of dried rock goat meat, then tossed it to the stray dog cowering and shivering in the corner.

The stray dog looked at the dried meat before it, longing in its eyes. Yet after glancing at Lin Sheng in the courtyard, it shrank its head back again.

"Too scared to eat?"

Seeing the dog's frightened appearance, Lin Sheng grinned. He was in no hurry, and the rock goat meat in the pot had just finished stewing.

Carrying the pot back into the room, he began eating with great gusto.

Seeing the hateful human who had captured it leave, greed flashed in the stray dog's eyes. It bit down on the dried rock goat meat in one mouthful, swallowing it whole without even taking time to chew. An almost human look of enjoyment appeared on its canine face.

It quickly came to its senses, sprang up from the ground, and ran to the main gate, wanting to escape. But the gate was tightly shut, so it could only return to a corner and cower there again.

Its nose kept twitching as it sniffed the fragrance of meat drifting out from the room from time to time.