Little Medicine Kings

"Back when I traveled across the Central Continent, I made quite a name for myself. If someone hadn't spread the word about my aphrodisiac effects, forcing me to flee to the Ask Dao Sect for shelter, I'd still be traveling around now."

"The person who traveled with me was also a famous great expert among your human race. His name was Adept Guyue. When he sent me to the Ask Dao Sect, he even said he would write about me in his book so that people throughout the world would remember me."

Adept Guyue was a famous traveler from the Central Continent. He loved traveling and adventuring, and his footprints could be found across the Central Continent, the Demon Domain, the Buddhist Kingdom... Legends of him could be found everywhere.

According to legend, he had once served as a historian in the Great Xia Dynasty, meticulously recording Emperor Xia's romantic encounters among the common people, as well as the number of illegitimate children he had.

In the Demon Domain, he was abducted by the Dragon Princess. When she tried to force him into marriage, he fled from the wedding and was pursued all the way to the Buddhist Kingdom.

In the Buddhist Kingdom, he impersonated a monk and swindled people. Whenever someone found a flaw in his logic or asked a question he couldn't answer, he would say, "The Buddha says it cannot be spoken." Later, those words spread throughout the Buddhist Kingdom.

Adept Guyue had written his experiences into books, which were extremely popular in the cultivation world.

Although no classical text clearly recorded Adept Guyue's cultivation level, Lu Yang figured it couldn't be low—if his cultivation had been even a little weaker, someone would have beaten him to death long ago.

The Ginseng Baby was an excellent teacher. Many of the things it talked about were events it had personally experienced. Some of the medicinal herbs in the medicine garden had even been discovered by it and Adept Shuiyue during their travels. Lu Yang listened from behind, nodding and shaking his head with rapt attention.

The man and ginseng arrived at a small house built from flowers and plants. The closer they drew to it, the more Lu Yang could sense the almost tangible vitality within. It made his heart pound with alarm.

"Something's wrong!" Lu Yang clutched his chest, his body trembling uncontrollably.

Thump, thump, thump... Lu Yang's heartbeat grew faster and faster, as though countless little insects were buzzing beside his ears, flying around without end.

Listening carefully, Lu Yang felt a chill in his heart and coldness creep up his spine. That wasn't the sound of little insects at all—it was countless people speaking inside his body!

Those voices said they were trapped inside his body. They wanted to leave. They wanted to leave...

The Ginseng Baby was the first to notice that something was wrong with Lu Yang. It shouted, "Hey, hey, hey! An outsider's here. You lot, watch yourselves. Put away your vitality—quickly!"

Lu Yang circulated his cultivation technique and calmed his boiling blood. Only then did the voices gradually fade away.

Lu Yang knelt on the ground, gasping for breath. Everything that had just happened wasn't an illusion. There really was something inside his body. What was it?!

The Ginseng Baby set down the Void Spirit Stone and came scampering over to Lu Yang, its tone tinged with apology.

"Sorry, I didn't realize you hadn't reached the Nascent Soul Realm yet."

Unlike humans, Medicine Kings didn't cultivate according to realms. They only cared about their age. The Ginseng Baby couldn't see Lu Yang's cultivation level; it merely thought he seemed rather agreeable.

"What was that just now?" Lu Yang was still shaken, as though he had taken a walk through the Nine Nether Hell.

"Little Ba and the witch are both far too highly cultivated by your human standards, so I neglected how our vitality would affect you."

"Our vitality is simply too exuberant—so exuberant that it can make every organ in your body develop its own will and become an entirely new individual. Only after you reach the Nascent Soul Realm, perfect your acupoints, and achieve a leakless golden body will you stop being affected by our vitality."

Hearing the commotion from the Ginseng Baby, countless three-inch-tall herbs came bouncing and hopping over to Lu Yang.

"Ginseng King, is that a human? Why is he so small?"

"What do you mean, so small? He's obviously as tall as we are. Are you saying you're small too?"

"It must be a spell! Human spells are amazing. What's strange about making someone bigger or smaller? I've even seen spells that change men into women, and humans into demons."

"His cultivation doesn't seem very high. Hasn't he reached the pregnancy stage?"

"What pregnancy stage? Kirin King, your memory is getting worse and worse. It's called the Nascent Soul Realm."

"He doesn't even seem able to stand steadily. Let's carry him into the house."

The little Medicine Kings chattered and whispered among themselves for a while, buzzing unbearably in Lu Yang's ears.

They hoisted Lu Yang over their heads and carried him into the small house built from flowers and plants.

The Dao Enlightenment Tree King stood outside and scratched at its trunk. Its leaves rustled loudly. It was simply too large to enter the little house.

Only after entering the little house did Lu Yang realize that it wasn't actually built from flowers and plants. It was made of ancient wood. Under the influence of the little Medicine Kings' vitality, the ancient wood had come back to life, sprouting fresh leaves and flowers that hid its original appearance.

Lu Yang felt much better. He slowly stood up and tried to identify the Medicine Kings.

As luck would have it, he didn't recognize a single one.

"Human, what's your name?" asked a small grass covered in three tender leaves. Its entire body was silver, and tiny points of starlight speckled its leaves like a miniature universe.

"This junior is Lu Yang. May I ask who Senior is..." Lu Yang asked courteously. By age alone, the little Medicine Kings weren't merely his seniors—they were seniors to everyone in the Ask Dao Sect.

"It's the Three-Leaf Star Medicine. We all call it Star King." Another little Medicine King spoke quickly. It was a seven-colored flower, its petals corresponding to the five colors of the five elements. The center of the flower was divided into black and white, with a spot of white within the black and a spot of black within the white, forming a taiji pattern like an ink-wash painting. It was breathtakingly beautiful, drawing people into its depths without them realizing it.

"I'm the Flower of the End of Time. Just call me End King. Everyone says I'm the most beautiful flower, but I think someone's jealous of my charm and trying to praise me to death. As a modest Medicine King, I think I'm only the second-most beautiful flower in the world..." The Flower of the End of Time chattered on without pause.

Lu Yang stared at the Flower of the End of Time for two seconds. His pupils gradually widened, and disbelief filled his eyes. Though he had never seen what the Flower of the End of Time looked like, he had heard of its great name.

"The Flower of the End of Time—the flower said to bloom in its most beautiful form only when the world ends and all living things are plunged into misery, freezing even the flow of time?!"

Lu Yang's loss of composure was understandable. Ancient texts recorded that the blooming of the Flower of the End of Time was equivalent to the apocalypse, as though the entire world were being thoroughly reshuffled.

Yet according to the historical records, no such cataclysm had ever occurred in the world!

The Flower of the End of Time scratched at its nectar in frustration. "Someone did say that, but I remember blooming during a very peaceful time. Everyone was getting along happily, and I didn't see any disasters. The stories about my blooming were probably just rumors."

Lu Yang was just about to ask something else when he heard another little Medicine King speaking.

"Lu Yang, what are you doing in the medicine garden? Did Little Ba send you to pick some medicine?" asked a small emerald-green kirin, carved as though from fine jade and exquisitely delicate, unlike anything found in the mortal world.

Lu Yang was startled again. "A kirin?!"

What was a kirin? It was the most mysterious of demon beasts. The whole world might not contain one or two of them, and they were far rarer than Tribulation Transcendence cultivators. Their traces could only be found in the fragmentary records of ancient texts. Yet the Ask Dao Sect actually had one?

The Ask Dao Sect's foundations were terrifying beyond Lu Yang's imagination.

The Ginseng Baby explained, "It's the Kirin Immortal Medicine. Its current appearance is its dharma form. Your cultivation isn't sufficient yet. Once you reach Spirit Transformation and cultivate the Heavenly Eye, you'll be able to see its true form."