A Pill Formula

The sun hung high in the sky; it was noon.

His roommates knew Song Shuhang's cold had not fully recovered, so they told him to rest properly and had already helped him request another day of sick leave.

"Why does it feel like my condition is getting worse and worse? Is it because I haven't exercised lately and my physical fitness has declined?" Song Shuhang said.

Beside him sat a serving of preserved egg porridge, which his roommates had brought back for him at noon.

"What good people!" Without hesitation, Song Shuhang handed his roommates good-person cards.

He had no idea how long he had slept. His chest was already pressed to his back with hunger, so he wolfed down the preserved egg porridge in a few bites and turned on his computer again.

As was his habit, he opened his chat app and immediately saw the red notification dot beside Nine Provinces Number One Group, indicating unread messages.

Song Shuhang curiously reached out and opened Nine Provinces Number One Group, wanting to see what the veteran chuuni immortal-cultivation fans inside had chatted about all night.

The chat records from the early hours of the morning appeared before his eyes.

Northern River's Loose Cultivator's questions about the "newcomer," Mad Saber Three Waves' death-seeking antics, the amusing senior from Spirit Butterfly Island, and True Lord Yellow Mountain, who claimed to have cast a divination and found that he was fated with Song Shuhang.

As he read through the chat records, the images of those people gradually filled out in Shuhang's mind.

"So I was added by mistake. That's what I thought—I don't even know this True Lord Yellow Mountain."

From the chat records, it seemed that not just anyone could join this group. Someone even had to recommend you before you could enter.

Besides, these veteran immortal-cultivation fans in the group seemed fairly old. Some of them even had daughters.

And judging by their tone, their daughters did not seem young either? By that reckoning, they might already be forty or fifty years old. Still being chuuni at that age—their daughters really had it rough.

As he scrolled through the group chat records, Song Shuhang remained in lurker mode and absolutely did not speak.

Watching the group members act like idiots was amusing, but what would it count as if he joined in? He was not an idiot himself.

So his plan was to lurk and read the chat records, treating them purely as his daily joke.

One day, when he felt this group had become boring, he would leave Nine Provinces Number One Group.

That was what he had always believed.

Before he knew it, ten days had passed...

Saturday, June 1st. Children's Day.

Shuhang's roommates were half-boarders and half-day students. They stayed in the dormitory from Monday to Friday, then went home on weekends. Thus, whenever the weekend arrived, he was the only one left alone in the dormitory.

Song Shuhang's cold had long since recovered, though he still had a slightly stuffy nose and a cough. It was a cold cough, which was rather troublesome to recover from. If he did not take proper care of himself, he could keep coughing for a month or more.

Since it was Saturday and there were no classes, Shuhang slept until eight before getting up, then went to the cafeteria for something light.

With nothing else to do, he returned to the dormitory.

After turning on his computer, he habitually went to Nine Provinces Number One Group to read the chat records. It had become a good way for him to pass the time every day.

Without realizing it, he had already been in this group for more than ten days.

During those ten-odd days of lurking, he had seen that most of the people in the group talked about exploring this or that secret realm and how much they had gained. Or about evil ghosts and demons appearing somewhere, to be either subdued or slain.

They made it all sound real. Song Shuhang thought that if he copied these contents down and polished them a little, he could post them online as an immortal-cultivation novel and earn manuscript fees.

Over the course of ten days, Song Shuhang had also gotten to know several figures in the group.

For example, the group owner, True Lord Yellow Mountain, who rarely showed himself.

Then there were the two administrators who had not appeared at all since he joined: True Lord Rain Moon of the Great Luo Sect and Venerable Seven Cultivations.

The frequently online "information broker" Northern River's Loose Cultivator, Mad Saber Three Waves, who was exceptionally skilled at courting death, Su Clan's Seven, whose every other word was about fighting, and Medicine Master, who treasured words like gold.

There was also Wandering Monk Profound Principle, who had always lurked. Even when he appeared, he only posted emoticons and punctuation marks. Apparently, this eminent monk was cultivating Mouth-Sealing Zen. Not only could he not speak, he could not even type; at most, he could send an emoticon.

Lastly, there was Soft Feather of Spirit Butterfly Island, whose words were perfectly normal despite this somewhat chuuni group. Her number differed from Song Shuhang's by only one digit. Thanks to her, Shuhang had gotten the chance to enter this Nine Provinces Number One Group.

All this information had come from the enthusiastic Northern River's Loose Cultivator introducing the other group members to Soft Feather of Spirit Butterfly Island.

When he opened Nine Provinces Number One Group today, the first thing he saw was a message from Medicine Master.

A rare sight—the normally tight-lipped Medicine Master had opened his golden mouth. "I improved a basic pill formula."

That was a sentence of nine characters, including punctuation. Since joining the group, Song Shuhang had never seen Medicine Master send such a long message. Naturally, he continued reading with great curiosity.

Medicine Master's message had been sent in the early hours of the morning.

"Simplified Body Tempering Liquid formula: three liang of Ginseng, four liang and three qian of Goji Berry; one liang of Morning Dew Mystic Herb; three liang of Yang-Rising Stone, one liang and three qian of Daughter's Fragrance... one liang of fresh Overlord Branch, four liang of sliced Nine-Yang Scarlet Flame Bamboo..."

There were forty-five medicinal ingredients in all. Some, such as Ginseng and Goji Berry, were rather familiar. Others, such as Yang-Rising Stone, were obscure. And then there were things he had never even heard of, like Morning Dew Mystic Herb, fresh Overlord Branch, and Nine-Yang Scarlet Flame Bamboo.

"Add them to the pill furnace one after another according to the proportions in the formula, then smother-burn for about five minutes. Add the next ingredient and continue smother-burning for around five minutes. Mind the heat! Repeat this cycle until the medicinal liquid becomes a paste. The finished Body Tempering Liquid is black, transparent, and has a sharp smell."

Simple and easy to understand!

Shuhang recognized few of the forty-odd medicinal names, so he curiously looked them up online.

Thirty of the ingredients in the formula were ordinary traditional Chinese medicinal herbs, all used to replenish Blood Qi and the like.

But the other fifteen, such as Morning Dew Mystic Herb, Overlord Branch, and Scarlet Flame Bamboo, were things he had never heard of. Could they be inventions that this "Medicine Master" and the others in the group had fantasized up?

"These guys are sick deep in the bone marrow. They even came up with a prescription. Surely no one is actually going to follow it, make that medicinal paste, and swallow it?" Song Shuhang thought to himself.

He was a little worried. After all, food could be eaten recklessly, but medicine could not be taken recklessly!

Taking medicine at random could kill someone, right? Should he try to persuade these chuuni group members? After all, he had been watching from the sidelines for more than ten days now.

If someone in the group took medicine randomly and died, he would feel a little unable to bear it.

He continued reading down the chat records, and sure enough, someone had already gone to refine medicine according to the formula!

It was unexpectedly the girl from Spirit Butterfly Island, Soft Feather, who seemed the most normal in the group. The time was around two in the morning.

Soft Feather of Spirit Butterfly Island: "Compared to the old version of the Body Tempering Liquid, it uses far fewer medicinal ingredients that have already become scarce, and the refining process has been simplified enormously. Senior Medicine Master, what degree should the heat be controlled to? I just tried it, but it failed halfway through. Also, how much weaker is the medicinal effect compared to before?"

"Effect 2:1," Medicine Master said.

The medicinal effect was only half as strong as before, after all, since many precious ingredients had been removed. But being able to prepare Body Tempering Liquid from such ordinary, commonplace medicinal materials was still a huge bargain no matter how one looked at it.

"Figure out the heat and exact smother-burning time yourself. Can't explain it." Medicine Master once again rarely sent a long message. Only when it concerned pill refining could he grit his teeth and type a few more words. "Also, if your Fire-Control Art is not good, I recommend using a Fire-Control Treasure."

"Thank you, Senior. I'll go try again." Soft Feather of Spirit Butterfly Island sent a smiling face and went back to lurking.

Soft Feather of Spirit Butterfly Island's final message had been at 2:13 in the morning. If she had gone to refine pills afterward, then calculating the time, she should already have refined several batches by now?

Someone could die, right? Being a bunch of chuuni patients was already cute enough, but if they took the wrong medicine too, wouldn't they become super-duper adorable? Maybe they could have been saved before, but after taking that medicine, they would be beyond saving altogether, wouldn't they?!

At last, his conscience could not bear it. He could not resist typing into the chat box: "Medicine can't be taken randomly!"

Just as he was about to press Enter and send his first message in the group... the chat window shook.

A large smiling face popped up in the group chat.

It was Venerable Seven Cultivations, the administrator who had not shown himself at all since Song Shuhang joined the group. "The formula is very good. I just tested seven furnaces at once, and all of them succeeded easily. The success rate is extremely high. I took some myself; the medicinal effect is about half that of the old Body Tempering Liquid, perhaps a little more. Yet the formula's cost is ten times lower than the old version. Though it is only the lowest-grade Body Tempering Liquid, with the spiritual energy of heaven and earth growing increasingly thin and precious medicinal materials becoming ever scarcer, it is truly a fine thing. Medicine Master, keep up the good work. If you can improve formulas above Third-Grade, that will truly be merit beyond measure."

"Supplement: Most importantly, the difficulty of the refining method has been greatly lowered. It can even be handed over to medicine-refining apprentices."

Venerable Seven Cultivations was a famous senior in the group, and his strength was even a shade greater than True Lord Yellow Mountain's. He was also deeply accomplished in pill refinement and could be called the authority on pill refining in this group. Naturally, his praise greatly encouraged the junior Medicine Master.

"Thank you, Senior. I'll work hard!" Medicine Master excitedly typed out a sentence of more than six characters, and he did so very quickly.

Song Shuhang's mouth began to twitch. Someone had actually already refined and consumed that "Body Tempering Liquid"?