A Pill Formula

The sun hung high overhead; it was noon.

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

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

Beside him was a bowl of preserved egg congee, which his roommates had brought back for him at noon.

"What good people!" Song Shuhang unhesitatingly handed his roommates a good person card.

After sleeping for who knew how long, he was already so hungry his chest clung to his back. He wolfed down the preserved egg congee in a few bites, then turned on his computer.

As usual, after opening his chat software, he saw the red notification dot beside No. 1 Group of the Nine Provinces, marking the number of unread messages.

Song Shuhang curiously reached out and opened No. 1 Group of the Nine Provinces, wanting to see what those veteran xianxia-loving chuunibyou group members had talked about overnight.

The chat logs from the early morning appeared before his eyes.

Northern River Loose Cultivator's question about the "newcomer," Mad Saber Three Waves' courting death, the amusing senior from Spirit Butterfly Island, and True Monarch Yellow Mountain, who claimed he had cast a divination and learned that he was fated with Song Shuhang.

As he read the chat logs, the images of those people became fuller in Shuhang's mind.

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

From the chat logs, it looked as though not just anyone could join this group. Someone even had to recommend you before you could enter.

Besides, the ages of these veteran xianxia fans in the group seemed rather advanced. Some of them even had daughters.

And from the sound of it, their daughters were no longer young either? By that calculation, they might already be in their forties or fifties. Still being chuunibyou at that age—their daughters really had it hard.

As he scrolled through the group chat logs, Song Shuhang remained in lurker mode, absolutely refusing to speak.

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

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

One day, when he felt the group had become boring, he would leave No. 1 Group of the Nine Provinces.

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 all half-boarders, half-day students. They stayed in the dormitory from Monday through Friday, then went home on weekends. Thus, whenever the weekend came, he was the only one left alone in the dormitory.

Song Shuhang's cold had long since recovered. He only still had a stuffy nose and a slight cough. This was a cold-induced cough, and recovering from it was rather troublesome. If he did not take proper care of himself, he could cough for a month or more.

Saturday was a day off. Shuhang slept until eight before getting up, then went to the cafeteria and ate something light.

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

After turning on his computer, he habitually went to No. 1 Group of the Nine Provinces to read the chat logs. This had become a good way for him to pass the time every day.

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

During those ten-plus days of lurking, he had seen that most people in the group talked about which secret realm they had ventured into and what they had gained. Or perhaps some place where evil ghosts and demons had appeared, to be either subdued or slain.

They spoke as if it were all real. Song Shuhang thought that if he copied these contents down and polished them a little, he could post them online as xianxia novels and earn manuscript fees.

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

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

There were also the two administrators who had not appeared even once since he joined: True Monarch Yuyue of the Daluo Sect and Seven Repairs Venerable.

The frequently online "information broker" Northern River Loose Cultivator, Mad Saber Three Waves, who was exceptionally skilled at courting death, Su Clan's A-Seven, who spoke of nothing but fighting, and Pharmacist, who treasured words like gold.

There was also Wandering Monk Tongxuan, who had been lurking all along and, even when he surfaced, only posted emoticons and punctuation marks. It was said that this eminent monk was practicing the vow of silence. Not only could he not speak, he could not even type; at most, he could send an emoticon.

Finally, there was Feathery of Spirit Butterfly Island, whose speech was perfectly normal even in this somewhat chuunibyou group. Her number differed from Song Shuhang's by only one digit. Thanks to her, Shuhang had gotten the chance to enter No. 1 Group of the Nine Provinces.

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

Today, when he opened No. 1 Group of the Nine Provinces, the first thing he saw was a message from Pharmacist.

Rare indeed—Pharmacist, who treasured words like gold, had opened his golden mouth: "Improved a basic pill formula."

That was a sentence of nine characters including punctuation. Since Song Shuhang had joined the group, he had never seen Pharmacist send such a long message. So he curiously continued reading.

Pharmacist's message had been sent in the early morning.

"Simplified Body Tempering Liquid pill formula: three taels of ginseng, four taels and three qian of goji berries; one tael of Morning Dew Mysterious Grass; three taels of Yangqi Stone, one tael and three qian of Daughter Fragrance... one tael of Fresh Overlord Branch, four taels of sliced Nine Yang Red Flame Bamboo..."

There were forty-five medicinal ingredients in all. Among them were familiar ones such as ginseng and goji berries, obscure ones such as Yangqi Stone, and some he had never even heard of, like Morning Dew Mysterious Grass, Fresh Overlord Branch, and Nine Yang Red Flame Bamboo.

"Add them to the pill furnace one by one according to the formula's proportions, then smolder for roughly five minutes; add the next ingredient and continue smoldering for roughly 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 taste."

Simple and easy to understand!

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

Thirty of the ingredients in the pill formula were ordinary traditional Chinese medicinal herbs, all things for replenishing qi and blood.

But the other fifteen, such as Morning Dew Mysterious Grass, Overlord Branch, and Red Flame Bamboo, were things he had never heard of. Could they have been invented out of thin air by this "Pharmacist" and the others in the group?

"These guys are deeply ill. They've even come up with a medicine formula. Surely no one will actually make it according to the formula and eat that medicinal paste?" Song Shuhang thought to himself.

He was somewhat worried, because food could be eaten carelessly, but medicine could not be drunk carelessly!

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

If someone in the group died from taking medicine at random, he would feel a little unable to bear it.

He continued scrolling down through the chat logs, and sure enough, someone had already gone to refine medicine according to the pill formula!

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

Feathery 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 greatly too. Senior Pharmacist, to what extent should the heat be controlled? I just tried it, but it failed midway. Also, how much weaker is the medicinal effect compared to before?"

"Effect 2:1," Pharmacist said.

The medicinal effect was only half of the old one, after all, since many precious ingredients had been removed. But being able to formulate Body Tempering Liquid from such common, ordinary medicinal ingredients was still an enormous bargain.

"Figure out the heat and exact smoldering time yourself. Can't explain it." Pharmacist once again sent a rare long message. Only when it came to pill refining could he grit his teeth and type a few extra words. "Also, if your Fire Control Technique is poor, I recommend using a Fire Control Magical Treasure."

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

Feathery of Spirit Butterfly Island's last message had been at 2:13 in the morning. If she had gone to refine pills after that, then by now she should have refined several furnaces' worth of medicine, right?

Someone was going to die, wasn't she? They were already an adorably chuunibyou bunch, and if they took the wrong medicine, wouldn't they become super adorably chuunibyou? Maybe they could have still been saved before, but after taking the medicine, they would be beyond saving altogether!

At last, his conscience could not bear it. He could not help typing into the chat box: "Medicine must not be taken at random!"

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

A huge smiling face popped up in the group chat.

It was Seven Repairs Venerable, the administrator who had not surfaced once since Song Shuhang entered the group: "The formula is quite good. I just tried seven furnaces at once, and all of them succeeded easily. The success rate is extremely high. I consumed some myself; the medicinal effect is roughly a little more than half that of the old Body Tempering Liquid. Yet the cost of the formula is ten times lower than the old version. Although it is merely the lowest-grade Body Tempering Liquid, with the spiritual qi of heaven and earth growing thinner by the day and precious medicinal ingredients becoming ever scarcer, this truly is a fine thing. Pharmacist, keep working hard. If you can improve pill formulas of the third grade and above, that would truly be merit beyond measure."

"Supplement: most importantly, the difficulty of the refining method has been greatly reduced. It can even be handed over to Medicine Refining Apprentices to refine."

Seven Repairs Venerable was a famous senior in the group. His strength was even a notch above True Monarch Yellow Mountain's. Furthermore, he possessed profound attainments in pill refining. Within this group, he could be called an authority on the matter, so his praise naturally greatly encouraged the junior Pharmacist.

"Thank you, Senior. I'll work hard!" Pharmacist excitedly typed 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"?