Misty Dream

Days passed one by one.

During the day, Li Mo, Wang Pan, Zhang Limin, and Jiang Ming would usually sort and process the various herbs brought back by the gatherers in the rear courtyard, building their knowledge of medicinal properties and principles through practice. The attending physicians and dispensers from the front hall would occasionally come over to offer a few pointers.

After the evening meal, the four had free time of their own.

As the mid-month assessment drew near, Zhang Limin and Jiang Ming stopped fooling around and began seriously memorizing the medicinal properties and principles Doctor Zhang had explained at the start of the month, hoping to pass the assessment.

"Li Mo, how much have you memorized?"

Wang Pan had once again resorted to seeking help in blind panic. Clutching his head, he tried to cram everything by rote, but with little success. So he looked toward Li Mo, as though he would not be afraid if Li Mo were punished alongside him.

Li Mo, who was flipping through the Pharmacopoeia, could not help rubbing his forehead.

"I've only mastered the medicinal properties and principles of four herbs. Of the remaining five, I can probably manage at most one more. There definitely won't be time for the others."

Wang Pan's face immediately lit up with delight.

"I definitely can't memorize the medicinal properties and principles of all nine herbs either. Then I'll memorize five too!"

After saying that, he saw Li Mo still calmly leafing through the Pharmacopoeia, citing sources and examples as proof, drawing connections until everything fit together. He knew Li Mo was being stubborn again.

"Doctor Zhang never tests us on those things anyway. He says he wants us to integrate what we learn, but when has medical knowledge ever had any true end or perfect clarity? Even if you have profound insights into those five herbs, Doctor Zhang won't reward you for it. But if you know nothing about the other four, he'll definitely punish you. You might as well be like the others and get through this first."

Li Mo sighed at that.

"I feel like that would be deceiving myself."

Seeing this, Wang Pan stopped trying to persuade him. He covered his ears again and continued cramming by rote.

Until late into the night.

After the other three had fallen asleep one after another, Li Mo finally put away the many medical books and prepared to extinguish the lamp and sleep. Yet he pursed his lips, then could not resist taking out the book tucked against his chest—the Mystic Box.

Over the past few days, he had found himself unable to resist reading a few pages every night, deeply captivated by its bizarre and fantastical contents.

The Mystic Box recorded many unbelievable tales of strange happenings: Mystic Mountain, hanging upside down and floating in the sky; the Sun Palace above immortal clouds; and Demon Kings wielding all manner of unfathomable powers. They were all myths and legends Li Mo had never heard before, yet the book strangely contained none of the immortal cultivators he had imagined, which left him rather disappointed.

Beyond that,

the book also recorded many mysterious methods for enduring tribulations. It was as though heavenly lightning might descend at any moment, demanding one pour an entire lifetime into resisting it. It was baffling.

Li Mo read until he was utterly lost in the clouds and mist.

After reading the Mystic Box for a while, he heard the night watchman outside.

Dong!

"In this bright world of the living, all is safe and sound."

Only then did Li Mo realize it was already midnight, the third watch. At the same time, faint thunder and rain sounded beyond the window.

Wang Pan, Zhang Limin, and Jiang Ming all slept especially soundly. Not wanting to delay tomorrow's studies, Li Mo hurriedly put away the Mystic Box, extinguished the oil lamp, and climbed into bed. Listening to the occasional thunder, he gradually fell asleep.

That night, Li Mo felt that his dream was unusually long.

He wandered in confusion across an ancient, boundless land. Dark clouds blanketed the sky, endlessly churning. Lightning occasionally flashed, but made no sound. In the instant the lightning streaked across the sky, enormous shadows seemed to glide slowly above the clouds.

As he walked, Li Mo saw a small three-leaved herb lying quietly upon the desolate ground, somewhat abrupt amid the wasteland.

The bewildered Li Mo in the dream instinctively stopped, and a trace of awareness seemed to return to his eyes.

"Pinellia?"

It was precisely one of the herbs Doctor Zhang had previously taught him to identify.

Thus, dream-Li Mo bent down, seemingly intending to pull up the herb and take it away.

"One pinellia plant could sell for at least ten copper coins at the pharmacy."

Yet the instant his hands touched the three-leaved grass, his fingers passed right through it. It seemed to be nothing more than an illusion. As the herb gradually vanished, something extra appeared in his mind.

After a brief moment of confusion, dream-Li Mo returned to his dazed, vacant state.

So he lingered there for a while, but never saw any trace of pinellia again. Then he continued onward.

But since he was dreaming, he did not find this strange at all and accepted it calmly. Soon, however, he spotted another herb: Qiang Qing, also known as the Herb of Longevity. This was likewise an herb Doctor Zhang had taught him to identify half a month ago.

Li Mo tried to take it away again.

But the instant his hand touched the herb, this Qiang Qing vanished just as the pinellia had before.

And so it went.

Li Mo discovered more than a dozen kinds of herbs in succession, yet failed to take away any of them. Even in his confusion, he could not help feeling annoyed.

Suddenly.

The clouds parted and sunlight broke through. A towering upside-down immortal mountain appeared, reaching from earth to sky. It looked as though it had been inverted, and three enormous characters stood clearly upon it, wreathed in countless bolts of lightning.

The bewildered Li Mo instinctively raised his head.

"Mystic Peak."

A clap of thunder burst forth, and sound entered the dream.

Li Mo had no time to look further. His body went numb, and with a violent jolt, he sat upright in bed. The sound of thunder and rain outside the window reached his ears.

"Li Mo, hurry up and get out of bed! We're going to be late!"

Wang Pan, on the lower bunk, urged Li Mo while getting dressed.

Zhang Limin and Jiang Ming had already run out of the room. Only then did Li Mo realize it was broad daylight outside. He immediately stopped dwelling on it, threw on his clothes in a few quick movements, and ran to the rear courtyard.

A moment later.

Doctor Zhang arrived, ruler in hand.

"The day's plan begins in the morning. Keep your clothes neat and your conduct proper."

With that, Doctor Zhang fiercely struck Li Mo and Wang Pan once each across the palm. Both immediately bared their teeth in pain, and this was merely a light rebuke and minor punishment.

Thinking of how they would be struck several times after the mid-month assessment, the two exchanged a look and were instantly filled with despair.

Doctor Zhang then carefully explained the herbs the four needed to process that day before slowly leaving the rear courtyard for the front hall.

After rubbing their hands, Li Mo and Wang Pan carried over little stools and sat side by side, processing the herbs in the courtyard according to Doctor Zhang's instructions.

At that moment,

Li Mo suddenly discovered that he found the pinellia in his hands incredibly familiar. He already understood its medicinal properties and principles completely.

He could not help freezing.

Then he recalled last night's dream. It was now incomparably clear, nothing like his previous dreams, which he would quickly forget upon waking no matter how hard he tried to recall them.

"This... Mystic Peak. Could it be because of the Mystic Box?"

Li Mo was completely certain that yesterday's strange dream had something to do with the Mystic Box.

He felt both astonished and unsettled, somewhat at a loss, yet faintly excited and expectant as well. He hoped to see those bizarre and fantastical things again.

He barely endured the daytime.

That night.

By the light of the oil lamp, Li Mo read through his medical books. After comparing them briefly, he discovered in delight that the herbal knowledge he had gained in the dream differed little from what the books described. It was as though he had known these things all along, but had never been able to connect them into a whole. Now, it was like enlightenment pouring over his head.

This made him even more excited.

Until late at night.

Wang Pan, Zhang Limin, and Jiang Ming all fell asleep. After putting away the medical books on the table, Li Mo murmured, "With this, only Ze Fen's medicinal properties and principles remain unmastered. There are still two days until the assessment. There's enough time."

At the same time, Li Mo could not help secretly looking forward to entering that dream again.

With that thought, he took out the Mystic Box once more and read its bizarre, fantastical contents.

Now, he gradually understood why the male hunter from that household in Pear Blossom Village had disregarded everything to search for immortal mountains and sacred lands recorded in the book, such as Mystic Peak and the Sun Palace.

Unfortunately, over the next two days, Li Mo failed to enter that miraculous dream again.

He felt somewhat frustrated, but could only hurry to study and memorize Ze Fen's medicinal properties and principles while analyzing why he could not enter that miraculous dream again.

"Perhaps it has to do with timing. Maybe I can only enter that dream after a certain interval?"

"Perhaps it has to do with the Mystic Box. As the saying goes, what one thinks of by day, one dreams of by night. Maybe I haven't associated enough with it?"

"Perhaps it has to do with thunderstorms. Many things recorded in the Mystic Box seem connected to lightning tribulations?"

"Perhaps it's because I haven't learned any new knowledge and therefore can't trigger the dream..."

Li Mo came up with many guesses in his heart.

He planned to test them one by one over the coming days. But for now, the most important thing was passing the mid-month assessment. He did not want to be beaten again.

Early that morning.

Doctor Zhang held his ruler and began the mid-month assessment for the four of them.

Jiang Ming went first.

Regarding the medicinal properties and principles of the nine herbs they had learned at the start of the month, he answered Doctor Zhang's questions one by one, reciting exactly what Doctor Zhang had taught them half a month earlier. He answered smoothly, with only a slight omission when asked about Ze Fen's dietary restrictions. Doctor Zhang reminded him of it in the end, sparing him the ruler.

"Copy it ten times as punishment."

"Yes."

Wang Pan, waiting nearby, looked extremely grim.

He whispered to Li Mo, "It's over, it's over. Why are there so many questions this time? He'll definitely hit us more than four times."

Next came Zhang Limin.

He stumbled twice in his answers. Doctor Zhang snorted and drew out his ruler, fiercely striking him twice. Zhang Limin's eyes immediately reddened as he continued to sniffle.

After that came Wang Pan.

Facing Doctor Zhang's questions, the chubby boy stumbled seven times, answered three questions incorrectly, and forgot two answers. Doctor Zhang fiercely struck him more than ten times with the ruler. At first, Wang Pan could force himself to endure it, but after the third strike, he truly could not bear it any longer. His palm struggled continuously, tears pouring down like rain as he wailed in the rear courtyard.

The commotion here quickly drew over people from the front hall. They kept pointing and whispering, unable to stop themselves from laughing aloud.

Finally, Doctor Zhang looked at Li Mo.

Though Li Mo was trembling with fear, he answered Doctor Zhang's questions smoothly this time. Zhang Limin, Jiang Ming, and Wang Pan all looked astonished.

Even those who had come to watch the excitement left the rear courtyard one after another in disappointment.

Doctor Zhang, ruler in hand, gradually brightened.

As his questions became more frequent and increasingly difficult, Li Mo was still able to offer his own unique insights. He even provided upper, middle, and lower strategies for the pathology of certain special cases. Doctor Zhang repeatedly stroked his beard and nodded slightly.

"Not bad, not bad."

After praising Li Mo, Doctor Zhang gave the four instructions regarding the herbs they needed to process that day, then went to the front hall.

Only after Doctor Zhang had left did Wang Pan look at Li Mo with a wronged expression.

"Li Mo, when did you memorize everything?"

Li Mo did not know how to explain it, so he muddled through. "I just felt that the medicinal properties and principles of these herbs were very similar to some herbs we learned before. I was afraid of being struck with the ruler, so I compared them before and after and combined what I knew to offer a few thoughts. I barely managed to bluff my way through."

Hearing that, Wang Pan could not help looking again at his red, swollen little fleshy hand. Amid the pile of herbs, he began crying again.

"My life is so bitter, boohoo."

In the front hall.

Old Man Feng, one of Jimin Hall's attending physicians, noticed Doctor Zhang's excellent mood. Since Doctor Zhang was not seeing patients at the moment, Old Man Feng approached with a smile to chat. "That Li Mo finally had his head opened up?"

"Indeed."

After pouring himself a cup of tea, Doctor Zhang beamed.

"I originally thought that although Li Mo's comprehension was average, he did everything methodically, never rushed, and was never careless. I intended to cultivate him for another two years, allowing him to build up steadily before bursting forth, then teach him some true methods. Perhaps he might one day become an attending physician. Yet who would have thought that this boy was outwardly dull but inwardly gifted? In barely over two years, he can already weave together all kinds of medicinal principles. His future achievements... I fear they may even surpass this old man's."

Seeing Doctor Zhang praise him so highly, Old Man Feng could not help showing astonishment as well.

Having practiced medicine all their lives, the two naturally knew who was suited to medicine and who was not.

Doctor Zhang had judged Li Mo to be outwardly dull but inwardly gifted, a man of great talent. Old Man Feng could not help marveling that even he had misjudged him.