Metamorphosis, Shennong Tastes a Hundred Herbs

Evening fell.

Only then did Liang Qisheng cautiously emerge from the mountain path.

He did not linger but hurried straight home in one breath.

Sitting on the ground, he gasped heavily for air.

This time, he was utterly exhausted to the point of collapse. Liang Qisheng was so drained that it took him a long while to collect himself.

The dangers of a herb gatherer came not only from the natural environment but also from the threats of snakes and wild beasts.

More importantly, however, there were the venomous hearts of men.

After a moment, Liang Qisheng steadied his breathing and only then felt the sharper pain in his chest.

He looked down to see the healed wound had burst open again, staining his chest red with blood.

It was because he had sensed danger and desperately rushed back from the deep mountains, neglecting to tend to the wound.

"Fortunately, my practice of the Black Tiger Tiger Fist has borne fruit—the flesh and skin contract on their own, healing the wound and reducing blood loss. The danger isn't great."

"...In two or three days, it should be mostly healed."

Though the pain in his chest kept pounding against his mind, Liang Qisheng did not take it too seriously.

A martial artist tempers his body and hones himself; it had long become a habit. Why would he care about such a minor thing?

Once the blood stopped flowing, the wound would slowly mend on its own.

So he simply closed his eyes and rested for a while.

When the rise and fall of his chest gradually calmed and he was no longer so fatigued, Liang Qisheng took out the yellowed, bloodstained Herb Gathering Sutra from his medicine basket.

When he had entered the mountains, he never expected to gain merit points so quickly.

Though they came from the fellow trade of herb gatherers like Big Head Li, Liang Qisheng did not care at all.

According to the data prompt, merit points could transform this Herb Gathering Sutra, stirring a urge within him to investigate.

The Black Tiger Fist had given him a basic means of self-defense, but mastering it in a short time was no easy task.

He also wanted to try what a non-combat, refinable item like the Herb Gathering Sutra might bring.

The prerequisite was that the points spent would not be too many.

This was also to test the system and the limits of point allocation.

The deep mountains were fraught with danger, unsuitable for research. Now that he was back home with nothing else to do, he had more time to explore.

"...Just add it directly! Let's see how many merit points it needs in total!"

"If the required points are too many, I'll give up for now. After all, improving my martial strength is more important right now."

"If the points are few, the deep mountains are full of herbs. Knowing their properties well would greatly benefit my practice of the Black Tiger Fist. I could start trying to prepare medicinal baths to temper my bones and sinews..."

As Liang Qisheng focused his will, the "+" sign behind the Herb Gathering Sutra began to flicker directly.

He tapped it once, and the "+" sign vanished without a trace.

Slumped there, Liang Qisheng suddenly felt an even greater torrent rush straight into his mind.

His head spun, and a tremendous dizziness struck him, making his body sway and unsteady as he sat.

But Liang Qisheng knew very well that this was a critical moment. Naturally, he could not afford to faint. Forcing himself to endure the vertigo, he concentrated his will.

In his mind, Liang Qisheng perceived the figures of old men walking through desolate mountains, stopping from time to time to examine the information on a medicinal herb.

"Hemostatic Grass, three years old, can quickly stop bleeding..."

"Cooling Grass, five years old, can eliminate internal heat, soothe agitation, and remove stagnation..."

Along with the old man stopping again and again, like Shennong tasting a hundred herbs, the memories flipped.

The clear information on each herb was directly imprinted into his mind.

It seemed to be a single old man, but in truth, it felt like a legacy passed down through generations.

The voices and figures of these herb-gathering elders were all different. They passed the torch, dedicating their entire lives to these mountains and forests, yet also forging their own legends.

In the end, it all condensed into the essence of this Herb Gathering Sutra.

After a moment, the flow of information ceased.

Liang Qisheng gasped for air, looking at the progress of the Herb Gathering Sutra on the data panel.

Fifty-seven percent.

With a single point added, the progress had surpassed half.

It seemed that the consumption for knowledge-based upgrades was far more cost-effective than he had imagined, nowhere near as resource-draining as martial arts.

Liang Qisheng considered it for a moment. This input-output ratio was still very worthwhile.

After all, a mere two points wouldn't buy a loss or a rip-off.

This tiny amount of points had a negligible effect on his martial arts progress, but it allowed him to master a very important piece of experience.

Having just come into a windfall, Liang Qisheng was at his most "wealthy" moment.

Looking at his still ample merit points, he didn't hesitate and clicked to add another point.

One merit point...

After only two clicks total, the Herb Gathering Sutra in Liang Qisheng's hand was burned by an invisible flame, turning directly to ash.

But his brain felt as if someone had stabbed it with a long needle and stirred it violently.

A torrent slammed fiercely into his mind, causing blood vessels to burst in his eyes and his head to spin dizzily.

More information merged into his mind.

Countless voices converged in his memory, flowing rapidly like a kaleidoscope or a fleeting panorama, forming raw memories stored in his brain.

It took a full half hour before the information finally subsided.

Only then did Liang Qisheng's eyes snap wide open, and he gasped for air heavily.

After a moment, his chest rose and fell as he gradually calmed down.

A total of two merit points, knowledge-type enhancement.

All of it was experience, an enlightenment poured directly into his memory.

This was far more cost-effective than a martial arts transformation.

Indeed, improving Black Tiger Fist involved the transformation of the entire body's muscles, bones, and flesh, even cellular genes and human evolution.

One move affects the whole body; the resources consumed were certainly not comparable to the knowledge-type information infusion of the Herb Gathering Sutra.

The Herb Gathering Sutra had turned to dust, but in his mind, the book title in the original data had changed to Hundred Herb Scripture.

Over such a long time, generation after generation of herb gatherers had passed down their knowledge, and the information on various medicinal stones and herbs contained within was vast.

And through this generational inheritance, with a thorough understanding of pharmacology, the information on every herb was imprinted in his mind, taking a great deal of time.

The data in his mind appeared again, and the information on it had changed once more.

"Name: Liang Qisheng Realm: Skin Tempering Peak. Lifespan: 65 and a half years. Technique: Black Tiger Fist 27%(+) Auxiliary: Hundred Herb Scripture! Merit: Thirteen points!"

"Survey the mountains, find a path underfoot, emulate Shennong, taste all herbs, and from this day become a master herb gatherer!"

The massive infusion of information on herbs, stones, and pharmacology this time benefited Liang Qisheng immensely, no less than a direct enlightenment.

This wasn't about techniques, but a system integrating human meridians with medicinal stones and herbs.

If he had tried to read the Herb Gathering Sutra on his own, mastering all the herbs within would have taken at least a dozen years.

Unexpectedly, with just two points added, enlightenment and experience replication occurred.

Not only did he fully grasp all the herb information, but the Herb Gathering Sutra itself transformed, inheriting a vast amount of medical and pharmacological knowledge, evolving into the Hundred Herb Scripture.

If the Herb Gathering Sutra was merely a barefoot doctor's manual, a collection of everyday generational experience, then the Hundred Herb Scripture had already been annotated and canonized, taking a step further.

Just as all the herb and medical knowledge within the Hundred Herb Scripture was branded into his mind, the pharmacological systems of those herbs began to change.

"Using Blood Caltrop Grass, Hemostatic Grass, and Muscle Repair Grass, leave no scars, smooth as new, change every three days, shed skin and heal..."

When Liang Qisheng thought of the wounds on his body, he looked down.

Based on the size of the wound, the needed herbs and the appropriate symptom variations directly surfaced in his mind.

"Is this mastering the pharmacology of herbs?!"

This discovery surprised him.

Just by memorizing the properties of those herbs, he could now arrange and combine them to create restorative decoctions.

And his insight into the root of the ailment was penetrating.

This was far beyond the level of someone who had merely read the Herb Gathering Sutra; it was clearly the skill of an old pharmacist who had immersed himself in this classic for decades.

"No, it should be said that the student has surpassed the master."

"...After all, the Hundred Herb Scripture, transformed by the enlightenment of merit points, has broken free from the constraints of the Herb Gathering Sutra and begun to evolve its own system!"