Great Medicine and Medicine Planters

Hua Wen and Hua Wu were two great heroes. Many years ago, they had earned the title of the "Lingshui Twin Heroes." Likewise, they were Medicine Planters.

Relying on the Jade Sword True Canon they had obtained by chance, they had raised and free-ranged no fewer than dozens, if not a hundred, Great Medicines. They could be called professional Medicine Planters.

They had witnessed far too many "Medicine Persons" learn the truth, then fall into confusion, pain, remorse, rage, fear, and despair—begging endlessly, only to still be reduced to medicinal broth. It gave them the exhilarating feeling of controlling everything.

Yes, even though Great Medicines were people, in their eyes, they were like herbs growing in a field. They could only let themselves be plucked and harvested, utterly powerless.

They even delighted in admiring the despair on the Great Medicines' faces. The more intense a Great Medicine's emotions, the richer the medicinal broth simmered from them, and the better its effects.

This was the first time—the first time a Great Medicine had made them feel threatened, even giving them the illusion that the Great Medicine before them was about to bite.

This was far too extreme.

The madmen of the Thunder Duke and Old Mother Sect killed whenever they pleased?

What drew their attention even more was this Great Medicine's swordsmanship.

This was clearly the "Jade Sword Finger" from the Jade Sword True Canon. Why was its power so great?

Yes, that penetrating force was even stronger than theirs.

If they had not noticed traces of this Great Medicine long ago, and if, when sensing him with "Jade Sword Distant Fragrance," they had not known that he had truly been a fledgling with no true qi in his body at the time, they would have thought he was an Old Devil pretending to be young.

An Old Devil who had consumed more Great Medicine than they had, and more ruthlessly at that.

The two brothers exchanged a glance and immediately understood each other's intentions.

This Great Medicine carried a secret.

Though that Jade Sword Finger used the same technique as theirs, the Sword Qi it fired carried a white gleam, markedly different from theirs.

That small difference was the key to the formidable power of his Jade Sword Finger.

If they obtained that secret, their strength would likely rise by more than one floor.

Yes, this Great Medicine had cultivated for only a few months, yet had reached such a level. One could see just how astonishing that secret was.

He must have encountered some fortuitous opportunity to become like this. They had to investigate that secret thoroughly.

Hua Wen and Hua Wu had roamed the martial world for many years. Aside from the Jade Sword True Canon, they possessed many other methods. They believed that even if this Great Medicine was vicious, they could still keep the situation under control.

They planned to approach this Great Medicine as senior friends and coax the secret out of him.

Five Thunder Listening disciples of the Thunder Duke and Old Mother Sect had died. Apart from the rumbling thunder, the wilderness fell silent once more.

The caravan members' gazes toward Duan Yun had long since changed, gaining an untold measure of awe and fear.

Earlier, the three caravan members had seen that Duan Yun was rather young and carried a cheap sword. They had assumed he was a rookie fresh out of the gate, calling him "young hero" merely out of a merchant's easygoing politeness. Who could have expected him to be this formidable?

With a flick of his fingers, the Sword Qi he shot out had slain five freaks with flutes stuck in their heads, and he had not even blinked.

What kind of monster was this?

Forget them—even the two Medicine Planters, Hua Wen and Hua Wu, were not taking this lightly.

At that moment, Duan Yun walked over and began searching the corpses.

The last time he had wiped out the Black Bear Gang, his greatest regret had been that he had been too nervous to search the corpses, which was why he was so poor.

Naturally, he could not forget this time.

To be honest, searching corpses was rather thrilling, especially when these corpses clearly did not belong to good people.

Seeing the black holes bored deep into the corpses' heads and the slender iron flutes inserted into them, Duan Yun felt as if he were searching monsters.

The first Thunder Crazies had taken forever to kill, likely because their heads had already adapted to such piercing wounds.

This world truly contained every strange thing under heaven.

The more Duan Yun searched, the uglier his expression became, because these Thunder Listening fellows were dirt poor.

Apart from their red robes and a few dark-golden metal sheets, they did not even have a single copper coin on them.

Do you people not pay when you eat?

In truth, this group really did not pay for meals. With the iron flutes stuck atop their heads as their mark, few people dared ask them for money.

The Thunder Crazies of the Thunder Duke and Old Mother Sect could be called one of the most troublesome sorts of people in the martial world. Their entire sect was also terrifyingly mysterious.

Even Hua Wen and Hua Wu, two great heroes of established renown, would only act against them when forced to. This was why they found it so extreme that Duan Yun had casually killed several madmen from the Thunder Duke and Old Mother Sect.

Seeing that the haul was poor, Duan Yun wanted to yank the iron flutes from their heads. They were metal, after all, so they ought to fetch some money.

After tugging twice, however, he discovered that the things seemed embedded in their skulls. They would not come out.

At that moment, Hua Wen walked over and said, "Young hero, surely you do not intend to pull out these iron flutes and keep them as collectibles?"

Duan Yun nodded. "Senior, would that be inappropriate?"

Hua Wen shook his head. "Though your skills are formidable, young hero, I still advise you not to do so. The Thunder Duke and Old Mother Sect is unfathomably mysterious. Carrying these things may bring disaster upon you."

Having received the warning, Duan Yun stopped trying to pull them out and promptly thanked him. "Thank you for your guidance, Senior."

These two middle-aged uncles had kindly warned him before, and now they had given him professional advice. Added to the fact that they truly possessed the air of wandering heroes, Duan Yun had formed quite a favorable impression of them.

By then, Hua Wu had piled the corpses together. With a bold look on his face, he said, "I say we burn them and be done with it. No one else saw anything here. Even if the madmen of the Thunder Duke and Old Mother Sect want to go mad and seek revenge, they will have no trail to follow."

"Besides, if they come, we'll deal with them then."

At that moment, Hua Wu's heroic aura became even more apparent, making Duan Yun think even more highly of him.

He had no idea this was an encounter between a Great Medicine and Medicine Planters.

With seniors to show him the way, everything became much easier.

Before long, the pile of corpses was set ablaze and reduced to ashes.

The caravan members had already returned, their gazes upon the three of them filled with reverence.

Some even wanted to leave with their goods, unwilling to be dragged into this trouble, yet they did not quite dare.

Duan Yun soon began conversing with Hua Wen and Hua Wu.

In Duan Yun's eyes, these two senior uncles were bold and forthright, witty in speech, and knowledgeable. They were rare wandering heroes indeed.

It was also from the mouths of the two middle-aged uncles, Hua Wen and Hua Wu, that Duan Yun learned of the origins of the Thunder Duke and Old Mother Sect.

The Thunder Duke and Old Mother Sect was an exceptionally mysterious and heretical sect of the martial world. Everyone in the sect worshipped the Thunder Lord and Mother in the heavens.

The sect's members drilled many holes into their own skulls, then inserted tiny flutes forged from Black Mystic Iron into those holes.

They did this in order to "listen to thunder."

They believed that the Thunder Lord and Mother dwelled in the heavens and would impart divine arts on thunderous days. It was said that many within the Thunder Duke and Old Mother Sect had truly undergone sudden enlightenment while listening to thunder, cultivating formidable thunder arts.

That skinny, monkey-like Thunder Crazies just now had likely attained enlightenment, which was why he had suddenly gone mad and injured people.

As for the dark-golden metal sheets Duan Yun had found while searching the corpses, they were said to be Divine Iron that fell from the sky on thunderous days. The people of the Thunder Duke and Old Mother Sect called them "Mother's Divine Iron," claiming they recorded the earth-shattering secrets and supreme cultivation arts of the Thunder Lord and Mother.

Hearing this, Duan Yun asked in confusion, "Divine Iron really falls from the sky?"

Hua Wen nodded. "Those Thunder Crazies constantly chase after the sound of thunder. Every now and then, they do encounter strange iron falling from the heavens. I was fortunate enough to see it once myself. I thought golden leaves were raining from the sky."

Duan Yun took out a metal sheet and found that it really did resemble a golden leaf somewhat.

Unable to resist, he examined it by the firelight and discovered several incomprehensible symbols and words on it.

Did this thing truly fall from the sky?

At that moment, his worldview collapsed another notch.

Was this really a goddamn martial arts world?