Hundred Herbs Hall

Biodata

Feature	Value
Name	Hundred Herbs Hall
Original Name	百草堂
Type	Medicine business and established local power 2 20 47
Location	Cloudcang Town, with a herb-purchasing shop at the Mountain Market 4 29
Occupation/Role	Growing and gathering medicinal herbs, refining medicines, and selling pills 38
Leadership	Three current managers, with multiple stewards beneath them 38
History	An establishment with a foundation spanning two hundred years 10 38
First Appearance	Mentioned as a possible route into martial training 2; first visited by Su Yan 4

Background

Hundred Herbs Hall is one of Cloudcang Town’s long-established powers. Its ability to process treasure plants into more valuable medicines gives it an advantage over buyers who can only use those plants in their original form 4 47.

The Hall also offers a difficult route into martial arts for poor people: apprentices and odd-job workers may earn an opportunity to learn after three to five years of service. Song Qi himself rose from poverty after a Hall shopkeeper selected him from a crowd of refugees 2 11.

By the time Su Yan becomes involved with the Hall, its three current managers have installed their own personnel throughout the business. Veterans retained from the former head manager’s time remain useful, but face competition over authority and profits 38.

Organization and Personnel

The Hall’s three principal business branches are herb cultivation and gathering, medicine refining, and pill sales. These branches and other operations fall under the three managers, supported by subordinate stewards 38.

Person or Position	Responsibilities and Position
Three current managers	Control the major business branches and maintain their own groups of staff 38.
Song Qi	Steward managing the Mountain Market shop during Su Yan’s early visits; a veteran associated with the former head manager 4 12 38.
Xu Zhongdao	Chief steward of the pill chamber. Primarily refines upper-grade first-tier and second-tier medicines 38.
Pill chamber’s second steward	Handles most of the chamber’s day-to-day management despite Xu’s senior title 38.
Bai Shan	Mountain Market assistant who receives herbs, handles payments, and arranges Su Yan’s meetings with Song Qi 4 10.
Song Qi’s successor	Unnamed manager appointed after Song completes his handover; continues dealing with Su Yan after the assistants explain his connection to the shop 50.
Apprentices and assistants	Cut and portion medicinal herbs and attend to customers at the town shop 29.
Guards	Escort the victims’ bodies back to town after the Medicine Mountain raid 47.

Internal Politics

• Competition over positions: Some insiders obstruct Song Qi’s recovery because his return would occupy a position and reduce the profits available to others 38.
• Veterans and newer staff: Song Qi and Xu Zhongdao belong to the older personnel retained under the current management 38.
• Restricted instruction: The Hall’s martial arts are difficult to pass on to outsiders. Its rules also prevent Xu from directly teaching Su Yan the Hall’s alchemy, although Su Yan can assist and learn through observation 37 48.

Locations and Facilities

Cloudcang Town Shop

• Stands in the town’s busiest district and occupies the space of three to five storefronts 29.
• Contains extensive medicine cabinets, with apprentices processing herbs and assistants serving customers 29.
• Its wooden sign is said to bear the founder’s inscription and to have survived two hundred years without decaying, while retaining a faint medicinal fragrance 29.
• Primarily serves wealthy or well-to-do households; poor families generally seek treatment elsewhere unless they have no alternative 20.

Mountain Market Shop

• Purchases medicinal herbs rather than selling medicine, reflecting the limited medical retail available at the Mountain Market 20.
• Uses a cream-colored cloth sign marked “Hundred Herbs,” surrounded by trailing vine patterns 4.
• Has a main room, an inner hall used for private meetings, and a rear courtyard where Song Qi tests Su Yan’s training 4 11 36.
• Remains a place the Little Mountain Society’s men hesitate to enter by force, even when Song Qi is absent 37.

Medicine Mountain

• A medicinal-herb property belonging to the Hall 47.
• Is raided shortly before the coming mountain hunt; the returned victims show severe poisoning and blade wounds 47.

Trade and Medical Expertise

Herb Purchasing

The Hall emphasizes quality and medicinal potency when valuing herbs. Bai Shan claims that good-quality stock will not be deliberately undervalued, while Song Qi claims no other buyer offers more for treasure plants 4 10.

Material	Documented Valuation or Transaction
Live viper	Su Yan estimates that a large living specimen could fetch two to three hundred copper coins 3.
Yinred root	Song offers twelve liang of silver per jin for Su Yan’s well-preserved specimen, citing an ingredient shortage 4.
Aged fo-ti	Bai Shan estimates five taels for roots with roughly thirteen years of medicinal potency 10.
Flameflesh lingzhi	Su Yan estimates that a large specimen would fetch ten to twenty taels because it can be used in several medicines 32.
Bamboo Jade Tooth and other herbs	Su Yan sells a combined harvest for thirty taels of fine silver under the new Mountain Market manager 50.

Medicine Preparation

• Medicine preparation is the Hall’s main business, supported by substantial medical expertise 20.
• Xu specializes in higher-grade medicines and can tailor treatments to an individual’s physique, cultivation needs, absorption, and pain tolerance 38 39.
• First-tier medicine preparation relies on processing and combining ingredients; higher-tier pill refinement requires True Essence, with still higher methods involving beast-spirit true intent 40.
• The Hall’s resources do not make every refinement routine: Xu treats the low-grade second-tier Sinew-Mending Meridian-Continuing Pill as a demanding undertaking requiring careful preparation 39 48.

Martial Heritage

• The Hall possesses its own martial arts, subject to restrictions on transmission 37.
• Its associated beast-spirit martial true intent takes the form of an azure goat, distinct from Golden Ape Martial Hall’s golden ape and the Little Mountain Society’s black wolf 46.

Notable Medicines and Texts

Medicine or Text	Function and Documented Use
Qi-Blood Pills	Martial-training supplements praised by Gao Zheng 13.
Redskin Powder	Potent first-tier skin-refining medicine used in hot-water baths followed by stance practice. Su Yan buys three bottles for thirty taels, enough for nine baths 29.
Poison-Skin Powder	Xu’s stronger, individualized version of Redskin Powder for Su Yan; includes poisonous ingredients such as black chicken vine, wolf-tongue grass, and yinred root 38.
Sinew-Mending Meridian-Continuing Pill	Low-grade second-tier medicine intended to repair Song Qi’s injured sinews and meridians. Xu’s successful refinement produces three pills 39 48.
Hundred Herbs Diagram	Illustrated introductory herb guide gifted to Su Yan by Song Qi. Records plant descriptions and medicinal effects, including a brief entry linking Velvetfire Scorpion to the Body-Tempering Blaze Pill 4 5 27.

Relationships

• Su Yan — Recurring herb supplier and medicine buyer. His association develops into personal mentorship from Song Qi and Xu Zhongdao, rather than documented membership in the Hall 4 29 38 48.
• Golden Ape Martial Hall — Friendly establishment. Song Qi’s recommendation allows Su Yan to bypass preliminary conditioning and begin as an outer disciple 11 12.
• Little Mountain Society — Commercial and political rival. Its members attempt to prevent Song Qi from obtaining recovery ingredients and pressure Su Yan to abandon him 11 36 38.
• Gu Changfeng — Song Qi’s personal enemy; his family opposes Song’s recovery and retaliates against Su Yan for supporting him 36 38 39.
• Xu Guan — Chief constable who investigates the Medicine Mountain raid and accompanies the response to the wider bandit threat 47 49.

Story Role / Major Arcs

Su Yan’s First Connection

Su Yan first visits the Mountain Market shop with yinred root and ordinary medicinal herbs. Song Qi purchases the harvest and gives him the Hundred Herbs Diagram, hoping to see whether he can find another treasure plant. Su Yan recognizes the gift as an opportunity to establish a useful trading connection 4 5.

His repeated valuable harvests attract Song’s attention. After testing his herb knowledge and physique, Song offers a recommendation to Golden Ape Martial Hall while asking him to search for blood tendon flowers. Song explicitly describes the search as a private matter, not Hall business 6 10 11.

Blood Tendon Flowers and Protection

When Su Yan brings the flowers to Song Qi, Gu Hong enters the shop and demands that he sell them to the Little Mountain Society instead. Su Yan refuses. Song protects him from Gu Hong’s attack, and Su Yan gives him the flowers as repayment for his guidance rather than accepting payment 36.

Song subsequently introduces Su Yan to Xu Zhongdao, securing another experienced supporter. Xu prepares stronger training medicine, shares practical demonstrations, and grants Su Yan access to books in his private study 38 39 40 41.

Medicine Mountain Raid and Pill Refinement

The raid on Medicine Mountain draws official attention and fears of rising medicine prices. Pang Tianfeng is suspected, but the account initially leaves open whether he committed the attack or another faction acted under his name 47.

Amid the unrest, Xu and Su Yan successfully refine three Sinew-Mending Meridian-Continuing Pills for Song Qi’s recovery. Su Yan gains his first progress in Basic Alchemy and receives one pill as his share. Song subsequently recovers and appears to advance to the Origin Nurturing Realm 48 49.

Change of Mountain Market Manager

After Song Qi completes his handover, the Hall appoints a new manager to the Mountain Market shop. Bai Shan and the other assistants preserve Su Yan’s established connection by explaining his history, allowing his herb trade with the Hall to continue 50.