Hundred Herbs Life-Renewing Pill

Jim made a sound somewhere between a sob and a laugh. "So you really were on the rocket the whole time?"

Gao Jian nodded.

The moment he admitted it, everyone felt their vision clear and their hearing return. Even dying here would have been worth it.

If they could figure out which god he was an incarnation of, it would be even more worthwhile.

Ron asked cautiously, "Sir, we noticed strange noises during the early stages of flight, followed by the separation bolts failing to detonate properly, and then the problems with the EUS engine. Were all those things your..."

Gao Jian nodded and said with disgust, "Whoever designed the SLS rocket was an amateur, and utterly irresponsible. They never gave a damn about your lives."

"I wholeheartedly agree with your conclusion, sir," Robert said, his face full of admiration.

"Then are you... Superman, or someone with superpowers like in the movies?" Ron asked cautiously.

"If I get the chance, I'll send my résumé to Hollywood, but now isn't the time." Gao Jian shook his head, then looked at Robert and said:

"Commander, is there really no way to contact the ground? We need to find a way back. At the very least, we need them to figure out how to pick us up."

Robert replied helplessly, "Sir, there really is no way. The spacecraft can't receive any signals from the ground, and we can't transmit anything either."

"Now that's trouble," Gao Jian sighed.

All four astronauts struggled to get up, trying to find equipment aboard the spacecraft that had not completely failed, but every movement was difficult.

"Forget it. Let's leave that for now."

Seeing the state of the four astronauts, Gao Jian thought for a moment, then took a bottle of Wahaha purified water straight out of his storage space and poured out four equal globules. Then, with a pang of anguish, he crushed the pill residue in the empty pill bottle and sprinkled it into them.

The four globules of clear water, each about twenty milliliters in volume and two or three centimeters across, floated toward the four men's lips, wrapped in a shimmering spiritual glow.

The pill was called the Hundred Herbs Life-Renewing Pill. Even in the Immortal Cultivation World, it was an extremely precious sixth-grade healing pill. Never mind mortals—even an ordinary Nascent Soul old monster would experience powerful healing effects after taking it. This tiny amount of residue was enough to bring a mortal back from the brink of death and restore flesh to bare bones.

"This is..." Jim said blankly.

"Don't ask. Drink it." Gao Jian turned away in anguish.

He could not even bear to drink that little bit of pill residue himself.

His founding master had left it to him years ago to save his life. Every time he took some, he used spiritual power to scrape off a tiny piece, like scooping ice cream with a little spoon.

The four men exchanged looks. In the end, Allen opened his mouth first and swallowed the glowing globule, two or three centimeters across, whole.

In theory, any liquid that emitted light without heat had to be radioactive, but all four of them were already walking radiation sources. If this man really wanted to hurt them, he hardly needed to go to such lengths.

Space knew no national borders. Allen trusted this fellow human.

A cooling sensation instantly soaked into his internal organs. For a moment, it felt as though the fresh fragrances of hundreds upon thousands of plants had burst forth at once. This sacred healing pill from the Immortal Cultivation World swiftly flooded his organs, limbs, and every part of his body with abundant spiritual energy.

Although the medicinal effects of the Hundred Herbs Blood-Origin Pill did not include removing radiation, its immense regenerative power was enough to get their hematopoietic stem cells working again. The damaged DNA and other base-pair sequences in their cell nuclei were also rapidly restored.

The four men were still walking radiation sources, but their bodies now regenerated faster than the radiation could destroy them, and the medicinal effects would last in each of them for at least a hundred years.

Someone could even bite off a bit of their flesh, eat it, and gain a longer life.

And all of this came from a tiny amount of pill residue, less than 0.1 milligrams in total.

Never mind radiation-induced illnesses such as leukemia-even if the four astronauts developed more than a dozen kinds of cancer in the future, with cancer cells everywhere from their toes to their brains, they could still live with those tumors for at least sixty years.

Hua Tuo, Lister, Morton, Fleming-they were all mere amateurs.

The other three swallowed theirs one after another and immediately felt the same cooling sensation.

"Close your eyes, cross your legs, and empty your minds. Absorb as much of the medicine's power as you can."

With that, Gao Jian waved one hand, and spiritual power arranged all four men into meditation poses. They did not put up much resistance, simply closing their eyes as instructed and emptying their minds as best they could. For a time, a spiritual fragrance filled the spacecraft.

Although their eyes were closed, the medicinal effects also brought them to a realization.

They probably were not going to die.

God, my body feels so good.

While the four men absorbed the medicine, more northwesterly wind poured out of Gao Jian's sleeves, flowing out of his left sleeve and into his right. He became a human air conditioner, keeping the cabin's air circulating and its oxygen plentiful.

Then, unwilling to give up, Gao Jian took out his full set of rocket repair tools again. His Divine Sense swept through the Orion spacecraft's Command Module, then through the European Service Module.

The SLS rocket carried the Orion spacecraft, which consisted of two modules: the Command Module and the European Service Module. The Command Module was where they were staying.

The latter served as the propulsion and support module, with a propulsion system independent of the SLS. On the return journey to Earth, the European Service Module provided the thrust needed for the Orion spacecraft to return to Low Earth Orbit and enter its reentry trajectory.

Normally, a few hours before entering the reentry trajectory, the European Service Module would separate from the Command Module, leaving only the Command Module to carry the astronauts back to Earth.

Unfortunately, the scan showed that, besides the SLS rocket's main engine, the European Service Module's engine system had also completely failed under the torrent of radiation.

Dejected, Gao Jian put everything away.

Every electronic system aboard the Orion spacecraft had been burned through by the radiation pulse. Repairs could no longer help. No matter how deft his hands were, Gao Jian could not repair every circuit board in the spacecraft with his bare hands.

After absorbing the medicine, all four men opened their eyes. They noticed a spiritual glow swirling in the mysterious superpowered man's eyes as he examined the spacecraft, as though he were releasing invisible scanning waves to search for something.

Robert asked cautiously, "Sir, could you take a look at the OMS orbital maneuvering engine?"

The OMS-E orbital maneuvering engine was the main engine of Orion's European Service Module. It was exactly what Gao Jian had just examined.

Gao Jian shook his head, the spiritual glow fading from his eyes. "The spacecraft's entire flight control system is shot. Even the solenoid coils have melted. The OMS orbital engine can't even ignite now, and I can't fix it."

"It would be terrifying if you could."

By now, the four men had witnessed several of Gao Jian's abilities, especially the one that had pulled them back from death's grasp. Jim cautiously asked another question.

"Sir, thank you so much... but why did you save us?"

"Why did I save you?"

Gao Jian gave him a deeply puzzled look.

"Human lives were at stake. What kind of nonsense question is that?"

Jim was so moved that he nearly cried.

Gao Jian waved a weary hand. "You four, if you've recovered now, go take a look out the window."

"At what?"

"At Earth."

All four quickly crowded around the shattered window with the talisman stuck to it. First, they examined the yellow talisman covered in mysterious symbols written in vermilion, then looked out at the world and void beyond it.

Without the lens-adjusting structure of the layered glass, they could all see Earth's true, vast, boundless plane.

All four cried out in astonishment.

Gao Jian's voice came at just the right moment. "All four windows and both small corner windows on the Orion spacecraft are specially treated curved lenses. This is what the land outside actually looks like. I don't know why NASA would hide this from you-or rather, from the whole world-but I'm certain this isn't all they're hiding. Setting aside 'Earth' itself... at least when it comes to the moon landing, NASA has performed like some shoestring space agency in a small African country."

They could barely hear what Gao Jian was saying anymore. All four stared blankly at the endless, flat world below.

It did not seem entirely flat, either. They could make out a slight curve in the land, with a vast expanse of white at its far edge, but human eyesight had its limits, and they could not see it clearly. At that moment, Earth and the cosmos truly formed an epic vista.

Each claimed half of all they could see.

"Speaking of which, I also suspect this geomagnetic storm was controlled by someone. The idea might sound absurd, but a normal geomagnetic storm really isn't like this. In theory, neither the United States nor we can control Earth's magnetic field, but this geomagnetic storm was far too unnatural. It was almost as if it were aimed straight at us. It's hard not to be suspicious."

Gao Jian paused, then added, "If the four of you are lucky enough to survive, remember to help me ask around about this. But you must not mention me to anyone outside."

At that, Ron, Allen, and Jim turned around in shock.

"We certainly won't tell anyone, but you trust us that much? Is that really all right?"

Gao Jian waved wearily. "Don't worry. I'll put a little spell called the Heart-Binding Curse on you."

Until he could protect himself, he naturally would not allow these four astronauts to expose his existence. Once the Heart-Binding Curse was in place, the moment they entertained the thought of exposing him, their minds would grow crushingly heavy, and they would be unable to utter a word.

He would never use arts that searched souls, seized spirits, or destroyed people's intelligence. That was far too much like an Unorthodox Cultivator.

The Heart-Binding Curse was fine. Young Daoist couples often used it as a little spell for flirting. It was safe, controllable, and harmless.

"Heart-Binding Curse..." Jim murmured the unfamiliar term, seemingly unable to understand it. He wanted to ask, but Ron stopped him.

"We'll do exactly as you say," Ron said solemnly.

At that moment, only the commander remained standing at the window, still staring absently at the distant view.

"Commander?"

Gao Jian suddenly spoke.

Robert turned around and saw Gao Jian's calm face. Gao Jian even gave him a smile, and Robert returned a strained one.

Gao Jian said to the commander:

"Stop looking. What the universe looks like no longer has anything to do with us. Now we need to figure out how to get back alive."

"Our engine's dead. How do we get back?" Ron asked nervously from beside him.

Gao Jian said calmly, "The rocket itself is still moving. Our current speed is 10.92 kilometers per second, spiraling outward. While I was outside just now, I adjusted the orientation of the spacecraft's charged surfaces. In simple terms, I applied a little thrust and adjusted the angle of the lorentz force spiral so the spacecraft would stop spiraling upward and outward. Now it's moving in a circle at a constant altitude."

"Our rocket is still flying in a spiral?" Ron exclaimed.

"Yes." Gao Jian nodded. "We've been flying in a spiral ever since the TLI burn, but none of that matters anymore."

He paused, looked at the four pairs of bewildered eyes, and said:

"I'll push the spacecraft so it falls toward Earth."

"How will you push the spacecraft?" Ron asked in awe.

Gao Jian answered with just one word:

"Force."