"So what if I mentioned it? Can Zhou Tong really cover the sky with one hand in the Azure Profound Sect?"
True Lord Ziyang snorted at those words and swept out with a flick of his sleeve. Just as he was about to return to his cave abode, he suddenly glanced back at the bronze mirror behind him. "Cancel the next scripture lecture. I will be in seclusion for three years."
With that, his figure flashed and vanished at the entrance to his cave abode.
"Why go to such lengths?"
A helpless sigh came from the bronze mirror.
Meanwhile, back at the Green Bamboo Abode.
"Phew... still no good..."
Xu Taiping, who had been sitting on his bed practicing for a long time, suddenly let out a long sigh as well.
After True Lord Ziyang's lecture, it had just reached noon, the ideal time to practice the Remnant Sunset Scripture. Xu Taiping had begun cultivating according to the insights he had gained that day.
Yet, despite working at it for a full two hours, he still could not draw the spiritual energy of heaven and earth into his body and refine it into true qi as the Remnant Sunset Scripture described.
"It looks like I'll have to rely on Fairy Lingyue's prescription."
Xu Taiping wiped the sweat from his forehead, his voice tinged with reluctance.
This attempt had made him truly feel how difficult cultivation was with white bone aptitude.
Having made up his mind, he took out the bronze mirror again and placed a Merit Coin on it.
"Xu Taiping of the Green Bamboo Abode, what do you seek me for?"
The mirror spirit's voice rang out from the bronze mirror.
"Lord Mystic Mirror, I'd like to buy some medicinal ingredients and herb seeds."
Xu Taiping answered.
"At your current rank, you can only purchase medicinal ingredients and seeds from the Hundred Herbs Hall at the foot of the mountain. Here is its list of herbs. Once you have made your selections in the mirror, a spirit bird will deliver them to your courtyard."
As the mirror spirit spoke, a list of herbs began appearing on the bronze mirror.
"Thank you, Lord Mystic Mirror."
After thanking it, Xu Taiping began searching carefully.
After the time it took an incense stick to burn, Xu Taiping finally gathered all the ingredients in Fairy Lingyue's prescription. To keep anyone from identifying the prescription, he added several inexpensive herbs and also tinkered with the quantities.
As for seeds for the medicine garden, he chose only nine-leaf perilla, buying enough to plant three mu of land three times.
He had his reasons for this choice.
According to the cultivation transmission jade slip's records on tending a medicine garden, the leaves, stems, and fruit of nine-leaf perilla could all be used in medicine. Its leaves could also be eaten as a premium vegetable, and its seeds were the cheapest of all medicinal herbs. It was easy to grow, taking only three months from sprouting to bearing fruit. With springlike weather year-round on Cloud Cottage Mountain, it could easily be planted three times.
Its only drawback was its low selling price.
Under normal circumstances, each mu of nine-leaf perilla could earn only thirty Azure Profound Sect Merit Coins a year, far less than other medicinal herbs.
Every Outer Sect Registered Disciple in the Azure Profound Sect had to turn over one hundred and twenty Merit Coins each year.
Normally, even if Taiping planted all three mu of his medicinal fields with nine-leaf perilla, he would still fall short of the merit he owed the sect.
But with the array Fairy Lingyue had laid in his medicinal fields, everything was different.
According to Fairy Lingyue, the medicinal fields covered by the Minor Spirit-Gathering Array would yield triple their usual harvests for three years, making nine-leaf perilla his most economical choice.
"If nothing goes wrong, three crops of nine-leaf perilla across three mu should earn at least 270 Merit Coins. After subtracting the 20 Merit Coins in costs and the 120 I have to hand over each year, I'll still have 130 left. Next year, I'll be able to buy better medicinal seeds, and perhaps have some left over for cultivation techniques and talismans."
After paying through the bronze mirror, Xu Taiping picked up a brush and paper and carefully began recording his accounts.
"After buying the medicinal ingredients and seeds, I have only three merit coins left. Luckily, I've already filled the rice jar, and there's plenty of oil and salt. If I set some traps in the mountains and catch some game, I should be able to hold out until the first crop of nine-leaf perilla ripens."
He calculated silently as he kept his accounts.
One major reason he had chosen nine-leaf perilla was its short growing period. In just three months, he could exchange it for merit, then use that to buy the medicinal ingredients he needed for cultivation.
As for the True Fire Talisman required for Seed Burning, he had asked the mirror spirit about it yesterday. Its answer was that he had to wait a year after joining the sect before he could purchase talismans and similar items. Even the most ordinary True Fire Talisman cost over a thousand Merit Coins, putting it far beyond his reach for the time being.
"Mm, once I've brought in a harvest, I'll also have to think about saving up for a True Fire Talisman."
Xu Taiping added another entry to his ledger.
The following evening.
A gray crane, a spirit bird carrying a large bundle in its beak, landed before Xu Taiping's courtyard.
All the seeds and medicinal ingredients Xu Taiping had purchased had finally arrived.
After paying the gray crane a Merit Coin with a pang of reluctance, Xu Taiping carried the medicinal ingredients into his bedroom.
A bathtub filled with hot water stood in his bedroom.
He had prepared it in advance for the medicinal soak.
Fairy Lingyue's prescription said these ingredients were ordinary. To bring out their medicinal effects, I have to add them in the exact order and at the exact times specified.
After sorting the medicinal ingredients and weighing them again on the old scale in his room, Xu Taiping stood before the bathtub and silently reviewed the order and timing for adding them.
It should be fine.
A moment later, Xu Taiping nodded to himself, as though bolstering his courage.
Then he picked up a portion of medicinal ingredients laid on oilpaper and tipped the whole lot into the steaming bathtub. Counting on his fingers, he silently began the countdown: Eight, seven, six...
When he reached one, Xu Taiping quickly poured the second portion from the table into the bathtub.
As the second portion went in, the hot water suddenly began to bubble, then released wafts of an unusual fragrance, like orchids and musk.
"Looks like I got it right."
Delight spread across Xu Taiping's face, and he promptly poured in another packet of medicinal ingredients.
An incense stick's worth of time later.
Once he had added all the medicinal ingredients to the bathtub according to the prescription, Xu Taiping saw that the formerly clear hot water had turned into a thick white liquid.
"The medicinal soup is lustrous white like jade and thick as slurry, just as the prescription says."
Xu Taiping breathed a sigh of relief.
At least judging by its appearance, the Bone-Washing Marrow-Cleansing Soup he had prepared was a success.
Xu Taiping then quickly stripped off his clothes, revealing his lean, wiry body, and climbed naked into the Bone-Washing Marrow-Cleansing Soup.
"Tss, tss, tss..."
Perhaps because of its medicinal potency, the soup in the bathtub was still scalding even after an incense stick's worth of time had passed. The heat made Xu Taiping bare his teeth and grimace despite himself.
Had the prescription not stated that leaving midway would greatly diminish its effects, he would probably have already leaped out of the bathtub.
Before you continue