Divine Wandering in the Great Ruins

"The rest of you may withdraw. Minister Lu, come with me."

"Yes."

After leaving the secret prison, Princess Taiping suddenly gave the order. Jinghong, Qing Dai, and the others stopped, watching the princess and Lu Changfeng walk back toward the Golden Scale Pool Pavilion.

After taking the medicine, Lu Changfeng looked much better, though a trace of fatigue remained.

Princess Taiping walked at an unhurried pace. Glancing back at him, she spoke first. "You did very well today... The Shennong Glazed Glass Art certainly deserves its reputation as the Medicine King's supreme art."

Lu Changfeng had expected this and replied calmly, "Your Highness sees clearly."

They strolled along the winding corridor, the fading daylight reflected on the pool.

Princess Taiping tilted her head. "If I asked you to present this art to me, would you?"

Lu Changfeng answered without hesitation or breaking stride. "Yes."

A hint of amusement flashed through Taiping's eyes. "Under another's roof, you have no choice but to bow your head?"

Lu Changfeng smiled too. "Rather, a wise man knows which way the wind blows. I treasure my life. Apart from that, I can relinquish anything external to myself. If Your Highness wishes to have this art, I can write it out from memory right now and present it without a single word missing."

He paused, his tone mild yet confident. "However, its foundation lies in comprehension and insight into medicine. Even if someone else obtained the manual, without the corresponding medical expertise, forcing themselves to practice it would give them only its outward form. They could hardly attain its sublime heights, and to me... they would pose no threat whatsoever!"

Princess Taiping raised an eyebrow. "You certainly are confident."

Lu Changfeng met her gaze, his eyes clear and candid. "The Medicine King created this art to relieve suffering and save lives, not to fight for supremacy. Its essence lies in the word 'medicine.' Though my talents are modest, I do have some confidence in that field."

He did not explain where that confidence came from-it was the commanding perspective of a soul that had crossed a thousand years, carrying the crystallized wisdom of countless physicians from later generations.

In his eyes, Sun Simiao, the Medicine King, was a pioneer, a giant who had laid the foundations. Standing on that giant's shoulders, he was bound to see farther, whether in medicine or martial arts!

That calm declaration, bordering on "who else but me," gradually wiped the amusement from Princess Taiping's phoenix eyes, replacing it with genuine scrutiny and gravity.

She had seen countless geniuses, but never one so certain of himself yet so restrained.

"What a fine 'some confidence.'" Princess Taiping nodded slightly and pursued the matter no further. Instead, she asked, "Is the art complete?"

Lu Changfeng answered truthfully. "The methods of circulation and the essential mental formulas are all present. Only a visualization painting called Shennong Tastes the Hundred Herbs is missing."

Princess Taiping nodded in understanding. "I have heard of it-the supreme treasure of Medicine King Valley. They say the Medicine King painted it himself, imbuing it with the medical insights of his lifetime. It is the key to comprehending the highest realm of the Divine Farmer Formula."

After a brief consideration, she decided. "You have rendered a great service this time, so This Palace shall help you once. This Palace will find a way to obtain that visualization painting for you. Consider it an additional reward."

Lu Changfeng's expression grew solemn. He cupped his hands respectfully. "My deepest thanks, Your Highness!"

"Do not thank me just yet."

Princess Taiping changed tack, asking with interest, "Now that you have begun, what do you need to cultivate this art?"

"Your Highness, the foundation of this art is Shennong qi..."

Lu Changfeng explained, "Fine medicines and precious materials are the best fuel for nourishing that qi. In short, one must nourish the qi with a hundred medicines, then replenish the body with qi and nurture one's nature with medicine. Only then can one refine the human-body great medicine and attain a flawless body of glazed glass."

Princess Taiping sounded surprised. "Human-body great medicine?"

Lu Changfeng nodded. "This art has four realms. The first is drawing in the inner medicine: transforming grain into essence and a hundred flavors into qi to refine Shennong qi. The second is the glazed glass body: tempering the body with Shennong qi, cleansing flesh and marrow, expelling all acquired impurities, and protecting and strengthening the body. The third is taking in the hundred medicines: dividing the spirit and transforming qi, nurturing five kinds of qi within the five organs, and opening the body's medicine vault. At that point, one can absorb the medicinal properties of everything under heaven into one's body and call upon them at will. The fourth is the human-body great medicine. The Medicine King only sketched out this realm; he never attained it himself. According to him, once Shennong qi reaches perfection and the glazed glass body fully matures, one can reattach severed limbs and regenerate a damaged body, saving not only oneself but others as well. One's own body becomes that human-body great restoration pill which wrests creation's power from heaven and earth, grows flesh upon bare bones, and brings the dead back to life."

"A human-body restoration pill..."

Princess Taiping was taken aback. After a moment's contemplation, she nodded. "Worthy of a sixth-tier art... Each truly possesses its own wonders."

Her eyes suddenly shifted, and she gave Lu Changfeng a teasing look. "You have told me its properties so readily. Are you not afraid This Palace might grow greedy and swallow this great medicine of yours alive?"

Then you would have to provide the resources first and let me reach that realm.

Lu Changfeng's expression remained unchanged as he answered composedly. "Your Highness jests. This 'great medicine' of mine has barely taken shape and is far from mature. I fear it hardly merits Your Highness's attention. When the day comes that I truly can bring the dead back to life and grow flesh upon bare bones... I believe a living Lu Changfeng will be worth far more than a dose of 'medicine'!"

A strange gleam flashed through Princess Taiping's eyes. She turned and fixed her gaze on him. "Well said... Do you know how many people would want to imprison you as a medicine slave if those words got out?"

"That is why I need Your Highness's protection."

Lu Changfeng met her gaze frankly. "After all, between a spiritual herb that requires a hundred years of cultivation and a physician who can create value at any moment, anyone intelligent knows which to choose."

"Interesting..."

Princess Taiping suddenly chuckled. "In that case, there is still a five-hundred-year-old [fleeceflower root] in the Hundred Herbs Garden. I grant it to you. As long as you serve with all your heart and strength, This Palace shall not stint on generous rewards. This Palace could even let you take whatever you please from the Hundred Herbs Garden! But if you harbor disloyal intentions..."

She left the sentence unfinished, but her abruptly vanishing smile and faintly cold gaze said everything.

She could provide the resources-and take them back.

Lu Changfeng remained calm. "I will not disappoint Your Highness."

"Excellent!"

Princess Taiping swept her sleeve, turned, and continued forward. "Do you have a solution for the gu poison?"

I really don't have one for that...

Lu Changfeng replied helplessly, "With gu poison, the key lies in the gu. It belongs more to witchcraft and cannot be unraveled through medicine." These things were essentially insects, unlike bacteria. Even bacteria feared poison, but many gu insects fed on it!

Only magic could defeat magic here-one arcane art had to counter another.

Taiping smiled. "Then find a solution. You just said you would not disappoint me."

Lu Changfeng: "..."

Could you be even a little fucking reasonable?

Lu Changfeng looked troubled. "Your Highness, every field has its specialists. This..."

Taiping spoke unhurriedly. "You may freely consult the gu-section texts on the second floor of the Pivot of Heaven Pavilion."

Lu Changfeng's expression immediately turned solemn. "I shall spare no effort!"

He reckoned Taiping merely wanted another contingency and would not pin all her hopes on him. Since this was a chance to study those secret texts and learn more, he certainly had no objections.

A trace of a smile flashed through Princess Taiping's eyes. She seemed to have figured out how to use this man who "scorned to stand among common peach and plum blossoms." Then she changed the subject. "Is there anything else you wish to ask about the Blood Tai Sui? This Palace is in a good mood. Perhaps This Palace will clear up your doubts."

Lu Changfeng did not stand on ceremony. "I have long had questions. The latter half of the Medical Compendium contains many strange illnesses. The patients could not explain them clearly, and the Medicine King could only treat their symptoms without knowing their causes... At the end of the Shennong Glazed Glass Art, he listed several medicines he claimed were greatly beneficial to the cultivated body, but I have never even heard of them..."

Princess Taiping fell silent for a moment. "Do you know of the Divine Wandering realm?"

Lu Changfeng thought briefly. "I heard Qing Dai mention it. It is a legendary realm. Those who attain it can cleave great rivers with their palms and shatter mountains with their fists. With a single thought, they can even send their spirits wandering through the great void, almost transcending mortality and entering sainthood..."

"Wandering through the great void..."

Princess Taiping asked meaningfully, "What do you think the great void is?"

She probably was not asking about its literal meaning. Lu Changfeng simply shook his head.

Princess Taiping looked up at the sky and said slowly, "The void is the ruins-the Kunlun Ruins, the Heavenly Emperor's earthly capital!"

What?!

Lu Changfeng froze. Was that not ancient mythology? According to legend, Mount Kunlun was the earthly dwelling of the Heavenly Emperor and the gods.

Could this world...

He instinctively looked northwest.

Princess Taiping chuckled at his reaction. "No need to look. Mount Kunlun is nothing extraordinary, but the Kunlun Ruins truly are wondrous. After entering the sixth realm, the soul resonates with heaven and earth. For an instant, one sees mysterious, vast visions, or patterns that point straight toward the Great Dao-as though ascending a divine mountain or witnessing something miraculous!"

"Martial artists and Daoist cultivators call it 'ascending the Great Ruins.' All Sixth Realm methods passed down through the ages were created when the founding masters further sublimated and distilled their own arts after their spirits wandered through the Great Ruins. Celestial Master Zhang of Mount Dragon-Tiger thus created the Five-Thunder Heavenly Heart Art; Wei Huacun of the Highest Clarity School created Universe in the Sleeve. The Langya Wang Clan has the Sword Classic of the Way of Calligraphy, the Qinghe Cui Clan has the Upside-Down River of Stars, and then there is the Medicine King's Shennong Glazed Glass Art..."

Lu Changfeng began to understand, but one question remained. "What does any of this have to do with the Blood Tai Sui?"

Princess Taiping's voice suddenly grew profound. "Since the Qin and Han dynasties, the sages of successive generations not only comprehended the true essence of their arts while wandering through the Great Ruins. They also glimpsed certain... secrets of heaven."

She paused before continuing. "When Celestial Master Zhang attained the Dao at the end of the Eastern Han, he foresaw that seven hundred years later, 'the qi of heaven and earth would change, and yin and yang would fall out of order.' During the Eastern Jin, Wei Huacun of the Highest Clarity School likewise predicted that this era would see 'strange qi stirring and spiritual beings proliferating.' And the Blood Tai Sui..."

Princess Taiping turned to gaze at Lu Changfeng, enunciating every word. "Is precisely one of those 'spiritual beings' born in response to the turning of fate. The medicinal materials the Medicine King mentioned at the end of his art are probably things of the same kind."

Lu Changfeng was shaken.

Though Princess Taiping's explanation was rather vague, phrases such as "the qi of heaven and earth would change" and "strange qi stirring and spiritual beings proliferating" clearly pointed toward a dramatic transformation in the world's environment!

Holy shit... a resurgence of spiritual qi?

If that was the case, why did Wu Zetian destroy the Blood Tai Sui after obtaining it?

Princess Taiping saw his confusion and sighed softly. "Ninety-nine out of a hundred auspicious omens in this world are human fabrications. But since my mother's later years, certain things... beyond ordinary reason have indeed appeared in various places. The Blood Tai Sui was one of them."

"According to the palace's secret records from that time, it regrew after being cut. Drinking its juices caused internal power to surge, allowing cultivation to advance a thousand miles in a day. Applying its flesh to wounds healed them immediately, with miraculous effects bordering on rejuvenation..."

Lu Changfeng raised an eyebrow. But?

"But..."

A chill entered Princess Taiping's voice. "...Its nature was evil. With prolonged consumption of its juices, one's power initially soared, bringing indescribable pleasure. Then the meridians began to burn, and one's temperament grew increasingly vicious and obsessive. By the time one realized what was happening, essence and qi were already pouring away uncontrollably, the spirit withered and the body decayed. No medicine could help!"

She paused meaningfully. "Now you should understand why Wu Sansi is determined to obtain it, and why my mother resolved to burn it to ashes..."

Lu Changfeng's heart trembled.

Such a heaven-defying thing, capable of making people stronger while concealing a lethal trap, held temptations and dangers far beyond his imagination.

No wonder...

"Enough."

Having revealed those secrets, Princess Taiping changed the subject. "Devote more care to the gu poison. Also..."

She took an exquisitely crafted calling card from her sleeve. Edged with gold thread, it bore a lifelike phoenix feather embroidered in seven-colored silk, shimmering brilliantly in the sunlight.

"Tomorrow is the ten-day holiday."

She held the card out to Lu Changfeng. "Bring this Phoenix Feather Invitation to the Nine-Shao Music Bureau at the first quarter of the hour of the rooster. This Palace is hosting a refined gathering."

Still immersed in his shock, Lu Changfeng accepted it instinctively.

The invitation felt warm and smooth in his hand, though he could not tell what it was made of. A faint radiance seemed to flow through the phoenix feather; clearly, it was no ordinary object.

Seeing him accept it, Princess Taiping's eyes flashed with meaning. "Many of Chang'an's talented young men and distinguished figures will attend. It will be a good opportunity for you to broaden your horizons. Go back and prepare properly. Do not lose your decorum."

With that, she glided away.

Mm... huh?

Lu Changfeng came back to himself and looked down at the Phoenix Feather Invitation in his hand. Wait, I'm a doctor. What exactly do you expect me to prepare?!