After selling everything,
Jiang Fa did not hurry to leave.
He hefted the bag of silver in his hand: four hundred and forty-three taels. Together with the proceeds from the fur shop and the old blacksmith's shop, he had four hundred and ninety-two taels in all.
In Qingshan County, that sum was enough to buy a small house with a courtyard and still have plenty left over.
But he had no such plans for now.
Silver clutched in his hand was dead; only when spent where it counted did it come alive.
He turned and went back to the Precious Ganoderma Hall.
The young assistant was putting the Blood-Coagulating Grass on the counter into the medicine cabinet one stalk at a time. Seeing Jiang Fa return, his hands paused, and a fawning look appeared on his face. "Anything else you need, sir?"
"I want to buy medicine."
Jiang Fa spoke directly.
The assistant hurriedly set down the Blood-Coagulating Grass in his hands, turned, and brought out a thick medicine catalog from behind the cabinet. He flipped to a page and eagerly pushed it before Jiang Fa. "Take a look, sir. These are all the medicines we carry suitable for Ming Jin martial artists. You've used Blood Strengthening Powder and Blood Condensation Pills before. If you'd like to try something else..."
Jiang Fa waved a hand, his gaze passing over the assistant and settling on the old shopkeeper, who held a cup of hot tea behind the counter.
"Shopkeeper, do you carry Body Tempering Pills?"
The old shopkeeper's tea-holding hand paused slightly. Through the steam rising from his tea, his cloudy old eyes glanced at Jiang Fa.
Although Body Tempering Pills and Blood Condensation Pills were both medicines for Ming Jin martial artists, the former cost twice as much, and their effects were worlds apart.
One Body Tempering Pill cost twenty taels of silver, as much as an ordinary Ming Jin martial artist spent on medicine in a month.
"We do."
The old shopkeeper set down his teacup and personally took a celadon medicine bottle from the lowest shelf of the medicine cabinet. Its surface bore a subtle cloud-and-thunder pattern. It was a size larger than the bottles used for Blood Condensation Pills and considerably more refined.
He pulled out the stopper and tipped a pill into his palm.
The pill was dark gold and only the size of a longan, yet a faint metallic sheen flowed across its surface.
Up close, it gave off a pungent medicinal fragrance. Just one sniff left his nasal passages burning.
"The Body Tempering Pill's main ingredient is a hundred-year-old Bone-Tempering Flower, supplemented with crimson yang grass and earth dragon dragon's blood. It takes seven days of alternating gentle and fierce flames to refine."
The old shopkeeper spoke at an unhurried pace.
"This pill differs from the Blood Condensation Pill. Blood Condensation Pills only generate Qi and blood, whereas Body Tempering Pills use medicinal power to temper the tendons, bones, skin, and membranes. After taking one, your tendons and bones will feel as though they've been placed in a furnace. The pain is unbearable, but if you can endure it, their strength can increase by at least thirty percent."
He glanced at Jiang Fa and added, "However, this pill's properties are overbearing. An ordinary Ming Jin martial artist can take no more than two a month. Any more will harm the body instead."
Jiang Fa nodded. "How much per pill?"
"Twenty taels."
"Give me five."
The old shopkeeper's eyebrows twitched, but he said nothing more. Turning, he fetched four identical celadon medicine bottles and placed them on the counter beside the first.
Jiang Fa then pointed to several medicines in the catalog. "Ten stalks of crimson blood grass and five Blood Condensation Elixirs."
Crimson blood grass was the main ingredient for medicinal baths. Each stalk cost five taels of silver, so ten stalks came to fifty taels.
Blood Condensation Elixirs were an upgraded version of Blood Condensation Pills, with stronger yet gentler effects. At ten taels apiece, five cost another fifty taels.
After hearing Jiang Fa's list, the old shopkeeper fell silent for a moment before speaking slowly. "Young man, forgive this old man for prying, but are you buying so many body-tempering medicines because you're also practicing some special body-refining technique?"
Jiang Fa glanced at him without speaking.
Realizing he had misspoken, the old shopkeeper hurriedly cupped his hands. "I spoke out of turn."
He turned to fetch the medicines from the cabinet himself, his movements even more solemn than before.
Five bottles of Body Tempering Pills, ten stalks of crimson blood grass, five Blood Condensation Elixirs, plus three packets of wound medicine and two bottles of superior bone-mending ointment cost a total of one hundred and ninety-five taels of silver.
After accepting the silver, the old shopkeeper took a palm-sized brocade box from a drawer. He opened the lid, revealing a thumb-sized dark red pill resting on a lining of red velvet.
"This Meridian-Restoring Pill is a personal gift from me. It may not be a particularly precious medicine, but it works wonders on external injuries. Should you be injured in the future, young man, taking this pill will keep your meridians from harm."
His tone was even, but a glint of shrewdness flashed through his cloudy old eyes.
Jiang Fa accepted the brocade box and cupped his fist in thanks.
He knew full well that the old shopkeeper was doing business with the long term in mind.
When he left the Precious Ganoderma Hall, the sun was already slanting westward.
By the time he returned to the martial arts school, it was dusk, and the twilight was deepening.
Jiang Fa put down his things, went to the dining hall to make do with a few bites, then hurried back to his room.
Once inside, Jiang Fa locked the door from within.
He also shut the window tightly, leaving only a narrow gap for ventilation.
He lined up the five celadon medicine bottles on the table, then took out the ten stalks of crimson blood grass.
The leaves had already wilted somewhat, and the purplish-red sheen along their edges had dimmed, but their medicinal fragrance remained strong.
Crimson blood grass had fierce medicinal properties and could not be taken directly. It had to be boiled in water, after which the whole body was soaked in the medicinal broth, using the heat to force its properties through the pores and into the body.
This method was gentler than oral consumption, but the medicinal power was harder to absorb. An ordinary person absorbed less than thirty percent in a single medicinal bath.
But Jiang Fa was different.
He had the Seven-Colored Glazed Glass Art.
The defining feature of this Heaven Rank body-refining technique was its use of Qi and blood as a catalyst to forcibly refine outside medicinal power, pressing every last trace deep into the tendons, bones, skin, and membranes.
Where others absorbed thirty percent of the medicinal power from a bath, he could absorb eighty or even ninety percent.
With his own talent panel added to that, absorbing all of it was not impossible.
Jiang Fa set the room's only iron pot on the charcoal stove, filled it halfway with cold water, then broke up three stalks of crimson blood grass and tossed them in.
The instant the leaves entered the water, a faint red blush spread across the surface, like a drop of blood falling into clear water and spreading in wispy threads.
Charcoal flames licked the bottom of the pot, and the water soon boiled.
The bubbling sounded especially clear in the quiet room. The water in the pot had turned from pale red to deep red, then finally to a dark red that bordered on black.
The medicinal broth churned, its bubbles thick and sticky. A pungent medicinal smell spread through the room, stinging his eyes.
He brought out the half-man-tall wooden bathtub and poured the broth into it.
The moment his fingers dipped into the water, a scorching sensation shot up from his fingertips.
He stripped off his clothes and stepped into the tub.
The instant his body sank into the medicinal broth,
Jiang Fa felt every pore on his body scalded open at once.
It was not the comfort of soaking in warm water, but a stabbing pain like being sliced by a thousand knives.
The medicinal power in the broth was like countless red-hot needles, piercing every pore across his body, passing through flesh and skin to reach his tendons and bones.
He clenched his teeth, veins bulging across his forehead. Both hands gripped the rim of the tub in a death grip as he held on.
I can't move.
I have to endure it.
He silently recited the formula for the first level of the Seven-Colored Glazed Glass Art, using his will to guide the scorching medicinal power through his meridians.
Wherever it passed, it felt like magma flowing through his body.
But after the pain passed, it left a warm, substantial sense of fullness.
Time passed bit by bit.
The broth in the tub gradually changed from dark red to pale red, then from pale red to a cloudy grayish white-the residue left after his body absorbed its medicinal power.
The skin all over Jiang Fa's body was scalded red, and his face was covered in sweat. There was no telling whether it came from the heat or was cold sweat brought on by pain.
The moment the last trace of color faded from the broth,
He abruptly opened his eyes.
He took out the Body Tempering Pill he had prepared beforehand, tilted his head back, and swallowed it.
The pill melted in his mouth, carrying a gentle warmth down his throat into his stomach, where it exploded.
This medicinal power was more than ten times fiercer than the crimson blood grass bath.
Jiang Fa's body abruptly went taut. Every muscle swelled at once, and veins spread from his neck down to his lower abdomen, writhing beneath his skin like little snakes.
Pain.
Agonizing pain.
It was not pain in his flesh and skin, but pain coming from the gaps between his bones.
It felt as though something was burning in his marrow, burrowing inch by inch deeper into his bones.
His teeth were clenched tight. The heat radiating from his body sent steam rising from the water in the tub, and a strong medicinal smell filled the entire room.
Forcing himself to endure the heart-piercing agony, he circulated the Seven-Colored Glazed Glass Art again, letting the magma-like medicinal power seep into the depths of his tendons and bones, strand by strand.
He did not know how much time had passed.
The oil lamp on the table had burned out, plunging the room into darkness. Only a few strands of moonlight slipped through a hole in the window paper and fell on the rim of the tub, illuminating two patches of wood grain that had been squeezed out of shape.
Jiang Fa let out a long breath of turbid air and opened his eyes.
He lowered his head to examine his hands.
The luster beneath the skin of his palms had changed.
Before, they had been dark and rough from the sun. Now, a faint glazed-glass sheen shone through.
It was very faint, barely there, impossible to see without looking closely.
It was not just his skin. Even the gaps between his bones held an indescribable sense of clarity.
It was as though something had been polished, its edges and impurities ground away, leaving only a sturdier, denser skeleton.
He closed his eyes and sank into his mind, and the panel quietly appeared.
[Seven-Colored Glazed Glass Art (Heaven Rank, Upper Grade) · First level (391/1000)]
It had risen by fifty-one points.
One stalk of crimson blood grass and one Body Tempering Pill had raised it by fifty-one points outright.
Jiang Fa opened his eyes, the corners of his mouth lifting slightly.
At this rate, as long as he had enough silver, reaching Perfection in the first level of the Seven-Colored Glazed Glass Art was within sight.