Refining Pills, Entering the Martial Realm!

Thinking of this.

Qin Lu also shook his head with resignation.

If he sold it to a single household, he figured the other clans would surely hold a grudge; though he did not fear them, he would inevitably be given the cold shoulder down the line.

Or should I... refine it?

Qin Lu pondered briefly and indeed found it feasible.

If he refined it into pills, he could split them evenly so as not to offend anyone, and additionally take the opportunity to amass wealth and rake in a haul.

If there were surplus pills, he might even manage to pocket a few.

In times of future peril, he could also use these to save his life.

After all, this world was not as simple as it appeared.

Leaving aside the rumored immortals, simply within the jianghu there was talk of internal energy and True Essence.

Its name was: the True Martial Realm!

The True Martial Realm was divided in total into nine tiers, also known as: the True Martial Ninth Realm!

Its powerful figures-

Could shatter towering boulders with sheer force, move as light as a swallow like a wraith, and what was more, could condense internal energy outside the body to release a Sword-Ray!

These people were also collectively termed: Warriors!

Although Bayi Town was small.

It still contained over a thousand households and four to five thousand people, naturally housing several warriors whose backers were the local gentry and wealthy clans of the town.

Taking martial arts as their foundation, they gathered power and wealth.

Their realms, however, likely were not high either, or else they would not have dug their roots into the wild mountains; had they possessed great strength, they would have long since marched into the county seat.

At most, they merely lorded it over a mountain hamlet like Bayi.

I only wonder if the Azure Wood Scripture I cultivate will allow me to condense internal energy one day.

If I could become a warrior, today I would not have had to compromise for the sake of a single precious ginseng. Truly, weakness is the original sin.

Qin Lu let out a long sigh.

Immediately afterwards, he bolted his doors and stayed inside to await the chance for alchemy.

So-called alchemy was not simply melting several medicines together; rather, it required the pharmacological properties to multiply, achieving an effect where one plus one was greater than two.

The procedures involved were numerous and immensely complicated.

The treatment of the mountain ginseng alone required going through eighteen steps.

He adopted the method of nine steamings and nine sun-dryings to concentrate the essence.

Furthermore: ginseng was a potent restorative substance, and to use it as the core of the pill, many medicinal ingredients had to be matched with it to neutralize its fierce medicinal nature.

The choices included-

Polygonatum, known as immortal grain, to blend with the ginseng and thereby balance it.

Next came twenty-one herbs such as the Bailing Flower, deer antelopes, Ganning Grass, Honeysuckle, and so forth.

These were ground into powder to stabilize the medicinal efficacy.

Afterward, they successively underwent the remaining processes of refining over furnace fire, steaming, and rolling, ultimately being wrapped in a layer of wax coating to be fashioned into a pill.

The pill was named: Wood Essence.

It was one of the eighteen types of pills recorded in the Azure Wood Scripture.

It required a twenty-year precious ginseng to serve as the chief ingredient.

However-

Even with the pill formula in hand.

Qin Lu had not managed to refine it many times over all these years.

This was simply because the herbs on the pill formula were difficult to seek out, and most had never even been heard of, leaving him with no way to track them down and turning it into idle talk.

The few pill formulas with findable herbs were also out of reach due to requiring aged herbs.

All things considered-

This alchemy session was the very first time Qin Lu encountered a situation where the age, medicinal materials, and pill formula matched completely, so he naturally could not afford to be careless.

Quickly-

A few days' time passed in the blink of an eye.

Inside the Alchemy Chamber-

Qin Lu continuously shook the medicinal board, rolling the mud-like medicinal paste into pills.

After wrapping them in a layer of wax coating, the Wood Essence Pills were considered complete.

There were eighteen in total from start to finish.

Qin Lu was not greedy either; he took eight of them for his own use and divided the remaining ten into ten bottles, to be sold to the highest bidder if anyone came seeking medicine.

As for the medicinal efficacy...

Qin Lu wasted no words and personally experienced and tested them; no matter what, they were based on restorative tonics.

They at least would not poison anyone to death.

Only-

When the Wood Essence Pill entered his mouth, Qin Lu felt a warm current sweep across his limbs and bones, akin to eating a mouthful of mountain delicacies and wild honey, refreshing and invigorating to the heart and spirit!

Before he could even react.

The Azure Wood Scripture that he had cultivated for several years without showing any progress actually gave a feeling of breakthrough?!

It was as if a cluster of fog had obstructed him.

A corner of it had been forcefully torn away, and his entire person felt a fraction more lucid and transparent!

It works!

So that is how it is. One must match the pills with the technique before it can have the effect of a breakthrough!

That I had no such feeling in past years was because the herb ages, or the herbs themselves, did not match, thereby causing the medicinal nature to be weak or incomplete.

As it turns out, it was not that I was foolish, but that the technique had not been mastered!

Amidst his pleasant surprise.

Qin Lu could not bother with much else and continuously swallowed pills to cultivate.

Finally-

Upon swallowing the fifth Wood Essence Pill, a surging current of heat emerged from his Dantian, subsequently traveling along the meridian cycle to circulate through his entire body.

When the Qi completed its circulation and flowed unimpeded,

His entire body's muscles and bones ushered in their first transformation!

Cleansing the marrow and washing the bones, ridding him of impurities.

His mind and spirit converged to become clear and flawless, his body strengthened and bones hardened with a thousand catties of force. At this point he unsealed the mystery, clearly fixing the three dantians, achieving a martial body, and stepping into the True Martial realm!

This is internal energy...

Or perhaps it is called: True Essence.

Qin Lu opened his eyes, feeling his body and mind light and airy, as though he had cast off deep-seated shackles.

When he looked at the Azure Wood Scripture again, his various past perplexities no longer existed; he only felt that everything was thoroughly mastered with no further difficulties.

This was the difference between an outsider and one who had experienced it.

Only by first entering this game could one comprehend its true essence.

After calming himself down a little.

Qin Lu shed his clothes, fetched clean water, and washed away the black mud and impurities...

The characteristic of the True Martial Realm.

Was that each time one advanced a tier, some filthy impurities within the body would be expelled, and one's lifespan would correspondingly be extended, reaching up to one hundred and twenty years at the maximum!

An ordinary person's lifespan did not exceed a century, making the difference clear to see.

A short while later-

When Qin Lu reopened the hall, he had taken on a completely new appearance with a towering and heroic posture, his skin having grown a fair bit whiter; though it did not differ vastly from his past self.

Yet one bit of fairness hid a hundred uglinesses, making him practically the town heartthrob of Bayi Town.

Town maidens passing by the medical clinic upon seeing this could not help but slightly part their small mouths, their complexions flushed pink and hearts fluttering, resembling young girls experiencing spring sentiments.

They even silently thought within their hearts: was the Qin Doctor always this handsome?

The slight commotion-

Came swiftly and went just as quickly.

Before long, the people who were truly here on business successively stepped into the medical clinic, looking by their posture as if they were on guard against something.

There was no other reason, save for Qin Lu's aura.

It was indeed vastly stronger compared to the past few days!

Inside the main hall-

The Wei and Han great households, along with the four wealthy clans of Zhao, Yan, Qi, and Chu, were gathered in one place at this moment, each sitting cross-legged on their own side and forming a faction of their own.

Although Qin Lu looked quite a bit sturdier after not seeing him for a few days.

He still remained at a disadvantage compared to the remaining six factions.

The arrivals from the six factions looked upon Qin as nothing less than meat on a chopping board and things in the palm of their hand; this was the contempt stemming from the old ruling elites.

"Qin Doctor, judging by your aura, could it be you have stepped into the True Martial Realm?"

"And become a First Realm Warrior?"

Among the arrivals from the six factions, only the middle-aged man of the Wei Family, Wei Cheng, perceived Qin Lu's foundation, and thus spoke up to question him first.

After all, the value of a warrior compared to a mortal could not be spoken of in the same breath, let alone when he was also a medical practitioner who accumulated merits and did good deeds.

His value, status, and position.

Naturally could not be treated like an ordinary person; he deserved a share of respect.

Hearing this-

The remaining factions were all instantly startled, their gazes and expressions shifting unceasingly.

Though they dared not believe it, the moment they thought of how Wei Cheng was a Second Realm Warrior, since he had spoken out to verify this, the matter was likely not false.

Qin Lu chuckled, cupped his hands in a salute, and stated:

"It is truly nothing more than sheer luck."