Pengcheng's Sword, Take the Medicine First

Chu Tianshu led two Daoist priests through the fields, gradually approaching the bustling area.

There is a great river that flows from the northwest mountains, and it must go around a mountain ridge along the way.

The river took a turn, changing its course completely from due west to due east, branching into several tributaries, and the current gradually slowed down.

Where the water flow is gentle, there are the most houses on both banks. Except for the main channel where large boats can travel, bridges have been built over all the other tributaries.

There are arched bridges and floating bridges, and crowds come and go, making it very lively.

A peddler with a wildflower in his hair carefully walks across the bridge, carrying his wares. A child, shaking a rattle drum, holds his mother's hand, admiring the scenery along the riverbank.

After walking up to the middle of the bridge, Chu Tianshu held onto the railing and looked out over both banks. The wind blowing in his face was quite pleasant.

"Fellow Daoist Lu said he came here before. Do you have any recommendations for places to visit?"

Lu Yuande insisted that Chu Tianshu should stop calling him "senior," so Chu Tianshu changed his form of address.

At this moment, Lu Yuande turned his head to look, seemingly discerning the scenery on the shore, which still bore some resemblance to his own back then.

"There really is such a place."

On the Henan, there is a tavern with a very unique layout, consisting of a large house and three buildings.

The three buildings are arranged in a triangular shape, distributed on the east, west, and south sides.

To the north of the tavern, near the river, stands a large, single-story building with long windows on all four sides.

During the day, the long windows are removed, letting in direct sunlight. Tables and chairs are arranged in rows, seemingly enough to seat over a hundred people, yet the tables are still sparsely spaced, allowing people to move freely.

Dozens of swords and knives were hanging from the eaves of the houses on the side closest to the river.

Sometimes the wind is strong on the river, and when swords and knives clatter together, they make a clanging sound.

Chu Tianshu saw the swords and knives when he was on the bridge, and it was Lu Yuande who recommended this tavern to him.

The three entered the building on the south side of the tavern, where a waiter came to greet them. He didn't ask whether they wanted to drink or stay overnight, but simply said...

"Are the three of you also interested in stopping by the riverside tavern for a while?"

Chu Tianshu smiled and hummed in agreement.

The waiter then led them through the spacious courtyard to the large house to the north.

There weren't many guests in the house these days. There were wine cabinets in all four corners, with black wine jars sealed with red cloth and mud piled up like small mountains.

In front of the wine cabinet in the southeast corner, there was another counter where an old scholar wearing a square headscarf sat, apparently in charge of the accounts.

There were three other stools in front of the counter, with two old men sitting on them, one holding an erhu and the other a pipa, while the middle stool was empty.

At this moment, the one with the erhu is idle, while the one with the pipa is gently playing a tune, making a tinkling sound.

Chu Tianshu found a table by the window and sat down, not far from the swords and knives hanging outside.

The Daoist Child Shitou placed the old Daoist priest opposite him, then sat to the side himself. He first picked up the teapot, poured himself a full cup, and drank the cold water in one gulp.

The waiter hurried over, bringing a pot of hot tea, and asked about the dishes.

Lu Yuande ordered a few light dishes, while Chu Tianshu examined the swords and knives.

This tavern doesn't have a large, gold-lettered signboard outside, but it's quite famous in the entire Denglai Mountain Market, known as "Pengcheng Tavern".

Since ancient times, Pengcheng has been Nine Provinces, a place where dragons and tigers have fought for thousands of years.

Legend has it that Pengcheng had its beginnings as early as the time of the Yellow Emperor, and through the changes of time, it has always been a strategic location fought over by military strategists.

However, Pengcheng today is not under the control of either the Northern or Southern Dynasties, but belongs to the fiefdom of the Marquis of Pengcheng.

Decades ago, there were two prominent families with the surname Xiao, one of which was the East Sea Xiao Clan.

Xiao Liang, the son of a stable boy in the East Sea Xiao Family, fled into the world during his youth, staying in Pengcheng and Denglai Mountain Market for several years in each place.

Twenty years ago, he mastered swordsmanship and Attaining the Dao the highest level of swordsmanship. He single-handedly killed all the experts of the East Sea Xiao Family and hung his sword on the city gate. For three days, no one dared to enter or leave.

The imperial court conferred upon him the title of Marquis and built a Marquis's Mansion for him in Pengcheng.

Few people remember what title the imperial court bestowed upon him; they simply refer to him as the Marquis of Pengcheng.

Twenty years have passed, and Xiao Liang has become the "Number One Swordsman in the World."

Pengcheng Tavern is said to be his property.

The seventy-three swords hanging on the eaves were the weapons of the masters he defeated when he lived in Denglai Mountain Market.

For twenty years, these swords have hung outside, exposed to the wind and sun, and the steam rising from the river.

Surprisingly, there was hardly any rust on the blade, and its cold gleam remained.

Even the hilts of the knives and swords were largely intact.

From Chu Tianshu's unique perspective, one can better sense the signs that these swords and blades have been nurtured by martial arts True Qi and Saber Intent Sword Intent the years.

After twenty years, some remnants still remain.

"While wind, rain, and sunlight may erode its sharpness, they also wash away the stench of blood, leaving behind the purest trace of Sword Qi intent deep within the iron blade."

Chu Tianshu picked up a cup of tea and admired the swords with a touch of pleasure.

In his eyes, these things were much prettier than ordinary flowers and plants.

By observing those faint auras, he could roughly guess the style and techniques of those sword masters from the past, thus verifying his own swordsmanship.

After drinking more than half of his tea, Chu Tianshu lightly tapped the edge of the table with his right hand.

The thumb hooks around the other fingertips and flicks them repeatedly, not in a fixed order, but with a rhythm, like playing a zither.

Each finger flicked out a wisp of silvery-blue light, silently circling around the edge of the table and landing on Lu Yuande's left leg.

A total of twenty-nine silver needles were inserted into acupoints on his legs, liver, and side waist.

At the end of each silver needle is a thin, long thread of air, faintly visible.

There are a total of twenty-nine energy threads connected to Chu Tianshu's five fingers, which are indestructible and continuously transmit internal energy, vibrating the needle tails.

Lu Yuande's medical skills were superb, and he felt that the selection of twenty-nine acupoints was not too surprising. He could figure out the purpose of each acupoint himself.

But then, the pure internal energy arrived continuously, its flow inexhaustible. It not only cleared the meridians but also seemed to clear the muscles, bones, and blood. This was a needle technique that the old Daoist priest could not match.

My feet...

Lu Yuande was slightly immersed in the comfortable, tingling sensation in his left leg, but quickly came to his senses and looked at his apprentice.

Shitou took a scroll of bamboo slips out of the bamboo basket and began to carve words on the back of the scrolls with his fingernail.

Although it was just a fleeting glimpse, Chu Tianshu could clearly see that the front of the bamboo slip contained a copy of the Tao Te Ching, and the characters were not large to begin with.

Now the characters carved on the back of the Shitou are even smaller; he could probably carve more than ten thousand characters on a single bamboo slip.

Lu Yuande explained, "The elixir of Moon Refining has 108 formulas for men, which I have already had Shitou memorize. If you also want the women's formulas, I will memorize them for you later."

Chu Tianshu nodded slightly, and the waiter had already brought over a few side dishes.

Two jugs of Shaoxing wine, a dish of pickled plums, a steamed fish, four duck legs, and a plate full of river shrimp.

Although the waiter passed by, he couldn't see the wisps of air in Chu Tianshu's hand, nor did he notice the needles on Lu Yuande's leg.

As soon as Lu Yuande and the other waiters turned around, he gently sucked on the table and bit into a duck leg, crushing the meat and bone together and shoving it into his mouth bit by bit.

He buried himself in carving words on the Shitou.

Chu Tianshu smiled and said, "You should eat something first."

Shitou nodded, and after several breaths, he reached out and grabbed a duck leg, slicing off all the meat in one bite, leaving the bare bone aside. He chewed vigorously while continuing to carve words with his hands.

Chu Tianshu smiled, his gaze falling on the words he had carved, but his expression gradually became a little strange.

"Your previous prescriptions all contained between four and twenty ingredients, which is fairly normal."

"But this prescription already has more than fifty ingredients, right?"

A typical prescription consists of four to twelve kinds of medicines, and even for particularly complex illnesses, it usually only contains about twenty kinds of medicines.

After all, medication isn't about randomly piling up quantities. The roles of the principal, assistant, adjuvant, and guide herbs form a cohesive whole; too many herbs would introduce too many variables.

Mixing too many medicinal ingredients can turn them into poison, ultimately amounting to drinking poison.

This prescription contains fifty-four herbs.

Lu Yuande crunched a bone and said, "Combating the Moon-Turbidity Qi is extremely complex. Experts can accommodate more within their bodies and use a wider variety of medicines."

"There are prescriptions with fifty-four ingredients, prescriptions with sixty-eight ingredients, and among the prescriptions used by Attaining the Dao beings, there is one that requires a total of one hundred and thirty-one ingredients."

Chu Tianshu couldn't help but furrow his brow.

This challenges his common sense as a witch doctor.

With over a hundred kinds of herbs boiled together in the same formula, what kind of culinary mess would that produce?

This prescription is so absurd that it's not even suitable for drinking; it's practically unacceptable even for a highly skilled person to use for a medicinal bath.

"Etc."

Chu Tianshu then thought of another problem, "These prescriptions require so many herbs, could Denglai Mountain Market possibly find them all?"

"Wow, and Fellow Daoist Lu's sect, how wealthy must it be to afford so many medicinal herbs?"

Lu Yuande smiled wryly and said, "It is precisely because I was able to find all the goods at Denglai Mountain Market that I brought my disciple here to make a living."

"As for my former sect, I'm not afraid of your ridicule, but even though it was founded by a dignified Attaining the Dao, it never had more than seventeen disciples at its peak."

"Moreover, many of these recipes, compiled by our ancestors and friends throughout the ages, I've only experienced once or twice in my entire life."

"We simply don't have the money to regularly use those medications, so we can only opt for simplified prescriptions with slightly less effective results."

A prescription that has only been used once or twice...

Okay, if someone is an expert, they can indeed determine its effectiveness after only one or two experiences.

Chu Tianshu looked at the bamboo slips again.

Indeed, within his comprehension range, there are many recipes, clearly differing between simplified and upgraded versions.

"But I always feel that you've gone a bit astray on the path of using drugs to Moon Refining."

Chu Tianshu became curious, "What are the other two paths?"

"This is the right path!"

Lu Yuande's expression turned serious. "Of the three paths, ours is known as the 'Dao-Seeking Shennong,' the word 'seeking' aptly describing its arduousness."

"But the other two, while sounding impressive, actually have even bigger flaws."

"One of them is called the External Dharma Nexus, which relies on refining magical treasures and divine weapons to resist the pollution of the Moon Turbidity."

"Moonlight cannot pollute metal and stone, for metal and stone are stubborn! When refining magical artifacts with metal and stone, regardless of school or sect, one should not seek other effects, but rather ensure that the foundation is stubborn. The deeper the cultivation, the stronger the magical artifact, and the more pollution it can resist."

"However, this method will eventually solidify one's cultivation, making further progress difficult."

When Lu Yuande spoke of this path, it was still in a tone of discussion, suggesting that the other party had greater shortcomings.

But when he mentioned the third path, his eyebrows shot up even higher.

"The third one, which claims to be the Primordial Heart Transmission, is in fact a completely demonic path."

Those who cultivate this path claim that in the primordial beginning, in the time of ignorance, the moonlight possessed wondrous qualities, and now it is merely a return to one's true self.

They believed that it was perfectly acceptable to embrace the moonlit energy of heaven and earth, and even seek to directly absorb the power of the Moon Turbidity.

"But those Attaining the Dao individuals who created this method did not actually want to lose their Orthodox God, so they had another secret method to pass on their excess impure thoughts and evil intentions to their disciples, who in turn passed them on to outsiders."

"It is said that their secret methods differ from family to family, but they are generally similar: giving evil thoughts to others, and then taking them back at a certain moment to enjoy their purity."

Upon hearing this, Chu Tianshu raised his left hand and rubbed his temples.

Well, it's only been a hundred years, and everyone's new cultivation path is not yet fully perfected, which is normal.

One is a herbal medicine grinder, the other has a self-imposed limit, and the other is clearly inhumane.

But I have a token.

Chu Tianshu glanced at the list of materials on the token and had some ideas in mind.

For now, take your medicine first.

(End of this chapter)