Scale

Zhang Xuezhou has a knack for judging the quality of meat.

This was a skill he honed in Zhang Household Village, dividing food into portions. While getting the approximate weight right was easy, getting it precise to an ounce or even a few coins was a real challenge.

The biggest obstacle for Zhang Xuezhou in refining Grain Avoidance was not grinding and simmering over low heat, but rather his inability to accurately measure the weight of the ingredients.

In reality, there is no Pill Furnace, and Zhang Xuezhou lacks the simplest thing in the real world in this world.

He lacks a precise measurement tool.

Without accurate measurement, it is impossible to form an accurate ratio.

Even the Grain Avoidance Powder formulated by Zhang Xuezhou couldn't achieve the desired effect.

He ended up with three clumps of grayish-brown medicinal paste.

Although he knew that his medicinal paste was far from meeting the threshold of Grain Avoidance powder, Zhang Xuezhou was not going to waste it.

He couldn't afford to waste any more time. No matter how long he could endure hunger after eating three servings of the medicinal paste, it was better to have something than nothing. After all, the herbs used in the Grain Avoidance Powder were not poisons, and the medicinal paste itself wasn't very toxic.

"Two hundred and forty-eight half-taels of silver just vanished like that?"

Seeing Zhang Xuezhou's sigh of defeat, Wang Er was extremely glad that he hadn't learned that skill.

He could tell that Zhang Xuezhou had been extremely careful in refining and boiling the pills, yet he still suffered three consecutive defeats.

Such high losses can bankrupt an average family, and even wealthy families cannot afford to fail a few more times.

"It's better to brew herbal medicine; at least we won't lose money that way!"

Wang Er pondered the herbs he was brewing and felt that adding more or less wouldn't affect the efficacy, and that it didn't matter whether the brewing time was shorter or longer.

Whether or not he cured the patient's illness is another matter. After all, nine out of ten patients die, so it's already quite good that he managed to save one.

"The kind of precision tools you're talking about are probably only available to the imperial court!"

After Zhang Xuezhou painstakingly described what he needed, Wang Er Ermazi finally understood the general idea of what Zhang Xuezhou required.

For barefoot doctors like them, every handful they reached out to grab was weight.

As for precision down to the level Zhang Xuezhou mentioned, Wang Er Ermazi could only think of the officials in the imperial court who were in charge of measuring gold.

As the most valuable currency, gold is measured precisely to the smallest unit, and is never estimated using scales or by hand.

"That's a bit far off!"

Zhang Xuezhou considered Dong Zhongshu's advice, the distance between Shu County and Chang'an City, and his desire to infiltrate the imperial court.

That's a long enough time for him to starve to death a hundred times over.

"Not even in the prefectural governor's office?" Zhang Xuezhou asked doubtfully.

"Then you'll have to ask Prefect Wen," Wang Er said. "I'm just a barefoot doctor; I don't know anything about the Prefect's office or the imperial court!"

I'll buy medicine from you again next time!

After thinking it over for a while, Zhang Xuezhou could only cup his hands in greeting to Wang Er Ermazi, indicating that he was leaving to return to the prefectural governor's mansion.

"You need to tell me in advance how much you want to buy. Some of your medicinal herbs are very valuable, and I have to go from village to village to collect them!"

Wang Er replied, changing his self-description from "old man" to "little old man," looking like he'd just Grain Avoidance a big deal. Zhang Xuezhou found the fasting pills unbearable.

But faced with the threat of death, he had no choice but to solve the problems one by one.

Like everyone else in Shu County, Zhang Xuezhou's most pressing need was to satisfy his hunger; only when his stomach was full could he talk about pursuing his goals.

The battle between the Emperor and the extraterrestrial demons caused a temporal disorder that altered everything in his present state. In reality, he needed intravenous fluids to sustain his life, while in this world, he needed to rely on elixirs such as Grain Avoidance Powder to stay alive.

Either Zhang Xuezhou's daily routine will return to normal one day, or his Grain Avoidance technique will reach a high level, enough to starve him for seven days, before Zhang Xuezhou can get rid of his body's need to sustain itself.

In the real world, he went through numerous calculations and medicinal property analyses to refine the Origin-Nurturing Pill, and then used a pressure cooker to boil it all in one go.

However, in this world, Zhang Xuezhou's alchemy experience failed because of his inaccuracy in weighing.

Zhang Xuezhou lacked accuracy in measurement, and Wang Er Ermazi couldn't achieve that level of detail either.

To achieve precision, Zhang Xuezhou needed an extremely sophisticated tool, which this world called 'Heng'.

He searched the prefectural governor's mansion and when he finally found Prefect Wen and Dong Zhongshu, the two of them were having a hollow iron pipe, more than two zhang long, forged in a blacksmith's shop in Shu County.

Unlike normal hollow iron pipes, this iron pipe also has a small, curved blade inside.

This is a relatively practical snake trap. Whenever a snake crawls into the pipe, its body will be cut by the curved blade without its knowledge. When it tries to turn around and crawl out of the trap, it will be pulled by the barbs of the curved blade, causing the wound to grow larger and larger, eventually leading to its death.

"The demonic treasure can be placed at the end of this iron pipe. Just turn the pipe upside down and it will go in. There's a baffle inside to hold it in place, so it won't fall out when you turn it back!"

"Zhongshu was able to design such a practical and ingenious device; he was truly a man of great wisdom!"

"This is merely a minor technique within the Mohists's Lu Ban methods; my parroting is not worth mentioning!"

Brother Zhongshu's extensive knowledge makes me feel ashamed!

"Each has their own approach. Your understanding of the Spring and Autumn Annals is profound, and I hope you will not hesitate to teach me!"

"Please feel free to ask, I will do my best..."

Dong Zhongshu and Wen Weng waited in the blacksmith's shop for their work to be made, and they also exchanged ideas.

After Zhang Xuezhou listened for a while, the two finally stopped talking.

"You look so pale, could it be that there's been a problem with the medicine making?"

"You'd like to borrow a weighing scale?"

Dong Zhongshu observed Zhang Xuezhou's luck was exactly the same as his own; he couldn't succeed at anything.

Wen Weng received a request from Zhang Xuezhou, which put him in a difficult position.

"What you're weighing isn't a heavy object, but medicinal powder," Wen Weng said. "If you want to weigh it with the precision you described, then it can only be Law Artifact."

"You have such a Law Artifact?" Zhang Xuezhou said happily, "Don't worry, I just need to borrow it for a bit. I can return it to you immediately after I'm done, and it won't take up any more time."

"This magical Law Artifact is neither particularly valuable nor exceptionally useful, yet it is extremely rare," Wen Weng said. "I have only ever seen it once, in Chang'an City, used by Grand Commandant Zhou."

"Grand Commandant Zhou of Chang'an City!" Zhang Xuezhou exclaimed in surprise.

"With the Zhou family's property confiscated, that weighing Law Artifact has likely ended up in the national treasury!"

Wen Weng sighed, while Zhang Xuezhou breathed a sigh of relief.

He simply doesn't have the ability to make it all the way to Chang'an City.

Given his current tendency to be away from his body for up to seven days at a time, it would be difficult to find someone to take care of him, let alone take him on a long journey.

"The biggest problem with Heng lies in the intricate construction of its Law Artifact; the materials themselves aren't outrageous. I have a few ounces of refined gold. If I could have this blacksmith Liu Yishou forge one according to the design, it wouldn't be impossible to create a magical Law Artifact for Heng!"

"Please help me, Master Dong!"

Wen Weng was at a loss, while Dong Zhongshu stroked his beard, having some ideas.

This made Zhang Xuezhou immediately lower his head and beg for help.

"But these three ounces of refined gold are what I use to forge a suitable Law Treasure," Dong Zhongshu said. "You must know that it is very pitiful for a cultivator not to have a suitable Law Treasure; they will hardly be able to react in the event of an accident."

"A fan! I have Law Treasure fan!"

Zhang Xuezhou patted the storage bag and then took out the Law Treasure fan he had previously obtained from Dong Zhongshu.

"Give me a Law Artifact scale, and I'll give you Law Treasure fan!"

"That's great, it just so happens that I know some minor tricks from the Mohists's Lu Ban techniques!"

Zhang Xuezhou's quick thinking brought a smile to Dong Zhongshu.

More than two years later, this Law Treasure fan has finally returned to his hands.