Ergouzi carried a peck of Moon Crescent Spirit Grain back ho and imdiately compared it in detail with the Cat Tooth Spirit Grain stored in his gourd.
These two types of rice were related varieties, identical in appearance except the Cat Tooth grains were slightly smaller and shorter.
Such minute differences would go unnoticed without careful side-by-side comparison.
The Cat Tooth rice naturally contained faint spiritual energy, and after storage in the gourd, its energy concentration beca comparable to the Moon Crescent variety.
A money-making sche sprouted in Ergouzi's mind.
He could collect Cat Tooth rice, enhance its spiritual energy in the gourd, then sell it as Moon Crescent rice.
Moon Crescent Spirit Rice sold for 100 taels of silver per liter.
Currently cultivating one-tenth of an acre that yielded monthly harvests of about four pecks,
if sold entirely, he could earn 4,000 taels.
But until his Moon Crescent crop matured, he needed to keep so for personal consumption.
After reaching the fourth layer of Qi Refinent, his spiritual energy demands had increased beyond what the Peiyuan Gutben Pills could provide.
That sa day, Ergouzi began reclaiming wasteland.
Using brute strength and his heavy sword, he leveled rocky areas to prepare one new acre of farmland.
After planting the entire peck of Moon Crescent grain and watering it,
he acknowledged this new field's poor fertility - full of stones and unseasoned soil that typically produced ager crops for years.
But his gourd water overca these limitations, enabling not just growth but accelerated maturation.
What normally required ten years to harvest would be ready in one.
After watering all his crops, Ergouzi rode his goose down to tenant farr A'hu's ho.
The old clothes he'd previously given A'hu had been dismantled by his wife, and now their children wore new pants instead of going bare-bottod.
"Landlord, the rice flour you requested is ready."
Inspecting the snow-white, finely ground flour in large wooden barrels, Ergouzi found it t his standards.
Preparing Strength Pills consud too much cultivation ti.
Moreover, his zombie-inflicted wounds from last ti hadn't healed despite self-dication, leaving him feverish and chilled.
Seeking efficiency, he'd taken one dan of rice from his foothill storehouse for A'hu to pound into flour,
then stead, dried, and finely milled it.
Mixing this flour with wild herbs up the mountain before forming pills saved considerable ti.
"One dan of rice yielded seven pecks of flour and one bucket of bran."
Ergouzi glanced at the bran - having grown unaccustod to its coarse texture that scratched his throat.
"Paynt remains one peck of rice as agreed. Keep the bran as well."
The couple repeatedly thanked him.
"Thank you, landlord!"
"Thank you, landlord!"
Ergouzi's generous wages plus unexpected bran windfall delighted them.
Winter als of dried vegetables with rice grains and handfuls of bran provided filling sustenance, albeit causing constipation.
After paying, Ergouzi asured two more dan of rice for A'hu to similarly process into flour.
Five days later, Ergouzi arrived at Huichun Hall with a sack of Strength Pills.
"You know the black market location now - why co here?"
"Can't be bothered with the extra trip. I'll keep selling to you and get dical advice."
He casually tossed the sack down.
Simayi studied Ergouzi's complexion intently.
As a physician trained in observation, he could diagnose from posture, gait, complexion and speech patterns.
The grayish pallor over Ergouzi's face was imdiately apparent.
"Poisoned?"
"Probably from that zombie fight. The scratches never healed."
Ergouzi removed his shirt, revealing muscular arms the color of soy sauce.
Simayi's pupils contracted at the sight - unprecedented in his decade-long dical practice.
Ergouzi's body was a mosaic of overlapping old scars with fresh zombie claw marks oozing blackish fluid.
"Thought these minor wounds would heal in days, but they haven't. Been getting chills and fever lately."
Ergouzi spoke casually - beatings and injuries were childhood norms that always healed naturally.
Compared to his historical wounds, these dozen scratches seed trivial.
"You've got corpse poison! Lucky you ca - next ti I might see a zombie."
"Stay today. I'll prepare dicinal bathwater."
Simayi prescribed herbs for a large tub of dicinal broth.
Soaking in the warm solution, Ergouzi experienced unprecedented relaxation.
"Had no idea hot baths felt this good!"
"You've never had one?"
Simayi reclined nearby, recalling his single cold bath at twelve that got his maid beaten to death.
"Farrs don't waste firewood on baths."
"Takes a whole day's wood-gathering for one bath - who lives like that?"
Ergouzi scrubbed off gri nonchalantly.
Even winter foot-washers like his aunt were rare.
Simayi calculated the firewood required - one load for two baths.
"Only Huang Laocai in our village bathes regularly in winter."
"The whole family shares bathwater until it's thicker than porridge - sticks stand upright in it."
"Then they fertilize fields with it."
"Another villager, Niu Dandan, bathed cold before his wedding and died days later - leaving his bride to his brother..."
Ergouzi recounted village tales while bathing, amusing Simayi imnsely.
"About these scars - how?"
Simayi finally asked about the crisscrossed marks.
"Mostly beatings, so falls."
"This one ca from stealing rice from the pot as a child."
"My aunt spotted the dent and hit with the ladle - worth it for that taste!"
"This one wasn't..."
Ergouzi narrated each scar like another's story, sotis laughing.
Simayi couldn't join the mirth, realizing their childhoods differed drastically.
When he'd once scraped skin, the household had panicked.
"Now as a martial scholar, your cousin can't beat you. Consider revenge?"
After long silence, Ergouzi smiled.
"Murder breaks laws - punishable by death."
"Laws bend to officials' will," Simayi scoffed.
"They'll execute you for stepping on ants if convenient."
"Or ignore murders before their eyes."
"Bandits paying bribes live better than landlords."
"Just say if you want revenge - I'll handle the officials."
Simayi seed angrier than Ergouzi about the past.
"I'm conflicted."
"My cousin Xiaoe is my only family left."
"She's ten - how would killing her parents before her eyes affect her?"
"At least she's happy now. Don't want her orphaned like ."
Ergouzi's true hesitation lay here - laws being paper-thin.
He could slaughter them all on so moonless night unseen.
But Xiaoe's current happiness stayed his hand.
"Wait until she's married with children - it'll hurt less then..."
As they talked, the bath cooled.
"Out for examination."
Erging, Ergouzi's wounds oozed red but remained gray-rimd.
"Pain here?" Simayi prodded.
"No."
"Here?"
"No."
Testing every wound brought no pain response.
"Troubleso corpse poison - ordinary dicine won't work."
"Visit Hongfu Hall in the black market - the magistrate's shop."
"Five Blood Marrow Pills might trade for one Antidote Pill."
At Hongfu Hall:
"Any Antidote Pills?"
"Buying dicine?" The clerk eyed Ergouzi.
"Poisoned?"
"Yes."
"None currently. Place deposit - we'll order from the prefecture."
Expensive, rarely-demanded pills couldn't risk unsold inventory.
"Deposit amount?"
"We accept Peiyuan Gutben Pills or rare materials, not silver."
Rembering Simayi's advice, Ergouzi nervously produced Blood Marrow Pills.
Would human-refined pills from a cult be accepted at the magistrate's shop?
The clerk examined one without reaction, issuing a receipt.
Even here, laws didn't reach.
"While waiting, buy regular antidote pills to suppress the poison?"
Ergouzi spent dozens of refined silver taels on interim antidotes.
Hongfu Hall rejected regular silver but accepted weapon-grade refined silver.
He also bought 100 Peiyuan Gutben Pills at Hong'an Hall.
Three days later, Ergouzi sat on his stone bed swallowing an antidote pill.
Black blood soon seeped from his wounds - slight improvent.
Rembering his master's healing spells, he studied the previously neglected Rejuvenation Technique.
The manual claid injury-healing properties - perhaps effective against poison?
For the next month, he combined daily antidotes with Rejuvenation practice.
The dual approach halted the poison's spread, expelling black blood gradually.
Now wound prodding elicited faint pain.
This progress suggested eventual recovery without the Antidote Pill.
Death seed unlikely - just a matter of ti.
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