Pills and dicine
Pill Manual Hall’s elder wasn’t with Ku Mu when Mu Yu returned. Ku Mu, however, was in a foul mood. He gave Mu Yu the death stare when the latter entered the house. Thus, Mu Yu asked, “Gramps… y-your leg isn’t broken, is it?”
“Why’d you tell him I was back, you little runt?!” Ku Mu clobbered Mu Yu over the back of his head.
Mu Yu didn’t dodge since it wouldn’t and didn’t even tickle. Still, Mu Yu hissed and rubbed his head to protect Ku Mu’s self-esteem. “You never warned not to,” Mu Yu uttered.
Ku Mu first gave Mu Yu another death stare, then threw a book at him.
“Speed Alchemy. Did Guardian Elder give it to you?” asked Mu Yu, whilst silently cursing, “Threw it out, my foot. You made spend ages searching for it.”
“Elder? If I still had my cultivation, I’d have snapped both of his legs!”
“Yeah, toss him! Did he make you sign a contract to prostitute yourself? Damn him. When I’m strong enough, I’ll sell him off to a quarry owner,” exclaid Mu Yu, waving his fist.
“Enough with the pretence!” Ku Mu, feeling better, said, “He’s your shishu’s ancestor. Don’t sell him to a quarry owner.”
“Ah, yes, I shouldn’t have said that.” Mu Yu played along with a grin.
“He should be sold to a brothel. He can slave away as a gigolo!”
Mu Yu filled Ku Mu in on the reversal pill cauldron he brought back. Unexpectedly, Ku Mu scoffed, “Even if you can mix them, don’t. When the phenonon draws everyone over, stop. That’ll burst one of that old man’s veins.”
Mu Yu: He’s more confident in than I am.
Mu Yu’s top priority was to learn the contents of Speed Alchemy under Ku Mu’s tutelage. The manual was a ntal cultivation manual. Mastery of it equipped alchemists with the ability to accurately use herbs and forcibly modify the effects of spiritual energy on herbs, consequently gaining the ability to combine that which originally couldn’t be combined.
Previous learners of Speed Alchemy found that the ability was only effective on rank three herbs. Owing to the ntal cultivation style altering one’s spiritual energy usage, it overruled and inhibited one from cultivating via their initial style.
“The manual is silly. Didn’t he realise the drawback when he authored the manual? His teachings have ruined so many disciples.”
“It’s their fault for assuming they could fathom Pill Progenitor’s ntal cultivation. The fools who were looking for shortcuts deserved it.”
Mu Yu tried cycling his spiritual energy one cycle as per Speed Alchemy’s instructions. It was much more challenging than he anticipating as the thodology contradicted usual thods. Circulating one’s spiritual energy was playing with fire. Rejection from one’s ridians combined with distraction potentially led to ridians suffering damage. Over ti, the damage would hold one back from progressing their cultivation. Accordingly, their cultivation would plateau for good.
“Draw qi to your dantian and circulate it in reverse. Did he really design sothing so dangerous?”
“… Absolutely. Do you know its true secret, though?”
I wonder if it has anything to do with the reason Ku Mu chose to pursue poison.
“Do you know why he is called Pill Progenitor?” queried Ku Mu, speaking with a grouchy undertone similar to soone suffering from an injustice.
“Because he created the complete pill system in his later years?”
“Exactly. The entire spherical pill shape was the revolution he initiated. Pills were powder or liquid before he ca up with it. Pills and powder weren’t convenient, which is why he ca up with the compact spherical design. Since it was convenient and prevented contents from leaking, people adopted pills and credited him as Pill Progenitor.”
“But he conjured the ntal cultivation prior to the pill system? I suppose that explains why the thod didn’t work with more modern alchemy arts.”
Thrilled, Ku Mu stuttered, “C-c-correct. Sp-speed Alch-”
“Gramps, don’t forget he tried to prostitute you!”
“For crying out loud, stop bringing that up, will you?! Rember what he did to , and make damn sure you return the favour for ! He’s more of a scumbag than Shi Dengtian is!”
“Pfft.”
I’m not looking for a shortcut to death.
“Speed Alchemy was designed for powders and liquids. You can practice it but strictly never use it in pill concoction. Otherwise, you will damage your ridians permanently. It reverses the flow of qi. In saying that, it doesn’t conflict with your usual cultivation. In fact, it could expedite your cultivation without any side effects. Those who suffered as a result of using it used the wrong tool in the wrong context,” Ku Mu explained and ended with a sneer.
“Why didn’t you share that with them?”
“After I learnt it, I never manufactured spherical pills again, only the best powders and liquid. They, however, refused to accept that. By the sa token, they refused to believe .”
Ku Mu’s poisons were stored in vials precisely because he used Speed Alchemy. The different path he chose to walk was a bitter solo journey that nobody could comprehend.
“Pills, or rather, alchemy, wasn’t terd alchemy in the past. People simply called it dicine. Speed Alchemy’s original na was Speed dicine. dicine is actually more advanced than alchemy nowadays. People just fail to see it. Alchemy these days is used more in cultivation, while dicine is reserved for patients. As a result of experinting with dicine, pharmacists commonly end up poisoned.”
The reason Ku Mu nad his work Poison Scripture instead of dicine Scripture despite it entailing how to treat ailnts was attributed to Ku Mu’s personal hobby. People called him a poison master, so he went along with it.
“What did you want to grab Speed Alchemy for, then? Since it can’t be used in pill concoction, how am I supposed to win?”
Ku Mu gave Mu Yu the “idiot” look and then rhetorically questioned, “Do you really think I haven’t found a way to convert dicine and pills after all these years of studying?”
“You can use Speed Alchemy’s ntal cultivation without the drawbacks?”
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