Chapter Forty-Seven: The Divine Alchemy of the Medicine King
“What on earth is happening at the Alchemy Pavilion today?”
“No idea.”
“I was just cultivating, and even though we’re so far from the Pavilion, I still felt so unsettled that I nearly lost control of my qi.”
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Today, it wasn’t just the disciples on the main peak and at the Alchemy Pavilion who were disturbed; even on the other six peaks surrounding it, many disciples were growing frustrated.
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At this moment, Gu Xiaopang, already back at his own dwelling, was nearly driven to madness.
“What’s going wrong?”
“I’ve been as careful as I possibly can…”
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“You brat, do you think you can just toss a pile of spirit herbs in, light a fire, and then force whatever’s left together to make a pill?!”
“If it were that simple, everyone would be an alchemist by now!”
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“It’s all that Elder Mu’s fault, making me learn alchemy but not bothering to supervise or guide me.”
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“Master, please, I beg you to instruct me. I can’t go on making a fool of myself in your name.”
Faced with Gu Xiaopang’s shameless pleading—so persistent he could talk the dead back to life—Old Qin materialized with a face full of reluctance.
“I’m not feeling well these days; I don’t have time to teach you.”
“Just look at this jade slip yourself.”
“If you still can’t manage it, don’t call yourself my disciple. I can’t bear the disgrace!”
Before he’d finished speaking, his shadow had already slipped silently back into the stone pendant.
“Divine Alchemy of the Medicine King?”
“That name… I wonder if it has anything to do with the Medicine King Sect.”
“Whatever. It sounds impressive. I’ll just start practicing.”
Probing with his spiritual sense: the body as a furnace—this is called ‘inner alchemy’; using a cauldron as the furnace—this is ‘external alchemy’; using heaven and earth as the furnace—then all things can be refined… With powerful spiritual force, the essence of the world can be drawn in and made one’s own… Destroy the thunder that ruins the pill, and a divine pill will be born…
“So it’s through constantly strengthening spiritual power that one improves in alchemy.”
“Divine pill? Does such a thing really exist? Where did that old man even steal this technique from?”
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Through ceaseless cultivation, Gu Xiaopang felt a strange energy gathering in his mind, at first intangible and elusive, slowly evolving into a tiny vortex.
As the vortex spun, more and more of that mysterious energy was drawn in, and the pace of accumulation quickened...
The swirling energy was like a stream of cool water clearing his mind, leaving his thoughts strikingly lucid.
Gu Xiaopang realized that this was the so-called spiritual force cultivated through the Medicine King’s Divine Alchemy method.
Reaching out with his spiritual sense, he found that where before he could only perceive his surroundings within a dozen meters, now he could sense a full twenty meters around him.
Not only that, but within this expanded range, he could now do more than passively sense objects—he could actually touch them with his mind, almost as if with his own hands, though he couldn’t yet exert any force.
For example, the teacup on the wooden table in the center of his room: previously, he could only sense its presence with his eyes closed, but now he could clearly feel its shape with his spiritual sense.
He believed that with continued cultivation, soon he’d be able to lift it from across the room with his eyes closed, even from over ten meters away.
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So, spiritual sense combined with mental power could produce such marvelous results—it felt a bit like the supernatural abilities people had envied so much in his previous life.
Filled with enthusiasm, Gu Xiaopang hurried back to his alchemy room in the Pavilion, reviewed the alchemy method once more, then sat cross-legged before the cauldron and began his preparations anew.
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