Chapter 50, Pill Formation, Among the Freshest, Second Out of Ten (Looking for Additional Reads on Tuesday)
Arriving at Half Mountain Small Courtyard,
Lu Qing rarely failed to see his master practicing boxing in the open space in front of the door.
He looked inside the house and found that the Medicine Room's door was still tightly closed, with a faint scent of medicine coming out.
Knowing that his master was still engaged in alchemy, he didn't make a sound to disturb him.
Instead, he placed the bucket in the corner and began to sweep the courtyard with a broom conscientiously.
Little Yan, seeing her brother cleaning, also dragged out a small broom from the corner to help.
When the siblings had nearly finished cleaning the entire courtyard, Lu Qing finally heard a door opening from inside the house.
Following that was the elder doctor's hearty laughter.
"You two, have you been here for long?" he asked upon seeing Lu Qing and his sister cleaning the courtyard.
"Not for very long, less than half an hour," Lu Qing replied truthfully.
"Grandpa Chen, Little Yan also helped brother clean," the little one brandished her broom, seeking praise.
"Grandpa knows, Little Yan is always the most obedient," the elder doctor praised immediately.
"Hehe," the little one beamed with joy upon receiving the compliment.
"Master, did you stay up all night?" Lu Qing asked, observing the elder doctor's attire, which was the same as the previous day.
"Indeed, one cannot afford to be negligent in the path of alchemy, especially when concocting these Blood Tonifying Qi Enhancing Elixirs. It's best done in one go, directly producing the elixir, to fully preserve the medicinal efficacy of the ginseng," the elder doctor nodded.
"Then, Master, should you not rest a while?" Lu Qing asked with some concern.
"There's no need for that, it was just staying up for one night. This old man's body isn't so frail yet," the elder doctor waved his hand, "Besides, the elderly don't need much sleep. Losing a little sleep isn't an issue."
Lu Qing observed and saw that his master's complexion was still ruddy, and his spirit was bright; he didn't show a trace of fatigue.
He knew his words were true.
Naturally, his master was a Martial Arts Expert of the Internal Organ Realm; how could staying up all night possibly affect him?
"From Master's words, could it be that the Blood Tonifying Qi Enhancing Elixir..." Lu Qing's eyes sparkled.
"Has already been successfully concocted," the elder doctor took out a snow-white porcelain bottle, "From that old ginseng root, a total of twenty Blood Tonifying Qi Enhancing Elixirs were produced."
"With the aid of these twenty elixirs, not only will you have a much easier time stepping into the Qi Blood Realm, but once you've entered, your cultivation will also progress swiftly."
Lu Qing took the porcelain bottle, feeling its significant weight.
He suddenly asked, "Master, is it true that the Blood Tonifying Qi Enhancing Elixir, is most effective after entering the Qi Blood Realm?"
The elder doctor paused, then replied, "Indeed, this elixir is one of the best supportive medicines for those in the Qi Blood Realm. Refining just one pill can bring about no small progress; countless Qi Blood Realm Martial Artists would pay a hefty price to get their hands on a few."
"In that case, wouldn't it be a bit wasteful for me to take this elixir before entering the Qi Blood Realm?"n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om
"Although some medicinal efficacy would be wasted, your constitution is somewhat weak. Without the assistance of elixirs, even if your Nourishing Body Boxing has reached entry level, entering the Qi Blood Realm would still take quite some time."
Hearing his master's words, Lu Qing smiled lightly, not pursuing the topic further, and instead changed the subject.
"Master, yesterday I went fishing and caught two fish with unusual appearances. They seem quite extraordinary, and I wanted to show them to you."
"Oh, what good thing have you caught again?" the elder doctor showed interest.
He knew that his disciple possessed a unique talent in fishing, often catching some unusual types of fish.
These days, he had never run out of small fish in his place.
The flavor of fried small fish was very delightful, perfect with a drink, so much so that his two jars of treasured aged wine were almost finished.
"This fish is the first of its kind I've caught. It's not large, but it is quite powerful, and it feels very unusual."
Lu Qing took out the bucket containing the golden loach from the corner of the courtyard.
The elder doctor leaned over to look and saw the swimming golden loach within, and after recognizing it, his eyes suddenly went wide.
"This thing, it's a golden loach!"
"You recognize this kind of fish?" inquired Lu Qing.
"Of course, I recognize it." The elder doctor was quite excited, "Remember the Red Moon Carp you caught before? I told you it was one of the Ten Culinary Delights of the world."
"Could it be that this fish is also one of the Ten Culinary Delights?" Lu Qing's heart stirred.
That, he really hadn't expected.
"Indeed, this kind of fish is also one of the Strange Fish, named the golden loach, and is equally ranked among the world's ten delicacies. However, its ranking among those delicacies is much lower than that of the Red Moon Carp, towards the bottom to be precise, which is why its taste is somewhat inferior."
"But though its flavor might be slightly lacking, the golden loach possesses one aspect in which it far surpasses the Red Moon Carp—that is its incredibly high nourishing effects, making it most suitable for those with a weak constitution to consume."
"I told you before that your Red Moon Carp was bought by a nobleman from the city to nourish his wife's health."
"After the noblewoman ate the Red Moon Carp, her health improved significantly, but she was still somewhat frail."
"Had she eaten this golden loach on that day, she likely would have recovered completely."
The golden loach was truly one of the ten rare delicacies.
Lu Qing was astonished.
By this account, he had already fished two types of the ten delicacies in the river outside the village.
The unassuming rural river actually contained two or perhaps even more Strange Fish—this was indeed intriguing.
Was it because of the Blood Apricots, or some other, even more obscure reasons?
Lu Qing couldn't help but think deeper into it.
The elder doctor clearly thought of this as well.
"Ah Qing, where did you fish this golden loach from?"
"Right at the same place where I caught the Red Moon Carp," Lu Qing replied without concealment.
"The river outside the village can produce both Red Moon Carp and golden loach?"
The elder doctor realized there was something unusual.
"Master, is there something wrong with that?" Lu Qing humbly inquired.
"Indeed, it's quite extraordinary," the elder doctor said, "But what exactly the reason is, this old man cannot say, although..."
"Although what?"
Seeing the elder doctor's solemn expression, Lu Qing quickly asked.
"The matter of the river outside the village hiding Strange Fish should not be mentioned to others from now on," the elder doctor said earnestly. "Strange Fish are rare, their value is extremely high, and if the news gets out, it might not be good for our village."
"Disciple understands," Lu Qing said, grasping his master's intent.
There's a crime in owning a jade, as the saying goes—the value of the Strange Fish was too high.
If others learned that there were Strange Fish in the river outside the village, it was possible that someone would want to take over the river and displace the villagers.
He saw such examples in the news in his previous life.
It would be a disaster for the villagers of Jiuli Village.
It appeared that if he caught any more Strange Fish in the future, he would not be able to reveal it to anyone.
Understanding this, Lu Qing made up his mind on the spot.
Even if he caught more Strange Fish in the future, he wouldn't sell them. Your adventure continues at empire
After all, he and the little beast had reached an agreement; at most, after catching Strange Fish in the future, he would exchange them for ginseng with it.
"As long as you remember," the elder doctor nodded, knowing his disciple was always intelligent and didn't need much reminding.
However, he became curious about another matter.
"Didn't you say you caught two golden loaches? I recall that golden loaches always appear in pairs and never alone. So where's the other one?"
"The other one was eaten by that little black beast," Lu Qing replied with a wry smile, then briefly explained the little beast's insistence on eating Strange Fish.
He omitted the part about the agreement with the beast.
"Originally, I wanted to keep both golden loaches, but that little beast was not going to give up, so I had to hand over one of them."
"I see. Well, that's fine; the little beast gave you a hundred-year-old ginseng, and it's only propriety to reciprocate by letting it eat one of the Strange Fish," the elder doctor said, not feeling it was a pity.
"Master, there's only one golden loach left, so please enjoy it yourself—consider it a token of your disciple's gratitude," Lu Qing offered.
"Such a fine thing, if I were to enjoy it alone, that would be a waste," the elder doctor laughed. "Let's eat it together instead."
"Speaking of which, you couldn't have fished up this golden loach at a better time. If you're lucky, maybe today you could step into the Qi Blood Realm," the elder doctor remarked.
Upon hearing this, Lu Qing couldn't help but be startled.