Chapter 25: Glass Mirror, Bodhi Pill
The room used for medicine preparation, unlike the initiation room, was a small hall within the Zhaojian palace complex. A thick aroma of medicinal herbs lingered from the wooden structure, and dozens of cleaned, empty medicine jars were stacked in a corner. Taoist Hua Shen had Luo Xuanyi stand in the center of the hall. Before her stood a tall desk, upon which spread out books and ink-soaked brushes were placed exactly as they were in the corridor.
Taoist Hua Shen still did not change his clothes. He took out two kinds of pills from his sleeves, raised his hands to gesture to Luo Xuanyi, and taught her verbally as if this was a teaching session.
"Medicines come in various forms, including soups, wines, teas, dew, pills, powders, ointments, elixirs, tablets, and ingots. Different forms of elixirs have different effects on people, so we must find the best form for a particular medicine."
"Is there a big difference in the effectiveness of medicine in different forms?" Luo Xuanyi continued with this topic.
"The general efficacy will be the same, but the medicinal effect will fade. I will not tolerate defective products."
"Defective product." Adding to the jars, Luo Xuanyi finally understood why the dregs were being so ruthlessly disposed of. Unlike Su Yang's soft-heartedness, not showing any flaws in front of him was the best way to achieve the best outcome. Therefore, Luo Xuanyi must be curious about his products and understand his thinking. She proactively questioned the medicine in Taoist Hua Shen's hands.
"So, is the medicine in Master's hand already perfectly formulated? Or is it still being tested? Looking at its form, one of them looks like the precious wine that my senior brother used on me, and the other looks like a pill."
Taoist Hua Shen was delighted to have a disciple join him in his discussions on medicinal research. His previous disciples had always been resistant to testing drugs, believing they simply didn't understand the magnitude of these experiments. Even if they succeeded, they'd inevitably feel a bit sad to have no one to show off to. Now, he spoke of his creation with alacrity, like a young man wielding a sword, full of vigor and ambition: "This isn't the same medicine. It's the Bodhi Pill and the Glazed Wine. I also call the Glazed Wine the Glazed Mirror. I tried many varieties before settling on the one I chose, and your senior brothers and sisters have made an invaluable contribution."
"The efficacy of the Glazed Mirror is perfect, but it cannot be prepared with spiritual herbs grown in the sect. It must be made with spiritual objects that grow naturally. This needs improvement. Not being able to mass-produce it is nothing." Taoist Hua Shen clearly had higher expectations for his work. "If you want to learn, you can take the Glazed Mirror's experimental files and read them. If you don't understand something, come back to me. In short, the Glazed Mirror can be taken with any elixir at the same time, but it will not affect the efficacy of other elixirs, nor will it be affected by other factors, nor will it cause any harm to the body. After taking one dose, within three hours, the user's thoughts will be materialized into text. At the same time, no lies can be lied to and no answers must be given. This will facilitate communication between us on the progress of the drug testing."
Luo Xuanyi clearly felt that this potion's importance shouldn't be limited to testing. The Glazed Mirror's wide range of uses would surely prove immensely useful if mastered. Taoist Hua Shen was clearly the most suitable candidate for Luo Xuanyi to learn alchemy, and she must seize the opportunity.
"So what was the idea behind the design of the Bodhi Pill?"
Taoist Hua Shen's smile widened as he asked Luo Xuanyi, "If you were a poison cultivator, you would have to always have poison skills or prepared poisons on you, right?"
Seeing Luo Xuanyi nod, Taoist Hua Shen touched the Bodhi Pill with care, paced the hall for a moment, and then stopped. "Poison cultivation was once prominent! But it's no longer a mainstream skill in today's world. There are three main reasons. The first is the cultivation method. To transform spiritual energy into poison, one must practice two complementary internal and external cultivation methods. However, these two methods are useless, so if one wants to cultivate and utilize this spiritual energy-to-poison cultivation method, one must practice two more. Not only is the practice too cumbersome, but because some people often shelve the method as some kind of secret, fewer and fewer people know about it, making it difficult to practice."
"The second is the state of mind. What practitioners today pursue is the speed of cultivation. It seems that everything can be suppressed by state of mind, and their foundation is like a dangerous building that will collapse at the slightest touch. Poison cultivation is a long-term method that consumes both mental energy and state of mind, so it's naturally not favored by the mainstream."
"Finally, there's the difficulty of refining poisons. If one can't cultivate the transformation technique, one can supplement it with poisons used in alchemy. This way, poison practitioners don't have to cultivate four or more techniques simultaneously, which can be considered keeping up with the times. However, the herbs required for alchemy in ancient alchemy recipes are all naturally grown, so finding one is a rare opportunity, and the prices are sky-high. If one can't even put together the recipe, how can one even begin to cultivate poisons?"
"But I will definitely restore the glory of poison cultivation!"
The Bodhi Pill and the Glass Mirror both flew to and stopped in front of Luo Xuanyi. Luo Xuanyi stared at the dark brown pill with golden Bodhi tree patterns all over its body, and vaguely guessed its effect.
"This Bodhi Pill represents the beginning of the glory of poison cultivation! The herbs used in its refinement were all grown by disciples of the sect's Burial Flower Valley. They are all no more than twenty years old and have all been ripened through initiation. The fire used is the lowest earth fire, and one furnace can refine three pills. I believe that just one pill will transform the internal cultivation, flesh, and even the meridians into poison. The spiritual energy between heaven and earth will also be transformed into poison gas through the user's breath and accumulate in the body, which will solve the problem once and for all! However, it has not been tested yet, and I don't know if there are any disadvantages that need to be modified. Therefore, I came out of seclusion today to give it a try."
Taoist Hua Shen looked at Luo Xuanyi expectantly, as if waiting to open some kind of gift.
Luo Xuanyi stared at the Bodhi Pill in front of her, knowing it was impossible to escape. She might as well act carefree. Since she had to endure the pain, at least she had an opportunity. She closed her eyes, a smile on her face, and swallowed the glass mirror and the Bodhi Pill.
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