Chapter 27, Inner Vision and Body Tempering Prescription

Translator: StarReader

 

Su Chen was wary of outsiders discovering the miraculous secret hidden in the herb garden, so he hurriedly harvested his own batch of blood ginseng and blood vine for body tempering.

 

After collecting this precious haul, Su Chen couldn’t contain his excitement, carefully stowing away the herbs. He worried that hiding them under the bed, they’d be discovered, while storing them in tree hollows deep within the secluded forest made him anxious about wild rodents damaging them. But soon, he realized his paranoia.

 

The Medicine King Estate’s back mountain was desolate and quiet, save for the workers from the Mess Hall who visited once a month to deliver supplies.

 

“No need to hide them. I’ll just use them all for body tempering in the next three months. No one will even notice the blue water’s secret.”

 

Su Chen calmed his excitement and experimented with the herbs to assist his cultivating process.

 

He always envied Wang Fugui and Li Jiao. As inner disciples, they were wealthy enough to purchase tempering herbs to assist in their cultivating.

 

It was precisely due to these herbs that assisted in body tempering that Wang Fugui had activated his Lower Dantian and become a third-rate practitioner in just half a year. As for Li Jiao, she was not far behind either.

 

Their progress was remarkable, leaving Su Chen and the other four outer disciples far behind. On most days, Li Jiao carried herself with the airs of a Young Miss, looking down her nose at Su Chen and the other outer disciple.

 

Now, he finally had the chance to experience the benefits of body tempering through herbs.

 

In the first half of the month, Su Chen dedicated himself to cultivating martial techniques. He ventured into the nearby woods, felling ten sturdy tree trunks and fashioning them into ten hardwood posts, each standing three meters tall in front of his shack.

 

Each was as thick as an arm and weighed over fifty kilograms—absolutely unbreakable without immense strength.

 

Su Chen trained with these wooden posts for one or two hours daily, practicing martial techniques until his arms swelled, his vigorous energy and blood were fully activated, and he was drenched in sweat before he finally stopped.

 

Then, he sat cross-legged inside the shack, entering a state of inner vision.

 

This introspection didn’t refer to viewing the Spirit Mountain within, since he couldn’t even enter his own Upper Dantian.

 

He was instead introspecting his physical body.

 

Su Chen had returned from the small lake in the Vaulting Mountains back to the Medicine King Estate, and in these past few days, he had been frequently contemplating the various applications of his Grandmaster perception.

 

At first, he only knew that his vision, hearing, smell, taste, touch, and the most mysterious intuition—these six perceptions—had all increased by at least tenfold. The strongest among them allowed him to perceive objects within three feet around him simply through intuition, even with his eyes closed.

 

During his stay at the herb garden over these two weeks, Su Chen had discovered a wonderful new use for his enhanced perception. That was using his intuition to introspect his physical body.

 

In other words, he could use his intuition to see every inch of his muscles, the flow of each tiny blood vessel, the pulsations of his internal organs, and even the condition of his nerves, bone marrow, and brain—all laid bare before him.

 

Su Chen could see the crimson blood coursing through his vessels, its rosy hue and slow flow. If there was a small clot blocking any minor blood vessel, he could easily detect it as well.

 

He could see hidden injuries within muscles, noting wear and tear on bones and joints.

 

Excluding the mysterious Upper Dantian within his Muddy Grain Palace, there were no secrets left in his body. This discovery filled Su Chen with exhilaration.

 

[The ability to introspect one’s physical form is incredibly valuable—far more so than enhancing vision tenfold,] he thought.

 

For a practitioner training martial arts, constant strikes against wooden posts strengthened the body’s skin and attack power, but in the process they inevitably caused recoil damage, wear and tear of tendons and bones, and small pieces of blood that block the blood vessels. Martial disciples adhered to an unspoken rule: without access to tempering herbs, one could only cultivate for two hours daily. Beyond this limit, cultivating became counterproductive, leading to bodily fatigue and potential injuries.

 

Over time, accumulated fatigue could result in weakened vitality, hidden damages surfacing, and a slowdown in cultivation at the Lower Dantian. In severe cases, it could lead to chronic illnesses and significant regression in Lower Dantian cultivation.

 

This was why many bottom-rung disciples, despite their relentless efforts, still struggled to break free from the third-rate stage.

 

As a result, introspecting his physical body would play a massive role, allowing him to monitor every minor injury and ailment with pinpoint precision.

 

Su Chen crossed his legs and, after introspecting his physical body, had a clear understanding of his current health status.

 

His body, which only underwent cultivating for less than two hours daily, was currently in a state of mild physical fatigue. As long as he stopped cultivating, it would gradually recover on its own.

 

“There’s an inch-long latent injury in my left arm muscle—I think it’s from yesterday when I accidentally twisted it during training.

 

“The marrow of my right wrist and the light wear and tear on the right leg bone are due to long-term overuse.

 

“And there’s a side blood vessel in my right leg that had several small clots from practicing sidekicks against a hardwood post a few days ago. If these clots accumulate, they could block this vessel completely. I need to get rid of them as soon as possible!”

 

Su Chen mused to himself.

 

During his half-month guarding the herb garden, Su Chen had seen which areas of his body were damaged. However, like a worker without tools, he was powerless to address these injuries until he managed to cultivate a batch of blue water-infused tempering herbs. Until then, all he could do was watch helplessly.

 

Now things had changed.

 

Su Chen intended to create a cure-all for himself. Among the five great branches of the Medicine King Group, only the esteemed pharmacists in the Alchemy Hall possessed the authority to craft such remedies. This was the foundation upon which the Medicine King Group stood strong within the vast martial world of the Wu Region. It was the true expertise of their pharmacists, with each effective cure-all formula often requiring years or even decades of research to develop. These formulas were worth a hundred gold taels and thus kept hidden.

 

Even an inner disciple couldn’t access these formulas unless they advanced within the Alchemy Hall to become a medicine master. Then, they might have the chance to encounter the Medicine King Group’s precious collection of formulas, which were purchased at great expense—albeit starting with the most basic ones.

 

The formula for body refinement was a closely guarded secret of the Medicine King Group. Such formulas were not recorded in any books.

 

In county pharmacies, those so-called ‘formulas’ were for treating common ailments among ordinary townsfolk. They were not used for practitioners’ cultivating processes or body refinement.

 

Take Su Chen, a novice disciple and lowly laborer in the group for only half a year—his master wouldn’t even deign to teach him, let alone allow him a glimpse of such formulas. Not that he would dare attempt it anyway.

 

Incorrect dosages could lead to herbal mix-ups, causing blood reversal or worse—death.

 

Su Chen, however, was fearless. Venom from a golden-banded viper couldn’t faze him; how could common body refinement herbs possibly harm him?

 

He knew absolutely no formulas, but having studied countless medicinal texts, he was well-versed in the properties of thousands of herbs. He recalled Li Kui’s past explanations on the effects of various herbs and his own research in the library.

 

After much careful consideration, he meticulously crafted a basic formula for himself—a humble mixture for wound healing with added body refinement properties.

 

One low-grade nine fragrance grass, two low-grade black yams, and one low-grade blood vine. These three herbs were all low-grade tempering herbs, and they had only grown for one year, so their medicinal properties were very weak. Among them, nine fragrance grass was used to treat hidden muscle injuries, black yam was used to repair bone and joint wear, and blood vine stimulated vitality and blood and helped clear the blood vessels.