LRAB Page 93
Page 93
"Stab!"
With a slight thought, I gathered the essence of heaven and earth.
Using the "Grass Character Sword Technique," with a light stroke, Zhou Xuan personally separated the jade stone with hidden cracks, leaving behind a complete, uninteresting jade stone without any hidden cracks.
Then, with a thought, he engraved the talisman on it again.
"Crack!!!"
However, when Zhou Xuan reactivated the rune in preparation for recording the little one drinking beast milk, he discovered that the rune had failed again.
"I'm done drinking!"
"Hiccup~!"
"My tummy is so bloated, but it feels so good!"
At that moment, Zhou Xuan heard the little one's satisfied voice.
Looking in the direction of the sound, you can see a little one with milk stains on his pretty face, lying comfortably on the soft grass, patting his chubby little belly with his tiny hands with a silly grin.
What puzzled Zhou Xuan even more was that he had tried it twice just now...
The runes that were previously unable to activate and record the influence of the little one were now operating autonomously, absorbing the essence of heaven and earth and recording the surrounding influence.
"Little one, little Zhou Xuan, stop playing under the Willow Goddess."
Zhou Xuan gazed intently at the jade carving in his palm, his eyes filled with inquiry. The old clan chief's greeting echoed from the village:
"Come over here for a medicinal bath. We've collected a lot of rare and precious blood from ferocious beasts today. After a good soak, you'll have a good sleep and be stronger than pure-blooded ferocious beasts!"
"Aww...No!!!"
Before the old clan chief's greeting had even finished, Tiger Girl, Pi Hou, and a group of half-grown children, like wildcats whose tails had been stepped on, screamed and scattered in all directions of the village.
"A bunch of ignorant monkeys! This stuff is more nutritious than beast meat. Soak it in it properly, and it'll make you as strong as mountain beast cubs!"
Seeing that the group of mischievous monkeys didn't know their worth, the adults of Shicun widened their eyes, swung their muscular legs, and rushed to grab the people.
"Ahhhhh!!"
"I don't want to soak it, it hurts too much, it feels like being cut with a knife!"
"Mom, please save me!"
Although the group of Ishimura monkeys, who had experienced the pain of medicinal baths, struggled frantically, how could they, with their small arms and legs, possibly be a match for these Ishimura men who possessed the strength to pull nine oxen upside down?
Every single one of them was grabbed by the neck and brought back.
Upon hearing about the medicinal bath in Shicun Village, Zhou Xuan's heart stirred slightly.
The method of "Attaining the Dao in Dreams" also records several medicinal bath recipes to enhance physical strength and stabilize the foundation of the physical body.
Even immortal-level cultivation techniques contain such prescriptions, which is enough to prove that medicinal baths are an essential part of the cultivation methods of this era.
Therefore, upon hearing the old clan leader's call, Zhou Xuan also stood up.
With the little one in tow, they followed the old clan chief's voice and arrived in the village.
As soon as he got closer, Zhou Xuan heard the crackling sound of flames burning.
Immediately afterwards, eight enormous bronze cauldrons came into view, with old wood and withered vines supporting them, and crimson flames licking at the cauldrons.
The water in the cauldron was boiling violently.
The rising steam bursts forth, shooting straight into the sky.
Around the large cauldron, several elders from Shi Village, led by the old clan chief Shi Yunfeng, skillfully threw long snakes as thick as a child's arm, centipedes with a metallic sheen, and spiders the size of human heads into the cauldron one by one.
When a poisonous insect enters the cauldron, in just a moment, the clear, steaming water inside is stained black.
The rising water vapor also changed from its original milky white to a highly toxic dark black.
At that moment, the old clan chief took out the herbs that had been processed and dried.
A large cauldron that is thrown and its temperature adjusted in a specific order.
With the addition of medicinal herbs, the black steam in the cauldron transformed the surrounding vegetation, causing the poisonous leaves to curl and dry. The cauldron water, originally dark, began to glow with a shimmering light.
The medicinal properties diffused out with the water vapor in just a moment.
The vegetation that was on the verge of being poisoned miraculously recovered and even grew more lush and verdant with the passage of time.
Clearly, with the incorporation of medicinal herbs, these eight cauldrons of highly poisonous water have undergone their ultimate transformation under the neutralization and stimulation of the medicinal properties.
With Zhou Xuan's keen eye and knowledge, he naturally discovered that the body-tempering medicinal bath recipe from Dahuang Stone Village was extremely rare.
If we replace those ordinary poisonous insects with rare and exotic beasts that are more powerful and have more potent toxins; and at the same time replace those ordinary medicinal herbs that have little spirituality with precious medicines of the same kind...
The efficacy of this medicinal bath is probably comparable to the medicinal bath prescription in the "Dream Enlightenment" method.
As Zhou Xuan observed the old man's actions in Stone Village and analyzed the medicinal properties, he began to analyze them.
The group of mischievous monkeys captured by the burly Lord Shicun struggled even more fiercely after seeing the color of the medicinal liquid in the cauldron.
Good heavens, the light black medicinal bath I had just taken before had already made me feel like I was dying.
This medicinal bath is even blacker than my hair. If I jumped in, it would be excruciatingly painful!
However, no matter how much the monkey from Ishimura struggled, it was firmly suppressed by Lord Ishimura's arms, which seemed to be forged from refined steel.
Just as the mischievous monkeys of Shicun were resigned to their fate.
The old clan chief, Shi Yunfeng, who was concentrating on preparing the medicinal bath, slightly raised his hand.
Then a member of the clan brought over a dozen jars.
As soon as the jar was opened, Zhou Xuan smelled a strong stench of blood.
Clearly, these dozen or so small jars contain the blood essence of the ferocious beasts that the Stone Village hunting team has killed over the years.
Sure enough, as soon as the lid was lifted, the old patriarch Shi Yunfeng carefully poured out more than a dozen streams of scarlet blood.
Blood was poured into the cauldron, and the flames beneath the large bronze cauldron remained stable, while the dark, glistening water in the cauldron boiled even more vigorously.
Aside from the blood essence of the ferocious beasts hunted by the hunting team, the most valuable bones of the ferocious beasts were also crushed by the strong and powerful men of Shicun and thrown into the bronze cauldron.
"Splash! Splash!!!"
As soon as the medicinal bath was finished boiling, Shi Yunfeng gave an order, and the men of Shi Village excitedly threw the wailing, tearful monkeys they were holding into the cauldron.
"Awooo~! Awooo~!!"
"It hurts so much! It hurts even more than last time!"
"It's so hot! This water's going to boil me alive!"
"The meat's been scalded to pieces, Mom! Help!"
The moment they entered the cauldron, a group of mischievous monkeys widened their eyes and struggled frantically to break free.
However, as soon as it poked its head out, its own parents pressed it back down, and its screams and cries were so pitiful that they rose into the sky.
And so, one cauldron and one person, going back and forth, cooked all the mischievous monkeys in Stone Village.
About 90% of the little monkeys struggled frantically, crying with snot and tears streaming down their faces.
However, just as there are all sorts of people, some suffer and scream in pain while others grit their teeth and endure.
Of course, all the children in Shicun Village took medicinal baths, and Zhou Xuan and Xiaobudian were no exception.
The little one was thrown alone into that pitch-black cauldron, which contained almost no water.
The other children's medicinal baths consisted of plenty of water with a small amount of ferocious beast blood essence added, while Little One's bath consisted of plenty of ferocious beast blood essence mixed with a little water.
A medicinal bath made with the blood essence of a ferocious beast is naturally much more potent than one made with plain water.
However, the villagers of Shicun did not feel that anything was wrong.
The reason is that their own child simply cannot withstand this level of medicinal bath treatment.
The little one is different; he can endure it.
In the hearts of the simple-minded people of Shicun, since the little one can handle it, it is naturally not a waste.
"Little Zhou Xuan, come over here."
The little one's medicinal bath still contained some water, but the medicinal bath prepared by the old patriarch for Zhou Xuan did not contain any water at all, and the number of poisonous insects and herbs was even more numerous.
Looking in the direction of the sound, Zhou Xuan saw a blazing fire, but the medicinal bath inside the cauldron was like asphalt, an extremely viscous liquid.
As he spoke, the old clan chief took out a small jar, about the size of a palm, from his pocket.
As soon as the small jar was opened, a beam of blue light shot out and condensed into a dragon-headed, snake-tailed dragon turtle named Baxia.
It was the size of a fist, with a ferocious dragon head and a snake tail that would devour anyone it encountered; it was extremely vicious.
"Boom!!!"
Staring at the fist-sized, azure Baxia, Shi Yunfeng frowned, grabbed a roll of animal hide, and then glowing bone runes appeared in his palm, activating the hide. He then slapped it away, scattering the dragon turtle Baxia.
With just a small movement, the old clan chief Shi Yunfeng broke out in a sweat, large beads of sweat rolling down his forehead.
Clearly, given the old patriarch's age, activating the animal hide treasure required an immense amount of energy.
"This is the true blood of the dragon turtle Baxia that I obtained when I was traveling in the Great Wilderness in my early years."
"Although it is not the strongest essence blood, it still has a very strong body-strengthening effect."
At this point, the old patriarch Shi Yunfeng turned to look at Zhou Xuan and said:
"Little Zhou Xuan, why don't you give it a try!"
Zhou Xuan stepped forward, stood in front of the cauldron, and then reached out and scooped up a small amount of the viscous medicinal bath liquid inside the cauldron, which resembled asphalt.
Using the Devouring Heaven Demon Art's principle of absorption, he used his divine sense to plunder the essence of heaven and earth. Then, his arm, tempered by the Grass Character Sword Technique and the Dream Proving Dao method, touched the scorching medicinal bath liquid.
Zhou Xuan did not feel any heat, and the body-tempering medicinal bath mixed with Baxia's true blood only made Zhou Xuan's arm feel slightly numb.
It is indeed effective. If one uses this medicinal bath consistently for several days over many years, it can be comparable to the body-tempering effect of one cycle of one's own cultivation technique.
If one's own divine sense is insufficient to plunder a massive amount of heaven and earth essence, then using this medicinal bath is not necessarily a bad thing.
However, his own divine sense was enough to support him in plundering a massive amount of the essence of heaven and earth to temper himself.
Moreover, Shi Village is not wealthy, and these medicinal bath materials are probably treasures that Shi Village has accumulated over a long period of time.
It was simply not enough to support Zhou Xuan's years of body tempering.