Devouring Evil Martial Arts, Eliminating Demons from All Heavens

Chapter 368 Pengcheng Sword, Take Medicine First

Chu Tianshu led two Taoist priests through the fields, gradually approaching the bustling area.

There is a great river that flows from the northwest mountains, and it must go around a mountain ridge along the way.

The river took a turn, changing its course completely from due west to due east, branching into several tributaries, and the current gradually slowed down.

Where the water flow is gentle, there are the most houses on both banks. Except for the main river channel where large boats can travel, bridges have been built over all the other tributaries.

There are arched bridges and floating bridges, and crowds come and go, making it very lively.

A peddler with a wildflower in his hair carefully walks across the bridge, carrying his load. A child shakes a rattle drum, holding his mother's hand, admiring the scenery along the river.

After walking up to the middle of the bridge, Chu Tianshu held onto the railing and looked out over both banks. The wind blowing in his face was quite pleasant.

"Fellow Daoist Lu said he came here before. Do you have any recommendations for places to visit?"

Lu Yuande insisted that Chu Tianshu should stop calling him "senior," so Chu Tianshu changed his form of address.

At this moment, Lu Yuande turned his head to look, seemingly examining the scenery on the shore, which still bore some resemblance to his own back then.

"There really is such a place."

On the south bank of the river, there is a tavern with a very unique layout, consisting of a large house and three buildings.

The three buildings are arranged in a triangular shape, distributed on the east, west, and south sides.

To the north of the tavern, near the river, is a large, single-story house with long windows on all four sides.

During the day, the long windows are removed, letting in direct sunlight. Tables and chairs are arranged in rows, seemingly enough to seat hundreds of people, yet the tables are still sparsely spaced, allowing people to move freely.

Dozens of swords and knives were hanging under the eaves of the houses on the side closest to the river.

Sometimes the wind is strong on the river, and the swords clink together when they shake.

Chu Tianshu saw the swords and knives when he was on the bridge, and it was Lu Yuande who recommended this tavern to him.

The three entered the building on the south side of the tavern, where a waiter came to greet them. He didn't ask whether they wanted to drink or stay at the tavern, but simply said that.

"Would the three of you be interested in visiting the riverside tavern?"

Chu Tianshu smiled and hummed in agreement.

The waiter then led them through the spacious courtyard to the large house to the north.

There are not many guests in the house now. There are wine cabinets in all four corners, with black wine jars sealed with red cloth and mud piled up like small mountains.

In front of the wine cabinet in the southeast corner, there was another counter where an old scholar wearing a square headscarf sat, apparently in charge of the accounts.

There were three other stools in front of the counter, with two old men sitting on them, one holding an erhu and the other a pipa, while the middle stool was empty.

At this moment, the one with the erhu is idle, while the one with the pipa is gently playing a tune, making a tinkling sound.

Chu Tianshu found a table by the window and sat down, not far from the swords and knives hanging outside.

Stone Boy placed the old Taoist opposite him, sat down to the side, grabbed the teapot, poured himself a full cup, and drank the cold water in one gulp.

The waiter hurried over, bringing a pot of hot tea, and asked about the dishes.

Lu Yuande ordered a few light dishes, while Chu Tianshu examined the swords and knives.

There wasn't a big gold signboard outside the tavern, but it was quite famous in the entire Denglaishan market, known as "Pengcheng Tavern".

Since ancient times, Pengcheng has been one of the nine provinces, a place where dragons and tigers have fought for thousands of years.

Legend has it that Pengcheng had its beginnings as early as the time of the Yellow Emperor, and through the changes of time, it has always been a strategic location fought over by military strategists.

However, Pengcheng today is not under the control of either the Northern or Southern Dynasties, but belongs to the fiefdom of the Marquis of Pengcheng.

Decades ago, there were two prominent families with the surname Xiao, one of which was the Xiao family of Donghai.

Xiao Liang, the son of a stable boy in the Xiao family of Donghai, fled into the world during his youth, staying in Pengcheng and Denglaishanji for several years in each place.

Twenty years ago, he mastered swordsmanship and achieved the highest level of swordsmanship. He single-handedly killed all the experts of the Xiao family in the East Sea and hung his sword on the city gate. For three days, no one dared to enter or leave.

The imperial court conferred upon him the title of Marquis and built a Marquis's Mansion for him in Pengcheng.

Few people remember what title the court bestowed upon him; they simply refer to him as the Marquis of Pengcheng.

Twenty years have passed, and Xiao Liang has become the "Number One Swordsman in the World".

Pengcheng Tavern is said to be his property.

The seventy-three swords hanging on the eaves were the weapons of the masters he defeated when he lived in Denglaishan Village.

For twenty years, these swords have been hanging outside, exposed to the wind and sun, and the steam rising from the river.

Surprisingly, there was hardly any rust on the blade, and its cold gleam remained.

Even the hilts of the knives and swords were largely intact.

From Chu Tianshu's unique perspective, one can better sense the signs that these swords and blades have been nurtured by martial arts true energy and sword intent over the years.

Twenty years later, some remnants still remain.

"Although wind, rain and sunlight erode the sharpness, they also wash away the bloodstains, leaving the purest trace of sword intent deep within the iron blade."

Chu Tianshu picked up a cup of tea and admired the swords with a touch of pleasure.

In his eyes, these things were much prettier than ordinary flowers and plants.

By observing those faint auras, he could roughly guess what kind of martial arts styles those masters of swords and sabers had in the past, thus verifying his own swordsmanship.

After drinking more than half of his tea, Chu Tianshu lightly tapped the edge of the table with his right hand.

The thumb hooks onto the other fingertips and flicks them repeatedly, not in a fixed order, but with a rhythm, like playing a zither.

Each finger flicked out a wisp of silvery-blue light, silently circling around the edge of the table and landing on Lu Yuande's left leg.

A total of twenty-nine silver needles were inserted into acupoints on his legs, liver, and side waist.

At the end of each silver needle is a thin, long thread of air, faintly visible.

There are a total of twenty-nine energy threads connected to Chu Tianshu's five fingers, which are indestructible and continuously transmit internal energy, vibrating the needle tails.

Lu Yuande's medical skills were superb, and he felt that the selection of twenty-nine acupoints was not too surprising. He could think of the purpose of each acupoint himself.

But then, the pure internal energy arrived continuously, with no shortage of energy. It could not only clear the meridians, but also seemed to clear the muscles, bones and blood. This was a needle technique that the old Taoist priest could not achieve.

"My foot..." Lu Yuande was slightly immersed in the sore but comfortable feeling in his left leg, but he quickly came to his senses and looked at his disciple.

Shi Tou took a scroll of bamboo slips out of the bamboo basket and began to carve words on the back of the scrolls with his fingernail.

Although it was just a fleeting glimpse, Chu Tianshu could see that the front of the bamboo slip contained a copy of the Tao Te Ching, and the characters were not large to begin with.

Now the characters carved on the back of the stone are even smaller; he could probably carve more than ten thousand characters on a single bamboo slip.

Lu Yuande explained, "The elixir of refining the moon has 108 formulas for men, which I have already had Shi Tou memorize. If you also want the women's formulas, I will memorize them for you later."

Chu Tianshu nodded slightly, and the waiter had already brought over a few side dishes.

Two jugs of Shaoxing wine, a dish of pickled plums, a steamed fish, four duck legs, and a full dish of river shrimp.

Although the waiter passed by, he couldn't see the wisps of air in Chu Tianshu's hand, nor did he notice the needles on Lu Yuande's leg.

As soon as Lu Yuande and the other waiters turned around, they gently sucked on the table and bit into a duck leg, crushing the meat and bone together and shoving it into their mouths bit by bit.

He buried himself in carving words on the stone.

Chu Tianshu smiled and said, "You should eat something first."

Stone nodded, and after several breaths, he reached out and grabbed a duck leg, slicing off all the meat in one bite, leaving the bare bone aside. He chewed vigorously while continuing to carve words with his hands.

Chu Tianshu smiled, his gaze falling on the words he had carved, but his expression gradually became a little strange.

"Your previous prescriptions all contained between four and twenty ingredients, which is quite normal."

"But this prescription already has more than fifty ingredients, right?"

A typical prescription consists of four to twelve kinds of medicines, and even for particularly complex illnesses, it only contains about twenty kinds of medicines.

After all, the use of medicine is not about randomly piling up quantities. The roles of the principal, assistant, adjuvant, and guide herbs are all interconnected, and too many herbs can lead to too many variables.

Mixing too many medicinal ingredients can turn them into poison, ultimately amounting to drinking poison.

"This prescription contains fifty-four herbs."

Lu Yuande crunched a bone and said, "It is very complicated to fight against the turbid qi of the moon. The body of a master can accommodate more conditions and uses more types of medicine."

"There are prescriptions with 54 ingredients and prescriptions with 68 ingredients. Among the prescriptions used by enlightened people, there is another prescription that requires a total of 131 ingredients."

Chu Tianshu couldn't help but furrow his brow.

This challenges his common sense as a witch doctor.

If you boil over a hundred kinds of herbs in the same formula, what kind of culinary mess will you end up with?

This prescription is so outrageous that it's not even worth drinking, let alone using it for a medicinal bath for a master.

"and many more."

Chu Tianshu thought of another question, "These prescriptions require so many medicines, can Denglaishanji find them all?"

"Hiss, and how wealthy must Fellow Daoist Lu's sect be to be able to afford so many medicinal herbs?"

Lu Yuande smiled wryly and said, "It is precisely because I have found all the items in Denglai Mountain Market that I brought my disciple here to make a living."

"As for my former sect, I'm not afraid to admit it, fellow Daoist. The sect founded by a dignified Daoist never had more than seventeen disciples at its peak."

"Moreover, there are many of these recipes that have been summarized by our ancestors and friends over the generations, and I have only experienced them once or twice in my entire life."

"It's because we don't have the money to use those common medicines, so we can only choose simplified prescriptions with slightly less effective results."

A prescription that has only been used once or twice...

Okay, if someone is an expert, they can indeed determine its effectiveness after only one or two experiences.

Chu Tianshu looked at the bamboo slips again.

Indeed, within his comprehension range, there are many recipes, clearly differentiated by simplified and upgraded versions.

"But I always feel that you've gone a bit astray on the path of using medicine to refine the moon."

Chu Tianshu became curious, "What are the other two paths?"

"This is the right path!"

Lu Yuande's expression turned serious. "Of the three paths, ours is called the 'Seeking the Dao Shennong,' which uses the word 'seeking' to emphasize its arduousness."

"But the other two, while sounding good, actually have bigger flaws."

"One of them is called the External Dharma Pivot, which relies on refining magical treasures and divine weapons to resist the pollution of the moon."

"Moonlight cannot contaminate metal and stone, because metal and stone are stubborn! When refining magical treasures with metal and stone, regardless of which school or sect it belongs to, and without seeking other effects, it is essential to ensure that the foundation is stubborn. The deeper the cultivation, the stronger the magical treasure, and the more contamination it can resist."

"But in the end, this method will also solidify one's cultivation, making it difficult to make any further progress."

When Lu Yuande spoke of this path, he was still in a tone of discussion that suggested the other party had greater flaws.

But when he talked about the third path, his eyebrows shot up even higher.

"The third one, which is called the original transmission of the heart, is in fact a completely evil path."

"Those who cultivate this path claim that in the primordial beginning, in the time of ignorance, the moonlight was inherently wondrous, and now it is simply a return to one's true self."

"They believe that we can open our arms and accept the energy of heaven and earth that has been tainted by the moonlight, and even seek to directly absorb the power of the moon's turbidity."

"But those enlightened people who created this method did not actually want to lose their minds, so they had another secret method to pass on their excess impure thoughts and evil intentions to their disciples, who in turn passed them on to outsiders."

"It is said that their secret methods are different, but they are generally the same: give evil thoughts to others, and then take them back at a certain moment to enjoy their purity."

Upon hearing this, Chu Tianshu raised his left hand and rubbed his temples.

Well, it's only been a hundred years, and everyone's new cultivation path is not yet fully perfected, which is normal.

One is a herbal medicine grinder, the other has its own upper limit set, and the other is clearly inhumane.

But I have a token.

Chu Tianshu glanced at the list of materials on the token and had some ideas in mind.

For now, I should take my medicine.

(End of this chapter)