After the two returned, their days were tranquil once more.
However, it wasn't completely peaceful. There were many matters that needed to be handled, and Gongyi Tianheng's entire team was very busy.
Of course, the amount of headway they made was also large.
First of all, Dragon One was given Fu Manduo's merchandise for delivery, which was smoothly exchanged for large sums of gold. In addition, with the wave of Fu Manduo's hand, he easily rented a store along the Sect's Market Street. A "Medicine of Life" sign would be hung up; a name of a medicine shop that had been with Gongyi Tianheng for many years in the Cangyun Empire — Zhang Mingyuan and the other pharmacists were all capable of successfully refining many medicinal pills. While slowly acc.u.mulating goods, the merchandise was set up inside to join the medicinal pills Gu Zuo supplied. After some time had pa.s.sed, it would be open for business.
After that, there was Dragon Two and several enslaved martial artists who were setting out to use those previously exchanged funds to purchase a couple female martial artist slaves. Likewise, they needed to have staunched willpower, but their appearance also couldn't be lacking — Without him, running the store would always need some service personnel. In particular, when receiving customers, one would always use a woman's femininity to complement the masculinity. However, although the purchased female martial artists didn't have remarkably beautiful features, due to certain disgusting reasons, the female martial artists were still more expensive than their male counterparts. This so-called "additional value" really made one sigh.
Naturally, there was no difference between male slaves and female slaves to Gongyi Tianheng. They only needed to work honestly, and he would give them the same treatment.
Finally, it was time to recruit pharmacists once more.
As before, several prescriptions were used to attract pharmacists. Those who were drawn in seemed to have strong moral qualities and had a special interest in the path of medicine refinement. They were arranged to be taken along with Zhang Mingyuan and the others, to impart their corresponding attribute cultivation methods and medicine refining hand seals. This would continue the nurturing of the team.
Apart from this, they continued to purchase medicinal ingredients and other things. Huge sums of money were spent.
Gongyi Tianheng had already used up more than eighty percent of the golden banknotes in his possession. He could only wait for everything to step onto the right track to recoup his funds and conduct even more investments.
In short, towering buildings were built from the ground up. Not everything could be accomplished so easily.
Gu Zuo crouched beside the field. The expression on his face was a little confused. His hand was clenching a length of something, and he didn't say anything for a long time.
Because the time was a bit long, Tianheng stopped working on the side and came over: "Ah Zuo, what's wrong?"
Gu Zuo incredulously lifted the thing: "Big brother, look at this."
Tianheng then lowered his head and looked at it. After seeing it clearly, his expression also became a little odd: "…An ear of Scarlet Blood Rice?"
Gu Zuo nodded his head, his tone a bit challenged: "It's very strange, right?"
Tianheng blinked silently, and also nodded his head.
Gongyi Tianheng and Gu Zuo couldn't be blamed for this kind of att.i.tude because that ear of rice was really quite strange.
Scarlet Blood Rice was a good thing given to martial artists to replenish their qi and blood, and to steadily strengthen their physical bodies. For Outer Sect disciples, that enormous community, if they didn't have enough skill to rise to the Inner Sect, one would need to farm and harvest rice there for a lifetime in order to receive the Qingyun Sect's shelter.
For the normal morphology and development of Scarlet Blood Rice, the entire rice ear was blood-red after maturing. Although the blood-red rice grain was wrapped in a thin crust, a martial artist would pick the rice ear and thresh it against a basin. The crust would turn to dust and scatter with the wind, and only the gorgeous blood rice, that was crystal clear and l.u.s.trously plump like red coral, would remain.
However, the ears of Scarlet Blood Rice, which grew from the polluted spirit field, had its impurities removed by the Spirit Jade Vitality Decoction, and had its growth sped up by the Growth Hastening Decoction… The rice ears had become three to four times larger than before.
If one had to describe it, then the rice ear was the length of an arm, and hanging on the thick stalk were several dozen oval rice grains that were the size and thickness of an adult's fingers. Also, the rice grain's exterior had a hard sh.e.l.l. The hard sh.e.l.ls had a type of gorgeous multi-colored — No. One couldn't say all of them were gorgeously multi-colored. Some were really kaleidoscopic. But some were a drab gray, and there were also some black ones — There were all kinds of different rice grains present.
This kind of rice ear actually looked like a puffed-up version of one. Yet, under a careful examination, it was all very strange.
One couldn't help being shocked.
Gu Zuo looked here and there, but had nothing to say.
Could these Scarlet Blood Rice grains still be called Scarlet Blood Rice? The exterior sh.e.l.l was too hard, but it also gave one a deep sense of danger.
As a result, Gu Zuo was currently at a loss. How was he supposed to handle the Scarlet Blood Rice now?
If it was b.u.mped into like so, he was worried about any accidents cropping up. If it wasn't handled with care, curiosity was one thing, but it couldn't be left just like that! If it was directly destroyed… Getting a clear understanding of things unknown was better than just destroying it.
Gu Zuo sighed: "Big brother, how about you watch me cut it with a knife?"
Gongyi Tianheng looked at the Scarlet Blood Rice thoughtfully: "…Okay."
Of course, Gu Zuo and Tianheng couldn't be allowed to engage in this kind of matter. Dragon Two, who was in charge of this tract of farmland, rapidly flashed over, and his hand was holding a long and sharp knife.
Gu Zuo thew the rice ear to the ground and quickly pulled Tianheng away. At this moment, Dragon Two swung the knife down — In the blink of an eye, some grains on the rice ear were already chopped into two pieces.
A split second later, a multi-colored liquid poured out of the sliced-open grain husk — Before it was cut open, it was a multi-colored grain.
Then, Gu Zuo smelled a sweet fragrance.
This sweet fragrance rapidly filled the air, directly perfusing the human body. At the same time, Gu Zuo felt a bit of vertigo, and his head felt wooden. The true qi within his body was quickly eroding!
It wasn't only Gu Zuo. Gongyi Tianheng and Dragon Two also felt the same way. Especially Dragon Two, because his true qi wasn't as robust as Tianheng's. Only a few seconds pa.s.sed, and a hollowed-out powerlessness arose. After even all of his true qi disappeared, his qi energy and qi and blood were also eroding!
Gu Zuo saw Dragon Two's reaction and couldn't help his astonishment. But the liquid coming out of the cut-open grain was emitting an odor. And even though he wanted to dispose of it, he couldn't think of a way momentarily.
On the contrary, Tianheng was relying on the robust true qi within his body to carry Gu Zuo away under his armpit as well as drag Dragon Two along. The three retreated at flying speeds. The farther the distance from that sweet-scented odor, the fainter the fragrance became and the slower the true qi within their bodies eroded. Gongyi Tianheng didn't stop until he couldn't detect the weak feeling of their true qi dissipating.
Gu Zuo heaved and gasped: "What, what was that thing?!"
Tianheng's expression was also very solemn.
This was a rare miscalculation on Tianheng's part because he also never expected the mutated Scarlet Blood Rice to produce this sort of dreadful thing after being cut open.
It seemed it was capable of directly eroding the true qi of martial artists and pharmacists. But even eroding the true qi wasn't the end of it… Dragon Two had already started losing qi and blood, and once a martial artist lost all of their qi and blood, it was only a matter of time until they turned into a pile of dried-up bones and died.
Gu Zuo was very fearful.
Even though he was already studying poison refinement, he never expected there to be such toxins in this world.
Yes. Being able to bring out that kind of effect was undoubtedly due to the Scarlet Blood Rice mutating into a highly toxic substance. The stuff inside of those multi-colored grains should've been a poisonous fluid. Normally, the fluid would've been contained in the husk and grain. But once it was cut open or matured and dropped off, what occurred next would've been… He feared it would've ended with numerous martial artists within range dying by the poison.
Just as he took a deep breath to suppress his fright while thinking about how they would resolve that issue, the system unexpectedly started to flood his mind with text, issuing a new mission.
[Side Mission 1: Find the antidote of the mutated Scarlet Blood Rice.]
[Mission Item: >]
[Completion Method: Unrestricted.]
[Completion Time: Within one day.]
[Mission Penalty: Deduction of one thousand strands of medicinal qi.]
This was the first mission, which was followed by a second one.
[Side Mission 2: Fully understand the medicinal effects of mutated Scarlet Blood Rice.]
[Mission Item: >]
[Completion Method: Unrestricted.]
[Completion Time: Within three days.]
[Mission Penalty: Deduction of one thousand strands of medicinal qi.]
Gu Zuo ma.s.saged his temples as he developed a bit of a headache.
A thousand strands of medicinal qi was a thousand cauldrons of pills or something else… If he failed to resolve these two problems, then what was he to do? Losing a little bit was fine, but this much was certainly agonizing.
Off to the side, Dragon Two had already taken medicinal pills to replenish his qi and blood as well as his true qi. Meanwhile, Gongyi Tianheng discovered something different about Gu Zuo, and inclined his head to ask: "Ah Zuo?"
Gu Zuo habitually told his dear big brother about the matter, saying: "The timeframe is too short, and this round's system seems a little strict…"
Tianheng somewhat muttered to himself, then replied: "Maybe it's because this matter's resolution isn't fundamentally difficult. It wishes that you can keenly find clues from the details."
Gu Zuo blanked, then started pondering.
What his dear big brother said was reasonable. Perhaps he'd been intimidated by the multi-colored, mutated Scarlet Blood Rice's dread, so he neglected a point. All things had a counterbalance, and the absence of a natural enemy was hardly possible. It was just like how things of toxicity were usually in the vicinity of its antidote… Right, things near the toxin.
He promptly thought of what he should do.
Gu Zuo's line of sight was cast to that expanse of Scarlet Blood Rice.
Just now, he discovered that it was completely barren beneath the Scarlet Blood Rice. If one were to mention something acting as a counterbalance, it was either the soil or some kind of plant that likewise grew with the Scarlet Blood Rice. In the past, some plant fruits were poisonous, but the leaves or roots were the antidote. This was also worth considering.
On the Scarlet Blood Rice, there really were three types of mutants: Multi-colored, gray, and black.
Since the multi-colored was poison, could the gray and black ones be storing a type of antidote?
Gu Zuo boldly guessed, but he still carefully sought proof.
After Gongyi Tianheng heard Gu Zuo's a.n.a.lysis, he nodded and said: "I'll go give it a try."
Gu Zuo immediately became anxious: "Big brother, you—"
Tianheng smiled: "My true qi is the most vigorous, and the probability of getting away is also bigger. Ah Zuo, you know that I'm the most suitable candidate."
Gu Zuo certainly knew this, but…knowing was one thing and being worried was another.
Dragon Two kneeled and begged for instruction: "Would the young master permit this subordinate to go forth? The young master's invaluable body should never be put in danger."
Gu Zuo frowned.
If Dragon Two went, if by any chance something happened, he might drop dead.
Dragon Two still continued to speak: "This subordinate and the others follow the young master. If all calamities were shouldered by the young master, then what use do we subordinates have? The Tianlong Guard was originally the spear in the young master's hand. The young master's intent guide this spear point. We, the Tianlong Guard, will risk life and limb for the young master!"
Gu Zuo was shaken.
Dragon Two thought like this? Although he didn't understand the loyalties of people from ancient times too well, from the intent of his vehement desire to meet death, he heard Dragon Two's determination to die without regrets.
Perhaps to Dragon Two, death was nothing important. Was it Dragon Two's incompetence to fail to display his utter loyalty to Gongyi Tianheng and make his dear big brother take such risks?
But no matter how devoted Dragon Two was, the decisions Tianheng issued didn't need to be questioned by other people. And they absolutely wouldn't be changed because of others.
Tianheng said: "I'm aware of the devotion of you all, but my manpower right now is deficient. If you die, it would be an even bigger loss to me. The probability of my survival is dozens of times greater than yours. If you want to show your devotion to me, then it won't be needed here and now."
Dragon Two kowtowed: "May the young master take care! May the young master avoid harm!"
He still wanted to subst.i.tute for Gongyi Tianheng, but he understood even more clearly that Tianheng would live up to his promises.
As a result, he could only get up obediently and stand in the rear.
Tianheng waved his hand, and smilingly said to Gu Zuo: "Ah Zuo, I'll be going."
Gu Zuo warned again: "If big brother senses something wrong, then come back immediately!"
Naturally, Gongyi Tianheng agreed with a smile.
Then, they only saw his figure flash as he nimbly arrived before the rice ear that Gu Zuo had previously placed on the ground. He extended a hand wreathed in qi energy to pick it up.
After that multi-colored grain had been cut open, poisonous fluid had flowed out and the outer sh.e.l.l had already fallen off. This left many other grains on the rice ear, and the multi-colored ones naturally couldn't be touched again. Nevertheless, Gongyi Tianheng took out a dagger and casually slashed it, cutting a black grain into two pieces.
What flowed out of the black grain was a black liquid.
Oddly, the black liquid, that originally should've made one feel strange, instead emitted a type of refreshing fragrance. A moment ago, Tianheng had smelled the poisonous gas and the true qi within his body was still circulating roughly. However, at this moment, after he smelled the odor emitted by the black liquid, he suddenly felt his body lighten and was much more comfortable.
It looked like the liquid within the black grains were really the antidote?
In that case… What about the gray ones?
Gongyi Tianheng hesitated slightly, but the gray one was also cut open.
The gray liquid that flowed out likewise emitted a pleasant fragrance. Compared to the black liquid, it was still appeared somewhat fresh and clean. But there was no need to doubt that it was harmless to Tianheng.
Hence, after Gongyi Tianheng took a black and gray grain each, he nimbly returned.
Gu Zuo immediately welcomed him over, his heart impatient: "Big brother, how was it? Are you okay?"
Tianheng's expression was warm as he handed the black grain over to Dragon Two: "You cut it open to take a look." Following which, he handed the gray one over to Gu Zuo, "Ah Zuo, you give it a try."
His mind had some conjectures.
Gu Zuo and Dragon Two didn't have the slightest doubts to Gongyi Tianheng.
They promptly set out opening these two grains.
After that, Dragon Two smelled the black liquid's odor and Gu Zuo smelled the gray liquid's odor. The ailments in the two's bodies were like a retreating tide. Almost immediately, their true qi was restored to normal.
Gu Zuo murmured: "The multi-colored one is poison. The inhaler's true qi and qi and blood would be used up. It's incomparably violent, and it can injure martial artists and it can also injure pharmacists. On the same plant, the black rice grains cure martial artists and the gray rice grains cure pharmacists…"
This shouldn't have been all of it, but at the least, he was starting to understand.
At this time, the system's reminder flooded by.
[Side Mission 1 has already been completed. Side Mission 2's current progress is fifty percent.]
Gu Zuo was astounded.
In other words, the multi-colored mutated Scarlet Blood Rice still had other uses? Since it was highly toxic, it was certainly still about causing people harm, right?
Gongyi Tianheng listened to Gu Zuo's rambling, and turned his head to instruct: "Dragon Two, go bring over some level five wild beasts."
Dragon Two half-kneeled: "Yes, young master."
After that, he moved out and left at flying speeds.
Gu Zuo looked at Tianheng: "Big brother suspects that since it can harm martial artists and pharmacists, maybe it can also harm wild beasts?"
Tianheng nodded his head.
Gu Zuo seemed to comprehend somewhat: "Perhaps, we can start from its capacity to harm. Looking at it again, there was an instantaneous effect to Qi Breathing stage one people like us. What would it be like for those who are stronger?"
In order to preserve his own medicinal qi, Gu Zuo handed over this tract of farmland's resources to Tianheng. After he harvested a share for himself, he squeezed into another medicine refining room to refine poison.
Time was very tight. He could find that big brother of his for resources and so on. The top priority right now was to get a clear understanding of what that mutated Scarlet Blood Rice had become!
Things were going well.
Gu Zuo was very good at using the system now. Through the course of continuous experimentation, he checked the system mission's progress every time he found a use, and slowly improved. Then he discovered that this poison really was effective against wild beasts. Each and every time a grade five wild beast was exposed to the poison, it immediately lost all capabilities to counterattack within a brief couple of seconds. But perhaps it was because a wild beast's body was far stronger than a martial artist's body. They seemed to be anesthetized, but there wasn't any loss to their qi and blood or beastly power.
This discovery almost left Gu Zuo ecstatic.
If used properly, he could refine a medicinal decoction to tranquilize very many wild beasts. In addition, they could be transported back to be sold for exceptionally good prices!
After Gongyi Tianheng learned of this, he supported Gu Zuo even more energetically. He even used the final share of funds to buy grade six wild beasts for Gu Zuo's experiments.
As a result, the grade six wild beasts underwent the same effect — If there was any distinction, it was only that the duration of control was different!
The mutated Scarlet Blood Rice quickly went from a dead-end poison to a treasure capable of ama.s.sing great amounts of wealth! The change was too fast, but it still made one incomparably gratified.
It was only a pity that there weren't any funds to get grade seven wild beasts.
Gu Zuo's heart felt very regretful. However, he never thought that just two hours after sighing, a grade seven wild beast was delivered in front of him.
During this incredulous moment, what met his gaze was Gongyi Tianheng's smiling eyes.
As it turned out, one's earned contribution points could be exchanged for resources with the Sect in the Sect's Transaction Hall. Let alone a grade seven wild beast, it even had grade eight, grade nine, and grade ten wild beasts! If there was a want for it, there were even spirit grade wild beasts comparable to the Immortal Realm!
Only, each type of wild beast required vast amounts of contribution points. At the very least, that grade seven wild beast cost more than fifty contribution points. If one wanted a grade eight, they would need hundreds of contrition points!
But as Gu Zuo went through his experiments, he discovered that the grade seven wild beast could only be controlled by that poison for a couple fo seconds. During this period of time, it would be easy to slay it, but controlling it would be a test to one's skills. If it reached grade eight, the usefulness was probably going to be extremely weak.
At this point, the research on wild beasts and the toxin should've come to an end.
Yet, the degree of completion of the system's mission was only at eighty percent.
Gu Zuo realized that his direction didn't have any mistakes, so the remaining parts should've been about the toxin's effects on martial artists and pharmacists. Merely, while he could use wild beasts to directly experiment on live specimens, it was impossible to make those around him continuously test and verify the poison — If there was the tiniest lack of control, it could lead to the death of a comrade!
For a moment, matters slipped into a deadlock.
Gu Zuo was hard-pressed and didn't know what he should do to complete the mission.
Gongyi Tianheng discovered him like this and extended a hand to pinch his cheek: "Is Ah Zuo worried?"
Gu Zuo nodded while still having his cheek pinched.
Tianheng smiled slightly: "If a pharmacist wants to improve, it's impossible without people to test the medicine on. Nowadays, there are many poisonous substances circulating around and the victims must be informed. Ah Zuo, since there's a need, there's certainly a channel to accomplish this matter. As you don't have a clear understanding, why not go ask that person of virtue and prestige who's even more experienced than you?"
Gu Zuo suddenly snapped out of it: "Elder Huo?"
Tianheng grinned, releasing his hand: "Go, Ah Zuo. Liu Bao will follow along and protect you."
Gu Zuo grinned from ear to ear, and his smile glittered brilliantly: "Many thanks for the reminder, big brother. I'll go at once!"
After that, Gu Zuo shuffled away and quickly took Liu Bao to the Medicine Pavilion.
Gu Zuo's luck was pretty good over there. He met the on-duty Elder Huo and Elder Huo remembered this little youngster whom he favored.
Elder Huo curiously asked: "Student Gu is so eager. What matters do you have to ask about?"
Gu Zuo embarra.s.singly said: "The Scarlet Blood Rice I planted had mutated and had become a type of poisonous substance. I wanted to research the strength of its toxicity, but I can't take the people by my side to test it on. And I would never willfully slaughter the innocent…"
Elder Huo listened and listened. Then he twirled his mustache and smiled.
So it was like this.
At the same time, his smiling expression became even more good-natured towards Gu Zuo.
Being able to stick to one's heart and not indulging in one's pa.s.sions when confronting matters of extreme curiosity… Only pharmacists like this were genuinely good seedlings.
Otherwise, how would they support the endless research?
Hence, Elder Huo didn't mind reaching out a hand to help Gu Zuo.
T/N: This is the final double-length chapter for this batch. Chapter updates will be returning to a quicker schedule. You can expect a chapter every three days or so.
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