Chapter 63: Chapter 63: Heavy Snow in Shuzhou
Wang Sheng received Xu Qu’s Medicinal Recipe three days later, and it had to be said that when there was compensation involved, things moved quickly. In just three days, Xu Qu had transcribed all the Medicinal Recipes he remembered.
Of course, it might be due to Xu Qu lacking any talent in drawing, the majority of the medicinal ingredients lacked illustrations and were described only by characteristics.
For Wang Sheng, this was already sufficient. He only needed new book content to speed up his “Herb Recognition” skills.
After getting the Medicinal Recipe, he immediately started reading it at night.
It seemed Xu Qu had a habit of writing some introductory words at the beginning of his books.
The last Cultivation Technique did this, and so did the Medicinal Recipe.
The introduction of the Medicinal Recipe was simple. It briefly introduced the difference between ordinary medicinal ingredients and those that could enhance the strength of Martial Artists, which is also an important criterion for recognition.
The medicinal ingredients that could enhance the strength of Martial Artists were usually referred to as Spiritual Medicines.
Only those of the most superior kind were called Medicine Kings, but even the Medicine King, strictly speaking, fell within the category of Spiritual Medicines.
The formation of Spiritual Medicines generally resulted from special locations, places with unique energies that led to the creation of Spiritual Medicines.
Wang Sheng noticed a very clear example, the tiger bone herb, which was also included at the beginning of the Medicinal Recipe.
Tiger bone herb is a companion Spiritual Medicine to the Mountain Lord, but logically speaking, it’s not that the birth of a Mountain Lord results in the creation of tiger bone herb, rather it’s because that place is special that both the Mountain Lord and tiger bone herb appear.
Simply put, tiger bone herb and the Mountain Lord are a kind of abnormal siblings.
Of course, according to Xu Qu’s Medicinal Recipe, once the tiger bone herb matures, the Mountain Lord generally consumes it directly to enhance its strength.
Therefore, mature tiger bone herbs are generally hard to come by. The ones typically available for sale are immature Spiritual Medicines obtained after slaying the Mountain Lord. Even so, they are still decent Spiritual Medicines for Low-level Martial Artists.
There are also other Spiritual Medicines that exist in various special places…
After reading, Wang Sheng gained a significant amount of knowledge.
At the same time, he thought of a question.
“The Breakthrough in medicinal plant cultivation three times, could it actually mean cultivating Spiritual Medicines using special energies?”
Previously, when the Mechanical Giant Beast appeared, he had speculated that the skill of “Medicinal Plant Cultivation” must involve some special energy that caused the change in the plants, and now this was further confirmed.
“Indeed, a world where Martial Artists can be born isn’t that simple.”
It was precisely because of the world’s special nature that beings like Martial Artists, extraordinary in comparison to normal humans, came into existence.
These speculations just helped him to understand the world better, but actually, these things didn’t have a big impact on him. No matter how it was achieved, he needed to use the Spiritual Medicine he cultivated.
Another help was the progress in “Herb Recognition.”
With the new Medicinal Recipe, specifically a Spiritual Medicine Recipe, in the following week, the progress of “Herb Recognition” soared rapidly.
According to the original pace, he might have taken several months to make a Breakthrough. But now, he made a breakthrough in just one week.
“Herb Recognition: Breakthrough +3 (1%)”
He had achieved the third Breakthrough with this skill.
After the Breakthrough, Wang Sheng’s mind was filled with a wealth of knowledge related to Spiritual Medicines.
“Is this the special aspect of breaking through three times?”
No wonder the skill improved so swiftly after getting the Medicinal Recipe, the post-three Breakthrough ability was indeed related to Spiritual Medicines.
“It’s better than nothing, I guess!”
For ordinary Martial Artists, having such knowledge was quite beneficial, as it would help them find and utilize Spiritual Medicines better.
But for Wang Sheng, he had a better way to obtain Spiritual Medicines and didn’t need to take risks outdoors.
Using that time, he was better off caring for his own medicinal plants. Perhaps after “Medicinal Plant Cultivation” improved, he could cultivate even more formidable medicinal plants.
After all, the progress of “Medicinal Plant Cultivation” was also nearing another Breakthrough.
“Medicinal Plant Cultivation: Breakthrough +3 (99%)”
A week ago, the progress of Medicinal Plant Cultivation was at 96%, but there’s no Medicinal Recipe style thing to speed up the progress, and it only increases when the plants mature, so the increase over a week wasn’t particularly significant.
After the next batch of medicinal ingredients matured, Medicinal Plant Cultivation would also be able to make its fourth Breakthrough.
Two days later, Medicinal Plant Cultivation successfully made a Breakthrough.
“Medicinal Plant Cultivation: Breakthrough +4 (1%)”
“Let’s cultivate a batch of medicinal ingredients and see the difference.”
Even though Wang Sheng felt there wouldn’t be any significant qualitative improvement after four Breakthroughs, he still planned to compare the results.
Five days later, a batch of ingredients for the Ten-Complete Great Replenishing Pill had been cultivated, and Wang Sheng noted the first change.
“The maturation time has certainly reduced!”
Next, he turned the medicinal ingredients into consumable Ten-Complete Great Replenishing Pills. After making them, Wang Sheng tried the two different pills with the help of the Ba Duan Jin.
“The medicinal effect has also improved a bit, but not to an exaggerated extent.”
Both changes were within expectations. No qualitative change occurred, but the effects were enhanced based on the original foundation, similar to both Ba Duan Jin and Inner Core Skill.
However, the improvement in medicinal effect was quite significant for him.
Previously, the effects of Ten-Complete Great Replenishing Pills were not exactly poor, but overall somewhat lacking. Now, using them for Cultivation was generally a matter of quantity.
With the improved medicinal effects after the Breakthrough, it wasn’t like the initial overwhelming effect, nor was it insufficient, but rather hit a “just right” point.
As a result, the efficiency of practicing the Ba Duan Jin increased significantly, and the speed at which his Qi Blood Power and Blood Qi strength increased was faster.
Although it was just a Breakthrough in a minor skill, it actually led to an overall enhancement in his strength.
Quickly, a month passed by, with Wang Sheng mostly spending his time in Cultivation.
Even though the weather should have been getting warmer, it remained bitterly cold. Fortunately, the houses had been significantly repaired and many preparations made, preventing anyone from freezing to death so far.
Moreover, temperatures dropped again one day, making outdoor activities difficult.
Not only that, Shuzhou, which rarely saw snow in a decade, actually experienced heavy snowfall. It wasn’t light snow but heavy snow that accumulated on the ground, continuing for three days.
Nearly ten centimeters of snow had piled up on the ground. If it got any worse, it could be considered a snow calamity for Shuzhou.
Qingshan Village had no choice but to halt the tilling of fields.
“This snow isn’t right!”
This anomaly naturally caught the attention of the village head. He had lived in Shuzhou for decades and had never seen such outrageous weather.
Even a little snowfall in the past would have been surprising. Yet, during what was supposed to be warming weather, such heavy snowfall occurred—it was downright strange.
Initially, Wang Sheng wasn’t too concerned, as it had only snowed for three days. As long as it didn’t continue, the impact wouldn’t be too great. That is, until Xu Qu came to him.
“Wang Sheng, there’s something wrong with this snow. It’s not natural. It’s likely man-made!”
Wang Sheng: “???”