Chapter 324: Medicine Sage’s Impartation
Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio
Mo Wen was not completely ignorant about alchemy. He knew at least a little about it. After following his alchemy master in the Divine Sect Pill for a few years, he dared to say that the alchemy techniques of an average immortal cultivator would not be able to match up to his.
Yet now, he had experienced failure after failure. He had no other plans by this time, and everything had failed. It was clearly a very simple alchemy art with a simple and clear process, so why was he continuously failing? An uncomprehending look flashed in Mo Wen’s eyes. He stopped practicing his alchemy techniques and stopped to think for a bit.
Who knew that the moment Mo Wen stopped, the old man in white robes would continue to light the fire to the stove? He was like a robot as he continued to concoct the pills repeatedly and expressionlessly.
A bright look appeared in Mo Wen’s eyes, and his entire being became immersed in what the old man was doing. Mo Wen observed the old man’s alchemy techniques in detail, committing every single thing to memory, down to the meaning of the actions.
After one hour, the old man stopped, and Mo Wen began to concoct the pills by himself once again. The result was still the same. He had failed once again. He had clearly remembered every small detail, so why was he still failing constantly?
Mo Wen began to feel more and more baffled. At the same time, the more he did not know the answer, the more stubborn he got, and the more he immersed himself in learning alchemy.
The old man in white robes seemed to be a puppet. He repetitively taught Mo Wen how to concoct the pills and did not even show any signs of fatigue. It seemed as though he passed the time by performing alchemy. Time after time, Mo Wen repeated the process but the result was the same.
Time was like water that flowed through the cracks of his fingers. In this space that had no concept of time, Mo Wen did not know how much time had passed. It could have been a day, or already a year. In any case, based on his perception, a very long time had passed.
Even with Mo Wen’s disposition, he was getting a little discouraged and had wanted to give up a couple of times. However, his refusal to give up caused him to try again and again. He was boiling internally and was determined to concoct a whole pot of pills.
After an unknown period of time, the old man in white robes suddenly stopped teaching. Just as Mo Wen had thought he could not persevere any longer and was prepared to give up, a sound rang out that almost made Mo Wen vomit blood.
“Your perseverance is admirable. You have passed the first round of the test.” There was not a hint of emotion in the old man’s voice. Just as before, he was like a puppet and simply announced the result passively.
Upon hearing that, Mo Wen almost puked out a whole mouthful of blood. F*ck, you cheated me! With his intelligence, how could he not understand what this meant?! In fact, the old man in white robes was not teaching him alchemy. Rather, it was a perseverance test. Everything had been for naught. No matter how hard Mo Wen tried, it was impossible to concoct any pills. That was because this old man did not even think of letting him succeed and purposely led him to failure time and again.
Mo Wen felt the urge to curse. It was just an inheritance, but it had taken such a toll on him!
The old man in white robes did not care about anything else as he said, “The second round is a test of talent. If you pass, you will be able to attain the inheritance.” He did not have any spiritual knowledge, so naturally, he did not care about Mo Wen’s feelings. With a wave of his arm, a bright light shined all around and formed a huge circle. Then, stalk after stalk of medicinal herbs began to appear in the surroundings. There were tens of millions of all kinds of medicinal herbs present.
It was difficult to keep count of the medicinal herbs that were surrounding Mo Wen and spreading all over the floor. It made him muddle-headed. Many of the medicinal herbs were very treasured spiritual medicines. Any random stalk was very valuable. Presently, they were actually appearing in piles before his eyes.
However, he also knew that these spiritual medicines and herbs were fake and did not exist in reality. Since the owner of the Primordial Soul Pearl was able to create such an illusion, it would naturally be an easy feat to create a few stalks of spiritual medicine as part of the illusion.
In the subsequent process, the old man was basically teaching alchemy. Mo Wen was completely engrossed in learning. The two of them were concocting so much that there was no sense of time, and there was no way of knowing just how much time had passed.
The only change was that the spiritual medicines and herbs around them were gradually decreasing. When they had all disappeared, they all re-appeared once again. It was endless. Even Mo Wen had forgotten how many batches had been renewed. He was simply following the old man and repeatedly learning the alchemy techniques.
Mo wen already had some background in alchemy. It was not all that difficult when he started learning from the basics. Moreover, there was no longer the situation where he failed continuously. Normally, for the easier alchemy techniques, he would succeed every three to five times. Those with a higher difficulty level would require repeated practices of at most a dozen times, and then he would learn the skill.
He was very interested in alchemy. At the same time, he was very confident in his alchemy techniques. After all, the Divine Pill Sect was a world-renowned Immortal Cultivation Sect for alchemy. Hence, it was only natural for its alchemy techniques to be second to none.
However, only after following the old man’s process of alchemy did he know the true meaning of being extensive and profound. In comparison to the old man in white robes, his previous knowledge of alchemy was just a drop in a huge ocean.
Mo Wen’s talent in alchemy was exceptional. Back then, he had constantly been praised by his master in the Divine Pill Sect. However, it was a pity that he was unable to cultivate, so it was difficult for him to achieve anything big.
Now that he was learning the alchemy techniques from the old man in white robes, although it got more difficult the deeper they delved and the level of difficulty just kept increasing, Mo Wen was constantly improving. Based on his exceptional talent, he had managed to follow the old man’s steps.
He did not know how long had passed. It could have already been several years, or even dozens of years. Throughout the slow passing of time, the two of them did not feel any fatigue at all because in this space, there was no such thing as fatigue. It was as though no matter what time it was, one could maintain a very vibrant energy.
Finally, one day, all the medicinal herbs around Mo Wen had been used up, and no more had been conjured. The old man stopped teaching Mo Wen alchemy. After saying expressionlessly, “Exceptional talent, congratulations, you have passed the inheritance test,” his body disappeared on the spot with a flash. Then, the huge cauldron furnace appeared in the sky, descended gradually, and enveloped Mo Wen.
As for that old man in white robes, he appeared in the sky sitting cross-legged. Both his hands were bent into a mysterious shape. That old man in white robes said in a low voice, “Just like a dream!” A weird, invisible aura started to emanate from his body. In a moment, it had enveloped the entire sacrificial altar. The huge cauldron furnace started to gradually revolve.
In the next moment, the sight before Mo Wen became blurry. His spirit started to stagger, and it was as though he were on the verge of falling asleep. He tried his best to make himself more clear-headed, but it was simply impossible. His eyelids grew heavier, and in just a few moments, he had completely descended into darkness.
In his sleep, Mo Wen dreamed a very, very long dream. He dreamed of his entire lifetime. No, to put it more accurately, he dreamed of someone else’s lifetime. In that dream, he did not feel very engaged. He was just like a third party watching the events unfold like a movie.
In the dream, a child was slowly growing up. After learning to be capable and entering the world of Immortal Cultivation, he worked very hard without fail to become a master immortal cultivator of his generation. He was a master that drew worldwide attention and was dubbed, “the medicine sage.” His technique of alchemy was perfection that had never before been seen in the world.
Mo Wen learned a lot and noticed a lot. However, there were many things that he did not understand. Not only did his perplexities not lessen, they increased instead. The scenes before his eyes were like a movie that seemed to play for a very long time, for hundreds of years, or even thousands of years.
With thousands of years of experiences, how could Mo Wen remember everything? There were many things that he only had an impression of. Then, he completely forgot about them, leaving them at the back of his mind. The person’s life was too slow and long. When the ages of his own two lifetimes were added up, it did not even exceed 40 years.
Thousands of years? What kind of concept was that? If a normal person lived that long, they would even forget who they were.
Mo Wen had basically forgotten all the small and trivial matters of daily life. However, he remembered the person’s path of Cultivation, method, and process. Also, he remembered the experience extremely clearly. It felt like it had been engraved in his mind, such that it would be difficult for him to forget.
He did not know when it was or how long had passed.
Mo Wen began to awaken, and there was a hazy look in his eyes. It was only after a long time that he became clear-headed, and his consciousness became more awake. Looking around his environment, he noticed that he was still on that sacrificial altar. Before him was still the huge cauldron furnace that resembled a little mountain. On the huge cauldron, that old man in white robes was floating in his sitting position just as before.
From the long dream, Mo Wen knew who the old man was. He was the legendary monk of ancient China whose Cultivation was perfection. He was of the legendary Virtue and Justice realm, the medicine sage master of the generation, Ji Wuya.
Ji Wuya’s life was said to be phenomenal. Whether it was his Cultivation or alchemy techniques, he had polished them until they were top-notch. He was an exceptional talent. Achieving that stage from being a normal person at first proved the appearance of a genius.
However, his ending was not one of a genius being developed to its fullest potential. Instead, he had been buried in history. Although his achievements were admired by many, he had still died young and had not proceeded to the most glorious peak that he could achieve.
Mo Wen did not know why Ji Wuya had died at the end. At the end of the dream, it was as though his vision had been wiped out, and there was only whiteness all around him. He was unable to see anything. Or perhaps, there were some things that could not be revealed to him yet. He only knew that Ji Wuya had died a very long time ago. He had died in a disaster, and the presence of the Primordial Soul Pearl was the best proof of it.
Mo Wen sighed, and his feelings were a little complicated. A talent like Ji Wuya was someone who could even be called a deity. Yet, there was still a day where he had died an ungraceful death. In the world, there were indeed all kinds of unpredictable risks. Perhaps one would only be able to live longer with a constantly wary heart.
“You have already attained my inheritance. However, your Cultivation is too low. You have only inherited the superficial knowledge. Whether or not you are able to completely unearth my inheritance will depend on your manipulation of it.” The old man in white robes looked at Mo Wen. At that moment, there seemed to be a hint of rare emotion in his eyes.
When Mo Wen had attained a segment of his memory, it meant that he had completely gained the recognition of the Primordial Soul Pearl. He would then obtain the entire inheritance. Meanwhile, the old man disappeared from the world completely, and the Primordial Soul Pearl also extinguished.
After he had spoken, the old man’s body started to degrade. It gradually became specks of white light fading into the air. Almost at the same time, a golden sun had appeared in the sky as it slowly descended and enveloped Mo Wen in its rays.