Li Qiye stayed at the village with nothing to do. He either just sat in his room or went on a stroll around the village.
He looked like a layabout, only eating and sleeping. The most productive thing he did was the occasional playing with the children.
He was definitely a mortal right now, and the laziest kind. Liu Fuyou would never think much of him without prior interactions.
Alas, these leisure days didn’t last long. Li Qiye thought about leaving the village after several days.
He decided to take Liu Fuyou with him as an errand boy of sorts. Fuyou was at the Conqueror Vessel realm. He wasn’t a big shot or anything but could still be considered somebody.
Moreover, he was relatively influential in his sect which was a first-rate one in West King.
Most would not understand why a cultivator would let a mortal order him alone. However, Fuyou didn’t really mind.
He quietly carried a medicine basket and walked behind Li Qiye. The two of them have been very busy entering the mountain and forest looking for herbs and grass, starting early in the morning and ending late at night.
The ones found weren’t precious at all. Nonetheless, they were varied ranging from herbs used by mortals to the rare ones growing on the steep cliffs or hidden valleys.
Thus, Fuyou performed the hard labor necessary to grab the out-of-reach ones. He didn’t utter a single grievance and followed all of Li Qiye’s orders with immense attentiveness.
“Now this one is rare.” Today, Li Qiye told him to get a plant growing on a precipice, sticking on it like a gecko.
“What is it?” Fuyou wasn’t an alchemist. He recognized most of the ones found recently but not all.
“The world had changed, so did certain things. I don’t know the name but the fundamental essences are the same.” Li Qiye smiled and threw it into the basket.
Fuyou has grown used to listening to these inscrutable comments from Li Qiye.
Li Qiye began refining them after gathering enough. Watching him at work left Fuyou surprised because he didn’t look like an alchemist. His methods resembled that of regular people.
In the cultivation world, alchemists would use their dao fire to smelt ingredients and refine pills.
As for Li Qiye? He used a regular fire and drying method by leaving the herbs and grass out in the sun.
It looked like he was actually booking, resorting to steaming, frying, boiling, and drying…
Putting that aside, Li Qiye was as skilled as can be. Fuyou felt as if he was watching a master at work.
“Are you an alchemist, Young Master?” Fuyou couldn’t help but ask.
“No, I am not, this is just a casual hobby. All are interconnected, no need to be fixated with one thing or one dao.” Li Qiye chuckled.
Fuyou thought that ordinary people wouldn’t be able to say something like this for various reasons. Only those at the top could do so.
It took a while before Li Qiye finished preparing the herbs and grass. He told Fuyou to prepare a large pot. He was meticulous when adding the materials into the pots, keeping track of the weight, order, and dropping technique.
He also made Fuyou watch and control the fire carefully using forced draft at the bottom.
Finally, all of the materials have been added. The boiling resulted in a bubbling medicinal liquid inside the pot. It had a dark green color, looking like a melted piece of jade.
“May I ask what this is, Young Master?” Fuyou respectfully asked.
“A one-and-only type of ointment. Jump in, boil for a bit now.” Li Qiye ordered.
“M-me?” Fuyou pointed at his nose, astonished. He wasn’t ready to jump into a boiling pot.
“It’s not like I’ll make soup out of you.” Li Qiye glanced at him and said.
Fuyou finally got the point and immediately jumped into the pot, immersing his body into the medicinal liquid.
Li Qiye then placed the iron lid on before adding fire, causing the liquid to churn more.
A few children playing in the courtyard became frightened at this sight.
“Is… is he trying to boil Instructor?” One of them murmured.
“Yes, I’m about to make a meat soup, want a bowl? Human soup is extremely delicious.” Li Qiye saw them and decided to play around.
“No!!” The children turned pale and ran away.
Li Qiye chuckled and added more firewood and wind to strengthen the fire.
Only the sizzling of the fire and bubbles could be heard in the courtyard right now.
Eventually, a loud explosion came from the pot, similar to thunder. It was as if the pot wasn’t containing medicinal liquid but rather, a pool of lightning and thunder.
One could also hear the clicking noises of Fuyou’s bones loosening. A powerful aura eventually came out.
Li Qiye remained aloof as if he didn’t care about the guy boiling to death. He still added more firewood to strengthen the fire. Eventually, the fire was strong enough to engulf the entire pot.
This lasted a while longer because a groan could be heard. “Bam!” The iron lid was pushed to the side.
“Splash!” Fuyou leaped out of the pot. His bones were cracking as if they were growing larger.
An imperial aura surrounded him, causing him to look lofty like a king sitting on his throne. It emitted considerable pressure and fierceness.
“This… I’m, I’m fully healed!” Fuyou felt comfortable from top to bottom; his vitality, grand dao, and chaos energy were roaring inside like massive waves.
He had returned to his peak state. The withered four symbols of the fate palace have been healed. Power brimmed within him - akin to a bedridden person suddenly becoming better and jumping around.
He realized that he was completely cured by this point; the trauma haunting him was all but gone.
It became a scene of contrast - the calm Li Qiye sitting down versus the ecstatic Fuyou.
The latter got on his knees and bowed respectfully: “Young Master, thank you for granting me another life, I owe you a debt of gratitude similar to that with my birth parents.” Tears started running down.
This wasn’t an exaggeration. Despair struck him when the seniors back in the sect couldn’t solve his problem. He thought that his cultivation would stop at Conqueror Essence, if not decrease even more.
That’s why he returned to the village in order to teach the children, hoping to nourish seeds good enough. Perhaps a few of them would be able to join Divine Black in the future.
Keep in mind that he used to be an excellent disciple in Divine Black. This made the fall from grace even harder to accept.