Chapter 4 - Medicinal Bath
In this cruel desolate era where fierce beasts rampage about, life is always under constant threat. The villagers’ needs were rather simple: all they wanted was enough food to satisfy everyone’s stomachs.
The bonfire danced about as Stone Village bustled with noise and excitement. Males and females, both young and old, all had smiles on their faces. They were all filled with cheer while talking and laughing.
“Little children, don’t run about carelessly! We are about to conduct the medicinal bath soon. Sleep well at night, and in the future you will definitely be stronger than all of those vicious beasts,” said an elder while laughing.
“Aww… I don’t want to!” The group of kids who heard this all stood up and screamed miserably, running away and hiding within different parts of the village.
“You bunch of melon babies, you really do not know what is good fortune. These are rare tonics! If we had this kind of quality medicinal baths every time, your muscles and bones would match that of those giant creatures!” The adults all criticized them, and like grabbing little chicks, they began to catch their children.
“It hurts, I don’t want to go into the medicinal bath! Last time, it felt like I was getting cut by blades!”
“Dad, let go, I don’t want to be boiled!”
The group of children intensely resisted, but their small arms were no match for the adults’ strength. In the end, they were all caught.
Inside of an empty space within the village, eight large copper cauldrons had already been set up. The inferno below them raged, with liquid boiling within the cauldrons. The elders threw stalk after stalk of medicinal herbs inside, and from time to time, they would also put in foot long centipedes and fist-sized spiders. This made the originally clear liquid dark and cloudy as if it was ink. It was extremely frightening.
The faces of the group of children all turned green. They wanted to escape and run away, but were helplessly held in place by the adults.
Soon after, a few villagers arrived with ten jars. The elders gently opened them before pouring a dark red liquid into the large copper cauldrons, causing the dark black liquid to boil even more furiously.
This was the rare true blood from the slain vicious beasts’ bodies, and it was extremely precious. Regardless of whether it was an adult or a child using it, they would all gain tremendous benefits, enhancing their physiques. In addition, with the villager’s understanding of several ancient prescriptions, as well as adding some medicinal herbs and other ingredients, this true blood could become even more effective.
Other than the true blood, some of the elders also used the Flying Pythons’ wing bones, the one-legged beast’s foot bone, as well as several other materials. They pulverized them with a great deal of effort before tossing them into the boiling water.
When the fire died out and the cauldrons’ contents no longer boiled, the temperature finally dropped a bit.. Screams along with putong putong sounds rang out as the first batch of kids were thrown inside. Each cauldron held roughly two or three individuals.
“It hurts, this water can completely cook us alive!”
“Save me, my body feels like it’s being cut by blades, and my skin and flesh are being split open!”
They were all grimacing in pain, with their hands grabbing their legs. One by one, they all tried to rush out, only to be pushed back inside as they endlessly screamed.
In this way, the several dozen kids were thrown into the cauldrons in batches. The majority viciously howled and struggled constantly. Only seven or eight kids were somewhat better, and although they were aching and their brows were soaked in sweat, they endured it and didn’t utter a single word.
As for the little guy, he couldn’t escape either. There was a special cauldron waiting for him, and he was thrown inside by himself. Only a little bit of water was added to the cauldron, but other than that, all of it was true blood and broken down bones.
The villagers did not feel that this was inappropriate, nor did they feel that he was being favored over the others. This was because their own children couldn’t even withstand the pain inside the normal medicinal cauldrons and were already crying out with heart-tearing screams. However, the little guy could actually handle it.
Moreover, when the little guy was inside the black cauldron’s thick and boiling liquid, the old chief even opened up two special jars before pouring their contents into the cauldron.
From one of the jars was a scarlet cloud that formed a palm-sized Pi Xiu. It was mighty and malevolent, as if it was about to tear everyone apart and escape. Its nature was extremely vicious. From within Shi Yunfeng’s palms shone a character, and the bone text began to rise. Following a slap, the Pi Xiu scattered and turned into blood before dripping into the cauldron.
From that other jar rushed out a scarlet red Two headed Flame Rhinoceros. It was terrifyingly brilliant, and with its head held high, it angrily hissed. It was similarly dissipated into the black cauldron by the old chief.
When the temperature slightly dropped, the struggling little guy was picked up and directly thrown into the cauldron. Because he was still little, he would choke on the water while sitting inside, so just as he fell inside with gudong gudong sounds, he immediately drank several mouthfuls of the liquid.
The other children all showed sympathetic expressions towards him and suddenly felt quite fortunate. There was only a little bit of water added in the little guy’s cauldron, with true blood, beast bones, as well as muscle lumps forming the majority of the medicinal liquid. This medicinal liquid would definitely make one’s skin and bones feel even more pain, so they felt that the little guy was truly pitiful.
Even some of the adults couldn’t bear it. The little guy was exerting as much strength as he could muster while struggling and grimacing in pain. From time to time, he would even drink mouthfuls of the viscous fluid. The adults watching really began to feel quite worried.
“There’s no problem. This isn’t his first time. Since he could do this before, he can live past this as well. Drinking more of the medicinal liquid is not bad either, because if he can absorb it, it’ll allow him to obtain even great benefits,” the old chief said. His care for the little guy’s health was quite expansive.
“His constitution is quite strong, and the bone text’s mysterious power might also be at work here by helping him refine part of the medicinal strength. The little guy should not feel that much pain.” Another elder spoke while stroking his beard.
The medicinal bath continued for quite a while, and the group of children were soaked until they looked like red monkeys. All of them looked rather miserable, and while looking at each other, tears dripped down with hua hua sounds. Only when the medicinal bath finished did they stop sobbing and finally feel relief.
Meanwhile, inside the black cauldron, the little guy did not cry. His big eyes were looking around, and his face had a bit of a red blush, resembling a big apple. When he was lifted out, he looked as if he was drunk, swaying back and forth.
“How do you feel?” An elder asked.
The little guy burped, and said muddle-headedly, “I drank a lot, full now.”
After hearing this simple-minded and pure response, the adults all erupted into laughter.
“Tired.” The little guy staggered from side to side. His little body fell into Shi Yunfeng’s embrace, lightly mumbling something before sinking into a deep sleep.
“Bring these children back and let them sleep well. By tomorrow, their strength should have increased by a significant amount,” said chief Shi Yunfeng.
Finally, the elders put away the leftover liquid. They didn’t let it go to waste, but rather once again lit up the copper cauldron and added some more medicinal herbs. They were going to cook it until the medicine dried up and became medicinal power. Not only was this a type of tonic, but it was also a type of precious healing medicine. It could be used to save lives during mountain range hunts.
The outside world’s environment was vile, and it was difficult to hunt wild beasts, so true blood was truly rare and precious. They couldn’t afford to dispose of such a precious medicinal powder. Even though it was already used by the children, they weren’t willing to waste any of it.
Naturally, the village’s strongest men didn’t care about this. It was enough as long as it could close up a wound and save their lives when needed.
That night, the children all slept deeply. The next morning, many of these little ones were crying out loudly, because their old skin was peeling off in strips, making their beds extremely filthy.
“Go get a bucket of water and wash yourselves clean. Afterwards, test your strength with that millstone.”
“Dad, that’s what third brother uses to train his strength, how could I possibly lift it up?”
“Stop speaking nonsense. If I tell you to lift, then just lift. Are you telling me that we wasted all that true blood and bone medicine last night for nothing? If you really didn’t make any progress, then I’ll spank your butt until it splits into eight parts!”
Early in the morning, Stone Village was extremely active and bustling. All of the children were forced to move large rocks and copper cauldrons, and they whined repeatedly.
The results were clearly obvious. The children all gained a significant amount of strength, and their physiques revealed a sharp increase in power. However, if one were to say that they were reborn, then that would still be an exaggeration.
Kacha kacha!
The village head, chief Shi Yunfeng’s palm symbol glowed a brilliant light, and within his hand was the shaft of a golden-alloyed hammer. With it, he smashed the most precious part of the Dragon Horned Elephant’s dragon horn into pieces. Following that, he retrieved a portion of the Pi Xiu’s amputated claw bone as well as a small section of the Flame Rhinoceros’ red horn and pulverized them until they became fine powder. He mixed these crushed bone powders with several fierce beast’s true blood and simmered them together into the slow cooking beast milk. At that moment, the fragrance began to rise in spirals.
Afterwards, the elder threw in stalk after stalk of medicinal herbs. The liquid within the pot became muddled, and the fragrance became even richer.
“Time to eat, little guy.”
Within the stone house, the little guy heard the yelling going on outside. With a gulu sound, he rolled around and stood up. His eyes that had just woke up were still blurry, but when the fragrance leaked in, he took a quick whiff and immediately felt excited. He began to mutter in that direction. “Smells really good.”
“Of course, this is genuine precious medicine. Don’t waste any and eat it all.” Shi Yunfeng laughed as he spoke.
The little guy consumed it like a wolf, and before long, the pot’s congee was completely gone. However, side effects immediately appeared. He really was too small, and the medicinal strength was too strong. In this ordinary morning, the adorable little guy suddenly began to act like a problem child. His two eyes turned red like a white rabbit, and he began to run all over the place, shouting out with ah yah sounds nonstop.
The pitiable large yellow dog’s tail was once again grabbed by him, and was continuously pulled. The tail was almost pulled off, and it howled with tears for half a day; it disturbed all the villagers and caused chaos.
“Hey, little guy, why are you pulling up my relative’s fence?”
“What happened to the little guy, why did he run up to my family’s roof? Quickly, stop, don’t tear off the tiles!”
……
The villagers were all stunned. The ordinarily obedient little guy transformed into a little vicious beast. He ran all over the place and wreaked havoc with all of his strength.
“The pot of medicine was completely absorbed, and the results are not bad.” Shi Yunfeng and several other elders stood together. They were currently quietly commenting and nodding their heads in satisfaction.
In the distance, many children saw the scene in front of them and became even more frightful of the chief. All of them were quivering and trembling as they stayed far away. Gathering together, they muttered in a low voice, “The little guy is really pitiful!”
The little guy’s palms shone as he lifted them up towards the sky. From those small arms appeared the bone text, and as it flickered continuously, it was truly quite mysterious. In addition, his physique got stronger, and his speed and power were both promoted by a large margin as well. This was also the reason why the old chief was so satisfied.
Only after two hours did he finally quiet down. He scratched his head in a daze, and said in a low voice, “Yiya, I’m in trouble.”