Chapter 23 (2/2)
Li Changshou waved his hand nonchalantly and smiled. “The poisonous powder that I gave you was made with careful attention being paid to matching the quant.i.ty and toxicology of various herbs. There were no high-level refining methods involved. It doesn’t matter even if more people take note.
“Disciples of various peaks can obtain the recipe from the Dao Sutra Outer Hall. They can also obtain the herbs from the Bai Fan Hall.
“Now, within the sect—and even in other immortal cultivation sects in the five continents—most people underestimate poisons’ power. They think that this is an embarra.s.sing skill. People who make use of poisons are often excluded and looked down upon.
“Thus, it’s not a big deal even if people find out that I am well-versed in refining poisons. It would not attract the attention of observers. Instead, they would think that I’m an average disciple who has gone down the wrong path.”
Li Changshou paused mid-sentence, a knowing smile spreading across his face.
“What’s more, the poisonous powder I gave you contains several strange poisons, which are mentioned in the Poison Sutra I copied from the Dao Sutra Pavilion. The author of that Poison Sutra is this Elder Wan Linyun. I think he is the elder with the deepest comprehension of poisons in our Immortal Du Sect. If I can build connections with this elder through this encounter, perhaps I will be able to obtain some guidance from him in this respect.”
“Senior Brother!” Lan Ling’e whined indignantly. “Do you have to make use of me in your plan?! If this was the case, couldn’t you have just informed me in advance? You made use of your gentle and adorable Junior Sister. You really are… too much…”
Li Changshou cast a sideways glance at her and said, “Don’t change the subject. We’re talking about you wasting the poisonous pills. I have to make you suffer for it so that you will remember this lesson. I will punish you by making you do logging in the back mountain tomorrow to reclaim the land. You’re not allowed to use your Dharmic powers as well.”
“So be it. That’s no big deal,” replied Lan Ling’e as she lowered her gaze—submission was written all over her face.
Finally, she could not hold it in any longer and asked, “What are we reclaiming the land for?”
“We’re going to build a Pill Chamber to refine pills and poisons. Through you, I allowed the Sect’s Management to find out that I am good at refining poisons. After this, I will be able to naturally and systematically tinker more pills and poisons in our Little Qiong Peak. I won’t have to do all of this in hiding anymore.”
Once he finished speaking, Li Changshou stood up and picked up all the medicine sachets. Then, he stretched and said, “Once I finish meditating at noon, I will find a suitable position to build the Pill Chamber.”
“Senior Brother, you’re obviously trying to slack off. How could you ask your gentle Junior Sister to log?!”
Lan Ling’e made a face at Li Changshou’s back as she whined.
“This is for you, the gentle cultivator.”
When Li Changshou reached the door, he suddenly recalled something. He pulled a jade box out from his sleeve and tossed it to his junior sister.
“A present?”
Lan Ling’e immediately forgot her frustration and caught the jade box excitedly.
She was just about to open it when she suddenly realized something. Using her Dharmic powers to hold onto her box, she sent it ten feet away before opening it from afar.
A subtle fragrance entered her nose. There was a white flower with six petals lying in the jade box.
‘It’s a herb. I thought it was jewelry or something.’
Lan Ling’e was just about to curse at her senior brother but found that he had already left the room. All that remained was his slightly-exhausted, hoa.r.s.e voice, saying, “Next time, before you take a bath, put this in warm water. It’ll expand your meridians, detoxify and nourish the face, and make your skin glow. See you tomorrow.”
“Alright, thank you, Senior Brother. See you tomorrow…”
Hu…
Lan Ling’e heaved a huge sigh of relief and slumped down on her chair. Then, she smiled excitedly.
She made it through safely!
Her senior brother still pampered her. At first, Lan Ling’e thought that she would receive a harsh dressing down after wasting so much poisonous powder. She did not expect that her senior brother would just pinch her ear.
Yet, it looked like her senior brother had everything planned for the Priming Meet, down to the little details.
Lan Ling’e was unhappy about it—she could not help but feel that her senior brother still did not trust her.
‘Forget it, that’s what Senior Brother is like.’
He always burned his cut hair until not even dust remained, and used poison to melt his cut nails until they melted completely. Even after his junior sister got drunk on purpose, he would use Immortal-Trapping Locks to tie her to the bed before tucking her in.
‘Er, I seemed to have revealed a little too much.’ Lan Ling’e blushed. ‘I did not get drunk on purpose last year!’
…
After returning to his own straw hut, Li Changshou meditated by his bedside. In his mind, he began planning to build the Pill Chamber.
Before this, he had been using the herb tripod, which he always carried with him. However, that had not been enough to satisfy his needs. What’s more, in order to produce much stronger pills like the Immortal-Melting Pill, he needed a bigger and better quality herb tripod.
First, he had to build the Pill Chamber. Then, he would go to the Bai Fan Hall to look for familiar martial uncles and martial aunts for help.
He could desire better tripods, but he could not expect them. This all depended on his luck.
It would be best if he could find an old, worn-out herb tripod. He would try to salvage it and see if he could produce any miracles. Actually, Li Changshou had already been thinking about the Pill Chamber for 30 to 40 years now. He had just been hesitating.
Mediocrity was the best disguise.
From the isolation array formation, which surrounded the place where he lived with his master, to the array formation outside his and his junior sister’s straw huts, and the mountains, water, and trees around the Little Qiong Peak, everything looked ordinary. There was nothing special to speak of.
When building this Pill Chamber, Li Changshou would have to make arrangements both inside and outside to prevent others from discovering his ‘little techniques’ when refining pills and poisons.
From the beginning of his cultivation journey, Li Changshou understood that any intentional disguise would not hide his true progress from experts. Instead, they might attract special attention—being observed by these experts was not necessarily a good thing.
On the flip side, not being noticed by them would ensure that nothing unexpectedly bad would happen to Li Changshou, or at the very least, the chances of that happening were slim.
“The Pill Chamber cannot be too close to our accommodations. If poisonous aura leaks…” Li Changshou mumbled to himself in a low voice and pulled out a storage Dharma artifact, which he used exclusively to store books. From inside, he pulled out a thick stack of sheepskin.
There were array formations and blueprints of structures drawn on each sheepskin. There were also signs of many modifications being done on each drawing. The ink on the oldest sheepskin among them seemed to be fading.
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