Chapter 8

"Hiss..."

A faint pain from his left shoulder woke Jiang Yi from his deep thoughts. He could only force himself to temporarily put it aside and focus on healing his wound first.

He took a small yellow pill from a porcelain bottle and swallowed it with a sip of water. This was the lowest-grade healing pill, the Yellow Ginseng Pill, which the Jiang family had refined themselves, classified as a low-grade human rank.

In the Tianxing Continent, the martial arts system was highly developed, with pills, weapons, cultivation techniques, and martial skills all having distinct ranks, from weakest to strongest: human rank, earth rank, and heaven rank. Each rank was further divided into three grades: lower, middle, and upper.

For example, the River Water Technique that Jiang Yi practiced was of upper human rank, and the highest-level martial skill he had learned in the Jiang family, the Phantom Fist, was also of upper human rank.

Jiang Yi's status was that of a collateral branch young master. According to the Jiang family's rules, he was entitled to receive three middle-grade human rank "Yuanhun Pills" and two middle-grade human rank healing pills, "Black Ginseng Pills," each month to aid in his cultivation and to heal any injuries sustained during practice.

Unfortunately... in the past two years, he had become increasingly unpopular in the Jiang family. Not only had his monthly allowance been repeatedly cut, but the pills he received had also been downgraded to the lowest-grade human rank "Yuanli Pills" and "Yellow Ginseng Pills," with the quantity reduced to one each.

The Yellow Ginseng Pill had very weak medicinal power, made from grass ginseng from the Western Mountain medicinal fields and some herbs, with only the effect of promoting blood circulation and resolving stasis. Jiang Yi didn't entirely rely on this low-grade pill; after swallowing it, he immediately began to circulate the River Water Technique to start healing his wound.

"Phew..."

After sitting in meditation for a full hour, Jiang Yi opened his eyes, his gaze filled with helplessness. When he had circulated the River Water Technique to heal his wound, he had examined his internal condition and found that indeed, there were several cracks in the three bones of his left shoulder. It would take at least a day and a night of meditation to heal them using the River Water Technique.

As for the medicinal power of the pill, it was even less effective. The pill's grade was too low, its medicinal power too weak, and it took too long to take effect. After an hour, it had only just seeped into his bloodstream and slowly started to flow toward the wound...

"Jiang Ruhu might come looking for me tomorrow. I should study the black yuan force first. This internal injury is temporarily suppressed, and I can heal it later..."

After some thought, Jiang Yi decided to abandon healing his wound and began to practice the nameless cultivation technique, refining the black yuan force.

Two hours later!

He opened his eyes again, feeling the six strands of black yuan force stored in a corner of his dantian. The more he "looked" at them, the more he cherished them. They were his treasures; without this black yuan force, he would have been in serious trouble today.

"How should I study it? I tried my fists, legs, elbows, and eyes in the afternoon. Should I try my ears?"

Jiang Yi's mind raced. If the black yuan force could enhance his vision, could it also enhance his hearing? And his nose—perhaps it could enhance his sense of smell too.

He decided to act immediately.

Jiang Yi circulated a strand of black yuan force, mixed it with some blue yuan force, and slowly directed it toward his head. The black yuan force was too scarce, and without mixing it with blue yuan force, it wouldn't be enough to achieve any effect.

"Hmm... the medicinal power of the Yellow Ginseng Pill is starting to take effect, automatically nourishing the wound. Unfortunately, it's too weak..."

When the mixed yuan force passed near his left chest, Jiang Yi subconsciously stopped and examined the wound.

Suddenly, an unexpected change occurred—

The black yuan force separated from the blue yuan force and suddenly merged with the medicinal power nearby...

"Huh?"

Jiang Yi's body trembled, and he shivered with excitement. He clearly felt the speed of the wound healing increase, and it kept getting faster, eventually reaching about five to six times the original speed, comparable to that of an upper human rank healing pill.

"Amazing, this black yuan force can actually enhance the medicinal power of pills?"

Jiang Yi's heart raced as he focused on the wound. Unfortunately, after about ten breaths, the black yuan force was completely consumed, and the healing speed slowed down. Although there was blue yuan force nearby, its enhancing effect was negligible.

Jiang Yi immediately gathered another strand of black yuan force and directed it to the wound to merge with the medicinal power, quickly healing the injury.

Feeling the broken bones rapidly healing, Jiang Yi was overjoyed. When the black yuan force was exhausted, he continued to gather more, accelerating the healing process.

However, he was frustrated because his black yuan force was too scarce. In just a short time, the six strands he had refined were all used up.

He examined the wound and his mood quickly improved. In just this short time, the wound had healed as much as it would have in two to three hours of meditation. If he had enough black yuan force, he could probably heal the injury to about 70-80% in half an incense stick's time...

Without hesitation, he immediately sat in meditation and began to refine the black yuan force. The black yuan force was being consumed too quickly, and it was always insufficient when needed. This time, he planned to store more, refining for four to five hours without sleeping, to extract as much as possible and fully heal the injury by morning.

However!

After three and a half hours, it was still not yet dawn, but Jiang Yi stopped his cultivation. When he opened his eyes, his gaze was filled with confusion and frustration. Because—after refining ten strands of black yuan force, no matter how he circulated the nameless technique, no more black yuan force was produced in his dantian...

"How can this be? It doesn't make sense!"

Jiang Yi was stunned. He had originally planned to try using the black yuan force for full attacks when he had more, to see if it was powerful. If the enhancement effect was significant, he would consider gradually switching to the nameless technique, even though it was much slower to cultivate than the blue yuan force.

Now, he didn't need to consider it. With only ten strands of black yuan force, it was impossible to use it independently for attacks without merging with blue yuan force.

"Ten strands? So few, what can I do with them?"

Jiang Yi was unwilling to give up and sat in meditation again, circulating the nameless technique. But after half an hour, he opened his eyes in frustration, as no more black yuan force had been produced in his dantian!

"Hmm, can I continue to refine it after using it up?"

He pondered for a moment, gathered a strand of black yuan force to assist in healing, and after it was consumed, he immediately sat in meditation to circulate the nameless technique.

This time, black yuan force began to be produced in his dantian again, but once it accumulated to ten strands, it stopped increasing...

"What kind of technique is this? Is the heavens deliberately playing with me?"

Jiang Yi was so frustrated that he felt like bleeding. When he opened his eyes, he saw that it was already dawn, and the nearby rooms were filled with the sounds of servants getting up.

"I'll deal with it later. It's not early, I need to heal my wound first. I still have to go to the fifth medicinal field to take inventory, and I can't be blocked by Jiang Ruhu and others..."

Jiang Yi remembered the instructions from Manager Rong and didn't want to waste any more time. If his injury wasn't healed, his combat power would be greatly reduced, even with the black yuan force.

However, when he gathered a strand of black yuan force to merge with the medicinal power, he found that after three hours, the medicinal power had been completely consumed. The Yellow Ginseng Pill, being the lowest-grade pill, had very weak medicinal power...

"Wait! Since blue yuan force can assist in healing, and my black yuan force is so powerful, can it also quickly assist in healing? Why do I need to merge it with the medicinal power?"

Jiang Yi suddenly had an idea. The black yuan force enhancing the medicinal power and directly accelerating healing were two different things. If the latter were true, it would be incredible! He wouldn't need to rely on healing pills in the future...

But!

When he circulated the mixed yuan force to assist in healing the wound, he found that the healing speed was the same as with the blue yuan force, with no enhancement.

The black yuan force could only enhance the medicinal power of pills, not heal independently.

Jiang Yi was anxious. It was already late, and if he delayed the inventory of the medicinal field, he would likely be scolded by Manager Rong. The problem was that his injury wasn't fully healed, and he didn't dare go to the medicinal mountain, fearing that he would be blocked by Jiang Ruhu and others.

"Right, I should go to the pill room to collect the pills first!"

He remembered that he hadn't collected the pills for this month and quickly got up, hastily tidying his clothes and heading out. As he walked, he moved his left arm, finding that the injury, though not as severe as yesterday, still ached.

"Master, where are you going?"

Hearing Jiang Yi's footsteps, a small head poked out from a nearby room. The boy had yellow, messy hair and sleepy, tear-streaked eyes. Seeing Jiang Yi leaving early in the morning, his face showed worry.

"Xiao Nu, I'll be back soon."

Jiang Yi gave a brief explanation, telling her to stay at home and hide in the backyard if anyone came looking for him. He hurriedly walked to the eastern courtyard, intending to collect the pills and heal his injury.

Quickly leaving the western courtyard, Jiang Yi headed to the southern courtyard where the pill room was located. The Jiang family was already bustling with activity in the early morning, but no one paid attention to the fallen collateral branch young master.

After an incense stick's time, Jiang Yi arrived at the pill room. He hesitated at the entrance, looking inside to see if the elder in charge of the pill room was there. The non-family member Elder Liu, who was responsible for refining pills for the Jiang family, had an exceptionally peculiar temper.

To his surprise, a brown-robed, disheveled old man was staring intently at a pill furnace, while Jiang Song, a collateral branch member who usually helped in the pill room, was nowhere to be seen.

Elder Liu's peculiar temper was well-known in the Jiang family, so the Jiang family members preferred to avoid him and collect pills from Jiang Song to avoid offending this influential old man.

"What should I do? Come back later?"

Jiang Yi stealthily pulled back his head and pondered, but at that moment, the old man in the room suddenly shouted, "Jiang Song, what are you doing outside, sneaking around? Get in here and tend the fire! You lazy good-for-nothing, always slacking off."

Jiang Yi awkwardly rubbed his nose and stepped out, bowing and saying, "Jiang Yi greets Elder Liu. I... am not Jiang Song. I'm here to collect pills."

"Collect what pills!"

Elder Liu's face darkened, and he scolded, "You useless offspring, always neglecting your duties but eager to collect pills. Pills? There are none!"

"Um..."

Jiang Yi was embarrassed, unsure whether to stay or leave, standing there awkwardly.

"What are you standing there for? Get out, don't interfere with my pill refining... This Jiang Song must be tired of living, taking so long to use the toilet. I have to tend the fire myself..."

The old man glared at Jiang Yi, his hand glowing with red yuan force as he placed it on the side of the pill furnace. However, he suddenly turned and gestured to Jiang Yi, "You, come here! Tend the fire for this batch of pills while I check the formula."

"Me?"

Jiang Yi, who was about to leave awkwardly, was startled and quickly shook his head, "No, Elder Liu, I don't know how to refine pills. I can't do it..."

Elder Liu was furious, scolding, "Nonsense! What's so difficult? This batch of pills is almost done. You just need to inject yuan force here until the pills solidify. Hurry up! If you mess this up, you won't get a single pill from me in the future, hmpf!"

With that, Elder Liu strode into a side hall. Jiang Yi hesitated for a moment but had no choice but to grit his teeth and comply, circulating blue yuan force and placing his hands on the side of the pill furnace.

However...

To Jiang Yi's shock, as soon as his yuan force entered the pill furnace, it was absorbed like a sponge, and the absorption speed was terrifying. The yuan force in his hands was quickly drained.

Jiang Yi, unfamiliar with pill refining, feared making a mistake and frantically circulated more yuan force. In his panic, he accidentally... mixed two strands of black yuan force with the blue yuan force and injected it into the pill furnace.

"Bang!"

The moment the black yuan force entered the pill furnace, a loud explosion echoed, and the furnace violently shook, almost tipping over.

"The pills exploded?"

From the side hall, a furious roar immediately followed, "You good-for-nothing! This batch of pills was an upper human rank Spirit Nourishing Pill. I'll tear you apart..."