Chapter 4: Medicine Slave

Amidst the babbling stream and the shade of green trees, a ground dragon was drinking water by the clear little river, with various sizes of packages hanging all over its body.

Beside the ground dragon, over a dozen burly warriors were feasting, enjoying themselves immensely, and discussing topics unsuitable for children. Behind the ground dragon, there were also over a dozen emaciated people, their hands and feet shackled with heavy chains, squatting on the ground, their eyes lifeless as they ate the nutrient-poor food.

Inside a sedan chair on the ground dragon, an old man with a cold expression wore a black-gray robe, with five exquisite white medicine bottles embroidered on the chest. The old man, thin and wearing a hairpin, looked down at the shackled people from a high vantage point, as if selecting pigs for slaughter.

The old man's gaze was unpredictable, sometimes landing on the feasting warriors, revealing a sinister look. Every warrior he glanced at would change color, becoming as silent as cicadas in winter, clearly very afraid of him.

"Have you finished eating? If you're done, let's continue on our way." Mo Yan Yu, holding Shi Yan, walked out of the bushes with a cold face.

The many warriors laughed dryly, putting away the unfinished food in their hands, and said repeatedly, "We're done, we're done."

Mo Yan Yu's face was stern, full of impatience. When she reached the old man, she forced a smile and said, "Master Kalu, have you finished eating?"

The old man coldly nodded and grunted, "Miss Mo, it's still three months to the Merchant Alliance, but the medicine slaves you found are already down to sixteen. I'm afraid they won't last until the Merchant Alliance..."

"Master, don't worry. We will continue to replenish the medicine slaves for you on the way." Mo Yan Yu said with a serious face, casually throwing Shi Yan to the ground and smiling, "Look, isn't there one more medicine slave now?"

"Hmm." Kalu nodded indifferently, his gaze like a venomous snake, scanning Shi Yan. He frowned and said, "This boy is so thin, he probably won't last a few days."

"His body is indeed weak, but he has essence energy inside..." Mo Yan Yu explained.

"A warrior?" Kalu's eyes lit up, clearly interested.

"Indeed, a warrior!" Mo Yan Yu affirmed.

"That's better." Kalu laughed sinisterly, began to examine Shi Yan more carefully, and after a while, slowly nodded, "Very good. Miss Mo, feed him well. I need his body to be strong first. A severely injured warrior can't withstand my experiments. If he dies too early due to his weak body, it would be a waste."

"Master, don't worry." Mo Yan Yu's eyebrows furrowed with a murderous look, and she lightly scolded, "Qiang Sen, what are you waiting for! Hurry up and put the shackles on this guy's hands and feet!"

"Coming!" A bald giant, nearly two meters tall, with a face full of scars, responded and quickly took a new set of shackles from the ground dragon. He brutally clamped the shackles on Shi Yan's hands and feet, not caring if Shi Yan felt pain.

The giant wore heavy armor, the muscles exposed outside the armor bulging with explosive power. The dark black heavy armor seemed as light as a feather on him, not affecting his speed at all.

"Qiang Sen, take good care of him. Don't let him fall behind the group." Mo Yan Yu glanced at Shi Yan with hatred and then walked straight to the front of the group, seemingly not wanting to stay by Shi Yan's side for even a second.

"Miss, don't worry. I'm best at this." The bald giant Qiang Sen grinned and pounded his chest to guarantee.

Shi Yan's body was numb, and he watched the situation develop with a cold eye, not saying a word.

He knew that in this situation, any words were useless. In this world of the strong preying on the weak, no one would reason with him. He knew that if he didn't adapt to this world, he would soon become an unattended skeleton, and no one would pity him.

The weak essence energy in his body slowly flowed, and the numbness in his hands and feet had improved after resting for a while. However, the added shackles on his hands and feet slowed him down, making his not yet fully recovered body feel like carrying an iron mountain, making it difficult for him to take a step.

"Smack!"

His back was suddenly whipped by a leather whip. The whip came swiftly and with great force, causing his back to split open and burn with pain. Turning around, he saw the giant Qiang Sen holding the whip, grinning at him.

"Damn medicine slave! Hurry up and walk! Do you want another whip?" Qiang Sen grinned and laughed.

Shi Yan did not respond but looked at Qiang Sen calmly for a few seconds. Before Qiang Sen raised the whip again, he silently and laboriously followed the other medicine slaves, feeling each step as heavy as a thousand pounds, requiring a lot of effort.

After Shi Yan turned around, Qiang Sen's wild laughter gradually subsided, and he showed a strange expression.

On this journey, many disobedient medicine slaves were "taken care of" by him at the beginning. Because of his brutal and vicious methods, two medicine slaves died before being tested by Kalu. When the medicine slaves looked at him, their eyes showed only two expressions.

Either fear or deep-seated hatred.

Only this person, when looking at him, showed neither fear nor the expected hatred, but an unusual calm, a calm that carried a slight chill.

This person seemed to lack the awareness of being a prisoner, either because he hadn't yet understood the situation or for some other reason.

That calm gaze made Qiang Sen feel a strange sense of being hunted, which made him very uncomfortable. But since Shi Yan was obediently moving forward, he couldn't find an excuse to act out, so he could only let it go, secretly vowing to make this boy show fear later.

He enjoyed the fear in others' eyes when they looked at him, which gave him a wonderful sense of being the master of their lives.

In the following days, Shi Yan was silent but extremely cooperative. He walked when told to walk, stopped when told to stop, and did not resist or show any emotion, seemingly indifferent to the surroundings. Among the disobedient medicine slaves, Shi Yan stood out as very different.

Even Qiang Sen, who wanted to teach Shi Yan a lesson, found it hard to find an excuse to deal with him. Shi Yan was too cooperative, so much so that it seemed abnormal to Qiang Sen, but he couldn't figure out why.

Shi Yan only spoke when resting and eating, and each time it was to ask for more food. At Master Kalu's command, this request was always granted.

Soon, the warriors noticed that Shi Yan could eat a lot. Even the inferior food for medicine slaves, he ate with relish. The amount of food he ate the first time was roughly the total of seven medicine slaves, and each day his appetite increased, showing a trend of continuing to grow.

This left many warriors amazed. They couldn't understand how Shi Yan's thin body could hold so much food. At first, they were worried he wouldn't be able to digest it, but they soon realized they were wrong.

Shi Yan's emaciated body quietly strengthened over a few days. Although the change wasn't particularly noticeable, the keen-eyed warriors all observed this phenomenon.

Clearly, Shi Yan not only digested the inferior food but also turned it into nutrients for his body.

Shi Yan's physical changes pleased Master Kalu, the old man with the sinister gaze. He specially allowed Shi Yan to eat without restraint, giving him as much as he could eat, not a bit less.

Seeing Shi Yan grow stronger day by day, Qiang Sen felt a vague unease. Each time he saw Shi Yan's calm, slightly chilling gaze, he felt this boy would be a troublemaker. However, he didn't dare to defy Kalu's orders and could only provide Shi Yan with enough food without holding back.

Fortunately, Qiang Sen knew Kalu's methods, which gave him some reassurance, and he secretly hoped Kalu would act soon.

After eating the equivalent of twelve people's food, Shi Yan stopped, swallowing the last grain of rice at the corner of his mouth. Ignoring the surprised looks of the other medicine slaves, he slowly closed his eyes.

The food for twelve people was quickly digested in his stomach. His body seemed like a bottomless pit or a highly precise machine, grinding and breaking down the food, converting it into nutrients for his blood, tendons, bones, organs, and muscle cells, quietly strengthening his originally weak body.

The wound on his chest had long healed, a long wound that took only a day and a half to close without leaving a scar, a miraculous recovery that made him realize he was indeed different from before.

Only he himself knew the tremendous changes his body had undergone in these few days. He could clearly feel and experience these changes at every moment!

The food he ate turned into nutrients for his body, making him gradually stronger. The weak essence energy in his body, after continuous circulation for several days and nights, had doubled in strength!

He clearly felt a significant increase in strength in his body, and the heavy shackles that once felt like mountains were no longer a significant burden.

Focusing his mind, he clearly felt the essence energy in his body naturally starting from the lower dantian, moving up the Governor Vessel, and down the Conception Vessel, passing through the three gates to connect the Governor and Conception Vessels, making the heart and kidneys interact, harmonizing water and fire. After one small cycle, the essence energy in his body grew stronger.

Shi Yan, who had some knowledge of qigong, knew the difference between the small and large cycles. The small cycle only follows the Conception and Governor Vessels, not the twelve main meridians or the other six extraordinary meridians. The large cycle, however, must follow the twelve main meridians and the other six extraordinary meridians, which is extremely difficult.

He had only opened the Conception and Governor Vessels among the twelve main meridians and eight extraordinary meridians, so he could only perform the small cycle. The large cycle was difficult to complete. From the memories of the other Shi Yan, he knew that in this world, only warriors at the innate realm could achieve unobstructed flow through the twelve main meridians and eight extraordinary meridians, thus performing the large cycle.

Shi Yan was not discouraged. He knew that as long as the essence energy in his body was strong enough, he could eventually open all the blocked meridians.

"Another one is dead. In six days, two have already died from the experiments."

"I saw it. Before he died, his body started to rot. It was too terrible to see!"

"Rather than die like that, it would be better to commit suicide. Living without hope, we are destined to end up like them."

"You can't commit suicide! If we die by suicide, our families won't even get a blue crystal coin! Sigh... Endure it. If we survive for half a year, we will be free and get some money. For our wives and children, we must endure!"

After this medicine slave spoke, the other medicine slaves fell silent, their thoughts of suicide dispelled. They all endured their fear, silently urging themselves to keep going.