Once everything was ready, Yan Lingyun had Lian Youming bring out what he had gathered, piece by piece.
Astragalus, platycodon, dangshen, Solomon's seal, fragrant Solomon's seal, wild ginseng, fleeceflower root, lingzhi...
Only after all the nourishing medicinal ingredients were laid out did Yan Lingyun check them over one by one against her list.
Lian Youming had acquired some of these items from the supply and marketing cooperative and mountain roamers, and bought others from Big Head Liu. Piecing them together had cost him no small effort.
Without a word, Yan Lingyun sifted through them with meticulous care. Aside from a few herbs that had been stored improperly and lost their medicinal potency, most were fine.
Turning around, she opened her own chest. What lay inside was far more exquisite than Lian Youming's coarse gunny sack. There was a whole collection of jars and bottles, three wooden boxes, two jade boxes, a thick bone still clinging to bits of red meat, and a skinned bear paw.
Meeting Lian Youming's curious gaze, Yan Lingyun took out ox gallstone, musk, rhinoceros horn, and dried deer heart blood from the chest. Then she opened one of the jade boxes, revealing a bear gallbladder, amber-colored and bronze-yellow throughout. Finally, she produced that thick piece of bone.
"Hiss... Ox gallstone, musk, and that's a bronze gallbladder... Could that bone be the spine of a tiger from the Northeast?"
Big Head Liu was utterly wide-eyed. Standing to the side, his hands and feet trembled, and he did not even stutter.
Every single one of these was worth a small fortune.
After a moment's thought, Yan Lingyun took out several well-preserved herbs from her own chest and swapped them for the ones Lian Youming had prepared.
"The decoction brewed from these five recipes can't just be eaten haphazardly. Since they correspond to the Five Elements' medicinal properties, they must be drunk in the order of the Five Elements' generative cycle. If you get it wrong and the properties clash, something terrible might happen."
Standing nearby, Lian Youming did not know what to say and could only nod repeatedly.
Some of these herbs entered the heart meridian, others the lung meridian, while others targeted the liver, kidney, or spleen. Some invigorated qi and nourished the body, others quickened the blood, regulated qi, or dispelled stasis. What had seemed to Lian Youming like an indiscriminate, jumbled heap was sorted out by Yan Lingyun one by one before long.
Once Big Head Liu stepped outside to keep watch, Yan Lingyun finally spoke with evident worry. "Your art is different from the ways of ordinary internal martial arts. Most martial artists polish their foundation from the outside in. They train through the hottest dog days of summer and the bitterest cold of winter. Just working through stance training and forms can take two or three years. They do that to bolster their blood and qi, temper their sinews and bones, and strengthen their internal breath. Only then will a master teach combat techniques and impart the qi-swallowing method."
"However..." She looked at Lian Youming, her expression deeply solemn. "Your art actually uses dietary nourishment to fortify the Five Qi first, skipping the long grind of building a foundation. It works from the inside out. Once you start practicing it, you'll need to consume massive amounts of vital essence in a short period to forge your foundation. The underlying martial logic seems drawn from nourishing form with form—it's extraordinarily unusual."
Lian Youming raised his thick brows. "Nourishing form with form?"
Yan Lingyun said softly, "If you truly can strengthen yourself by consuming external things, then compared to the flesh and blood of wild beasts, what about those martial masters? Aren't they brimming with vigor and overflowing with blood and qi...?"
Hearing this, Lian Youming's eyelid twitched violently. "You mean eating... It couldn't be that sinister, could it?"
Yan Lingyun sighed. "That is the underlying martial logic, not my own speculation... As for whether this art is a miraculous technique or an evil practice, perhaps only the one who created it knows. Brother Lian, I trust you, so you must be exceptionally cautious about this in the future."
With that, Yan Lingyun divided each batch of herbs into five portions, making fifteen in total, and set them to simmer over low flames in fifteen medicine jars.
This simmer lasted a full four hours.
Every single jar started with nine bowls of water and was boiled down to just one. Then the fifteen jars of medicinal soup were recombined into five portions according to their respective properties.
In the end, only five bowls were poured out from the jars.
Staring at the thick, glue-like decoction before him, Lian Youming could not help but swallow hard.
"What is this? Drinking it won't kill me, will it?"
Noticing the reluctance on his face, Yan Lingyun blinked her large eyes and smiled knowingly, as if she had discovered some secret. "I've studied the medicinal properties myself. There won't be any problem."
Lian Youming's Adam's apple bobbed. It was not as if he had never drunk Chinese medicine before, but weren't they usually watery broths? This had been boiled into thick paste.
After letting it cool slightly, Yan Lingyun lifted a bowl. "Drink it quickly, while it's still warm."
Smelling the pungent aroma of herbs and reminding himself that this was the key to unlocking that realm, Lian Youming hardened his gaze, took the porcelain bowl, and drained it in a single gulp.
Then he closed his eyes, feeling the medicinal power disperse through his body.
As the liquid settled, Lian Youming suddenly felt a searing wave of heat surge up from his abdomen. He immediately shed his coat and sat cross-legged on the ground, bare-chested.
Yan Lingyun's voice reached his ears. "Do you feel the medicinal power? That hot energy—use your breath to break it apart."
Lian Youming sank his breath, and the practice method of the Three Yin Earth Fiend Force flashed through his mind in an instant.
*Press the tongue to the roof of the mouth, drum the cheeks, draw the breath past the throat and tongue... let the spirit wander the three yin...*
As he drew a mouthful of breath into his throat and mouth, a natural rhythm emerged between his inhalation and exhalation, swelling into internal force. The familiar sensation rushed back.
After half a year, Lian Youming's mind was now calm and steady. It was as though he had rehearsed this in his heart countless times. Swallowing the breath deep into his abdomen, he sent it plunging straight down like a roaring cataract, crashing down like a heavy hammer against that rising wave of heat.
The gathered medicinal power instantly dispersed, as if permeating his internal organs unseen.
Lian Youming took a dozen deep breaths. Only when the heat sank did he drink the second bowl of decoction, followed by the third, the fourth, and the fifth...
By the time he finished all five bowls, Lian Youming was burning hot all over. Heat rose from the crown of his head, and his whole being glowed with vitality, as though he were soaking in a steaming hot bath. Yet this change did not last long; as his breathing grew heavier and longer, everything settled back to normal.
Yan Lingyun stood nearby, watching his intensely masculine physique, holding several gold needles in her hand with her small face tense, ready to pierce his points the moment anything went awry.
Carrying a bowl of stewed goose, Big Head Liu walked in right as this unfolded. His jaw nearly hit the floor, and he stammered, "Holy crap... Could this... could this be... the legendary... qigong? The kind that can project power through empty air?"
Though the man recognized aged medicine, he knew nothing of internal martial arts. Seeing the medicinal potency radiating from Lian Youming, he was utterly awestruck.
Lian Youming had no time to pay attention to the old fellow. He exhaled a long breath of hot air, steadily stabilizing his breathing, sheer joy written across his face.
Now that his Five Qi were fortified, all that remained was to replenish vital essence through food to practice the Golden Bell Shield.
Just then, Yan Lingyun turned and took another wooden box from her chest.
"Inside this box are eleven pieces of century-old Solomon's seal, nine times steamed and nine times sun-dried. Brother Lian, your foundation is still shallow. In the future, when you train, you only need to take a small bite. It's far purer than ordinary meat... What's in here is enough to last you two or three months."
Lian Youming could not help clicking his tongue. It seemed the girl was truly sparing no expense for that eight-prong wild ginseng, to the point where even he felt slightly embarrassed.
She truly was a precious treasure.
"Classmate Yan, don't worry. I'll definitely keep what I promised you—guaranteed to see it through. From now on, even if you want the stars from the sky, I'll pluck them down for you."
Lian Youming spoke with solemn certainty.
"Braggart!"
Hearing that, Yan Lingyun's cheeks flushed red again. She hurried over to the table to eat the iron-pot stewed goose, burying her head low.
Lian Youming was about to take a seat as well when Big Head Liu tugged at his sleeve.
"Uncle Liu, what's wrong?"
The man rubbed his hands incessantly, the look in his eyes entirely transformed.
Doctor Liu's gaze burned with fervor. "In the past, this disciple had eyes but failed to recognize Mount Tai, unaware that a true master stood before me! I beg Master Lian to accept this disciple into your sect and pass down the divine skill! This disciple will surely bring great glory to our school..."
He did not even stutter anymore.
Chapter 23