"So he was born premature."
"It isn't really that difficult to treat, but..."
Yin-Yang Dragon-Tiger Pill, Innate Primordial Qi Pill, Root-Restoring Origin-Nourishing Pill...
Looking at the names of the medicinal pills required for treatment, as well as the general materials needed to concoct them, Li Fan shook his head in secret.
"The Path of Bodily Transformation is merely a small, rustic mountain sect with no pill refinement arts of its own. Moreover, it is quite shabby, with limited financial resources. Even if they knew these pills were useful, they might not have been able to procure them."
"Besides, whether these pills even existed thousands of years ago is another question."
Li Fan reviewed the rest of the information. The treatment methods were invariably using heavenly treasures and earthly materials to replenish the depleted body.
None of them suited the environment in which young Tianyang lived.
For a cultivator to be innately frail to Tianyang's extent was indeed extraordinarily rare.
Since the re-establishment of the Alliance of Ten Thousand Immortals, only a handful of cases had ever occurred.
Thus, it was a textbook complex and difficult ailment, offering little for Li Fan to reference.
"Could it be that I still have to rely on breaking through to the Golden Core realm?"
"Wait, how could I have forgotten that!"
Li Fan was taken aback for a moment, then had a sudden flash of realization.
Activating the Soul Transformation into Dao Unity secret art, he swiftly flipped through the Heavenly Physician Immortal Scripture stored within his mind.
Although Li Fan had already memorized the entire medical scripture, its contents were so vast that it normally merely resided in the blue crystal within his mind, far from reaching the level where he could recall and apply whatever he wished with a mere thought.
As a result, he sometimes instinctively overlooked it.
The Heavenly Physician Immortal Scripture was indeed profound and vast, not disappointing Li Fan.
Soon, Li Fan found a description of the corresponding illness:
"...Excessive sleepiness, stunted growth; all such cases stem from a deficiency in innate vital essence."
"To cure this condition, there are three methods."
"First: Replenishment. Second: Peril. Third: Poison."
Li Fan reviewed the three methods in the medical scripture one by one and could not help marveling secretly.
"The Way of Medicine truly cannot be underestimated."
The so-called Replenishment was precisely what Li Fan had found earlier by searching the Heavenly Profound Mirror: using heavenly treasures and earthly materials to replenish innate vital essence.
The other two methods, "Peril" and "Poison," however, were rather intriguing.
The medical scripture held that although those suffering from this condition had innate defects, as long as they survived for at least one full year after leaving the womb, their acquired constitution would be complete, forming a self-contained system.
Moreover, the human body contained boundless secret treasures and limitless potential.
It was merely that under normal circumstances, ordinary means could not stimulate or mobilize them.
Only during deep slumber, when devoid of consciousness, could the body's instinctive life-force be driven to supplement the innate with the acquired.
This was also why those who were innately frail fell into stupors year-round.
The two treatments, Peril and Poison, were built upon this theoretical foundation.
Their underlying principles were essentially identical, except that Poison was more extreme, while Peril was more conservative and moderate.
Both forced out the human body's latent life potential through the ingestion of medicines, compensating for the innate frailty in one fell swoop.
If the vital essence and vitality within the body were likened to water, then innate frailty was akin to cracked, parched soil downstream due to prolonged drought.
Meanwhile, the reservoir of life potential within the human body was a massive upstream reservoir.
The method of Poison was to directly blow up the reservoir—risking one's life in a desperate gamble to seek survival from the jaws of death.
It was suitable for terminally ill patients, a measure of last resort.
The method of Peril, on the other hand, was to open the sluice gates from time to time to replenish the bodily vital essence, while simultaneously diverting water from other rivers—a two-pronged approach.
...
"These two methods seem unbelievable on the surface, but they actually have sound reasoning behind them."
"When pushed to desperation, people often unleash power far beyond the ordinary."
"The secret treasures of the human body..."
"Could this be the Heavenly Physician's path to enlightenment?"
"Perhaps, alongside cultivating and laying formations, I should also dedicate time to studying and researching this Heavenly Physician Immortal Scripture thoroughly."
Having found a solution, Li Fan was in no rush to use the Eternal Lingering Thought again.
Instead, he checked the combat record of Zhang Qianmo from the Purple Cloud Sect in [Sit and Debate the Dao].
"Ninety-eight wins, twenty-eight draws."
Still, no victor had emerged over him.
As Zhang Qianmo's victory tally climbed higher and higher, he drew more and more attention.
The challengers' strength was also continuously increasing.
One cultivator named "Wo Wudi" seemed to have created a character modeled after himself.
He had already launched five or six consecutive challenges.
Though he had suffered defeat each time, the duration of the battles had been steadily growing longer.
After the most recent battle ended, he had even excitedly left a message saying he had devised a method to defeat Zhang Qianmo, and as soon as he finished his training, he would challenge him immediately.
Li Fan was rather looking forward to this.
Based on True Reversion's explanation of simulating the World of Ultimate Truth using the Eternal Lingering Thought, Li Fan had also developed a guess as to why he had remained trapped in Ningyuan City within the Fallen Immortal Realm.
"It should still be the influence of an obsession. Just like being unable to leave Master Tianyang's cave abode, unless I resolve the obsession, I will never be able to leave Ningyuan City."
"As for whose obsession it is, and what obsession it is..."
"From the looks of it right now, the greatest possibility is that it relates to Zhang Qianmo."
"Perhaps defeating him will bring about some different change."
"I hope this Wo Wudi can truly live up to his name and not disappoint me."
Closing [Sit and Debate the Dao], Li Fan checked on Xiao Heng's situation.
Ever since receiving the hint from "Senior Skull," Xiao Heng had sprung into action.
Su Xiaomei had officially entered the Skull Vanguard Realm and received the Six Desires Formless Art passed down by Li Fan.
Once stepping into the Qi Condensation stage, her cultivation progressed by leaps and bounds.
Su Changyu still had not finished expelling the immortal-mortal miasma from his body, but perhaps due to his young age, his progress was much faster than before. It was estimated that within a year or two, he would succeed in drawing qi into his body.
Meanwhile, Xiao Heng had quietly brought the Yin sisters, who were still wandering adrift, to the deserted island and taught them the method to dispel the miasma.
The same went for Zhang Haobo.
However, during this process, a minor episode occurred that left Li Fan between laughter and tears.
Because Ye Feipeng spent years wandering outside on his own, sneaking around doing who-knew-what, Xiao Heng often received no reply when attempting to contact him.
Consequently, all these tasks were carried out by Xiao Heng alone through painstaking labor.
Thus, when Ye Feipeng flew back to the deserted island looking exceedingly pleased with himself, only to suddenly see Zhang Haobo standing quietly on the beach, looking at him with a calm expression...
The utterly guilty little fatty thought that his theft of Zhang Haobo's fortune had been discovered, and the man had come knocking to seek revenge!
Ye Feipeng was instantly scared out of his wits.
In front of this "Dao Integration Immortal Venerable" from his previous life, he did not even harbor the slightest thought of resistance.
Instead, his first reaction was to turn and flee.
At a speed several times faster than when he had arrived, he bolted thousands of li away without looking back.
Only when he believed himself completely safe did he stop, still shaken to the core.
He left behind only a bewildered Zhang Haobo, standing blankly on the beach.
Although Ye Feipeng communicated with Xiao Heng afterward and cleared up the misunderstanding, for the time being, he was too embarrassed to return to the deserted island.
He continued chasing wind calamities across the Congyun Sea.
Chapter 232