The Treasure Pavilion was indeed filled with a dazzling array of treasures, though divine weapons and sharp blades were few; most items were rare, invaluable antiques and curios.
Fang Shuwen browsed through them for quite some time. He had no need for divine weapons—mainly because he didn't know how to wield them.
Taking one would just be a waste, not to mention an invitation for trouble.
Nor did he need those priceless antiques and curios, which would be troublesome to liquidate anyway.
He had thought about picking up a set for Zheng Sihai to take back, but after searching for a while, he found nothing suitable.
After wandering through the treasure vault for a while longer, Fang Shuwen's gaze was suddenly caught by a medicinal pill.
He asked softly, "What pill is this?"
Zuo Qingshuang glanced at it and said with a smile, "This is the Ten-Year Dust-Shattering Pill. Consuming it augments one's internal skill cultivation. Roughly speaking, it grants ten years of internal force out of thin air."
Fang Shuwen blinked in surprise. "Such a thing exists?"
Zuo Qingshuang's expression grew somewhat complicated. "This is a relic of Divine Pill Valley from years past. Their mastery of medicinal lore was unparalleled, and many wondrous pills originated from their hands. Unfortunately, Divine Pill Valley was later destroyed, and their stockpiles of pills were swept clean. Very few ever survived into circulation. This Ten-Year Dust-Shattering Pill was also acquired by chance by an expert of our sect..."
"He didn't take it?" Fang Shuwen asked curiously.
Zuo Qingshuang gave a slight smile. "Though this pill is remarkable, it is far from an unreserved blessing. While ingesting it allows one to gain ten years of cultivation overnight, it also makes any subsequent progress in one's cultivation exceedingly difficult. Unless one is an elderly person on the verge of the grave, or someone whose cultivation has already hit an insurmountable wall, it is best not to consume it."
"I see."
Understanding dawned on Fang Shuwen, though he also felt that this drawback greatly diminished the pill's value.
Yet if he took it back as a gift for Zheng Sihai, it would likely make a fine present...
After all, Zheng Sihai was merely the master of a martial arts hall whose martial arts were limited to begin with. Now that his master was growing old and frail, gaining ten years of cultivation from this pill might actually be a very good thing.
His Master had truly treated him well, looking after him over the years in ways that far exceeded the modest tuition he had paid back then. Repaying his Master's kindness with this pill would certainly be fitting.
As for himself...
Had it been his former self—the one who saw no path forward—he might have chosen to swallow it. But now... it was completely unnecessary.
After all, he now possessed two supreme divine arts, the Yijin Jing and the Beiming Divine Art. Judging solely by the latter, he was hardly in need of a mere ten years of cultivation.
With that thought, he asked, "Does it only hinder future cultivation, or does it cause physical harm to the body?"
"None," Zuo Qingshuang said, shaking her head.
Fang Shuwen asked again, "How long has it been sitting here... is it expired?"
Zuo Qingshuang was unaccustomed to the word "expired," but after mulling it over, she grasped its general meaning. She smiled and said, "Its potency might have diminished somewhat, but there won't be any issue."
Fang Shuwen decided to take her word for it, immediately smiling. "Then I'll take this one."
Zuo Qingshuang hesitated slightly. "Is this a gift, or do you plan to take it yourself, Young Hero?"
"A gift."
"That is good, then."
Relieved to hear that, Zuo Qingshuang reached out, retrieved the pill along with its box, and handed it to Fang Shuwen.
Fang Shuwen looked it over, quite satisfied. Anything else plucked at random from this vault would have been cumbersome, but this pill was wonderful—a small box that took up virtually no space on his person.
As they walked toward the exit, Fang Shuwen inquired about Divine Pill Valley, hoping to broaden his knowledge of the jianghu.
With a complicated expression, Zuo Qingshuang shared a long-kept secret of the jianghu.
Where the lineage of Divine Pill Valley originated, no one knew. Yet the moment their pill formulas and elixirs emerged into the world, they caused a sensation across the entire jianghu.
The Ten-Year Dust-Shattering Pill was merely one of their most trivial creations, offering only ten years of cultivation while hobbling future training.
There were far more precious pills: some that could raise one's cultivation without any drawbacks whatsoever, others that could heal the most grievous wounds, and even pills that could vastly unlock one's comprehension, allowing one to master otherwise incomprehensible divine manuals in a short span of time.
For a long time, the martial arts world clamored desperately for Divine Pill Valley's medicines, to the point where demand vastly outstripped supply and no price could buy them.
Yet at some unknown point, a rumor began to spread.
The rumor claimed that Divine Pill Valley's methods of refining pills were extraordinarily cruel: that they employed a human pill method, taking people's hearts, livers, spleens, and lungs as medicinal catalysts and condensing them alongside various medicinal herbs. Miraculous as the effects were, it violated the harmony of heaven.
This news spread like wildfire, leaving many half-believing and half-doubting. Then, one day, someone caught a disciple of Divine Pill Valley in the act of murdering a person and carving out their heart. That witness held considerable prestige in the jianghu, so their testimony naturally commanded belief.
In an instant, public fury boiled over.
They had regarded Divine Pill Valley as a reputable orthodox sect and revered their pills as miraculous panaceas, only to discover they had essentially consumed human flesh! Some were overcome with remorse, others wept in agony, and countless more were consumed by rage.
Joining forces with many other sects of that era, these people stormed Divine Pill Valley demanding an explanation. The Valley Master of Divine Pill Valley pleaded their innocence repeatedly, but could never win their trust. To make matters worse, someone uncovered sealed jars of hearts, livers, spleens, and lungs within Divine Pill Valley's storage vaults.
This instantly ignited the standoff into open violence.
The end result was a massacre.
Though the Valley Master possessed peerless martial arts, he could not withstand being besieged by so many masters, and he ultimately died with deep grievance. Divine Pill Valley was burned to the ground. Curiously enough, every last pill stored within Divine Pill Valley was looted clean.
The aftermath of the tragedy aroused suspicion, prompting some to reopen an investigation, only to discover that the entire affair had been a conspiracy.
From beginning to end, there had never been anything wrong with Divine Pill Valley's pills.
Someone had deliberately framed them; the prominent figure who supposedly witnessed a disciple murdering someone and harvesting a heart had been bribed to lie.
This revelation stirred up towering waves. Feeling fooled, used, and guilty of slaughtering the innocent, those who had taken part unleashed another bloody storm of vengeance.
"Tumult and chaos, shattered pieces, dust rising and mist clearing again and again. In the end, everything returned to stillness once more..."
Zuo Qingshuang's face was filled with sorrowful sighs.
Fang Shuwen was struck silent for a moment.
He couldn't help wondering whether those people had truly been kept in the dark... or if they had sensed something was amiss, yet willfully feigned ignorance.
Matters in the jianghu were often like that.
Impossible to clearly explain, impossible to unravel.
Some were genuinely foolish, while others merely pretended to be.
Yet Fang Shuwen did not dwell on the melancholy for long; it was merely an old tale long buried in the dust of the jianghu.
Stepping out of the Treasure Pavilion, he saw Zhou Qingmei standing quietly nearby.
Perhaps hearing their footsteps, she lifted her eyes toward them and smiled softly—and in that instant, even the sunlight seemed much brighter.
Chapter 46