by Translator: BornToBe; Author: Ordinary Magician (平凡魔术师); Licensed From: 17k
Although doing so would decrease the danger by a lot, a large amount of the medicinal essence would be lost, and therefore, the medicinal pill’s quality would just be ordinary.
Bang!
Following the full suppression of Long Chen’s Spiritual Strength, the pill furnace emitted a smothered noise. After that, everything turned silent.
The pill furnace had already turned tranquil. Long Chen couldn’t help but to gasp for breath. His whole body was drenched in sweat, and he was so dizzy that he felt the sky was spinning.
When he felt a bit better, he excitedly opened up the furnace. His hand was even trembling as he picked out five extremely round pills. Holding them in his hand, a dense medicinal aroma completely filled the whole room.
“Two low-grade pills and three trash pills. Tch, saying it out loud really makes me lose enough face to die.” Long Chen’s face was showing how excited he was, but he still sighed.
Staring blankly for a bit, he couldn’t help but laugh. He had a mixture of a lifetime’s worth of memories from a Pill Sovereign along with the memories of his current self. Apparently, that Pill Sovereign was truly excessively arrogant.
He himself didn’t care about losing any face though, and he hastily carefully examined the pills in his hand.
There were two low-grade medicinal pills with their bodies completely round and their pill aroma filling the air. The aroma refreshed the mind and raised a person’s spirit when smelled.
Long Chen couldn’t hold back a burst of elation. After all, one successful medicinal pill could be sold in the imperial capital for at least ten thousand gold coins.
In addition, even the three trash pills in his hand were much better than the medicinal pill his mother had bought for him, especially since at least thirty percent of the medicinal essence had been sealed into the pill.
A medicinal pill that had locked in fifty percent of the essence would be termed low grade, and over eighty percent of all medicinal pills were only low grade.
If the medicinal essence reached sixty percent it would be middle grade, seventy percent would make it high grade, eighty percent would make it top grade, ninety percent would make it peerless grade, and as for one hundred percent… hehe. Right now Long Chen didn’t think too much about it as it was simply too far for his current self.
Some people might wonder about the difference between fifty and sixty percent content of medicinal essence. Was it a significant difference?
Wouldn’t consuming two low-grade medicinal pills be much more effective than one middle grade? If someone heard you ask this question, they’d probably choke on their own spit.
Inside a medicinal pill was not only its medicinal essence but also impurities. These impurities were unable to be absorbed by the body, and most importantly, these impurities would cancel out a portion of the absorbed essence.
The saying that each medicine had its own side effects was not just a colloquial saying but a hard truth. During the formation of a pill, it was difficult to avoid accumulating pill toxins. These kinds of toxins, if not taken very often, would not have a large effect.
But for cultivators, medicinal pills were often life-saving measures, and who would know just how many pills you would consume in one lifetime. When the body’s pill toxins reached a certain degree, they would become a life-threatening poison.
Pill toxins were one of the most difficult to eliminate poisons. They penetrated deep into the flesh and bones and even the spirit. But the higher grade a medicinal pill was, the fewer toxins it would have.
It was for this reason that the medicinal effect of a middle-grade medicinal pill was over ten times greater than a low-grade medicinal pill. As for the price difference, it was at least a hundred times greater.
After collecting the five medicinal pills and cleaning up the medicinal furnace, Long Chen could no longer endure it and collapsed into slumber.
After sleeping for an unknown amount of time, he felt two hands caressing his cheek and could hear some low-pitched murmurings, but he was too exhausted and incapable of waking up.
When Long Chen once again regained consciousness, it was already three days later. His stomach was growling with hunger, and he wolfed down his food before once again starting his seclusion.
Consuming one trash pill, he used his Spiritual Strength to guide the medicinal pill’s energy to enter the YongQuan point[1] on the bottom of his foot. That was the location of the first Star of the Nine Star Hegemon Body Art - the position of the FengFu Star.
BANG!
Long Chen’s left foot shook. The intense energy came from the bottom of his foot, and the ground under it became covered in cracks.
“Excellent, I’ve already found the meridian channel as well as the exact position. Now I can genuinely attack it.”
Long Chen faintly smiled, and he took out a low tier FengFu Pill and directly consumed it. The pure and perfect energy erupted and under Long Chen’s pull, it went straight to the YongQuan point on the bottom of his foot.
The YongQuan point trembled. Following the rushing medicinal energy, it was just like a dry riverbed receiving water, and it crazily convulsed.
BOOM!
A booming noise reverberated, and the frightening energy filled Long Chen’s whole body. The tyrannical energy exploded out of its own accord, shaking the room into smoke and dust, with waves of energy surging about.
As the smoke and dust slowly scattered, it exposed a tranquil and refined Long Chen; his eyes filled with excitement. He could sense a pea-sized body on the bottom of his foot from which endless energy would flow out into his body, giving Long Chen a desire to lift his head up to the heavens and roar.
The activity from Long Chen’s room caused the entire noble estate to be disturbed, and everyone rushed over.
Seeing his mother also coming over, Long Chen hastily said, “Mom, today is the day that the noble heirs can enter the Imperial College to study, I have to hurry over.”
After saying this, he left behind a group of dumbstruck people and a pile of destroyed ruins, as he changed into clean clothes and left directly for the Imperial College.
[1] The YongQuang point, literally meaning gushing/bubbling springs acupuncture point, is found on the bottom of the foot 2/3 of the way up in the middle. In the five-element system, the kidney meridian is water element, and since the foot is always touching the ground, the YongQuan point is earth element. The kidney meridian connects to the YongQuan point, thus it is ‘gushing springs point’, the point where the water element flows into the earth element. In Qigong, it connects us to the ground, and through the point at the top of the head, it allows us to pull in the energy of heaven and earth through us. In acupuncture it is used to treat orders in the head and neck and is also used to calm the spirit.
Chapter 5 Imperial College
The Imperial College opened its doors one day every month for the imperial capital’s noble heirs. In the morning, they would practice poetry and etiquette, and in the afternoon, the palace’s martial arts depository would be available to everyone free of charge.
The previous openings of the Imperial College held absolutely no meaning to Long Chen since even if he attended, he would just be the object of ridicule for everyone there.
But now that was no longer the case. After consuming the FengFu Pill, Long Chen had already condensed an embryonic form of the FengFu Star.
Although it was just an embryonic form and couldn’t store that much spiritual energy, it was still able to store much more than what could be stored in just the body’s meridians. After all, the meridians were like rivers while the Dantian was like the ocean that fed the rivers, even sometimes being called the ‘energy sea’.
Although a river might appear large, its capacity was limited. Without the Dantian to support it, it would quickly be used up. But this problem was completely resolved with the condensing of the FengFu Star. And the most important thing was that now that the embryonic form of the FengFu Star had been condensed,
as long as there was enough energy, it would eventually become a complete FengFu Star.
At that time, Long Chen would have something unique to himself to use as a ‘Dantian’. This was the most unique point of the Nine Star Hegemon Body Art.
When all nine stars were condensed, it would be equivalent to having nine Dantians. Anyone could understand just how powerful that kind of forceful spiritual energy source was.
Long Chen was in possession of the entire Nine Star Hegemon Body Art. Unfortunately, such a cultivation technique was something that defied the heavens, and his understanding of it was still very low, so he still needed to spend an endless amount of meditation on it.
Once he managed to completely condense his FengFu Star, he would be able to store an extremely large amount of spiritual energy. Then he could attempt to agglomerate his blood vessels and enter the Blood Condensation stage, thus becoming a true martial artist.
The Qi Condensation stage was just the first step of training in martial arts. Only by stepping into the Blood Condensation stage, having your blood and qi surge, and having your martial powers sharply rise, only then could you be considered a genuine martial artist.
Long Chen didn’t know what Heavenstage of Qi Condensation he would count as, but with the formation of his embryonic FengFu Star, his body’s strength had been increased by a surprising amount.
The current him could let out a very simple punch, and it would cause the wind to whistle, so much so that the force it generated would have enough power to break apart a vase even two meters away. Essentially, it was like his whole body was brimming with strength.
His goal in going to the Imperial College this time was to enter the martial arts depository. With his FengFu Star’s embryonic form, his body’s spiritual energy had risen, and he could already begin to train in martial Battle Skills.
These so-called Battle Skills were all created by extremely powerful seniors. They were powerful fighting techniques that used a person’s spiritual energy, qi, and meridians.
Battle Skills were extremely terrifying. They could allow a martial artist to release an extremely formidable power that was several times stronger than their ordinary strength. It was impossible to be courageous in front of them.
Therefore, each Battle Skill was extremely important to a martial artist. Now that Long Chen had spiritual energy capable of training in Battle Skills, he was itching to obtain one.
The Imperial College was located to the north side of the imperial capital. It spanned tens of kilometers, and other than the Imperial Palace, it was the grandest and most imposing building in the entire imperial capital.
After Long Chen showed off his identification plate, he entered into the Imperial College and went straight to the literature hall. That was where the morning lecture took place and where the noble heirs would listen to the studies of the Dao from lecturers talking about everything and anything, from etiquette to poetry, and even to ancient theories of literature.
Entering into the literature hall, he saw that due to how early he was, the extremely large literature hall only had several dozen people.
“Haha, brother Long, you came.”
Just as Long Chen entered, several youths came over and cordially greeted him.
These youths were similar to Long Chen; for various reasons, they also had no way of cultivating. Although they couldn’t be considered best friends, they were still fellow sufferers who empathized with each other.
In the golden age of martial arts in the Phoenix Cry Empire, these youths might not have been bullied in such a miserable way as Long Chen, but they were also frequently sneered at and suffered from a cold and indifferent treatment.
Thus, these people who suffered from similar torments ended up becoming closer to Long Chen. They were especially glad to see him now since it had been a long time since they’d seen each other.
“Haha, you guys came here pretty early,” Long Chen laughingly greeted. With the success of the condensation of his FengFu Star, his mood had improved greatly from the formerly depressed him.
“I heard a few days ago that brother Long put up a huge display of his awesome power, defeating Li Hao. Ah, you really make us admire you. Don’t tell me that brother Long can actually genuinely cultivate now?” one skinny teen extremely enviously asked.
Originally, they were all the same level as Long Chen. Hearing that Long Chen could actually defeat Li Hao who was at the third Heavenstage of Qi Condensation, they were all extremely shocked while also feeling a slight jealousy.
“Hehe, it was just luck. But most recently, I did learn a new Divine Technique.” Long Chen didn’t want to continue on this subject, so he brought up a new mysterious topic.
“Divine Technique? What’s that?” Sure enough, everyone immediately became distracted by this new change in subject.
“Hehe, this little brother recently obtained a rare clairvoyance book, and after painstakingly reading this book, I learned quite a few things,” Long Chen said somewhat complacently.
“Clairvoyance technique? Isn’t that just what the fortune tellers on the streets use to scam people?”
“Not quite. With what I learned from that clairvoyance technique, I saw that Li Hao’s face had a dark omen of misfortune on it, and it was only then that I decided to duel with him. And as for the result… hehe.” Long Chen laughed and stopped there.
Everyone was dubious for a moment when someone suddenly brightened with understanding and exclaimed, “It seems to be true! I heard that Li Hao seemed to have been bewitched that day, and his whole body didn’t have even the slightest bit of energy before he was defeated by brother Long. “
The details of Long Chen and Li Hao’s battle were known to everyone, but there were many people who felt that Li Hao’s defeat was quite a deep mystery. Nowadays, there was a great deal of discussion over Long Chen.
“Hehe, brother Long, since you are proficient in reading faces, can you help take a look at me and tell me why my fiancée always avoids me? Why won’t she agree to see me?” one person somewhat vexingly asked.
“No problem. Come, come, let’s first find a place for us all to sit. Standing here is somewhat unsuitable.”
Their group found a table in the corner to sit at, and the table even had some refreshments for them.
Long Chen pointed towards the table’s desserts and laughingly told everyone, “Let’s all eat a piece.”
“Ok,” the other people didn’t stand on courtesy and all took a piece. Everyone seemed a bit confused as they looked at Long Chen.
“How’s the taste?”
“Very good.”
“Let’s eat another piece?”
“Ok.”
That person once again picked up a piece and took a bite. But when he had only eaten one bite, his face suddenly brightened, and he respectfully turned towards Long Chen and said, “Many thanks for brother Long’s advice. This little brother understands now. I was being too greedy and brother Long was reminding me that people need to be content with their situation, right?”
Everyone looked at Long Chen in admiration. Who would have thought that Long Chen had the profound skills to use some small desserts as food for thought? However, Long Chen still sighed and shook his head. “Wrong. What I wanted to remind you of is that you’re already this fat, and yet you’re still eating this much. Soon you won’t even be able to fit through the door. The fact that your fiancée is still with you and hasn’t left you is already an enormous accommodation; you should be happy with just that. With a body shape like yours, any woman would be scared to sleep beside you. What if you rolled over in your sleep? You’d crush her so hard, she’d turn flat.”
That person’s face reddened, and with Long Chen’s reminder, he looked at his five foot tall height with his four and a half foot wide stomach. Apparently, he had previously felt that he had only fattened by a little bit.
“Fatty Yu, don’t waste brother Long’s precious time; hurry up and go lose some weight. Big bro L
ong, hehe, how about you take a shot at reading my face?” A different slender youth respectfully asked with a smile.
“Oh, you?” Long Chen made a big show of acting very seriously as he looked at him for quite a while before saying, “Your face ordains that before you are thirty, you will be destitute and frustrated, but the good thing is that after you are thirty…”
That person became jubilant, saying, “Is it possible that after thirty I can suddenly rise in my cultivation?”
“No. After you are thirty you will slowly become accustomed to your situation and will no longer be frustrated,” said Long Chen.
“…”
Everyone couldn’t help but to burst into laughter, but just as they were laughing, they suddenly saw two bitter eyes staring at them, causing everyone’s laughter to break off.
Long Chen had long since noticed that person. Turning around, they all saw Li Hao glaring daggers at them.
“Senior Li Hao, are your wounds better now? Congratulations! Your outer wounds are all healed, but what about your inner wounds?” Long Chen asked, seeming deeply concerned.
Li Hao’s face twitched. That day, his face had been smashed flat by Long Chen, and he had needed to be carried home. The Li family had hurriedly asked for the help of an alchemist from the alchemist guild and paid an extremely large sum of gold coins to help Li Hao recover.
Having money was truly good; in such a short time, Li Hao had already returned to a point where he looked the same as a normal person.
But after Long Chen brought the subject back up, Li Hao’s groin started to hurt as if he was remembering that one kick from Long Chen.
At that time, Long Chen’s kick had been very vicious, just a little bit off from turning him into a cripple. The thing that pissed him off the most though was that only after he got carried home and healed did he notice that he was missing a certain something. When his estate noticed this, they hurriedly rushed back to the martial arena, but by that time, they found that the arena had already been cleaned, and it was reported that something had been taken away by a wild dog.
