The essence of the Pharmacist’s Blessing was, frankly speaking, just that.
At the very least, at this level, its fundamental operational logic had been completely grasped by Li Qiuchen.
It was like sweet and sour pork—at its core, it was just meat coated in batter and deep-fried. Make it sweet and sour, and it was the old-school version. Give it a savory glaze, and it became crispy fried strips. Dredge it in salt and pepper, and it was crispy nuggets. Add pineapple and ketchup, and it turned into sweet and sour pineapple pork.
The underlying logic of the Pharmacist’s Blessing was the conversion of life forms.
Limited by the believer’s cognition, there simply wasn’t much room for creativity at this stage.
When he saw Mohe Zhenren transform into a large tree, entangle the white crane, and start sucking blood, Li Qiuchen didn’t feel terrified. Instead, he breathed a sigh of relief.
He was out of ideas.
If he had suddenly turned into a giant tiger, or grown wings, or spat acid, or shot fire from his ass, Li Qiuchen really wouldn’t have been able to come up with a solution on the spot.
But he just turned into a tree… who *couldn’t* do that?
“A single spirit pill swallowed into the belly—my life is mine, and not Heaven’s…” Sorry, wrong script.
This was exactly the same situation as when Li Qiuchen had taken a Spirit-Gathering Pill for the first time. Frankly speaking, it was completely letting go of the mind’s shackles and letting plant consciousness take over his body.
Otherwise known as “Berserk.”
Right in front of Mohe Zhenren, Li Qiuchen directly swallowed a Spirit-Gathering Pill and began circulating his technique. The surrounding heaven and earth spiritual energy frantically converged, and countless shoots burst out from his spine.
Li Qiuchen’s body grew larger and taller. Madly twisting branches wrapped around Mohe Zhenren’s trunk, and his Pharmacist’s Blessing operated at full capacity, beginning to absorb power from their shared source.
Mohe Zhenren sensed the danger, but his reaction was half a beat too slow.
He was poisoned.
*How am I poisoned again?*
Mohe Zhenren’s currently sluggish brain slowly churned into motion.
Had there been earth spikes in the trap?
No, it was just a pit, dug up on the spot.
Mohe Zhenren belatedly looked at the white crane he was gripping tightly, suddenly realizing something.
*Are you even fucking human? You actually poisoned your own spiritual beast from the inside?*
Facing Mohe Zhenren’s shocked gaze, Li Qiuchen shrugged helplessly.
“All jokes aside, don’t trample on my innocence.
Did I poison it?
Do you know how many pounds of jam this pig has stolen from me? It eats straight out of the pot. It has literally eaten its way into developing toxin resistance to hundred-year Nightshade Fruit!
How can a crane be so addicted to sweets? Was it abused by its family growing up? Never had a good meal in its entire life?
Besides, I didn’t tell you to suck its blood, did I?
If you had honestly absorbed life force, you definitely wouldn’t have been poisoned. Who taught you such bad habits of drinking blood and eating flesh?”
Seeing Mohe Zhenren catch on, the white crane dropped the act. With a violent flap of its wings, it shattered all the branches缠绕 around its body, soared into the air, and repeatedly flapped its wings at Mohe Zhenren.
Sword lights flew out one after another, chopping the ancient pine that Mohe Zhenren had become into pieces. Among them, one seemingly ordinary feather flashed past like a meteor, weaving left and right around the ancient pine, leaving deep, bone-deep gashes in the trunk with every strike.
“You feathered beast! You’re pushing me too far!”
Mohe Zhenren was burning with rage. Although the white crane’s feather-swords couldn’t inflict much effective damage, he also lacked any effective means of defending against them. Instead, his attention was divided, preventing him from focusing on dealing with the identical opponent before him.
Two humanoid ancient trees on the hilltop were tightly entangled, using all their strength to try and absorb the life energy within the other’s body.
Li Qiuchen’s strength was indeed far weaker than Mohe Zhenren’s, but he had just swallowed a Spirit-Gathering Pill, instantly increasing his efficiency in absorbing heaven and earth spiritual energy tenfold. The powerful suction was something Mohe Zhenren completely couldn’t resist. He only felt himself growing emptier and emptier; it wouldn’t be long before he was sucked completely dry.
Seeing himself falling into a disadvantage, knowing that if he didn’t do something he would really die here, Mohe Zhenren suddenly bit his tongue and sprayed out a mouthful of essence blood, activating the large prayer beads hanging around his neck.
The blood-stained beads scattered in mid-air, flashing with an earthen-yellow spiritual light, and smashed straight down toward Li Qiuchen.
Boom boom boom boom—!
Every single bead was like a cannonball, striking Li Qiuchen with terrifying force, pummeling him until his head was bloodied and his skin was torn.
If he had still been in human form, his brains would have been splattered three meters away by now.
But he was currently in the same half-human, half-tree form as Mohe Zhenren. This magical treasure with an obvious earth attribute could only injure him—and injuries of this degree would recover in the blink of an eye.
As expected, he had a magical treasure!
I knew a man of your stature wouldn’t die without dropping some loot.
“Senior, I believe this item is destined for me!”
Li Qiuchen clenched his teeth. Instead of retreating, he advanced. He bent down and hugged Mohe Zhenren’s trunk, planted his feet on the ground, and heaved.
Tiger-Embracing Technique!
This was a martial arts manual scavenged from beneath the bed of one Jiao Potian after sweeping through a bandit stronghold. It was specifically provided for the county yamen prison guards to cultivate, used to suppress those fierce bandit prisoners.
The technique was very crude, but it was perfectly suited for this kind of close-quarters brawl.
Mohe Zhenren was squeezing out his last dregs of spiritual power to drive his final magical treasure when, caught completely off guard, he was hugged around the waist by Li Qiuchen. Both hands grabbed his lower back, wooden spikes from Li Qiuchen’s palms pierced into his body, and hidden force erupted forth, instantly disrupting the flow of qi within him.
Pfft—!
A mouthful of fresh blood sprayed from Mohe Zhenren’s mouth. This time, he had finally suffered real, genuine damage.
The white crane flapped its wings and attacked from the side. A flash of sword light, and Mohe Zhenren’s head flew high into the air, instantly pierced back and forth by the flying sword more than a dozen times, leaving bloody holes.
“The spine! Attack his spine!”
Li Qiuchen shouted.
The white crane kicked Mohe Zhenren’s head a dozen or so zhang away, dug its sharp claws into the flesh, and pulled upward with all its might, directly extracting Mohe Zhenren’s entire spine from his body.
The flying sword swept past, piercing back and forth several times, instantly cutting the entire thick spine into chunks like hotpot lamb spine.
The ancient pine that was Mohe Zhenren suddenly stiffened, stopping in place. Countless streams of life energy, no longer bound, surged into Li Qiuchen’s body.
The white crane flew into mid-air, staring in shock and uncertainty at Li Qiuchen, who had almost completely turned into a tree and whose body was still constantly expanding.
“Go… help me get those… beads back…”
Li Qiuchen, now left with only half a face, spoke with difficulty, giving the stupid bird something to do.
Otherwise, this stupid bird might start getting handsy with him.
The intentions were good, but Li Qiuchen’s mental state this time was actually much better than when he had taken the Spirit-Gathering Pill for the first time.
Because what he was mainly absorbing was the life energy from within Mohe Zhenren’s body.