Li Qiuchen did not know what had happened at the foot of the mountain.
But he could vaguely guess where that stupid bird would go.
It loved sneaking into the village cornfields below the mountain to steal corn.
At this time of year, the ears of corn had already grown out, only about the size of a finger, sweet, crisp, and refreshing to the bite.
The stupid bird possessed a rather obsessive sense of justice, yet when it came to stealing corn, it had absolutely no moral bottom line.
It was even perfectly self-righteous about it.
If it and Li Qiuchen had not taken action, how could the people in this village still have had the mind to plant crops? With no one tending the corn in the fields, it would have rotted away long ago.
Besides stealing corn, taking this road down the mountain also allowed it to scout the movements of that pursuing force and see whether they had caught up.
Logically speaking, they should not have. If they had, then those military lords were far too stubborn.
Was there no other entertainment in the county town? For example, young ladies who could sing and dance or the like… Did you all really have to waste your precious lives in this godforsaken stretch of deep mountains and old forests?
But if it was not them, Li Qiuchen truly could not think of what trouble the stupid bird might have run into.
It was a yaoguai, and a yaoguai that could wield a sword, no less.
Surely it could not have gone off to seek revenge on stone clams again, gotten its beak clamped, and ended up hanging in some strange place, right?
He searched until the sun sank behind the mountains and the moon rose to the treetops. Li Qiuchen’s heart grew heavier and heavier.
Something was wrong. He was afraid something really had happened.
In these deep mountains and old forests, one peak linked to another, everything pitch-black—where was he supposed to go looking?
Just as he was at his wit’s end, a flash of white suddenly appeared at the edge of his vision.
Li Qiuchen focused his gaze and saw, beneath a pine tree in the distance, a small rabbit with fur as white as jade, its ears standing upright as it stared straight at him.
Thinking of what the mountain god Jiang Tingyue had once said about rabbits becoming spirits and the like, Li Qiuchen’s heart stirred. He hurried forward and bowed.
The rabbit flicked its ears, turned, and ran.
Li Qiuchen followed the rabbit over mountains and ridges. To his surprise, the effects of the talisman had not completely vanished yet, saving him quite a bit of effort.
After crossing two mountain peaks, the rabbit rolled on the spot and vanished without a trace.
Li Qiuchen went forward and saw the stupid bird lying in a pool of blood, its life or death unknown.
Stuck in its chest was an enormous arrow a full three feet long. The arrowhead had pierced straight through its body and emerged from its back.
Even with his heel, he could guess that only the elite knights of the Garrison Office were qualified to use such a vicious weapon.
This was too much.
If they had used this bow and arrow to shoot Li Qiuchen, he would have been angry too, but it would not have risen to hatred.
After all, the path he had taken was not exactly proper.
They were merely handling official business, and he could not explain himself clearly.
But…
Had the stupid bird provoked you?
The greatest crime of its life was stealing a couple ears of corn!
All right, fine, it had indeed killed a few… some… quite a few people.
But weren’t they all bandits who killed people and set fires?
Shameless!
As Li Qiuchen grumbled inwardly, he crouched down to examine the stupid bird’s condition.
Its injuries were somewhat severe. It could almost be said to be dead.
But it was, after all, not a frail human. The vitality of a yao beast’s body was still extremely tenacious.
Li Qiuchen gripped the shaft of the arrow and applied a bit of force, only to find that this giant arrow was unexpectedly heavy. It was not made of ordinary wood.
The triangular arrowhead had been forged from refined steel, sharp as a blade, and lines of faint golden runes had been drawn upon it.
Li Qiuchen gripped the arrow shaft with both hands and snapped it with force. It took him no small amount of effort to break the shaft, after which he pulled the arrow out from the other side of its body.
The moment the arrow was pulled free, blood gushed out like a fountain.
Li Qiuchen threw the arrow aside, pressed down on the white crane’s wound, and activated the Pharmacist’s Blessing.
Countless streams of life energy passed from his hand into the white crane’s body. Its damaged internal organs rapidly healed, and the wound shrank along with them.
In the blink of an eye, the injuries on the white crane’s body had recovered completely, yet it remained motionless.
Li Qiuchen frowned slightly. A subtle change came over his state of mind.
He activated his ocular technique and carefully examined the white crane from top to bottom, but found nothing amiss.
Then it was probably not a problem on the physical level.
Li Qiuchen thought, This has touched upon my blind spot in knowledge.
The Pharmacist’s Blessing could only resolve problems on the physical level, so those people treating the Pharmacist’s Blessing as a great path to immortality were incorrect.
It only dealt with “life.” If you wanted longevity, then once you passed the expiration date, the issue of quality of life was not their responsibility.
For example, if you lived for several hundred years, accumulated too many negative emotions, and suddenly suffered a mental breakdown and turned into a madman, that sort of situation would not fall within their after-sales warranty.
And on the road of cultivating immortality, apart from longevity, there were many other issues to consider.
The most common was the problem of the “qi sea and dantian.”
The Pharmacist’s Blessing cultivated the Dragon Court spine. If you absorbed the spiritual energy of heaven and earth and drew it into your qi sea and dantian, that was not the same operating system as theirs.
Ordinary people and low-level cultivators would face a common kind of injury called “the dantian being crippled,” or “the qi sea being damaged.”
For this kind of ailment, going to a pharmacist would not solve it.
It could be repaired, but whether it could be used the same way as before after being repaired was hard to say.
As for the second situation, it was like the white crane’s current state. Li Qiuchen judged that the runes drawn on the arrowhead of that giant arrow might have some significance, causing its divine soul to suffer damage.
In this kind of situation, the Pharmacist’s Blessing was likewise powerless.
What was he supposed to do?
Li Qiuchen suddenly panicked a little.
Just as he was about to burn incense and call for help, that little white rabbit hopped out again and placed a spiritual herb it was holding in its mouth in front of Li Qiuchen, then turned to leave.
Li Qiuchen was so moved he nearly shed tears.
Do you think I majored in biology or something? I don’t recognize what kind of medicine this is! How do I use it? Eat it raw? Boil it? Take it internally or apply it externally?
Just as he had no idea what to do, a familiar young girl’s voice sounded beside his ear.
It was Miss Rabbit.
“This is Soul-Nourishing Grass. If brewed together with Tranquil Spirit Flower, Andrographis, and other medicinal ingredients, it can be made into Soul-Nourishing Soup to treat injuries to the divine soul.”
“Also, there is no need to worry. That unit of Garrison Office troops has already withdrawn.”
Li Qiuchen originally wanted to say, I don’t know what kind of temper the mountain god has, but if it were me, I absolutely wouldn’t be able to endure this…
But he was in a bad mood right now and could not be bothered to stir things up. He merely bowed in silent thanks.
Carrying the unconscious white crane on his back, he rushed back to his little nest in the mountains overnight.
This stupid bird did not seem as heavy as he had estimated… Could it be because it had not eaten yet today?
After placing the white crane in the haystack it usually liked best, Li Qiuchen walked out the door, shouldered his hoe, and planted the Soul-Nourishing Grass in the medicinal plot closest to his house.
One stalk of Soul-Nourishing Grass could at most brew one pot of medicine.
Would one pot of medicine be enough? Miss Rabbit had not said, and Li Qiuchen was not too certain either.
Since he could not be certain, he had to be a bit more prudent.
Plant it first and stimulate its growth, then go out and search again to see whether he could transplant a few more stalks.