hotmtlnovel Chapter 205. The Divine Pill of the Au Co Tribe (1)
Chapter 205. The Divine Pill of the Au Co Tribe (1)
Chapter 205. The Divine Pill of the Au Co Tribe (1)
From this point on, this is unknown territory.
The highest realm he had reached in both his current and past life was the Harmony Realm.
In his previous life, he had barely reached the Harmony Realm before his life was cut short, and in this one, he had used the guaranteed history to reach the Completion Stage.
Not even he knew what awaited him if he took the Divine Pill of the Au Co, which was said to grant immortality.
What lies beyond this point for me?
Thump, thump.
The thought of venturing into the unknown was exhilarating.
Since ancient times, the goal of a cultivator was to overcome the wall before them and reach the next realm. His heart was already trembling.
Let's calm down. I'll get myself riled up for no reason.
Yet, he understood that with his current mindset, achieving enlightenment would be impossible. At worst, he might fail to break through entirely.
The tribulation to break through the next realm was dangerous. If one wasn't careful, one could easily fall into cultivation deviation. In particular, if one absorbed something that contained an incredible amount of qi, like the Divine Pill of the Au Co, there was a high risk of one's qi reversing.
Zhou Xuchuan used the Violet Haze Divine Art to calm his excited mind, then grabbed the Divine Pill of the Au Co.
Known as the source of life, a Divine Pill of Extreme Yang.
From the start, it was crucial to have at least some understanding of an elixir's nature before consuming it. This was especially true when consuming an elixir regarding an Extreme.
If he took the Divine Pill of Extreme Yang without any knowledge or preparation, the delicate balance of yin and yang within his body would collapse, leading to cultivation deviation.
The conversation he had with the Divine Physician before entering secluded cultivation came to mind.
"Based on the Divine Pill's composition, it's clear that it has an extreme yang nature. So, you should either use a qi cultivation method that specializes in handling yang qi to circulate it through your meridians or take an opposing elixir of Extreme Yin together with it... actually, this should be good enough, too."
The Divine Physician handed him a bottle the size of two fingers.
Pure Stalactite Milk!
It was an elixir that could extend an ordinary person's life and health with just a single drop. For martial artists, it provided the equivalent of a sexagenary cycle's worth of cultivation.[1]
Records regarding such a precious elixir were so old and impossible to find that it was considered a legend. However, such a legendary elixir had been passed on to the Divine Physician by the Head Archivist.
"Is the Pure Stalactite Milk an elixir of Extreme Yin?"
"No, it's not. The Pure Stalactite Milk holds the power of harmony, as it's collected in a cave where the harmony of heaven and earth is preserved."
"That means..."
"Even if you consume the Divine Pill of the Au Co, an elixir of Extreme Yang, the Pure Stalactite Milk will help you absorb its power harmoniously without any problems."
It wasn't called a legendary elixir for nothing.
"Oh, just in case you didn't know, if you use the Pure Stalactite Milk for its harmonizing properties, you won't be able to gain its qi."
"That's too bad."
Human greed knew no bounds. Despite his vast qi reserves, which defied logic, and even though he was planning on consuming the Divine Pill of the Au Co, Zhou Xuchuan still wanted more.
"Fifty taels of gold."
"Huh?"
A thousand coins equaled a single guan.[2] A single guan was equivalent to a tael of silver, which was equivalent to two shi of rice.[3]
It took ten taels of silver to make a single tael of gold.[4]
Considering the Divine Physician was asking for fifty taels, the value of money he was asking for was enormous.[/ref]Fifty taels of gold are worth roughly 1,000 shi of rice, or 60,000 KILOS. The average person in Korea eats roughly 60 kg of rice a year, or a single shi. In other words, fifty taels of gold is enough rice for 1,000 people in one year, or 1,000 years of rice for one person. In today's currency, fifty taels of gold are worth roughly $170,000. That's roughly 85,000 kilos of rice purchasing power in NYC.[/ref]
"Don't look at me like that. Do you think this old man is running a charity? While the Divine Pill of the Au Co was originally supposed to go to that Dark Heavens Association or something, this Pure Stalactite Milk was something I rightfully received from that man."
The Divine Physician held out his palm and smiled sinisterly.
"I heard that the Divine Physician isn't someone who can be moved by money."
"Well, if I don't say that, I'll end up getting involved in all sorts of troublesome things; what else could I say? Moreover, medicine costs a lot more than you think. Please understand."
He wasn't exaggerating. Medicine was already expensive, research and development of new medicines cost a lot of money.
In particular, an immense amount of money was constantly poured into manufacturing new medicines and finding treatments for incurable diseases.
There was a reason why the medical fees of the Benevolence Clinic were so expensive that ordinary people couldn't even dream of going there.
"...here is a voucher from Gold Bank."
"Gold Bank is a trustworthy place. Thank you."
Zhou Xuchuan had a way to find an elixir of Extreme Yin. However, since the process wouldn't be easy, he had chosen the easy way.
It was uncertain whether he could properly balance the two extremes in the first place, so it was better for him to choose the Divine Physician's guaranteed method, even if it cost him a little money.
Normally, he never had to use his own assets, let alone gold, since everything was usually paid for by the Martial Alliance. Still, to think everything he had could vanish in an instant.
With the offered product being Pure Stalactite Milk, Zhou Xuchuan had no room to negotiate.
Zhou Xuchuan's consciousness was fading away. He tried his best not to let go, but he was quickly losing the battle.
Is it even possible to endure this?
Ugh!
This wasn't something a human could endure. The pain was beyond anything he had ever experienced. It was even worse than Bodily Reformation.
The veins on his face bulged, and his face turned crimson as if it would explode at any moment.
But thanks to the harmonizing effects of the Pure Stalactite Milk, his body barely managed not to explode. Little by little, he began to absorb the Divine Pill's overwhelming energy.
Don't make me laugh!
Still, even though it worked slowly, this was way too slow. It was impossible for him to endure this sort of excruciating pain any longer.
Let alone an hour, a minute—no, even a second was too much.
A!
R!
G!
H!
Eventually, when his consciousness had faded to the point where he couldn't tell if it was a dream or reality, a scream escaped his lips.
He couldn't tell if the scream was truly coming from his mouth or if it was all in his head. However, he let it all out.
Squelch!
As soon as he screamed, something exploded.
Huh?
His eyes opened. The darkness cleared, and light rushed in.
Before him were pieces of bone visible between stumps of torn flesh where his arms should have been.
A Qi of Extremity that a human body couldn't contain.
In the end, his body was unable to endure it, and his arms exploded.
Is this the end?
Strangely, Zhou Xuchuan didn't scream anymore. Nor did he feel shock at losing his arms, a death sentence for a swordsman.
He just thought, 'It's all over,' and gave up.
—Is this really something a human can't control?
—It contained the essence of Au Co, the Incarnation of Fire and the Immortal Fairy.
—This is a Divine Grade Elixir.
—This isn't something a human can possibly overcome.
Zhou Xuchuan couldn't even process his thoughts fully. The qi cultivation methods he tried to use somehow didn't work either.
With his arms gone, he began to accept death.
Then, at that moment—
"Don't fucking mess with me! Ugh!"
Zhou Xuchuan screamed, letting out his frustration. It hurt. It hurt so much he had to scream.
Every time he spoke, he vomited blood.
"It hurts! It hurts!"
The fragments of shattered bones rose up from the ground. Starting from his shoulder blades, the bones connected and found their place once again.
Then, one by one, the flesh that had scattered like flower petals began regrowing over his reformed skeleton, slowly reconstructing his arms.
He couldn't tell if this was reality or a dream.
His head spun so wildly that he couldn't determine whether his arms had truly exploded and healed themselves or if none of it had happened at all.
Even though talking while absorbing an elixir and circulating qi was dangerous, Zhou Xuchuan shouted in irritation.
Things have already gone this far, fine, I'll go as far as you want!
1. Sixty years worth of qi. ☜
2. Literally a string of a thousand coins. ☜
3. Roughly 120 Kilos of rice (one shi is roughly 60 kg of rice). A tael of pure silver is worth roughly $40 in today's currency, which gets you nowhere near that amount of rice. In NYC, that's barely 20kg worth of rice. ☜
4. Ten taels of silver are worth roughly $400, while a tael of gold is worth roughly $3,400 right now. ☜
5. This is not an actual organ but more of a concept. Called the Triple Burner, it's the hollow space within one's torso that holds the other organs and is split into three sections that do different things. Think along the lines of the three dantians, upper-middle-lower. ☜