"Two maces of mock strawberry, one tael six maces of sacred bamboo, four maces of oleander…"
Qin Mu brought Hu Ling'er to the treasury and handed up the prescription to buy the medicinal ingredients he needed. He then informed Hu Ling'er, "This time I'm going to create a drug called Lost Fragrance, which is a kind of anesthetic. Grandpa Apothecary had once used it to knock out a flood dragon. That bull may be strong but this can definitely knock it out! However, creating this drug requires a special pill furnace and no negligence can be tolerated."
Hu Ling'er asked curiously, "Why is that so?"
"The fragrance that this drug gives off can even knock out a flood dragon, let alone the apothecary that's making it?"
Qin Mu smiled, "If the pill furnace isn't sealed up, the fragrance would travel out after the drug is done. I'm afraid to even great divine arts practitioners of Celestial Being Realm would fall head first if they happen to stand in the path where the fragrance is carried through. I don't have this kind of sealed pill furnace so I need to borrow one from Hall of Supreme Healing…"
Suddenly, he heard a familiar voice, "Little divine physician, where are you going?"
Qin Mu looked towards the source of the voice and smiled, "So it's Imperial Physician Qu. That's right, you're a directorate, I need to call your Teacher Qu."
Imperial Physician Qu immediately said, "Don't say it this way, I'm too ashamed! Little divine physician, I have a lecture this afternoon and will be talking about medicinal knowledge with the scholars. Since you're a divine physician, why don't you substitute me to give a lecture?"
Qin Mu broke out in laughter and said, "I'm only a student, how can I give a lecture? Furthermore, I still have something to do during the afternoon lesson and might not be able to attend. I plan to refine a furnace of drug which would be used in the afternoon."
Imperial Physician was slightly disappointed but his eyes suddenly lit up, "You are refining pills?"
Qin Mu smiled, "It can't be considered refining pills, it's just refining drugs."
Imperial Physician Qu's gaze twinkled, "Little divine physician, may I observe?"
Qin Mu hesitated for a moment and nodded his head, "I plan to borrow the pill furnace in Hall of Supreme Healing and if you want to observe, we can go together."
Imperial Physician Qu was greatly delighted and smiled, "Little divine physician, you can go ahead to Hall of Supreme Healing first, and I'll be back fast!" After he had finished saying, he went off like the wind.
Qin Mu walked over to Hall of Supreme Healing and before he even reached the front of the hall, Imperial Physician Qu was already waiting for him in front of the hall. Other than him, there were also Imperial Physician You, Imperial Physician Yu and the rest of the Imperial Physician Bureau. They all wore an expression of excitement.
Qin Mu was bewildered. He had only wanted to refine an ordinary anesthetic, was there a need to muster all the imperial physicians?
"Little divine physician, quick!"
The few imperial physicians hurried him as they babbled on, "Do you need to activate the Underground Fire Great Furnace?"
"We can be your assistants!"
"What medicinal ingredients are you using? What is the order of the medicinal ingredients?"
"When should we be gentle and when should we be fierce? When you execute the hand techniques, how should the vital qi circulate?"
…
Qin Mu walked into Hall of Supreme Healing along with them and saw a huge great furnace directly. The number of pills that this pill furnace can refine might take one at least two to three years to eat them up. This should be a furnace of military use or to refine some world-shaking spirit pills.
Other than that, there were other pill furnaces of all sizes and there were rune formations under these pill furnaces which connected to the underground fire that was ten thousand yards beneath the grounds. When the underground fire was drawn out, it could be used to refine pills.
"Is there a sealed furnace?" Qin Mu inquired.
"Little divine physician, over here."
Imperial Physician You quickly led him to a stone furnace in Hall of Supreme Healing and smiled, "This furnace is the sealed furnace. Little divine physician can check if it's usable?"
Qin Mu's eyes lit up and saw that this stone furnace was directly carved out of jade and stone. The top and bottom were emptied out with eight divinatory trigrams and five elements situated on the inside. The furnace had no air vents and it could be made airtight by closing the top and bottom together and giving a turn. Even if the pill exploded in the furnace, it wouldn't be able to break open this pill furnace."
"Useable!"
Qin Mu lifted open the furnace and inspected it thoroughly before placing the herbs according to the order in the square boxes of the eight divinatory trigrams and five elements. The square boxes of these eight divinatory trigrams and five elements all had their own sequences and would open up when they reached a certain timing. This way, the medicinal ingredients in the square boxes would fall into the furnace and there would be no need to open up the pill furnace to throw the herbs in.
He placed the herbs and immediately gave a clap with his palms, drawing out the underground fire from the rune formation on the ground, calcining the stone furnace.
Hu Ling'er had no interest in refining drugs thus she started to look around. Meanwhile, the old and white-haired imperial physicians gathered around to observe with great interest, unable to take their eyes off. Imperial Physician Yu saw Qin Mu's hand technique and his eyes lit up while he exclaimed in admiration, "This hand technique had really reached perfection and is unimaginably good! Little divine physician, why does your hand technique require to dot thirteen marks consecutively?"
Qin Mu replied, "Purple Pellet Stone is a precious stone and the medicinal properties are concealed inside the precious stone. It's much harder to extract its medicinal properties out, therefore, I had to dot thirteen marks to be able to extract out its medicinal properties. My cultivation is slightly weaker and if teachers' cultivations are dense, there's no need to have thirteen marks, as long as you extract out the medicinal properties you can stop."
The few old imperial physicians nodded their heads and immediately noted down.
As Qin Mu refined the drug and conversed with them at the same time. It was just that the few old imperial physicians had a lot of questions thus he asked very little and was always explaining the medicinal properties and pill refinement techniques to these old imperial physicians.
"This is the Dragon And Tiger Mutual Helping Hand, am I right?"
The expression of Imperial Physician Qu suddenly changed and cried out, "A hand technique that was already long lost!"
The other three imperial physicians revealed an astonished expression and they stared intensely at Qin Mu's palms which were moving up and down, trying to memorize Qin Mu's hand technique.
The white-haired Imperial Physician Yu muttered, "The Dragon And Tiger Mutual Helping Hand has been lost for two hundred years, never would I expect to see this legendary pill refinement hand technique from little divine physician, am I dreaming?"
"If all of you want to learn it, I can teach you when I'm free, but recently I don't have the time."
Qin Mu had now reached the crucial part of refining the drug and he couldn't be distracted. Dragon And Tiger Mutual Helping Hand was only one of the few hundreds hand techniques Apothecary had taught him and it wasn't really special. He felt that it wasn't much imparting it out.
The most important point of pill refinement was to be proficient in medicinal knowledge. Hand techniques and everything else was just supplementary.
Be that as it may, hand techniques were, however, of utmost importance to these imperial physicians. Other than hand techniques, there were also prescriptions which were the long-sought treasures of countless of people studying medicine. If they got their hands on a solitary prescription, they would definitely view it as a precious treasure and not tell others easily.
This was different from what Apothecary had taught Qin Mu. Apothecary absolutely didn't believe in prescriptions and hand techniques. What he taught most to Qin Mu was medicinal knowledge.
He had yet thought before how powerful the things Apothecary had taught him were and always felt they were ordinary things, therefore the astonishment of these imperial physicians made him felt unfathomable.
At this moment, Qin Mu had already prepared to collect the drug and his hand techniques became faster and faster, dazzling everyone's eyes. In just a short moment, the few imperial physicians saw a dozen kinds of long-lost hand techniques that were even complicated than Dragon And Tiger Mutual Helping Hand.
As the many hand techniques flashed by, every hand technique brought around different forms of the underground fire's transformations. Before the few imperial physicians could even note them down, Qin Mu had already pulled back his hands and waited silently beside the stone furnace.
When the stone furnace had cooled down, Qin Mu's vital qi suddenly transformed into Black Tortoise Vital Qi and his palms became cooler and cooler. Pressing his palms onto the stone furnace, a layer of frost soon formed on the walls of the furnace.
A moment passed and Qin Mu made the few imperial physicians, as well as Hu Ling'er, fall back. He then held his breath and carefully opened up the stone furnace. At the bottom of the furnace, there was a thin layer of pink fog.
Qin Mu used one hand to execute Black Tortoise Vital Qi to cool down this fog while his other hand took out a small jade bottle. His vital qi transformed into a guiding method in the bottle and drew the fog at the bottom of the furnace into the jade bottle.
He immediately tightened the bottle cap and he still wasn't at ease. He then used Black Tortoise Vital Qi to transform into a lump of black ice which sealed the mouth of the bottle before giving out a sigh of relief.
"I have refined the drug I needed."
Qin Mu thanked the few imperial physicians and smiled, "Teachers, I still have matters to attend to so I won't disturb you, as for the lesson in the afternoon…"
Imperial Physician You smiled, "Just do what you have to do, from today onwards, there's no need for you to come for lessons if you are busy. If you have time, it will be enough if you can frequently come over to give us old men a few lessons and refine some pills."
Qin Mu bid farewell and left.
Just as he had left, the few old imperial physicians immediately came together. Imperial Physician You had smiles of exultation and asked, "Everyone, did you note down all the medicinal ingredients?"
Imperial Physician Yu tremblingly replied, "How could he hide it from us? I just need to sniff the smell and I knew which medicinal ingredients they were. How much maces and taels also can't be hidden from my nose!"
"How about the medicine formulation and the order of the eight divinatory trigrams and five elements?"
Imperial Physician Qu smiled, "Don't worry, I've noted them down!"
"How about the hand techniques?"
The few old men smiled together, "We have all memorized some and by putting them together, we can restore his hand techniques!"
Imperial Physician Qu hesitated for a moment and said, "However, when he was collecting the medicine, he asked us to stand far away so I didn't note down the method he used to collect the medicine. Furthermore, we have no idea what medicine he refined, and if we refine it without careful consideration…"
"Collecting the medicine is an easy feat and won't be too troublesome. As for what medicine is it, we'll know it when we take a sniff after refining it out! The medicine that little divine physician has refined out would definitely be extraordinary!"
The few old imperial physicians were in high spirits. Imperial Physician Yu immediately went to the treasury to grab the medicinal ingredients while the remaining old men washed the stone furnace, waiting for Imperial Physician Yu to return. When he had returned, they immediately placed the medicinal ingredients into the square boxes of the eight divinatory trigrams and five elements according to the sequence.
The few old imperial physicians supported one another and drew out the underground fire. Each one of them executed one or more kinds of hand techniques as they surrounded the stone furnace to refine the medicine.
Not long later, many scholars had come to Hall of Supreme Healing for the lecture. It was just that the few old imperial physicians had reached the crucial timing in refining the medicine so they had no time to bother about it. During these few days, Imperial College was first blocked by Daozi of Dao Sect and then by Fozi of Great Thunderclap Monastery, resulting in many people getting injured. This made the scholars of Imperial College realized the importance of Hall of Supreme Healing. Now that Hall of Supreme Healing was giving a lecture, they naturally had to come and attend.
All the scholars couldn't help exclaiming in admiration endlessly when they saw the unpredictable movements of these imperial physicians' hand techniques which were reaching perfection. Imperial Physician Yu and the rest surrounded the stone furnace and continuously moved their feet, weaving past each other. They were like a few old butterflies fluttering to and fro around the furnace fire and indeed had divine poise and sagelike features.
Suddenly the elders stopped and they pulled back their hands, adjusting their breath while waiting for the stone furnace to cool down.
Reaching this step, the few old imperial physicians were all slightly hesitant. Imperial Physician Qu placed his hand on the stone furnace and said, "It seems like this is the hand technique. His hand pressed on it like this…"
Imperial Physician smiled, "It's okay if we don't succeed. We'll just have to refine it once more. Let us open the furnace!"
Imperial Physician You went forward and lifted up the furnace lid. A fragrance instantly assailed his nose and he couldn't help smiling, "How fraa—aaa—grr—aaa—ant…"
Thud.
Imperial Physician You collapsed onto the ground with a queer smile still hanging on his face. The smile was like a flower which had half bloomed as he only in time to smile halfway.
Thud, thud, thud.
Imperial Physician Yu, Imperial Physician You also had smiles on their faces as they collapsed backward. Not far away, the scholars who were surrounding to observe all cried out in astonishment. Some of them wanted to go save people while some wanted to escape. Suddenly all the scholars felt as if their four limbs had vanished and they collapsed onto the floor one after another.
They not only felt their four limbs vanishing, even their eyes, nose, ears and even head had 'vanished without a trace'!
Even their spirit embryos had suddenly become paralyzed and couldn't move. Their vital qi had also become rigid!
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