bookandnovel Chapter 42: The Holy Medicine
Chapter 42: The Holy Medicine
After the Khitan soldiers left, Balijuyu ordered his men to carry down a corpse, remove the armor, and reveal the body, which was not yet completely cold.
He then took out a roll of deerskin from the cloth bag at his waist, and slowly unfurled it, revealing dozens of silver needles of varying thicknesses inserted inside.
He pulled one out, his expression thoughtful, and muttered to himself, "The best among them is Tan Zhong..."
He recited the acupuncture techniques he had learned from the high shaman and inserted them into the corpse. Having only learned a little bit, his technique was still quite clumsy.
In fact, this kind of life-locking ritual should be carried out by the Great Shaman, but since Bali Juyu had nothing to do at the moment, he simply decided to try it himself.
Whoosh!
Just as he was inserting the needles with great interest, he suddenly heard a faint sound of an arrow piercing the air.
puff~
Just as alarm bells rang in his mind, the Khitan soldier closest to him was unable to block the arrow and was pierced through the arm by it.
"Be careful, sir..."
puff!
He shouted out in an instant, and another arrow followed closely behind, piercing his mouth and killing him instantly.
"Who goes there!"
Two arrows had already allowed Bali Juyu to see the direction from which they came, and the dense, complex green leaves trembled slightly.
In an instant, a man holding a long sword leaped high into the air, his young and handsome face reflected in the eyes of Bali Juyu and the Khitan soldier.
"My lord, step back! This humble servant will block him!"
The Khitan soldiers behind him roared and charged forward fiercely, wielding two battle axes. Their aura was as deep as a mountain, indicating that they were already in the late stage of the Body Refinement realm.
Clang!
Clang!
Clang!
Blades clashed, sparks flew.
Wu He unleashed an astonishing burst of power from his body, unleashing his unparalleled sword strikes, and almost immediately suppressed the Khitan soldier with just three strikes.
Finally, he delivered a powerful upward strike, knocking away the opponent's double axes. The icy blade sliced through the air, piercing his heart without hesitation.
[Progress completed (Blade Splashing Technique maxed out): 400/500]
Wu He drew his blade, letting his opponent fall to the ground with a thud.
When he raised his eyes, Na Balijuyu had already escaped hundreds of meters away, his body floating lightly in the air like a falling leaf.
He chased after them.
The purpose of this trip is to find him, so how can we let him escape?
However, even with Ba Liju's exceptional lightness skill, Wu Heyan, despite having achieved a minor mastery of movement techniques, was unable to catch up.
"Use arrows."
Seeing that his opponent's lightness skill was no less than his own, he immediately drew his bow and nocked an arrow.
Whoosh!
Whoosh!
Whoosh!
Arrows flew in succession, but the figure in the distance swung his ram bone staff and blocked them all.
However, even the most meticulous plans can have flaws. After Wu He fired all his arrows in one go, one of them struck his shoulder.
The figure in the distance suddenly staggered and fell down a steep slope below.
[Progress completed (Minor Success in Flying Geese Technique): 200/200]
[Should I advance the next stage of martial arts: Mastery of the Wild Goose Formation Technique?]
"Advance payment!"
My progress in flying geese has been remarkable these past few days, and now I'm catching up and filling up the gap in my progress.
[Martial Arts Skill Already Paid in Advance: Wild Goose Formation Skill Mastery (0/400)]
[A leap of two zhang (approximately 6.6 meters) high, gliding requires less effort]
[Next stage advance payment: Successful completion of the "Wild Goose Formation" exercise]
[He travels a thousand miles a day without tiring, and falls a hundred fathoms without being harmed.]
In an instant, Wu He felt his body becoming lighter and lighter. With a light leap, he could dart more than ten meters away and even glide in the air for a moment, which was extremely effortless.
Thus, they increased their speed again and finally saw Bali Juyu staggering below as they leaped down the steep slope.
The clothes rustled, and the latter turned around in shock, only to see a figure like a wild goose flying across the golden sky, obscuring the glittering light.
But what unfolded was not wings, but a cold, long blade.
Seeing that he was about to be caught up, Bali clenched his teeth and slammed the sheep bone staff into the ground with a bang, then pulled out a human skin drum from his waist.
Boom!
He reached out and slapped it down, and an invisible wave rippled outwards.
Wu He's pupils contracted slightly. The sound of the drums vibrated in his brain the moment it entered his ears, and waves of dizziness washed over him.
Shamanic magic.
His breathing quickened slightly, and he immediately tensed all his muscles to protect his heart.
Fortunately, Bali Juyu's cultivation level was only at the mid-stage of the Flesh Refining realm, so the evil magic he used was not fatal to Wu He.
Seeing the dizziness, he raised his knife and swung it fiercely!
shuh~
The blade flashed, stirring up the snow dust. After a series of clanging sounds, Ba Lijuyu screamed and flew backward.
The sheep bone staff snapped in two, and the knife wound on his chest was so deep that the bone was visible.
Seeing the danger, the moment he landed, he pulled a short whistle arrow out of his sleeve, intending to shoot it into the sky.
But it was too late. Wu He's knife was faster than him, easily severing the arm at the shoulder.
"ah--!!"
Bali Juyu's facial features contorted instantly, and he fell to the ground, struggling and screaming in agony.
"Phew~"
Wu He let out a soft breath and approached, sword in hand.
"Who are you? Who are you?!"
Wu He's eyes were sharp. Without saying a word, he took out the Heartbreak Grass, pried open his mouth, and tried to force it in.
Bali Juyu struggled frantically, his mouth shut shut, and under the threat of the Heartbreak Grass, he even ignored the pain of his severed arm in his shoulder.
"Do you want to live? Huh? Tell me, do you want to live?"
"Ugh—"
Hearing the deep, cold voice in front of him, Bali Juyu's eyes widened, and he nodded repeatedly in fear.
"What exactly is this thing made from the essence of flesh and blood?"
"...The holy medicine."
"To be more specific, what is its use?"
Balijuyu stammered incoherently, "Defile...defile the dragon vein of the Zhou Dynasty..."
"Is that all it's good for?"
Wu He pried open his mouth and said coldly in a low voice, "Since it's called a sacred medicine, it must also have beneficial uses for your Khitan people."
"Yes...there is..."
A warm, brown liquid seeped from his trouser leg as he trembled and said, "This sacred medicine, refined from the flesh and blood of a martial artist and purified of toxins, can be used as a catalyst for a shaman's magical power upon entry."
"What is witchcraft?"
"In your Central Plains language, it's called... Primordial Qi."
Primordial Qi.
Upon hearing this, Wu He's eyes lit up with relief, and he understood what Ba Lijuyu had said.
He had previously heard Li Bo say that martial artists in this world are not limited to a single type of physical training. In addition to martial artists who train their flesh and blood, there is another type called Qi Refiners.
Unlike martial artists who only cultivate their physical bodies, Qi cultivators specialize in cultivating the innate Qi within the human body. Examples include the Celestial Master's Mansion in the martial arts world and the Imperial Observatory in the imperial court.
In Wu He's own understanding, it's the difference between practicing martial arts and cultivating immortality.
However, this kind of cultivation is not the kind that destroys the world with a wave of the hand or crushes those who practice martial arts; rather, it focuses on Taoist arts and strange techniques.
In the Khitan region, they were called shamans.
There is no clear level division for this kind of cultivation, so combat power is usually measured by the realm of flesh and blood martial artists, both of whom can be called martial artists.
If the sacred medicine in the black jade bottle could allow shamans to enter the realm, then correspondingly, Zhou Dynasty warriors could also use it to sense the innate Qi.
Cultivating both physical and magical methods has potential.
Wu He was quite interested and asked casually, "How do you remove the toxins inside? If you tell me the truth, I'll spare your life."
"As you should know, the Zhenguan Army and the Khitan exchange prisoners of war every year."
"Really? Really?"
"Really." Wu He's eyes were sincere.
Baliju swallowed hard before revealing everything he knew.
After a while.
"...The above thirteen herbs are ground into a paste and mixed with the sacred medicine in a 1:10 ratio. After boiling for 25 minutes, it will be ready," said Bali Juyu earnestly.
"it is good."
Wu He nodded, making sure it was in his mind, then drew his sword and cleanly chopped off his head.
[Progress completed (Blade Splashing Technique maxed out): 415/500]
The military merits of prisoners are not as valuable as repaying the debts owed to the Heavenly Register.
"It works."
Looking at the poisonous plant in his hand, Wu He couldn't help but smile. Sure enough, no one in this world dared to eat this thing.
After stuffing it into the cloth bag, he began to rummage through his spoils.
The bag containing the jade pendant contained a considerable amount of gold and silver, as well as a roll of silver needles. It had exactly eighty-one slots, with more than half of them still unused.
Tucked inside the deerskin was a piece of paper with a diagram of human acupoints, clearly marking eighty-one acupoints.
"Khitan shamans also use needles..."
Wu He casually crumpled it into a ball, showing no interest.
But then a sudden thought flashed through his mind, and he froze on the spot for a few seconds before quickly unfolding the paper.
I feel like I've seen this somewhere before.