Each of the enhanced versions of the Minor True Yang Pill had a beautiful, light-golden color. It was like they were cast from pure gold, and each pill was a precious gem. They carried a faint heat, and when held in the hand, one would only feel a warm touch. It would make people find it unbearable to consume.
Gu Zuo fiddled with them for a short while, and then used a top-notch jade gourd to put them away. Soon after, he perceived the leftover true qi in his body and discovered that, after controlling the Wondrous Fire for less than three minutes just now, he had used up close to fifty percent of his true qi! In other words, if he refined two cauldrons, he would ultimately have the strength just to pant for breath... At the same time, because his psychic power had been highly concentrated, a lot of it had also been used up. Right now, he had used about ten percent of it. One needed to know that when he normally refined other medicinal pills, even if he refined over a hundred cauldrons, he usually wouldn’t use up all of his psychic power! For just a single cauldron, the consumption of his psychic power was at least ten times as much as before!
However, after being at a loss over this consumption, Gu Zuo calmed down.
Actually, this also wasn’t considered much. As his strength in realms gradually improved, he discovered a wonderful use of his cultivation method. The higher his realm, the faster he absorbed true qi — This was supposed to be a process that all martial artists possessed, but his cultivation didn’t only need true qi. Medicinal qi also played a big role. His cultivation method could spur the absorption of large quantities of medicinal qi. At the same time, true qi was similarly mixed together. This made him capable of amassing true qi and condensing bone pearls as quickly as possible.
Thus, Gu Zuo could continuously refine medicine while simultaneously strengthening himself. This also allowed his realm to upgrade even faster than that big brother of his, whose bone pearls consumed top grade medicinal pills like a dissatisfied, bottomless hole.
Soon after, Gu Zuo sorted out the experience of refining the previous medicinal pills, and started the second round of pill refining. This time around, because he made conclusions about the unsuitable parts before, while there weren’t any changes to the refining speed, the consumption of true qi decreased a little bit. Merely, after receiving the pills, Gu Zuo still sat cross-legged to regulate his breathing for a while. There was nothing to be done. The reason why he could refine other medicinal pills in an unending stream was because he both operated his cultivation method within his body and replenished the true qi used up with some to spare. However, when refining the Minor True Yang Pills, any newly-gathered true qi had no way to supplement the rate of consumption. This forced Gu Zuo to begrudgingly halt his hands, and concentrate his thoughts on filling up his bone pearls...
Fortunately, this recovery was very fast for Gu Zuo. It didn’t take long for his true qi to be replenished. He started to continue refining Minor True Yang Pills while trying to reduce the consumption of true qi.
He did this over and over again. After refining six cauldrons, the remaining dilution of spirit medicine and medicinal liquid was only four drops — That’s right. The previous half-bowl of peach juice was one hundred drops. This was also only enough for the six cauldrons.
The remaining four drops were set aside...
Gu Zuo didn’t stay idle. After waiting for his true qi to recover once more, he immediately made the second bowl of peach juice.
Immediately following that was another round of painstaking refinement.
This lasted for the whole day. Gu Zuo refined a little more than two hundred Minor True Yang Pills. And, as a matter of fact, the time he used to refine pills didn’t even reach a single hour. The rest of the time was used for recovering true qi. After such grueling drills, he was too tired to keep working. After putting away the final cauldron of pills, not only was his true qi wrung dry, his psychic power only had a single thread left over. Sadly, he was too excited while refining, so he didn’t discover this fact. And now that he found out, his body was too stiff to move!
After a sullen three seconds, Gu Zuo silently “called out” to Gongyi Tianheng in his Tianfu Acupoint.
[Big brother...]
Being within range, Tianheng replied without delay.
[Ah Zuo?]
Gu Zuo was tangled up in his thoughts for a moment.
Ah, this was very embarrassing...
Off to the side, Tianheng didn’t hear Gu Zuo’s reply, and his heart faintly moved. Hence, he no longer took any medicinal pills to cultivate. He stood up, and directly came to the medicine refining palace hall.
This place didn’t obstruct him in the least. He walked unimpeded the whole way and entered the inner hall. At once, he saw the spectacle inside.
In front of that pill cauldron, the only thing he saw was a teenager lying face-up on the ground, covered in a full-body sweat.
It was an incomparably haggard and listless disposition.
Tianheng: “...”
With his eyesight, he could naturally tell that there weren’t any problems with that teenager, but this appearance was also a bit too pitiful.
Tianheng walked over in large strides, and slightly lowered his head.
At this moment, he saw that face which was filled with melancholy and frustration.
Tianheng’s mood was a little complicated.
He looked at the jade gourd on the side, and knew that these were the medicinal pills his little pharmacist worked so hard to refine for him. But this appearance of Gu Zuo’s — One truly couldn’t restrain a smile at the tufts of black hair on his face.
Gu Zuo also discovered a shadow being cast down upon him. He opened his eyes, and what he saw was his dear big brother.
Heavens! His sorry figure was completely seen by his big brother! What was he to do?
After making a helpless face, he raised his eyelids and forced a smile at his big brother.
Tianheng massaged his temples. Soon after, he stooped down and, without any disdain for Gu Zuo’s dirty appearance, directly embraced Gu Zuo in his arms. Tianheng lifted his legs and walked out.
His words carried a trace of exasperation: “Ah Zuo, don’t tire yourself out like this in the future. Although my cultivation needs many medicinal pills, it’s not so urgent...”
Gu Zuo promised as he lay loose-limbed in Tianheng’s embrace. In his heart, he secretly rejoiced. Fortunately, his big brother didn’t make fun of him this time around. Otherwise, he would’ve lost a lot of face.
No, wait a minute!
The medicinal pill gourd was still on the ground!
Gu Zuo’s mind urged, and his psychic power moved. In the back, the gourd flew over in a wobbling manner and directly smacked into Gu Zuo’s chest. While in such a great hurry, he let out a muffled groan.
Tianheng was silent for a while.
He, he wasn’t young anymore!
He was going to become an adult soon...
After returning to their room, because Gu Zuo had used up too much true qi, he couldn’t take care of himself for a short while. So, Tianheng personally carried Gu Zuo into the bathing room.
Then, Gu Zuo’s outer robes were pulled open.
Gu Zuo’s eyes widened.
B-big brother, w-what are you doing?!
On the contrary, Tianheng’s bearing was very natural: “Ah Zuo has been toiling for a long time, and it’s all for my sake. Is there something wrong with me personally taking care of Ah Zuo for a change?”
Gu Zuo understood instantly.
This big brother of his — This was Tianheng wanting to give him a bath! But! How could he let his big brother give him a bath?! Granted that both of them were men, this wasn’t any good!
For a moment, Gu Zuo felt that his heartbeat was as loud as thunder. His heart was going to directly pop out from his throat.
This still didn’t raise the question of whether his big brother could take care of others...
Gu Zuo hastily used his true qi to swipe both of his arms. At last, he had a bit of strength to clutch his own outer robes. He said, stammeringly: “B-big brother, there’s no need for this, right?!”
Tianheng reached out a hand, and softly opened Gu Zuo’s arms.
Gu Zuo: “...”
Tianheng gently smiled: “Ah Zuo, behave.”
Gu Zuo felt like collapsing a little bit.
What kind of a matter was this? It wasn’t that he was misbehaving!
Could it be that this was his dear big brother’s new punishment...
In actuality, it was pretty much what Gu Zuo was thinking.
Of course, Tianheng was somewhat angry because Gu Zuo wasn’t cherishing himself — Although, at the same time, his heart was moved by Gu Zuo’s worry for him. As such, after carrying this person back while holding in his anger, he saw Gu Zuo’s pitiful-looking and dirty appearance. Indeed, for the first time ever, Tianheng decided to take the initiative to give Gu Zuo a bath.
— He couldn’t let this disabled, adoptive brother of his lie down on the bed while exceedingly dirty, right? He couldn’t casually look for someone to handle such an intimate matter for Gu Zuo either.
Originally, this was just a trivial thing. It was only afterwards that Tianheng discovered that his little pharmacist seemed to be very embarrassed and worried about this matter. Thus, he felt it was very interesting, and decided to do it according to plan.
If this happened, then the little pharmacist wouldn’t dare to work himself to such a degree in the future.
Immediately following which, Tianheng lifted his hand.
For the past many years, one shouldn’t think that Tianheng grew up pampered in the villa. His ability to provide for himself was unlike that of those people who were spoiled since childhood. It was even more impossible for there to be any clothes that could only be put on with the help of servants or maids, let alone him having no way to take care of himself. As a result, it went very smoothly for Tianheng to shuck Gu Zuo’s clothes.
The sash was pulled out and the robe collar was pulled down. As if Tianheng was holding a small child, he quickly took off Gu Zuo’s outer robes and trousers. Tianheng’s fingers moved briskly, and Gu Zuo’s inner clothes were also easily removed.
In a short, few moments, Gu Zuo was already being gradually disrobed until there was nothing left to hide. This revealed his fair skin which was originally completely covered.
Gu Zuo felt that his whole body was becoming hot! He was definitely blushing a deep red!
He was undressed by his big brother! His big brother still wanted to help him take a bath!
This, this, this —
Gu Zuo held his breath. Medicinal qi rushed into his body, and the cultivation method within his body rapidly began to operate. This attitude was absolutely frantic and especially dynamic!
True qi filled his bone pearls with extremely fast speeds. Slowly, his legs gained a bit of strength. His arms also had some strength. His waist, belly, and both feet also gained strength...
Just after Tianheng removed the article of undergarments that was closest to Gu Zuo’s skin, Gu Zuo swiftly reached out a hand to cover his own...area. Suddenly, there was a struggle. Trying frantically to escape, he fell into the bath tub!
Crash —
A very big splash was made.
With the water that was put in the bath tub, his privates were sheltered. Gu Zuo felt that he could keep on living again. He opened his mouth to breathe deeply as he rested his upper body on the tub’s rim. Having just recovered from a shock, his brow was beaded with sweat.
His strength was used up once more, but fortunately, his face was saved...
Tianheng looked at his empty hands, and raised an eyebrow.
Gu Zuo also carefully peeked at his big brother’s facial expression. He felt that this expression was a little dangerous. Through his intuition for this kind of danger, he swallowed a mouthful of saliva with difficulty, and said with a parched voice: “B-big brother, I don’t need your help. I c-can...do it myself.”
The corner of Tianheng’s lips hooked up: “Is Ah Zuo shunning his elder brother?”
Gu Zuo hastily shook his head: “No, no, no! I’m not!”
Ah, he found this embarrassing! He wasn’t a little kid!
The smile at the edge of Tianheng’s lips deepened: “Since it’s like this, Ah Zuo will behave.”
Following this, all of Gu Zuo’s resistance was “savagely” quelled by Tianheng. He wanted to bathe himself, but whenever he moved to gather true qi, while he himself didn’t get tired, Tianheng also looked at him with dissatisfaction. As a result, Gu Zuo could only watch Tianheng get a towel and wooden ladle later on. While pouring water on his body, Tianheng also used the towel to scrub him.
From top to bottom, from head to toes, from...
Gu Zuo only felt that his head was discharging smoke. His entire body didn’t know what to do.
On the contrary, Tianheng didn’t seem to have any taboos.
First, he scrubbed Gu Zuo. After the washing was finished, Tianheng fished him up and dried him off. Any of Gu Zuo’s small movements or minor struggles were all totally rendered powerless in Tianheng’s hands. After giving Gu Zuo a bath, Tianheng gave him a new set of underclothes, and smoothly and steadily placed him on the bed.
During this period of time, Gu Zuo’s unpredictable and erratic expressions were truly a pleasure for Tianheng to watch for a while.
After the essential clothing finally covered his body once again, Gu Zuo meekly lay on the bed, like the feeling of smashing a cracked jar.
In any case, his embarrassing appearance had been completely seen by his big brother. No matter how bashful or how he felt like he’d lost face, it all didn’t really matter much in the end.
Ah, this kind of thinking seemed a little calm.
Afterwards, Tianheng walked over, and gently patted Gu Zuo’s forehead: “Ah Zuo, slowly regulate your breathing and have a good rest.”
Gu Zuo nodded his head, and said with a muffled voice: “...I understand, big brother.”
Sometimes, his mischievous big brother really made it hard for a person to resist him... In the future, he certainly needed to pay attention, and not let himself fall to such a state!
Tianheng bullied Gu Zuo, but he also cared for Gu Zuo. After this, he looked at Gu Zuo’s face which was still full of black lines, and he faintly smiled. Tianheng sat cross-legged right in front of the bed.
In the jade gourd, there were two hundred and something Minor True Yang Pills. There wasn’t any need to listen to Gu Zuo’s detailed explanation. He could already sense the surging power of the sun emanating from within them — At the present stage, this truly was the most suitable medicinal pill for him!
After swallowing a pill, a terrifyingly fierce wisp of the power of the sun immediately scoured through his meridians. Tianheng was long prepared, and mobilized his true qi to quickly combine with that power of the sun. It washed through every acupoint, removing any built-up clogs. Furthermore, the true qi inside swiftly formed an embryonic bone pearl in one of the acupoints. As even more true qi constantly filled in, the embryonic bone pearl condensed even more. Gradually, the condensation successfully formed a real bone pearl. At the same time, the power of the sun halted at the second set of bone pearls. Not long after, it made quite a few of the bone pearls produce a layer of faint reddish-gold color. And under the scouring of the medicinal power, this reddish-gold color gradually deepened...
The present Tianheng only had as many as six sets of bone pearls inside his body. Apart from the first set of main bone pearls, there were still many Heavenly Spirit Acupoints that hadn’t been opened up yet. The other bone pearls were securely placed in many acupoints throughout his body.
Moreover, the present Tianheng also understood that every set of his bone pearls should all be special.
The main bone pearls, which hadn’t been collected completely, wouldn’t be mentioned for the time being. Among the current few sets of bone pearls, there was already one set that fully absorbed poisonous qi, poisons, and other such things. This allowed those originally snow-white bone pearls to be plated with a layer of black. It was just that this black color still wasn’t deep enough. As for Gongyi Tianheng himself, he vaguely sensed that this set of bone pearls appeared to not only absorb poisonous qi, but it should have some other changes, too... Once he was clear about these changes, perhaps he would know specifically what the Tiandu Body would bring him.
Then, there was the other set of bone pearls, which absorbed the reddish-gold power of the sun.
This type of power was the power that Tianheng received on that day, in the depths of that Spirit-Level wild beast’s lair. It wasn’t known how it was smoothly absorbed into him, but henceforth, it became a powerful killing weapon in his hands — In the Great Tomb of the Human King, it could be said that if he didn’t have this power, it basically would’ve been impossible for things to go that smoothly for them.
At that time, Tianheng wasn’t completely certain of the reddish-gold power’s attribute. However, when it circulated under the sunlight afterwards, he unexpectedly discovered that he could absorb the heat of that sunlight. Understanding came then. From that point on, it was natural that Tianheng cultivated relentlessly. He was fully aware that it would be bad to recklessly use the power of that set of black bone pearls. This wasn’t the case for the power of the reddish-gold bone pearls.
Merely, Tianheng still felt that, within this set of reddish-gold bone pearls, the power of the sun shouldn’t be the only power that suited it. There was still something lacking... What was missing?
Just like those black bone pearls, he still had no way of ascertaining what was missing when it wasn’t encountered yet.
After contemplating for a short moment, Tianheng no longer gave it any more thoughts. He switched to swallowing those Minor True Yang Pills.
In any event, when one type of power was stockpiled to its limits, then it would need another type of power. It should naturally be revealed at that time.
As such, he would first handle the aforementioned accumulation!
Gu Zuo, on the other side, silently turned his head to look at Tianheng when he started cultivating.
Obviously, when sitting in meditation and practicing, he looked so handsome and extraordinary, just like a deity... When he wasn’t practicing, his temperament sometimes made it difficult for people to resist.
Whatever.
Gu Zuo silently turned his head away.
Right now, he was physically and emotionally exhausted. Nevertheless, he diligently rested.
Hence, when Tianheng finished a few rounds of cultivation, and discovered that his own meridians couldn’t withstand the power of the sun anymore and that he needed to save up ordinary true qi and take top grade Qi Linking Pills, he raised his head to look at Gu Zuo.
At this time, Gu Zuo, who’d kept his posture just now with his face angled up towards the heavens, had fallen asleep.
The next day, a member of the Hundred Rivers League arrived.
When Gu Zuo heard what was said, his eyes promptly shined. He rushed out of the medicine refining palace hall at once.
Just as expected, Hai Tian opened his own inter-spatial tool, and several hundred portions of medicinal ingredients for the Minor True Yang Pill were moved out — Of course, the ones indicated here were just the ordinary versions.
The Hundred Rivers League was very concerned about Xiao Tianqi’s health. Because, even if they could brace themselves under He Chenghong’s suppression for a period of time and protect the league disciples so that they didn’t change sides so easily, it would definitely be very difficult after a long time.
Xiao Tianqi was their key figure. Only if Xiao Tianqi’s health smoothly recovered could they ensure the Hundred Rivers League’s continued development — Most of all, they really couldn’t endure the He Clan’s show of strength. When Xiao Tianqi completely recovered, they needed to reclaim the Sky Leaderboard’s second seat!
As a result, the Hundred Rivers League made up their minds. They paid a big price to gather all the medicinal ingredients so quickly.
Several hundred portions in such a short period of time was really commendable.
Gu Zuo took the medicinal ingredients, and first calculated how many he could conceal.
Xiao Tianqi’s health was a long-term recuperation process. According to the medicine refining levels here, one instance of the Minor True Yang Pills should produce nine pills at most. And if one wanted to guarantee the product grades of the refined pills, they would have to give up a portion of the pill refining rate... In addition, presuming that some top grade pills could be produced within it, then there’d normally be at least a dozen or so batches to produce one batch of top grade Minor True Yang Pills. Of course, there were failures, too. This was another loophole he could exploit.
After Gu Zuo used the peach juice to refine the enhanced versions of the Minor True Yang Pill, he could now guarantee that he wouldn’t waste a single batch of medicinal ingredients. He reconsidered the aspect of speed. Among these several hundred batches of ingredients, twenty top grade pills, a hundred or so high grade pills, as well as a small number of mid grade pills would be enough to complete this task!
As such, he actually only needed to refine twenty to thirty batches of medicinal ingredients...
After he finished calculating, Gu Zuo had a bit of a guilty conscience.
With such calculations, wasn’t he just giving people the scraps of his pill refining, while concealing too many for himself? Or, should he refine several more portions? But that also wasn’t any good. If there was more, then his performance would’ve been considered too abnormal...
After having a guilty conscience, Gu Zuo thought of his dear big brother who needed large quantities of Minor True Yang Pills, and erased the pressing guilt.
In any case, the medicinal pills he refined definitely wouldn’t be any fewer than the ones refined by other people. There would even be fifty percent more. If it was like this, then it wouldn’t be considered cheating others.
After making up his mind, Gu Zuo used about half a day to refine these medicinal pills. Afterwards, he let a Tianlong Guard run errands every day to deliver the Minor True Yang Pills he successfully refined to the Hundred Rivers League.
Hai Tian also unexpectedly discovered that, on the first day they delivered the medicinal ingredients, the other party had already returned with the finished goods. The thing that exceeded Hai Tian’s expectations the most was that there were top grade Minor True Yang Pills inside!
On that day...
There were three top grade Minor True Yang Pills, ten high grade pills, and two mid grade pills.
The second day...
There were two top grade Minor True Yang Pills, twelve high grade pills, and one mid grade pill.
The third day...
There were five top grade Minor True Yang Pills, thirteen high grade pills, and one mid grade pill.
The fourth day...
There were...
After Hai Tian received the medicinal pills, he first fed the top grade Minor True Yang Pills to Xiao Tianqi. Then, he found that the cold yin qi inside Xiao Tianqi’s body had truly somewhat declined. Even Xiao Tianqi himself finally awoke from his unconscious state. He could open his eyes and take medicine by himself!
Once Xiao Tianqi was clear-headed, he could start actively digesting the medicinal pills. Through the assistance of the Minor True Yang Pills, his health improved day by day. Those top grade Minor True Yang Pills, amid taking them in succession, brought him immense help. In a short, few days, his injuries had already recovered by twenty percent! This kind of speed and efficiency was something that he could never have imagined!
The Hundred Rivers League kept this matter a secret, but each individual in the league held profound gratitude to Gu Zuo. It was only natural that, when they gathered medicinal ingredients, they did so even more enthusiastically.
T/N: Thanks for the correction, Charysa.
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