Chapter 4 – Medicinal Bath
In this cruel great desolate era where fierce beasts rampage about and life is always under constant threat, the villagers’ needs were rather simple; all they wanted was enough food to satisfy everyone’s stomachs.
The bonfire was jumping about, and Stone Village was currently bustling with noise and excitement. Males and females, both young and old, all had smiles on their faces. They were all filled with cheer while talking and laughing.
“Little children, don’t run about carelessly. We are about to conduct the medicinal bath soon. Sleep well at night, and in the future you would definitely be stronger than all of the vicious beasts,” said and elder while laughing.
“Aww… I don’t want to!” The group of kids who heard this all stood up and screamed miserably, running away and hiding within different parts of the village.
“You bunch of melon babies, you really do not know what is good fortune. These are rare tonics! If we could have this medicinal bath continuously, your muscles and bones would be able to match that of those giant creatures.” The adults all criticized them, and like grabbing little chicks, they began to catch their children.
“It hurts, I don’t want to go into the medicinal bath. Last time, it felt like I was getting cut by blades.”
“Dad, let go, I don’t want to be boiled.”
The group of children intensely resisted, but their small arms were no match for the adults’ strength. In the end, they all were all caught.
Inside of an empty space within the village, eight large copper cauldrons had been previously set up. The inferno below them raged, and the liquid within the cauldron was boiling. Several elders threw stalk after stalk of medicinal herbs inside, and from time to time, they would also put in foot long centipedes and fist sized spiders. This made the originally clear liquid dark and cloudy as if it was ink; it was extremely frightening.
The faces of the group of children all turned green. They all wanted to escape and run away, but they were all helplessly held in place by the adults.
Soon after, a few villagers arrived with ten jars. Several elders gently and carefully opened them before pouring the dark red liquid into the large copper cauldrons, causing the dark black liquid to boil even more furiously.
This was the scarce true blood from the slain vicious beasts’ bodies. It was extremely precious, and regardless of whether it was an adult or a child using it, they would all gain tremendous benefits, enhancing their physiques. In addition, with the villager’s understanding of several ancient prescriptions, as well as adding some medicinal herbs etc., this true blood could become even more effective.
Besides the true blood, several elders also used the Flying Pythons’ wing bones, the One-legged beast’s foot bone, as well as several other materials and pulverized them with a great deal of effort before tossing them into the boiling water.
When the fire died out and the cauldron’s contents no longer boiled, the water temperature finally somewhat dropped in temperature. Screams along with putong putong sounds rang out as the first batch of kids were thrown inside, and each cauldron held roughly two or three individuals.
“It hurts, this water can completely cook us alive.”
“Save me, my body feels like it’s being cut by blades, and my skin and flesh are being split open!”
They were all grimacing in pain, and their hands grabbing their legs. One by one they all rushed for the outside, only to be pushed back inside as they endlessly screamed.
In this way, the several dozen kids were thrown in batches into the cauldrons. The majority viciously howled, and struggled constantly. Only seven or eight kids were somewhat better, and although they were aching and their brows were soaked in sweat, they endured it and didn’t utter a single word.
As for the little guy, he couldn’t escape either and was thrown into a cauldron with special treatment by himself. Only a little bit of clear water was added to the cauldron, but other than that, all of it was true blood and broken down bones.
The villagers did not feel that this was inappropriate, and did not feel that they were favoring him over others either. This was because their own children already couldn’t withstand the pain and were crying out heart-tearing screams inside the normal medicinal cauldron, but this little guy could actually handle it.
In addition, when the little guy was within the black cauldron’s thick and boiling liquid, the old chief even opened up two special jars, and poured the contents into the cauldron.
Pouring out of one of the jars was a scarlet cloud that formed a palm-sized Pi Xiu. It was mighty and malevolent as if it was about to tear everyone apart and escape, and its nature was extremely vicious. From within Shi Yunfeng’s palms shone a character, and the bone text began to rise. A slap made the Pi Xiu scatter and turn into blood, and it dripped into the cauldron.
From that other jar rushed out a scarlet red Two-headed Flame Rhinoceros. It was terrifyingly brilliant, and with its head high it angrily hissed, and was similarly released into the black cauldron by the old chief.
When the temperature slightly dropped, the little guy was picked up and directly thrown into the cauldron while struggling. Because he was still little, he would choke on the water when sitting inside, so just as he fell inside with a gudong gudong sounds, he immediately drank several mouthfuls of the liquid.
The other children all showed sympathetic expressions towards him and suddenly felt quite fortunate. There was only a little water added, and the main portion was the special true blood, beast bone as well as muscle lumps that formed the medicinal liquid. This medicinal liquid would definitely make one’s skin and bones feel even more pain; the little guy was truly pitiful.
Even some adults couldn’t bear it. The little guy was exerting as much strength as he could muster while struggling and grimacing in pain, and from time to time, he would even drink mouthfuls of the viscous fluid. The adults watching really began to feel quite worried.
“There’s no problem since it’s not his first time. Since he could do this before, then he could live past this as well. Drinking more of the medicinal liquid is not bad either, if he can absorb it, it’ll allow him to absorb great benefits.” The old chief spoke, as his care for the little guy’s health was quite expansive.
“His constitution is quite strong, and the Bone Text’s mysterious power might also be at work here by helping him refine part of the medicinal strength. The little guy should not feel that much pain.” Another elder spoke while stroking his beard.
The medicinal bath continued for quite a while, and the group of children were soaked until they looked like red monkeys. All of them looked rather miserable, and while looking at each other, tears dripped down with hua hua sounds. Only when the medicinal bath finish did they stop sobbing and finally feel relief.
While within the black cauldron, the little guy did not cry. His big eyes were looking around, and his face had a bit of a red blush, resembling a big apple. When he was lifted out, he looked as if he was drunk, swaying back and forth.
“How do you feel?” An elder asked.
The little guy burped, and said muddle-headedly, “I drank a lot, full now.”
Hearing this kind of simple-minded and pure response, the adults were all provoked into laughter.
“Tired.” The little guy staggered from side to side, and his little body fell into Shi Yunfeng’s embrace. He lightly mumbled something and slightly squeaked before sinking into deep sleep.
“Bring these children back and let them sleep well. By tomorrow, their strength should have increased by a significant amount.” Said chief Shi Yunfeng.
Finally, several elders put away the leftover liquid. They didn’t let it go to waste, but rather once again lit up the copper cauldron with fire and added some more medicinal herbs. They were going to cook until the medicine dried up and became medicinal power. Not only was this a type of tonic, but it was also a type of precious healing medicine. Bringing it along for the mountain range hunts could save lives.
With vile environments and difficult to hunt magical beasts, true blood really was rare and precious. They couldn’t afford to dispose such precious medicinal powder even after it was used by the children, and weren’t willing to waste any of it at all.
Naturally, the strongest villagers all didn’t care about this, since as long as it could close up a wound and save their lives, it was enough.
That night, all the children slept deeply. The next morning, many of these little guys were crying out loudly, as the old skin was being shed off in chunks, making their beds filthy.
“Go, get a bucket of water and wash yourselves clean. Afterwards, lift that lump of millstone.”
“Dad, that is what third brother uses to train his strength, how could I possibly lift that up?”
“Stop speaking nonsense, if I tell you to lift, then just lift. Are you telling me that we wasted all that true blood and bone medicine last night for nothing? If you really didn’t make any progress, then I’ll spank your butt until it turns into eight fragments!”
Early the next morning, Stone Village was active like birds flying and dogs jumping. All of the children were forced to move large rocks and copper cauldrons as they whined repeatedly.
The results were clearly obvious. The children all gained a significant amount of strength, and their physiques revealed an increase in power. However, if one were to say that they were reborn, then that was still a bit far from reality.
Kacha kacha!
The village head, chief Shi Yunfeng’s palm symbol glowed a brilliant light, and within his hand was the shaft of an golden-alloyed hammer. With it, he smashed the most precious part of the Dragon Horned Elephant’s dragon horn into pieces. Following that, he retrieved a portion of the Pi Xiu’s amputated claw bone as well as a small section of the Flame Rhinoceros’ red horn, and similarly pulverized them until they became fine powder. He then mixed these crushed bone powders with several fierce beast’s true blood, and put them together into the slow cooking beast milk. At that moment, the fragrance began to rise in spirals.
Afterwards, the elder threw in stalk after stalk of medicinal herbs. Soon after, the liquid within the pot became muddled, and the fragrance became even richer.
“Time to eat, little guy.”
Within the stone house, the little guy heard the yell and with a gulu sound, he turned around and then stood up. His eyes that had just woke up were still blurry, but as the fragrance leaked in, he quickly took a quick whiff. He immediately felt excited, and began muttering in that direction. “Smells really good.”
“Of course, this is genuine precious medicine, so don’t waste any of it and eat all of it.” Shi Yunfeng laughed and said.
The little guy consumed it like a wolf, and before long, the pot’s congee was completely gone. However, the negative consequences immediately appeared since he really was too small, and the medicinal strength was too strong. In this ordinary morning, the adorable little guy suddenly began to act like a problem child. His two eyes turned red like a white rabbit, and he began to run all over the place, shouting ah yah nonstop.
The pitiable large yellow dog’s tail was once again grabbed by him, and was continuously being pulled. The tail was almost pulled off, and it howled with tears for half a day; it disturbed all the villagers and caused chaos.
“Wei, little guy, why are you pulling up my brother’s wife’s fence?”
“What happened to the little guy, why did he run up to my family’s roof. Quickly, stop, don’t tear off the tiles!”
……
The villagers were all stunned. The ordinarily extremely obedient little guy transformed into a little vicious beast. He ran all over the place as he wreaked havoc while using all of his strength.
“The pot of medicine was completely absorbed, and the results are not bad.” Shi Yunfeng and several other elders were standing together, and they were currently quietly commenting, nodding their heads in satisfaction.
In the distance, many children saw the scene in front of them and became even more frightful of the chief. All of them were quivering and trembling as they stayed far away. Gathering together, they muttered in a low voice, “The little guy is really pitiful!”
The little guy’s palms shone and he lifted them up towards the sky. From those small arms appeared the bone text, and it flickered continuously; it was truly quite mysterious. In addition, his physique got stronger, and his speed and power were both promoted by a large margin as well. This was also the reason why the old chief was so satisfied.
Only after two hours did he finally quiet down. He scratched his head in a daze, and said in a low voice, “Yiya, I’m in trouble.”