Wang Yao was slowly walking down the mountain road.
Wu Tongxing got out of the car and waited outside.
âMr. Wu, you came early,â Wang Yao said.
âI arrived not long ago,â Wu Tongxing said with a smile.
âDidnât you sleep well last night?â
âIâm still worried about the old manâs health,â Wu Tongxing replied. He just wanted to take the medicine from Wang Yao, fly back, and give it to the old man now. It would be better if he could persuade Wang Yao to go to Jing to take a look at the old man. He had asked Wang Yao about it the day before. The doctor did not have any plans to go to Jing for the time being, so he could only give up.
âThe medicine has been brewed.â Wang Yao handed him the medicine that he had brewed the previous night.
âThank you.â
Wang Yao told him how to take the medicine.
There were two kinds of medicine. One was the Primordial Spirit Soup, which could consolidate the corporeity and strengthen the old manâs health. The old manâs state was that of an oil lamp that had run out of oil. His light had been diminished. Now, he could only add some more oil to the lamp so as not to let the lamp go out immediately. The second kind of medicine could relieve pain, clear heat, and treat carbuncle, gangrene, and sores. The two medicines were to be used in combination to complement each other.
âThank you.â Wu Tongxing expressed his gratitude once again.
âWould you like to go in and sit a bit?â Wang Yao asked.
âNo thank you,â Wu Tongxing said. âI have to hurry back. The old man is waiting for the medicine.â
âI shall come back some other day to thank you.â
âThatâs not necessary,â Wang Yao said with a smile. âHave a safe journey.â
Wu Tongxing got in his car and hurriedly left the village.
On Dongshan Mountain, Wang Yaoâs three disciples were practicing.
âI feel that the aura on the mountain is getting better,â Jia Zizai remarked.
Breathing the air there made him feel better than when he was smoking.
âYes, it should be because of the Nanshan Hill where Sir lives,â Zhong Liuchuan suggested.
Their location was very close to Nanshan Hill. At this time, there was still fog around Nanshan when one looked from a close distance away. According to how mountains worked, a low hill without a peak should not have such fog.
âWhy do I feel that Nanshan Hill seems to be a little taller?â Jia Zizai asked.
âSir said that the mountain has always been growing taller and never stopped,â Zhong Liuchuan replied.
It was understandable that people and trees would grow taller. However, in their impression, when a mountain grew taller, unless there was a strong crustal movement, such as an earthquake and volcano eruption, it should be kept at a fixed height and not change. Furthermore, there was no frequent crustal movement around the Nanshan Hill area.
âShall we end it here today?â
âSure.ân/o/vel/b//in dot c//om
The three people went down the hill together.
When they passed by the clinic, they heard Wang Yaoâs voice coming out from inside it.
âLiuchuan, Zizai, come in for a moment.â
âWe didnât talk, did we?â Jia Zizai asked.
âNo, Sir probably heard our footsteps,â Zhong Liuchuan said.
âCan he even hear that?â Jia Zizai asked in surprise.
âLetâs go,â Zhong Liuchuan said. âSir is looking for us.â
The two of them pushed open the door and entered the clinic.
âSir.â
âDid you just come down from the mountain?â Wang Yao put down the medical book in his hand.
âYes, we just got down.â
âI have something to ask of you guys,â Wang Yao said.
âPlease tell us.â
âI want to see how effective the medicine you have been taking during this time is,â Wang Yao said.
In recent weeks, he had been giving medicine to his three students. They were anti-miasma and anti-poison antidotes. He had already experimented with them once some time back. Their bodies now had a good resistance to those toxins. It could be said that they were basically immune to all kinds of poisons. He wanted to try another function. He wanted to see if poisonous insects would avoid them upon encountering them.
âIâll do it,â Jia Zizai said without hesitation.
âAlright.â
Wang Yao took out a glass bottle that contained a few small insects. They were the poisonous insects caught at the Li Family Creek hot springs. Wang Yao opened the bottle lid.
âTry putting your fingers in there,â Wang Yao said.
Jia Zizai put his finger in. Something that surprised him happened. The insects were a little flustered. They seemed to notice something and hid in the farthest corner from his finger. Jia Zizai saw the situation and moved his finger closer to them. As a result, the insects moved in the other direction. They repeated the test several times to make sure that they were repelled by his fingers. They were not taking the initiative to attack like they did before.
âIt seems to have worked,â Wang Yao said.
âTry again.â
Wang Yao changed to another bottle. There were also some small black insects in it. These were the ones he had caught from Xishan Hill. These insects were very aggressive. They would take the initiative to attack any living thing they encountered. In the end, the effect of this experiment was the same. They retreated on their own accord.
âVery good,â Wang Yao said with a smile.
He had achieved what he wanted. The potion given to the three of them had already worked to change their bodies in some way.
âDo we need to continue taking the medicine?â Jia Zizai asked. He didnât mind taking the medicine, but it didnât taste good. At least, it was much worse than drinking alcohol. It was best if they did not need to take it anymore.
âYou donât need to for the new few days,â Wang Yao said. âLetâs wait a while to see if the effect of these two drugs decreases.â
âOK.â
After the two of them left, Wang Yao recorded the effect of the drug experiment. This was a new attempt, it proved that the medicine worked. So far, no side effects had occurred. They did not even have diarrhea.
Itâs safe to use, he thought.
He brewed another two doses and brought it home at noon.
âWhy would I take medicine when I am well?â Zhang Xiuying murmured after hearing her sonâs request for her and her husband to take the medicine.
âMom, this medicine is not ordinary,â Wang Yao replied.
âHow extraordinary is it? Will taking it make me more beautiful?â
âWell, thatâs not the case, but Mom, if you want, I can try to make it for you,â Wang Yao said.
âForget it, whatâs the effect of this medicine?â Zhang Xiuying asked.
âWell, after taking it, you can be immune to all kinds of poisons, and you wonât be bitten by mosquitoes and insects,â Wang Yao said.
âReally?â Zhang Xiuying was stunned after hearing that. She disregarded the immunity to all kinds of poisons. What poisons could there be here? But the advantage of not being bitten by mosquitoes was real. The most annoying thing in summer was the buzzing of mosquitoes flying at night and stinging her from time to time.
âWhen have I, your son, lied to you?â Wang Yao asked with a smile.
âOK, Iâll drink it.â
The medicine was bitter.
âWell, itâs so bitter!â
The antidote soup given to his parents was different from the one he had given to Zhong Liuchuan. Considering his parentsâ health, he had specially adjusted the medicine to make it milder and not burden their organs.
âYour father is in the house.â
âNoted.â
After entering the house, Wang Fenghua drank it without any hesitation after hearing about it.
In another courtyard of the mountain village...
âWhat are you doing? Where is the snake from?â Hu Mei looked at her husband in surprise. Jia Zizai held a small snake in his hand.
âI got it from the mountains. I found it a few days ago,â Jia Zizai said with a smile.
âAt this time, the snake should be hibernating, right?â Hu Mei asked. âWhy did you disturb its rest?â
âI just want to try again,â Jia Zizai said.
âAh, you!â Hu Mei rolled her eyes at him.
The result didnât disappoint Jia Zizai. He did not know if it was because of winter or any other reason, but the snake seemed reluctant to move. When Jia Zizai placed it on the ground, the snake would take the initiative to slither away and go to other places as soon as he got close to it.
âMy wife, shall we keep this snake?â he asked.
âWho keeps a snake as a pet? Hu Mei asked. âDo away with it quickly. Put it back from where it came from, or I shall chop it immediately.â She did not like snakes, insects, mice, or ants at all.
âOK, Iâll take it back in the afternoon,â Jia Zizai said.
âWhat do you think the medicine that Sir gave us was? It can really make us invincible to all kinds of poisons and repel all kinds of poisonous insects.â
âHow would I know? It must not be a common herb,â Hu Mei replied.
âDo you think Sir has a kind of medicine with him that can make our cultivation soar after taking it?â Jia Zizai asked.
âYou are thinking about nonsense again,â Hu Mei replied. âDidnât Sir say that there is no shortcut to the path of cultivation. You can only go step by step, except for special opportunities. Donât have any fantasies.â