Chapter 19: Efficacy and Pain

Chapter 19: Chapter 19: Efficacy and Pain

A fiery heat penetrated deep into his muscles as he rubbed, as if a faint flame were burning in the crevices of his sinews and bones, gradually dispelling and melting away the lingering, deep-seated ache.

’It’s working!’ Xu Mo’s spirits lifted. The searing heat from his palm and the feeling of his muscles relaxing were undeniable.

The immediate effect of the Honghua Oil strengthened Xu Mo’s resolve to master the knowledge of traditional medicine. His future path, in addition to training, now had to include—studying.

Only by mastering this knowledge could he maximize the efficacy of these medicines and truly turn the pharmacy from that frozen world into his own inexhaustible treasury of cultivation resources.

After applying the Honghua Oil and feeling the warmth spread through his arms and legs, Xu Mo adopted a "more is better" mentality and picked up the stack of Musk Bone-Strengthening Ointment. In pursuit of the ultimate restorative effect, he proceeded to cover nearly every part of his body that felt sore or that he expected would be prone to injury—from his neck and shoulders to his back, from his elbows to his wrists, from his knees to his ankles. He paid special attention to his forearms and shins, which took the most punishment during his training.

He ended up using more than ten of them! The medicated surface of the Plasters covered nearly half of Xu Mo’s torso.

The moment the Plasters were applied, Xu Mo felt a sensation completely different from the Honghua Oil. A refreshing coolness immediately spread through his skin, as if countless tiny streams of ice were seeping into his muscles and fascia, neutralizing the fiery heat from the oil and bringing a strange sense of relief.

Xu Mo could clearly feel that under the combined stimulation of coolness and warmth, the microscopic damage within his body was slowly being repaired and nourished, like parched earth receiving a gentle rain.

’This should be foolproof!’ Xu Mo’s heart filled with anticipation. With such abundant medicinal support, he felt his path of cultivation was sure to be a smooth one.

Empowered by the medicinal effects, Xu Mo threw himself back into his Thirteen Grand Protectors’ Cross Training. Feeling great, he even trained for an extra half hour.

However, Xu Mo had severely underestimated the side effects of such intensive medication—especially the Plasters.

That night, as he prepared for bed, Xu Mo faced a truly gut-wrenching form of torture: peeling off the Plasters.

The cool, soothing sensation he had felt when applying them was long gone, replaced by the reality of adhesive that had been bonded to his skin for hours. Gritting his teeth, Xu Mo pinched the corner of a Plaster on his shoulder, took a deep breath, and ripped.

RRRIP—!

The loud, sticky sound was jarring in the silent room, accompanied by a sharp, violent pain, as if he were tearing off a layer of his own skin. The area that had been covered by the Plaster instantly turned fiery red. His body hair had been ripped out by the roots, and a clear outline of the adhesive remained like a brand, the searing pain shooting straight to his brain.

"Gah—!" Xu Mo shuddered from the pain, his forehead instantly beading with cold sweat.

And that was only the beginning. He had more than ten of these Plasters still on his body.

The process that followed was nothing short of a long, painful death by a thousand cuts. Tearing off each Plaster felt like performing minor surgery, accompanied by the sticky sound of separating skin and a pain that made his scalp tingle.

Xu Mo grimaced, baring his teeth against the pain. Tears even began to well up uncontrollably in the corners of his eyes, and his muscles tensed and trembled from the constant agony. When he finally ripped the last Plaster from the tender skin of his waist, he nearly collapsed, completely drenched in cold sweat as if he’d just been pulled from water.

Now, there was barely an unmarred patch of skin on Xu Mo’s upper body and around his major joints. It was all a mess of red, swollen skin covered in adhesive marks and dotted with pinpricks of blood. The constant burning pain made him feel like he was being roasted on a spit.

The pain was so intense that even lying on the sheet-covered sofa felt like resting on a bed of needles. Every slight movement, every bit of friction, sent a fresh wave of stinging pain through him. The pervasive burning of his skin magnified his physical exhaustion, making it impossible to fall asleep.

’I was too greedy...’ Xu Mo thought, filled with regret as he writhed in agony.

When it came to medicine, more was definitely not better. The price for his greed was far too steep.

Taking out a ginseng, Xu Mo cut off the thickest Ginseng Root from the main stalk and placed it in his mouth. He slowly swallowed the bittersweet juice. A gentle, profound warmth gradually rose from his stomach and flowed to his limbs, managing to suppress some of the bone-deep pain and the chills that came with it. His mind also began to calm down slightly.

Under the dual influence of this spreading warmth and his own extreme exhaustion, Xu Mo finally drifted into a groggy sleep.

When he awoke the next day, the situation was even worse than he had imagined. Not only was the skin he’d brutalized the night before still red, swollen, and burning, but the deep muscle soreness from his overzealous training had also fully set in.

Xu Mo felt as if he had been disassembled and then crudely put back together. Every breath pulled at the muscles in his chest and abdomen; every movement of his joints was met with a grating ache and the tearing pain of his skin.

Enduring the discomfort, he first inspected the still-red and fiercely stinging patches of skin. Xu Mo decided he would suspend all External Skills training for the day, especially anything involving striking or friction.

’External Plasters are out of the question for now, but these oral medications...’ Xu Mo’s gaze fell upon a few bottles of medicine for internal use—the Trauma Pill and the Muscle Relaxing and Blood Circulation Pills.

He vaguely recalled the instructions; they seemed to be oral medications for treating bruises, sprains, and muscle soreness.

Deciding it was worth a shot, Xu Mo took the prescribed dose of the Trauma Pill and the Muscle Relaxing and Blood Circulation Pills. The pills went down his throat with the strong, bitter taste of traditional medicine.

At first, he didn’t feel anything special. He grimaced while rubbing Honghua Oil into the red, swollen areas where the skin wasn’t broken, the process as painful as ever.

But about half an hour later, as Xu Mo began the relatively gentle practice of Pile Training, he vaguely sensed a difference.

Before, when he performed the Posture Stance, although it helped regulate his breathing, the deep ache in his body was a constant, distracting background noise. This was especially true in the later stages of holding the pose, when the muscle tremors and soreness would become more pronounced.

This time, however, as he continued his Posture Stance, Xu Mo felt a gentle warmth seem to rise from his lower abdomen. Unlike the distinct warmth of the ginseng, this heat was more subtle, more focused on the muscles and joints of his limbs. It flowed slowly, and wherever it passed, the deep, stubborn ache seemed to be quietly dissolved and dispersed. Though his muscles were still tired, the stiffness and pain originating from deep within his bones and sinews had genuinely lessened.

’This internal medicine... it really works,’ Xu Mo realized with a pleasant surprise. Although its effects weren’t as immediate as the Honghua Oil or as intense as the hot-and-cold stimulation from the Plasters, this feeling of being nourished from within and having the deep-seated aches slowly dissolve seemed to treat the root of the problem. It was also far more suitable for long-term use during his training breaks.

Xu Mo realized that external medicines were like a fire brigade, able to quickly handle superficial pain and damage. Internal medicines, on the other hand, were like an internal repair crew, slowly but surely cleaning up the "internal waste" left behind by his training. Combining the two, treating the problem both externally and internally, was perhaps the proper way.

Of course, having learned a painful lesson from the Plasters, Xu Mo didn’t dare get greedy again. He decided to strictly follow the prescribed dosage and observe his body’s reaction and recovery for a few days.

’More haste, less speed...’ Xu Mo reflected profoundly. ’The body, and the use of medicine, both require a gradual, step-by-step approach.’

He immediately adjusted his regimen, shifting the core of his training back to Pile Training. He would focus on conditioning his internal energy and gently nourishing the foundation of his bones and sinews. This process was relatively mild and placed the least amount of stress on his skin and muscles.

As for the External Skills that were prone to causing injury, he would reduce their frequency and intensity, treating them as secondary for now. He would wait until his body—especially his skin—had fully recovered from this "Plaster disaster." Only after he had gradually adapted to the medicine and his training load would he cautiously and slowly ramp things up again.

Cultivation was a combination of science and art, not barbaric self-mutilation. This time, his body had taught Xu Mo a crucial lesson in the most direct way possible.