I Have Medicine

Chapter 523 - Weapon Refinement

It didn’t take long for Gu Zuo and Gongyi Tianheng to finish their selections.

The two of them weren’t too polite, but they weren’t too greedy either. They only chose the ones that could be used. As for those that couldn’t be used for the time being, no matter how precious, these items were similarly left with the Blood Transformation Palace Master.

Upon seeing this, the palace master personally picked a few more valuable things, and stuffed them into the pair’s hands.

As for the Blood Transformation Heaven Lord’s personal treasury, it couldn’t be opened right now. They had to wait until the palace master met with his father and obtained permission before he could go inside and take the good stuff.

Tianheng and Gu Zuo looked at one another. They shook their heads and smiled.

At this moment, the palace master calmed down. He glanced at both of them, and said: “If you two need anything in the future, just tell me. If this teacher has it, I certainly won’t refuse you.”

Tianheng smiled and said: “Then, please don’t disdain me in the future, master.”

The palace master replied: “To have a disciple like you, what’s there for me to disdain?”

Gu Zuo thought so, too.

When big brother was as an apprentice, he was the best apprentice around.

Then, Gu Zuo and the Blood Transformation Palace Master accidentally looked at each other. Both of them laughed.

After that, the palace master swept his sleeve, and carried the two back to the Blood Transformation Palace Hall. Immediately following which, several people were summoned right in front of them.

Gu Zuo trained his eyes on them. All of these people had the appearances of nonhuman races. Among them, one was particularly short and stout, but for the time being, it wasn’t clear which race this person came from. Meanwhile, there were two others who were tall and muscular. On the contrary, Gu Zuo was able to recognize that they were people from the Iron Ox race — Sure enough, as a servile race with excellent skills and loyal dedication, the Iron Ox race was a particularly handy one.

The palace master didn’t say much else. He just tossed a few refining materials provided by Tianheng to the strongest and sturdiest member of the Iron Ox race. He said: “Tie Ling, take a look.”

That Iron Ox received them, and carefully studied what was in his hands. At once, his eyes burst forth with an intense radiance. He hurriedly asked: “Master, t-this is…” He suddenly thought of something, and lowered his voice, “A king among the Primordial True Spirit Ancestor Races…”

The two other people heard this, and promptly got closer to take a look. Their faces were similarly filled with fanaticism. They couldn’t wait to fight over these refining materials, and properly marvel and examine them!

Merely, when all was said and done, because they were servile races lodging under another person’s roof, although their hearts were filled with a myriad of excited thoughts, they didn’t dare to really take action.

The palace master faintly smiled: “So how is it?”

Tie Ling said: “It couldn’t be better! These are one of the few good materials that this subordinate has seen in his entire life. If you hand over these things to this subordinate for forging, I can create earth-level spirit weapons at the very least! In addition, they’ll have the possibility of evolving to the heaven level!”

The other two nodded their heads in haste: “If these subordinates can join in, we’ll certainly forge them perfectly!”

The palace master slightly nodded his head, and looked at Tianheng: “Apprentice, what do you think?”

Tie Ling and the others held their breaths as their gazes turned to Tianheng. At this moment, they realized that these things actually needed to be decided by this all-star prodigy.

Tianheng pondered for a short while and said: “These materials are going to be made for some martial artists with weaker strength. I’m afraid it would be improper to directly call them earth-level spirit weapons.” His tone of voice was gentle, “If you guys can have the weapons evolve naturally whenever their owners experience a breakthrough in realms, that couldn’t be better.”

Tie Ling’s complexion was somewhat hard-pressed. If it was done this way, his skills still couldn’t accomplish it. Moreover, on the off-chance that the owner wasn’t capable enough, not only would the forged weapon be unable to evolve, it would instead be a waste of materials… After deliberating for a long time, he suggested a compromise: “We can refine earth-level spirit weapons first, but use a special method to seal them. Once a weapon recognizes an owner, a layer of the seal will be undone with every realm breakthrough to suit the strength of the owner. Would something like this be possible?”

Tianheng was pleased, and said: “That naturally works, too.” Shortly thereafter, he thought of something else and continued, “It’s just that the radiance will have to be concealed somewhat. Otherwise, when the owners go out adventuring, these things will receive too many covetous gazes. On the contrary, it will be detrimental to the owner’s adventure.”

Tie Ling gave a straightforward reply: “This is no matter. After being sealed, the radiance will naturally be obscured, and such a situation won’t occur.”

Having spoken up to here, Tianheng no longer felt that there was anything unsuitable.

After that, Tianheng made a few requests. He made sure that they kept this a secret, and that they wouldn’t tell anyone else.

Tie Ling and the others were extremely satisfied, and almost couldn’t wait to agree to Tianheng’s requests. Soon after, they brought all of the refining materials and hurriedly returned to their weapon refining rooms. They wasted no time in delving right into it.

Once they departed, Tianheng and Gu Zuo still didn’t have the intention of leaving.

The Blood Transformation Palace Master was somewhat surprised: “Apprentice, Ah Zuo, is there something else?”

Tianheng nodded his head: “It’s related to the matter of the Ice Phoenix Goddess Mu Baizhi.”

The palace master understood in a flash: “So it’s this thing.”

Gu Zuo wore an expectant expression as he looked at the palace master.

The Blood Transformation Palace Master pondered for a short while.

Gu Zuo’s heartstrings were stretched taut.

Ah, there was definitely something going on here. Otherwise, the palace master wouldn’t behave like this!

Tianheng said: “Master, please enlighten us.”

The palace master lightly sighed. TheN, he opeNed his mouth: “Very well. OrigiNally, it was the two of you who brought us the clues to this matter. This appreNtice’s thoughts are rather meticulous aNd his luck is exceptioNally good, so this teacher woN’t hide it.”

The pair perked up their ears and listened attentively.

The palace master said: “As both of you thought, there’s something wrong with Mu Baizhi’s mother’s past.”

The higher one’s position and the deeper one’s realm, the more sensitive people were to many matters. When Tianheng and Gu Zuo brought the news, the Blood Transformation Palace Master immediately noticed some subtleties in it. He took the matter very seriously, and promptly sought out the palace masters of the other palace halls for a discussion.

Although there existed a certain level of competitiveness between the palace masters of the Ten Ultimates Palace Halls, when they encountered problems, they could still basically reach a unified front.

As a result, the palace masters activated a certain department within Ten Ultimates Sect known as the Shadow Hall, and mobilized spies from all over to investigate this matter.

Not much time had passed before a great majority of things in Mu Baizhi’s life were organized by these spies and placed on the desks of the various palace masters.

According to the information, although there were some secrets related to Jade Flame Valley that couldn’t be fully investigated, they could analyze that the seemingly perfect information was actually filled with holes. What Hua Lanruo told Gu Zuo and Tianheng was true.

The Shadow Hall’s hidden sentry post in Jade Flame Valley immediately got in touch with Hua Lanruo. Later on, under Hua Lanruo’s guidance, the spies contacted Mu Baiyue, and became even more convinced of the matter. With the help of Hua Lanruo and Mu Baiyue, they learned more about Mu Baizhi’s life history within Jade Flame Valley.

Mu Baizhi’s mother was an orphan girl brought back by an elder from Jade Flame Valley. It was said that the elder passed by a small town and saw that the girl’s family was wiped out. The girl was quite talented, so he took action and rescued her. After that, the elder returned with the orphan girl and took her in. Subsequently, this girl’s performance was exceptionally good and was eventually accepted as a disciple.

This female disciple was the childhood sweetheart of the heir to the Mu Clan, so it was only natural that they became husband and wife. Later on, she gave birth to a pair of children, Mu Baizhi and Mu Baiyue.

Looking at it this way, there didn’t seem to be any problems with her past history, but since Mu Baizhi’s bloodline didn’t come from the Mu Clan, it must’ve come from her mother’s side of the family. As for the small family that her mother belonged to, let alone any prodigies, not even an exceptional genius had appeared over the years. Could it be possible that the Cuckoo Bloodline had never been stimulated?

Following this, the spies of the hidden sentry post thought of another way to investigate that family.

It had been many years since that small family was destroyed, and there shouldn’t have been any traces remaining. However, Ten Ultimates Sect’s hidden sentry posts were all over the world. In that small town, there existed such a sentry post. Naturally, the incident of this family’s extermination was also recorded.

Because the orphan girl was taken away by the elder of Jade Flame Valley, the orphan girl’s matter actually drew a lot of attention. The orphan girl’s appearance and characteristics were also described.

From this description, Jade Flame Valley’s sentry post compared the information from various sources, and found that the orphan girl in Jade Flame Valley and the orphan girl who had been rescued by the Jade Flame Valley elder weren’t the same person.

The appearances of the two were extremely similar. However, the real orphan girl’s toes were slope-shaped, while the fake orphan girl’s toes were slightly flatter. The parts of a woman’s feet were rarely seen by outsiders. If it wasn’t for the small town’s hidden sentry post who rushed to the scene when the family was wiped out, hid on the side, and caught a glimpse of the little girl’s shoes falling off as she ran away, this slight difference wouldn’t have been detected.

From this, it could be seen that when this orphan girl was taken away by the Jade Flame Valley elder, she was unexpectedly swapped along the way!

The orphan girl was a fake. As it happened, Mu Baizhi, who was born from this orphan girl, had the Cuckoo Bloodline, so there was certainly a conspiracy at work.

It seemed that Jade Flame Valley was merely going along with all the things Mu Baizhi did, but it was unknown whether her mother, the fake orphan, also knew about it.

However, it was a fact that the status and position of the current lineage the fake orphan married into was growing higher and higher in Jade Flame Valley due to the existence of Mu Baizhi.

Listening to this, Gu Zuo’s brows tightly furrowed.

He himself was inclined to believe that the fake orphan was similarly aware, and that she was even an accomplice. Otherwise, how could Mu Baizhi have done things so…thoroughly when she was only a few years old at the time? Moreover, the highly valued and sole wife in the direct line could influence the main branch in too many ways.

The Blood Transformation Palace Master continued: “Although we know that the orphan girl is fake and that she was exchanged along the way, we were unable to figure out where she came from and what helpers she had.”

Of course, the hidden sentry posts investigated in secret, but unfortunately, they ended up empty-handed. Later on, they began compiling information from various places, specifically following this kind of switched adoption and checking them one by one.

After this investigation, they found some equally subtle people, and several of them occupied very important positions in several forces. Without exception, they were all women. And also without exception, they were all married to rather influential people in those organizations. The only distinction was that some of these women gave birth to children and others did not. Though, each and every child born to these women weren’t the same as ordinary children.

In the beginning, most of these children were relatively mediocre, but one day, they suddenly became extraordinarily talented. After that, it was smooth sailing. They turned into personages who fully received the nurturing and training of their respective forces. However, the number of these people who could become prodigies was extremely small. In addition, they were all young girls of peerless beauty. The majority of these girls were very close to the most outstanding talents in these organizations, and many of them even had a mutual admiration for one another. It was quite likely that they would become partners someday.

— Speaking of which, Mu Baizhi was still the most outstanding and famous one among them.

Merely, it basically wasn’t certain whether those girls possessed Cuckoo Bodies. Perhaps, they had other unknown fortuitous encounters. But if one carefully thought about it, provided that Mu Baizhi didn’t have a twin brother who had a special constitution when she was born, but was an only daughter, then she wouldn’t have been able to absorb other people’s talents as a baby. It also would’ve been impossible to have revealed herself so early.

Following that, would Mu Baizhi have been like those girls in the information?

Even through these women and their daughters, the shadow of the person or organization responsible for all of this still wasn’t found… And this method of utilizing normal marriages that seemingly allowed nature to take its proper course had caused all of the palace masters a feeling of being enveloped in shadows.

As a result, up until now, numerous hidden sentry posts had been investigating the corresponding information, but there had been little progress. There were too many cases where families were wiped out or orphan were left behind due to accidents. There were also too many cases where orphans were taken away by powerful forces because of their extraordinary aptitudes. If one wanted to find a situation similar to Mu Baizhi’s mother, it would be like fishing a needle from the sea. Only occasionally could one get a few precise results.

Moreover, this was how the fake orphan entered Jade Flame Valley, but not everyone could do the same as her. Perhaps, there were other ways? After so many years, all forces would plant spies in rival organizations, and the methods of placement were also diverse. Who was to say that the hand hidden behind the curtain needed to stick to just one method using orphans? Although these orphans weren’t involved with these forces and could easily cultivate loyalty and a sense of belonging, they were indeed what organizations liked to nurture the most…

After Gu Zuo finished listening, he came to a conclusion.

The incident of Mu Baizhi’s mother wasn’t an isolated case. On the contrary, it was one of many extended tentacles. Unfortunately, this matter was hidden too well, so it was impossible to easily find the mastermind behind everything. In addition, the origin and identity of that mastermind and how many years this had been planned — All of this was unknown.

Thinking up to here, Gu Zuo felt somewhat somber and heavy.

Were those women being nurtured to “peacefully develop” and seize the authority of those organizations step by step?

But how were they going to grasp power over those organizations? What was their next objective?

Moreover, even the Ten Ultimates Palace Halls couldn’t find anything… This conspiracy was so hidden that if it was him looking for clues, he probably wouldn’t have found anything either.

Now, they had to find a way to capture a woman and her daughter, discern the secrets of the mother and daughter, and figure out whether Mu Baizhi’s constitution was the only Cuckoo Body.

Shaking his head, Gu Zuo heard the palace master talk about the origin of Mu Baizhi’s current talents.

As it turned out, Mu Baizhi didn’t take the initiative to get close to any prodigies this time. Instead, she invited a few men to journey with her during a certain adventure. During this experience, they were basically separated by the unusual wards in that land of adventure. Consequently, one or two people perished. Amid this adventure, Mu Baizhi obtained a fortuitous encounter, and abruptly broke through to the Atomic Realm.

Gu Zuo’s face darkened.

Over the course of this adventure, it was obvious that Mu Baizhi probably hooked up with a prodigy, and completely devoured the other person’s talent under the guise of making love. Immediately following which, she took the prodigy’s life!

In this way, the gods were unaware and ghosts were ignorant. It was only natural that no one would notice anything wrong with Mu Baizhi or doubt the cause of that prodigy’s death.

But if it was like this, there was another problem.

In order for Mu Baizhi to achieve this outcome, she had to make sure that the land of adventure could separate people the moment they entered. What’s more, after the separation, Mu Baizhi had to be the only one with that prodigy.

How powerful did the person or organization have to be to accomplish this?

The Blood Transformation Palace Master sighed: “Because we were unable to catch the culprit, this teacher never mentioned this matter to his apprentice again. Currently, we can only spare our manpower to closely monitor these known people in order to find flaws and follow clues back to the source.”

In any case, this could be summed up in one sentence. Whatever the people behind the scenes wanted to do, it would fall to these deathly loyal women they created. If the palace masters couldn’t nip things in the bud, they could only try to adapt to the circumstances.

Gu Zuo nodded his head: “That’s all we can do.”

Then, he remembered something, took out a bottle of medicinal pills, and handed it to the palace master. He spoke with some embarrassment: “Palace master, I took advantage of the Prodigy Monument to plant a type of slow-acting wondrous poison on Mu Baizhi. This poison won’t affect anything for a long time, so Mu Baizhi shouldn’t be aware of it. This pill and Mu Baizhi are attracted to one another. Palace master, if you hold this pill in your hand, you can easily figure out Mu Baizhi’s trail…”

The palace master didn’t expect that Gu Zuo had already made a plan. After hearing this, he took the medicinal pills, and said with a smile: “This will save us a great deal of trouble.”

Gu Zuo was in a good mood.

There were more than a dozen pills in the bottle. If they were distributed to the hidden sentry posts, Mu Baizhi wouldn’t be able to fly away even with wings.

After everything was discussed, Tianheng and Gu Zuo bade farewell to the palace master.

The Blood Transformation Palace Master told the two of them not to be distracted by Mu Baizhi. Once there was news, he would inform them of it. Listening to this, the pair promptly agreed.

After that, they returned to their own manor.

Although Gongyi Tianheng had gone through repeated battles, and his low Ascendant Realm was already stabilized, he never minded tempering his realm even more.

Therefore, he entered a short period of secluded cultivation to properly temper himself.

As for Gu Zuo, he went to study medicinal pills.

This time around, it was rare to have such a good thing like taotie bone marrow. If he didn’t come up with some medicinal pills that were useful to his family’s big brother, wouldn’t he have wasted this opportunity?

The power in the bone marrow was incomparably tremendous. What Gu Zuo needed to do now was to extract the bone marrow, neutralize it with other medicinal ingredients, and obtain a pill that could combine the effects of tempering the physical body and enhancing strength.

However, the enhanced power of the taotie’s bone marrow certainly included the ability to devour, so it was considered unprecedented. Once Gu Zuo successfully refined it, he would have another self-created medicinal pill.

This secluded research lasted quite a few days and nights.

Finally, on the night of the fifth day, Gu Zuo suddenly opened the furnace. Two grayish-brown medicinal pills burst out.

Gu Zuo’s expression was overjoyed as he grabbed them with a flash of his hand.

Then, he felt his qi ocean surging. An abundant force suddenly rushed out of his body. His qi emissions continued to rise upwards, and he reached the low Atomic Realm in just a few breaths of time!

But this wasn’t over just yet.

The increase in conceptual inspiration also bolstered his strength. For this round, a little less than an hour passed, and his realm improved again. When he reached the mid Atomic Realm, it finally stopped.

In a short period of time, Gu Zuo surpassed two levels in a row, and his internal qi realm attained such a degree.

With the support of the richer profound qi in his body, it was no longer as difficult for him to refine medicinal pills suitable for Royal Realm martial artists. It was also much easier to refine flawless pills suitable for the Royal Realm.

Thinking of this, Gu Zuo couldn’t help but secretly smile.

Since he could refine flawless Royal Realm pills, he could actually provide the medicinal pills the palace master needed to improve his strength. For example, he could send some over every once in a while — He couldn’t let his loved one’s master use inferior products when he was already capable of making better things, right?

Although, he wondered how the palace master would react after receiving those pills…

He decided to do it as soon as he thought about it. Gu Zuo didn’t hesitate at all. He took out a few medicinal ingredients, preparing to refine some qi-replenishing medicinal pills to refresh his mind. After refining those things, he would produce a few Taotie Pills for his big brother and refine pills for the Royal Realm. Once he went back and forth a few times, he would be able to temper his medicine refining skills even more.

Hence, when Tianheng came out of seclusion two days later, what awaited him were forty-plus Taotie Pills and the good news of Gu Zuo’s breakthrough.

But before the two of them could talk for long, a battle slave came to report, saying that the Blood Transformation Palace Hall had sent someone over.

Tianheng was in a good mood, and said: “Please send them in.” Then, he spoke to Gu Zuo, “I think master has finished the spirit weapons.”

Gu Zuo also showed a smiling expression.

It was just as predicted. Only, the person who sent the stuff was a little outside their expectations.

The person who came was the weapon craftsman of the Iron Ox race whom they had met before.

After the Iron Ox race member observed the proper courtesies, he respectfully delivered a large, iron box.

Gu Zuo noticed the fluctuations in space from the large, iron box. It seemed that it was somewhat similar to the wooden box they previously took out.

He looked at his family’s big brother, reached out, and opened it.

Shockingly arranged within the large, iron box were several pieces of inner armor and a number of spirit weapons. Each of them was filled with rays of light. At first glance, these items didn’t look very impressive, but if they were touched with one’s hand or injected with internal qi, the performance was extraordinary.

Seeing this, the member from the Iron Ox race cautiously asked: “Are these two sirs…satisfied?”

Tianheng slightly nodded his head: “Not bad.”

The Iron Ox rubbed his hands: “Since these two personages are satisfied, this one…has a presumptuous request.”

Gu Zuo thought about it: “In the future, do you still want to use this kind of material for refining?”

The Iron Ox was excited and nodded at once.

Gu Zuo smiled: “If you use it well, there won’t be any problems. What my big brother and I need are people with the most exemplary skills.”

To be honest, if it wasn’t for the worry that those battle slaves would have resentment in their hearts, he actually wanted to arm the Tianlong Guards this time. After all, they were the most loyal force.

Subsequently, Gu Zuo took the opportunity to give the Iron Ox several jade bottles, and asked him to pass them to the Blood Transformation Palace Master.

The member from the Iron Ox race suddenly became happy. He took these jade bottles and happily left.

After receiving another small and kindly intention from his apprentice’s loved one, the palace master looked at the medicinal pills with surging medicinal power from the jade bottle he had just opened…and fell silent.

T/N: Thanks for the corrections, Charysa.

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