Chapter 3: Decree of Bestowal!
Madam Chen held a banquet in Li Yanchu’s honor and gifted him one hundred taels of silver as a reward.
According to the currency system in the Kingdom of Qian, a hundred wen[1] equaled one qian, and ten qian equaled one tael[2]. The Chen family generously gifted him a full hundred taels.
In modern terms, that would be over 300,000 yuan.
Before this, all of Li Yanchu’s savings amounted to just thirteen wen. Meanwhile, a yamen officer[3] earned no more than two qian of silver a month, and ordinary people made even less, making it even harder to save money.
With this, Li Yanchu had suddenly leapt into the ranks of the modestly wealthy.
In the end, real skill is what truly matters, Li Yanchu thought to himself. He felt a renewed sense of reverence for his master. If not for the skills his master had passed on to him, how could he have come this far?
With his newly earned fortune, the first thing Li Yanchu did was buy several bottles of good wine and head to his master’s grave to pay his respects. He mumbled on for quite a while before finally leaving.
Now that I have money, I can check out the ingredients for the Revitalizing Pill at the pharmacy, he thought.
The Yellow Court Classic left by his master was an exceptionally difficult cultivation method. It was hard to get started, hard to practice, and even harder to make any progress. But for Li Yanchu, just having a legitimate Daoist method to cultivate was a rare blessing. He wasn’t about to be picky.
In the Yellow Court Classic, there was an alchemical formula called Revitalizing Pill. It could accelerate a cultivator’s absorption of the spirit qi of heaven and earth, and help raise their cultivation level. But the ingredients it called for were incredibly rare and expensive, including precious medicinal herbs.
Daoist alchemical formulas like this were extremely rare and valuable, and pills like this were incomparable to the pills commonly found in the jianghu.
If not for the fact that Qingyun Temple was a legitimate branch of Zhengyi Daoism[4], Li Yanchu would never have obtained such a rare alchemical recipe. And now that he had money, the thing Li Yanchu most wanted to do was purchase the ingredients for the Revitalizing Pill. If he could successfully refine it, his cultivation would undoubtedly reach a whole new level.
Thus, Li Yanchu was filled with anticipation. But when he arrived at the pharmacy and inquired about several of the pill’s ingredients, he finally understood why this recipe had all but vanished from use.
It called for century-old medicinal herbs like they were nothing—the kind of thing money alone couldn’t buy. Worse still, some of the listed ingredients had actually gone extinct.
“No wonder there are so few true cultivators in the world, and even fewer spirit pills for immortality cultivation,” Li Yanchu sighed.
Even with a hundred taels of silver on hand, Daoist Master Li still couldn’t buy the ingredients needed to refine the pill.
Under the shop assistant’s enthusiastic recommendation, he ended up buying a few batches of herbs for an Ultimate Nourishing Soup[5] instead. The soup could strengthen the body and mind, as well as replenish qi and blood.
Back at Qingyun Temple, Li Yanchu set up a furnace and prepared to decoct the herbs.
As soon as he opened the mulberry paper wrapping, a refreshing herbal fragrance wafted through the air. Inside were various tonic herbs like ginseng, though the kind he got was extremely thin and of poor quality. Even so, it still cost a small fortune.
If only it were old wild ginseng... Li Yanchu thought.
As he remembered the voice of the Great Dao that had echoed in his mind after he slayed the lustful ghost at the Chen residence, a smile tugged at his lips. Inspired, he pointed at the herbs and mimicked that solemn voice, “Decree of Bestowal!”
In the very next moment, radiant Dao light flashed, and the medicinal herbs on the table visibly began to change before his eyes. That pitifully thin ginseng, no thicker than a pinky, swelled into the size of an infant’s arm.
Li Yanchu had once seen a thirty-year-old Changbai Mountain[6] wild ginseng in the home of a wealthy merchant in his past life, but even that couldn't compare in appearance to the ginseng before him now. Just one whiff of it left him feeling alert and invigorated.
“This stuff is miraculous!”
To his surprise, he noticed his merit point had changed, and now only two hundred points remained. It had decreased by one hundred merit points.
“So I can use merit to enhance items?” Li Yanchu was shocked by the discovery.
To test the efficacy of the Ultimate Nourishing Soup, he went straight to the kitchen and began to simmer the herbs. As the medicine finished brewing, a rich and aromatic medicinal smell instantly filled the entire room.
The black donkey in the courtyard suddenly stretched out its neck, and its eyes visibly lit up. The donkey was a keepsake left to Li Yanchu by his old Daoist master.
Li Yanchu’s heart stirred. He poured some of the medicinal decoction into a bowl, carried it out, and walked into the courtyard. The black donkey, tethered beneath a tree and grazing on grass, grew excited the moment it caught a whiff of the medicinal aroma and stuck out its tongue eagerly.
“Blackie, calm down. How could I not think of you when there’s good stuff to share?” Li Yanchu said warmly with a smile.
He placed the bowl of tonic by the donkey’s mouth. Seeing this, the impatient black donkey slurped the whole thing down in a single breath.
“Yeehaw!”
The donkey let out a loud bray and stomped its hooves wildly against the ground. In an instant, it snapped the rope around its neck and began charging frantically around the courtyard.
“Holy crap!” Li Yanchu’s figure flickered as he quickly dodged out of the way.
He had learned some basic martial arts from his master, as well as one saber art in particular: the Six Yang Saber Art. It was more than enough to take on four or five ordinary people. Even so, Li Yanchu had no interest in tempting fate by messing with a crazed donkey.
Luckily, Blackie only ran around the courtyard, leaping and galloping about without breaking anything in the temple. After rampaging for four whole hours, Blackie finally calmed down and collapsed under the tree as it gasped for breath.
Li Yanchu watched closely for a long while and confirmed that the tonic didn’t seem to have any adverse effects. So, he returned to the kitchen and carefully took a sip himself.
Boom!
A surge of potent medicinal energy instantly rushed through his body. His blood began to race, and his heart pounded like a war drum.
So intense!
Li Yanchu felt like his entire body was bursting with endless strength, so much so that he needed to desperately release it.
What do I do? I haven’t even married yet. How am I supposed to let off the steam? he thought anxiously.
Zhengyi Daoism didn’t forbid marriage, but the issue was Li Yanchu didn’t have a wife.
Should I go to a brothel in the entertainment district? Just the thought made his breathing grow heavier and his blood feel even hotter.
There was a good place like that in Wei County. But in his current condition, it seemed he wouldn’t make it in time; his yang qi was about to burst.
As that thought flashed by, his hand instinctively touched the cold hilt of his butcher's knife at his waist. He pushed open the kitchen door and stepped into the spacious courtyard, then he began to practice the Six Yang Saber Art his master had taught him.
Just by practicing the forms, he was able to maintain his health and strengthen his body. In truth, this saber art was quite impressive. In the jianghu, it would be considered a third-rate martial art, but even so, it was not to be underestimated. For many sects, this level of martial art could even become the sect’s signature art.
Once the first stage was mastered, one could cultivate the Six Yang Force. The force was blazing and sharp, and it could strengthen one’s blood and qi. When this Six Yang Force was infused into a weapon, it could significantly amplify its power, but reaching that level was anything but easy.
The butcher's knife in Li Yanchu’s hand moved faster and faster, and the restless agitation in his heart gradually faded. Instead, he entered a profound state where he and the knife became one. In martial arts, this was called sudden enlightenment.
And after practicing through the entire night, to his astonishment, Li Yanchu discovered that he had actually succeeded in cultivating the Six Yang Force, reaching a level that most martial artists might not attain even in four or five years. He had reached the first stage of the Six Yang Saber Art!
1. The 文 wen was one of the chief units of currency in China and was used to denominate both coins and paper money ☜
2. Tael 两 is a Chinese unit of weight that, when applied to silver, was long used as a unit of currency. Most taels were equivalent to 1.3 ounces of silver. ☜
3. The Yamen officer (衙役) is the lowest-rank employee of yamen (衙门), the law enforcement department in ancient China. They worked as the lowest class in the government department which made them a bridge between the common people and the government. ☜
4. Zhengyi Daoism 正一道, also known as the "Orthodox Unity Daoism," is one of the most ancient and widely practiced forms of Daoism. Its roots trace back to the Han Dynasty (206 BCE – 220 CE). Zhengyi Daoism emphasizes rituals, exorcisms, and the use of talismans to maintain harmony and balance between the spiritual and physical realms. It is deeply intertwined with local beliefs and often focuses on religious ceremonies performed by Taoist priests for the benefit of communities. ☜
5. Also known as Shi Quan Da Bu Tang (十全大补汤), this is a traditional Chinese herbal soup. It is a nourishing and warming soup, often consumed for its health-promoting properties and is said to improve qi and blood flow. The soup is traditionally prepared with 10 herbs that are considered to improve qi, strengthen the immune system, and support overall health. ☜
6. Changbai Mountain is an active volcano on the Chinese–North Korean border. ☜
wctan's ThoughtsT/N:
Yin and yang, also yinyang or yin-yang, is a concept that originated in Chinese philosophy, describing an opposite but interconnected, self-perpetuating cycle. Yin and yang can be thought of as complementary and at the same time opposing forces that interact to form a dynamic system in which the whole is greater than the assembled parts and the parts are important for cohesion of the whole.
In Chinese cosmology, the universe creates itself out of a primary chaos of primordial qi or material qi, organized into the cycles of yin and yang, force and motion leading to form and matter. "Yin" is retractive, passive and contractive in nature, while "yang" is repelling, active and expansive in principle; this dichotomy in some form, is seen in all things in nature—patterns of change and difference
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