Eternal Life Begins with Learning

As spring flourished, the Hundred Herbs Pavilion stood in a bustling marketplace.

Chu Mu had initially been worried that the appearance of the Hundred Herbs Pavilion would attract the prying eyes of his peers, leading to all sorts of trouble.

But reality proved that he had simply been overthinking it.

In this place where merchants and travelers gathered, shops in Jingmen County closed down and new ones opened almost every day.

The appearance of the Hundred Herbs Pavilion was just a drop in the ocean. No one paid it any mind, or rather, even if they wanted to, they simply had too much else to notice.

In just ten-odd days, from what Chu Mu had seen on this Changling Street, a good seven or eight storefronts had already changed owners.

Among them, the Hundred Herbs Pavilion didn’t stand out in the slightest.

Of course, being inconspicuous also meant there wouldn’t be many customers. This was especially true for a Medicine Hall. Since it dealt with matters of life and death, human instinct drove people to choose doctors they trusted more.

This was doubly true for a young man like Chu Mu. The old saying about a smooth-faced youth being unreliable held true in this era.

The medicine hall lost money daily, which worried the shopkeeper, Xu Yuan, to no end. Every day, he would dream up all sorts of seemingly unreliable schemes, desperate to succeed in his role.

As for Chu Mu, the doctor...

There was only one word for him: Leisurely!

He had no restraints and no worries. Aside from reading and practicing martial arts, he lived a life of almost complete relaxation.

From the bloom of spring to the scorching summer, and then to the crisp, clear autumn, half a year drifted by. Throughout it all, Chu Mu’s leisurely life continued unabated.

Half a year can change many things.

Take Changling Street, for example. Chu Mu had personally witnessed shops open only to go out of business, replaced by new merchants arriving with dreams of striking it rich.

The old man selling baked cakes on the street had been replaced by a young man; the old woman selling rice noodles seemed to have returned to the dust.

After half a year, the Hundred Herbs Pavilion—which had started out losing money every day—had managed to build a small reputation in the neighborhood.

To avoid trouble, Chu Mu priced all his medicines according to the standard market rates in Jingmen.

He offered no special treatment to anyone. The rich and the poor, the pitiful and the proud—all were treated as equals.

But a medicine hall’s business depends on two things: the doctor’s ability to heal the sick and save lives, and a reputation spread by word of mouth.

As for the Medical Skill required to understand both patients and remedies, Chu Mu’s abilities might not have compared to those of famous secular physicians. But here in Jingmen County, his skill was certainly quite good.

After half a year and three changing seasons, case after case of successful treatment had made the Hundred Herbs Pavilion a little less desolate and a little more lively.

...

In the early morning, mist still lingered before the sun had risen.

In the backyard of the Hundred Herbs Pavilion, Xu Yuan was holding a wooden bowl, carefully collecting morning dew from the flowers and plants in the courtyard.

On one side of the courtyard was a patch of rice stalks, already heavy with grain, and a medicinal field that occupied nearly half the yard.

And there, weaving through the plants, was Chu Mu.

The autumn sky was high and clear, the time of harvest. The rice was ripe, and most of the medicinal herbs were also nearing maturity.

But Chu Mu was still just inspecting and tending to them, with no intention of harvesting them at all.

Although both Elder Li and the books described "Spirit Medicine"—that is, medicinal herbs that have surpassed their natural growth cycle—as extremely rare and precious, with exceptionally strict requirements for their growing environment.

But knowledge from books is ultimately shallow. Without practical experimentation and firsthand observation, his so-called ’pursuit of truth’ and ’understanding of patients and remedies’ would be nothing but a joke.

From planting the seeds to sprouting, growing, and now maturing, Chu Mu carefully tended to every step.

It was a way of combining theory with practice, a process of broadening his understanding.

After all, how could someone who claims to understand remedies not know how they grow?

"Brother Mu, I’ve collected it,"

Xu Yuan called out, holding up a wooden bowl half-full of dew.

"Store it in a Jade Bottle, and remember, don’t let the dew touch your skin."

Chu Mu instructed without looking up, his attention still fixed on the medicinal field.

Although Chu Mu only had a half-baked understanding of the theories of grafting and crossbreeding from his past life, it didn’t stop him from experimenting in this era.

In this medicinal field, besides dozens of common medicinal herbs, there were a few grafted products. As for the theory of crossbreeding, Chu Mu still couldn’t quite wrap his head around it.

’Knowledge is like that,’ Chu Mu thought. ’When you need it, no matter how much you have, it never feels like enough.’

’If I could go back to my past life for just a few days, the first thing I’d do is pack up all its knowledge and bring it here.’

Sometimes, Chu Mu couldn’t help but feel frustrated. ’My past life’s era had plenty of flaws, but it had one thing that was particularly precious—something that seems incredibly rare in this age.’

’Knowledge in my past life was so cheap.’

’It was the information age. As long as you were willing to look, endless knowledge was there for the taking, basically for free.’

’Cheap and convenient.’

’But in this era, knowledge is so expensive that most common people can’t even afford a single book.’

’Even for someone like me, who spends money like water... where can I buy the knowledge I want to learn? Who would even sell it to me?’

’According to the fragments of information Elder Li revealed, the Cultivation Immortal Realm definitely exists. But judging by the way things are in the secular world, knowledge in the Cultivation Immortal Realm is probably even more expensive.’

’After all, no matter how expensive secular knowledge is, it’s just a matter of Paper Currency. It’s not hard to obtain for anyone with even a little ability.’

’The Cultivation Immortal Realm, however, obviously wouldn’t use this Paper Currency that’s too stiff to even wipe your ass with. They would surely use some kind of equivalent exchange medium.’

’When currency sheds its credit-based nature and returns to being a simple medium of equivalent exchange, the currency itself becomes something extremely precious.’

’And by the same token, the difficulty of earning that currency would inevitably be much higher.’

’Especially since... I can earn money easily in the secular world only because I have the skills to get by here. But I know nothing about the Cultivation Immortal Realm...’

Chu Mu habitually touched the two Jade Scrolls he always carried. He knew that, barring any accidents, when he finally stepped into the Cultivation Immortal Realm, these two scrolls would be his foundation.

He put down his tools, and his gaze fixed on the Light Curtain Panel that appeared in his vision.

After half a year, the values displayed on the Light Curtain Panel had changed beyond recognition.

[Name: Chu Mu]

[Skill: Basic Blade Technique (Entering the Hall and the Room) 1589/2000]

[Body Refining Technique (896/1000)]

[Alchemy: Dragon and Snake Soup: Refined Skill (115/2000)]

[Spiritual Radiance Value: 280.3%]

"All that accumulation is finally paying off..."

Staring at the soaring numbers on the Light Curtain Panel and feeling the power in his body—which could only be described as terrifying—Chu Mu couldn’t help but sigh in admiration.

The reason for all of this came down to a single word: "Knowledge"!

If he hadn’t spent the past several months single-mindedly studying the art of understanding patients and remedies, it would have been impossible for him to leap to his current level in just over half a year.

More likely, if he were even still alive, he would probably be just as Elder Li had described: bitterly wasting his years, stagnating in his Qi and Blood Cultivation.

A single formula, the Dragon and Snake Soup, had completely altered the course of his Qi and Blood Cultivation.

Even after his Qi and Blood Cultivation’s Skill Level surpassed five hundred, the soup’s efficacy began to wane. By the time he neared a Skill Level of six hundred, its effects were almost nonexistent!

But thanks to his accumulated knowledge, it only took him a dozen or so days of research and experimentation to push the Dragon and Snake Soup’s Skill Level directly to the realm of Refined Skill, improving the formula once again.

Its potency returned, even stronger than before, and the express lane of his Qi and Blood Cultivation continued just as it had.

By now, he was a firm believer in Elder Li’s words.

’On the path of Cultivation, seeking the truth makes a world of difference.’

His own Qi and Blood Cultivation was clear proof of this.

He had gone from simply toiling away day after day with almost no results, to his current state of rapid advancement born from patient accumulation—a Cultivation Progress so fast that it sometimes startled even him.

His Cultivation Progress was too fast. It was so fast that he barely had time to adapt to the latest leap in his physical condition before it would improve again the very next day.

As of now, his Qi and Blood Cultivation was nearing Great Success. A casual blow was enough to easily shatter a huge rock. If his control over his Power was a bit more profound, he could pulverize it completely.

His body could easily withstand the force of such a massive blow.

His blood surged like a torrent, his bones were like steel. Being impervious to blades and spears was now a reality.

Ailments like the common cold or rheumatism could no longer take root in his body.

’Even with my current knowledge, I’m starting to find it difficult to understand my own body.’

’Am I even still human at this point?’

’Taking it a step further, have I become reproductively isolated from other humans?’

Chu Mu wasn’t sure, but he was certain of one thing: it was becoming physiologically difficult for him to be with an ordinary secular woman.

This point had been made very clear during his trips to the brothel in recent months.

He was even afraid he might accidentally kill one of them...

After realizing this, he, a former regular at the brothels, began to lead a more abstinent life.

’Abstinence can be a form of mental cultivation, but getting charged with manslaughter over something like this...’

Chu Mu really didn’t dare to imagine such a scene.

Dismissing the Light Curtain Panel, Chu Mu walked straight into his bedroom.

The furnishings in his new bedroom in Jingmen were not much different from his bedroom in Nanshan Town.

The only difference, perhaps, was that the bookshelves now held far more books than they had in Nanshan Town.

In a hub for merchants and travelers, the spread of information was naturally much faster than in the almost-isolated Nanshan Town.

After spending a great deal of silver coins, the number of books on his shelves grew day by day.

The collection was eclectic: geographical gazetteers, official and unofficial histories, medical and pharmaceutical texts, agricultural manuals, and various other books...

Chu Mu had gathered every book he could find for sale on the market.

’Whether they’re useful right now isn’t important. The most important thing is to read them, memorize them, and transform them into my own foundation of knowledge.’

’Just because I don’t need it now doesn’t mean I won’t need it later. And even if I don’t need it later, it could still provide the inspiration or a clue I need to solve some future problem.’

’The Immortal Path is a pursuit of truth.’

’And this ’truth,’ as I understand it, is an endless accumulation of knowledge.’

’Only a sufficient accumulation of knowledge can support the exploration of that truth.’

’It’s just like with my Dragon and Snake Soup.’

’My own foundation of knowledge determines the soup’s potency and the heights it can reach...’

...