Holding this copy of the Dragon Profound Three Revolutions Divine Art, Shu Han could not help but feel joy spread across his face.
The Second Elder looked at the irrepressible delight on this child’s face and thought, it is just a Five-Element Spirit Root, let him be happy.
Then he tossed another pill to Shu Han, saying, “This is a Qi-Fusing Pill refined by your master, which aids in Qi Condensation. Take it and go play somewhere. Do not let cultivation delay your duties!”
This made Shu Han even more ecstatic.
He recognized this as the very pill just bestowed upon Senior Brother Liheng. Senior Brother Liheng’s ecstatic expression had already demonstrated the pill’s value.
However, with his Five-Element Spirit Root talent, a single Qi-Fusing Pill would undoubtedly be like a drop in the bucket for him.
Yet he possessed the mysterious black jar!
With this single pill, it was as though he had thousands upon thousands of them!
Later experiments dealt a harsh blow to Shu Han’s naive expectations.
After memorizing the various miscellaneous tasks assigned by his master, Shu Han was led to a small wooden hut in the valley. It sat relatively close to the medicine field, making it convenient for Shu Han to rise at any time during the night to water and fertilize the spiritual herbs.
Afterward, his master departed with his wine jar, leaving Shu Han alone in the wooden hut.
Seeing his master walk far away, Shu Han barely managed to suppress the urge to immediately cultivate the Dragon Profound Three Revolutions Divine Art and replicate the Qi-Fusing Pill. Instead, he first began turning the pages of the herb manual his master had given him.
He understood very well in his heart that matters of cultivation could wait for another day.
Moreover, he still could not fathom this master’s temperament and dared not act rashly under his watchful eye. He simply set aside all distracting thoughts and concentrated fully on memorizing every instruction he had been given.
Although Shu Han was only nine years old, he already recognized a fair number of characters.
Every village under the jurisdiction of the Dragon Profound Sect would invite a scholar to teach the children to read.
Shu Han’s large head was not for nothing; he frequently won praise from the teacher, who declared that Shu Han possessed the talent to place high on the imperial examination lists.
And after awakening his spirit roots, Shu Han felt his mind had become even sharper.
Day and night, he committed the herb manual to memory. Within three days, Shu Han could recite it backward and forward.
This truly astonished the Second Elder. He posed over a dozen tricky questions, all of which Shu Han answered in a clear, orderly fashion.
The fierce old man rarely wore a gentle smile, patting Shu Han’s head as he said with a chuckle, “It seems you, child, possess a decent talent after all. Come, let your master test your Spiritual Nature.”
Shu Han was puzzled. “Master, weren’t my spirit roots already tested? They are useless Five-Element Spirit Roots.”
The Second Elder shook his head. “Spiritual nature differs from spirit roots. Spiritual nature is the quality of a person’s Spiritual Thought and soul. Enough talk, swallow this Mind-Linking Pill of mine, open your eyes wide, and do not blink.”
Squinting at Shu Han’s face, the Second Elder watched his wide-open eyes intently, actually catching wisps of divine light flickering within the pupils. This filled him with boundless joy, and clicking his tongue in admiration, he exclaimed, “You child have abysmal spirit roots, but your Spiritual Nature runs deep. After all this time, I have finally waited for a suitable person. Little Shu Han, are you willing to become my true disciple?”
This question stopped Shu Han short. He asked in confusion, “Master, am I not already your disciple?”
“No, no, no!”
The Second Elder shook his head firmly. “You are merely my nominal disciple within the Dragon Profound Sect. If I were to leave the sect, no master-disciple bond would remain between us! Now, I want you to become my true disciple and inherit my entire mastery of medicine refining and artifact crafting. Are you willing?”
Medicine refining and artifact crafting!
Slow-witted as Shu Han might sometimes be, he understood how monumental this was!
He immediately dropped to his knees. “Disciple Shu Han kowtows to Master! I am willing to follow Master and learn the arts of medicine refining and artifact crafting!”
“Good! Good! Good!”
Three approvals in quick succession showed the Second Elder’s immense satisfaction. “Your master is not actually a member of the Dragon Profound Sect. Years ago, Daoist Dragon Profound extended a favor to me, so I agreed to serve as a Guest Elder for him, helping the Dragon Profound Sect refine pills while ignoring all other affairs. Since you have become my true disciple, you are effectively detached from the Dragon Profound Sect.
“Though your spirit roots are extremely poor, once you master my arts of medicine refining and artifact crafting, the Dragon Profound Sect will still honor you as a Guest Elder.”
Then he muttered thoughtfully, “As for your cultivation technique, you shall continue practicing the Dragon Profound Three Revolutions Divine Art. After all, you could never reach the twelfth layer anyway. Within the Qi Condensation stage, this technique remains quite marvelous.”
Three books slipped from his sleeve.
“Introduction to Pharmacology”
“Fundamentals of Talismans”
“Hundred Explanations of Magical Artifacts”
The Second Elder instructed, “Take these three books and study them thoroughly! Your master gives you three years to master them completely. If you encounter difficulties, you may come to me with questions at any time. In the following three years, you shall observe your master refining medicine and crafting artifacts, after which I will personally teach you the methods.”
Shu Han held the three books and kowtowed in gratitude, though inwardly he thought little of the challenge.
In his youth, he figured they were merely three books-why should they require three years of bitter study?
Yet upon returning to the wooden hut and opening “Introduction to Pharmacology”, the dense, intricate knowledge within caused his head to spin.
A single page alone required days of painstaking contemplation to grasp.
Yet the more difficult the problem, the more delightful the flash of sudden understanding upon solving it.
Gradually, Shu Han grew fond of this process of harboring doubts and unraveling them.
Half a month flashed by.
Throughout these two weeks, alongside his studies, he began practicing the Dragon Profound Three Revolutions Divine Art. This chapter was taken from g.com without permission.
This divine art gave Shu Han a peculiar sensation.
Every time he completed a great circulation cycle, the minute energy absorbed into his body would inexplicably shrink to one-third of its original volume.
Given that his Five-Element Spirit Roots already absorbed Spiritual Qi in meager amounts, shrinking that intake further meant that even after several great circulation cycles, he could barely accumulate the faintest trace of Spiritual Power.
The Second Elder had previously explained this to him.
The essence of the Dragon Profound Three Revolutions Divine Art lay precisely in those three revolutions!
The Spiritual Qi absorbed through the technique underwent three successive cycles of compression, forming far more condensed Spiritual Power.
In terms of efficacy, this was undoubtedly superb-condensed Spiritual Power vastly increased the might of techniques.
Yet in terms of speed, the Dragon Profound Three Revolutions was nothing short of a disaster.
He had joked that for someone like Shu Han with Five-Element Spirit Roots, reaching the twelfth layer through the Dragon Profound Three Revolutions Divine Art would take at least three hundred years!
During this period, aside from cultivation and study, Shu Han also monitored his master’s daily habits.
He observed that his master’s life was exceedingly simple, consisting mostly of refining pills and drinking wine. If Shu Han did not seek him out, his master never came looking for him.
Consequently, driven by the pressure of slow cultivation progress under the Dragon Profound Three Revolutions Divine Art,
Shu Han finally turned his thoughts toward the black jar.
Late one night, he quietly dug the black jar up from the earth and dropped the Qi-Fusing Pill he had been reluctant to consume into it. He initially expected the pill to rapidly multiply, but after waiting for a long time, the jar still contained only a single, lonely Qi-Fusing Pill.
This development stunned Shu Han.
Had the black jar lost its efficacy?
Reluctant to give up, he tossed a stalk of Fufang Grass inside.
Soon enough, he retrieved a jar full of Fufang Grass, yet the Qi-Fusing Pill remained stubbornly singular!
The black jar had not failed; why, then, had it refused to replicate the Qi-Fusing Pill?
Shu Han subsequently tested a pile of various items and finally arrived at a conclusion.
The black jar could only replicate natural objects; any man-made items were incapable of being duplicated.