The Medicine God’s Divine Hands
Chapter 69: The Medicine God's Divine Hands
[A few months ago]
After separating from the Hu Sisters, Su Mu made his way towards the inner parts of this isolated place, using his Divine Sense to scout the area around him.
Since no cultivator within this isolated place was in the Immortal Ascension Realm, Su Mu was the only one capable of using Divine Sense to monitor his surroundings, which made navigating through this place incredibly simple.
"Hmm." Standing in front of a dying 5th Order Monster Beast, Su Mu watched as it slowly turned into a Blood Bead, leaving behind a pile of dust and withered bones. He picked up the Blood Bead to examine it, and after a few seconds, he commented. "It's as I thought. Only half of the Monster Beast's vitality and Qi refined into a Blood Bead; for the other half..."
A Cultivator's Divine Sense could see things that the eye couldn't, depending on their strength; naturally, the process of a Blood Bead's refinement was no exception.
And thanks to his Divine Sense, Su Mu noticed that only about half of the 5th Order Monster Beast's vitality and Qi condensed into the Blood Bead, while the other half was, as far as he could tell, absorbed by the ground underneath his feet.
But this wasn't something a True Element Cultivator would notice, with Su Mu being the sole exception because of his awakened Divine Sense.
And after closely examining the situation for a few minutes, Su Mu concluded that there was nothing underground, and that the energy was being directed towards the centre of this isolated place.
"If it can only do this much, this Natural Array won't even be remotely comparable to the Heaven Devouring Battle Law and the Medicine God's Divine Hands."
The Medicine God's Divine Hands was the Secret Art Su Mu had given to Xia Ning Chang, only leaving a single part out—a Secret Art that could only be cultivated by those who possessed the Sacred Spirit Medicine Body and something that he had obtained before the death of the alchemist who had that Special Physique during his time.
The Sacred Spirit Medicine Body was an extremely rare and heaven-defying Special Physique designed for Alchemy. It was said that once the possessor of this special physique practised to a certain degree, they would gain the ability to transform anything with energy into a pill, and that was the exact principle used in the creation of the Medicine God's Divine Hands, one of the best and most evil Secret Arts Su Mu had encountered in his lifetime.
Medicine God's Divine Hands focused on maximising the potential of the Sacred Spirit Medicine Body, allowing the possessor to outperform even those who had inherited the same Special Physique before them, but there was one thing that made it be regarded as one of the most hated Secret Arts within the Outer Universe, similar to the Heaven Devouring Battle Law, and that was the part Su Mu never gave to Xia Ning Chang, keeping it to himself.
The Sacred Spirit Medicine Body could refine anything with energy into pills, but those effects only applied to things that could be used in the Dao of Alchemy.
However, using the Medicine God's Divine Hands, those effects could be extended to other things as well—from Cultivators and Divine Spirits to even Universe Worlds.
These results were, in a sense, similar to the Heaven Devouring Battle Law, but both of these Secret Arts had their benefits.
The Medicine God's Divine Hands could only be practised by the possessor of the Sacred Spirit Medicine Body, but it could be used without any sickening side effects and benefit people other than the practitioner by giving them the refined pills, while the Heaven Devouring Law had sickening side effects but absorbed both a Cultivator's cultivation and their accomplishments in Martial Dao, something that the Medicine God's Divine Hands couldn't do, as it only refined their Vitality, Qi, and Divine Soul Strength into a pill.
The previous practitioner of the Medicine God's Divine Hands was like that, refining cultivators and selling them as pills at unimaginably high prices while keeping himself well hidden, but alas, he had the nerve to kill a few Dragons, refining them as pills and trying to sell them to other Dragons, including their Divine Spirit Sources, which was what marked his death.
The practitioner, along with his entire Sect and Bloodline, was later executed by the Dragon Emperor, making it impossible for Su Mu to see the Medicine God's Divine Hands break the 2 Rank Restriction with his own eyes, which was a shame, honestly.
Currently, all the knowledge regarding the Medicine God's Divine Hands was lost, with Su Mu being the only person to even be aware of its existence, along with having the complete Secret Art.
In a sense, both Secret Arts were unparalleled when it came to raising a cultivator's cultivation through unorthodox methods, even allowing them to bypass the 2 Rank Restriction of the Open Heaven Realm, although practising them was equivalent to making an enemy out of the whole world.
But for someone like Su Mu, who already had enough accomplishments in Martial Dao, the Medicine God's Divine Hands was a better option than the Heaven Devouring Battle Law, especially when coupled with his already existing Harem God's Cultivation Scripture, and that was the reason why he wanted the Sacred Spirit Medicine Body.
There was simply no way that a kind person like Xia Ning Chang would have the heart to cultivate the full version of the Medicine God's Divine Hands, and Su Mu had no intentions of forcing her to do something she didn't wish to, so the best course of action was to also gain the Sacred Spirit Medicine Body.
While he couldn't fully practise the Medicine God's Divine Hands thanks to the Harem God's Cultivation Scripture, which forbade him from practising any other Secret Arts, he could still use a part of it to transform cultivators into Spirit Pills because he didn't need it to bypass the 2 Rank Restriction of the Open Heaven Realm since that was something his main Secret Art was capable of.
For him, the only purpose Medicine God's Divine Hands had was to assist his already existing Harem God's Cultivation Scripture, making the results even better.
"Well, there's no point in thinking about that." While absorbing the Blood Bead that was in his hand, Su Mu walked toward the place where the Monster Beast's remaining vitality and Monster Qi, which was not condensed into the Blood Bead, went.
It wasn't like he could get the Sacred Spirit Medicine Body anytime soon, because even if he were to cultivate with Xia Ning Chang, it'd take a good amount of time for his normal physique to evolve into the Sacred Spirit Medicine Body, so thinking about that nos wouldn't do much good, and he pushed those thoughts to the back of his head, deciding to focus on the things that were currently happening around him.
---
"That is... A Python Snake?"
After travelling for a while, Su Mu reached the very centre of this isolated place that was being protected by the Natural Array, creating a zone that a cultivator who hadn't awakened his Divine Sense could never reach, and his eyes widened slightly.
At the centre of this Natural Array, there was a Monster Beast peacefully sleeping, quietly absorbing the leftover energy of the hundreds of Monster Beasts and cultivators that died inside the isolated place.
It was a Python Snake, a 2nd Order Monster Beast comparable to an Initial Element Realm Cultivator, but there was something strange about it.
The Python Snake that was a few thousand metres away from Su Mu was more than three hundred metres long and three metres wide, a size that was simply atrocious for a 2nd Order Monster Beast.
"A Snake Python that reached the level of a 7th Order Monster Beast, huh? That's certainly interesting." Watching that, a small smile appeared on Su Mu's face.
A 2nd Order Python Snake, one of the weakest and most vulnerable Monster Beasts, evolving into a 7th Order Monster Beast comparable to a Transcendent Realm Cultivator, especially in an isolated place like this—who would've thought something like this could happen?
As far as Su Mu was aware, this 7th Order Python Snake was most likely the second-strongest creature in this whole small world, only being surpassed by Meng Wuya, a Peak 3rd Order Saint Realm Cultivator.
But even then, there was something strange about this Python Snake, as Su Mu could detect no traces of it being conscious even after observing it for a very long time, and when he was sure that the Monster Beast wasn't trying to deceive those who approached it, he decided to take a closer look.
The Python Snake had more than enough strength to kill Su Mu with a single attack, but the latter had made sure that the Monster Beast was indeed unconscious, so he wasn't worried about being attacked.
"Let's see." Placing his hand on the Python Snake's head, Su Mu started guiding his Divine Sense through the Monster Beast's body, and after a few seconds, he nodded to himself. "Even if it was forcefully evolved into a 7th Order Monster Beast, it was originally a 2nd Order Python Snake, so it makes sense why his consciousness shattered a long time ago."
In reality, the Monster Beast had long since died, with only its body alive and growing by constantly absorbing the energy provided by the Natural Array.
"But this is good for me." Su Mu couldn't help but smile after examining the Monster Beast's Core. "The Python Snake's Core has adapted to constant evolution and increase in strength, so it's the perfect material to refine a growth-type artifact."
Monster Beast cores were a very well-used material in both the Dao of Artifact Refining and the Dao of Alchemy, being highly valued depending on which Monster Beast they belonged to, but Su Mu had never imagined that he'd encounter something like this in this small world.
It was the perfect material for the Asura Sword's refinement into a growth-type artifact, and that was without mentioning the Blood Bead condensed from a Peak 7th Order Monster Beast.
"Let's rearrange this Natural Array a bit."
From what he had previously observed, the Natural Array surrounding this isolated place wasn't good enough to condense a Blood Bead from anyone above the 3rd Stage Immortal Ascension Realm, which was one of the main reasons Su Mu considered it to be useless.
But that didn't mean he couldn't improve it a little bit, allowing it to condense a Peak 7th Order Monster Beast into a Blood Bead, because although it'd take a week, the results would be worth it.
---
After he had modified the Natural Array that surrounded this entire isolated place, even then, Su Mu left the central zone, leaving the Python Snake to slowly be condensed into a Blood Bead after killing it.
Even after it was improved to its absolute limits, the Natural Array still required a long time to condense a Blood Bead from the Snake Python, and since Su Mu had nothing better to do, he decided to explore the other regions within this isolated place, only returning to this place after four months had passed.
During these four months, Su Mu managed to collect a considerable amount of Soul Cleansing Dew, something that would be very useful to him.
"It should be done by now."
Appearing inside the central region of the isolated place, Su Mu glanced at the place the Python Snake was previously at, and sure enough, the process of the Blood Bead's refinement was almost done.
Unlike normal Blood Beads, however, this one was condensed with the entirety of the Python Snake's energy, not wasting anything, but before Su Mu could move ahead to collect it, Su Yan's voice rang inside his head.
{Su Mu. Can you hear me?}
"Hm...? Did something happen?"
Although Su Yan's voice sounded neutral like always, Su Mu could tell that she was worried about something, and that made him wonder if something had happened back at the High Heaven Pavilion.
He was sure that Su Yan was alright because if anything were to happen to his partners, with the Harem God's Cultivation Scripture, he would be able to sense it.
{The High Heaven Pavilion was attacked by the Sect Master's Second Disciple.} Su Yan explained, causing Su Mu to raise an eyebrow.
Naturally, Su Mu had heard the story about Ling Tai Xu's second disciple falling into the Devil Path.
The disciple was later crippled and imprisoned by Ling Tai Xu inside the Coiling Dragon Stream of the High Heaven Pavilion, and Su Mu had never paid much attention to this detail.
"What exactly happened?"
{The disciple had somehow managed to escape from the Coiling Dragon Stream, increasing his cultivation to a level where he was able to overpower the Sect Master, along with all of the Sect Elders. Fourth Elder Zhou Fei was killed on the spot, and all the other elders were wounded too, causing the fall of countless disciples.}
Su Yan explained everything that had happened in detail, causing Su Mu to frown.
"... According to Old Man Meng, what was the attacker's cultivation base?"
{Although Treasurer Meng said he had no idea how he achieved such an accomplishment, the second disciple's cultivation was a 3rd Order Transcendent Realm Cultivator, and that was why he didn't allow me to return to the High Heaven Pavilion before Sect Master's disciple left.}
"No wonder Meng Wuya didn't intervene." Su Mu nodded, understanding what the old man was thinking.
Even after unlocking the first seal placed on his cultivation, Meng Wuya's current cultivation base was at the 2nd Order Transcendent Realm, so showing himself on the battlefield would've been stupid, especially when his only priority was the safety of Xia Ning Chang.
"A lot happened while I was gone, huh?" Su Mu commented with a small smile, curious about how this whole situation would unfold.
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A/N:
Me raising Xia Ning Chang's stocks xD.
That sums up Su Mu's journey through the isolated world... Couldn't get into any more details as it'd be useless, but skipping it entirely would've been odd since I needed to explain the Medicine God's Divine Hands before the next arc, so it's basically an info dump chapter.