Martial Arts: After ten years of sword-drawing, the Sword God must bow his head when he sees me

Chapter 168 One Catch
Neither Yaoyue nor Zhang Sanniang knew Shen Ping'an's thoughts.

But for women, their hearts are tied to what others desire and where they go.

Since Shen Ping'an wanted to go to the capital, the two women naturally wouldn't mind accompanying him to watch a show.

For Yaoyue and Zhang Sanniang, tonight is destined to be special.

What's unusual is that both women initially established relationships with Shen Ping'an tonight.

The feelings had already taken root in the hearts of the three of them, and all that was needed was time to nurture them to sprout and grow.

The next day, the sun rose.

After the servants took away the breakfast that Shen Ping'an and the others had eaten, more than a dozen members of the Azure Dragon Society, wearing masks, stood neatly outside the courtyard.

The leader was the same Qinglong Society member wearing the blood-patterned mask who was by the Green Water River yesterday.

"By order of the Great Dragon Head, I hereby present the consultation fee requested by Young Master Shen."

Shen Ping'an raised his eyes, glanced at the wooden boxes held by the Azure Dragon Society members, and nodded slightly, saying, "Come in!"

Upon hearing this, the Qinglong Society member wearing a blood-patterned mask gestured before leading the group into the courtyard.

As the man in the blood-patterned mask raised his hand in a gesture of invitation, the first member of the Azure Dragon Society stepped forward, placed the wooden box he was carrying on the table, and opened it.

Immediately, wisps of delicate herbal fragrance wafted out from the wooden box.

"The Great Dragon Head has decreed that every medicine must be personally inspected by Young Master Shen to determine its authenticity."

Upon hearing what the other person said, Shen Ping'an lowered his eyes and glanced into the wooden box.

After confirming the medicine was indeed safe by smelling it through his nose, Shen Ping'an nodded slightly in acknowledgment.

Seeing this, at the signal of the Azure Dragon Society member wearing the blood-patterned mask, the second Azure Dragon Society member stepped forward, placed the second wooden box on the table, and opened it.

After repeating this process until the wooden boxes on the table were all opened and the last medicinal herb had been inspected, Shen Ping'an nodded and said, "Everything is fine."

The Azure Dragon Society member wearing the blood-patterned mask bowed and led the group away.

As the group left, Yaoyue glanced at the medicinal herbs on the table before looking at Shen Ping'an.

"My Yihua Palace also has a lot of medicines collected over the years in its medicine storehouse. If you need them, you can come to my Yihua Palace to choose them when you have time."

Shen Ping'an nodded gently, a smile playing on his lips, and said, "Okay!"

Having made his confession last night, Shen Ping'an did not refuse Yaoyue's suggestion outright.

Seeing that Shen Ping'an agreed, Yaoyue's lips curled into a smile, and then she glanced at Zhang Sanniang beside her as if she had thought of something.

Don't make the provocation in your eyes too obvious.

Zhang San Niang opened her mouth to this, but in the end she could only frown and remain silent.

In the martial arts world, power shifts constantly.

When old sects perish, new ones inevitably rise.

The Hundred Slaughter Sect behind Zhang San Niang is a top-tier force that has risen to prominence in recent decades.

Moreover, although the Hundred Slaughter Sect behind Zhang San Niang is known as a top-tier power, it has not actually reported to the imperial court, nor has it recruited disciples extensively.

Currently, there are only a few dozen people in the entire Hundred Slaughter Sect, including her master, Fairy Hundred Slaughter.

Moreover, most of them were servants, not disciples.

In terms of historical and cultural heritage, it is naturally impossible to compare with the Yihua Palace, which has stood for hundreds of years.

Seeing Shen Ping'an smiling as he took out a brownish-red herb that resembled a miniature lotus flower from one of the wooden boxes, Zhang San Niang asked, "I wonder what this herb is?"

In response to Zhang San Niang's question, Shen Ping An said softly, "The Nine Lotus Heart Flower can only grow in poisonous soil containing toxins. Its roots and stems contain deadly poison. Even if a Celestial Realm expert accidentally ingests it, the toxins of the Nine Lotus Heart Flower will pierce through his lungs and heart, causing him to die."

Yaoyue glanced at Shen Ping'an and asked, "With your strength, do you still need to rely on external things like poison?"

After all, in Yaoyue's opinion, Shen Ping'an's strength was no weaker than Zhang Sanfeng's.

Looking across the entire Ming Dynasty and even the whole world, how many people can rival Shen Ping'an?

Why use poison anymore?
Shen Ping'an smiled and shook his head, saying, "Everything that Heaven creates must have its reasons. Whether it's martial arts or poison, they are just tools. Since they are tools, they are neither good nor bad; it's just a matter of whether they are needed or not."

At this point, Shen Ping'an paused slightly before continuing, "However, if it were only because of the poison of the Nine Lotus Heart Flower, I wouldn't have specifically asked Gongzi Yu and Bai Xiaosheng to collect it."

"Although the Nine Lotus Heart Flower grows in poisonous soil, it takes a hundred years for it to grow from germination to maturity."

"It is the toxins absorbed from the poisonous soil over the past century that make the Nine Lotus Heart Flower so toxic." "However, extremes meet. When the Nine Lotus Heart Flower is not mature, its roots, stems, leaves, and stamens all contain deadly poison."

"However, once mature, some special medicinal properties will be produced in its stamens and leaves."

"If its toxicity can be removed, it can be combined with other medicines to improve a martial artist's physical constitution."

Upon learning that the Nine Lotus Heart Flower could actually improve one's physical constitution, Zhang San Niang and Yao Yue, who had initially appeared indifferent, couldn't help but look at the Nine Lotus Heart Flower in Shen Ping An's hand again, their faces showing surprise.

After examining the Nine Lotus Heart Flower for a while, Yaoyue said, "Before, because of Lianxing's problem with her hands and feet, I also searched through all the medical books in the Yihua Palace and have some understanding of medicine, but I have never heard of the Nine Lotus Heart Flower being able to improve a martial artist's physical constitution."

Shen Ping'an smiled but remained silent.

There are countless medicines in the world.

But how many people can truly be familiar with the properties of various drugs?

If Shen Ping'an hadn't possessed masterful medical skills, even if he had obtained the Nine Lotus Heart Flower, he would have only considered it a special kind of poison.

The importance of improving one's physical constitution to Shen Ping'an is self-evident.

Therefore, even Shen Ping'an couldn't sit still after receiving such a good thing.

After having Qu Feiyan and Shen Qingshan help carry the medicines into the room, they also asked the Qinglong Society members in the house to purchase some tools for refining medicines.

After closing the door, Shen Ping'an began to process the medicines he had just obtained.

Before long, wisps of medicinal fragrance began to waft out of the room.

The aroma of medicine emanating from the room was irresistible to Qu Feiyan and Shen Qingshan.

Even Yaoyue, Lianxing, and Zhang Sanniang would occasionally look up into the room.

It wasn't until early afternoon, around 3 PM, that the previously tightly closed door slowly opened.

Seeing Shen Ping'an walk out of the house with a medicine packet in his hand, Lianxing couldn't help but ask, "You've already prepared the medicine so quickly?"

Alchemy is no simple matter. Lianxing had seen the physicians in Yihua Palace refine pills, and it took them an extremely long time.

It often takes several months.

Some troublesome medications may even take years to develop.

Shen Ping'an said softly, "It can't be called refining, it's just processing, removing some of the toxins and extracting the medicinal properties."

Shen Pingan said it lightly.

In fact, preparing medicines like Nine Lotus Heart Flower is by no means an easy task.

If it were any other doctor, it would take at least several months to prepare such a special medicine as Nine Lotus Heart Flower.

Only those with masterful medical skills and a thorough understanding of the properties of various medicines can prepare these medicines in just a few hours.

After having Qu Feiyan bring over a pot of wine that Shen Ping'an had brewed earlier and pour it into a large bowl, Shen Ping'an opened the medicine packet in his hand.

Only then did they realize that there were actually more than a dozen other small medicine packets inside the medicine packet.

As each medicine packet was opened, Shen Ping'an casually picked up a brown powder from one of the packets.

The seemingly casual movement was actually exactly one qian (a unit of weight).

This is also one of the abilities that Shen Ping'an gained naturally after his medical skills reached the Saint-level.

In the medical community, this is known as "one-shot accuracy".

It refers to being able to grab the appropriate amount of medicine according to one's needs with a simple grab.

For a skilled physician, the eyes are the "ruler," and the heart is the "scale."

This refers not only to describing the diagnosis, but also to the physician's control over medication.

It can be said that they have reached an outrageous level of control over the dosage of the drugs.

Even in pharmacies, those veteran pharmacists who have spent their entire lives dispensing medicine may not be able to master the skill of dispensing it accurately every time.

As Shen Ping'an sprinkled the medicinal powder into the clear wine, the originally calm and clear wine immediately turned brownish-red.

When Shen Ping'an sprinkled the second type of powder into the wine, the wine, which had just turned brownish-red, immediately turned dark blue.

(End of this chapter)