Chen Sanshi thought for a moment.
Since even the residue dug out from a human's stomach after swallowing those pills still carried such strong medicinal power, then if he burned it into ash at high temperature, it should have some effect too, right?
With that idea, he picked up a small handful of spiritual grain, mixed it with some pine needles for kindling, and smeared a tiny bit of lamp oil on top.
He didn't dare get too close.
Holding a burning stick from afar, Chen Sanshi carefully reached toward the lamp oil.
"Boom—!"
Scarlet flames roared to life.
In an instant, the spiritual grain and pine needles were reduced to ash.
Chen Sanshi waited until the fire went out, then cautiously collected the ashes.
"I'll need a live subject for this test."
After tidying up the house, he quietly climbed over the wall and headed straight toward Second Mountain.
It took him quite some effort to catch a rabbit alive without injuring it.
"Here, eat this!"
Chen Sanshi pried open the rabbit's mouth and poured a small bit of ash inside.
The next second—
The rabbit went completely wild, thrashing about as if injected with chicken blood. Its strength even increased noticeably.
But it didn't last long. Soon, it went limp like a deflated bladder and died on the spot.
Chen Sanshi examined the corpse closely. There were no signs of blackened veins on the surface, but under the fur, the skin was hot and red, as if the blood beneath was about to burst out. It looked like internal bleeding caused by excessive medicinal power.
"It's too weak. Couldn't handle the medicine?"
"Then I'll have to try something bigger."
He searched the forest again.
Not long after, he found a patch of jungle where leopards often prowled.
A leopard lunged at him the moment it saw him, but Chen Sanshi swung his reed-leaf spear and smashed its head with the shaft, stunning it instantly.
With his tempering bone strength, subduing a beast like this was effortless.
He pried open its jaws with the spear tip and poured in the ash. "Eat!"
"Roar!!!"
Just like the rabbit, the leopard went berserk the moment it swallowed the ash. Its body trembled violently, and after about five minutes, the frenzy faded.
It didn't die immediately, but lay flat on the ground, bleeding from the mouth—clearly wouldn't last long.
"It did last longer than the rabbit."
"But there's still internal bleeding."
"If I combine it with cultivation techniques, could the medicinal power be stabilized?"
"Seems like animals won't work. I'll need a human test subject."
A flash of cold light glimmered in Chen Sanshi's eyes.
"You lot can use commoners for experiments, but I can't use you?"
From what he'd overheard of Liang Zhan's conversation, none of the four martial halls were innocent.
Judging from how the rabbit and leopard reacted, it wasn't immediately uncontrollable. Capturing a low-ranked disciple to test it on shouldn't be a problem.
And Second Mountain had plenty of medicine gardens.
Even if the halls didn't dare capture civilians anymore, they'd still need disciples to guard those gardens.
Chen Sanshi moved like a ghost through the forest.
After staking out for two hours, he successfully caught a disciple from Zhao's Martial Hall who had mastered tempering blood. Dragging the man to a hidden cave, he didn't even need to torture him—the disciple confessed everything right away.
"Eat."
Forcing him to swallow a small amount of ash, Chen Sanshi told him to cultivate his sect's technique.
Standing some distance away, Chen Sanshi watched with bow in hand.
Sure enough.
Not only did the disciple survive, his punches grew fierce and sharp—the medicine was clearly working.
"Looks like my guess was right."
Once the test was done, Chen Sanshi loosed an arrow, killing him instantly and ending the experiment.
"If someone at tempering blood can handle it, then I'll be fine too."
Following his cautious nature, he pinched up the tiniest bit of ash and scattered it into his mouth.
The instant it touched his tongue, an indescribable sensation spread from his mouth throughout his whole body.
This feeling was unlike beast hearts or any medicine he'd taken before.
After swallowing, it didn't pass through his organs for digestion—it automatically transformed into a strange kind of "qi" that merged into his body. It didn't just flow through his blood; most of it gathered within another mysterious "system" altogether.
'This is… meridians?'
Tendons and meridians were two completely different concepts.
Tendons were organs—things you could actually see if you cut open flesh and blood.
But meridians were something mysterious.
They were neither blood vessels nor tendons but another hidden "system" within the human body.
Chen Sanshi didn't know much about them.
He only knew that traditional medicine had studied the topic.
For martial artists, this concept didn't matter much until the tempering organs stage.
'What's going on?'
After swallowing the spiritual grain, it directly affected the meridians.
If someone wasn't a martial cultivator, their body simply couldn't handle it. No wonder the small animals had died instantly.
Even martial artists had limits to how much they could endure—the energy had to be used up quickly.
Chen Sanshi immediately began practicing his spear technique inside the cave.
He soon realized the spiritual grain gave an unbelievably strong boost to training.
Every time he completed a set of spear moves, his proficiency rose drastically—far beyond what medicinal baths could ever achieve.
[Technique: Undying Golden Serpent Spear (Upper Scroll) (Beginner)]
[Progress: 88/500]
[Effect: Blood of the Dragon and Elephant; Nine Dragons Temper the Tendons]
One afternoon's progress equaled several days of training before.
Moreover, the spiritual grain also healed injuries.
As that strange "qi" flowed through his body, it repaired damaged flesh.
'No wonder the old master of Tailei Martial Hall didn't die back then.'
But it still contained poison.
That "qi" intertwined with the toxins, clinging inside the meridians. Only by exhausting the "qi" completely could the poison be purged.
However, the metabolism of meridian toxins was extremely slow.
Unlike ordinary tonics, you couldn't just burn it off by frenzied training.
Chen Sanshi suspected this was because his cultivation realm was still too low—his techniques hadn't yet involved meridian work.
In short, simply training against thin air wasn't enough. His body absorbed only a tiny fraction of the spiritual grain's energy.
If he took too much, letting the "qi" linger inside too long, the toxins in his meridians would definitely cause irreversible damage.
"If I had a sparring partner, maybe it'd work better."
"Actual combat would be even more effective."
He remembered his fight with Song Wu—how his blood had surged to the limit when he went all out.
If he could maintain that state, his absorption rate would skyrocket.
"Too bad there aren't many real combat opportunities."
"Forget it. I'll take it slow."
"The current effect is already incredible!"
After mastering the proper way to use spiritual grain, Chen Sanshi's confidence soared.
At his previous pace, he would've reached mastery in tempering bone at best by spring.
But now, there was a high chance he could reach the tempering organs stage!
Four months—he could achieve what others spent decades on.
Even he found it hard to believe.
What took Xiang Tingchun half a lifetime to reach, he might accomplish in just four months—and he was cultivating with a superior breathing method.
A true immortal treasure indeed!
"But honestly, I'm still just a wild learner."
Chen Sanshi guessed that the complete "immortal treasure" was actually an entire alchemy apparatus.
It should include the recipe, a container that could withstand high temperatures, and—most importantly—the lamp oil that could burn into red flame!
Then he thought about the current emperor's obsession with Daoist cultivation…
'Damn it. If all these parts come together, wouldn't that mean you could refine the legendary immortal pills?!'
No wonder the old emperor sent people here.
He must've caught wind of something.
Chen Sanshi suddenly realized how serious this was.
If anyone found out about this, no number of lives would be enough to save him.
'Wait, no. What does this have to do with me?'
'The immortal treasure is in Xiang Tingchun's hands!'
That man had announced it himself, loud enough for all four martial halls to hear.
'Good. Perfect. As long as I'm careful, no one will trace it to me.'
After disposing of the martial hall disciple's corpse, Chen Sanshi descended the mountain and returned home.
These days, he'd been running between the mountains constantly, honing his skills nonstop.
[Technique: Tracking and Hiding (Minor Achievement)]
[Progress: 405/1000]
That night, after dinner, he took out the medical books he'd obtained from Medicine Valley.
There were several volumes—ranging from basic theory to treatment of various illnesses and collections of prescriptions, including tonics and medicinal baths for martial cultivators.
Simply reading them raised only his reading proficiency.
[Skill: Reading (Minor Achievement)]
[Progress: 395/800]
"Looks like I've got another trade to learn."
Although the spiritual grain was powerful, the meridian toxins cleared slowly, so he couldn't skip the regular tonics and medicinal baths.
Luckily, the garrison had a medical officer. It would just take time and study.
Speaking of time—
Tomorrow would mark the end of the new recruits' assessment period.
He wondered how many among those one hundred men would turn out to be truly useful.