Chapter 5

Our Discord Server: https://discord.gg/PazjBDkTmW

Chapter 5: Talisman for Curing the Illness

"Hubby, is it really only half?"

Shuzhu stopped her work and asked, her voice trembling slightly.

"…"

Yang Shu’s face looked somewhat pale. He cleared his throat and after a long pause, he said, "The medicine was taken by the soldiers. There’s nothing we can do; after all, with the threat of demons, the safety of our defenses must come first."

As he spoke, Yang Shu took out the half talisman from his pocket.

It was a piece of dark green paper, black as the base and green as the pattern, with something drawn on it.

But since it was torn in half, it was hard to see what it depicted.

"Dad, Mom, what is this?"

Yun Ye suddenly sat up and asked.

"Little Shi! This is the talisman from Baishi Town; it has the power to cure diseases and drive away evil. Your illness depends on it!"

Shuzhu took the talisman from Yang Shu’s hand, smiling as she sat beside Yun Ye to explain.

According to her, this talisman was made by the talisman master of Baishi Town and infused with healing spirit energy.

Once activated, it could automatically cure diseases and save people.

This kind of talisman wasn’t particularly difficult to make, but because there were few talisman masters in Baishi Town, the price had always been high.

A complete talisman for curing illness originally sold for four hundred pieces of dark copper, which commoners could barely afford with some sacrifice.

However, due to the current epidemic, the talisman masters had directly raised the price to twelve hundred pieces of dark copper.

Because of this, Yang Shu had to give up all their belongings just to exchange for half a talisman.

Fortunately, a talisman could be torn in half, but if it were another type of talisman, half wouldn’t be worth anything at all.

After explaining all this, Shuzhu, feeling a bit reluctant, went to place the talisman on Yun Ye’s forehead.

Yun Ye had already made up his mind, so he stopped her in advance, snatching the talisman and pretending to be curious as he examined it. “Mom, how do you use this? Do you just stick it on your face?”

"Yes, hurry and stick it on! If you wait any longer, the spirit energy will be gone! Stick it on your forehead; that will work best!" Shuzhu urged.

Stick it on the forehead for the best effect?

Why?

Could it be because of the source of the disease?

Yun Ye pondered for a moment. With his knowledge, he thought about his illness and concluded that it should be most related to the respiratory system.

The illness he caught was likely a cold, a disease that spreads through the respiratory system.

Although past knowledge might not apply in this different world, the respiratory system certainly seemed more relevant than the head.

With that thought, Yun Ye suddenly reached out and pressed the talisman against Shuzhu’s chest.

"Wait…"

Shuzhu instinctively reached to stop him when she saw this, but Yun Ye acted so suddenly that it was beyond her reaction.

The dark green talisman was pressed firmly against her chest, and then the seemingly ordinary talisman suddenly glowed. Blue energy burst forth from the talisman and rushed into Shuzhu’s chest.

A lightness suddenly flowed through Shuzhu’s entire body, and she could clearly feel her illness disappearing rapidly.

She froze for a moment, then suddenly embraced Yun Ye and burst into tears, "No… no, you should be the one to be cured! Mom is fine; I can get through this! Wuu wuu wuu…"

Yang Shu, seeing this scene, had redness in his eyes.

He didn’t know whether to laugh or cry. "Good boy, you have your father’s spirit, and you even care about your mom! Good, good! To hell with Baishi Town; I won’t rely on those greedy folks anymore… You hold on, and I promise I will come back! With such a big mountain, how could I not find the medicine that can save you?"

Yang Shu felt inspired.

He rushed out of the house to find medicine in the mountains.

As a hunter, aside from hunting wild game, his primary source of income came from medicinal herbs.

Over the years, he had sold many herbs, which should be enough to treat both Shuzhu and Yun Ye’s illnesses.

However, the money he received today wouldn’t even be enough to treat one person without luck…

Reality was just so harsh. Yang Shu could only hope to find good medicine again and truly bring out the value of those herbs.

Yun Ye was nearly out of breath from Shuzhu’s embrace, and he quickly called out several times, which finally helped her calm down.

To survive, Yun Ye couldn’t just do nothing; however, his willpower was indeed weak. Plus, with his mother by his side in this life, he let Shuzhu help him drink hot soup while he lay in bed, forcing himself to endure.

Time passed with him continuously drinking hot soup and drifting in and out of consciousness.

The soup contained things like ginger to drive away the cold, but its effect was minimal. If he had drunk it sooner, it might have prevented the illness, but now it was not much use, just easing Yun Ye’s suffering a little.

One day.

Two days.

Outside, the howling wind had stopped at some point.

Finally, Yang Shu returned, rushing into the house with medicinal herbs. "Quick, hurry and prepare the medicine!"

Though he hadn’t found any spiritual herbs in these past days, he had gathered a fair amount of ordinary herbs that could take effect to some extent.

Especially a ten-year-old Blood Sun Flower, which had strong life-saving properties and could enhance the vitality of martial artists when consumed.

This herb might help Yun Ye get through this crisis.

"Alright, alright! I’ll go prepare the medicine right away!"

Shuzhu responded repeatedly, her joy evident.

While waiting for the medicine to brew,

a bowl of blood-red herbal soup was ready. Yun Ye, in his dazed state, drank this soup sip by sip.

With each sip, he felt his body become lighter, and his illness seemed to ease.

After finishing the entire bowl of herbal soup, Yun Ye lay down again, and the pain was not as severe; he fell into a much more peaceful sleep.

This relieved the couple, as they understood that they had finally passed this hurdle.

"Eh… what is this?"

After Yang Shu had relaxed, the fatigue from several sleepless days of searching for medicine burst forth. Just as he was about to sit down to rest, he suddenly noticed a flash of fiery patterns on Yun Ye’s forehead.

At first, he thought he was mistaken, but after staring at Yun Ye for several minutes, another fiery pattern clearly passed by, fleetingly.

“Spiritual Roots!”

Yang Shu exclaimed with uncontrollable joy!

He was overwhelmed with excitement and tightly grasped Shuzhu’s hand, repeating, "Spiritual Roots! It’s actually Spiritual Roots!"

"Spiritual Roots? Hubby, does Little Shi have Spiritual Roots?" Shuzhu also began to feel delighted.

In this world,

the revival of Spiritual Roots truly marked one as a person of high status.

Only with the revival of Spiritual Roots could one be identified as having Spiritual Roots; otherwise, even if one had the talent, it would be meaningless if it couldn’t be awakened.

Yang Shu was excited purely because he saw hope for Yun Ye awakening his Spiritual Roots!

At just five years old, he unknowingly exhibited the markings of Spiritual Roots, and Yun Ye’s talent was undoubtedly better than his—he could awaken the dormant Spiritual Roots!

"That’s right, Little Shi has Spiritual Roots, and they are much stronger than mine! I’m going to teach Little Shi the Qi Cultivation Technique. Shuzhu, he might have the hope of becoming a martial artist and will no longer have to engage in this dangerous business!" Yang Shu nodded firmly.

As a hunter, he also had another responsibility—to scout for dangers around the village and give early warnings.

This was a highly dangerous job, so only a few families were willing to take it on, and every few years, there would be people who mysteriously died in the mountains.

Yang Shu’s father and brother had died just like that.

If not for having no other means of livelihood and the failed awakening of his Spiritual Roots, Yang Shu would have stopped being a hunter long ago.

Seeing his son with a chance to avoid his path, how could he not be excited? Even if there were many difficulties ahead, he wanted to fight for it!