Chapter 445: The Art of Healing (Qihuang)

The two of them chatted and laughed as they walked to the doorway, where someone was already waiting with a lantern—it was none other than Little Orange.

Seeing Zhang Xiaohua, Little Orange smiled and said: “Son-in-law, are you heading back to rest?”

Zhang Xiaohua replied: “Little Orange, it’s only been half a day since we last met, and you’re already teasing me like this? I’d rather you call me Brother Ren.”

But Little Orange would not relent, arguing: “Master has given strict orders—we mustn’t let anything slip. In front of others and behind their backs, I must address you as Son-in-law.”

Zhang Xiaohua pointed out into the pitch-black night and said: “And where are these ‘others’ you speak of?”

Nie Qianyu also chimed in: “Little Orange, don’t make things difficult for Brother Ren. Calling him that makes me… embarrassed as well. It’s all just for show, after all.”

Little Orange grinned: “Miss, don’t be embarrassed. If you are, someone here will only get more pleased with himself.”

Zhang Xiaohua rubbed his nose and said nothing more.

Nie Qianyu laughed and scolded: “Little Orange, hurry up and lead the way. You’ve worked hard all day. Let’s settle Brother Ren in quickly so we can all get some rest.”

Only then did Little Orange stop her banter, lifting the lantern and leading the way, guiding the two of them to a small building.

It was a two-story pavilion, surrounded by a low wall and a small gate.

The gate stood open, with light spilling out from within.

When Zhang Xiaohua and the others reached the entrance, two servant girls hurried out from the courtyard, bowed in unison, took the books from their hands, and accompanied them into the building.

Nie Qianyu pointed to the two girls and said: “Brother Ren, these are Mo Mei and Mo Ju. Father left them here to attend to your needs.”

Zhang Xiaohua quickly waved his hands: “Forget it, Little Fish. I was never meant to be waited on by others. Why don’t you take them back with you?”

“Alright, then,” Nie Qianyu agreed without protest this time. Indeed, she wouldn’t feel at ease leaving the two maids here overnight.

After the four of them left, Zhang Xiaohua closed the door, laid his sword across the entrance, and took out a jade pendant from his robe to inventory his spoils.

There were four jade pendants in total, each of varying size, all emitting faint fluctuations of Yuan Qi. However, when Zhang Xiaohua probed them with his divine sense, he discovered that the energy in three of them had already dissipated, and most of the contents recorded within were lost and indecipherable. Only the smallest one remained intact. As soon as Zhang Xiaohua’s divine sense entered it, four large characters immediately appeared before his eyes: [Comprehensive Guide to Artifact Refining].

“I’ve struck it rich~” Zhang Xiaohua whooped, somersaulting on the ground in delight.

He had spent quite some time scheming at Nie Qianyu’s place, hoping to get his hands on Lu Meng’s booklet. Unfortunately, Nie Qianyu saw through his intentions and he came away empty-handed. Yet, the jade pendants Lu Meng had dismissed as worthless junk turned out to contain the extremely important [Comprehensive Guide to Artifact Refining] of the Artifact Refining Sect. One couldn’t help but marvel at Zhang Xiaohua’s extraordinary luck, nor could one help but look down on Lu Meng—a man blind to treasure right before his eyes!

Still, it wasn’t entirely Lu Meng’s fault. The jade slips could only be read with divine sense, and he was just an ordinary mortal—how could he possibly know their value? In today’s martial world, for someone like Zhang Xiaohua who possessed divine sense, the world was an endless treasure trove, free for him to pick through at his leisure.

After celebrating his incredible stroke of luck, Zhang Xiaohua pulled a straw meditation mat from his money pouch and tossed it onto the floor. He then took out several jade tokens from his robe and arranged them to set up a formation. Only then did he sit cross-legged, immersing his divine sense into the jade slip to carefully study the [Comprehensive Guide to Artifact Refining].

A long time passed, and night had deepened before Zhang Xiaohua finally opened his eyes. He carefully put the jade slip away in his money pouch and muttered to himself, “So this ‘Comprehensive Guide to Artifact Refining’ isn’t some priceless treasure after all—it’s just a basic introduction to artifact refining and some simple methods. Well, that’s fine. I only need it to craft items for formations anyway. If it were any more advanced, I wouldn’t be able to use it.”

“So artifact refining is actually different from alchemy. I thought that since I’ve learned alchemy, I could easily master artifact refining too. Turns out, I was just a frog at the bottom of a well.”

“But thinking about it, if alchemy and artifact refining were interchangeable, then Spring Rebirth Valley would be able to refine artifacts too. There’d be no need for a separate Artifact Forging or Weapon Casting Sect.”

“Also, this ‘Comprehensive Guide to Artifact Refining’ describes the immortal path’s methods—only those can be used to refine artifacts. But the Artifact Refining Sect has already transformed into a martial sect, so how do they refine artifacts now? And to think, they can even use it to enhance their internal force—that’s truly remarkable.”

“Oh, I almost forgot. If martial practitioners can infuse their internal force into weapons, can immortal cultivators do the same with their true qi? It’s getting late; I’ll try infusing true qi into my little sword when I have time. But, is that warm current in my left arm also true qi?”

Thinking of the swirling purple energy cycling between his little sword and left arm, Zhang Xiaohua vaguely felt that the warm current in his left arm was somehow different from the true qi in his meridians.

After pondering briefly, Zhang Xiaohua took out a yuan stone from his robe and began his nightly cultivation as usual.

In the blink of an eye, Zhang Xiaohua had already spent over two months at Spring Rebirth Valley.

At first, everyone in the valley would cover their mouths and laugh whenever they saw Zhang Xiaohua, calling him “son-in-law” at every turn. Naturally, Zhang Xiaohua had no wedding money to hand out, and after several rounds of protest, everyone—under strict orders from Valley Master Nie—switched to calling him “young master” instead. Only then did Zhang Xiaohua start to feel a little more at ease.

Over the course of two months, Zhang Xiaohua gradually came to understand that Spring Rebirth Valley was divided into two main areas. Everything inside the valley entrance was the inner valley, the core region. Everything outside the entrance, where the manor was located, was the outer valley, where all the people of Spring Rebirth Valley lived.

The outer valley itself was further divided into three sections: Healing (Qihuang), Herbs, and Alchemy. These were spread across different parts of the outer valley. The Alchemy section was at the valley entrance, which was the central area of the outer valley. Healing (Qihuang) was situated on the outskirts of the manor, near the entrance, while most of the remaining areas belonged to the Herbs section.

The Healing (Qihuang) section was overseen by Valley Master Nie’s eldest disciple, Mu Qingxuan, a middle-aged man who didn’t seem much younger than the valley master himself. Mu Qingxuan specialized in acupuncture and medicine, and only had a superficial grasp of martial arts. His disciples, numbering over a dozen, mainly studied medicine as well, and, much like their master, were only average in martial prowess.

The Herbs section was managed by Valley Master Nie’s second disciple, Fei He, with a few younger disciples assisting him. Among these disciples, there was one who stood out in martial arts. Zhang Xiaohua found him familiar, and upon asking, realized he had seen him during the martial arts tournament for marriage selection—he was one of the earliest contestants to be eliminated. Thinking about it, it made sense; Spring Rebirth Valley, like the Artifact Refining Sect and others, wouldn’t just stand by idly. That small group of four must have been Spring Rebirth Valley’s pawns, but unfortunately, they were knocked out as soon as they got on stage.

Fei He had many helpers, but only one or two disciples, and none were particularly outstanding. The other junior brothers were not yet old enough to take on disciples themselves, so Spring Rebirth Valley was currently experiencing a bit of a gap between generations.

The Alchemy section wasn’t assigned to anyone else; it was personally overseen by Valley Master Nie. After all, alchemy was the core resource of Spring Rebirth Valley, and unless someone truly trustworthy, dependable, and worry-free emerged, Valley Master Nie had no intention of delegating that responsibility.

While the martial arts tournament for marriage was indeed a way for Spring Rebirth Valley to save Nie Qianyu, it was also, in truth, Valley Master Nie’s method for recruiting talent. Zhang Xiaohua’s appearance fit Valley Master Nie’s standards perfectly—especially with his unfathomable martial arts cultivation, as if he had been tailor-made for the role. That was why Valley Master Nie instructed Nie Qianyu to guide Zhang Xiaohua’s studies; he also knew his youngest daughter would give Zhang Xiaohua as many books as possible.

The pile of books Nie Qianyu handed Zhang Xiaohua the previous day was quite diverse, containing many of Spring Rebirth Valley’s secret techniques. Herbs and alchemy made up a significant portion. Back on the deserted island, Zhang Xiaohua had already practiced the jade slip left by Fire Dragon True Person, making him highly proficient in alchemy—he simply lacked the ingredients to actually refine pills. While these books were important records for Spring Rebirth Valley, they no longer held the same value for Zhang Xiaohua. Of course, the jade slip only recorded immortal methods and herb cultivation techniques, many of which were no longer applicable. The books from Spring Rebirth Valley happened to fill these gaps, so Zhang Xiaohua spent the first ten or so days focusing on these topics.

Although the martial world’s herb cultivation and alchemy techniques were vastly different from those of the immortal path, their essence was the same. Having already grasped the fundamentals, Zhang Xiaohua found it exceptionally easy to pick up the finer points of martial alchemy. Nie Qianyu thought Zhang Xiaohua would constantly come to her with questions, but several days passed without a single visit. When Zhang Xiaohua finally appeared, he only asked a few questions before asking Nie Qianyu to show him some practical demonstrations, much to her surprise.

There was nothing secret about herb cultivation in the outer valley, so Zhang Xiaohua was allowed to observe freely. However, the alchemy area was in the inner valley, and Nie Qianyu had to report to her father before she could bring Zhang Xiaohua in—she couldn’t take him there on her own. Zhang Xiaohua, however, was in no rush, as if he already had everything under control.

Later, when Valley Master Nie learned that Zhang Xiaohua wanted to observe alchemy, he was astonished and couldn’t figure out why Zhang Xiaohua was so talented. By the time Nie Qianyu sought out Zhang Xiaohua again, he was already diligently studying the art of Healing (Qihuang).

Nie Qianyu was exasperated—alchemy was Spring Rebirth Valley’s core secret, while Healing (Qihuang) was merely supplementary. Ignoring alchemy to study Healing (Qihuang) was, in her eyes, putting the cart before the horse!

At first, Zhang Xiaohua only studied medicine out of curiosity. While alchemy could indeed produce miraculous pills, it might not be effective for ordinary ailments. Nie Qianyu’s medical skills, as she’d demonstrated in that nameless small town, far surpassed those of the local doctors. If he could master real medical arts in Spring Rebirth Valley, perhaps he could truly achieve what Valley Master Nie had said: “benefit oneself and heal others.”

He started studying Healing (Qihuang) out of simple curiosity, but as he delved into Spring Rebirth Valley’s acupuncture techniques and medicinal prescriptions, combining them with his own immortal path knowledge, he realized the mysteries ran far deeper than they appeared on the surface—there was a profound depth to it all.

Moreover, he discovered things within that he had never even imagined before.