Quinn Shepherd sorted out the medicinal herbs and prepared the medicine. He kept Grandpa Mark’s arm and Crippled Joe’s leg nourished with drugs, then went to the Imperial Academy’s stores to buy some Southern Frontier gu powder.
This gu powder was called Vermilion Youth Gu, a type of worm so minuscule that a single one was invisible to the naked eye—you could only see it with a Heaven Eye.
Once dried, the worms turned into powder. When they came into contact with blood, they revived.
He asked Grandpa Mark and Crippled Joe for a little fresh blood each, then dissolved the gu powder in it. Nourished by the blood, the Vermilion Youth Gu came alive—the tiny worms made the two cups of blood seem almost sentient.
Grandpa Mark and Crippled Joe peered into the teacups. With their exceptional eyesight, they could easily spot the worms in the blood—each cup held tens of thousands of gu, packed so densely it was horrifying to behold.
Crippled Joe forced a smile. "Quinn, are you really planning to use these worms to treat our limbs? What are they exactly? Are they dangerous?"
In the village, if anyone could scare little girls to tears, the butcher could only rank second. First place belonged to Apothecary, who loved raising flowers, plants, and all sorts of creepy-crawlies.
Apothecary’s face was frightening; his bugs were even worse. Crippled Joe was a habitual thief—he’d visited every room in the village, even tricked Quinn out of his candied hawthorn several times. But he never touched anything in Apothecary’s room.
Quinn had learned medicine from Apothecary and studied these worms thoroughly. Seeing the two teacups full of gu, Crippled Joe couldn’t help feeling uneasy, as if some crafty scoundrel was out to get him.
"Don’t worry, Grandpa Joe. Vermilion Youth Gu is a kind of gu art from the Five Gu Tribes in the Southern Frontier—it’s not much of a threat to the body."
Quinn injected the two cups of blood into Grandpa Mark’s arm and Crippled Joe’s leg, planting the Vermilion Youth Gu inside. He explained, "The reason it’s called Vermilion Youth Gu is that some sect women in the Southern Frontier use it to keep their looks—eternal youth, so lifelike that even after death their corpses look alive."
"Lifelike even after death..." Crippled Joe shivered, certain this Vermilion Youth Gu was no harmless thing.
Quinn placed his leg and Grandpa Mark’s arm into the medicine cauldron, which he’d already filled with a decoction. "These gu worms eat dead blood in the veins, dead skin on the surface, damaged muscle membranes, bone splinters, and dead marrow. So anyone who uses Vermilion Youth Gu stays looking young right up to their last breath. Apothecary once said he had a few lovely friends who kept these worms inside them—their looks were still like sixteen or seventeen, very tight and firm. He said he really liked tight girls..."
Crippled Joe replied, "You’re still young. Don’t think about that nonsense. Can I use it or not?"
Quinn found a seed among the palace’s spirit medicines, lifted a floor tile in the main hall to reveal jade-like soil beneath, and said, "Of course you can use it. But the gu has a drawback—if the worms get hungry, they’ll start eating healthy flesh and blood. So anyone who uses it needs to drink fresh blood every day to keep the gu fed. And as time goes on, the Vermilion Youth Gu multiply, so you have to drink more and more blood."
He opened his gluttonous bag and took out some Jade Dragon Lake water to irrigate the soil. "Apothecary said that in the Five Gu Tribes, beautiful women often seduce strong young men. After some pleasure, the man is left as nothing but an empty skin—a ghost of his former self, drained dry, all to feed the Vermilion Youth Gu."
Crippled Joe shuddered.
After Quinn finished watering, the mound of earth bulged and a sprout broke through, growing taller and taller at a speed visible to the naked eye.
The boy activated the Overlord Three-Core Art and began circling the sapling in the main hall, performing the Creation Earth Primordial Art from the Grand Fostering Heavenly Demon Sutra. His hand seals shifted unpredictably; whenever his palm or fingers touched the sapling’s leaves, they bounced away instantly.
Whenever his palm or fingers brushed the sapling’s branches or leaves, they rang with clear, chiming notes—like a zither playing, a beautiful melody filling the hall.
Quinn’s steps shifted and changed, using the Creation Earth Primordial Art to urge the sapling to grow. Soon the tree shot up taller than a man, sprouting clusters of tender green leaves.
Then buds appeared, blossoming into a canopy of snow-white pear flowers.
"Vermilion Youth Gu has a bad reputation. When I bought it from the Academy’s stores, the Imperial Supervisor asked what I wanted it for. He said some noblewomen and palace consorts in the capital love this stuff, so the Imperial Medical Office bred a version that can’t reproduce on its own."
Quinn kept moving, hands weaving unpredictable seals—like Avalokiteshvara flicking rosary beads. Each finger strike made a soft 'dong' sound, like a pebble plopping into a calm lake.
The pear blossoms faded, replaced by clusters of tiny green pears, each only the size of a fingertip.
But as his hand seals changed, the green pears slowly grew larger.
"Doctor You even created a Worm-Purging Pill to kill gu worms. If the Vermilion Youth Gu ever threatens your health, you can take one to expel the worms."
Quinn shifted his Creation Art, ripening the pears until they grew as large as fists. "I had the Imperial Supervisor fetch me a Worm-Purging Pill to look at. It’s made from ordinary herbs, but sells for an outrageous price—one pill costs more than the Imperial Preceptor’s monthly salary. The Supervisor said Doctor You got rich off this pill—he’s the wealthiest physician in the Imperial Medical Office, so rich oil drips from him!"
Crippled Joe’s eyes lit up. "Doctor You? Filthy rich?"
The pears on the tree turned yellow, filling the air with a sweet fragrance.
Quinn picked a few and tossed them to Grandpa Mark and Crippled Joe. The two elders each took a bite, savoring the flavor and praising him with a heartfelt sigh.
"Little Divine Doctor, what sort of spell did you use to conjure these pears?" Grandpa Mark asked.
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Quinn flushed. "Don’t tease me, Grandpa Mark. It’s the Creation Earth Primordial Art from Granny Sue’s Grand Fostering Heavenly Demon Sutra."
"Creation Earth Primordial Art?"
Grandpa Mark and Crippled Joe exchanged glances. Crippled Joe muttered, "I’ve seen Granny Sue use the Creation Earth Primordial Art—she used it to refine her Yang Spirit. At noon, she’d lie with her five hearts facing the sky, drawing in the sun’s essence. Clouds of fire would roll across the sky—it was terrifying, pure magic. She’s burned a lot of people alive with it, though not quite the way you use it…"
Quinn blinked. "Did I practice it wrong?"
Grandpa Mark said, "You didn’t do it wrong. Yours is pure and orthodox—I’d bet Granny Sue took a crooked path. The Yang Spirit nourishes all things, so your way is correct."
Quinn picked a few more yellow pears, split them in half, and dropped them into the medicine decoction. "I’m using Vermilion Youth Gu to clear away the dead tissue in your arm and leg. Once it’s gone, I’ll flush the gu out with medicine so the worms can’t harm you. These yellow pears are a medicinal booster—they activate the other medicines. But eaten alone, they’re just tasty and harmless."