Seeking the Dao in the Seemingly Mundane Mortal World

Chapter 5: Break in

Translator: Henyee Translations

Editor: Henyee Translations

Qin Yi was still up because he was still making some medicine. According to Liusu, a lot of medicine required the essence of the moonlight, and as a result, he had to stay up late all the time.

“Take the tip of a red firefly grass, the center stamen of a cold bamboo flower, and add three drops of the pus of a golden toad. Mix them in the moonlight and ground them repeatedly… Qin Yi! You b*stard! Don’t use me as your pestle!”

“You should feel very lucky that I didn’t throw you into a pile of toad sh*t! What the hell is the pus of a golden toad? I bet this concoction is some ticklish powder, not body-tempering liquid!”

“You know nothing. This is called a balance of yin and yang…”

“Like hell it is. That skin-hardening water you taught me the other day had some ghost-head stone powder in it, and it made me scratch myself for the next three days. And before that…”

Liusu cut him off and said matter-of-factly, “If you want to enhance your body, you should expect to go through things that normal people wouldn’t even think of. Cultivation is a very serious matter.”

“Fine!” Qin Yi grumpily squeezed three drops of pus into the mortar before picking up the spiked club and sticking it into the mortar. In his mind, he was picturing pressing a man’s head and pounding against the bowl as the man kicked his legs in the air. The image pleased him.

“Qin Yi! Screw you!”

“Shut up, you stinky stick!”

It had been a while since he started learning how to make medicine and spirited pills. As he learned more, he began to suspect that a lot of things weren’t compulsory, and this annoying stick had deliberately told him to add in some inessential tricky ingredients to get back at him for sabotaging its attempt to steal the body. This so-called “essence of the moonlight” sounded rather suspicious as well, and he had been wondering if it was just another gimmick.

However, as the apprentice here, he wasn’t confident enough to challenge his tutor, so he had to follow Liusu’s directions and as a result, he got tricked over and over again.

The concoction Qin Yi was making now was known as a “body-tempering pill”.

He hadn’t learned any cultivation techniques so far, but he had been practicing martial arts.

Liusu wasn’t his martial arts teacher because the skills had come with this body. The original Qin Yi even knew a secret manual, but he didn’t seem to have known how to properly learn it and hadn’t gotten much use out of it. Liusu, on the other hand, knew a lot of advanced manuals, including how to use a spiked club…

The original host of the body was only a mediocre martial arts practitioner, but his blood was able to open that space Liusu had been in, which convinced Qin Yi that things couldn’t have been as simple as they seemed to be. Even the villagers couldn’t be as naive as they looked. Liusu should have some idea, but no matter how many times Qin Yi asked, it was only evasive and changed the subject.

Considering all the secrets it had been hiding, of course Qin Yi wouldn’t trust it.

“Grind it 81 times so the ingredients are mixed evenly. When it becomes a pale red paste, I should turn on the stove and start refining it, right??”

“Re-refine my ass… gosh…” The spiked club was still being pounded against the mortar and it spoke with much difficulty. “You’ll only be able to get a medicinal base at most! You still need some purple lotus root, the main ingredient of the pill!”

Qin Yi was dumbfounded. “Purple lotus root…”

“Did you think you could find everything on this lousy mountain? Even the county center doesn’t have many useful things. Kiddo, it’s time to leave for a bigger place. You need to find a more spirited land. There’s nothing here! How are you going to make your pills? In your dreams?”

Qin Yi stopped grinding the ingredients for a moment and was lost in his thoughts. After a while, he said, “I’ll think about it after the problem on the mountain has been resolved.”

He didn’t say anything else after that. He then filled a bath bucket with water and poured the skin-hardening liquid he made before, which would help with tempering his body, and stripped himself. After that, he climbed into the bucket and slowly sat down, letting the silver moonlight pour all over him.

However, before the medicine could take effect, the door to the courtyard was kicked open. Li Qingjun rushed in, holding her spear in one hand and a hare in the other. She yelled, “You fraud…”

Before she could say another word, a water sac burst open above her head and a strange milky liquid poured all over her face. Instinctively, Li Qingjun wanted to dash forward to dodge it, but the sac was only about 30 cm over her head and there wasn’t enough time for her to run away. The next second, she was covered from head to toe by that liquid.

But there was more to come. She stepped onto something when she dashed forward, and a vine wrapped tightly around her ankle. Li Qingjun struggled violently, but she realized that something in that liquid had weakened her and the vine was also extraordinary. With her weakened strength, she couldn’t shake the vine loose.

With a whooshing sound, the vine was pulled and Li Qingjun shrieked. Before she could make another attempt to free herself, she was hanging upside down by the ankle and was dangling under the door frame.

The moment she was pulled up into the air, two more vines reached out and tied themselves around her wrists.

“Qin…” Gritting her teeth, Li Qingjun wanted to scream, but the liquid on her chin poured back into her mouth, choking her.

The sticky liquid had also blurred her vision. From her angle, she could faintly make out Qin Yi huddled up in his bucket staring at her with his mouth open.

Only seconds had passed from the door being kicked open to the girl hanging upside down in the doorway. Before Qin Yi knew it, there was a girl in his courtyard.

Yes, he was confident that she was a girl, because no man could have a figure like that.

Her hair band had fallen off, and her long hair was hanging upside down as well. Her face was flushed with anger, and with her gritted teeth and her eyes that were spitting fire, she looked like a woman whose chastity was at risk…

“Why are you giving me that chaste-woman-in-danger look?” Covering his shoulders with his hands, Qin Yi huddled up in the bucket. “I was taking a bath in my own house—you’re the intruder here!”

Li Qingjun glared at him in silence.

She had never felt so humiliated during the 15 years she had lived, and she feared that she might start crying as soon as she opened her mouth.

Qin Yi didn’t know what to say either, because the current situation was rather awkward. Li Qingjun was facing the courtyard and was looking right at his bucket, so he had no idea how he was supposed to get out of the water.

After exchanging quite a few embarrassed looks, Li Qingjun finally gritted her teeth and said, “Let go of me!”

Qin Yi said, “Close your eyes first.”

Li Qingjun was alarmed. “What are you trying to do to me?!”

Qin Yi slowly picked up the spiked club that had been leaning against the bucket and asked, “Do you see this stick?”

Li Qingjun looked confused.

Qin Yi said slowly, “I have another one on me. Are you trying to see it? You’re a girl, for Christ’s sake, so behave like one!”

Ashamed and frustrated, Li Qingjun burst into tears. They rolled down her face when she closed her eyes.

Qin Yi heard Liusu’s chuckle in his head. “What an interesting girl.”

He ignored it because he hadn’t learned how to speak in his head yet.

Li Qingjun heard the sound of splashing waters and someone walking toward her until they were in front of her. She waited with her eyes closed, but Qin Yi didn’t make another move. She panicked a little when she imagined how he must be checking her out now, and the idea gave her the creeps. She said anxiously, “D-don’t you dare to try anything! My brother is coming and he’s going to kill you!”

Tilting his head, Qin Yi savored the image of the girl hanging upside down. He could tell how flustered she was from her tight grip on her spear.

Li Qingjun’s eyes snapped open at that moment, and she glared at him.

She then saw that Qin Yi was properly dressed and at least half a meter away from her, which made her less anxious. She said angrily, “Put me down!”

Qin Yi suddenly struck Li Qingjun on one of her vital points.

Li Qingjun was astonished. “You!”

Qin Yi then began to slowly untie the vines. “Sorry about that, but I had to take precautions. What if you stabbed me with that spear as soon as you’re freed?”

Li Qingjun swallowed her curses and asked coldly, “You’ve spiked that liquid with strength-weakening substance. Why did you have to hit my vital point to stop my energy from flowing?”

“One can never be too careful.” Qin Yi pushed her shoulder and dragged her ankle with his free hand. He easily put her down on her feet without getting too close to her.

Li Qingjun was ready to be taken advantage of, but she was surprised by how Qin Yi handled the situation. For someone as glib as him, he was actually a pretty decent person. She no longer felt as frustrated or abashed as before.

As soon as she was back on her feet, the vines disappeared with a whoosh—so fast that what had happened felt unreal. Li Qingjun watched in silence and rubbed her wrists without making any comment.

She now believed that this man was no common villager as none of them would set up a trap at their gates nor would they be able to use formation skills.

Qin Yi casually fetched her a chair and asked in an unhurried voice. “Miss, you’ve broken into my courtyard, so could you maybe explain why?”