Volcanic Age

Master glossed it over saying that he just had a weak constitution since youth, but now that I think about it, it was quite strange.

In the first place, it was strange that a martial artist was weak and prone to sickness. Cultivation was the training of the body and the mind. Naturally, cultivators experiencing as many illnesses as an ordinary person meant that something was wrong.

It wasn’t that he was starving, nor was he not maintaining his hygiene. He had a regular lifestyle, a balanced diet, and regular sleeping hours while taking in qi from nature, so there was no way he was not healthy. Even someone with an innately weak body would see improvement after a while unless they had lived out the full extent of their lifespan or had suffered from serious internal injuries.

Liu Zhengmu belonged to neither of those categories, so why?

The answer was simple.

It wasn’t his constitution; it was an illness.

Zhou Xuchuan had no idea how long the disease lay dormant. He didn’t even know what it was, much less whether it was something Liu Zhengmu was born with or had acquired after birth.

However, this disease would gnaw away at his master’s life and eventually consume it in five years.

In his previous life, Zhou Xuchuan had only found out that Liu Zhengmu was afflicted with a serious disease after his health had deteriorated a lot.

One day, his master had a high fever and collapsed. He had called for a physician but was only given a hopeless diagnosis.

I cannot know for sure, but it seems that the disease has been dormant for a long time. He never showed any symptoms until that moment…

As Liu Zhengmu had been sick quite often since young, the doctor looked after him quite a lot. He had undergone many regular checkups, but until then, the doctor had been unable to find any symptoms that indicated that Liu Zhengmu had any disease in particular.

Ultimately, Liu Zhengmu was unable to leave behind any last words and left the world without ever regaining consciousness.

I must prevent that at all costs!

Zhou Xuchuan had cried a lot the moment he’d seen his master after his regression. Liu Zhengmu’s existence was just that important and special to him. He had told himself multiple times after regressing that he would not let Liu Zehngmu die.

To help his master survive his disease was the first thing on his list of things to do.

The second thing on the list happens six years from now, when I’m fifteen.

A year after Liu Zhengmu’s passing, there was a huge event that shook the foundations of the central martial world.

The Treasury of the Three-Eyed Godly Thief!

Around three hundred years ago, there was a legendary thief renowned across all of the central plains, and not just in the martial world.

That thief always left a symbol with three eyes whenever he stole something. He was later dubbed the Three-Eyed Godly Thief.

The Three-Eyed Godly Thief was active for around one hundred years, but no one was able to find a trace of him apart from the symbol with three eyes.

Two hundred years after his first appearance, the Three-Eyed Godly Thief no longer showed any activities, and the government declared him captured.

Naturally, no one believed the official declaration. Aside from the government, the Three-Eyed Godly Thief was chased by multiple factions for nearly three hundred years. However, neither the Righteous Faction, the Evil Faction, the Demon Cult, the Blood Cult, nor even the Imperial Palace managed to find the Three-Eyed Godly Thief. People naturally came to believe that the Three-Eyed Godly Thief had died of old age after hiding away his treasures. Although many people had looked for his treasury since then, there were no reports of anyone finding it.

That was until six years later when the legendary treasury would be discovered and exposed to the outside world.

‘I have to go and rob that place clean before that time comes!’

As soon as the Three-Eyed Godly Thief’s treasury was found, people flocked to that place like bees to honey in search of treasure.

Although the Era Of War And Chaos had yet to begin at that time, the conflict that occurred there was just as bloody and messy.

Ultimately, someone touched the wrong mechanism within the treasury before all the treasures could be taken out, making the whole cave collapse and putting an end to the saga.

That was why Zhou Xuchuan thought to go there first and take everything out before that happened.

The problem is that I was never able to leave the sect, even six years later.

At fifteen, he would be considered of age, but that did not mean freedom within Mount Hua. In the sect, the elders usually gave the younger generation permission to leave the sect and roam around the world when they were around twenty unless a disciple was particularly strong.

This measure was put in place to prevent disciples from dying in vain while roaming around the world. In other words, the disciples were trained until they were twenty so that they could be more prepared for what was outside the sect.

What do I do?

***

Two months passed.

During that time, Zhou Xuchuan was able to gain one more year’s worth of internal qi, and now, his internal qi had reached two and a half years’ worth in total.

“I already knew this before I regressed, but it truly is amazing.”

He couldn’t help but marvel at the rate of qi accumulation.

The cultivation arts of the righteous faction were ordinarily called “orthodox.” Orthodox cultivation methods prioritized stability. As it was a straightforward path, the chances of encountering a cultivation deviation was pretty low as long as they could stick to the right path.

The disadvantage was that the rate at which the cultivators could accumulate internal qi, as well as their training speed, was rather low.

On the opposite side of the spectrum, cultivation arts that were deemed “demonic” often allowed for incredibly fast accumulation of qi and advancements in cultivation.

However, as with everything, it came with its own set of downsides. Demonic cultivation arts had too many side effects. They weren’t called “demonic” for no reason.

For example, the cultivators’ minds would be tainted by demonic aura, turning them into fiends. They would crave human meat, or have abnormal amounts of lust. There were uncountable types of side effects.

The Plum Blossom Life Art, however, had a qi accumulation rate that rivaled demonic cultivation arts despite being an orthodox cultivation technique. To be precise, it wasn’t as good as a true demonic cultivation art, but it might as well be a pseudo-demonic cultivation art.

“Phew, I had a fulfilling day today too.”

At around five in the evening, Zhou Xuchuan headed to his master’s abode after his daily routine.

Standing in front of the door, he adjusted his attire and dusted the dirt off his clothes.

“Cough, cough!”

Zhou Xuchuan flinched. He stopped on the spot and his eyes widened.

What he had just heard from behind the door…was Liu Zhengmu’s coughing.

Master…!

He could never forget his master’s voice even until the moment he died. He was the only man whom Zhou Xuchuan could call family. He was someone that Zhou Xuchuan had relied on even after getting older.

I’m only nine this year. It’s not that time yet.

Zhou Xuchuan had around five years left of his life, only five years.

As with every illness, the earlier its discovery, the better it would heal. If it were to be discovered too late, it could be beyond healing. Zhou Xuchuan had no idea what the disease was exactly, so in the worst-case scenario, he might have to do something now.

Zhou Xuchuan had endlessly worried about this during the past two months of training and cultivation.

I have no choice but to ask the Divine Physician to diagnose him after all.

The Divine Physician.

He was called that because he had surpassed all the famed physicians of this era. He was truly a living legend.

The Era Of War And Chaos was truly full of experts and eccentric masters that couldn’t be found in any other era. The Divine Physician was one such person, and he would die and disappear into the annals of history during the Era Of War And Chaos.

But how do I call him over?

The Divine Physician wasn’t someone Zhou Xuchuan could order around to come as he wished to. Above all, while he may be called the Divine Physician right now, he was once called the Freak Physician and had a very weird temper. It was very difficult to earn his favor, and threatening him did not work either.

There were even popular stories of him ignoring the requests of the Head of the Martial Alliance, as well as important elders of the alliance.

I remember the Divine Physician being obsessed over rare medical books…

As someone at the peak of medical knowledge, the Divine Physician collected and studied many different types of medical books. Many believed that he had every medical book in the Central Plains.

It was fortunate that they were medical books and not martial arts manuals, as that might have caused a bloodstorm around him.

In any case, it was rumored that the Divine Physician went crazy over medical books that he had never come across before.

There were many precedents where people looked for medical books in order to get diagnosed by him, and thanks to that, the price of already expensive medical books escalated rapidly.

Should I spread rumors that Mount Hua has some medical books?

It wasn’t a bad method, but Zhou Xuchuan believed it wasn’t enough. There was no way the Divine Physician would move based on rumors alone.

He tried to think of other methods aside from that, but he couldn’t find anything better than what he had already considered.

The most sure-fire method was the treasury of the Three-Eyed Godly Thief.

The appearance of the treasury in six years would move even the Divine Physician, who had very little interest in the matters of the martial world.

A medical book hidden in the treasury was probably enough to ask him for a diagnosis and even treatment.

However, Zhou Xuchuan was too young and was restricted in his movements. He couldn’t even leave the sect as he wished to. On top of that, there was a considerable distance between Mount Hua and the treasury, and above all, his cultivation was too weak, which would bring a myriad of problems.

The way he was now, he would lose his life in vain at the hands of bandits or wanderers while roaming around the world.

No, in the first place, it was impossible for him to leave the sect under the surveillance of the older generation.

I’ve already thought multiple times about how to bring the Divine Physician here… isn’t there another way?

Due to the circumstances he was in, he couldn’t put any of his plans into practice despite knowing what was happening in the future. That sense of powerlessness made him infuriated.

Zhou Xuchuan calmed down his anger and started to think about other methods to save his master.

Aren’t there any pills that the Divine Physician concocted?

The Divine Physician was at the peak of all medical fields, with concoction of medicine being one of them. Naturally, those medicines were traded for insanely high prices, befitting of his title.

They were one of the few priceless items in the world.

Zhou Xuchuan ruled that option out since it wasn’t like he had a lot of money in hand.

No, wait, it doesn’t have to be the Divine Physician's pill!

Zhou Xuchuan tapped on his knees and stood up.

There are spiritual medicines!

Spiritual medicines were naturally-occurring medicines that contained the qi or essence of nature, and brought an increase in internal qi for normal cultivators.

However, being medicines, they were also used for treatment aside from increasing cultivation.

Why didn’t I think of this?

Zhou Xuchan smacked his head, blaming his own stupidity. He was trying to walk a roundabout path when he had the shortcut right in front of him.

Let’s see, I believe a few spiritual medicines were found.

He could think of three or four off the top of his head. One of them happened to be near Mount Hua.

‘The Water Spiritual Fruit!’

This was discovered around twenty years later, during the Era Of War And Chaos.

One wanderer was fleeing after getting injured during a war when he fell into a river and got caught up in a current.

Luckily, that wanderer managed to survive and arrive at an underwater cave that no one knew of, where he had a fortunate encounter.

For some curious reason, there was a tree growing in the underwater cave, and the fruit of that tree was the Water Spiritual Fruit.

That wanderer managed to see considerable advances in cultivation after consuming the fruit, and would later join the ranks of the Hundred Experts Under Heaven.

Truly, it was a fortunate encounter.

That’s good, that place is not far from here!

The underwater cave was in a place called Huayin City, which was located north of Mount Hua. Around that area was a river that flowed along the borders between the Shanxi Province, the Henan Province, and the Shaanxi Province, where Mount Hua was located.

This wanderer was quite talkative, and the place became quite famous in the future to the point that it became a tourist attraction.

Of course, Mount Hua also searched every cave near this place in search of another Water Spiritual Fruit. Thanks to that, even Zhou Xuchuan had a rather detailed knowledge of this place.

Naturally, a few caves were discovered during the investigation, but not to mention the Water Spiritual Fruit, even the tree couldn’t be found.

It’s a fruit that propelled a third-rate wanderer to the realm of the hundred experts. The potential is there.

That wanderer was said to have obtained an immense quantity of internal qi after consuming the fruit.

Zhou Xuchuan had complete faith that an energy of that scale could completely crush Liu Zhengmu’s disease by brute force.

“Haha, it seems I was blinded by the treasury of the Three-Eyed Godly Thief. I should learn to look a little farther.”

Zhou Xuchuan repented his past actions.

Master said he will participate in the regular gathering that’s happening in one week, so that will be my opportunity.

The regular gathering usually lasted about three to five days. That was enough time. This was his opportunity.

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