The Woman who Became the “Male” God

Chapter 4

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Tragedy of Xiedinghongren

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Chapter Summary: An Xian feels that her pricing was too conservative!

 

An Xian arranged a square cloud array in the flower field, using spirit stones as an energy source, which could improve the quality, spiritual power, and growth speed of the flowers and plants. At the beginning of planting, the spiritual qi¹ that nourished the flowers and plants were all provided by the array method. When the flowers and plants matured, a cycle would gradually form in this area, and the qi would convert and converge with each other, endlessly.

 

However, before the cycle took place, a process would be required. An Xian had more than 30 spirit stones in her hand. One spirit stone could safeguard four acres of land for three to five years with sufficient spiritual energy. As long as there was no additional consumption, then the array formation could operate for two to three years on its own.

 

More than a dozen kinds of flowers and plants were planted row upon row. Beautiful reds and brilliant purples were mixed together, covering the entirety of the earth. Just like an ocean of colors, undulating with the wind, carefree. And instead of sea breeze,  burst after burst of pleasant flower fragrance was mixed in every wind wave.

 

An Xian walked through the sea of flowers and picked up fresh pieces of petals from lively plants. The petals fluttered and danced in the air, and as if consciously, the petals gathered on her palm, turning into specks of light and disappearing without a trace.

 

Seeing those materials she collected for refining medicine was enough, An Xian returned to her residence. She took out her new furnace and started the day of refining medicine.

 

An Xian’s online shop, Huahua World, offered five conventional medicines: Ningxiang Pill², Dreaming Pill³, Buyuan Pill⁴, Jingxin Powder⁵, and Qingshen Water⁶.

 

The so-called conventional drugs referred to the commonly used drugs related to daily life activities. It consisted of cleaning, nursing one’s health, sleeping, improving one’s appearance, nourishments, and so on. Apart from conventional drugs, there were also a plethora of drugs under different categories of usage or industries. Such as medicaments for medical treatment, energy-concentrated drugs, special function drugs, and animal and plant breeding drugs.

 

Because the shop was only open for a few months, the variety and quantities of goods weren’t large. Moreover, the popularity of Huahua World wasn’t particularly high among the plethora of similar shops in the online community, but the positive rate had reached 99%. The remaining 1% could be surmised coming from the black professional households, or the loyal back powders7 who still place orders with criticism at the end of every review.

 

The furnace used by An Xian to refine medicines was from the work of a highly respected master back in ancient times. It actually belonged to the category of quasi-immortal devices, which was now used to refine a kind of ordinary medicine that possessed no grade. It really was overkill and could be described as hiring a talented person to an insignificant position⁸. Every time the furnace was opened, An Xian could feel its grievances.

 

“Lulu, dear, we’re in troubled times now. Everything here is simplified, once the cultivation base is restored in the future, it will merely be  a matter of minutes to refine top-grade immortal medicines!” An Xian patiently appeased the rising temper of her family’s furnace.

 

The furnace’s body trembled a few times, and suddenly puffed out a huge amount of cloudy gas from a gap in the roof, creating a foggy atmosphere in the room that would last for a few seconds. As the furnace finally expressed its frustration, it ceased to move.

 

Due to the limited materials and An Xian’s family’s unwillingness to dilute the poor medicinal substances, a large number of semi-unfinished products that weren’t completely disseminated were refined, so the quantity of pellet produced in every session in the furnace was quite small. Despite that, according to this era’s evaluation standards, even if it was only a demi-finished product, the quality still far exceeded other similar products.

 

While the first batch of medicines was still warming up in the furnace, An Xian opened the Starnet to browse the web to pass time and conveniently clicked on a forum. A colorful promotional picture suddenly popped out of nowhere occupying most of the screen.

 

[The most majestic, weird and most wonderful costume party in history is about to happen tonight at  the Goddess of Moon Stadium!]

 

‘What the hell?’ An Xian closed the nauseating, colorful promotional picture without looking at it.

 

In the forum she entered, she mainly discussed drug-related content, including the people’s medication experiences and recommendations from various high-quality pharmacies.

 

[Thinking back about those dark pills that I tried when I was young and ignorant!]

 

[Recommended by family, Clear Jade Pavillion’s Xiaoxingxin Energy Ball~~ It works within a minute and would last up to a hundred minutes!]

 

[I just want to know when the forum will be able to clean up those junk advertisements. As soon as I opened the forum today, my eyes almost got blinded by the ad pop-up window of a certain NC prom! (Does the title have 60 yet?)]

{T/N: anyone can tell what “(标题凑够60了吗?)” means?}

 

[I bought a special, highly effective medicine yesterday. It says that it can make people jump for 30 meters. Today, I intentionally made a live broadcast. If the jump is less than 30 meters, I must definitely complain to that store!]

 

After filtering each and every promotional ad that ceased to stop, for now, An Xian’s eyes were fixed at the post and curiously opened the post where the author would try the pill.

 

The post was set up in a live broadcast mode. After accessing, a virtual broadcasting room would be the first thing to see. The audience inside the space all displayed meng images to provide privacy to their identities. Besides that, they could also roast the author at will and could also adjust the font of your own subtitle and equalize your own music sound effects as well.

 

At this time, the live camera was facing a red pill placed on a porcelain plate.

 

“This is the protagonist of the day: Zong Yun Pill⁹, a 2-star middle-grade medicine purchased from the pharmacy. The price is 4999 points. The main effect is to enhance your muscle strength and jumping ability by leaps and bounds in such a short time. It requires the user’s mental power to reach at least D level, and there should be no critical illness.” The voice of the host rang out from the “Xiedinghongren” in the broadcast.

 

1st floor¹⁰: [Taking a seat and watching.]

 

2nd floor: [Landlord¹¹, are there any emergency personnel by your side? If not, it’s strongly recommended that you find one as a reserve ah!]

 

3rd floor: [Just looking at the appearance of the pill, you can tell that they’re delicious.]

 

4th floor: [Host, stop dilly-dallying, take the medicine quickly!]

 

Xiedinghongren: “Don’t worry, in order to achieve the best results, I specifically searched for a quiet, spacious, and obstacle-free testing place. Please see.”

 

The scope of the camera moved up, and what appeared in the video was a mottled and outdated abandoned building.

 

Xiedinghongren: “This building is about to be demolished. The measured height is 29.5  meters. In case of no accident, I could jump to the top of the building after taking the medicine.”

 

23rd floor: [Landlord, you can even find such a dangerous building. This alone is worth 999.]

 

[Lazy Bones rewards Xiedinghongren with 999 points for seeking death coin.]

[notwearingclothes rewards Xiedinghongren with 999 for seeking death coin.]

[Ihaveamouthful rewards Xiedinghongren with 999 points for seeking death coin.]

 

***

 

After a series of rewards from the audience, the camera scope finally returned to capture the figure of the brave and strong warrior of today’s live broadcast— Xiedinghongren.

 

44th floor: […I never thought that you were such a host.]

 

45th floor: [Host, has the person who sold you the medicine taken note of your body weight beforehand?]

 

46th floor: [Visual estimation of the host’s up and down and left and right diameter difference is less than 5 cm.]

 

47th floor: [I bet 13 points as courting death coin, the host can only jump 9 meters at most.]

 

48th floor: [Am I the only one who should be worried about how the host could land safely when falling from the air?]

 

49th floor: [Just sit down and wait for the host to perform as a falling object from a high altitude.]

 

Xiedinghongren: “Don’t worry, I have C mental strength, a robust body, and am wearing a complete full-body protective gear. Say no more than 30 meters or even 50 meters, don’t even think of me falling. Okay, let’s stop talking nonsense. I’m about to take the medicine.]

 

The man threw the Zong Yun Pill in the air and caught it with his mouth. With his face warping into a distorted expression, and then commented, “This tastes like fermented stool…”

 

75th floor: [We will give you another 999 points as courting death coins, just please don’t describe the taste of the pill in detail. We only need to know that it’s unpalatable.]

 

Two minutes later, the efficacy of Zongyun Pill began to take effect from the camera.

 

Xiedinghongren: “My body is brimming with so much energy that I feel feverish now. And like a beast whose blood is boiling hot. I seem to be able to go to heaven at any time!”

 

115th floor: [GOGOGO! Host, speed to the heavens!!]

 

Xiedinghongren set up the camera to a flight tracking mode a decent distance away from the actual activity site, to capture everything. He cracked his neck and made a few preparations for his safety, then he loudly screamed as if possessed by a demon. The fat body rushed out like a cannonball nearly splitting the still air in the vicinity. When the distance from the dilapidated building was less than ten meters, he promptly leaped off…

 

“Ahhhhhhhhhhhhh—ah-eck-eck-eck12??!!!”

 

The momentum of his body slowed down as it neared the halfway mark of 30 meters, then his body began to fall downward at a much quicker pace than he did when he jumped. As he fell back on the ground, his body was twisted in an extremely unscientific position.

 

199th floor: [Host! How are you???]

 

235th floor: [What agreed 30 meters? That was only less than half!]

 

257th floor: [I think this isn’t all the pill’s fault. It may be due to the host’s overweight.]

 

283rd floor: [The effect of physical fitness drugs does vary from person to person, but it shouldn’t be too different. Logically speaking, 30 meters should be the benchmark data obtained after multiple conductions of tests. Even if the host’s body weight exceeds the normal quota, the inaccuracy should generally not exceed 3 meters.]

 

300th floor: [The grade is too high and the effect isn’t good. The appraisal is complete.]

 

The floors downstairs13 barraged the comment section with complaints. And sometimes lines of rewards for the host’s performance of courting death were mixed in as sympathy for his courage.

 

Around this moment, An Xian, who was silently watching how the experiment would unfold, reacted. Upon closer inspection, she noticed that the host, Xiedinghongren, in the video staggered up to propped himself upon the ground. His eyes loose and lack the orderly gaze of a normal man, he also became damp as he excessively sweated, and he kept panting while clutching his chest. An Xian frowned, faintly feeling that there’s something wrong with him.

 

412th floor: [Landlord, are you alright? Why does it look like you’re uncomfortable?]

 

413th floor: [Oh shit, he seems to have mental allergy symptoms.]

 

414th floor: [Host, do you have a doctor or medical equipment by your side!!]

 

415th floor: [Call the emergency number! Quick!]

 

***

 

Xiedinghongren’s body was skewed in grotesque angles. A few seconds later, his pupils suddenly lolled back, replaced by its whites, and soon followed by his upper body crashing on the ground. The live broadcast room was immediately plunged into chaos.

 

This trial of drug effectiveness ended in failure. As for Zongyun Pill, it naturally received criticisms from the masses and was about to face a crisis of poor sales just right after it went on the market…

 

An Xian exited the chaotic live broadcast with a pensive expression on her face.

 

Although the live broadcast of Xiedinghongren was discontinued due to the unexpected mishap, it still provided An Xian with a pretty good publicity channel propaganda— an online live broadcast.

 

In this era when the whole human population took medicine, there existed a multifarious variety of medicines with weeds mixed among the seedlings in terms of quality. Regardless of this societal problem, most of them were still required to undergo a process of testing and evaluation. These processes could only serve as a guarantee that the consumers wouldn’t die. A good reputation necessitated the buyers’ courage to try it out, which would accumulate over time.

 

The quality of medicines is divided into four grades: low-grade, medium-grade, top-grade, and holy grade and each grade was also further divided into 1-5 stars. The 5-star low-grade represented the highest level that could be refined with inferior materials, and it’s generally difficult through the middle-grade using those.

 

However, An Xian had used low-level materials to refine 4-star middle-grade panaceas, which were considered unique and hard to find in the world. And she didn’t care about it, she acted as if their products were all the same as hers, that they could be refined with the utilization of the lowest restorative materials. At most, the efficacy of the medications catered to slight differences, that’s all.

 

The Zongyun Pill tested this time belonged to a special function drug. Although it’s marked as a 2-star medium-grade medicine, the effect, apparently, didn’t live up to its name. Moreover, the expensive drug was also discovered to possess some side effects. According to An Xian’s standards, this pharmaceutical could only be treated as waste products, and absolutely couldn’t be put on the shelves for sale.

 

For any 4-star mid-level conventional medicine in Huahua World, the selling price didn’t outstrip 1,000. Not only did that shop openly sell defective products, it even dared to bid 4999 for it!

 

An Xian deeply reckoned that her pricing was too conservative!

 

Simultaneously, she was also determined to develop other types of panacea. For these particular essences, the average prices of medicinal treatments, such as special function drugs, were higher than those of conventional drugs.

 

Taking into account her financial capacity, she couldn’t afford the highest materials, so An Xian could only temporarily exclude Zongyun Pill and other stamina enhancer drugs. Refining cosmetic-concentrated medicines were very simple. Only the beauty industry in this era had already developed to a certain extent. And it’d be difficult to increase the market price.

 

‘So, what type of medicine should be refined?’ 

 

As she pondered about it, An Xian’s gaze inadvertently caught a glimpse of the advertising banner in the corner of the screen.

 

[The most majestic, weird, and most wonderful costume party in history…]

 

‘Um? Masquerade…’ 

 

An Xian thought about it. That this advertisement was a thing that the demons and gods had worked together¹⁴.

 

The fancy masquerade ball would be held in a month, starting now. The number of participants was only limited to 3000, and the ticket price was 2598 points…

 

Undelving on this information, An Xian quickly skittered and found a large number of related pictures and videos. The biggest feature of the masquerade party was “make-up”, which incorporated mystery, novelty, and weirdness as its selling points to create a multicolored, grotesque, bizarre self-releasing fantasy world. A theme would be posted every time. This time, it’s “Fantasy.”

 

Judging from the previous photos of the previous party’s contestants, the people who participated in the dance naturally used technology to dress themselves up. Although they have their own characteristics to flaunt, they always felt that their costumes were a little dull and not vivid enough.

 

An Xian’s deep orbs lit up instantly as she caught a business opportunity.

 

‘Makeup? Too easy!’ 

 

The use of makeup products could only be regarded as stubborn and inferior. The real makeup should be— deformation!

 

Footnotes:

[1] 灵气 líng qì – spiritual energy

[2] 凝香丹 níngxiāngdān “Ning Xiang Pill” – lit. congeal/condense and fragrant/scent. Means “

[3] 入梦 rùmèng “Dreaming Pill” – Rumeng Pill. These are literal translations for the pills.

[4] 补元 bǔ yuán “Buyuan Pill” – lit. mend/repair and fundamental/part

[5] Jingxin Powder – lit. to clean and heart/mind, respectively.

[6] Qingshen Water – lit. clean up/purge up and dirt/dust, respectively.

[7]  黑粉 the characters literally read as “black powder” but it’s slang for the type of fan who likes to pick on his idol’s faults aka “anti-fan.”

[8] 大材小用 dà cái xiǎo yòng – means using a talented person in an insignificant position or sledgehammer to crack a nut

[9] Zong Yun Pill – lit. vertical/warp (the vertical threads in weaving) and cloud/say. [10] Floors are Chinese web slang for the order of the audience who commented on the landlord’s post.

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[11] Landlord/Owner is basically the one who posted or hosted the post.

[12] those are hiccups

[13] Downstairs is the term for the whole comment section.

[14] 鬼使神差 guǐshǐshénchāi – demons and gods at work (idiom); unexplained event crying out for a supernatural explanation