Uncle-Master, Please Help Us

Chapter 33: Distinguishing the Properties of Medicines

Translator: Atlas Studios Editor: Atlas Studios
Seeing that Su Yin was confused, the old man shook his head.
He stared at Su Yin in doubt.
“The gathering of herbs is the simplest part of refining medicine. If we think logically, as long as you’re a student of medicine. You won’t possibly make this kind of medicine. May I know who your teacher is? How could he not teach you something as simple as this?”
“Teacher?” Su Yin scratched his head. “He is just an unknown insignificant person!”
Pharmacology was taught to Su Yin by the soul remnant called Li Shixiu.
The title written on his tombstone was “Medicine Sage”.
But at that time when he asked that ‘cheap Senior’ to check, Su Yin discovered that there was one in the past that had the same name as that soul remnant nor there had been a profession or title called “Medicine Sage”.
Therefore, Su Yin didn’t even think twice as he concluded that the person who wrote those two words only wanted to compliment his ancestor.
Besides, if Li Shixiu was truly the “Medicine Sage”. Why didn’t he teach him Alchemy? Why would he only teach him how to cure sows instead of teaching him how to cure illnesses and save the lives of the masses?
In Su Yin’s opinion, Li Shixiu was a veterinarian at best even if he was proficient in Pharmacology. Rather than mentioning it to the old man, Su Yin decided to conceal the name of the person who taught him to avoid embarrassing himself.
“That makes sense. Even a small-time alchemist wouldn’t be so heartless as to not teach a member of the younger generation who is gathering herbs for him this kind of stuff!”
The old man shook his head. He placed both of his hands behind his back and said with a look of teaching, “Since you do not understand, I shall enlighten you!”
“Yes!” Su Yin nodded. A humble look appeared on his face.
The old man was satisfied seeing the humbled look on Su Yin’s face.
Stroking his beard, he said, “Cold Sungrass is a medicinal herb whose roots are deep underground wherein there is an abundance of Yin, yet its flowers live beneath the scorching sun. This is a medicinal herb with the combined properties of Yin and Yang.”
“In other words, you must pay attention whenever you are picking one of them up…”
“Otherwise, once its roots leave the soil and its supply of Yin is abruptly cut short. The Yang will prevail against the Yin, and it will neutralize the latter—resulting in a sharp drop of the herb’s medicinal properties!”
Su Yin finally understood why the old man stopped him earlier. But at the same time, he was confused. “Since those two attributes would fight against each other once the equilibrium between them is disturbed, or in other words… Once the herb is uprooted from the soil.”
“Wouldn’t that problem be solved if we can just find a way to stop the two attributes from making contact with each other in the first place?”
“Ignorant!”
The old man flicked his sleeves. He looked unhappy. “The medicinal properties of any medicinal herb out there are ever-changing. It’s a combination of its age, the amount of sunlight it receives, nutrition, and moisture…”
“There is no problem in regards to your proposal which is—preventing the Yin and Yang from interacting and blending with each other, but let me ask you this!”
“How are you supposed to find the dividing line between these two attributes? When exactly should you make your move in preventing those two attributes from making contact with each other? How can you do all of these without picking the herb out of the ground?”
“You must know that it is impossible to do all of these without any guesswork. You must also understand that if you are incorrect in the slightest, that would be equivalent to ruining a medicinal herb and flushing all of your previous efforts down the drain!”
“This…” Su Yin was stunned.
It wasn’t difficult to identify the attributes of Yin and Yang since they were so obvious. Of course, they were hidden inside medicinal herbs whose roots were still beneath the ground…
But distinguishing them from each other shouldn’t be that difficult at all!
He also had to pass this kind of test during the first assessment, yet he managed to pass through the test with 100% accuracy without a trace of error. But why is it that this old man seemed to be acting as if it was a difficult thing to do?
“The correct way to do it is to wait here until noon when the Yang is at its strongest and the Yin is at its weakest…”
“Then, use a red string to tie the herb when it’s directly beneath the sun and shadow boundary line. Afterwards, when the Yang is at its weakest somewhere around 11 PM to 1 AM. Cut it off at the red string’s position!”
The old man continued, “Through this method, the Yin and Yang will not blend with each other and we will also be able to effectively maintain the equilibrium between the two attributes!”
“It’s so troublesome!” Su Yin didn’t expect that he would have to wait a full 12 hours before he could pick up a medicinal herb. Shaking his head, he asked, “If we can find the intersection of Yin and Yang. Then, we’ll plug it right at that intersection…”
“It would be fine to just pick it up directly, right?”
“That is indeed the theory, but in practice… it’s too difficult!” The old man shook his head, “When the herb is whole, the Yang and Yin are connected to each other in a harmonious equilibrium. In that case, how are we supposed to found the intersection of Yin and Yang without cutting it?”
“Sadly, once it is cut in half… the medicinal properties of the herb will only be destroyed. It won’t give us any benefits whatsoever.”
“It’s not that exaggerated!” Su Yin shook his head. Taking a deep breath, he simply sniffed and said, “The intersection of Yin and Yang of this medicinal herb is right here…”
As his words fell, Su Yin stretched his fingers out and lightly squeezed.
Then, in one fell swoop—he uprooted the Cold Sungrass.
“You…”
The old man never expected that the young man would be so rash as to directly uproot the herb after everything that he had said. The old man’s face flushed with anger and he was about to scold the latter with a few words when his pupils suddenly contracted.
Disbelief appeared on his face.
“How… how can this be?”
Cold Sungrass was a medicinal herb that would immediately lose its bright colors once the equilibrium between its Yin and Yang was interrupted. The red spots on its body would also turn gray, while the white spots would become slightly dimmed.
Having been uprooted so casually by this young man—the old man thought that the herb would immediately wither. But not even in his dreams did he imagine that the herb would remain colorful in the hands of this young man…
In fact, it looked as if it was still growing on the ground!
Without a doubt, this young man had not only discovered the intersection of Yin and Yang, but he also blocked its convergence at the opportune moment and uprooted the herb in one fell swoop!
How did he do it?
Even someone like him that had trained in medicine refinement for hundreds of years wasn’t able to do such a thing!
Seeing that the old man was making a fuss, Su Yin shook his head. “It’s very simple.”
“Simple?”
Green veins popped on the old man’s forehead…
But he seemed to have thought of something as he hurriedly put down the basket that he had on his back.
Flipping through the basket, he took out an aquamarine-colored medicinal herb. “This medicinal herb has a particular medicinal property that can soothe one’s nerves. Are you able to find it?”
“This is Spirit Calming Grass, right? If you cut this leaf from here to here, you will be able to retain about 70% of the medicinal properties of this herb!”
Su Yin casually drew a line on the leaf.
Doubtful, the old man took out a blade and sliced the leaf according to Su Yin’s instructors.
Chewing the leaf in his mouth, his face immediately turned pale.
It was exactly as what this young man had said!
The medicinal properties of herbs were distributed unevenly throughout their bodies as they grew. This was similar to how the bodies of most humans were sometimes disproportionate—based on their muscles, skeletal growth, and the fat on their bodies.
Because of this, the slightest deviation in the composition of the herb’s medicinal properties would definitely affect the quality of the pill that was refined from that particular herb.
Of course, people wanted to avoid this inconsistency…
But no one truly knew which part of a medicinal herb had more concentration of that particular medicinal property, and just how much of it was concentrated in that place on the herb.
No one could be 100% accurate in this endeavor.
But this young man in front of him casually located the place where the medicinal properties of this Spirit Calming Grass were mostly concentrated. What’s more, he also accurately guessed the percentage of its concentration.
This was a bit scary!
The old man saw everything with his own eyes, yet he still found it unbelievable.
“What about this herb?”
Holding back his excitement, the old man took out a few more medicinal herbs. Su Yin sniffed lightly and quickly explained in detail—the medicinal properties of the medicine, where it was being distributed, and its percentages.
The old man sliced apart the medicinal herbs that Su Yin inspected. Chewing them carefully in his mouth, the old man soon discovered that Su Yin struck the bull’s eye again!
In other words, this young man was able to distinguish the medicinal properties of medicinal herbs, and find where they were mostly distributed in just a single glance, without destroying the herb in the process!
“You…” The old man couldn’t hold it back anymore as he looked over at Su Yin. His figure was trembling as he said, “You’re naturally sensitive to medicinal herbs? You’re able to see through their medicinal properties with a glance?”
Legends spoke of a few people that were naturally sensitive to medicinal herbs. Their sensitivity made it so that they were able to easily distinguish the properties of medicinal herbs at a glance.
Could it be that this young man in front of him had that kind of talent?!
“Of course not…”
Su Yin didn’t expect that the old man would think about him this way. Shaking his head, he refuted the old man’s words. “Of course not, how could there be such a thing as being capable without hard work? I wasn’t able to do all of these at the beginning too…”
“It took me a lot of hard work before I was able to do all of these.”
“Hard work?”
“That makes sense! No matter how talented you are, you definitely still need to learn.”
The old man’s expression turned solemn as he was nodding his head. He looked at Su Yin with curiosity in his eyes and asked, “Looking at your age, you are still quite young…”
“Then, how long did it take you before you were able to accurately distinguish the distribution of medicinal properties in medicinal herbs?”
“My talent is average…” Su Yin thought for a while. Bitterness soon appeared on his face as he replied, “It took me about ten days!”
“Ten days?”
The old man froze in place.
Are you sure you’re not mistaken? Did you mean to say ten years, not ten days?