Chapter 41
Master Ming Zong looked at Zheng Qiu, and found that his apprentice didn't have that suddenly realized look on his face, but rather confused.
So he let go of his hand and drank two glasses of water to regain his mood. Master Ming Zong narrowed his eyes slightly, looked at the clouds floating in the sky and slowly said: "That's right, you are young and have never been in touch with cultivation, so it's normal that you can't understand after a while. , let’s take it step by step, starting from the most basic.”
"Follow me." Master Mingzong stood up and called Zheng Qiu back to the building.
Stepping on the dry ladder, this time Zheng Qiu followed his master to the 40th floor. The master told him that there are a total of 55 floors in the Fangcao Building. From the 40th floor up, they are all books and materials accumulated by the master's research on planting medicine. .
Master Ming Zong rummaged through the bookshelf for a while, and pulled out a booklet. He walked to the nearest desk, swept the things on it aside, put down the booklet and let Zheng Qiu come over.
"Apprentice, this booklet contains the twenty most common herbs," said Master Ming Zong, taking a pen and paper and handing it to Zheng Qiu. "You know most of these herbs. For these familiar herbs, You write down the methods of planting on paper, and I will test these methods."
Zheng Qiu opened the booklet and read it carefully, holding a pen and writing rapidly on the paper. Finding that the apprentice was writing very quickly, Master Mingzong put aside his thoughts of doing other things and went to the desk to watch Zheng Qiu write.
In less than half an hour, Zheng Qiu turned to the last page of the booklet. He stopped writing and handed the paper full of words to the master: "Master, I have finished writing. I know all twenty kinds."
"Well, yes, your foundation is better than I imagined." Master Ming Zong took the paper and read Zheng Qiu's methods of planting medicine repeatedly. It's completely different from what I usually use."
"Ah? Master, is my method wrong? But what I have tried to grow can grow up."
Master Ming Zong put down the paper and shook his head: "I didn't say that these methods are wrong. Since you can grow a living, it can definitely be used. But I still have to test the effect."
Master Ming Zong picked up the paper again and studied it carefully. After a while, he suddenly asked: "Apprentice, is the place where you learned how to grow medicine not good enough?"
"What is bad condition?"
"You see, these methods of planting medicines do not involve any precious soil or mountain springs, nor do they imitate the blessed environment where the essence of heaven and earth gather. They are all bypassed by using the mutual cooperation of materials and planting techniques."
Master Ming Zong pinched his inch-long beard and said thoughtfully: "Based on my many years of experience, this detour planting method should not be as good as the normal planting method. Hmm... But it's hard to say, we still have to Just try it out."
Master Ming Zong went back to the bookshelf, rummaged through the box and found a box of dusty books, he blew the dust on it, and fell down on the table.
"These are the lists of basic medicinal materials. Apprentice, the only thing you do these two days is to read through these books. As long as you know them and know how to plant them, write them down on paper. I have to fully understand your Foundation."
The books that Master Ming Zong piled up on the table are large and small, new and old, and there are a lot of them. Zheng Qiu only knew a small part of the medicinal materials in the book. Originally, he planned to memorize them while flipping through them, but the master stopped him when he found out.
The master emphasized that there is no need to memorize these books. There is a systematic list of medicinal materials in the building to learn, and messy memorization will confuse people. For the planting methods written down by Zheng Qiu, Master Ming Zong tested each of them. As for the results of the tests, it will take ten and a half months to know.
After five days like this, Zheng Qiu finished flipping through all the books on the table, and that afternoon, Master Ming Zong began to give him his first class.
The class is held on the forty-fifth floor of the Fangcao Building. This floor is different from other floors where books and materials are kept. It is quite tidy here.
Along the wall of Fangcao Building, there are two circles of bookshelves neatly arranged. The bookshelves are as bright as new, and the books on them are neatly stacked.
Master Mingzong and Zheng Qiu sat down facing each other, and the master took out a book and threw it on the table. The book is not too thick, Zheng Qiu picked it up and found that it read "Yunxiu Yaolu" on it. The master poured a glass of water for himself to moisten his throat, and motioned his disciples to read while listening to his explanation.
Medicinal materials are divided into two types: dead matter and living matter. Dead matter refers to medicinal materials that do not move, while living matter is the opposite.
Dead things can be divided into five categories: grass, wood, water, air, and minerals, and living things can be divided into four categories: insects, beasts, birds, and monsters. Since grasses and trees are the most commonly used medicinal materials, we usually refer to grasses and trees as the main types of medicines.
Afterwards, Master Ming Zong explained each of these categories in detail, and kept giving examples to make Zheng Qiu understand. Zheng Qiu flipped through the book following what the master said, and took notes on paper from time to time.
Until the sun went down and the sky was dark, the master stretched out his hand and gently stroked the lampstand on the table, and the lamp stone supported on the lampstand lit up with a warm yellow light.
One, two, three... seven, eight, the master explained in detail eight categories in total, five of which are dead and four are living. There should be nine categories, why is there one missing? Zheng Qiu flipped through "Yunxiu Yaolu" back and forth, counting the categories on his fingers, and he found that there was no such category in the whole book.
He hurriedly asked the master: "Master, you just said that living things are divided into four categories: insects, beasts, birds, and monsters. Why didn't you mention the category of monsters in the book? And you didn't mention it, master."
Master Mingzong pondered for a moment, and the tone of his answer revealed uncertainty.
"Strange, this classification, how should I put it, I have never seen it before, master. However, the three thousand-year-old sects of Yunxiu have records in this regard, and the annals of wandering also have relevant content, so I counted it in."
"Tell me, master, I want to hear it, I want to hear it!" Zheng Qiu's curiosity was aroused, and he looked at the master eagerly.
"Ahem," Master Ming Zong cleared his throat, "Alright then, let me talk about the classification."
According to the records of the three thousand-year-old sects of Yunxiu, monsters are not like beasts, birds, or insects. They are monsters that people have never seen before. It happens very rarely, but every time it does, it's a disaster.
The monster is huge in size, the big one is like a mountain peak, and the small one is no less than a cow or horse, and the span is staggering. Wherever the monster goes, the mountains and fields are deserted, and the people are devastated. In addition to destroying, it is still destroying.
According to records, monsters have no wisdom, they can't understand human speech, and they don't know how to avoid people's attacks. However, all the records mention that these monsters have a special power, not a physical strange power, nor a tyrannical energy, but a kind of erosive power.
Wherever monsters stay for a long time, the environment and landforms will gradually change to look similar to the monster's body surface, and those creatures killed by monsters will eventually become new monsters with similar power to monsters.
However, for the major sects of Yunxiu, the monster is a good thing, because the erosive power in it has the effect of assimilating pills and the essence of heaven and earth. As long as its body is refined with special techniques to reduce the damage of erosive power to the cultivator's body, a magical pill that can quickly raise the realm can be produced.
Master Ming Zong picked up the kettle and found that the water in it had been poured out. He sighed and said, "Some records mentioned that there are many other magical uses of the monster. Unfortunately, I don't have this fate. I haven't seen one."