Chapter 30: Shen Nong's Hundred Herbs and the Blue Bag Classic

  "You, you've been planning to use me as a test subject from the very beginning?" Zhou Hao stared at Dr. Gong Sun with wide eyes.

  Gongsun's face didn't show any guilt, "Because I wanted to see someone successfully absorb the Dragon's Saliva Fruit in my lifetime. Hehe, you lost control and fought with me yesterday because I secretly put the remaining Dragon's Saliva Fruit from sixty years ago into your medicine. Although it has been sixty years, the medicinal properties of the Dragon's Saliva Fruit have almost disappeared, but it can still test its effect." He said to Zhou Hao: "I decided to let you take this last Dragon's Saliva Fruit only because I saw that you could withstand the medicinal properties of the Dragon's Saliva Fruit from sixty years ago."

  Zhou Haogang was about to scold him a few words, when he heard Gong Sun Da Fu say: "Actually, I'm already over 120 years old this year. According to my own estimate, I won't make it past this month. That's why I'm in such a hurry to have you take risks. The reason I taught you internal skills is also to maximize your physical strength, so you can withstand the separation of the Dragon's Saliva Fruit."

  At this point, Zhou Hao finally understood that all of this was planned by Gong Sun Da Fu. Moreover, when he heard that Gong Sun Da Fu was over 120 years old, Zhou Hao found it hard to believe, "No way, you look like you're only in your seventies or eighties."

  "This is because I have been practicing internal skills, and over the years, I have taken a lot of good medicine, so my life is longer than others."

  "You said you can't make it through this month, but I think you look quite healthy." Zhou Hao furrowed his brow and said. Although Dr. Gong had repeatedly told him that he was going to die soon, Zhou Hao still felt a pang of sadness upon hearing the news.

  Gongsun smiled wryly, "At my age, I've already accepted my fate. Moreover, after eating the Longyan fruit back then, I've had lingering symptoms that have dragged on until today, which is a gain in itself." Suddenly, he saw the simple screen made of wooden boards and straw behind him, and his face became somewhat unnatural as he said to Zhou Hao: "Right, I forgot to tell you, since the Longyan fruit is an extremely yang substance, it not only can stimulate your body's potential but also has a very strong effect."

  "What's going on?" Zhou Hao muttered to himself, as if he had suddenly remembered something. His face turned pale and he looked around nervously, asking repeatedly: "Li... Li teacher, where is she?" Gong Sun had hidden elsewhere when the dragon crystal fruit took effect in his body, leaving only Li Ruoshan with him. If the dragon crystal fruit was a potent medicine, what would he do? Zhou Hao didn't dare to think about it anymore.

  Gongsun Dafu nodded towards the screen behind him, and Zhou Hao hurried over to see Li Ruolan hugging her knees and crying continuously behind the screen.

  Seeing Li Ruolan's face red and green, with tears in her eyes filled with sorrow, Zhou Hao was struck by lightning, his mind went blank, especially Li Ruolan's desperate and miserable gaze, it was like a sharp knife, cutting into Zhou Hao's heart.

  Li Ruolan is indeed Zhou Hao's first love, and after his rebirth, he doesn't want to miss this gentle and elegant woman again. However, the way to get her is absolutely not like it is now.

  "Li... Teacher Li..." Zhou Hao's throat felt dry and blocked, as if something was stuck in it.

  "I'm not your teacher!" Li Ruolan bit her lip, seeing Zhou Hao, the painful scene from before again appeared in her mind. Although she also heard what Gong Sun said earlier and knew that Zhou Hao was a victim just like herself, but to say that she didn't blame Zhou Hao in her heart would be a lie.

  "Teacher...... I......" Zhou Hao squatted down, unsure of how to face Li Ruolan.

  Li Ruolan closed her eyes, and two teardrops rolled down from the corners of her eyes again. Her nose twitched twice, then she took a deep breath. "I know this isn't all your fault, but let me calm down for a bit, I need to cool off."

  "Teacher……” A strong sense of guilt was gnawing at Zhou Hao's heart, especially seeing Li Ruolan being tormented to this state by himself. If Li Ruolan asked Zhou Hao to atone for his sins with death, Zhou Hao would also agree without hesitation.

  Li Ruolan turned her face to one side and stopped looking at him, "Let me be quiet for a while."

  Zhou Hao sighed and stood up, walking out from behind the screen. After seeing Gong Sun's husband outside, he clenched his fists tightly, but Li Ruolan's voice came from inside, "Don't make things difficult for him anymore, anyway, he won't live long."

  Toward Li Ruolan's words, Zhou Hao unconditionally obeyed, suppressing the anger in his heart, but still gave Gong Sun a fierce glare.

  But then Gong Sun saw Da Fu walking towards Zhou Hao, and took out two thread-bound ancient books from his bosom. He said to Zhou Hao: "Now I won't say anything to ask you to forgive me either. Here are two ancient books, one is 'Shennong Bencao', the other is 'Qing Nang Jing'. Give them to you, as a gift before my death."

  "Is this the 'Qing Nang Jing'? Isn't this a medical book written by Hua Tuo of ancient China?" Zhou Hao was shocked, "But historical records show that the 'Qing Nang Jing' written by Hua Tuo was personally burned by him."

  Gongsun Daifu shook his head, "When Hua Tuo was imprisoned, in order to prevent his medical skills from being lost, he wanted to hand over his works to the prison guard. However, the prison guard was afraid of getting into trouble and did not dare accept it. In desperation, Hua Tuo decided to burn his book 'Qing Nang Jing'. But what people didn't know was that the prison guard couldn't bear to see Hua Tuo's despair and intervened, promising to keep 'Qing Nang Jing' for him. Unfortunately, by then half of 'Qing Nang Jing' had already been burned, only the lower half remained, which I obtained through a series of coincidences."

  Zhou Hao took over the "Qing Nang Jing" and opened it to take a look. He saw that only a small part of it recorded medical knowledge such as medication and acupuncture, while the rest were similar to the human body meridian diagrams given by Gong Sun Dafu earlier, with many different postures drawn on them, looking like a martial arts manual.

  "This records Hua Tuo's self-created 'Five Animals Play'." Gong Sun said, "This is a profound martial art that cultivates both internal and external skills, which can strengthen the body and resist enemies. My own martial arts skills were learned from this."

  Zhou Hao had also heard of the "Wuqinxi" and knew it was created by Hua Tuo, but his understanding of Wuqinxi was limited to being just a physical exercise.

  "Nowadays, the 'Five Animals Play' circulating outside is all form and no substance." Gong Sun said: "They don't have this corresponding internal skill - 'Nourishing Qi Record', so they've lost the essence of 'Five Animals Play', and can't exert its effects at all." He looked at Zhou Hao, "Now, follow the method I taught you earlier and feel it, is there a strong flow of true qi in your body?"

  Zhou Hao did as he was told, and indeed felt a warm flow of energy circulating through his body's Eight Extraordinary Meridians and Five Organs. Just then, Gong Sun said: "The qigong that we Chinese people practice is actually just about bringing out the maximum potential of one's bodily strength. Now that you've absorbed the Dragon's Saliva Fruit, your body's latent abilities have been completely activated. Therefore, if you come to cultivate qigong, you'll possess an unparalleled advantage."

  "Is it like what Li said, that both Ren and Du meridians have been opened?" Zhou Hao asked excitedly.

  Gongsun Dafu smiled and nodded, "It can also be said that because of the medicinal properties of Longyan fruit, all your extraordinary meridians have been opened up. This is what qigong practitioners dream of."

  Zhou Hao thought to himself, then I can be just like those heroic knights who come and go freely.

  "On the verge of death, I can help you learn the entire set of 'Five Animals Play'. Master Gongsun said to Zhou Hao: "Although you now possess extremely powerful strength, you still don't know how to use it, so this set of 'Five Animals Play' is still very useful for you."

  Zhou Hao nodded, this time, Gong Sun's transmission of martial arts was indeed sincere.

  Also, Gong Sun Dafu handed over the "Shennong Bencao" to Zhou Hao, "The preciousness of 'Shennong Bencao' is far more than that of 'Qingnang Jing', because this is a work summarized by Shennong after tasting hundreds of herbs, and later it was researched and supplemented by dozens of generations before finally condensing into this 'Shennong Bencao'."

  Zhou Hao was greatly shocked by the words, a "Qing Nang Jing" was already hard to come by in the world, and he didn't expect that this "Shen Nong Bai Cao" had an even greater origin, it was actually left behind by Shen Nong Shi.

  "It records the efficacy and properties of various herbs, as well as many prescriptions for treating illnesses, all of which were lost thousands of years ago. All my medical skills come from this 'Shennong Bencao', and it was also what told me about the dragon's saliva fruit. Whether or not you have any intention of studying medicine in the future, I hope you can take good care of it."

  After receiving the "Shennong Bencao", Zhou Hao saw that it recorded various information about Chinese herbal medicine, accompanied by illustrations, and also included many additional annotations on classical Chinese texts, so it was not too difficult to read.

  "The annotations inside were completed by me over a lifetime." Gong Sun added.

  Although Gong Sun Daifu repeatedly designed Zhou Hao, he could spend his whole life studying this "Shennong Baicao", and Zhou Hao was still very respectful. And the reason why he took Zhou Hao as a test product for Longyan fruit seems to be due to that kind of madness for medical research and human body research. So, strictly speaking, Gong Sun Daifu is that kind of crazy scientist, even if his means are not necessarily brilliant, but the results of his research are also worth respecting.

  Suddenly, Zhou Hao thought of a question and asked Gong Sun: "Right, what if I unfortunately die after taking the dragon's saliva fruit? What do you plan to do with these two books? Give them to Teacher Li?"

  Gongsun Dafu shook his head, "That girl isn't suitable, if you really die, then I'll bury these two books and wait for someone with fate to discover them."

  Zhou Hao cursed in his heart, thinking that this old man was unreasonable, and would rather leave it to the elusive "fated person" than give it to Li Ruolan to pass on, perhaps many traditional Chinese medical techniques were lost in this way.