Chapter 94: Finishing touch

As soon as these words were spoken, the villagers marveled, and the village chief nodded with a smile, "The deaf man is truly remarkable. This is the refined method of artistic competition. A touch of inspiration brings life to the painting, capturing the essence of heaven and earth. That is the way."

Qin Mu stepped forward and respectfully saluted the deaf man, assuming the posture of a disciple paying respects to his master.

The deaf man's expression changed slightly, and he quickly evaded, saying, "In our competition, regardless of seniority between master and disciple, we are currently fellow students. Let's maintain equal footing and exchange the appropriate greetings after the competition, then I will be your mentor."

Qin Mu understood that the deaf man had peculiar ways of handling things. He immediately adjusted his posture to an equal footing, and the deaf man reciprocated the gesture.

Both of them held a brush and stood in front of the painting, each focusing on the artwork before them.

Transforming one's mana into supernatural powers to animate a dragon on a painting was already a remarkable achievement. However, to infuse the dragon in the painting with a divine soul through the power of one's imagination was a matter of harnessing the essence of heaven and earth.

Qin Mu had followed the deaf man's teachings in calligraphy and painting, and although he had learned a great deal from him and had created many paintings, this was his first attempt at infusing life into a painting with the stroke of a brush.

A touch of inspiration would grant the figures and objects in the painting a soul. The deaf man had indeed taught him about it, but Qin Mu had never successfully experimented with it before.

This round was much more difficult than the previous ones.

Qin Mu focused his gaze on the dragon in the painting. It was so vividly depicted that he felt as if the dragon in the painting was swimming and constantly changing its posture.

The deaf man's painting skills were indeed extraordinary. Even without the finishing touch, the dragon in the painting seemed to have the sensation of soaring through the air!

Qin Mu held the brush, but hesitated to make a move. The dragon in the painting was right in front of him, but how should he infuse it with life?

He realized that no matter where he placed the finishing touch, it was difficult to make the dragon come to life. Regardless of the placement, it felt wrong.

Aunt Si couldn't help herself and lowered her voice, saying, "Mu'er, tear the deaf man's painting, and you'll win!"

The deaf man gave her a disdainful look, "That's a wicked method. I taught Mu'er to study the books of sages, so he would have the heart of a sage and not resort to your wicked deeds."

Aunt Si became furious.

The village chief laughed and said, "Aunt Si, don't disturb Mu'er in his duel. This test set by the deaf man is quite clever."

Aunt Si had no choice but to suppress her anger.

Qin Mu's eyes were fixed solely on the dragon in the painting. The village no longer existed in his eyes; only the painting floated before him. After a moment, even the painting disappeared, leaving behind only a dragon drawn in ink.

This dragon roamed in his vision, rising and falling, moving left and right. It sometimes crawled, sometimes soared, sometimes coiled, sometimes lay down. It raised its head, wagged its tail, performed dragon dances, frolicked in water, spewed fire, and thundered. It was truly agile and peculiar.

Qin Mu felt as if he had become the dragon in the painting, but from his perspective, all he could see was darkness. He was lacking eyes.

He tried hard to break free from this darkness, but he didn't know how to open his eyes.

He thought of the dragon pillars in the Dragon-Engraved City, the dragon bones and dragon souls in the Dragon Palace of the Surging River, and the stone statues in the village, carved by divine beings with their extraordinary strokes.

Carving divine statues was also a form of painting, with a wondrous brushwork that carried profound spirituality, as if infusing the statues with souls, turning them into guardian gods of the Great Expanse.

After a long time, Qin Mu felt a faint glimmer of light emerging from the darkness. It was as if the dragon was slowly opening its eyes. As the darkness before him dissipated, a gleam of brilliance burst forth from Qin Mu's eyes, and he raised his brush to add the finishing touch to the dragon!

A touch of inspiration brought forth a divine soul!

As his brush descended, the dragon in the painting instantly came to life on the paper. It shook its head and wagged its tail, suddenly flying off the paper and soaring into the sky, frolicking among the clouds. The painting was left as nothing but a blank piece of paper, without a trace of ink!

Qin Mu was stunned. He had actually succeeded!

He had truly managed to bring a dragon painting to life!

The dragon moved in the air for a moment before transforming into ink, dyeing the clouds black.

Qin Mu quickly looked towards the deaf man and saw that he had already washed his brush and hung it on the rack. He hadn't added the finishing touch to the dragon in the painting.

Qin Mu suddenly realized, "Grandpa Deaf, you didn't instruct me to do this?"

The deaf man shook his head, "I didn't instruct you. When I was your age, I didn't have the profound attainments you possess. My trial is not about winning or losing. As a teacher, it is my duty to impart knowledge to you. Why should we care about victory or defeat?"

The Pharmacist praised, "Deaf man, your magnanimity as a teacher is truly admirable. Mu'er, my trial for you is not a competition either. It is for you to refine medicine. Go to the medicinal field outside the village, gather thirty poisonous substances, and refine a potent tonic. Once the medicine is completed, take it yourself. If it nourishes you, you will have passed this stage. If you're poisoned to death, you'll continue to stay in the village."

Qin Mu couldn't help but laugh bitterly. If he died from the poisoning, how could he stay in the village?

The intention behind the Pharmacist's trial was also evident. By using thirty kinds of poisonous substances to refine a potent tonic, one needed to have a profound understanding of pharmacology. The quantity of each herb, whether to use leaves or roots, pollen or petals, decoction or baking, all required careful consideration.

Moreover, the Pharmacist hadn't told him the prescription. Instead, he was tasked with calculating the dosage and refining process based on his knowledge of pharmacology, ensuring that each toxic ingredient counteracted the others to transform into a nourishing tonic.

The process of refinement also hinged on the correct timing and form. When to add certain ingredients, whether in powder or block form, the intensity of the fire, and the duration of boiling all required Qin Mu's judgment based on his experience in refining medicine.

A slight deviation could lead to failure. If there was any mistake in any step, Qin Mu could potentially ruin his efforts and create a highly toxic potion that would kill him.

Qin Mu stood at the edge of the Pharmacist's medicinal field, gazing at the various herbs. He contemplated for a long time, calculating the toxicity of each plant, how to proportion them, how to assign them as sovereign, minister, and assistant ingredients, how to balance Yin and Yang, and how to regulate the energy of dragons and tigers.

After a while, he cautiously began to gather the herbs from the medicinal field.

When he reached the twenty-ninth herb, Qin Mu stopped picking and instead carefully captured a mottled scorpion from the leaves of a poisonous plant. He decapitated and removed its wings, using it as the thirtieth ingredient, a highly toxic substance.

Returning to the village, Qin Mu treated a portion of the herbs by roasting the roots and stems to extract excessive medicinal potency. Another portion was boiled in water, while the remaining herbs were dehydrated using the vermilion phoenix's energy.

After busying himself for a while, he finally began the process of refining the medicine.

The Pharmacist stood not far away, observing every step, every technique, and the exquisite application of energy, nodding silently in approval.

Qin Mu took out a large vat, using his energy to suspend it in mid-air. One by one, he placed the thirty herbs into the vat, without adding any water. Instead, he used his energy, devoid of any attributes, to extract the medicinal potency from the herbs.

The Pharmacist was slightly moved. This was a unique technique of Qin Mu's. Even he wouldn't be able to replicate it since his energy had attributes, which could damage the medicinal properties of the herbs. Only Qin Mu's attributeless energy could be used to extract the medicinal potency in this manner.

Qin Mu became even more cautious. His energy divided into thirty streams, each saturating a different herb. At the same time, his palm, which held the vat, burst forth with vermilion phoenix energy, transforming into a blazing fire, allowing the medicinal potencies in the vat to begin merging.

His other hand released the energy of the black tortoise, moisturizing the medicinal potencies with water vapor, slowing down the process of fusion, while simultaneously removing the medicinal residue from the vat.

After a while, Qin Mu suddenly rotated the large vat, and a jingling sound echoed from within. When the vat stopped spinning, it revealed numerous white pills that continuously rotated inside, crystal clear and as pure as white jade pearls.

Qin Mu reached out and picked up one pill. Nervously, Simo Po asked, "Pharmacist, is it poisonous?"

The Pharmacist smiled and replied, "Mule, once you've ingested it, you'll know if it's poisonous."

Qin Mu opened his mouth and swallowed the pill, saying, "Don't worry, Po, this pill is not toxic..."

Suddenly, his hair exploded, growing wildly in all directions. Simo Po and the others were startled, and Qin Mu quickly explained, "There's one ingredient that I didn't balance properly, affecting the Kidney Water. The stimulation of the Kidney Water triggers excessive hair growth, making my hair appear dense."

Simo Po retorted angrily, "Is this just 'dense'?"

Qin Mu's hair continued to grow uncontrollably, becoming longer and longer. The hair grew straight like bamboo shoots, reaching a length of over twenty to thirty zhang (around 60-90 meters), standing upright and remarkably hard.

Qin Mu felt the weight on his head and said, "Po, the greatest benefit of this pill is its healing properties. It can rapidly regenerate decayed muscles, heal torn muscles, promote bone growth, reconnect severed tendons. The stimulation of Kidney Water for excessive hair growth is just a minor side effect..."

His hair kept growing, and the weight on his head became increasingly heavy, almost unable to bear the explosive growth.

Suppressing his laughter, the Pharmacist said, "You've passed this trial. Butcher, tidy up his hair. If it continues to grow, his neck will snap."

The Butcher stepped forward and quickly shaved off all of Qin Mu's hair until his head was smooth and shiny.

Everyone looked at the Mute, who wiped his hands with a towel. He dragged the furnace out of the collapsed blacksmith shop, threw two pieces of cold iron into the furnace, and the fire inside extinguished instantly, leaving frost on the walls of the furnace.

The Mute walked away, laughing and saying, "Ah, ah!"