Chapter 6 Continuation of Life

At another fork in the road, the little boy was separated from the others. After walking a little further, I walked into an old bungalow. As soon as you enter the house is the living room. There is a painting of a pine crane hanging in the middle hall, and there is a small door next to it leading to the back kitchen, in the middle of which is a table of eight immortals and four long benches, on which are placed tea sets, and there is an ear room on the left and right sides.

"Mother, I'm back. The little boy put down the basket and ran to the left ear room.

There was only one bed in the humble room, and on the bed sat a woman, half covered by a quilt. When he saw the little boy, he asked kindly, "Is it so early today?"

"Today, Uncle San and Uncle Fang said that they would come back to see if they could catch the market, so come back early. ”

The woman smiled and said, "Then what medicine did you take today?"

The little boy ran out of the living room and returned to the room with a bamboo basket, "I picked less today, but I picked a Ganoderma lucidum, and I will give you a stew to drink...... Hey...... Why do I have so many extra medicines in my medicine basket?" said the little boy strangely, looking at the full bamboo basket.

The old woman smiled and stroked the boy's head.

"I see. The little boy suddenly realized, "It must be the third uncle, they secretly put the medicine they picked into my bamboo basket again." ”

"It must be!" the woman smiled, "Uncle San, they love you so much, they always give you the medicine they collected, and you will have to honor them well in the future." ”

"I know, mother, I'll go cook first. ”

"Well, my mother is here to help you. ”

"No, you still lie down and rest, I'll just go. The little boy hurriedly stopped.

"My mother is always lying down, this old bone is crispy, you let my mother move. It's been a long time since I've cooked for you. As he spoke, he rolled over the quilt and got out of bed. "Who are you looking for?"

Bai Yiyue, the old Taoist priest and the young man walked in.

"Poor Dao wants to find this little boy. The old Taoist priest pointed to the little boy.

The little boy asked curiously, "Looking for me?"

The old Taoist priest smiled and asked, "What's your name?"

"Shen Xingchen. Shen Xingchen looked at the old Taoist, then at Bai Xianyue and the young man next to him and asked, "Do you have anything to do with me?"

"Auntie......" Suddenly there was a shout outside the house, followed by a man and a woman, two children of the same age as Shen Xingchen. The boy was chubby and simple-looking, carrying a piece of pork tied with a rope in his hand, and the girl was holding two strings of sugar gourds in his hand. It was the little girl who called Auntie.

"Second fat, third sister, why are you here?" asked Shen Xingchen with a smile.

"My dad asked me to bring this pork to you. The little boy smiled and handed the pork to the woman, then stared at the three strangers he had never seen before.

"Thank you dad for your aunt. The woman smiled and took the pork.

Er Fat: "Xingchen, are you a guest at home?"

Shen Xingchen: "En." ”

"Brother Xingchen, when I went to the market today, I specially bought you two strings of sugar gourds. The little girl smiled and took the sugar gourd to Shen Xingchen.

"Thank you. Shen Xingchen took the sugar gourd and said with a smile.

The woman looked at the two sensible children and said kindly, "Second fat, third sister, you will eat at your aunt's house later." Today, my aunt will make you braised pork to eat. ”

Little boy: "No, my mother said that she wanted us to go back to dinner, and I would come back to play with Xingchen in the afternoon." ”

"Well, Brother Xingchen, my father bought me a lot of toys and waited for them to come to my house to play. ”

"Good. Shen Xingchen replied with a smile. ”

"Then we're leaving, Auntie. So saying, the little boy took the little girl and ran out.

"Slow down. The woman cried out with concern.

"Got it!"

The woman put the pork on the table, turned to the old Taoist priest and asked, "May I ask the Taoist chief for something to find my family's stars?"

The old Taoist priest held the dust in his hand and hugged his fists and said: "The poor road is the Baixian Mountain Shouqing, and he came here thousands of miles away, just to take Ling Gongzi to Baixian Mountain to learn the law!"

"It turned out to be the immortal of Baixian Mountain!" the woman said in surprise, and then asked strangely, "Has the old immortal seen my family's stars before?"

"Nope." Shouqing said with a smile.

"Then why did the old fairy take a fancy to our family's Xingchen?" the woman looked at Shen Xingchen suspiciously.

The old Taoist priest smiled: "The poor Taoist travels all over the world and makes good friends. Then he pointed to Bai Yiyue and the young man, "These two are the ones who met during the Poor Dao during the cloud tour, and they are going to follow the Poor Dao to ask for the Dharma on the White Immortal Mountain." Today, I happened to meet Ling Gongzi, and I saw that Ling Gongzi had a strange appearance, and if he learned the Tao, the future was immeasurable. Therefore, Poor Dao hopes to form a good relationship with Ling Gongzi and guide Ling Gongzi to learn the Tao. ”

Hearing this, Bai Xianyue rolled her eyes and scolded in her heart: "You old thing, obviously you are here for Shen Xingchen, and you said it as if it was a chance encounter. Thinking of this, a sense of foreboding suddenly rose, 'I must have been deceived too!'

"Oh, that's right. The woman looked at Shen Xingchen and responded.

The old Taoist priest also seemed to see the doubts in the woman's heart, and said, "Mrs. Shen, I wonder if you can talk alone?"

"Mother, then I'll go cook first, and you talk first. Shen Xingchen picked up the pork on the table, walked to the kitchen to bring hot water, and walked back to the kitchen after making tea.

"Sit down and have a cup of hot tea. The woman poured out three cups of tea.

Shouqing, Bai Xianyue sat down with the young man.

Old Taoist: "Looking at Mrs. Shen's face, is she sick?"

The woman smiled: "It's an old problem, I've been taking medicine, and I haven't seen any better." ”

Shouqing stretched out his hand: "Can you let the poor road take the pulse?"

The woman stretched out her right hand, "Then there is an old fairy." ”

Shouqing gently put his hand on the pulse of the woman's right hand, and only saw that the woman's complexion was extremely bad and her temples were slightly convex before, which was a sign of death, until he took the pulse, Shouqing was not really sure. The woman's pulse was weak, and the qi in the meridians was intermittent. A normal person's meridians are smooth, even if they are seriously ill, they will appear weak, but the breath in the woman's meridians is intermittent, which proves that she is close to the lights and is supported by external forces. But she is a woman and has no cultivation, how did she make herself survive until now?" "How long has Mrs. Shen been sick?"

The woman replied, "It's been almost three years! The child's father fell off a cliff a few years ago to collect medicine and his whereabouts are still unknown. The people who went up the mountain with him said that the cliff was too high for a way to go down, so he could not find even the bones. I was sick and couldn't do heavy work, so I relied on the stars to go up the mountain to collect some medicinal herbs and sell them, or help the people in the village to supplement their families. The people in the village took pity on us orphans and widows and took good care of us. ”

"So what kind of medicine has Mrs. Shen been using lately?"

"There is a doctor in our village who prescribes medicine to me, and I always take the medicine he prescribed for me. ”

Old Taoist: "Can you borrow a prescription?"

"Okay, old fairy, wait a minute, I'll go get it. The woman got up and went back to her room and came out with a piece of paper. He sat down again and handed it to Shouqing.

Shouqing took the prescription and looked at it, the medicinal materials written on the prescription were just some simple medicinal materials that invigorated qi and blood, and there was nothing special about it. This alone will not sustain the woman to survive until now.

"Pardon the poor way. Shouqing put down the prescription and said solemnly: "Mrs. Shen's illness cannot be cured. ”

"I already knew that. The woman looked very calm and continued: "The doctor said at that time that I had been sick for only three months. But with the prescription given to me by the doctor, I managed to survive for nearly three years, perhaps because God had mercy on our mother and son! ”

"So does Mrs. Shen take any other medicines besides taking this prescription?"

"In addition to this prescription, Xingchen gave me a pill every seven days, saying that it was prepared by reading a medical book by himself. In fact, how can he know so much, just seeing that he is filial, I can't refuse, so I take it and eat it. ”

"What kind of herb is that pill made of?"

"I have to ask the stars, I don't understand. ”

Shouqing had doubts in his heart, guessing that the pill should not be simple, so that his wife could survive for three years. "And what does that pill look like?"

"Reddish-brown, the size of a little finger, smells good. ”

That's right, this should be the 'Life Continuation Pill'. 'Life Renewal Pill' was originally the unique formula of the Medicine King Valley, the medicine of the town faction. The size of the little finger of the pill body is reddish-brown and fragrant. It is said that unless the signs of life disappear completely, or die naturally, even if the eight veins of the Qi Sutra are broken, taking this pill can last for seven days, and as long as the pill continues, life can be extended. Because this pill is too rebellious, legend has it that the people of the Medicine King Valley also suffered a heavenly calamity when refining the medicine. Then, it was precisely because of this medicine that people all over the world flocked to it, and they couldn't come to the door to ask for medicine, so they began to forcibly snatch it, and the Medicine King Valley was almost wiped out because of this medicine. Later, I heard that the prescription had been stolen along with the refined elixir. The person who stole the Life Continuation Pill came from the 'Miaokong Sect', a sect that specializes in stealing Dharma texts from other sects. Legend has it that they did this in order to combine the secret books of the world's sects to restore the complete book of heaven, so the disciples were called 'book cultivators'. But this sect suddenly disappeared without a trace more than a decade ago. Legend has it that the current head of the sect, Zhao Qin, has completed the restoration of the Book of Heaven and successfully cultivated to ascend to immortality.

"Can you let Poor Dao ask Ling Gongzi?"

"Okay. The woman turned to the kitchen and called, "Xingchen, come out for a moment." ”

"It's coming. Shen Xingchen answered and ran out. "Mother, what's wrong?"

"This old fairy has something to ask you. ”

Shen Xingchen looked at Shouqing and asked respectfully, "Old Immortal, do you have something to ask me?"

"Yes. Shouqing said with a smile: "What Poor Dao wants to ask is, in addition to the prescription prescribed by the village doctor to Mrs. Shen, where did the pills you give Mrs. Shen come from?"

Shen Xingchen looked at Shouqing, as if he was hesitating. "This is a home remedy I found in an ancient book, and it is said that it mainly plays the role of invigorating blood and qi. ”

Shouqing naturally didn't believe what Shen Xingchen said, and just as he wanted to speak, Shen Xingchen added: "But once when I went up the mountain to collect medicine, the book accidentally fell into the cliff, and I couldn't find it again." ”

Shen Xingchen seemed to understand something, and blocked the road behind him with a word, and no longer let Shouqing continue to ask. ”

Shouqing hurriedly asked, "Then do you still have that kind of pill in your hand?"

"No, the last one has been eaten by my mother in the morning. ”

"Old fairy, the stars won't lie to you, I did take that pill in the morning. ”

"Mother, then I'll go cook first. With that, Shen Xingchen ran to the kitchen.

Shouqing knew that Shen Xingchen must have something to hide, even if he really obtained the method book for refining the Life-Extending Pill by chance, it was impossible for him to refine it with a child. You must know that in order to refine this medicine, the Medicine King Valley lost many elite talents. Not to mention the Heavenly Tribulation at the time of refining, it is the medicinal materials needed to refine the elixir, which are extremely precious and difficult to find. But if this life-sustaining pill was not refined by this child, then where did it come from. If it was just a coincidence, why couldn't Shen Xingchen tell him directly?

"Ling Gongzi is so sensible at a young age, and he is admired by the poor Dao. Mrs. Shen said just now that Ling Gongzi still went up the mountain to collect medicine? What's going on?"

"Hey. The woman sighed, "Daddy Xingchen hasn't been back since that trip, and I'm like that again." The family did not have the power to maintain it, and since I was a child, because of my illness, he also learned a lot of pharmacology from the village doctor and learned a lot of medicinal materials. Xingchen said that he was going to go up the mountain to collect medicine, and by the way, he was looking for his father, even if it was to find the bones, but I couldn't resist him, so I let him go with the people in the village. At first, he couldn't collect any medicine, so the people of the village secretly put the medicine they had collected into his back basket on the way back. But then he said that he found a natural medicine field, which not only has many medicinal materials, but also has good medicinal properties. But he said that it was his own secret, and he didn't let anyone follow him, not even me, and the people in the village scolded him for having no conscience. The woman laughed, "Actually, the people in the village were worried about him, but when they saw him return with a full load several times, they were fine, so they let him go." He is also sensible, and if he finds a medicine that can be sold at a good price, he will secretly put it in someone else's bamboo basket. In this way, we orphans and widows relied on the medicinal herbs he collected to sell in the market or at the medicine shop, and Xingchen occasionally went to help the villagers. At this, the woman looked pleased.

"Mrs. Shen, pardon the poor and straightforward. Shouqing said: "Mrs. Shen's illness is actually dying, have you ever thought about the whereabouts of Ling Gongzi?"

The woman lowered her head and frowned, "Don't hide it from the old fairy, I also know that I have to leave at any time, and the last thing I can let go of in my heart is the stars." But the people in the village take good care of us, maybe they will help take care of it in the future. After a few years, when he grows up, he will have the ability to be self-reliant. ”

"Is Madam Shen willing to let Ling Gongzi go back to Baixian Mountain with me?" Shouqing asked again.