Phi-Fic Chapter 511 Ironthorn Ridge, Medicine Man's Repair
Chapter 511 Ironthorn Ridge, Medicine Man's Repair
West of Qiandong City lies the Tiejiling Karst Cave.
The cave was dark, with only a few oil lamps flickering on the rock walls, casting eerie shadows.
The air was filled with a pungent, sweet, fishy smell, mixed with herbs, sulfur, and some indescribable stench of decay.
Deep inside the cave, a huge iron cauldron sits on a fire, its dark green venom churning and boiling, constantly bubbling up.
When the bubbles burst, they released a pale purple mist, which corroded the stone walls, leaving pitted marks wherever it passed.
Wen Yanzhao stood focused in front of the cauldron, his blue robe now stained dark by the poisonous mist.
Behind him stood the old poison master of the Wen family, his hair and beard all white. At this moment, he also had a solemn expression. Holding a pestle and a poison jar, he carefully put various poisonous herbs and insect corpses into the pot.
"Young Master, three qian of Bone-Rotting Grass, five petals of Heart-Severing Flower, ten Blood Centipedes, and three liang of Heart-Corroding Ore... have all been added according to the prescription." The old poison master bowed and reported.
Wen Yanzhao nodded, his gaze falling on the ground beside the cauldron.
There lay more than thirty "medicine-infused" bodies, the result of a fierce battle with Ye Xiaoying.
Most of these drug-impregnated people were incomplete—some had missing arms, some were missing legs, and some had their chests pierced by sharp weapons, exposing the dark brown muscles inside.
At this moment, all of these drug-impregnated people had their eyes closed and their faces pale. If it weren't for the extremely faint rise and fall of their chests, they would be almost indistinguishable from corpses.
Ye Xiaoying's Twin Blade Battalion was indeed fierce, and their desperate counterattack caused considerable damage. More than thirty medical dummy soldiers need repair; otherwise, their combat strength will be significantly reduced.
"Let's begin," Wen Yanzhao said calmly.
He raised the bone flute and placed it to his lips.
A low, eerie flute melody echoed through the cave, each note seemingly hooked, piercing the eardrums and penetrating to the very marrow.
As the flute played, the medicine-covered figures on the ground slowly opened their eyes!
Its eyes were devoid of life, only a hollow purple glow that flickered like will-o'-the-wisps in the dim light.
They struggled to their feet, their movements stiff as marionettes, and walked step by step toward the boiling iron cauldron.
The first person to be poisoned walked to the cauldron and stepped into the venom without hesitation!
"laugh--!"
The moment the flesh came into contact with the venom, the drug user trembled violently, but remained silent, only the purple light in his eyes intensified.
Wen Yanzhao's flute playing became more urgent, and the venom, like a living thing, wrapped around the body of the person receiving the medicine, seeping into the wounds and drilling into the veins.
The damaged flesh was visibly wriggling and healing, and the broken bones were making soft "crackling" sounds as new bone fragments were growing!
Fifteen minutes later, the first person to be treated stepped out of the iron cauldron.
His body was covered in purplish-black venom, which dripped down, corroding small pits in the ground.
However, the previously mutilated left arm has regrown. Although the skin is bluish-black and the muscles are bulging, making it look ferocious and terrifying, it moves freely.
He walked up to Wen Yanzhao, knelt on one knee, and bowed his head to await orders.
With a steady, cold purple light in his eyes, Wen Yanzhao put down the bone flute, carefully examined the medicinal figure, and nodded in satisfaction.
"Not bad, the meridians have been completely reconstructed, and the bones have also regrown. The current combat strength... should have recovered to 70%."
The old poison master behind him looked horrified. He was a senior poison master in the Wen family, who had been immersed in poisons for decades.
However, Wen Yanzhao's method of repairing the body and reshaping the meridians with venom was still beyond their comprehension.
This is no longer poison, it's evil magic!
“Young Master,” an old poison master finally couldn’t help but speak up, “this method is ingenious, but what if there is another great battle in the future and these medicine figures are torn to pieces in the fierce fighting? Do we have to capture living people to refine them?”
“A living person?” Wen Yanzhao interrupted him, turning to look at the old poison master. “Seventh Uncle Wen, why do I feel like you’re being a little soft-hearted? Do you know what kind of things I use to make medicine figures?”
The old drug dealer paused.
Wen Yanzhao slowly said, "There are spies from Beili who have infiltrated Qiandong City, bandits who have slaughtered villages, human traffickers who have abducted women and children, and... heinous criminals who have been brought out of prison!"
He walked up to a humanoid figure made of medicine, placed his hand on its head, and said in a calm, unwavering voice, "Every single one of them deserves to die. I'm turning them into medicine figures to make use of waste and to rid the world of a scourge!"
The old drug lord opened his mouth, but ultimately said nothing more.
Wen Yanzhao withdrew his hand and looked at the iron cauldron again.
The second person has stepped into the venom, and the repair process has begun.
He suddenly asked, "How is things going with my uncle?"
The old poison master stepped forward and reported: "The young master has wiped out the remaining enemy forces in Fuzhou, and the Northern Li army has retreated to Ezhou, and is unable to launch another attack in the short term. The Marquis's main force is still resting in Juzhou, but..."
"But what?"
The old poison master hesitated and said, "According to the spies, the remnants of the Langya King's army have returned north to Tianqi, but the court seems to be... extremely angry about the Langya King's defeat."
Within Tianqi City, memorials have already been submitted impeaching the Prince of Langya for "holding too much power in his army and delaying military operations."
A hint of sarcasm flashed in Wen Yanzhao's eyes: "Xiao Ruojin is just like his father. He's going to use his own brother as a scapegoat to establish his authority and consolidate his power!"
He paused, then suddenly laughed: "But this is for the best. The internal strife in the North is advantageous to us."
"What the young master means is..."
"Send a message to my uncle," Wen Yanzhao said calmly, "tell him to take the time to rest and replenish his troops and supplies. When the Northern Li court is in chaos, that will be the time for our Northern Expedition. That will be the time for my three thousand medicine men to display their divine power!"
"Yes!"
The old drug master accepted the order and withdrew.
Wen Yanzhao raised the bone flute again, and the flute music began once more.
The third person to be drugged stepped into the venom.
Inside the cave, poisonous fog filled the air, and the sound of flutes was mournful.
More than thirty medicine-treated human figures were repaired one after another and stood in formation again, their eyes filled with a continuous purple light, like ghostly flames in the dim light.
Wen Yanzhao stood in front of the line, looking at these inhuman killing machines with a complex expression in his eyes.
There was coldness, there was decisiveness, and there was also a very faint trace of weariness that even he himself did not notice.
He paid a heavy price to win this war.
But there is no turning back when the bow is drawn.
Having chosen this path, we have no choice but to continue down it.
He took a deep breath, suppressed his distracting thoughts, and turned to walk deeper into the cave.
"rise!"
With a single gesture, Wen Yanzhao caused the lid of a massive stone coffin inside the cave to slowly open. Suddenly, a tall, purple-crowned medicine man stood up, his face pale and his eyes filled with venom!
Wen Yanzhao's lips curled into a wicked smile:
"Xuan Yin, it's time for you to go out and stretch your muscles!"
……