Longevity: Comprehending the Heart Method

The three flew out of Celestial Sinking Valley on their swords, only to find the mysterious Drunkard already waiting for them, leaning against a dawn redwood at the valley’s edge.

Seeing them emerge, the Drunkard, reeking of wine, ambled over with a grin. "You certainly caused quite a stir. I wonder, did you manage to find the [Celestial Immortal Grass]?"

The trio exchanged a look. Song Changsheng took out the several stalks of Spirit Medicine, which resembled ghost plants, and asked, "Elder, if I may ask, is this it?"

The moment he saw the Spirit Medicine, an ecstatic look appeared on the Drunkard’s face. He cast aside any semblance of a venerable elder and snatched it, chuckling. "Excellent, excellent! This is indeed [Celestial Immortal Grass]. Only the [Celestial Immortal Grass] that grows in that particular place possesses such quality."

The Drunkard’s joy seemed genuine, which left Song Changsheng feeling a bit puzzled. ’Since he already knew the [Celestial Immortal Grass] grew in there, why didn’t he go retrieve it himself?’

’With his level of Cultivation, wouldn’t it be a simple matter?’

Finally obtaining the [Celestial Immortal Grass] he had longed for, the Drunkard was in high spirits. Seeing the look of confusion on Song Changsheng’s face, he smiled and said, "Youngsters, allow this old man to offer you a piece of advice. Do not come to Celestial Sinking Valley again. It was no small feat for you to make it out in one piece this time. Don’t gamble with your lives again."

"Please enlighten us, Elder," Song Changsheng said, bowing respectfully.

The Drunkard smacked his lips. Since he’d already started, he figured he might as well tell them everything.

"This place is far from as simple as it appears. It’s home to a special type of Spirit Insect—they are difficult to detect, exist in vast numbers, and can bypass a Cultivator’s protective Gang Qi to infest their bodies. Even a Purple Mansion Cultivator wouldn’t dare enter rashly."

"So tell me," the Drunkard said, taking a swig of wine from his gourd, "weren’t you all incredibly lucky to escape unscathed?"

Song Changsheng was shaken. ’So that was what it was?’

Upon hearing this, the expressions on Zhuang Yuechan and Xu Yunhe’s faces turned grim. If even Purple Mansion Cultivators couldn’t defend against them, then they...

Seeing their expressions, the Drunkard grinned. "Scared now, are you?

"Don’t worry. The wine this old man had you drink earlier is made specifically to deal with those things. You are quite safe now."

Given the old man’s power and Cultivation, there was no reason for him to lie. Only then did Song Changsheng and the others realize his earlier words had not been empty boasts. Their faces flushed with embarrassment as they each stepped forward to bow, thanking the Drunkard for his aid.

The Drunkard waved a dismissive hand. "You brought this old man the [Celestial Immortal Grass], so I can’t very well give you nothing in return. This is a Spirit Wine recipe I developed in my youth. I imagine it will be of some use to you."

Without waiting for Song Changsheng and the others to respond, his figure dissolved into a cloud of mist and vanished without a trace. Where he had been standing, only a yellowed sheet of beast skin paper was left, fluttering gently to the ground.

Song Changsheng and the others were dumbfounded. That Elder Drunkard was truly one of a kind.

Stepping forward, he picked up the beast skin paper. After just one glance, Song Changsheng’s pupils constricted.

It detailed a type of Spirit Wine called [Bamboo Leaf Green]. The inspiration for this wine came from a certain Mortal Realm, where it had been a crude, rough-tasting local brew. After the Drunkard’s improvements, however, it had become a Tier Two Spirit Wine.

The brewing process required nearly twenty different Spiritual Objects, including Tier Two Spirit Rice and Tier Two Spiritual Bamboo. Depending on the quality of the ingredients, the resulting Spirit Wine could be anywhere from Tier Two Low Grade to Tier Two Top Grade.

Long-term consumption of this Spirit Wine could expel Pill Poison and advance one’s Cultivation.

"This... is truly a magnificent gift," Song Changsheng murmured after a long moment.

His mother, Xia Yunxue, was a Tier Two High-Grade Brewer. Having been immersed in the craft since childhood, he had a profound understanding of Spirit Wine, and thus knew exactly how precious this recipe was.

Setting aside its ability to advance one’s Cultivation—an effect many Spirit Wines shared, including most of those brewed by Xia Yunxue—its most invaluable quality was the ability to expel Pill Poison from a Cultivator’s body!

As the saying goes, every medicine has its poison. In this case, "poison" didn’t refer to a lethal substance, but to the impurities within Spirit Medicines that a Cultivator couldn’t refine. These impurities would accumulate in the Meridians and required a great deal of time to be expelled from the body.

An excessive buildup of these impurities would impede the normal circulation of Spiritual Power, slowing one’s cultivation speed or even making it difficult to mobilize Spiritual Power at all—a potentially fatal handicap in Magical Combat.

In the beginning, Human Race Cultivators consumed Spirit Medicines no differently than Demon Beasts: they simply ate them raw. The consequence was that these Cultivators had to expend immense energy to expel the resulting Pill Poison.

Later, people began using the alchemical principles of hierarchy and synergy to combine different Spirit Medicines, refining them into Pills.

Through careful combination, the properties of the herbs balanced each other out, making the resulting Medicinal Power gentler and much easier to absorb.

Furthermore, refining the Spirit Medicines removed most of the impurities, relieving Cultivators of many subsequent troubles.

Gradually, the path of Alchemy became widespread. It was precisely through the rise of the Four Skills of Cultivation—Pill, Talisman, Array, and Artifact—that the Human Race of the Ancient Era managed to defeat the formidable Demon Race. They went on to occupy the vast territories east of the Hengduan Mountain Range and north of the Hundred Thousand Mountains.

However, even though the impurities were reduced, they were not eliminated. Consuming large quantities of Pills to cultivate would still cause Pill Poison to build up in one’s Meridians and acupoints.

To deal with this, people developed various methods for clearing out Pill Poison, such as practicing special Cultivation Techniques or consuming specific types of Pills.

Without Pill Poison as a restraint, a Cultivator could consume Pills in large quantities, allowing their Cultivation to advance by leaps and bounds.