The herb garden outside the village was vast, and what grew within it were the spirit medicines the Alchemist had found in the Desolate Ruins over the years, long since the envy of the villagers. But the Alchemist kept many vicious little insects in that garden, and no one dared slip in to steal the herbs.

The Desolate Ruins were rarely trodden by human feet, and spirit medicines grew there in enormous numbers, rare treasures among them. Over the years, as the Alchemist gathered herbs, he had transplanted no one knew how many wondrous plants into his garden. He seldom used these spirit medicines, and now, at last, he had decided to use them on Shen Mu!

One had to understand: his standards were high, and every spirit medicine he had collected was a rare treasure; any single stalk taken out would cause a sensation. The Alchemist had truly paid in blood.

The bonfire gradually died, the villagers went back to their houses to rest, and Shen Mu returned to his room as well, sleeping in the outer chamber. Before long he had sunk into deep sleep. Granny Zhu drew up his blanket, looked at the boy's sleeping face, and smiled with fond affection.

"My Shen-er... whether or not you have an Overlord Body, you are the child I raised, and I will not let anyone or anything harm you!"

She was clever still, and from the expressions of the Village Head and the Alchemist during the bonfire celebration she had read a great deal; she simply had not spoken of it.

She padded away on her tiny bound feet to sleep in the inner room.

The next day, the Blind Elder came charging into the house with his bamboo staff, shouting, "Shen-er, get up at once, it's daylight, the Alchemist..."

"This old woman hasn't risen yet, Blind Elder, how dare you peep!"

There was a thunderous crash, and Shen Mu opened his bleary eyes just in time to see the Blind Elder fly out of Granny Zhu's room, arc through the air, sail out of the village, and land somewhere no one knew.

"Blind Grandpa is really something!"

Shen Mu marveled: even in midair the Blind Elder still clutched his bamboo staff, sitting cross-legged, an utterly innocent look on his face, kicked away just like that.

Shen Mu rose, dressed, washed, made breakfast, ate with Granny Zhu, and washed the pots and bowls and ladles. Then he saw the Blind Elder come running back from outside the village, all excitement, crying, "Dead old hag, that kick of yours was vicious, I nearly couldn't feel my way back! Shen-er, come quick, the Alchemist has made you a medicine!"

Granny Zhu's face darkened; she shot the Blind Elder a glare, rose, and hobbled off, saying, "I'm going to Crimson Dragon City to trade. Blind Elder, I leave Shen-er to you these days. If he comes back missing so much as a fine hair, I'll hold you to account! Grandpa Huo, Grandpa Huo, is the ox cart hitched? Lame Elder, is the bamboo raft tied?"

Shen Mu hurried after the Blind Elder to the Alchemist's shop. Before he even stepped inside, a thick, rich medicinal fragrance struck him. Then he saw a great vat suspended in the air, with several vermilion birds circling it, flames blazing among their feathers, scorching the vat's surface red, while from within came a bubbling, gurgling sound.

"Shen-er, this is your medicine."

Seeing Shen Mu arrive, the Alchemist took out the last ingredient, a single green leaf, and cast it into the vat. The instant the leaf touched the liquid, the boiling brew turned incomparably viscous.

The Alchemist flicked his hand; the vat spun rapidly, and then a clinking, jingling sound came from inside. The full vat of medicine had become half a vat of white pills, rolling and tumbling, striking one another with a crisp, metallic ring.

The Alchemist waved his hand, and the vermilion birds flew out through the window lattice and vanished.

The vat settled to the ground. Shen Mu clicked his tongue. "Grandpa Alchemist, am I to eat this many elixirs today?"

"If you ate them all, you'd die."

The Alchemist spoke unhurriedly: "Every spirit medicine in this batch of mine is of the very finest. Though they are the lowest grade of Primal-Condensing Elixir, a single pill surpasses a hundred of another alchemist's. You may take only one or two at a time, no more."

Shen Mu was doubtful. In the past the Alchemist had also fed him strange and wondrous medicines, each time a brimming bowlful, and now only one pill? Could its potency truly be so great?

The Blind Elder was skeptical too. "Charlatans in the jianghu all say one pill is worth a hundred. Is your medicine really that strong? Though it does smell rather fine."

The Alchemist smiled grimly. "Would you like to eat this whole vat and find out?"

"Shen-er, grab a handful and try?" the Blind Elder urged temptingly.

Shen Mu was not about to be tempted. He pinched up a single pill and put it in his mouth.

The moment the elixir went down, he felt something was wrong. It was as though hundreds upon hundreds of fire dragons, water dragons, metal dragons, and wood dragons were churning the seas inside his belly, making his body now tall, now short, now fat, now thin; one moment a layer of ice formed on his skin, the next even his clothes gave off green smoke; one moment his clothes sprouted, the fur on his animal hides growing wild, the next his clothes were stained with a metallic sheen, and even his skin turned hard and stiff, as though his whole body had been cast from metal!

More terrifying still, sometimes all these symptoms erupted at once, and Shen Mu's suffering was beyond words.

He gave a muffled grunt and at once drove the "Mystic Body Three Elixirs Art," using his primal energy to dissolve the medicine's power!

The Blind Elder's face changed drastically. "Alchemist, this Primal-Condensing Elixir of yours doesn't seem to be an ordinary one!"

"Correct. Ordinary Primal-Condensing Elixirs come in four kinds: the Fire Primal Elixir, the Water Primal Elixir, the Metal Primal Elixir, and the Wood Primal Elixir."

The Alchemist smiled grimly. "Primal-Condensing Elixirs are made for the four primal-energy attributes of the four great spirit bodies, to nourish and strengthen a spirit body's primal energy. But Shen-er's Overlord Body primal energy has no attribute at all, so I took a middle path: I refined spirit medicines of all four attributes into this single Primal-Condensing Elixir, containing all four attributes within. Perhaps it can draw out the might of his Overlord Body primal energy. Only Shen-er's Overlord Body primal energy can absorb and dissolve such an elixir. If you had eaten that whole vat just now, heh heh..."

The Blind Elder shuddered. With the four attributes' primal energies in conflict, if he had eaten them, he feared two or three tenths of his cultivation would have been dissolved away. Of course, that was the consequence of eating the entire vat; a single pill would do him no great harm.

"Alchemist, is what you've refined a tonic or a poison?" the Blind Elder muttered.

Suddenly Shen Mu gave a great shout, broke into a run, and vanished in the blink of an eye.

The Blind Elder could not help worrying. "With the four attributes clashing, will Shen-er be all right?"

"He is digesting the medicine's power. There is no need to worry."

Though the Alchemist said so, he too was uneasy at heart. After all, it was the first time he had improved upon a Primal-Condensing Elixir, the first time he had refined an improved one, the first time he had given it to someone to take. How great its potency was, whether it had side effects, whether it might kill a man, of these he could not be certain.

Naturally he could not say such things aloud, or Granny Zhu would surely come after his life.

From the distant forest came Shen Mu's roar, and then tree after tree toppled with thunderous crashes.

The Alchemist's eyelid twitched. "He will be fine, rest assured. Listen, he is full of dragon vigor and tiger ferocity."

The Blind Elder sighed. "Ah, the young have such vitality."