The Nie Poison Classic

Yue Wuhuan stood in Medicine King Valley's library, surrounded by precious immortal cultivation manuals and secret techniques, and felt as though he had entered a mountain of treasure.

Neither Song Qingshi nor the body's original owner was the sort to worry over the trivialities of daily life. The library was a restricted area, and no medicine servants cleaned it, so its books and objects had been left in complete disorder—one book here, another there. Only Song Qingshi himself knew where anything was. After bringing Yue Wuhuan inside, Song Qingshi told him to organize the table while he went to look for the books he needed.

With difficulty, Yue Wuhuan tore his gaze away from the books and looked toward the arhat bed by the window. A low table stood in its center, piled with more than a hundred books, dried ink, and heaps of xuan paper covered in revisions. It seemed to be the place where his lord usually read and rested.

He walked over and resigned himself to sorting the books one by one and setting them aside. Then he suddenly discovered a battered, tattered copy of The Nie Poison Classic hidden among them. Yue Wuhuan's breath stopped for a moment. He realized that "Nie" referred to Nie Jue, the Poison Venerable from several thousand years ago, whose countless killings had made the righteous path tremble at the mere mention of the name. This book most likely recorded the Poison Venerable's various poison formulas.

Yue Wuhuan covertly glanced at Song Qingshi, who seemed not to have noticed him, and secretly opened the book. To his delighted surprise, the first thing inside was the formula for Thousand Mechanisms Powder, the poison that had made Nie Jue famous. Thousand Mechanisms Powder was colorless and odorless, capable of killing cultivators below the Nascent Soul stage...

This method of killing, one that required no cultivation at all, was precisely what he had searched for in vain at Jinfeng Mountain Manor.

Yue Wuhuan rapidly turned the pages, force-memorizing the formulas.

Thousand Mechanisms Powder, Soul-Devouring Incense, Puppet Pills...

Every poison was a razor-sharp butcher's blade.

The killing intent he had once desperately suppressed turned into a surging tide that churned his thoughts. Countless vicious ways of using them rose in his mind.

No one knew that his heart had long ago been refined into a demon in hell. He yearned for mountains of corpses and seas of blood. What he wanted to destroy was not himself, but this entire filthy world, himself included.

"That book isn't suitable for you." Song Qingshi's voice came from behind him.

Yue Wuhuan gently closed the book and casually returned it to the pile on the table. Then he turned around as if nothing had happened, a submissive expression once more appearing on his face as he offered the excuse he had long prepared. "It was so old that I accidentally loosened some of the pages while I was organizing it. Please forgive me, my lord."

Song Qingshi set down the large armful of books he was carrying, picked up the poison classic, and flipped through a few pages. Sure enough, some pages showed signs of coming loose.

Yue Wuhuan lowered his head to stare at the floor. His palms had begun to sweat, and he was extremely nervous.

"Your grasp of the fundamentals is weak. It's still too early for you to study this book." Completely unaware of his thoughts, Song Qingshi soon set the matter aside and patiently instructed him. "Toxicology and pharmacology are interconnected. You need to begin by identifying medicinal ingredients. Take tiancao seeds and yanlan seeds, for example: they look almost identical, but their toxicity is vastly different. Use the wrong one, and the effects will be seriously compromised. So first, learn the foundational materia medica, identify medicines, and familiarize yourself with pharmacology. Then learn alchemy and medicine-making. Only after that can you study this poison classic."

Yue Wuhuan abruptly lifted his head and asked in disbelief, "I can study the poison classic?"

"Why couldn't you?" Song Qingshi did not understand. After thinking about it, he stuffed The Nie Poison Classic into Yue Wuhuan's hands and reassured him, "I think you should be more confident. The contents of this poison classic aren't that difficult; with your intelligence, you'll master them quickly. You just have to be extremely careful about safety when refining them. Many of the ingredients must not touch the skin, and some can even poison you through the air... If there's anything you don't understand, you can ask me anytime."

Was this a matter of confidence?

Yue Wuhuan had been so thoroughly stunned by the pie falling from heaven that he could not speak for a long time.

Song Qingshi was entirely oblivious as he continued dropping one pie after another onto his head. "If you're interested in poisons, it would be best to learn mechanisms, hidden weapons, and formations along with them. That will make poisons easier to use. Later, I'll sort out all the relevant books for you. You can use my laboratory too..."

Yue Wuhuan truly could not bear it any longer and interrupted the enthusiastic person before him. "Have you never considered what I might use them for?"

"I know." Satisfaction shone from Song Qingshi's eyes. He had long worried that the protagonist shou was too kind and too easy to bully, like a beautiful flower with no ability to protect itself, able only to let others pluck it. He was also deeply afraid that Professor System would pull him out of this world once the mission was complete, leaving Yue Wuhuan without protection and once again cast into a den of demons. He said earnestly, "Wuhuan, don't be afraid. Being beautiful isn't your fault. Those beasts are at fault. Magical artifacts, poisons, hidden weapons... If the immortal realm is a beastly world where the strong prey on the weak, then you must have the means to protect yourself and keep anyone from bullying you."

"Is it wrong not to want to be defiled?"

"Is it wrong not to want to be bullied?"

"Is it wrong not to want to do things you dislike?"

A breeze swept over the windowsill, bringing a clean breath of air. The faint medicinal fragrance in the room disturbed his heart.

Yue Wuhuan listened blankly to words no one had ever said to him before. Every sentence felt dreamlike.

"From this day onward, never let this world humiliate you again."

...

Studying required mutual discussion and shared progress.

Song Qingshi loved study partners most of all, especially intelligent ones who could keep pace with him. The professor he had followed was an internationally renowned medical authority, while every one of his senior brothers and sisters was exceptional. He missed the happy days when they had studied and experimented together.

Yue Wuhuan was intelligent, diligent, and eager to learn. With such a study partner in life, what more could a man ask for?

Top student Song was overjoyed. He helped clear away the unnecessary books from the arhat bed, cleaned off the table, cast cleansing spells over it several times, set out spiritual tea and an assortment of pastries, lit mind-clearing incense, then pulled Yue Wuhuan over so they could sit across from one another and begin reading.

Yue Wuhuan's thoughts were somewhat unsettled. He covertly observed the man beside him for a long while and found that he truly was reading with undivided attention and no ulterior motive. Gradually, Yue Wuhuan relaxed and quietly began to read as well.

At some point, dark clouds covered the sunlight. Raindrops fell upon the eaves, striking up a succession of melodies. The damp wind blew a few cold droplets through the window and onto the readers inside. Yue Wuhuan soon felt the chill. He rose to activate the luminous pearl and gently drew the gauze curtain across the window. When he looked back, however, Song Qingshi was still staring intently at the scroll in his hands, so focused that he had not even noticed the change in his surroundings.

Yue Wuhuan approached one step at a time and cautiously raised his beautiful eyes. For the first time, he wanted to look carefully at someone. In his heart, he traced out the person wrapped in snow-white robes, like white jade: slightly disordered hair, a face that still seemed a little young. His features were good but not breathtaking, yet he had the clearest pair of eyes in the world—eyes that knew nothing of desire and had never been touched by filth, like crystal that had accidentally fallen into the roiling mortal world without taking on even a trace of worldly dust.

Yue Wuhuan watched him from the side for a long, long time. Song Qingshi never raised his head.

It seemed that apart from the books filling the room, no one else could enter his eyes or his heart...

Yue Wuhuan suddenly found it rather amusing. If anyone knew that the eccentric Immortal Venerable Yaowang and Young Master Wuhuan, whose seductive beauty was renowned throughout the realm had spent a day together in the study doing absolutely nothing, quietly reading, they would surely find it unbelievable, wouldn't they?

A person must have an obsession before he can achieve anything.

Obsession carried to its utmost becomes utmost purity, revealing one's true heart.

No one had discovered that Immortal Venerable Yaowang was merely a man obsessed with the sea of books. Every one of his peculiarities stemmed from obsession, from madness born of obsession. No one knew that once the shell of obsession and madness was stripped away, there was only the simplest of hearts within...

Yue Wuhuan lowered his head and smiled secretly for a very long time, before his smile turned faintly bitter. He remembered their first meeting by the river, remembered fingertips brushing through his hair and over his cheek. His face grew a little warm. Had he known this day would come, he would have risked punishment to make himself look more presentable, so that Song Qingshi would not have seen him at his most wretched.

Night fell. The rain stopped, the moon showed its face, and a few insects chirped in the grass.

The study was like a world cut off from the rest of existence, untouched by the changes outside. There was no clamor, no disturbance—only the soft turning of pages and the cool medicinal fragrance that lingered without end.

As Yue Wuhuan read, his heart was more peaceful than it had ever been...

If this were a lifetime, how wonderful would that be?

Song Qingshi suddenly set down his book, picked up a brush, and began scribbling on paper.

Yue Wuhuan turned sideways to look. Song Qingshi wrote quickly and urgently, his handwriting so scrawled that its contents were nearly impossible to make out. Yue Wuhuan could only tell that they appeared to be the names of medicinal ingredients.

Suddenly, Song Qingshi stopped writing and fell into thought. His left hand accidentally touched the still-wet ink, leaving a large smear across it. Then, entirely unaware, he raised that hand to prop his cheek, leaving a black mark on his face.

Yue Wuhuan stared fixedly at that mark. It was unbearably harsh to his eyes.

He endured it and endured it, but finally could not help finding a handkerchief and carefully wiping away the stain that had marred the flawless image in his heart.

Song Qingshi finally came back to himself. Turning around, he was startled to find that the sky had already gone dark. Seeing the ink stain on the handkerchief in Yue Wuhuan's hand, he realized the foolish thing he had done and said sheepishly, "I get absorbed easily when I read and often lose track of time. Are you hungry? You can wake me up next time."

Yue Wuhuan smiled and shook his head. "I was absorbed as well. I didn't realize it had grown so late."

"Here." Song Qingshi pushed all the pastries on the table toward him. "I no longer need to eat, so I won't get hungry."

Yue Wuhuan did not refuse. He casually picked up a hibiscus cake, thought for a moment, and found a topic to bring up. "My lord, have you been so intent on researching some important prescription?"

Song Qingshi gathered the scattered papers on the table and answered, "The Six-Meridian Restoration Decoction."

Yue Wuhuan's hand holding the hibiscus cake suddenly froze. He stared blankly at him.

"It's what you'll be using later." Song Qingshi scratched his head in distress, trying to find the words to explain. "This medicine can reopen your blocked meridians, but when I tested it, I found that it hurt too much. You might not be able to endure it. I'm trying to find a way to ease the pain. I'm not sure yet whether it would be better to slow the medicine's effects or numb the nerves that sense pain. I may need to try several more times..."

If his meridians were reopened, he would have hope of returning to the path of immortality...

Why was he doing this for him?

"My lord," Yue Wuhuan heard his own voice tremble, "I'm not afraid of pain..."

"No one is unafraid of pain. That is why medicine finds all kinds of ways to lessen a patient's suffering. Severe pain can even cause shock." Song Qingshi lowered his head to look at the papers in his hands again, stating what seemed to him perfectly natural. "I don't want you to suffer that kind of pain."

Why could he not bear to let him suffer even pain?

Why was he so good to him?

Why?

Yue Wuhuan desperately wanted to know the answer.

At last, he asked the question that had circled in his heart for so long.

Song Qingshi did not understand the trope that one must keep secrets from a novel's protagonist, much less know what OOC meant. Yet his intuition told him that Yue Wuhuan's current mental state was not suited to bearing such an absurd truth. He hated lying, so he thought for a long, long time—long enough that Yue Wuhuan believed he would receive no answer—before Song Qingshi smiled a little awkwardly.

He remembered the day he had been given a new life, and the beautiful ray of sunlight he had seen that scattered the dark clouds in his heart.

A small act of kindness had made him no longer afraid of this unfamiliar world.

"You once wished me good luck for one night; I want to share good fortune with you for a lifetime."

Author's Note:

A bewildered top student Song: Are other transmigration-into-a-novel systems different from mine? Does Professor System actually provide online tutoring? Doesn't OOC mean on-the-job casualties?