Chapter 94: The Final Touch

As soon as he finished speaking, the villagers were full of admiration. The village chief nodded and smiled. "Deafy, you're incredible. This is a refined method of competition. To instill a soul with a single touch of inspiration, seizing the very essence of creation – it's truly remarkable."

Qin Mu stepped forward, bowed to Deafy, showing the respect of a disciple.

Deafy's expression subtly changed, and he quickly dodged. He said, "When you and I compete, we set aside the master-disciple relationship. For now, we are both students, so let's treat each other as equals. Only after the competition will I be your true teacher."

Qin Mu knew that Deafy had some eccentricities in his behavior, so he immediately bowed as an equal, and Deafy returned the gesture.

Each of them held a brush, stood before a painting, and looked at the one in front of them.

To use magical power to manifest a divine ability and bring a dragon painting to life was already a rare and commendable achievement. However, if one's magical power was insufficient, instilling a soul into the painted dragon through artistic conception and dotting its eyes would involve the very essence of creation itself.

Qin Mu had previously studied calligraphy, painting, reading, and writing with Deafy. Although Deafy had taught him a great deal, and he had created many paintings with considerable skill, this was his first time attempting to "dot the dragon's eyes" and infuse a painting with life.

The technique of instilling a soul into a painted person or object with a single touch of inspiration was something Deafy had indeed taught him, but Qin Mu had never succeeded in practicing it.

This round was far more difficult than the previous ones.

Qin Mu intently stared at the dragon in the painting before him. The dragon was depicted so vividly that as his gaze fell upon it, he felt as if the painted dragon was slowly swimming and constantly changing its posture.

Deafy's painting skill was truly extraordinary. Even without the eyes dotted, the dragon in the painting seemed ready to soar into the sky!

Qin Mu raised his brush but hesitated to begin. The painted dragon was right before him, but how was he to dot its eyes?

He realized that no matter where he touched, it would be difficult to bring the dragon to life. Wherever he dotted, it felt wrong.

Granny Si couldn't help but whisper, "Mu'er, just tear up Deafy's painting, and you'll win!"

Deafy rolled his eyes at her. "That's a demonic tactic! I teach Mu'er the classics of the sages. With the sages in his heart, he would never do something as wicked as that."

Granny Si was furious.

The village chief chuckled. "Granny, don't interfere with Mu'er's duel. This round, Deafy's challenge is quite ingenious."

Granny Si had no choice but to hold herself back.

In Qin Mu's eyes, there was only the dragon in the painting. The village had ceased to exist for him; only the painting floated before his eyes. A moment later, even the painting disappeared, leaving only a dragon drawn in ink.

This dragon swam and coiled in his mind's eye, moving up and down, left and right, sometimes crawling, sometimes soaring, sometimes coiling, sometimes lying prostrate. It raised its head, wagged its tail, moved with a dragon's gait, frolicked in water, breathed fire, and exhaled thunder. It was truly a marvel of strange and clever movements.

Qin Mu felt as if he had become the dragon in the painting, but from his perspective, his vision was completely dark; he still lacked eyes.

He wanted to break free from this darkness, but didn't know how to open his eyes.

He recalled the dragon pillars in Inlaid Dragon City, the dragon bones and souls of the Surging River Dragon Palace, and the stone statues in the village, along with the divine strokes used by the gods who carved them.

The divine carving of statues by gods was also a form of painting. That miraculous brushwork and profound spiritual essence seemed to imbue the statues with souls, allowing them to guard the Great Ruins like deities.

After a long time, Qin Mu felt a glimmer of light appear in the darkness, as if the dragon was slowly opening its eyes. When all the darkness before him dispersed, a spark of brilliance erupted in Qin Mu's eyes, and he raised his brush to dot the dragon's eyes!

A single touch of inspiration, imbuing a soul!

As his brush fell, the dragon in the painting immediately came to life on the paper, shaking its head and wagging its tail. It suddenly flew off the paper, soared into the sky, and frolicked among the clouds. The painting, meanwhile, was left as a blank sheet of paper, without a single trace of ink!

Qin Mu was stunned. He had actually succeeded!

He had truly succeeded in bringing a dragon painting to life!

The dragon swam in the air for a moment, then quickly transformed into ink, dyeing the cloud black.

Qin Mu quickly looked at Deafy. He saw that Deafy had already washed his brush and hung it on a rack, and had not dotted the eyes of the dragon in his own painting.

Qin Mu suddenly understood. "Grandpa Deafy, you let me win?"

Deafy shook his head. "I didn't 'let' you win. When I was your age, I didn't have your profound skill. My challenge isn't about winning or losing. A true teacher imparts knowledge, guides in studies, and resolves doubts. I am imparting knowledge to you now, so why would I care about winning or losing?"

Apothecary praised him. "Deafy, your magnanimity as a teacher is admirable. Mu'er, my challenge isn't a competition either; it's for you to refine medicine. Go to the village's medicinal garden, gather thirty highly poisonous ingredients, and refine them into a potent tonic. After you've made the medicine, take it yourself. If it nourishes you, you pass. If you die from poisoning, you can stay in the village."

Qin Mu didn't know whether to laugh or cry. How could he stay in the village if he died from poisoning?

Apothecary's intention for this round was also very clear. To refine a potent tonic from thirty highly poisonous ingredients required extreme mastery of pharmacology. The precise amount of each herb, whether to use leaves or roots, pollen or petals, whether to fry it raw or bake it – all were critically important.

Moreover, Apothecary did not provide him with a prescription. Instead, he had to use his pharmacological knowledge to determine the correct quantities and refining methods to counteract the toxicity step by step and transform it into a powerful tonic.

During the refining process, the heat was also crucial. When to add each ingredient, whether it should be powdered or in chunks, the intensity of the heat, and the duration of boiling – all required Qin Mu to make judgments based on his own experience in alchemy.

A slight deviation could lead to a monumental error. If there was a mistake in any step, Qin Mu could fail completely, creating a deadly poison that would kill him.

Qin Mu stood by Apothecary's medicinal garden, looking at the various herbs within it. He pondered for a long time, mentally calculating the toxicity of each herb, how to proportion them, how to assign them roles as primary, secondary, assisting, and guiding ingredients, and how to subdue strong energies and balance Yin and Yang.

After a considerable time, he finally entered the garden and carefully began to collect herbs.

After gathering the twenty-ninth ingredient, Qin Mu stopped picking. Instead, with even greater care, he caught a multi-colored blister beetle from the leaf of a poisonous plant. He pinched off the beetle's head and wings, using it as the thirtieth highly poisonous ingredient.

Qin Mu returned to the village. He used vital qi to bake the roots and stems of some ingredients, extracting their excess medicinal properties; some he steamed with water; and others he roasted and dehydrated using Vermillion Bird vital qi.

After a long period of preparation, he finally began to refine the medicine.

Apothecary stood not far away, watching his every step, every technique, and the subtle mastery of his vital qi application, nodding quietly.

For refining the medicine, Qin Mu took out a large vat. He levitated it with his vital qi. He successively added the thirty ingredients into the vat, but without adding any water. Instead, he used his immensely powerful vital qi to saturate the ingredients, using his neutral vital qi to extract the medicinal properties from them.

Apothecary was slightly moved. This was Qin Mu's unique method, one he couldn't replicate himself. His own vital qi had attributes, and herbs also had attributes, meaning his vital qi would damage the herbs' properties. Only Qin Mu's neutral vital qi could extract medicinal properties in this manner.

Qin Mu became even more cautious. He divided his vital qi into thirty streams, each soaking one ingredient. Simultaneously, Vermillion Bird vital qi erupted from the palm supporting the vat, transforming into fierce flames, causing the medicinal properties within the vat to begin merging.

From his other hand, Black Tortoise vital qi surged forth, using its watery mist to nourish the medicinal properties and slow down the fusion process, while simultaneously removing the dregs from the vat.

After a long time, Qin Mu suddenly spun the large vat. A clinking and clanking sound came from within. When the vat stopped rotating, numerous small, constantly spinning white pills appeared inside, crystal clear and translucent, like pearls of white mutton-fat jade.

Qin Mu reached in and picked out a single spirit pill. Granny Si asked nervously, "Apothecary, is it poisonous?"

Apothecary chuckled. "Mu'er will know if it's poisonous once he swallows it."

Qin Mu opened his mouth, swallowed the spirit pill, and said, "Don't worry, Granny, this pill isn't poisonous..."

*Boom!*

His hair suddenly exploded outwards, growing wildly in all directions. Granny Si and the others were startled. Qin Mu quickly said, "Don't panic, everyone. It's just that one of the poisons wasn't fully neutralized, affecting my kidney fluids. Kidney fluids stimulate hair growth, so my hair is just a bit dense."

Granny Si retorted angrily, "Is this 'a bit dense'?"

Qin Mu's hair continued to grow wildly, getting longer and longer. The strands were like bamboo shoots, growing straight up, and in no time, they were two or three zhang long, standing stiffly and very hard.

Qin Mu felt his head growing heavy and said, "Granny, the greatest benefit of this spirit pill is healing. It can rapidly regenerate decaying muscles, heal torn muscles, regrow broken bones, and reattach severed tendons. The kidney fluid stimulating hair growth is just a tiny, insignificant side effect..."

His hair was still growing, making his head heavier and heavier. He could barely support the explosion of long hair on his head.

Apothecary suppressed a laugh and said, "You passed this round. Butcher, give him a haircut. If it grows any longer, his neck will break."

Butcher stepped forward, and in a few swift motions, shaved all his hair clean, leaving his head bald and shiny.

Everyone looked at Mute. Mute wiped his hands with a towel, dragged the furnace out from the collapsed blacksmith's shop, took two pieces of cold iron and threw them into the furnace. The fire in the furnace immediately extinguished, and frost formed on its walls.

Mute walked away, laughing, "Ah, ah-ah!"