Chapter 60: Chaos Theory Song Qingshi thought about it all night, and decided to tackle this problem last. First, he has to study the condition of Yue Wuhuan’s illness. He went through all he knew of psychology in the immortal realm, modern psychology and other related knowledge in his mind, and yet he was still at a loss as to what to do about Yue Wuhuan’s illness. His Nascent Soul throbbed with pain from time to time, reminding him of the feeling of his heart moving. Phenylethylamine levels were increasing, and he was losing the ability to think calmly. He had already lost all qualifications as a psychiatrist, so maybe he just won’t do it…and just make him happy? Song Qingshi sorted out all medicines that were helpful for alleviating depression, and personally made a Nerve-Calming Decoction, which he gave to Yue Wuhuan. Although there was a limit to how much drugs could help, Yue Wuhan’s mind and body have already been in a prolonged state of tension. He over-thought and was over-anxious; he could hardly sleep, and this could have made his condition worse. Yue Wuhuan took the decoction and thanked him with a smile. He then sniffed it and took a sip to taste. “Perilla Flower, Bright Moon Powder, Harmonious Tallow, Cinnamon Stone… are all these medicines to calm the nerves and help with sleep?” Not only was he proficient in the pharmacopoeia, but he also had very keen senses. He could distinguish the subtle flavors, and could easily see through the decoction’s effect. Song Qingshi didn’t dare hide it, and nodded obediently.
Yue Wuhuan pushed the decoction back to him. “Master, my body is in good health. I’m not sick, and I don’t need these medicines.” Song Qingshi explained, “You sleep too little. It’s not good for your health.” “I sleep. Only that I sleep less, enough to meet my physical needs,” Yue Wuhuan’s appeared to be even softer, his tone became more heartfelt. Nowhere in it could you perceive that he was suffering even the slightest bit. “I don’t like sleeping. Dreaming is a waste of time. Life is painfully short and the journey is long. I have a lot of things I want to learn and do.” Song Qingshi held the decoction and tried to persuade, “But…” Yue Wuhuan looked into his eyes and said very seriously, “Master, I am not sick.” Song Qingshi compromised. “Okay.” He carried the decoction and left the bedroom, feeling dejected. He then poured the medicine into the ditch. We’re sorry for MTLers or people who like using reading mode, but our translations keep getting stolen by aggregators so we’re going to bring back the copy protection. If you need to MTL please retype the gibberish parts. Tef Qetejc gfjilhfv atja tf tjv yfagjsfv atf Zjrafg’r xlcvcfrr jcv kjr j ilaaif ecfjrs. Lf atbeuta jybea la jcv vfmlvfv ab olcv rbwfatlcu jwerlcu ab vlnfga atf Zjrafg’r jaafcalbc, ab afjrf tlw lcab rwlilcu. Ktf Dibbv Blcu Nlcf ragfamtfv bea, kgjqqfv jgbecv Vbcu Hlcurtl’r kjlra, jcv ufcais rmgjamtfv tlw. Song Qingshi couldn’t help laughing. “Wuhuan, it tickles.”
With a smile on his lips, Yue Wuhuan turned the corner and appeared, looking at the person entangled by the vines. The Blood King Vine had his spiritual thoughts attached to it; it felt no different from holding him with his own arms. Deliberately teasing, he hadn’t expected that Song Qingshi would be the type to be very sensitive about how he appeared in the eyes of others. Even though he laughed so much that tears came out of his eyes, he still didn’t beg for mercy and didn’t put a stop to it. In the end, Yue Wuhuan could only admit defeat. He said, smiling, “Didn’t Master bring back a lot of gifts? Let’s go and give it to everyone. Qing Luan and the others have been looking forward to it for a long time.” “Yes,” Song Qingshi finally caught his breath and wiped away the tears of laughter. Speaking of this important matter, he also needed to check the children’s homework and hand out prizes based on their scores. “Wuhuan, go with me. I’m not familiar with them and I’m afraid of saying the wrong thing.” Yue Wuhuan followed, “I just happened to be going there to look for some materials to make kites.” Schools have merit-based rewards and some professors would even give small gifts to students they liked as a sign of encouragement. Song Qingshi considered the future of these children of mortal origin. The immortal realm had nothing similar to imperial examinations. They were of lowly birth and had poor physical qualifications. They could not go very far on the road of cultivation, but their wisdom was fair. Talismans, devices, pharmacology, medicine, alchemy… In the temple of knowledge, there was no difference between mortals, immortals or immortal-mortal hybrids. Everyone had the same starting point. Song Qingshi discussed this issue with Yue Wuhuan, “It will be very interesting if there comes a day, when the world changes because of mortals.” Yue Wuhuan felt that he was talking about a pipe dream. He asked in reply, “What can a mortal do? We are as weak as mole crickets and ants. We die so arbitrarily.” “I don’t know.” Song Qingshi also felt that his idea was very immature. But he had seen a world made up of mortals, and that world had a different kind of brilliance. “Wuhuan, have you heard of Chaos Theory? It’s the idea that things can arise from inexact-ness or imprecise-ness and any outcome could happen. For example, a butterfly flapping its wings may change the subtle movement of the airflow, causing a chain reaction, and finally causing a tornado thousands of miles away. In fact, every change in the world has been influenced by inadvertent details.”
The more Yue Wuhuan listened, the more confused he was, “How does Master know that the wings of a butterfly caused a tornado?” Song Qingshi tried to explain the concepts of deterministic systems, random irregular motions, and nonlinear systems. These discussion completely sent Yue Wuhuan amidst the clouds and mists. In the end, through some unknown skewing, the topic turned to the Black Death Butterfly’s toxicology and mode of operation. It became a harmonious discussion about the study of medicines and then expanded into the study of mechanics… In short, he hoped that these children would study hard and make progress every day in order to change their lives, and be useful talents for the future!
When Song Qingshi arrived at the school, Qing Luan was leading the children to distinguish the different drugs and do experiments. Laughter constantly rang out. He felt that this girl was getting more and more outstanding since getting rid of her shackles. She had movie star level looks and world-renowned school level intelligence. Although she was no match for Yue Wuhuan, whose beauty and intelligence were in defiance of the natural order, she was still a first-class talent. Moreover, she seemed to like the study of medicine very much. She looked at the little white mice with a light in her eyes. However, she had no interest in toxicology. Qing Luan saw the Master coming, and hurriedly signaled to the children to be quiet. Song Qingshi asked them to hand in all their homework for this period. He then checked the results. Most of the children attempted to do their exercises according to his previous topics. Many of them were studying the medicines of the immortal realm. Qing Luan was the only one doing research on common medicines for various internal and external injuries. One of them was an anti-inflammatory and antibacterial medicine to prevent wound infection. Song Qingshi himself had done a very comprehensive study on it but she was still trying to improve the formula. Some of her plans even reduced the efficacy of the drug. It seemed she was seeking some other purpose. Although all the results of her improvement were all failures, the improvements themselves were very interesting. Song Qingshi called her over, inquiring after her reasoning. Qing Luan was very embarrassed. “I want to reduce the cost and difficulty of making this medicine.”
Song Qingshi was puzzled. “But, if you do this, the Chuhui Pill will not reach its highest efficacy.” Qing Luan was a little nervous. She snuck a look at Yue Wuhuan and after confirming that he was allowing her to speak, said, “My father was a travelling doctor. Of course, he didn’t have sophisticated medical skills. He only dealt with the minor illnesses and small aches and pains of the villagers. It produced a meager income. When I was a child, I followed my father to see patients. A chilly wind can kill a child. A nail that pierced the sole of a foot can kill a blacksmith. A fall can cause the death of an old man. They have no money to buy such expensive medicine…” Song Qingshi was dazed. This was an area he had never ventured into. “The Master’s Chuhui Pill has the highest efficacy. Of this, there is no doubt,” Qing Luan bit her lip, and finally said the words she had buried in her heart, “I think that many patients’ injuries, if they are dealt with in time, don’t need to such high-standard pills. I want to reduce the cost of the Chuhui Pill and make it the most common medicine… a treatment method that even mortal doctors can use. I may be just indulging in fantasy, but my father, he was injured by a falling rock on his way to see a patient. His wound was infected and he died…” Yue Wuhuan felt that she had said a little too much, and warned in a low voice, “Qing Luan, don’t mention this.” “I’m sorry, I’m talking nonsense,” Qing Luan’s eyes were fogged up. “I just think that…if there were such medicines in the world, if there were medicines that ordinary people could afford, my father wouldn’t have died and I wouldn’t have lost my home.” Song Qingshi thought for a long time, then smiled. “You’re right, you have the kind-heartedness of a doctor.” Qing Luan raised her head in surprise, unable to hide the tears in her eyes. Song Qingshi looked at her plan once more and made a suggestion. “Try to replace the Chuhui Pill’s Sparrow Vermillion Grass with Purple Vermillion Grass. You can then reduce the proportion of Crane Marble… This used to be my prescription but I rejected it because it couldn’t achieve the highest efficacy. You can try to improve the pill using this as the foundation. In addition, you can try to study Penicillium. The cost is very low and it’s suitable for mortals… I remember there are several other low-cost antibacterial drugs. I will sort out the relevant materials later and give them to you.” Qing Luan was delirious with delight and kept expressing her thanks.
There was suddenly a strange feeling in Song Qingshi’s heart. He looked at the Yue Wuhuan, who used to not care at all about matters like this. And he then looked at the somewhat overcast sky outside the window. It seemed that some things were quietly changing. … Under the strict supervision of Class Monitor Qing Luan, most of the children’s homework were done splendidly. That was except for He Qingyun, who was completely indifferent to studying, but who also knew himself enough and just wanted to farm. Although Ming Hong was outstanding, his heart was not in these medical sciences. His aptitude for cultivation was higher than the others’. He yearned for Yue Wuhuan’s swordsmanship. He wanted to be a true cultivator and become everyone’s protector. Both of them clearly expressed their pursuits. Everyone has their own aspirations and cannot be forced. Song Qingshi decided to assign a field of specialty to everyone later, letting as much as possible for everyone to do what they liked. Yue Wuhuan finally found bamboo twigs and wooden blocks suitable for kite making. He sat next to him and used a small knife to sort out the shape of the bamboo strips and put together the prototype for the kite. It seemed that he wanted to make a very big and very beautiful kite. Song Qingshi was very happy to see it, and he took out a large pile of gifts he brought back from Nanhai City and distributed them to everyone. Qing Luan scored the best. Although she repeatedly declined, a bejeweled golden hair ornament and some blue jacquard brocade were still pushed onto her. She also took a strange wooden sculpture and a colorful glass bottle. She pondered the tastes of the two, and quickly figured out that the beautiful fabrics and jewelry were chosen by Wuhuan Ge, and the strange items must have been chosen by the Master. As long as there was money in Song Qingshi’s pockets, he would spend it willy-nilly. He used most of his money to buy gems for Yue Wuhuan; gems like Imperial Jade, Mermaid Pearl, Moonstone and others of the like. The luster of the gems of the immortal realm were magnificent, far better than the mundane things in the mortal world… …Yue Wuhuan’s treasure box contained only the mortal world gems that the Master had given to him back then. Other similar ones were no longer collected. Instead, they were replaced by Golden Rock Jade, Colored Glazed Spirit Pearls and others that were unintentionally obtained in the secret realm. This time he had caught sight of Song Qingshi buying jewelry. Under the shopkeeper’s superb sales pitch, he was going straight for the coarse, large, heavy, and tasteless unsalable items. He even tried to buy for him a garish gemstone neckband with an indescribable appearance. Moreover, he energetically praised its beauty…Although Yue Wuhuan thought he could hold down such peculiar jewelry, people might mistakenly question his good taste if he were to wear it outside.
He really couldn’t bear this kind of thing. So he was forced to intervene and stood in for Song Qingshi to revise the selection of jewelry and fabrics that were to be given as gifts. Now, that he thought about it… Song Qingshi’s aesthetic vision seemed to be quite difficult to explain in a few words? It felt like the tone he used to praise his beauty was nearly the same as the tone he used to praise that gemstone neckband? Yue Wuhuan took a peek at the mirror, and began to have some doubts about his beauty.