BXBX NOVEL Chapter 249 - The Great Tonic
Seeing that Ding Ning was shocked, Feng Jun and his colleagues smiled proudly. It seemed that they had proved their worth.
Ding Ning discovered that the eight iron-willed soldiers were so weak, that their legs had turned to jelly, but still, they supported one another, doing their best to stand upright, and grinned at him.
His eyes were a little teary, and he rushed forward and complained, “Why did you go all out to fight?”
“Northeast Tigers can only die with dignity, and will never kneel to beg for mercy.”
The extraordinary times on the battlefields flashed across Lu Zhan’s mind, as he shouted out this war cry.
“Northeast Tigers can only die with dignity, and will never kneel to beg for mercy.”
Feng Jun and other six men stood straight, looked straight ahead, clearly in high spirits, and joined him in the war cry. They did not salute, because they were no longer the iron-willed soldiers from before.
But their spirits were still the fighting creed of the Northeast Tigers, and it had been firmly entrenched in their bones.
They had already retired, but these spirits would never die.
Disabilities forced them to leave their beloved posts and battlefield, and at one stage in their lives, they felt depressed, hopeless, and were full of complaints.
But Ding Ning had changed their fates completely, by giving them the will to live, and the ability to stand tall.
From now on, they were not soldiers anymore, but Ding Ning’s subordinates.
But, no matter where they were, or no matter whom they served, the Northeast Tiger’s spirit would be with them forever.
In this way, they were bidding goodbye to their past lives, and taking a brand new path.
Ding Ning understood them, but his heart sank, because he was the only one who understood where they were coming from.
He didn’t know if his actions were right, or if it was fair to them.
But he knew his intentions were good. He wanted to change the world with his abilities, although the change might only be a small one.
He wanted to reduce the crimes of the world, and achieve more justice and happiness.
The boundary between black and white was not that clear. Black was not necessarily all evil, and white was not necessarily all righteous.
He was not a god, let alone a savior. He could not save everyone, and he could only do his utmost to reduce the grounds for sins to grow.
Since he had reached this extent, Ding Ning did not think about retreating. Taking the dark force in his hands, he could guarantee that evil things would not happen under his nose, at least.
Lu Zhan and his colleagues had obviously sensed his intention, and supported him with their actions. Therefore, Ding Ning felt quite moved.
“Let’s go. Can you manage?”
Ding Ning felt relieved, smiled, and joked.
“Ah, D*mn, It’s like being beaten up. There’s no part of my body that doesn’t ache.”
“How can I, as a man say ‘I can’t’? We walked in, so we will walk out.”
“Right, men always can and should say ‘I can’, even if they can’t.”
“Compared with the past, this is nothing.”
...
The eight soldiers supported one another and walked out. Though covered in blood, they could still joke. Ding Ning felt relieved.
He had planned to spend the night with Ling Yun, but he changed his mind at this moment. He wanted to do make sure these wonderful soldiers received the best care ever.
It was the genuine health care, not the “sensual great health care”. Anyway, he was not a man with that sort of taste.
He called Ling Yun and ordered Air Force Wing No.1 to take her home, then he followed Xiaoniu and others to their abode.
Xiaoniu rented two houses opposite each other, each with three rooms and one sitting room, and the nine men gathered in them.
Ding Ning asked Air Force Wing No.1 to retrieve his medicine bag from the courtyard in the western suburbs, after it brought Ling Yun home. With all the medicinal herbs ready, he started to boil them, to make a medicinal bath.
“Boss, what are you doing?”
Cheng Hu sat in a wheelchair, looking at him curiously.
Lu Zhan and other men were exhausted. When they got back, they only had simple treatments for their wounds. Then, they went to sleep.
The only one awake, was Cheng Hu, who was bed bound, and was fast becoming edgy. After receiving Ding Ning’s treatment, he was able to move his hands, and he could turn the wheels of his wheelchair, and move around within a small area.
“I am boiling medicinal herbs to make a bath, to refine your body. From now on, each time you guys train and reach the limit your body can bear, this bath will help you guys regain your strength quickly, and also boost your physical condition. At the same time, it will get rid of any sequelae caused by extreme training.”
A memory from the past appeared in his eyes. This was the medicinal bath that Sister Qiao had prepared specially for him.
Since he was young, he had been bathing in this medicinal concoction every time he became exhausted after training. The following day, he would be energetic again, and his physical condition would also become gradually stronger.
But this bath was somewhat different from the one Sister Qiao made. After all, the herbs Sister Qiao used were common ones, but the ones he used, were all rare and precious types.
Cheng Hu’s eyes shone instantly when he heard this. “If the army can make this brew, it will help to train up many more excellent soldiers. If you manage to sell this brew to the army, you will make lots of money in the future.”
He knew, each time a soldier reached his limit of training, he would need a long rest in order to recover. Besides that, there were other sequelae caused by overtraining, such as ligament strain, muscle strain, etc. When the soldier was old, all kinds of injuries would set in. The brew, which could remove all kinds of sequelae, could become the amulet of the Celestial Empire, if it was widely used.
Ding Ning smiled bitterly, shook his head, and said, “I am willing to contribute to our country, and I can even hand over the prescription to the army, but the key point is these herbs are extremely rare, and some are even on the verge of extinction. I am making the brew for you guys, and that’s already the limit. It’s impossible to use this method widely.”
“I am too simple minded.”
Cheng Hu scratched his head shyly, realizing he had just said something silly. Even if the army got the prescription, they could not produce the brew in massive quantities. After all, herbs were the essence. The extinction of many rare herbs, also led to the decline of traditional Chinese medicine.
Cheng Hu’s proposal was naive, but Ding Ning had a good idea. He needed to make money quickly, to work for the mission his father left him.
Cheng Hu’s inadvertent proposal had helped him find another path to success.
Doing business with the army would not only make him wealthy, but it could also largely improve the survivability of the Celestial Empire’s soldiers. This was the best win-win business.
With this draft in his mind, Ding Ning could not help feeling excited. If this plan came true, he could easily become successful and famous.
The Qi and Blood Pill which could improve one’s physical power, the Qingfeng Pill which could increase one’s speed, the Bodybuilding Pill which could improve one’s physical strength, the Powder for Weapon Wounds which could help muscles to regrow, stop bleeding and avoid infection, and other types of medicines.
The herbs that these medicines were made from, were also rare, but they were not so difficult to cultivate. Herbs cultivated by man were far less effective than the wild herbs in nature, but they had much better effects than the other types of medicines on the market.
But it was not the right time now. He needed to build up his medicinal base first and form his industrial chain, which would be used to sell what he produced, and it had to cope with the demand for the amounts required, for selling. Then, he would try to contact the senior leaders of the army to get their cooperation.
His products’ effects would be his walking ads. He believed that none of the senior leaders of the army could possibly refuse to cooperate with him, by then.
The technique of making pills of immortality had long been lost. That was why these medicines were in the form of pills, powders, or ointments.
The book, Compendium of Vegetation, had a collection of methods for making pills of immortality, but now Ding Ning did not have the ability to make such pills.
Making pills of immortality played an indispensable role in the medical history of the Celestial Empire. This method extracted the medicines’ essence and made full use of their effects.
But making pills of immortality was a technique like that of a chef cooking. It depended largely on rigid requirements, like the temperature of the flame, the order of adding medicines, the treatment of medicine property conflicts, the mastery of the fire, the extraction degree of medicine effects.
So, even if Ding Ning had the methods to make the pills of immortality, he did not have the ability to make such pills. He would make pills which only had less than 10% of the medicine effects, and the other 90% would be wasted.
Making pills of immortality was a different business. These pills were divided into three levels: heaven, earth, human, and each level was divided into four classes: best, good, medium, ordinary. The ordinary pills of the lowest human level had 30% of the medicine effects, the medium pills could reach 40%, the good pills could reach 50%, and the best pills could reach 60%.
The ordinary pills of the earth level could reach 50% of the medicine effects, the medium pills could reach 60%, the good pills could reach 70%, and the best pills could reach 80%.
The ordinary pills of the heaven level could reach 70% of the medicine effects, the medium pills could reach 80%, the good pills could reach 90%, and the best pills could reach 100%.
It seemed that there was not much difference in the medicine effects of the heaven, earth, and human levels, but they were absolutely different.
Pills of the human level were prepared for ordinary people, pills of the earth level were prepared for warriors, and pills of the heaven level were prepared for the legendary gods.
In other words, it was useless for warriors to take the human level pills, but an ordinary person would likely become a warrior right away, if he took the earth level pills. However, the person would probably combust and die, because he would not able to bear the effects of the medicine.
As for the heaven level pills, if there were any, even the top-level warriors did not dare to take them. If they did, they were doomed, because these pills of immortality, only worked for the gods.
As for the heaven level pills, the Compendium of Vegetation had records. Among the methods for making the heaven level pills, even the easiest and simplest one required 98 kinds of rare herbs.
The most complicated one even required over 90,000 kinds of rare herbs. Legend had it that it had the extraordinary function of resurrecting the dead, and capability of making flesh grow back on the skeleton, but the 10,000 kinds of the rare herbs it needed, were already extinct on this earth.
So, Ding Ning had never desired to study the heaven level pill-making methods. If he could make the best earth level pills, he would be satisfied.
The Enhanced Edition of the Great Tonic was the name of the medicinal bath Ding Ning made. No one knew if Sister Qiao named it like this, for a mischievous purpose.
Ding Ning tried to wake Lu Zhan and others, but when they looked at the black, smelly medicinal brew in the bathtub, they covered their noses, and gazed at one another. No one was willing to step into it.
“Boss, I have no wounds. I am only a little tired, I just need a rest, I don’t need to bathe. I shall give this precious opportunity to the others.”
Lu Zhan spoke heroically, with a pained face.
“No problem, but don’t regret it.”
Ding Ning spoke simply. He believed that if only one man started to bathe, others would then fight to get in and bathe as well.
“Feng Jun, please have a try. Your injury is serious, and your hands have not fully recovered yet.”
Peng Haitao smiled mischievously, while Xiaoiu and others shook their heads.
Feng Jun was stunned, but he instantly gritted his teeth, and like a tragic hero, said, “In the past, Shennong tried wild herbs. Today, I will test this medicinal brew, with my life.”
“Bang!”
Ding Ning slapped his head angrily. “It is as if you are about to die for honor. Do you think I will trap you guys? The brew is only good for you, not bad. You will suffer a little, but you will be addicted to its good effects.”
“Boss, you will not be trapping me. Since you’ve said so, let me try it!”
Wearing only a pair of shorts, Feng Jun gritted his teeth, held his breath, closed his eyes, and jumped into the tub, looking as if he was going for his own execution. He did so, because he trusted Ding Ning.