The knife from the blacksmith shop, with a blade like a willow leaf and roughly five to six centimeters in length, its size and sharpness almost identical to the clinical scalpel Yun Sheng used in her previous life at Medical University.
In her past life, although Yun Sheng was born into a family of Eastern medicine, her grandfather was an enlightened man. He believed that both Eastern and Western medicine were profound, so while imparting the essence of the Eastern Medical System to Yun Sheng from a young age, he also encouraged her to study in a formal Western medical system.
Several years of education at Medical University, combined with the abilities of Shennong's Eyes and Yanling's Hand, made Yun Sheng famously fast with a knife in her university days.
She even set a record in anatomy class for excising a cancerous organ from a rabbit and stitching it up perfectly, all within one minute.
She thought she would never see a scalpel again after arriving on the Wuji Continent, but this small willow-leaf-shaped knife right before her eyes was drawing her attention.
"That is a tool made from the long fang of a Golden Rhinoceros Pig. A few days ago, a hunter from the village went into the mountains hoping to hunt a Golden Rhinoceros Pig, but unfortunately, the cunning creature got away, leaving only half of its tooth chopped off. Half a tooth isn't worth much, so the hunter brought it to my shop to see if it could be whittled into something useful. In the end, it was made into this little knife. Although sharp enough, it's too small and no one can use it," Tie Gang said as he shook his head looking at the small knife.
The Wuji Continent is a unique continent, abundant in Spiritual Energy, breeding countless magical species and many mysterious forces that the modern world cannot explain.
Not only are there mages and martial artists on this continent, but the beasts that live here are also formidable; just in terms of appearance, they are several times larger than the modern domestic and wild animals.
Apart from a small number of domesticated animals, many dangerous beasts live in the unknown deep mountains and old forests. Based on the danger level of these beasts, they are classified into wild beasts, demon beasts, and war beasts.
The Golden Rhinoceros Pig mentioned by Tie Gang is one such demon beast, a second and third-level magical beast, resembling a pig in shape but with a pair of reversed-hook-shaped tusks protruding from its mouth.
The Golden Rhinoceros Pig is ferocious by nature and possesses great destructive power against crops and livestock. Fortunately, it mostly resides deep in the mountains and forests, seldom appearing in the villages.
The tusks of the Golden Rhinoceros Pig are very hard, comparable to refined metals. In the resource-scarce small mountain villages, Golden Rhinoceros Pig tusks are valuable materials for crafting daggers.
A complete tusk from a Golden Rhinoceros Pig could fetch a silver coin at a village-level blacksmith shop.
The currency system of the Wuji Continent consists of ten copper coins for a silver coin, ten silver coins for a gold coin, and ten gold coins for an imperial gold coin. A silver coin is enough for an ordinary farming family to live on for a month.
Unfortunately, by the time this Golden Rhinoceros Pig's tusk had arrived, it was already broken and hence valueless.
"Uncle Tie, can you sell this little knife to me? But I only have two copper coins left," Yun Sheng had spent a copper coin on ten bone needles, and she wanted to save the other two to collect enough money to buy a hemostatic agent, leaving her with only two copper coins.
"It's just a worthless little knife, not worth any money. It's not fit to be a kitchen knife or for chopping firewood. Consider it a gift from Uncle Tie for you to play with," Tie Gang said with a smile, handing the little knife to Yun Sheng.
"Uncle Tie, could you carve a small groove here and then fit an Iron Pine Wood handle for me?" Yun Sheng, imitating the design of a modern scalpel, explained in detail to Tie Gang.
Tie Gang wasn't sure what Yun Sheng intended to do with this oddly-shaped little knife, but still went ahead and followed her instructions to craft a "scalpel."
With the improved scalpel in hand, Yun Sheng's face was lit with a beaming smile. She thanked Uncle Tie and left the blacksmith shop. Then, Yun Sheng went to Banana Leaf Village's general store to buy a rice husker and pestle, rounding out her basic pharmaceutical tools.
After returning home and while the sun was still high, Yun Sheng transplanted the shoots from her newly acquired Three-petal Mandala Lotus, moving a portion to the Medicine Field and reserving some for her first trial in making anesthetic drugs.
After all, the Three-petal Mandala Lotus was rare in Banana Leaf Village, and proper cultivation would be beneficial for long-term use.
Anesthetics may seem simple to concoct, but they require caution. A slight mistake and it could result in someone being knocked out, just like what happened to Granny Liu recently.
Yun Sheng made a mask and a pair of gloves out of beast skin, tied up her hair, and then began to pound and grind the medicine. After toiling for an hour, she finally managed to extract the first batch of anesthetic juice just before Yun Canghai came home for dinner.
Yun Canghai was drunk again. After returning home, he didn't even eat dinner and just collapsed on the bed, deeply asleep.
Early the next morning, as the sun climbed high, Yun Canghai got up with a splitting headache, only to find that there was already porridge heated on the stove.
There's nothing better than porridge for sobering up. There was also a note on the stove, which read: "Father, I've gone to the village chief's house to help with farm work. I might not come back for lunch. Remember to drink the porridge while it's hot."
After putting down the note and taking a few sips of porridge, Yun Canghai felt a clarity penetrating his body, instantly dispelling the lingering drunkenness.
He let out a surprised grunt and inspected the bowl closely, only to find that it was medicated porridge.
"Jiusheng, it seems that our daughter has inherited your talent in medicine. Well, let her pursue a career in medicine. Maybe giving up on becoming a mage would actually be a blessing for her," Yun Canghai walked to the door and looked up at the sky, frowning unintentionally.
In the sky, the sun appeared somewhat dim, overshadowed by an unusual red cloud lingering beside it.
"Is that..." A shadow crossed Yun Canghai's face, but then he chuckled bitterly: "Yun Canghai, you're already struggling to fend for yourself, why bother poking your nose into other matters?"
He slumped his shoulders and walked towards the small tavern at the entrance of the village.
Among the rolling hills, Yun Sheng, with a medicine basket on her back, made her way towards the middle of a mountain approximately a thousand meters high.
The name of this mountain is Thousand Beast Tomb Mountain, not because there are many wild beasts here, but because there are only the lowest level of demon beasts and wild animals. The reason for its name is a legend that a large beast tomb once existed on this mountain long ago.
The location and origin of the beast tomb are unknown.
Villagers who ventured into the mountain never found any large beast tombs; over time, the illiterate villagers simply got used to calling it Thousand Beast Tomb Mountain.
Yun Sheng came to Thousand Beast Tomb Mountain today to search for medicinal herbs that could strengthen the body, hoping to find the Moonlight Grass that the village chief had mentioned, which could enhance a magic physique.
Secondly, she wanted to test the newly refined anesthetic she concocted yesterday.
The area around Thousand Beast Tomb Mountain was lush with trees, and the scent of plants was potent. Everywhere one looked was engulfed in greenery, so thick it seemed almost dripping.
This area also had a small number of low-level demon beasts wandering about, and far more wild medicinal herbs than in Banana Leaf Village.
Yun Sheng searched around and found some common medicinal herbs but did not come across the Moonlight Grass mentioned by the village chief.
After digging up some herbs, Yun Sheng suddenly heard rustling behind her and felt a surge of danger.
Out of the grass, a Willow Leaf Green Snake emerged, a first-tier demon beast as thick as a thumb.
The snake raised its head high, and when it discovered Yun Sheng, it spat out a streak of green Wind Blade with a puff.