Chapter 143: Totem Medicine

The surgical operation was finished, and all that remained was to let Pi Yuanhong rest and slowly recover.

Because Jiang Hanfeng’s concealment formation wasn’t completely perfect, Su Chen didn’t go out to hunt anymore. Instead, he stayed behind to protect Pi Yuanhong and Jiang Hanfeng.

Of course, that didn’t mean that he was just lying idly around. If there was nothing to do, he would perform experiments or concoct medicines, assigning some of the pettier tasks to Jiang Hanfeng.

On this particular day, Jiang Hanfeng walked in while Su Chen was still busy doing things.

“He drank the whole bowl of soup and then went to sleep.”

“Don’t let him eat too much. He needs to take it slowly, even if he is an Origin Qi Scholar,” Su Chen said without even turning around.

“I told him already, but he wouldn’t listen to me. He said that he wanted to recover his combat ability as quickly as possible,” Little Jiang mumbled as he walked over.

But when he arrived next to Su Chen, he was given quite a surprise.

A partially-dissected Ferocious Race youth corpse was lying in front of Su Chen.

“A Ferocious Race youth? Where did you get this Ferocious Race youth corpse from?”

“I killed him, of course. Where else would it come from?” Su Chen replied as he pulled out the Ferocious Race youth’s heart and carefully inspected its structure.

Jiang Hanfeng was dazed by Su Chen’s bloody behavior. “You killed a Ferocious Race youth? And you’re dissecting him?”

“Two. The other one is there.” Su Chen pointed to a not-so-faraway corner.

The other Ferocious Race youth corpse was hanging on the wall. It had been completely skinned, with its various organs and limbs spread all over the place as precious specimens. A large head lay there as well, a vicious expression still on its face, almost as if it were still alive.

Jiang Hanfeng felt the world spinning around him. He had seen dead people before, but he had never seen dead people who were still that scary.

Fear and happiness simultaneously washed over him. He was happy because his Third Senior Brother was indeed powerful, since he was able to take care of two Ferocious Race youths simultaneously. He was fearful, however, of Su Chen’s brutal actions. His heart trembled involuntarily, and he was rendered speechless for some time.

“What? Scared?” Su Chen continued to inspect the heart using his Origin-Energy-seeing eye.

Jiang Hanfeng gulped and said with some difficulty, “I don’t understand why you are doing this.”

“To understand the composition of their bodies and to see if I can figure out a better way to deal with them. For instance, it’s common knowledge that they have two hearts, so they can still survive even after you destroy one of them. However, it’s not commonly known that their spleens are extremely critical; puncturing the spleen is even more effective than destroying a heart,” Su Chen said to Jiang Hanfeng as he put the heart in his hand back down and picked up the spleen.

His Origin Energy-seeing eye had allowed him to determine all of this. Su Chen’s mind rapidly distilled and interpreted everything that his eyes saw, becoming part of Su Chen’s understanding of the Ferocious Race’s physical constitution.

“Is that what that one is for too?” Jiang Hanfeng pointed at the Ferocious Race hanging from the wall.

“Oh, I’m using that one to understand the totemic inscriptions on their bodies. I skinned that one to see whether those inscriptions are still useful after they have been separated from a body and found that they, in fact, are not. Those totemic inscriptions are all drawn on with a special medicinal liquid containing an abundant supply of energy. It is activated by Blood Qi, and the resulting effect is determined by the inscriptions themselves. By unraveling the secrets of these totemic inscriptions, the human race will be able to harness their abilities.”

Totemic inscriptions were as important to the Ferocious Race as Origin Skills were to the human race; they were the foundation of the Ferocious Race’s strength.

Every totemic inscription was equivalent to a unique, powerful skill. Regardless of whether they were used to augment one’s own abilities or to attack others, they were all exquisitely drawn.

Unlike the human race’s multifaceted Origin Skills, the Ferocious Race’s inscriptions were incredibly straightforward, focusing primarily on pure power. Because of this, the totemic inscriptions were often used to directly strengthen themselves by increasing their power, hardening their bodies, and raising their speed. Even though this style of battle was very one-dimensional, it was still very effective.

Jiang Hanfeng shook his head. “These totemic inscriptions are the closely-guarded secrets of the Ferocious Race’s Divine Temple. It’s impossible for you to unravel the mysteries within.”

“Be careful when you use the word ‘impossible’; otherwise, you might find your face getting slapped around,” Su Chen laughed as he picked up a vial containing a radiant, glowing blue liquid.

“This is......” Jiang Hanfeng said in shock.

“The liquid medicine used for drawing totemic inscriptions,” Su Chen replied.

“That’s not possible!” Jiang Hanfeng yelled.

The Totemic Medicine’s formula was a secret that the Ferocious Race priests of the Divine Temple guarded fiercely. They were the only ones who had the ability and privilege to draw on these inscriptions, and that was the primary reason for their existence.

How was Su Chen able to concoct it instantly?

This was unbelievable.

“That’s why I told you to be careful when you say that something is impossible,” Su Chen laughed.

Su Chen himself had not expected that his first great discovery upon entering the ruins would not be from the ruins themselves, but from the corpses of his enemies.

Yes, after inspecting the totemic inscriptions on the Ferocious Race’s body using his unique eyes, he was instantly able to deduce the medicinal formula.

It really was that simple!

The Ferocious Race wasn’t really known for using their heads, so how complicated could the medicine they invented be?

The concoction technique was also incredibly simple. All he needed to do was gather all of the medicinal herbs and simmer them in a pot for some time.

Because of this, Su Chen was able to instantly uncover the secrets within.

In the instant that he made the breakthrough, he didn’t think that it was possible for the heart of these inscriptions, which had been passed down for tens of thousands of years in the Ferocious Race, to be so simple.

Su Chen made a quick forage run in the forest. After finding a few raw ingredients and combining them with the ingredients that he already had in his Origin Ring, he was able to successfully concoct it in just a few tries.

It was such a simple process that he himself was in complete disbelief.

It was then that Su Chen realized that the only reason the human race hadn’t unlocked the secrets behind these inscriptions was partly because the human race didn’t have a convenient tool like his Origin Energy-seeing eye. The other more important reason, however, was that even though these totemic inscriptions could release an astounding amount of energy, they relied on a person’s own Blood Qi as a foundation. Only the Ferocious Race, who possessed two hearts and were by nature extremely barbaric, could utilize them. If humans were to attempt to activate these inscriptions, they would bleed themselves dry in just a few blows.

The human race hadn’t deciphered it not because they couldn’t, but because they didn’t want to – no one was interested in spending the time and energy to decipher something that wouldn’t be one bit useful to themselves.

“If that’s the case, then why would you try to decipher it?” Jiang Hanfeng couldn’t help but ask upon hearing Su Chen’s explanation.

“Because I’m not just trying to mimic them. The Ferocious Race’s inscription medicine is extremely crude and simple, and I can improve its effect. Or, I can always just adjust these inscriptions so that they don’t rely on the body’s Blood Qi to be activated but on Origin Energy. Isn’t that enough of a reason?”

Jiang Hanfeng was stunned.

Indeed, the thoughts of scholar overlords were hard to understand. To those who only focused on the immediate, short-term benefits, Su Chen’s plans were simply too far-fetched.

But Su Chen’s attitude toward the totemic inscriptions was the same as his attitude towards researching Origin Skills. They were all quite useful “inheritances” that he could absorb and modify, turning them into tools usable by those without bloodlines.

If he wanted to give those without bloodlines strength of their own, he would need to broaden his horizons and attempt to absorb anything and everything that he could possibly use.

This was the case for Ancient Arcana Techniques, as it was now for totemic inscriptions.

There was no way he would make any breakthroughs if he grew complacent.

“Unfortunately, that’s not something I’ll be able to accomplish overnight,” Su Chen said with some reluctance.

Deciphering the makeup of the totemic inscriptions was not difficult, but changing them so that they could be used by the human race was going to take a lot of work.

Jiang Hanfeng’s face fell. “So you mean that this Totemic Medicine is not going to be useful to us right now?”

“That might not be true,” Su Chen replied.

He tilted the vial and said, “Even though we humans do not have the physique that the Ferocious Race possesses, we can still probably find a few exceptions to the rule. Thankfully, within our group of students, I can already think of a few who may find this medicine useful.”