At the same time, the God of War, Qiang Yan, reached the Temple of Medicine in the Nine Heavens. He stopped at the door and took a deep breath, straightening his robe that had become crinkled on the way over from the dragon realm. Only then did he go to the study of the God of Medicine that was facing the giant herb garden in the middle of the temple.
Just like the God of Love, the God of Medicine was already fairly old. His hair had already turned gray and his face spotted several wrinkled lines. He also carried himself with an air that made other people instinctively think of an old scholar.
When he heard steps by the door, the God of Medicine turned to look up and couldn't help but raise his bushy brows. "The God of War? Now, this is a surprise! Come in, have a seat."
Qiang Yan nodded with a smile and went over, sitting down even though he felt like bursting out with his problem immediately. "I'm sorry for disturbing you while you're at work. But there is a problem that I need your help with."
The God of Medicine put away the brush that he had just used and slowly got up to get a teapot standing to the side. He came back just as unhurriedly and poured both of them a cup of tea. "A problem that would make the God of War himself come over must surely be grave. I do hope that my Temple of Medicine can be of help. Tell me what this is about and we'll see what can be done."
Qiang Yan gave a wry smile. If he had been able to speak as he wanted, he already would've explained everything. "There is a medicine that can help somebody acquire spiritual veins, isn't there?"
The God of Medicine nodded and sat down, straightening his sleeves and smoothing down his beard. "There is indeed something like that. Although it isn't anything we have here at the moment. That type of condition where one of the trueborn gods would lack all spiritual veins is rare. Some deformities might exist but normally, only one or two veins would be crippled, needing only some small intervention. Was somebody born with that type of condition recently? I didn't hear anything like that."
Qiang Yan shook his head. "Actually, this isn't about our race at all. The person this is about is of the human race. It is just that this person is very important because … er … because of several reasons." He couldn't help but shift his gaze away. Well, it wasn't as if he had lied. Nie Huang really was important. She was important to Bai Mu because he loved her and she was important to him because she was his daughter-in-law and somehow, this also connected her to the Heavenly Emperor, didn't it? Furthermore, Qiu Ling had taken them in in the dragon realm. With him being the dragon king, that should also make her an important person, shouldn't it? Anyway, there was nothing wrong about asking for a way to help her.
The God of Medicine put down the teacup that he had just picked up and leaned back, watching Qiang Yan's expression. "God of War, this wouldn't be about a woman you have fallen in love with, would it?"
Qiang Yan was dumbfounded. Was this the impression he had made? He shook his head and gave another wry smile. "No, I'm afraid that's not it. Although I can't deny that I do have some relation to that person."
The God of Medicine furrowed his brows and sighed. "Well, this is rather unfortunate. It's not that the medicine can't be refined but there are restrictions in place for this kind of thing. Refining it for a mortal … I'm afraid this will be impossible."
Qiang Yan blinked. Not possible for a mortal? So if he hadn't mentioned this, then he would have succeeded? He couldn't help but regret that he had tried to explain so much. If he had known before, he certainly would've kept quiet! Well, on the other hand, he didn't want to bring trouble to the God of Medicine either. "This is a regulation of the temple?"
The God of Medicine nodded. "Indeed. The only ones such medicine could be refined for are members of our god race or our allies. In some special situations, there could be exceptions but those are exceedingly rare. I'm afraid I can't help you.
Qiang Yan nodded but he wasn't willing to give up yet. "This regulation … I guess it is because this medicine is of a high grade?" Otherwise, there shouldn't be any reason not to refine it for mortals.
The God of Medicine nodded and picked up his teacup again, taking a sip. "Indeed. The materials are rare and the process of refining it isn't easy either."
Qiang Yan in contemplation. "The rare materials … If they were provided, would there be a way to refine this medicine even if it was for a mortal?"
The God of Medicine couldn't help but raise his brows. He certainly wouldn't have expected that Qiang Yan would still try to make this work. It really made him wonder if the person this concerned really wasn't his lover. After all, wasn't it common knowledge that the God of War wasn't married yet? Maybe he had finally found somebody but the person wasn't able to cultivate in thus become an ascended deity? That would at least explain why he was trying so hard. "Well, if the ingredients were provided, that would indeed make things easier. The regulation is in place to make sure that this kind of medicine isn't misappropriated. On the other hand, the members of the God race do have the right to seek out the Temple of Medicine to refine medicine for their own purposes. I had originally thought the God of War had come for official business so …"
Qiang Yan's expression lit up. Right! One could ask the Temple of Medicine to refine something for them. There were no regulations attached other than that you had to provide the ingredients, offer compensation for their work and if it was a medicine not known to them previously, you would have to provide the recipe. "In that case, what would the compensation be?"
The God of Medicine shook his head. "The compensation shouldn't be the problem. It's rather that we don't have many recipes for medicine that is suitable to be used for humans. The God of War would need to provide the recipe for the medicine."
Qiang Yan heaved a sigh of relief. If that was all, then the situation was indeed not as bad as he had thought. After all, hadn't Bai Mu mentioned that they already had a recipe? It seemed he wouldn't need to disappoint his son. He really had found an opportunity to help him at least a bit.