At dusk, the billowing black smoke had yet to cease. The entire sky was veiled in shadow by its ascent.

In town, a courtyard gate still stained with blood slowly opened. Chu Mu walked out, and just like the sky, a shadow had clearly fallen over his features.

Chu Mu had already turned a blind eye to the suffering of others. The distance to Mingxin Hall was only a few hundred meters, yet it took him nearly a quarter of an hour to walk it.

"Elder Li."

As always, Chu Mu greeted him respectfully with cupped hands.

"You’re here."

Elder Li set down his book and looked at Chu Mu, who stood with a slight bow. Then, his somewhat cloudy gaze shifted, also looking outside the door.

The streets were deserted, save for the scurrying Inspectors and the captured men on Forced Labor being escorted back.

Just then, a group of escaped conscripts was being escorted past the door by Inspectors. Shouts and curses were endless, and the swords many of the Inspectors carried were still dripping with fresh blood.

After a moment, Elder Li spoke in a low voice, "I saw you heading into the mountains earlier... What’s the situation there?"

Chu Mu organized his thoughts. Aside from his still-unconfirmed suspicions, he held nothing back, recounting everything he had discovered one by one—including the "Spirit Ore" in the mining cave and the words he’d overheard from the man in white.

"The beginning of next month..."

Elder Li’s eyes flickered. His gaze toward Chu Mu now held a distinctly different look.

"Since Brother Mu has already embarked on the path of Cultivation, it would be best to involve yourself less in worldly affairs. You should focus on your Cultivation and strive to step onto the Immortal Path as soon as possible."

"I... understand."

Chu Mu’s heart tightened, and he quickly responded.

Elder Li nodded, picking up his book again, but said no more.

Chu Mu remained silent for a moment, but ultimately decided not to ask any more questions. He walked to the counter and handed the handwritten list of medicinal herbs to the apprentice behind it.

"Brother Mu, do you need these now?"

"Yes."

Chu Mu nodded. "Yes, please prepare them for me. I need them now."

"It’s a large quantity. Please wait a moment, Brother Mu. I’ll go check the storeroom."

The apprentice took the list and hurried away.

Chu Mu stood before the counter, his expression calm, but a storm of thoughts was raging in his mind.

’He was wondering, what was Elder Li implying with that remark just now? Or was it just an offhand comment?’

Chu Mu wasn’t sure, but he deeply disliked this feeling.

It was like being swept along by a current, completely out of his control. The waves were turbulent, and he was powerless to influence them. Whether he liked it or not, it seemed he was destined to be engulfed by this raging tide.

It had been this way ever since he arrived in this world, and it seemed to be the same now.

...

Night had fallen by the time Chu Mu left Mingxin Hall, carrying several large bags of medicinal herbs.

At home, a candle was lit. By its flickering light, Chu Mu carefully organized the large bags of herbs.

The herbs were valuable, but not what one would call rare. They were all within their natural growth cycles. As for herbs that had exceeded their growth cycles... Chu Mu couldn’t buy them even if he wanted to.

Mingxin Hall sourced its herbs from either the herb gatherers in the surrounding villages or a few medicinal herb shops in the county.

Chu Mu had already found out that according to the laws of Great Chu, selling herbs that had exceeded their natural growth period was forbidden. If discovered, they had to be surrendered to the authorities; otherwise, it was a capital offense punishable by beheading.

Of course, this law was clearly aimed at ordinary people. Someone like Elder Li would obviously not pay any mind to worldly laws.

But right now, the people Chu Mu could interact with were mostly ordinary. ’Could he possibly find a Cultivator to buy herbs from?’

After taking inventory and placing everything into the medicine cabinet by category, Chu Mu finally walked over to the wardrobe by his bed. He opened the door, and atop a pile of folded clothes, an exquisite small Wooden Box came into view.

He carefully took out the Wooden Box, placed a cloth on the table, and only then set the Wooden Box upon it.

He opened the Wooden Box, revealing a miniature scale, no more than three inches long.

The beam of the scale was gold all over, with a streamlined design covered in dense markings. The weighing pan was no bigger than a child’s fist and also solid gold. The counterweight was even more exquisite, shaped like a miniature pyramid.

A scale, which in this era’s terms, should be called a Centimeter Scale.

The so-called *li* and *hao*, in this era, were not the widely known units of length from his previous life, but units of weight.

Tael, mace, candareen, *li*, and *hao*!

These were the fine units of weight in this era.

Compared to his previous life, a tael here was about the same. A mace was roughly three to four grams, a candareen about point-three to point-four grams, and the *li* and *hao* followed in kind.

As for larger units, like the *shi* or *dou*, they were obviously not practical for weighing medicinal herbs.

And this miniature scale before him was capable of weighing with a precision down to the *li*!

The most precise scales available on the market, however, were generally only accurate to the mace.

A scale like this, precise down to the *hao*... "priceless and unobtainable" was probably not enough to describe its rarity!

The fundamental reason such a treasure of a Centimeter Scale had come into his possession was clearly thanks to Elder Li of Mingxin Hall.

Otherwise, with his current financial means and connections, it would have been impossible for him to obtain this Centimeter Scale.

In the art of understanding both people and medicine, the precise control of medicinal properties directly determined the final perfection of the Medicinal Power.

The importance of this Centimeter Scale was abundantly clear to Chu Mu, who was just setting foot on this path.

Chu Mu gingerly lifted the Centimeter Scale from the Wooden Box, applying his control over his Power to the scale without reservation.

"This... might still not be precise enough..."

After weighing out one mace of an herb, Chu Mu stared at the Centimeter Scale, his ambition already insatiable.

The ultimate perfection of Medicinal Power lay in the control of medicinal properties.

But right now, even this Centimeter Scale only offered control over the weight of the herbs, and only down to the level of a *li*.

In a sense, the weight of an herb corresponded to its medicinal properties, but this correspondence was obviously rough and approximate, not precise.

To achieve true perfection, one would need to control the medicinal properties directly.

For instance, with this mace of white peony root before him, he wanted to extract its cool, yin medicinal properties to neutralize the overall effect, while using combinations of other herbs to eliminate its other properties.

If he had precise control, he should be able to directly extract a *hao*, or even a mace, of the cool, yin properties from the white peony root. That, obviously, would be true perfection.

His thoughts drifted, and finally, Chu Mu gave a self-deprecating laugh. ’This is really aiming too high. Right now, I’ve only just begun to deal with the step of weight. Being down-to-earth is the only way forward.’

’If I keep walking this path steadily, I’ll reach that level one day.’

...