"Whoa, what is this stuff?"
"Why does it reek of Buddhist influence?"
"The stench is overpowering. Need I say more?"
After reaching a stalemate with Dan Shu, Noldrei had remained in the Alchemy Commission. By now, he had established himself as one of its most exemplary alchemists.
All the medicinal formulas here were unconditionally open to him, and he had personally gone through every classic text related to the Yaoshi.
This was a far cry from when he had first landed on Earth. Back there, Noldrei could learn anything he wanted directly through the internet. On Earth, the internet could provide a person with a direct, intuitive understanding of the world.
But this universe was different. When time and space were stretched to a cosmic scale, things like the universe's social hierarchy, historical accounts, and other records became massively distorted and corrupted.
It was just like the Xianzhou's current history. Noldrei only needed a single glance to know which parts might be true and which were likely later additions, fabricated through forced connections. The content concerning the Yaoshi was almost entirely twisted, and the sections related to the Abominations of Abundance had been heavily redacted.
The Xianzhou were deeply secretive about this part of their history, acting as if they wanted nothing to do with it at all.
It had the same vibe as a "lost century."
Anyone who didn't know better would think they were reading the cosmic version of a historical document from One Piece.
"What is this? Is this seriously how you create medicinal formulas? Your experimental methods are laughably sloppy! Using outsiders for experiments? My god, setting aside the fact that the diversity of alien biology is beyond your imagination, the effects of medicine on outsiders are completely different from how they affect the Xianzhou."
"So what's the use of experimenting on them? Are you just trying to build your downline for a pyramid scheme?"
Noldrei rolled up the scroll in his hand and tossed it at Dan Shu's chest. It bounced off and fell to the floor.
Dan Shu's eyesight was already poor, and she stumbled, failing to catch it.
"Look at this pathetic display. We're a space-faring civilization, yet you can't even fix your own eyes. What are you playing at? Are you deliberately acting pitiful in front of me?"
Dan Shu had no such intentions. It wasn't as if she chose to be blind. For Noldrei to insult her like this was going too far.
Ever since this man arrived at the Alchemy Commission, the first thing he did was constantly gather information.
The second was to conduct his human experiments on the Xianzhou people.
Unlike the Commission's own human experiments, Noldrei created specialized tools tailored to the Xianzhou physique. Because of their rapid healing abilities, many conventional experiments were impossible—the body would heal faster than an incision could be completed.
This meant that if you performed any kind of surgery, carved out a piece of flesh, or modified any part of the body, that part would rapidly grow back, causing even more severe pain.
Dan Shu's eyes were a similar case, yet Noldrei refused to treat them.
What Noldrei was actually doing was quite simple: using high-tech materials to create tools that operated within the acceptable range of the human body's natural elasticity.
For example, human skin can be stretched and deformed, the stomach can expand with the intake of food, and the intestines can change shape depending on the digested matter passing through.
By the same principle, it was possible to insert a tiny, minimally impactful tool into the gaps between human tissues to perform the necessary operations.
Dan Shu endured Noldrei's verbal abuse willingly.
Because his set of theories could be applied to the Xianzhou, and the tools he created could be integrated into their bodies.
It was like replacing a scalpel with acupuncture.
If a Xianzhou native's regeneration caused them pain and discomfort, the solution was simply to make the replacement components small enough.
Take, for example, the Dharma-Eye on Fu Xuan's forehead. She constantly feels a corresponding pain, but it's manageable—not as intense and life-threatening as the agony Dan Shu experienced when her eyeball was gouged out and then regenerated.
Noldrei's theoretical foundation was based on these phenomena.
By directly adding external components to the cerebral cortex, one could minimize the amount of native tissue being replaced. In turn, the pain of a Xianzhou's regeneration would be reduced to its lowest possible point.
Noldrei's theory was like manna from heaven, leaving the alchemists of the Alchemy Commission completely stunned.
They vaguely felt that the theory was indeed viable, but at the same time, they were extremely wary of the bastard who had usurped Lady Dan Shu's authority and didn't dare to immediately put any of it into practice.
However, Noldrei couldn't have cared less what they thought. He was now completely immersed in his research into the history of Abundance.
And Dan Shu had been dragged along to be his assistant, forced to bear the brunt of his contempt for everyone in the Alchemy Commission.
"These are all the books the Alchemy Commission has on the Yaoshi," Dan Shu explained, trying to convey their recent hard work. "Whether they're real or fake, we've done our best to find them all for you."
She didn't want all her efforts to be ruined by this reckless and arbitrary man.
Lately, Noldrei had been eating and sleeping at the Alchemy Commission, and the others often tried to poison his food.
But it was useless. Any poison was like a stone dropped into the ocean, failing to create so much as a ripple. He ate and drank as he pleased, and not a single reaction manifested in his body.
It was as if he possessed a legendary body of free transformation, capable of altering its own form at will.
After flipping through the books for a while, Noldrei said, "The pain brought on by modifying a Xianzhou native's body has nothing to do with the nervous system. Instead, it's directly related to the integrity of the Xianzhou body itself."
"It's most likely related to what you call the 'congruence between soul and body.'"
"Theoretically, the human skeleton can be modified. You can insert nails for fixation or replace the bone material. None of this affects the nervous system, nor should it cause you pain."
"But that's not the case for the Xianzhou. Even parts of the body without a nervous system will cause you pain if their regenerative space is occupied."
"What I find most baffling is another question: why aren't things like the hymen, hair, and other such parts counted as part of the 'complete body'?"
Noldrei was completely puzzled by this. He looked at Dan Shu and asked, "Have you married and had children? How does the body recover from the damage caused by childbirth? And are there any other changes after the hymen is broken?"
Dan Shu's face turned slightly red, unsure how to explain that she was still single.
"Well, I... um... I suppose... probably..."
Noldrei understood. It seemed he would have to find a Xianzhou native with firsthand experience and ask them directly.