The Second Dao Fruit—Medicine Refining Dao Fruit!

The Hundred Refinement Secret Medicine was quite effective. At most, he could use two doses a day, though taking it was somewhat painful—not as pleasant as the Azure Origin Secret Medicine.

In the blink of an eye, another two months passed.

Li Changsheng had long since used up his Hundred Refinement Secret Medicine, but his cultivation had only just broken through to the Stone Skin Major Accomplishment Realm. If those geniuses had used that much Hundred Refinement Secret Medicine, they would definitely have broken through to the Iron Skin Realm.

As for the skin polishing martial art Azure Steel Hand, his current comprehension had only reached the Minor Accomplishment Realm. His skin polishing martial art was still at Minor Accomplishment, yet his cultivation had broken through to Stone Skin Major Accomplishment; this was naturally the result of piling up secret medicine.

The fact that he had spent so long merely cultivating the skin polishing martial art Azure Steel Hand to Minor Accomplishment was enough to prove that his comprehension was not particularly outstanding either.

He was also cultivating Wind Shadow Leg, this intermediate skin polishing martial art, but he devoted very little time to it. It was currently still at the stage of using qi and blood to temper the skin and had yet to reach the Stone Skin Realm.

At this moment, he also realized just how difficult it was to cultivate several skin polishing martial arts at once and bring them all to the Stone Skin Realm. This was only his second skin polishing martial art; if he cultivated a third, it would take even more time.

"Ten days from now will mark the one-year deadline. I've survived another year, so I can obtain another Dao Fruit. I hope this Dao Fruit can help me cultivate!" Li Changsheng secretly anticipated it.

Over the following ten days, he rested well and did not cultivate too arduously.

In the blink of an eye, ten days passed, and Li Changsheng had spent his second year in this world.

Buzz!

A great deal of light emerged in his mind, gradually condensing into a Dao Fruit.

Immediately afterward, the Dao Fruit merged into his body.

[Dao Fruit: Medicine Refining]

"Medicine Refining Dao Fruit!"

Li Changsheng was slightly disappointed. It was not a Dao Fruit that could directly and rapidly improve his cultivation or martial arts training. But upon further thought, the Medicine Refining Dao Fruit should allow him to become an Alchemist. Alchemists made secret medicine, and their status was even higher than that of blacksmiths.

Weapons forged by blacksmiths could be used for a long time, and forging Eighth Grade or even Seventh Grade weapons took a great deal of time. Their ability to make money was not all that astonishing.

Secret medicine was different. Demand far outstripped supply. Every martial artist needed secret medicine, and in large quantities at that. Any secret medicine maker could earn a great deal, far surpassing blacksmiths in money-making ability.

If he became an Alchemist, he could refine secret medicine for his own use.

Although money could buy secret medicine, the secret medicine available for purchase was generally mediocre, barely passing quality. Truly high-quality secret medicine would never make its way onto the market; it was controlled by the Alchemists themselves or by those great factions.

He had never truly taken a dose of high-quality secret medicine, so he did not know how effective it was. Now, however, he could try becoming an Alchemist.

He was already an Intermediate Blacksmith. If he became a medicine refiner as well, he would be drawing too much attention. If he attracted people from the inner city and they demanded that he specially refine secret medicine for them, he would lose his freedom.

Therefore, he decided it was better to keep a low profile.

Since he wanted to keep a low profile, he had to enter the Black Market and buy an Alchemist's introductory manual there.

Baiye City, the outer city Black Market.

The Black Market was an underground street in the north of the outer city. The entry fee alone cost one tael of silver; anyone below the Stone Skin Realm would truly be reluctant to enter.

After Li Changsheng entered the Black Market, he saw numerous stalls, each displaying some unknown treasures.

There were many fakes here, as well as plenty of manuals designed to swindle people. Even if one was cheated, one could not cause trouble. That was the Black Market's rule: once money and goods changed hands, the deal was final, and no disturbances were allowed in the Black Market.

As for what happened after leaving the Black Market, no one cared.

Li Changsheng noticed that some stalls also sold secret medicine, but its quality was impossible to determine. It was most likely defective. Taking it only a few times would not be a problem, but repeated use might lead to Semi-Demonization.

Li Changsheng searched again and again, looking for an Alchemist's introductory manual.

Before long, he found one.

"Is this introductory Alchemist's manual of yours genuine?"

Li Changsheng pointed to one manual among the many displayed at a stall and asked.

The stall owner was a somewhat fierce-looking middle-aged man. He said coldly, "Of course it's genuine. Are you buying it or not? If not, get lost."

"Of course I want to buy it, but may I read the first part?" Li Changsheng asked.

The stall owner considered it, then said, "You may only read three pages!"

The introductory manual had several dozen pages in total. The knowledge contained in only three pages was scant, so he would not lose anything.

"Thank you," Li Changsheng said.

The stall owner opened to the first page, then quickly turned to the second, followed by the third. The entire process lasted only around twenty breaths.

Li Changsheng frowned. Although he had only read three pages, the Medicine Refining Dao Fruit gave him a piece of feedback: there were errors in it.

Though his Medicine Refining Dao Fruit was only Level 0, it could still let him distinguish whether a medicine refining manual was genuine. Yet this one contained false content within its first three pages. This was simply too much of a scam.

"This is a fake manual!"

Li Changsheng turned to leave as he spoke.

The stall owner grew anxious. "Why do you say my manual is fake? Do you have any proof?"

Li Changsheng smiled, opened the first three pages, and pointed out three errors. "These three places are wrong. Don't think you can swindle me. If you don't have a genuine manual, I'll leave!"

Seeing that Li Changsheng had truly identified the fake manual, the stall owner hurriedly said, "Of course I have other introductory Alchemist's manuals here!"

With that, he took an ancient-looking manual from the box behind him.

"Cangyuanzi's Medicine Refining Records!"

Li Changsheng could tell at a glance that this was a deliberately aged secret manual, but he did not mind. As long as the contents were genuine, that was enough.

He read the first three pages and confirmed this time that it was real.

"How much?" Li Changsheng asked.

"One hundred taels of silver!" the stall owner said with a smile.

"One hundred taels of silver? Why don't you just rob me?" Li Changsheng was stunned. That was enough to buy ten portions of ordinary Azure Origin Secret Medicine, yet this was only a copied secret manual.

The stall owner said, "Little brother, this is an Alchemist's secret manual! And it contains plenty of experience in medicine refining. At the end, it even records the formulas for three Skin Grinding Secret Medicines. Those three formulas alone are worth money!"

"How can I be sure those formulas are real?" Li Changsheng countered. "Will you sell it for fifty taels?"

"Sold!"

The stall owner gritted his teeth and said.

"..."

Li Changsheng knew he had still offered too much. He reckoned the man would have sold it even for twenty or thirty taels, since he had virtually no cost in it.

After buying the secret manual, he found a place to sit and slowly flipped through Cangyuanzi's Medicine Refining Records, taking some time to skim through it.

"It really is a genuine medicine-refining manual, and the formulas for those three Skin Grinding Secret Medicines are real too!"

Li Changsheng put away the manual. He planned to buy the ingredients for one of the Skin Grinding Secret Medicine formulas: eleven medicinal herbs in total, plus one medicinal catalyst—the catalyst was Demon Blood.

The medicinal herbs could be bought from the major pharmacies in the outer city. As long as he bought them separately, it would not attract attention.

But Demon Blood could not be bought at pharmacies. It should, however, be available at the Black Market.