Soul Ascension, Alchemy

"Master, as you requested, five hundred Blood Condensing Grass plants, five hundred Bone-Growing Flowers, five hundred Vitality Fruits, and five hundred poppy flowers have all been prepared."

At the best inn in Qingshan Town, Kagan had gathered all the medicinal ingredients Su Luo needed in just one day.

Su Luo waved a hand and did not inspect the herbs. "Go stand guard outside. When I begin refining medicine later, do not let anyone disturb me."

"Yes, Master."

Kagan cupped his fists and left. Soon after, every member of the Blood War Mercenary Group surrounded the inn, refusing to let anyone disturb Su Luo's alchemy.

After casually glancing at the medicinal ingredients, Su Luo did not immediately begin refining them. Instead, he sat cross-legged and took out a pill from his Soul Tool.

It was the Soul Ascension Pill Su Muyue had bought for Su Luo earlier. Normally, Soul Ascension Pills raised the Soul Power of Soul Elders above level thirty by one level, but Su Luo, who had read Peerless Tang Sect, knew that it was best to take a Soul Ascension Pill while still a Soul Master.

After all, a Soul Elder would only gain one level from a Soul Ascension Pill, while a Soul Master could gain a full three levels. In the original story, Huo Yuhao had relied on a Soul Ascension Pill to leap from level fourteen Soul Power to level seventeen.

More importantly, this Soul Ascension Pill was something even Huo Yuhao had taken in the original story. It was completely safe to consume.

There was a rule in Douluo Continent: every pill consumed by the protagonist's group was called a heavenly treasure. Not only would it not damage their foundations, many could even improve the quality of their martial souls. But when anyone else took medicine, it damaged their foundations and left their Soul Power unstable. Even the beloved grandson of the master of Mingde Hall, one of the three great powers, would have his foundation damaged by the so-called heavenly treasures he consumed.

But because Huo Yuhao had taken this Soul Ascension Pill, there was no need to worry about any problems from consuming it.

Su Luo put the Soul Ascension Pill into his mouth, lightly chewed it, and swallowed it. As the pill entered his stomach, a stream of energy began pouring into his meridians. He circulated his Soul Power to digest the medicine's effects, and when he opened his eyes again, his Soul Power had already reached level fourteen.

"Three levels of Soul Power. That was within expectations."

He put the crystal ball used to measure Soul Power back into his Storage Soul Tool. After eating something simple and washing up, Su Luo took out a Soul Tool medicine cauldron.

To become an Alchemist on the Dou Qi Continent, one needed a Fire Attribute, a trace of Wood Attribute within the body, and sufficiently powerful Soul Power.

Of course, those were the requirements for ordinary Alchemists. Lacking the Wood Attribute did not mean one absolutely could not refine medicine. Tang Zhen of Blazing Flame Valley could refine some low-grade pills through his control over flames alone.

The Fire-Wood Attribute was not an absolute requirement, at least not when refining low-grade pills.

Xiao Yan's first attempt at alchemy had already demonstrated the purpose of the Wood Attribute. That trace of wood energy was meant to prevent the flames from becoming too violent to control, while also strengthening their power through the principle of wood feeding fire. It was not needed to fuse Wood Attribute power into the pill itself.

That meant that, at least for low-grade pills, the Alchemy Skills of the Dou Qi Continent and Douluo Continent could be mutually applicable to a certain extent.

Compared to the requirements of the Dou Qi Continent, the requirements on Douluo Continent were much simpler. With things like Soul Tools, even those with an Ice Attribute could become Alchemists.

Su Luo infused Soul Power into the Soul Tool medicine cauldron, controlling the temperature of the flames through the amount of firepower he supplied.

Once he felt that the temperature had reached a range suitable for alchemy, Su Luo casually grabbed a dark-red stalk of Blood Condensing Grass and tossed it into the cauldron without hesitation.

Because he had previously learned a little of the basics of alchemy at the Xuanming Sect, the Blood Condensing Grass Su Luo threw into the cauldron did not instantly turn into black ash as it had during Xiao Yan's first attempt at alchemy. Instead, under Su Luo's careful control, its essence was gradually extracted over time.

"It works!"

A trace of delight flashed through Su Luo's eyes. Though he had expected it, being able to become an Alchemist of the Dou Qi Continent still filled him with irrepressible joy.

Alchemists on the Dou Qi Continent were entirely different from Alchemists on Douluo Continent. Not only was an Alchemist's status far more exalted here, but Alchemists themselves were also a bug—one even more absurd than Heavenly Flames.

Increasing strength, breaking through realms, lifting seals, improving one's constitution—nearly every good thing was closely tied to Alchemists. Most importantly, Alchemists had the properties of a money-printing machine.

Once an Alchemist reached a high grade, even cultivation methods and Dou Techniques passed down through a family could be obtained with ease. People who would normally be impossible to befriend would show respect simply because you were a high-grade Alchemist.

When Gu He had invited several Dou Wangs to the Tagor Desert to search for Heavenly Flames, it was not because he could only invite Dou Wangs. It was because there were very few Dou Huangs in the Jia Ma Empire.

Had there not been a bug at the time, even if he had sought out Jia Xing Tian, Jia Xing Tian would have done him the favor and acted on his behalf.

Of course, Alchemists had another especially important bug. If someone wanted an Alchemist to refine a pill, they first had to let that Alchemist owe them a favor—in other words, they had to do something for the Alchemist.

Yet even after the task was completed, there were rules for asking an Alchemist to refine medicine. The medicinal ingredients had to be provided by the requester, and they had to provide three sets of ingredients for one pill.

Furthermore, if the pill was particularly special, they also had to prepare the pill formula, and from then on, that formula would belong to the Alchemist.

The value of a sixth-grade pill formula was no less than that of an Earth-tier Dou Technique.

That meant that if you wanted a sixth-grade Alchemist to refine medicine, you had to work for him with the strength of a Dou Wang or even a Dou Huang. After completing the work, you still had to give him three sets of ingredients, and might even have to add a pill formula worth no less than an Earth-tier Dou Technique.

Moreover, if the Alchemist succeeded in refining the pill on the first try, the other two sets of ingredients would not be returned. Even a money-printing factory was not this outrageous.

After all, a money-printing factory would not demand that you provide the paper and ink, then refuse to return the extra supplies.

It was only because most of the pills Xiao Yan refined in the original story were used by himself or his family that this money-printing-machine ability did not seem quite so outrageous.

After refining the Blood Condensing Grass, Su Luo quickly refined the Vitality Fruit and poppy flowers as well. Then, he began carefully attempting to fuse the three ingredients together.

After failing dozens of times, Su Luo finally refined a dark-red medicinal liquid that resembled paste.

He took out the medicinal liquid and placed it in a bottle. Then, Su Luo used a knife to cut a tiny wound on his finger before lightly touching the refined medicinal liquid with that injured finger.

The instant his finger touched the medicinal liquid, the wound began healing at a speed visible to the naked eye.

"It worked."