Purchasing Medicinal Herbs

Chapter 50: Purchasing Medicinal Herbs

With the money from the pawnshop, Lin Le went to a shop that primarily sold pills.

"How can I help you, honored guest?" a female attendant approached. Dressed in palace attire with a beautiful face, she had a somewhat ethereal appearance.

"I'm here to buy medicinal herbs. Do you have any ninth-grade herbs?" Lin Le asked.

"Yes, we do," the attendant nodded. "What do you need, honored guest?"

"Hundred-year-old Blood Ginseng. As much as possible. I don't have specific requirements for the age, as long as it's graded." Lin Le said.

Blood Ginseng, being one of the most widely cultivated medicinal herbs, was also the cheapest. For Lin Le at this moment, cost-effectiveness was paramount.

After entering the Qi Refining Realm and destroying the Xiang Family's Medicine Manor, Lin Le had specifically consumed the medicinal herbs for an Essence Pill and one Essence Pill.

The resulting Blood Essence Treasure Liquid was five times more potent than the Essence Pill liquid condensed from a single Essence Pill. However, the medicinal herbs for one Essence Pill could yield up to five Essence Pills.

With a six-to-one ratio, this showed Lin Le that, at least within the Qi Refining Realm, Blood Essence Treasure Liquid was superior to pill liquid.

Upon hearing this, the attendant's smile became even more sincere. "What is your budget?"

"Sixty thousand... no, let's say fifty thousand taels," Lin Le amended mid-sentence, remembering he still needed to eat and should keep some silver.

Fifty thousand taels! The attendant's eyes widened, and she subtly moved closer to Lin Le. "Sir, please follow me. I'll arrange a nice private room for you to sit in."

"Mhm," Lin Le nodded and followed the attendant to a private room.

After leaving briefly, the attendant quickly returned, bringing a tea set. "I've already sent someone to select the medicinal herbs. Please wait a moment, sir, and enjoy some tea."

With that, she began the process of warming the pot, adding tea leaves, and pouring the tea with fluid movements, eventually presenting a cup of fragrant tea to Lin Le with both hands.

Lin Le took a sip, his eyes brightening slightly. "What kind of tea is this?"

"Spirit Nourishing Tea. Although it's not graded, its value is quite high. One tael of leaves is equivalent to one tael of gold," the attendant said. "If you like it, sir, I can offer you a box as a gift."

'One tael is a hundred taels of silver?'

Lin Le mused. Because gold could be refined into refined gold, a highly versatile ninth-grade spiritual material in artifact crafting, gold mines became private property of major powers. This caused gold to have an extremely high market value, with one tael of gold being equal to one hundred taels of silver.

"Do you have any graded ones?" Lin Le asked.

"Yes, we also have Ninth-grade Spirit Nurturing Tea. However, one tael costs a thousand taels of silver," the attendant said, trying to maintain her composure despite her inner excitement.

"I'll take five thousand taels worth," Lin Le said, placing five silver notes on the table.

"Certainly," the attendant took the money, stood up, and bowed. "Please wait a moment, I'll go and arrange the goods for you."

"Go ahead," Lin Le said, holding his teacup.

Before long, the attendant returned, accompanied by three men. Each man held at least ten medicine boxes in their hands.

"Here is the Spirit Nourishing Tea you requested," the attendant said, handing a gift box to Lin Le.

Lin Le opened it, took a sniff, and felt a sense of lightness in his soul before putting it away.

Seeing Lin Le put away the tea, the attendant gestured towards the three men. "This is the hundred-year-old Blood Ginseng you requested. Based on your requirement for as much as possible, we've brought you a total of forty-three roots. The total price is fifty-one thousand six hundred taels. I can waive the one thousand six hundred tael difference, so you only need to pay fifty thousand taels."

Lin Le took out a stack of silver notes. "Count it."

The attendant took the money and counted it briefly. "It's all here, exactly fifty thousand taels. Would you like to take these medicinal herbs with you, or shall we deliver them?"

"The money is on the table. I'll inspect the goods first," Lin Le said without lifting his eyelids. "I'll inspect one root at a time. If they're all fine, then you can take the rest of the money."

"Very well," the attendant placed the money on the table, then addressed the young men carrying the medicine boxes. "Xiao Zhen, start the inspection for the honored guest."

"Yes," Xiao Zhen stepped forward, placed the medicine boxes on the table, and opened them one by one.

Lin Le directly picked up a root of Blood Ginseng and, in front of everyone, ate half of it in two or three bites.

This action stunned the three young men and the attendant.

They had expected Lin Le to use some sort of spell, or perhaps smell or touch the herbs to inspect them. They never imagined he would be so direct and simply eat them!

After swallowing half, Lin Le felt the medicinal effect and said, "Take a note."

The attendant immediately took one silver note.

He then ate the remaining half of the root, picked up another, and ate it. After verifying it was fine, he said, "Take a note."

The attendant took another note.

Lin Le repeated this process, eating thirty-six roots. The gazes of those around him shifted from surprise to shock, and finally to numbness.

However, when he reached the thirty-seventh root, Lin Le spat it out. Clenching his fist, he pulled out what looked like a blood-red thread.

Upon closer inspection, it wasn't a thread at all, but a wriggling, red, long worm.

Seeing this, the attendant's face immediately paled. She hadn't expected the inspection to uncover such a problem.

Lin Le examined the worm, then glanced at the attendant. "The customer's medicine was found to have a worm. How do you compensate for this?"

"Ten times the compensation," the attendant said with a wry smile. Although the worm in the medicinal herb had nothing to do with her, she would likely receive a scolding from the supervisor, that old man.

"Compensate me," Lin Le said, pressing down on the worm.

"Yes," the attendant bowed. "I will go and fetch the supervisor immediately."

Soon, the supervisor arrived with the attendant. He was a white-haired old man, with a slightly red nose that made him look rather jovial.

The supervisor glanced at Lin Le, then at the demonic bloodworm in Lin Le's hand and the bitten Blood Ginseng, and said, "This was our pharmacy's mistake. Sir, do you want ten one-patterned Blood Ginsengs, or ten thousand taels of silver?"

A hundred-year-old Blood Ginseng could grow one golden pattern every hundred years, so they could be referred to as one to nine-patterned Blood Ginseng based on the number of golden patterns.

"Just exchange it for a pound of Ninth-grade Spirit Nurturing Tea. I'm tired of eating Blood Ginseng," Lin Le said nonchalantly. After all, it was unexpected wealth, so he wasn't picky.

"Alright, please wait a moment, I'll go get it for you." The supervisor left.

He soon returned with a gift box and handed it to Lin Le, "You must have been startled. Please don't spread word of what happened today."

"Got it," Lin Le replied, putting it away. Then, before the supervisor's astonished eyes, he directly popped the demonic bloodworm into his mouth.

Crunch! It even burst with juice.

Lin Le chewed and swallowed, then licked his lips. It was quite tasty, with a sweet and sour flavor.

"What kind of worm was that just now?" Lin Le asked the supervisor.

"A Demonic Bloodworm. They often appear in medicinal herbs that require blood for irrigation," the supervisor replied.

Lin Le felt its efficacy. It was quite good, about one-tenth that of a hundred-year-old Blood Ginseng. "Do you sell them?"

"No, usually when the medicine manor catches them, they kill them and feed them to the demonic beasts they raise," the supervisor shook his head.

"What a shame," Lin Le shook his head. Hearing that, he knew the output wasn't large. Even if he wanted to buy them, it would probably be difficult, and he had no connections. For now, they couldn't replace medicinal herbs.

Then, in front of the supervisor, Lin Le ate and inspected the Blood Ginseng. The one that had been infested by the worm wasn't wasted either; he ate it.

Finally, Lin Le left the shop, with the supervisor escorting him out.

Eating over forty one-patterned Blood Ginsengs in one go would likely stuff even the Twelve-Storied building, or even kill it.

Even if Lin Le had extraordinary talent, his strength must be absolutely formidable, otherwise, he would have been stuffed to death.

Such a powerful individual, even if he harbored ill intentions, the supervisor wouldn't dare to act on them.