Alchemy

Su Hao browsed his cave dwelling and found the location of the medicine storage.

The medicine storage, built with special stone materials, was cool inside, filled with a mixture of various medicinal scents.

On the display cabinets were jade boxes, each containing different herbs.

Having mastered the Pill Dao Scripture and the Medicine King's Secret Codex, Su Hao bypassed the tedious learning process.

His theoretical foundation in herbal medicine was already quite solid.

While not comparable to an alchemist with decades of experience, he could recite the properties and effects of various herbs and spiritual medicines by heart.

He opened a few boxes, took a brief look, and could immediately identify the specific herb information.

"Three-Colored Lotus. A water-loving, excellent herb. Its stem is erect, pale green, covered in white down, about a foot tall... A precious item for nourishing Yin and replenishing Qi in medicine.

This is the main ingredient for the Pure Qi Pill. Combined with Polygonatum, mountain ginseng, Snow Lotus, and over ten other Qi-boosting herbs, it can be made.

It's one of the entry-level pills for alchemists.

A success rate of over 30% is considered proficient."

"One batch of Pure Qi Pill yields about 10-15 pills, and they are sold in bottles of 5."

"Heavenly Treasure Pavilion provided 300 Three-Colored Lotuses, and Lin Zhi Shan is required to supply 300 bottles, totaling 1500 Pure Qi Pills."

"Even conservatively, Lin Zhi Shan's success rate for Pure Qi Pills should be at least 50%. If his skill or luck is better, he might even pocket some Three-Colored Lotuses."

"Spirit Gathering Powder is similar."

It was no wonder Lin Zhi Shan was so wealthy, able to rise from the bottom ranks of cultivators and practice such a luxurious and vicious cultivation method as the Hundred Profound Medicine Veins.

After a quick look around the medicine storage, Su Hao left the cave dwelling.

He decided to check out the Blood Tribute Field.

After all, these were temporarily his assets.

The Blood Tribute Field was located to the north, a three-mu plot of land enclosed by high walls, with dark red soil.

Growing on it were thorny herbs the color of fresh blood.

"Are these Blood Thorn Ginseng?" Su Hao observed closely. "They're auxiliary ingredients needed for many spiritual pills."

Huang Jiao bowed respectfully beside him. "Yes, this is Blood Thorn Ginseng. Master put a lot of effort into it. He started trying to cultivate it ten years ago, and after four or five years, he finally succeeded. He personally tended to it at first and didn't even allow us to get close."

"Go and prepare the materials needed for one hundred batches of Pure Qi Pills."

Su Hao glanced at him.

"Master he..."

"Don't talk too much," Su Hao's voice turned cold.

"Yes, I'll go prepare them now."

Huang Jiao, filled with trepidation, quickly departed.

Su Hao cupped a leaf of the Blood Thorn Ginseng in his hand and channeled spiritual energy into it.

The existence of the Wood Emperor Physique caused Su Hao's spiritual energy, regardless of the cultivation method he used, to carry a special effect that nourished herbs.

His spiritual energy flowed into the Blood Thorn Ginseng, strand by strand.

Ten percent, twenty percent... The Blood Thorn Ginseng became more vibrant, its blood-red veins increasing by 20-30%.

Su Hao frowned and withdrew his hand. "Forty to fifty percent of my spiritual energy can ripen a Blood Thorn Ginseng by half a year's worth..."

He was dissatisfied. This method couldn't ripen herbs in large quantities, and the efficiency was far lower than expected.

Increasing the age by half a year to a year wouldn't significantly increase the value of the Blood Thorn Ginseng.

Unless the increase was by ten or twenty years, which would only raise its value by one or two spirit stones, making it too cost-ineffective.

However, if it had the same effect on some top-grade herbs, that would be a different story.

After confirming the effect, Su Hao decided not to waste more time and spiritual energy on the Blood Thorn Ginseng.

"Young Master Su, the medicinal materials are ready. Shall I send them to the cave dwelling now?"

Huang Jiao approached. Two carriages slowly emerged from the direction of the warehouse, carrying small wooden boxes.

"So soon?" Su Hao was a little surprised.

"Uh, it's normal. Pills like Pure Qi Pill and Spirit Gathering Powder are ones Master often refines, so we always keep some materials pre-prepared."

Huang Jiao explained.

Su Hao nodded. Each box contained the pre-portioned ingredients for Pure Qi Pills, and with one Three-Colored Lotus, they could begin refining.

"Let's go. I can chat with you along the way."

Su Hao headed up the mountain.

He intended to further understand the operations and personnel arrangements of these industries.

Besides Lin Miao and Zhao Bai Jiang, who were Qi Refining cultivators, Heavenly Medicine Mountain had no other cultivators.

According to Huang Jiao, many years ago, Lin Zhi Shan had taken in a formal disciple and some other cultivators, but he was severely betrayed. Afterward, he never recruited any more cultivators to Heavenly Medicine Mountain.

The disciples of the Golden Light Sect were all difficult to manage; these ordinary people were more obedient.

When giving instructions to Huang Jiao and the others, Lin Zhi Shan would primarily use a special jade scroll called a Mirror Script Jade Contract to transmit messages.

This item wasn't a magic artifact but possessed a peculiar function: it came in a set of two. Writing on one scroll would cause the corresponding text to appear on the other.

Both would be effective within a twenty-mile range.

Su Hao then remembered that there was a peculiar scroll displayed on the offering table in the attic – it was a Mirror Script Jade Contract.

He thought to himself, with such a distance between them, Lin Zhi Shan couldn't possibly deliver messages in person or send someone every time.

The Heavenly Treasure Pavilion also offered a better communication magic artifact, but it was quite expensive.

After returning to his cave dwelling with the medicinal ingredients, Su Hao began preparing to refine pills.

Under normal circumstances, an alchemist would progress step by step. They would apprentice for three years before even touching pill refinement in their fourth year, starting with ordinary mortal pills. It would take seven to eight years before they would attempt to refine mortal pills required by cultivators.

For cultivators without any talent for alchemy, refining mortal-grade pills was already their limit.

Cultivating an alchemist was not easy, especially in a fiercely competitive Demonic Sect like this. Setting aside resources, even if they were abundant, few cultivators would waste time on skills that didn't directly increase combat power or cultivation.

This made the rarity of alchemists like Lin Zhi Shan even more apparent.

If he had a cultivation base of Qi Refining Level 10 or Foundation Establishment, he would have an easier time joining the inner sect compared to other disciples.

The Pure Qi Pill was a relatively basic mortal-grade pill, but it only became profitable if the success rate reached thirty percent.

Su Hao retrieved the auxiliary medicinal ingredients and poured them into the alchemy furnace.

"Boil the auxiliary ingredients in the alchemy furnace at high temperature to extract the medicinal liquid. The fewer impurities in the liquid, the higher the quality of the finished pill.

The heat control is extremely important, determining the extraction efficiency. Excessive heat will damage the essence of the medicinal ingredients, while insufficient heat will make it difficult to extract the effective components.

The content of the effective components affects the success or failure of pill refinement..."

Su Hao recalled the knowledge on pill refinement basics from the Pill Dao Scripture and the Medicine King's Secret Codex.

He had a solid theoretical foundation but no practical experience in refining herbs or pills.

However, he had advantages over other apprentices and alchemists.

The first was the pill formula, which was extremely rare and precious, even harder to find than cultivation methods. The library didn't house such books; one could only find them from alchemists or purchase them from the Heavenly Treasure Pavilion.

The second was his Wood Emperor Physique and alchemist talent.

The former, an orange-tier talent, was undoubtedly considered a prodigy within the entire Golden Light Sect.

The latter was an essential talent for an alchemist, similar to cultivation.

His exceptionally high talent in the Wood Element, along with his keen perception of herbs and wood-element spiritual energy, indicated great potential in alchemy and herbal medicine.

In the alchemy room, the temperature gradually rose.

After two sticks of incense, the alchemy furnace exploded, and an unpleasant burnt smell filled the room.

The first batch of Pure Qi Pills failed.

"I rushed the operation; I didn't control the heat well with the Fire Control Art."

Despite this failure, Su Hao's confidence actually grew.

During the pill refinement process, he suddenly discovered he had a peculiar sense towards the medicinal ingredients in the alchemy furnace, clearly feeling the changes in their medicinal potency and vitality.

This was a unique ability that no other alchemist possessed.

Su Hao began the second batch, this time being more meticulous and patient. He smoothly proceeded to the stage of merging over ten types of medicinal liquids and refining them into pills.