"How much per portion?"
"Twenty taels."
"How many portions do you have?"
"One hundred."
"I'll take them all!"
"Ten percent deposit. No refunds if you don't buy. Leave an address; they'll be delivered today. Pay the balance after inspecting the goods." The old man was sparing with words.
"Fine!"
After paying a two-hundred-tael deposit, the two did not linger in the Ghost Market and left directly.
That afternoon, the Snow Fox Heart Blood was delivered as promised. Xu Ziyi helped inspect the goods, and Lu Yuan only paid after being satisfied.
His goal achieved, Lu Yuan said directly, "Brother Xu, I've bought everything I wanted, so I won't trouble you any longer. Farewell."
"Take care, Brother Qiao. I'll be stationed in Leiji Town for the next year. If anything comes up, come find me anytime. Farewell!"
As he watched Lu Yuan's receding figure, Xu Ziyi sank into thought.
"Although this Brother Qiao had made himself look old, he was actually quite young, no more than twenty or so. Yet his strength was far from weak. That day, he killed Tang Ying, the First Devil, and the Fourth Devil with a single slash. Though there were factors such as a sneak attack and their injuries, his own strength could not be ignored. And when facing the Third Devil, it had not been a sneak attack, yet he still killed him in two or three moves. This showed that his strength far surpassed the Six Devils of the Snow Region."
"To possess such strength at such a young age, yet still need to come to the Ghost Market himself to buy things—it meant he had no powerful backing. If there is a chance, I can recruit him into Six Doors."
The greatest reason Xu Ziyi had not spoken to recruit him was that he did not know Lu Yuan's identity.
As the court's violent arm, one that also bore responsibility for intelligence, Six Doors never recruited people of unknown identity.
Born into a family of medicine merchants, Lu Yuan was no stranger to refining medicine. He was even well-versed in the methods himself.
The main difference between pill refining and medicine refining lay in the Pill Recipe.
And the parchment recorded every detail in full—the Pill Recipe, Heat Control, timing, and more. After wasting three batches of materials, Lu Yuan began his fourth attempt.
In truth, having a professional medicine refiner do it would have been best, but Lu Yuan feared leaking the Pill Recipe and could only fumble his way through it himself.
Under the tempering flames, the various Medicinal Materials, Mithril, and Snow Fox Heart Blood gradually fused together. Within the Alchemy Furnace, only pure medicinal power remained.
Two hours later, the pure medicinal power blended together, underwent a wondrous change, and condensed into pills.
"Three True Essence Blood Refining Pills! Success!!"
Looking at the finished pills in his hand, Lu Yuan's eyes were filled with excitement.
The True Essence Blood Refining Pills were roughly the size of fingertips. They seemed to bloom with a faint, lustrous radiance, jade-like in texture and crystal-clear in color.
At a glance, they did not look like pills at all, but rather jade beads.
"They look extraordinarily effective. Let's test them!"
Lu Yuan's gaze burned as he put a pill into his mouth and swallowed it.
A fresh fragrance slid down his throat.
In an instant, a vast surge of vital essence rose from his abdomen. It was like tossing fire into a basin of oil—his blood and qi immediately boiled throughout his body.
It seemed as if invisible flames were forging his entire body. The temperature of his blood and qi rose rapidly, like scorching magma, heat radiating from his pores.
Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh~~~
With his blood and qi circulating at full force, Lu Yuan could clearly hear the rushing sound of it flowing. His heart beat like a war drum, pounding with tremendous force.
Throughout this process, Lu Yuan felt that the efficiency of his blood and qi circulation and body tempering was ten times greater than usual.
As though sitting inside a steamer, heat rose from Lu Yuan's entire body. Feeling the changes within himself, he was overjoyed.
Time passed bit by bit. One hour went by, and the medicinal power was exhausted.
Lu Yuan abruptly opened his eyes, vibrant and spirited, then grinned broadly.
"The True Essence Blood Refining Pill is at least twice as effective as the Blood Replenishing Pill!"
Lu Yuan had already taken the Blood Replenishing Pills earned through bounties. One Blood Replenishing Pill could save him more than a day of effort, while a True Essence Blood Refining Pill could save him about three days.
In other words, that single hour of cultivation just now was equivalent to three days of his previous cultivation.
"Unfortunately, pills cannot be taken too frequently."
Every medicine had its poison. After taking a pill, its medicinal effect would be absorbed in a short time, but its toxicity would remain in the body and be slowly expelled over the following days.
If one took pills continuously, before the residue of the previous pill had been expelled, new pill toxins would accumulate. The more they piled up, the greater the hidden danger they would eventually cause.
Some sought quick success and instant gain, ignoring pill toxins and swallowing pills continuously. Their strength might rise rapidly in a short period, but once the toxins erupted, the losses would outweigh the gains.
Those with foresight never took pills consecutively. It was best to wait until all pill toxins had been completely expelled before taking another pill.
The time needed to expel pill toxins varied from person to person. Some were exceptionally gifted and could finish within half a day or a day.
Others needed seven or eight days, even ten days.
One could feel for oneself whether the toxins within one's body had been expelled.
"I expelled the Blood Replenishing Pill's toxins in about a day and a half. The True Essence Blood Refining Pill is more potent, so by rights its pill toxins should be stronger too. I wonder how many days I'll need to expel them completely."
Over the next few days, Lu Yuan had one more task besides martial arts training: refining True Essence Blood Refining Pills.
After using up twenty portions of Mithril, Lu Yuan obtained five batches of True Essence Blood Refining Pills, thirteen pills in total.
Twenty portions of Mithril alone cost as much as 3,800 taels. Adding the other materials, the cost of these thirteen pills came to a full 5,000 taels!
Each one cost nearly four hundred taels.
"My god, what I'm eating isn't pills—it's money!"
After calculating the cost, Lu Yuan sucked in a breath of cold air.
That evening, Lu Longjing, Lu Cheng, and Zhang Zhi gathered together.
With a flick of his hand, three True Essence Blood Refining Pills appeared in his palm. Lu Longjing looked puzzled. "What pills are these?"
"Heh heh, True Essence Blood Refining Pills."
Lu Longjing was astonished. "You found all the ingredients and refined them so quickly? No wonder you've been acting so mysteriously these past few days—you were holding back something huge."
"How are the effects? Are they really as described on the parchment?" Lu Cheng pressed.
Zhang Zhi stared intently at Lu Yuan. Lu Yuan nodded heavily and said with certainty, "The effects are excellent!"
"Really?"
"Absolutely true!!"
Without the slightest hesitation, Lu Cheng tossed a True Essence Blood Refining Pill into his mouth. Lu Longjing and Zhang Zhi followed close behind.
The moment the pills entered their mouths, the three men's eyes widened. Steam rose visibly from their heads.
Feeling the boiling blood and qi within him, Zhang Zhi sucked in a breath. "The effects are this strong?"
He had never taken pills in his life. This was his first time experiencing medicinal power so intense.
More than an hour later, the three finished cultivating. Lu Longjing suddenly stepped forward and threw a punch. Wherever his fist edge pointed, the air was violently compressed and exploded.
Feeling the explosive strength within his body, Lu Longjing was beside himself with excitement. "I've actually achieved the Second Blood Change!!"
His aptitude was poor. For so many years, he had been trapped at Blood Refinement and had never been able to undergo the Second Blood Change. Yet with the help of the True Essence Blood Refining Pill, he had actually crossed that barrier.
"Congratulations, Father." Lu Yuan smiled.
"Hahahahaha! You really get what you pay for. The Pill Recipe bought for fifty thousand taels truly isn't bad!" Lu Longjing beamed with joy.
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