Medicine Cauldron

Xiao Xun Er looked at the two bolts of thunder in Xiao Bai's palm, her red lips parting slightly, her face full of shock.

"What kind of thunder is this?"

With her knowledge, there were very few things on the Dou Qi Continent she did not recognize, but she had never seen these two kinds of thunder before, or even heard of them.

According to ancient records, there had once been many kinds of unusual thunder on the Dou Qi Continent, but only two kinds still existed now: Black Demon Thunder and Nine Profound Golden Thunder.

Apart from those two, the more famous kind was the pill thunder produced during alchemy.

On the Dou Qi Continent, pills were divided from the first to the tenth grade, with the first grade being the lowest and the tenth grade being the highest, also known as Emperor Pill.

Once a pill reached the seventh grade, pill thunder would descend.

When a pill reached the eighth grade, it could produce pill thunder of one to nine colors, and the quality of the pill was also distinguished according to the color of the thundercloud it produced.

As for Ninth-grade Pills, according to differences in quality, they were divided from low to high into Ninth Grade Treasure Pills, Ninth Grade Mysterious Pills, and Ninth Grade Golden Pills.

Black Demon Thunder was precisely the Pill Tribulation that appeared when a Ninth Grade Treasure Pill was born. Those below the cultivation of a Four-Star Dou Sheng faced the danger of falling when confronting Black Demon Thunder.

Among the Ancient Eight Clans, the Thunder Clan controlled a Black Demon Thunder Pool, used to temper the lightning dou qi within the bodies of their clansmen during cultivation. Occasionally, a clansman could use this method to transform the lightning dou qi in their body into Black Demon Thunder.

Once they succeeded, they would have few opponents among those of the same rank.

Nine Profound Golden Thunder had not appeared for many years, because it was the Pill Tribulation that descended when a Ninth Grade Golden Pill was born. Its power was immense, and even high-level Dou Sheng had to be extremely cautious when facing this kind of thunder.

"This side is Yi Wood Positive Thunder. It contains Yi Wood Qi and has a healing effect. It's a kind of thunder that can be used for both attack and support!"

"The other side is Bing Fire Yang Thunder. It contains Bing Fire Qi. Thunder and fire are both violent attributes, so its power is rather good!"

Seeing that Xun Er was shocked and curious, Xiao Bai directly told her the names of the thunderbolts.

"No wonder Xiao Bai Gege wanted to learn alchemy. These two kinds of thunder happen to contain fire and wood attributes. But with thunder mixed in, will it work?"

Only now did Xiao Xun Er finally understand why he had gone to trade for an alchemy inheritance.

"I'm just going to try and see if it works," Xiao Bai said, shaking his head.

Xiao Xun Er looked at Xiao Bai with shining eyes, raised her delicate thumb at him, and said with a smile, "Xiao Bai Gege has such boldness, using the price of a Heavenly Flame just to experiment!"

Xiao Bai looked at this girl deliberately pretending to be heroic and teased with a smile, "Are you praising me or scolding me? Why do I feel like you're saying Xiao Bai Gege is a wastrel?"

Xiao Xun Er held his hand in front of her and said sweetly, with a touch of innocent charm, "Of course I'm praising you! Xiao Bai Gege can squander as much as you like. Xun Er still has a little private money, so supporting the two of us won't be a problem!"

Hearing Xun Er's words, Xiao Bai felt a little touched, and also a little speechless.

This girl's ability to flirt was improving by the day!

If this went on, was he, Xiao Bai, really going to stay devoted to one person to the very end?

The next day, Xiao Bai planned to go out early in the morning.

Last night, he had gone to find Yao Lao and obtained a set of basic alchemy knowledge, as well as two first-grade pill formulas.

Yao Lao had not been stingy about this and had directly given them to him. If not for the fact that Wutan City did not have an Alchemist Guild, Xiao Bai could have gotten such things easily anywhere.

After Xiao Bai finished reading the alchemist basics Yao Lao had given him, he planned to go buy some medicinal ingredients today and try it out.

As for a Medicine Cauldron, Xiao Bai did not plan to buy one. He had asked Yao Lao last night, and that thing was not cheap. Even an ordinary two-vent cauldron cost over a hundred thousand Gold Coins, equivalent to the Xiao Clan's entire annual income.

He did not have that much money, but he had no use for that thing either. Two days ago, he had already made another plan.

The most important thing about a Medicine Cauldron was the fire vents. On one hand, those things were used by alchemists below Dou Ling to produce tangible flames with the dou qi in their bodies.

That was because before reaching Dou Ling, the dou qi inside the body had no way to produce tangible flames.

On the other hand, because of the Wood Attribute in the body, the fire vents were needed to input the body's Wood Attribute into the Medicine Cauldron.

Xiao Bai was different. He planned to directly use the two kinds of thunder to refine pills and did not need a proper Medicine Cauldron.

If his little courtyard cooked with its own fire, he would have been ready to try using a wok.

Just as he reached the Xiao Clan's main gate, an enthusiastic voice suddenly came from behind him.

"Bai Ge!"

Xiao Bai secretly rolled his eyes. How could he run into this kid everywhere?

And this guy's voice had been lifeless for the past three years, but today it gave off a high-spirited feeling, just like three years ago.

Turning his head, he saw, as expected, a black-clothed youth standing not far behind him, his face radiant with happiness.

Seeing Xiao Bai turn to look at him, the youth even waved at him in a very showy manner, grinning with a mouthful of white teeth.

Xiao Yan ran up in front of him and said with a smile, "Bai Ge, are you going out too? Let's go together!"

Xiao Bai knew this fellow was going to buy the medicinal ingredients Yao Lao had instructed him to get. After nodding, he walked outside.

"Let's go. But I have to stop by the Blacksmith Shop first to pick something up!"

"The Blacksmith Shop?" Xiao Yan was a little curious, but seeing that Xiao Bai did not say more, he did not ask further and simply followed.

Along the way, Xiao Yan was in a very good mood. The lonely air he had carried yesterday was completely gone, and his eyes were full of confidence. Who knew if Yao Lao had poured a whole night of expired motivational soup into him last night.

Xiao Bai had not gone to the Blacksmith Shop to forge some weapon, but to have the blacksmith cast him a small cauldron, the kind with three legs, two ears, a round belly, and a lid.

This was something he had custom-ordered two days ago, and today was precisely the day to pick up the cauldron.

If he wanted to refine medicine, he naturally needed a Medicine Cauldron—but not the kind alchemists used. He could only find someone to forge one himself.

The main thing was that it had to be cheap, sturdy, and able to take a beating, because refining medicine meant the furnace could explode. If it was not solid enough, that would never do.

And a blacksmith shop was the best choice.

The Xiao Clan was in the East District, which counted as Wutan City's noble quarter. Though Wutan City had no imperial nobility, all three great clans were located there.

To the north and south were marketplaces, the trade districts, and Mittel Auction House was in the North District.

To the west was the poor residential area, and noisy shops like a blacksmith shop could only be found there.

Xiao Bai and Xiao Yan made their way to the West District, to a very large Blacksmith Shop.

When the owner of the Blacksmith Shop saw Xiao Bai and Xiao Yan, his eyes lit up almost imperceptibly, and he greeted them with an eager expression.

"Young master, you're here. The cauldron has already been cast. I used the Ebony Steel you specified. I guarantee it's strong and durable!"

Ebony Steel had both the hardness of steel and the toughness of wood. Unfortunately, its conductivity for Dou Qi was a little poor.

Powerful experts looked down on it for forging weapons, but mercenaries liked it very much, simply because it was cheap, sturdy, and long-lasting, saving them quite a bit in weapon expenses.

Xiao Bai did not have many Gold Coins on hand, so he could only choose this material for now. In any case, it was just a trial. If Thunder Method Pill Refining succeeded, he could simply choose another material and make a new one.

However, the owner felt very strange today. Last time, when he heard that Xiao Bai was using Ebony Steel, he had barely bothered with him.

Yet today he was so enthusiastic that Xiao Bai frowned in confusion. When something was abnormal, there had to be something fishy going on.

Still, he was not afraid of anything. With his current strength, he could walk sideways in Wutan City, and with Yao Lao there as well, he wanted to see just what medicine this owner was selling in his gourd.