Deer Antler Powder

"Deer blood, deer antler, deer penis, mica, red stone..."

Gao Xian placed the various prepared ingredients into the pill furnace one by one and lit the fire to roast them.

The three-legged pill furnace was shaped like a spoutless kettle. With its internal turntable and manually operated partitions, it could be divided into eight separate sections.

Some were used for roasting, some for steaming, and others for extracting and refining the medicinal properties.

Beneath the furnace was a brick platform, with a flue connecting it to the chimney outside.

Alchemy required a great deal of charcoal. Using this simple platform together with the rotating furnace made it possible to control the temperature.

The Yin-Yang Water and Fire Array was carved into the furnace. When needed, Spirit Stones could be used to activate it.

But using the array cost far too much, and it also demanded a great deal from the alchemist.

The original owner had only been at the first level of Qi Refining, and controlling the furnace array had been very difficult for him. He had almost always used charcoal to make pills.

The pills he made were all low-grade anyway, so charcoal fires were enough.

Gao Xian had raised Deer Antler Powder to the Grandmaster level and fully mastered all the basic alchemy techniques.

He had also inherited all of the original owner's alchemical memories. Comparing the two, he had gone from a complete novice to an expert in alchemy in one fell swoop.

He took out the Wind and Moon Mirror. Sure enough, the grayed-out Alchemy Art had returned to normal, and its proficiency had risen dramatically. It was on the verge of reaching Proficient Level.

To test what he had learned, Gao Xian decided to try his hand at making Deer Antler Powder.

This medicine was simple, and its ingredients were all common. He could find everything he needed in his own herb storehouse.

After selecting the ingredients, he fired up the furnace.

Only now did Gao Xian understand what a gentle flame and a fierce flame were, how to control the heat, and how to extract the medicinal properties.

No matter how much you read, you could never learn these fine details and tricks from a book. Only by making pills yourself could you get a feel for the right timing and heat.

Alchemy was skilled work, with hundreds of steps. A mistake at any stage could greatly weaken the medicine or even cause the whole batch to fail.

Gao Xian had reached the Grandmaster realm in making Deer Antler Powder. Across the entire world, few could surpass him in this one particular medicine.

After half a day, the Deer Antler Powder was ready, filling the room with its fragrance.

The name made it clear: Deer Antler Powder was made into a pile of medicinal powder, amounting to more than two pounds.

Looking at the heap of stuff, as black as charcoal dust, Gao Xian was thrilled, his heart brimming with accomplishment.

It was like a master chef finishing one of his signature dishes. In truth, alchemy really was much like cooking: mixing various ingredients, then tossing them into a pot to steam, boil, or roast.

Alchemy was simply more exacting and more complex.

Put in more sophisticated terms, it was about recombining materials in new proportions to bring their energy into greater order—a process of entropy reduction.

This successful attempt at alchemy filled Gao Xian with confidence. It had also solved his biggest problem for the moment!

After enjoying his excitement for a while, Gao Xian remembered that he wasn't done yet.

He mixed pine wax with jade bee honey to make pill coating, then rolled the powder by hand into pills about the size of peanuts.

The coating wrapped around the pills and sealed in their medicinal properties and fragrance, making them easier to preserve. It also made them taste better.

Rolling pills was simple enough. The superhuman speed of the Lightning Dragon Hand was perfect for the job.

In no time, Gao Xian had rolled out more than two hundred pills.

Deer Antler Powder made at the Grandmaster level was sure to be remarkably potent.

Still, Gao Xian had no precise idea of how potent. He had never made Deer Antler Powder before, let alone taken any, so he didn't know how good his own batch was.

To test its effects, Gao Xian ate one himself.

A wave of heat rose from his dantian, quickly spreading throughout his limbs and bones before surging straight to the crown of his head.

The heat was strong but not fierce, yang in nature but not drying.

He felt so full of energy he could burst, yet his mind remained clear. The powerful medicinal properties hadn't made him restless.

"Grandmaster-level medicine really is incredible!" Gao Xian was quite pleased.

Magical artifacts, talismans, and spells were generally divided into nine ranks and thirty-six grades. Pills were also divided into nine ranks, but not into grades. Instead, they were classified from one-turn to nine-turn.

A one-turn pill of any given kind could barely bring out its medicinal effects, while a nine-turn pill could bring them to their utmost.

Deer Antler Powder was an unranked aphrodisiac, so there was no way to refine it further through additional turns.

But Deer Antler Powder made at the Grandmaster level could bring its medicinal effects to their peak and remove every bit of pill toxicity.

To test how well it worked, Gao Xian went to visit Sister Lan, though he had to steel himself for the task.

When he withdrew his consciousness from the Wind and Moon Mirror and checked the Great Idol Spirit Method again, sure enough, his cultivation had increased by three points.

"With this miracle medicine, those little blue pills don't stand a chance. If I could travel back, I'd become the savior of middle-aged and elderly men in no time!"

Gao Xian sighed. He had learned the art of slaying dragons, yet there were no dragons around. It was a bit of a shame.

Fortunately, Deer Antler Powder did the job. It was good for him too, since he could use it to accelerate his practice of the Great Idol Spirit Method.

Wait, there were plenty of middle-aged and elderly men in this world too. Even cultivators were still bound by the laws of nature when it came to their physical abilities.

Take Old Wang next door, for instance. His vital essence was spent and his kidney water was depleted. He was the perfect customer!

There was no rush to make money. The most pressing task was to refine a batch of pills.

Gao Xian took out the Wind and Moon Mirror. Sure enough, his Alchemy Art had advanced, reaching Proficient Level all at once.

Of all his skills, Alchemy Art was the hardest to improve. Making such a big jump in one go left him pleasantly surprised.

The three kinds of pills the original owner knew how to make had all advanced to Proficient Level as well.

The Grandmaster realm applied only to Deer Antler Powder. But many of the techniques used in pillmaking were shared across different recipes.

After this hands-on practice, he had integrated the original owner's alchemical skills and made enormous strides in his Alchemy Art. He wasn't far from Expert Level now.

Alchemy Art — First Rank, Proficient (27/4000)

Qi Recovery Pill — Skilled (155/200)

Foundation Strengthening Pill — Skilled (161/200)

White Dew Pill — Skilled (177/200)

Looking at the data in the Wind and Moon Mirror, Gao Xian was quite pleased.

He had made tremendous progress in just a few days. At this rate of growth, well...

Gao Xian did a quick calculation. The results were too absurd, so he decided not to take them seriously.

While he was in a good state, Gao Xian cooked some meat and ate his fill.

The Little Black Cat appeared from who knew where, drawn by the smell, and ate until its belly was round too.

After eating its fill, the Little Black Cat was clearly sleepy. It lay there with its eyes closed, dozing.

Gao Xian stroked it a couple of times. The Little Black Cat flicked its tail, then gave no further response.

That made Gao Xian a little envious. Eat, sleep, play, eat... the kitten's life was far too comfortable.

Maybe he should skip a couple of its meals and teach it a thing or two about life's hardships and twists of fate.

While the spiritual energy in his body was abundant, Gao Xian circulated the Five Elements Technique through thirty-six cycles, which took half an hour.

Without an accurate timekeeping device, Gao Xian could only go by feel, but the Five Elements Technique seemed to flow more smoothly now.

That was mainly thanks to Sister Lan's help.

He took out the Wind and Moon Mirror and saw that the Five Elements Technique had steadily increased by one point. He was delighted.

After adjusting his condition, Gao Xian went to the pharmacy next door.

The small courtyard where he lived had three main rooms: one bedroom, half a room for a living area, and half a room for a kitchen. The remaining room was used to store medicinal ingredients.

The alchemy room was a small side room next to the main building, with only a pill furnace inside.

The furnace counted as a first-rank magical artifact and was actually quite valuable. It was extremely heavy and fixed to a brick platform, so it wasn't something you could just carry away.

Besides, there were only a few alchemists in Flying Horse Market who could use a pill furnace. Even if someone stole it, it would be hard to get rid of.

Medicinal ingredients, on the other hand, were light and easy to carry, so Gao Xian could only keep them in the main building.

After taking stock of the ingredients, Gao Xian wanted to sigh. The original owner had really dug his own grave—he had used up all the ingredients for White Dew Pills.

His Alchemy Art had improved by leaps and bounds, but that still wasn't enough to fill such a huge shortfall!

He could only refine a batch of pills and send them over first, buying himself some time. He'd have to find a way to replenish the ingredients he'd used...

He sorted the ingredients, steamed and dried them, ground them and measured out the proportions, then put everything back into the furnace to refine.

It took Gao Xian three days to finish one batch of Qi Recovery Pills.

He rolled the pills by hand and got more than two hundred.

After three busy days, Gao Xian decided to go out and clear his head. He tucked two Deer Antler Powder pills into his clothes and went next door to visit Old Wang.

Old Wang's place was even shabbier. His small courtyard had just two main rooms, with cracked walls and broken roof tiles. A heavy rain would surely leak through.

A few slabs of bluestone formed a path through the courtyard. In one corner stood a doorless outhouse, exposed for all to see.

Gao Xian wasn't a neat freak, but he still didn't dare look too closely.

Old Wang was dozing on his bed. He yawned and asked irritably, "What do you want, kid?"

Gao Xian silently worked up his courage. It's just earning a living. There's no shame in it. Besides, I'm not selling fake medicine...

After steeling himself, Gao Xian gave Old Wang a reserved smile. "Fellow Daoist, have you heard of Deer Antler Powder?"