Mount Paozu Alchemy

"Goku, there's a town down there. Let's land."

After saying goodbye to everyone, Wuchen didn't head straight back to Mount Paozu. He stopped above a small town and descended.

After strolling around town for a while, Wuchen stepped into a shop: a general capsule store.

The store lived up to its name. From cars and houses to pots, bowls, and utensils, it had just about everything, all of it integrated with Hoi-Poi Capsule technology.

Of course, small items weren't sold individually. They were packed together in boxes and sold as Hoi-Poi Capsules.

Wuchen bought nearly a hundred small glass bottles, which came packed in a box along with an S-Type Hoi-Poi Capsule.

He also bought some other household goods, spending nearly all the savings he'd built up over the past few months from deliveries and odd jobs.

Then he went to a bookstore and bought plenty of paper and pens before leaving town.

By the time he returned to Mount Paozu, it was already noon.

The two brothers landed directly in front of Son Gohan's grave and began clearing away the weeds.

Once they'd cleaned it up, they went back to the house and tidied up, then prepared a meal to share with Son Gohan as they ate and talked.

Today was Son Gohan's death anniversary. That was the first reason the brothers had come back.

After that, Wuchen told Goku to practice on his own and not rush to break through. He should build a solid foundation and reflect on their previous battles to gain experience.

As for Wuchen, he first gathered some of the spirit plants the two brothers had left behind, harvesting only what was appropriate.

Afterward, he went to an open space, took out more than a dozen Hoi-Poi Capsules, and tossed them onto the ground.

Bang! Bang! Bang! A cloud of smoke billowed, and more than a dozen boxes of various sizes appeared out of nowhere.

Some were newly purchased, but most had been brought back with him. They were filled with all kinds of spirit plants, in every shape and color.

"These already qualify as spirit medicines. Whether they can be refined into pills comes down to this."

That was right—he was going to try refining pills.

He took a new pressure cooker from one of the boxes and poked a suitable small hole in it with his finger. He'd use it as a pill furnace for now.

He sorted the medicinal ingredients and put in the appropriate quantities, then took out a bucket of bottled water and poured it into the pressure cooker. After that, he closed the lid.

Forming a hand seal, he conjured fire out of thin air and began refining the medicine!

His vast Divine Soul power observed the changes inside the pot so he could control the heat, while also making adjustments as needed.

Purifying, removing impurities, fusing the ingredients, and finally forming the pill—it all went smoothly in one continuous process. It seemed his pill-refining skills hadn't grown rusty.

Next came the test of the pills' effects. That was the important part. These were all entirely new ingredients, after all, with no established formulas.

He could only combine them according to the properties of each herb, adjusting the amounts as he saw fit.

Would they work? How well? What effects would they have? He couldn't say for sure.

"The pills have a clean aroma, pure color, and a rounded shape. The quality's decent, and they seem to be nontoxic." The color, shape, and scent checks had gone smoothly.

Next, he'd have to test one on himself.

He circulated his true energy to protect his heart and sealed the key acupoints. Without much hesitation, Wuchen swallowed a pill.

"Not bad. It's been purified quite well." As soon as the pill reached his stomach, its medicinal power dissolved, and Wuchen smiled faintly.

"The medicinal properties are mild, and the effects are rich and balanced. As for the results... it does seem to nourish the blood and strengthen the flesh..." He closed his eyes and slowly felt out the pill's effects.

Once he'd gotten a good idea, he immediately circulated his energy to dispel the remaining medicinal power, then struck himself in the chest with his palm. He let out a muffled groan, blood trickled from the corner of his mouth, and he sustained a minor injury.

He didn't dare hesitate and swallowed another pill.

This time, the medicine matched the injury, and the effect was much more obvious.

It invigorated his blood, dispelled stasis, and soothed his body. His injury stopped worsening at once and began to heal rapidly.

In no more than three to five minutes, he'd recovered completely.

He stood and moved around a little. He felt no discomfort, which made Wuchen smile with delight. This pill worked.

He sat cross-legged again and continued to experience the pill's lingering effects, analyzing them.

At the same time, he occasionally took out paper and a pen to make notes.

Which ingredient needed to be increased? Which needed to be reduced? Which would be better left out? Should he add something new?

Clearly, he'd prepared thoroughly and had carefully studied the properties of every medicinal ingredient.

Once he felt he'd learned enough, he refined another batch—another pot—and continued testing, adjusting, and analyzing.

Of course, he didn't take the pills recklessly. Each time he tested one, he circulated his energy to clear away any residual medicinal power and open up his meridians.

His pills were extremely pure, so they wouldn't leave behind impurities that were difficult to clear from the body. Still, he had to account for the possibility of excessive medicinal power or conflicting effects, especially while he was still adjusting the formulas.

Using this clumsy method of trial and error, Wuchen spent nearly a month refining pills before he finally used up the dozen or so boxes of ingredients.

He ruined more than ten pressure cookers, too. Some cracked, others melted, and all of them were completely wrecked.

In the end, he got fifteen bottles of pills that satisfied him, with ten pills in each bottle. Eleven bottles were for healing injuries or nourishing the spirit, while the remaining four enhanced cultivation.

Besides those, he had more than thirty bottles of pills from the testing stage. Some were too strong, while others were too weak. He didn't throw them away but put them aside for another use.

Just because he wasn't satisfied with them didn't mean the pills were useless. Even in his previous life, they would have been snapped up.

It wasn't that people would compete to buy low-grade pills at exorbitant prices, but they would still fight to collect the finest low-grade pills, especially other alchemists. If they could glean even the slightest hint about his refining methods, the pills would be worth it.

But aside from the pills, the notes he'd accumulated over these twenty-odd days were, in a way, his greatest gain. Wuchen carefully put them away, one sheet at a time.

"Goku, take these bottles of pills. The ones with white bottoms and green patterns are Rejuvenation Pills, for treating injuries. The blue ones are Spirit Recovery Pills, for restoring your energy." Naming the pills was even easier. He could simply use the names of similar pills from his previous life.

"I didn't know these things could do so much. I thought you were making snacks, Big Brother." Goku scratched his head. He'd thought they were like the candies Launch had bought.

Even after taking them, Goku still didn't quite understand. "But I'm not injured. Why are you giving me something to treat injuries, Big Brother?"

"From now on, we'll spar with each other. We'll need these pills." Wuchen did indeed intend to spar with Goku. First, it would help them gain practical combat experience; second, it would let him test a few things.

He'd already noticed that his and Goku's physiques seemed special. They could draw out their potential when stimulated, especially under pressure from the outside in!

"Huh?" When he heard he'd be sparring with his big brother, Goku was a little confused. But before Wuchen could say anything to encourage him, excitement bubbled up inside him. "Then... Big Brother, you can't go easy on me."

"Of course not." Wuchen was stunned for a moment, then his fighting spirit surged. "Are you ready, Goku?"

"Let's begin, Big Brother."

The two brothers assumed their stances. Neither held back or tested the waters; they went all out from the very first move!

It was as if they'd returned to the day of their Great Ape clash. Everything was for the fight, and nothing else mattered!