Refining Return Spring Powder

The moment he stepped into the room, Wang Teng caught a strong scent of herbs and vegetation.

The room was roughly forty square meters. Rows of shelves lined both sides, piled high with medicinal herbs, while a cushion sat on the floor in the center.

Wang Teng walked toward the shelves.

Each shelf held different medicinal herbs, with a small wooden tag hanging beside them bearing the herb's name.

"Blood-Clotting Grass, Numbing-Needle Fruit, Evergreen Radish, Blood Serpent Flower..."

Wang Teng discovered that all of these herbs were ingredients for Refining Return Spring Powder.

He was not surprised in the slightest. Although his senior brother Liu Xi had talent in alchemy, he lacked discipline.

Return Spring Powder was the pill Liu Xi was most skilled at refining, followed by Strength-Storing Pills.

Rather than spend his time and energy practicing alchemy, Liu Xi preferred chasing women.

Wang Teng had advised Liu Xi more than once. As for the result...

"Senior Brother was actually quite unlucky. Given an alchemist's status, he normally wouldn't encounter danger on the empire's frontier."

Wang Teng sighed softly. Who could have imagined that a remote Wu Tan City would hide a young lady from a top-tier faction, as well as a down-and-out Medicine Venerable?

After making a round of the room, Wang Teng had gathered a large pile of medicinal herbs in his arms.

He sat on the cushion, took out a medicinal cauldron from his storage ring, and began refining medicine.

Wang Teng first pressed his palms against the two openings of the medicinal cauldron, circulating the Dou Qi in his body and gathering it in his palms.

Whoosh!

Flames condensed from Dou Qi burst from his palms and poured into the medicinal cauldron.

The temperature began to rise as one herb after another entered the cauldron.

Wrapped in flames, the herbs did not burn. Instead, they shrank and twisted, transforming into clumps of liquid in different colors.

In alchemy, this stage was called extraction.

To perform extraction properly, one first had to control the temperature of the flames.

If the temperature was too high, the herbs would be reduced to ashes. If it was too low, the herbs' essence would seep away.

When Wang Teng had studied alchemy under his teacher, Return Spring Powder had been a mandatory pill formula.

First, the herbs for Return Spring Powder were relatively common and cheap, so failure did not result in much loss.

Second, Return Spring Powder was an external medicine commonly used to stop bleeding and heal wounds. Mercenaries had great demand for it, so there was no fear of it failing to sell.

Wang Teng was highly proficient at the extraction stage. What concerned him more was the fusion stage, which determined whether all the previous effort would go to waste.

Medicinal herbs could conflict with and repel one another. To fuse the various medicinal liquids together, he had to grasp the right timing and balance their medicinal properties. Otherwise, the properties would run out of control, and the medicinal liquid would be ruined.

Wang Teng focused intently as he guided all the medicinal liquids closer together, his full attention fixed on their changes. Whenever one showed signs of losing control, he immediately directed part of a gentler liquid over to soothe it.

Meanwhile, Jia Lie Bi and Jia Lie Ku arrived outside the pharmacy. After glancing at the building surrounded by guards so tightly that not even water could pass through, they went to sit in the nearby pavilion.

"Patriarch, do you think Wang Teng can replace Liu Xi?" Jia Lie Ku poured Jia Lie Bi a cup of tea and asked casually.

Jia Lie Bi took a sip of tea first. Staring at the tightly shut pharmacy door, he shook his head. "Hard to say. Wang Teng is too young."

He looked at Jia Lie Ku, his tone helpless. "We have no other options now. We can't hire a better alchemist, so we can only let him try. We can't just leave an entire storehouse of herbs sitting there as decoration."

Jia Lie Ku sighed. "That's true. Those herbs were originally prepared for Liu Xi. Who would have thought he would suddenly..."

A first-grade alchemist with a bright future had died just like that, without rhyme or reason.

"Suddenly? I don't think so." Jia Lie Bi snorted. "That man only ever had women on his mind. He wouldn't listen to a word of advice."

Back in the marketplace, with everyone watching, Liu Xi had still been thinking about women. A man like that did not deserve any sympathy in death.

It was only a pity about the medicinal herbs the clan had prepared, as well as Elder Jia Lie Nu being dragged into it.

As the two spoke quietly, they suddenly paused and turned together toward the pharmacy's tightly closed door.

"It smells so good!"

"What is that smell?"

"It seems to be drifting out from the pharmacy."

The guards standing outside the pharmacy twitched their noses. They had caught a scent they could not identify, but merely smelling it made them feel more invigorated.

"Shut up! If you disturb Master Wang Teng, I'll skin you alive!" Jia Lie Bi rose to his feet and swept a cold gaze across the guards.

The guards instantly fell silent.

Jia Lie Bi sat back down and asked Jia Lie Ku, "Do you smell it? It seems a little like Return Spring Powder."

The Jia Lie Clan had been selling Return Spring Powder for some time, so its members were no strangers to the scent.

"It does resemble it." Jia Lie Ku looked hesitant. "But I feel that it smells stronger than the Return Spring Powder refined by Liu Xi. It's less pungent and has a bit more fragrance."

Is this really the same Return Spring Powder I sell in the marketplace every day?

"Could it be that Wang Teng's alchemy is even better than his senior brother's?" Unconcealed delight appeared on Jia Lie Bi's face.

If that were true, the clan's marketplace business could be saved!

The Blood-Clotting Powder currently sold by the Xiao Clan was not much more effective than Return Spring Powder. According to Liu Xi, the other side's formula was simply more special.

[Return Spring Powder: Proficiency +12]

[Fire Control +1]

[Perception +1]

[Compounding +3]

The text flashed before his eyes. Wang Teng gave it a glance, then shifted his gaze into the medicinal cauldron.

Within the roiling flames was a palm-sized mass of pure-colored liquid. It was the successfully fused Return Spring Powder.

Applied to a wound, it could stop bleeding, ease pain, and speed up healing.

Wang Teng waved his hand. The medicinal liquid flew out of the cauldron, split into seven thumb-sized portions, and fell into seven small jade bottles.

Thus, the first batch of Return Spring Powder was complete.

"Seven portions is too few. The ingredients for one portion of Return Spring Powder can easily be divided into ten portions." Wang Teng was not very satisfied.

Moreover, refining Return Spring Powder did not improve his professional skills much.

From a business perspective, putting in the same time and energy for such a result was a loss.

"I need to find a way to make Jia Lie Bi provide the ingredients for Qi-Recovery Pills, Blood Surge Pills, and Combined-Strength Pills," Wang Teng muttered thoughtfully.

Among the pill formulas he had mastered, these three were more difficult and had superior effects.

He believed that refining these pills would greatly improve his professional skills.

Before the medicinal cauldron cooled, Wang Teng picked up another portion of ingredients and tossed them into it.

One portion, then two...

As ingredients continued to enter the medicinal cauldron, the number of small jade bottles placed on the floor steadily increased, gradually piling into a small hill.

When another portion of Return Spring Powder was finished, Wang Teng finally felt utterly exhausted in both body and mind. His head was heavy, and he found it difficult to concentrate.

This is my limit!

He was very familiar with this feeling. He did not force himself to continue refining, because failure was highly likely in this state.

"So many?" Wang Teng glanced at the little jade bottles on the ground and was startled. There were nearly twice as many as he had refined in the past.

Soul-Eating Insect! It must be it!

Otherwise, my soul power could never have supported refining so much Return Spring Powder in one go.

"Grrr." Wang Teng heard his stomach protest. He stood up, opened the door, and prepared to find something to eat.

The instant he opened the door a crack, a figure rushed over like lightning and stopped before it.