Little Medicine Boy

Two days later.

After many days, Long Xuan returned to the bustling market, his face covered once again.

He had come to gather materials for the Hundred Flower Pill, and while he was at it, he needed to buy a pill furnace.

That was right. The pill formula Old Long had failed to complete after ten years of work had been completed by him in merely two days. Just tell him—was that infuriating or not?

Especially since he had spent most of that time researching the formula for the Frost Divine Flame.

He could already tell that the Frost Divine Flame formula was another massive undertaking. Who knew how long he would have to grind away at it?

This was unlike a Gu Recipe. As an entomologist, he had a keen nose for which Spirit Insects were suitable for fusion, and could find certain patterns.

But he had absolutely no experience with Spirit Flame formulas. He had no clue which materials were suitable for refining fire and could find no pattern at all. He could only grope forward entirely by luck, which meant another bout of brutal grinding.

The moment he completed the Hundred Flower Pill Formula, he could not wait to begin attempting pill refinement. He did not want to wait even one extra day. After all, this concerned his cultivation speed, and cultivation speed would always come first.

The ingredients for the Hundred Flower Pill were easy enough to gather. Every spirit flower in Old Long's medicinal garden was an ingredient for it.

Hundred Flower Pill, Hundred Flower Pill—the ingredients were naturally all flowers. That was why Old Long's medicinal garden was planted entirely with flowers.

This made gathering the materials convenient for Long Xuan. Everything was already available; the only things he needed to collect were the three newly added main ingredients.

Though the main ingredients were expensive, they were still only the lowest-grade first-rank spirit medicines. They could absolutely be found in this market—as long as one had Spirit Stones, one could certainly trade for them.

The only troublesome matter was the pill furnace.

Alchemists were rare, so pill furnaces naturally became rare commodities as well. They were by no means easy to acquire. He had come today solely to try his luck.

There were especially many people in the market today, making it far livelier than usual. Perhaps someone really was selling a pill furnace.

"Little Medicine Boy? I'd say you've gone mad for Spirit Stones. You're even trying to sell useless pills? Tell me, what use could useless pills possibly have!"

"You even stole the useless pills Alchemist Gu ruined during refinement to sell them. You really will steal anything!"

"Do not fabricate slander and tarnish my innocence! How can this be called stealing? I merely took along things my master did not want. What is wrong with that?"

"Even if I did not take them, these things would have been thrown away. Wouldn't that be a sheer waste?"

"And who told you useless pills were useless? Useless pills can poison people to death. Can't they be used as poison?"

"Some people are naturally highly resistant to poison, and some even possess poison-immune physiques. Aren't useless pills perfectly suited for them to eat?"

"Many Spirit Insects and Gu insects also have strong poison resistance. They can completely eat useless pills as food. Who knows, they might even transform because of them. Who says they are useless!"

"Besides, perhaps some heaven-blessed prodigy has the ability to turn waste into treasure. Useless pills may be worthless to others, but to him, they would be treasures."

"My useless pills have plenty of uses. You are simply too ignorant to see them!"

As Long Xuan wandered among the various stalls, a quarrel in the distance caught his attention.

Hearing someone called Little Medicine Boy, he was certain it had something to do with alchemy. Perhaps the boy had a pill furnace Long Xuan needed, so he curiously moved closer.

When he approached, Long Xuan discovered that one party in the argument was a Rogue Cultivator with a face full of knife scars and a vicious appearance.

The other was a bald boy of thirteen or fourteen, also called Little Medicine Boy. He seemed to be learning Alchemy from Alchemist Gu, though Long Xuan did not know whether he was a true disciple or merely someone specially assigned to watch the furnace.

This boy truly had a sharp tongue. With glib words and nimble wit, he had somehow described utterly useless pills as rare treasures.

Long Xuan became interested. He stepped forward, casually picked up several useless pills, and examined them in his palm.

The useless pills varied in size, scent, and color. They seemed to encompass every kind, though their specific effects were unknown.

Long Xuan suddenly thought of his Eye of Heavenly Secrets, which could magnify all things. Could he inspect the microscopic forms of these useless pills and thereby crack all of their pill formulas?

He very much wanted to try. It seemed he had to buy at least some of these useless pills.

This Little Medicine Boy had not been entirely wrong. Useless pills might indeed be useful to certain small groups.

Seeing someone intensely scrutinizing his useless pills, Little Medicine Boy's eyes widened slightly. He opened his mouth and asked, "You are interested in useless pills? Don't tell me you have the ability to turn waste into treasure?"

"Uh!" Long Xuan was stunned by the question. Has he read too many novels? How can he make such a leap? If people mistake me for having some golden finger that turns waste into treasure, that would be disastrous.

"I heard you are Alchemist Gu's medicine boy. I need a pill furnace. Do you have one?" Long Xuan asked calmly.

At a time like this, the wisest course was to change the subject. He absolutely could not explain himself.

Explanations were concealment, and concealment was proof.

The more one explained, the more others would suspect something.

Sure enough, upon hearing this, the medicine boy no longer dwelled on the earlier question. He answered, "I do have a pill furnace, but I need it myself. If I sell it to you, what am I supposed to use?"

Hearing that this medicine boy really had a pill furnace, Long Xuan secretly rejoiced at his good luck. He had found news of something so difficult to obtain the moment he entered the market.

"Anything can be sold. If it cannot, then the price simply is not high enough."

"Since you are Alchemist Gu's medicine boy, I presume you have channels to obtain another pill furnace. Out with the old and in with the new—how about giving this one to me?"

"I'll offer ten thousand Spirit Stones."

Considering that he was merely a little medicine boy, even if he had a pill furnace, it would be of the lowest quality. Thus, Long Xuan did not offer too high a price.

Long Xuan had guessed correctly. This little medicine boy had a friend who was an apprentice artifact refiner, and he received discounts when asking him to refine artifacts.

Ten thousand Spirit Stones would not only buy him a new one, but leave him with quite a profit.

"Fine, but I do not want spirit stones. I want your Little Strong Gu."

Recognizing this familiar attire, Little Medicine Boy realized that he was the masked stall owner who often sold Little Strong Gu. After thinking for a moment, he said so.

Long Xuan froze briefly before saying, "You plan to blood-contract a Little Strong Gu too? The people who usually trade for Little Strong Gu from me are all broad-backed, burly men. They like charging into battle with their bodies, and their fighting style suits the Little Strong Gu well."

"Your build is not suited for charging through enemy lines. Raising several External Gu as bodyguards would be the fighting style best suited to you."

Little Medicine Boy shook his head. "Thank you for the advice, but I personally do not like hiding behind external Gu. Let us trade for the Little Strong Gu."

Little Medicine Boy looked as though he would not listen to reason, yet inwardly he was mocking him. This man's imagination was still not deep enough.

Of course he did not want to blood-contract a Little Strong Gu because he liked charging into battle with his body. He was only in his teens, and his body had not even fully grown. He would have to be mad to rush forward and seek a beating.

His imagination was running wild. Since the Little Strong Gu was said to negate all conventional damage, and the toxicity of useless pills was not strong, it should have no trouble at all negating the poison in useless pills.

If he could ignore the toxicity of useless pills, then he could freeload on their medicinal effects.

As Alchemist Gu's medicine boy, he had mountains upon mountains of useless pills. By then, he could eat spirit pills like meals every day. Wouldn't his cultivation speed soar like a rocket?

Then he would truly take flight. He could leave his peers far behind and become a renowned genius here. Just thinking about it made him excited.

Naturally, he would not reveal this idea. He was not stupid.

Imagination was the most valuable thing in this world. The moment this idea was exposed, the price of Little Strong Gu would skyrocket in minutes. Even if the price increased tenfold, countless people would still want it.

At that point, useless pills would truly become treasures. He would never again be able to freeload, nor would he be able to dream of becoming some genius.