Mandala Poison

Time flew by, and half a month passed in the blink of an eye.

During this time, Lin Yue and Tang San's studies at Nuoding Academy finally got on track. Aside from learning about Soul Masters, Soul Beasts, and the like each day, they cultivated on their own and looked for part-time work outside the academy to save up Soul Coins.

After learning of their difficult circumstances, the academy's dean of studies had once promised to help them obtain Spirit Rings. However, Lin Yue used insufficient preparation as an excuse to delay the Soul Hunting trip slightly.

Although Xiao San was puzzled by Lin Yue's actions, he trusted Brother Lin and did not stop him. Instead, he spent this time buried in the library, crazily absorbing knowledge of the Soul Master world like a sponge.

Still, after half a month, their preparations were more or less complete.

"Finally, I found materials from two ten-year plant-type Soul Beasts. Today, I'm going to brew this Beginner Resistance Potion and break through to become a Level Two Alchemist!"

Rolling up his sleeves, Lin Yue glanced at the empty clinic. After confirming that no one would discover or disturb him, he closed his eyes, brought his hands together, and kneaded two pearls and two ten-year sunflower blossoms into a single mass.

A flash of white light passed, and in the blink of an eye, a milky-white potion appeared in Lin Yue's hands.

[Ding! Beginner Resistance Potion successfully brewed. Congratulations, Host, for brewing all Level One potions. Experience requirements met—]

[Alchemist level increased. Current level: LV2]

The instant his level broke through, a massive amount of potion-related knowledge flooded into Lin Yue's mind, making his head ache...

After a long while, once Lin Yue had fully absorbed the Alchemist knowledge in his mind, he had no time to inspect the new medicines he could brew at Lv. 2 before a grateful voice sounded beside him—

"Doctor Little Lin, the medicine you gave me before was incredibly effective. My aunt injured her knee some time ago and has been bedridden, unable to move. Could I buy a bottle to bring to her?"

Lin Yue looked up at the middle-aged man gazing at him gratefully from before the counter and scratched his head with a smile.

He remembered this patient. The man seemed to have carelessly chopped off one of his fingers while cooking. Only after drinking Lin Yue's Healing Potion had the severed finger been reattached to his hand and grown back.

But in response to his request, Lin Yue shook his head.

"Sorry, my potions can only be prepared and consumed on the spot. If they stay away from the counter for too long, they lose their effectiveness. So if you want medicine for a relative, it would be better to have them come here personally."

In truth, the problem was obviously not that the potion would lose its effectiveness.

Even if Lin Yue's potions were left for a year, their medicinal properties would not change.

His real purpose was to prevent even a single drop of potion from leaving the clinic. Every potion had to be consumed on the spot.

Otherwise, if those Soul Masters discovered that its healing effects were terrifyingly powerful, his life would be in danger.

Prepare it on the spot and drink it on the spot; use it only on ordinary people; tell Soul Masters that it had no healing effect. That was his way of survival.

Even if his reputation rose, it would only spread among ordinary people. In the eyes of Soul Masters, the miraculous remedies those country bumpkins talked about were merely exaggerated rumors. Who would care?

"Fine, no problem. I'll write to my aunt right away and have her come here to get the medicine."

After saying goodbye, the middle-aged man left happily. Lin Yue smiled and nodded, then turned to look at the savings he had accumulated over the past few days.

Several people came each day to seek medicine, giving him commissions to accept almost daily and bringing in hundreds of points every day.

Still, with only a few bottles of potion each day, it was indeed rather slow for saving money.

Tossing the Gold Soul Coin in his hand, Lin Yue looked troubled.

Over the past half month, he had sold three or four bottles of medicine each day and earned a total of five hundred Silver Soul Coins—fifty Gold Soul Coins.

He had originally wanted to use these savings to buy some Whale Rubber before obtaining his Spirit Ring and help temper Xiao San's body. However, he had underestimated the price of Whale Rubber. This amount of money was only enough to buy some defective centurial-grade goods.

But now, he had no choice but to prepare to hunt for a Spirit Ring.

It was already nearing the end of the month. Two and a half months from now, Third Sister still had to duel Xiao San from the original Douluo world. After obtaining their Soul Skills, they would need time to adapt to them. Time waited for no one...

Rubbing his brow, Lin Yue made up his mind. After finishing work and closing up today, he would see whether he could find two inferior pieces of low-grade Whale Rubber and purify them. He would test whether this alchemy method could maximize Whale Rubber's effects and help both himself and Xiao San break through the five-hundred-year limit for their First Spirit Rings.

No matter what, they had to enter Soul Hunting Forest tomorrow and obtain their First Spirit Rings. There could be no more delay!

However, a shrill scream interrupted Lin Yue's thoughts.

"Someone, hurry! Is there a doctor? Hurry up and come help!!"

The person who barged into the clinic was a richly dressed woman. Her features were exquisite, but her heavy makeup gave her an air of falseness and artificiality.

At that moment, she was utterly at a loss, shouting into the hall with a face full of panic.

Old Song frowned slightly, dragging himself outside as he asked, "What happened?"

"Hurry up! You filthy commoners! My husband was bitten by a snake while escorting a merchant caravan. Treat him and detoxify him immediately! If anything happens to my husband, can you afford the consequences?"

The woman let out a shrill howl. Her hysterical appearance made everyone who saw it frown.

At this moment, several guards helped a potbellied wealthy merchant into the clinic. His face was deathly pale, as though he had lost even the strength to lift an arm.

"Calm down first. What poison was it exactly? Did you seek out a healing-type Soul Master?"

It was obvious at a glance that the two were either wealthy or powerful. Frowning, Old Song stepped before the injured man and reached out to take his pulse.

Generally speaking, he did not receive merchant tycoons like these as patients. Truly wealthy people usually had their own means of treatment. Whether it was healing-type Soul Masters or more skilled doctors, it would never be his turn, a mere ordinary physician, to treat them.

Seeing Old Song move at such an unhurried pace, the woman immediately grew anxious and arrogantly ordered, "Don't ask questions. The city's healing physicians have gone somewhere to hunt Spirit Rings, and not one of them can be found. I order you to cure my husband immediately! Hurry!"

"Cough, cough... Xiaoting, shut up."

The merchant, whose face had turned blue and purple, struggled to sit up. His plump face was pale, his lips purple, and he clearly looked deeply poisoned, yet he still forced himself to speak.

However, his tone was halting and strained, and his symptoms seemed to be worsening with every passing moment...

"Sir... as long as you can cure me... I am willing to pay one thousand Gold Soul Coins. Please... do not take my wife's foolish words to heart."

"Rest assured, I'll do my best."

Upon hearing the wealthy merchant's words, both Old Song and Lin Yue looked much better.

Although the woman was a useless lunatic, the merchant was clearly a shrewd man who knew how to speak properly.

Seeing that he was having difficulty breathing and was in poor condition, Old Song abandoned any thought of questioning him further.

The old man inspected the wound on the man's thigh. Seeing that it had already been cut open to drain the poisoned blood, and that he could not make out the marks of the snake's fangs, he could only bandage it again. Then he turned to the guards who had brought the merchant over and spoke.

"Do you remember what that snake looked like? When was he bitten?"

"This..."

The guards exchanged glances, all of them looking troubled and uneasy.

Seeing this, Old Song's expression darkened.

From the looks of it, that snake was probably no ordinary creature.

"Don't tell me it was a Soul Beast that bit him?"

Lin Yue came to Old Song's side, grinding medicine as he spoke softly.

The youth's words were like a sharp blade, completely tearing through the thin veil of pretense.

"Yes, that's right. It looked like a Centurial Mandala Snake. We tried our best to stop it, but there was nothing we could do. It slithered into Master's carriage and bit him directly on the leg."

One of the guards wore a bitter expression as he lowered his head and admitted it through gritted teeth.

"We couldn't find any healing-type Soul Masters in the city, so we could only come here. Please do everything in your power."

"This..."

Upon hearing the guard's words, Old Song immediately felt his head swell.

Ordinary snake venom was already an extremely troublesome matter for physicians like him. If treatment came even slightly too late, it could cost a life.

Much less a centurial Soul Beast. Its venom was far more vicious than that of ordinary snakes. Even ordinary healing-type Soul Masters would find it difficult to handle; for him, it was practically an impossible task.

Though he also wanted those thousand Gold Soul Coins, Old Song clasped his hands and frankly said, out of responsibility toward the patient, "My abilities are limited. I fear I may delay treatment and endanger the patient's life. You should seek a more capable physician as soon as possible and contact a healing-type Soul Master."

"Old man, can't you understand human speech? We can't find any damned healing-type Soul Masters! They ran off to hunt Spirits with who knows what beasts. There's no one in the entire city now! No one!"

"Didn't those country bumpkins say the doctor here could cure every illness? My husband isn't even a Soul Master! Why can't you treat him?!"

The frantic woman jumped and screamed, nearly throwing a tantrum on the ground. Everyone watched her with undisguised disgust.

"Sir, is there really no way?"

They had already searched every clinic in Nuoding City. The lead guard looked awful, but he still regarded Old Song as their only hope.

"My abilities are limited. There truly is nothing I can do."

Shaking his head sorrowfully, Old Song would naturally have done everything in his power if there had been a way.

But judging from the wound, someone had clearly already tried bloodletting. That was all he could have done as well, and it was obvious that it would not change anything.

"Um... how about I give it a try?"

The moment the youth spoke, everyone present was stunned.

One thousand Gold Soul Coins—Lin Yue truly wanted them.

With that, buying a piece of Thousand-Year Whale Rubber would be no problem. If he got lucky and found a bargain, he might even have a chance at Ten-Thousand-Year Whale Rubber!

It was just that his first freshly brewed Resistance Potion would be used before he had even had a chance to hold onto it for long...