Blood Coagulation Powder Refined, Yao Lao Reveals His Identity

Yao Lao began giving careful guidance.

Xiao Yan took a deep breath. As he listened to Yao Lao explain the steps, he poured the white powder into the medicinal cauldron, adjusted the flame's temperature, and slowly tempered the white powder.

This step was called warming the medicine.

Once the white powder had been warmed, he moved it to the edge of the cauldron.

Then, Xiao Yan poured in the red liquid and began warming it. The red liquid needed to simmer slightly.

Once the red liquid had been warmed, he likewise moved it to the edge for later use.

He poured the black granules into the medicinal cauldron and began warming them as well.

Finally, all three ingredients had been warmed.

"Fuse the red liquid with the white powder. Turn your soul force into a finger and use it to stir them. Slowly raise the temperature. Once it becomes a thick paste and turns deep red, proceed to the next step."

Yao Lao spoke from the side.

Xiao Yan nodded, moved the white powder to the center of the medicinal cauldron, then poured the red liquid over it.

The red liquid and white powder did not blend together.

Xiao Yan's powerful soul force transformed into a large finger that plunged between them and began to rotate, its spinning force driving both substances into motion.

As they rotated, the two began to fuse together. The heat from the flames made the fusion proceed more smoothly.

Ten minutes later, a mass of deep-red paste continuously churned above the flames.

At this moment, he had to maintain the flame's temperature and keep stirring without stopping.

"Next, temper the black granules into gas and merge it into the mixture."

Xiao Yan nodded. With his exceptional flame-control technique, he split the cauldron's fire into two, forming two slanted flames, one above the other.

The lower flame was used to temper the black granules. Its temperature was extremely high, twice that of the upper flame.

Under the intense heat, the black granules gradually burst apart into powder, then turned into gas.

The gas drifted upward.

The edge of the rotating paste formed a suction force, continuously drawing the gas inside.

As more and more gas was absorbed, the paste changed from deep red to a blackish-red color.

When the last wisp of gas was absorbed, the paste gradually slowed its rotation. The flame's temperature also steadily dropped before finally extinguishing.

"Let it sit for half an hour, then it can be removed from the cauldron."

Yao Lao said approvingly. Though he knew Xiao Yan's talent was extraordinary, seeing him handle his first attempt at alchemy so skillfully was still astonishing.

Xiao Yan nodded, let out a soft breath, wiped the sweat from his forehead, and finally revealed a faint smile.

He sat cross-legged and began restoring the Dou Qi within his body.

By the time the medicine in the cauldron had completely cooled, the Dou Qi in his body had also become full again.

When the time came, Yao Lao waved his left hand and flipped the cauldron lid aside. With a gesture of his right hand, a fist-sized lump of blackish-red paste flew out of the cauldron and hovered in the cave, giving off a rich medicinal fragrance.

Then, Yao Lao moved both hands through the air, pulling the blackish-red paste into a thin strip the thickness of a finger.

Xiao Yan brushed his storage ring, and more than a hundred small jade bottles appeared, arranged into a neat square formation atop a large boulder.

Yao Lao formed his hand into a blade and precisely cut the strip into evenly sized pieces, each one falling accurately into a small jade bottle.

Then Xiao Yan took out corks made of ironwood and sealed the mouths of the bottles one by one.

Looking at the more than one hundred filled jade bottles, Xiao Yan felt a strong sense of accomplishment.

"Teacher, how is this Blood Coagulation Powder used? How many times can one bottle be used?"

"Blood Coagulation Powder can be taken internally to treat internal bleeding or applied externally to treat external bleeding. Depending on the amount of bleeding, each bottle can be used a different number of times."

Xiao Yan nodded. He had bought the Rejuvenation Powder sold by the Jia Lie Clan before, and it cost ten gold coins per bottle.

The Blood Coagulation Powder he had refined was far superior to Rejuvenation Powder in both quality and medicinal properties. Even at twice the price, it should still be competitive.

The medicinal ingredients he had just used accounted for only one percent of the total, yet they had produced over a hundred bottles.

Once all the ingredients were refined, even accounting for losses, they could produce over ten thousand bottles of Blood Coagulation Powder.

They would be worth over two hundred thousand gold coins, with the profits doubling that amount.

Over the following half month, Xiao Yan stayed hidden in the cave refining medicine.

The process of refining medicine was extremely arduous.

However, alchemy was also a highly efficient method of cultivation. In just half a month, the Dou Qi in his body had grown much more abundant, and he was close to becoming a two-star Dou Zhe.

While Xiao Yan hid in the cave refining medicine, the Xiao Clan's situation became extremely dire.

With the Jia Lie Clan offering all sorts of favorable terms to merchants, many merchants who had previously remained on the fence began joining the Jia Lie Clan's market district.

There were already very few merchants left in the Xiao Clan's enormous market district.

Naturally, the flow of customers through the market district continued to decrease. If they could not come up with effective measures, the Xiao Clan's remaining merchants would inevitably turn to the Jia Lie Clan as well.

Inside the Xiao Clan's council hall, the atmosphere was bleak and oppressive.

"If we could also enlist the help of a first-tier alchemist, we could resolve our current predicament."

Someone in the hall said this.

Hearing that, Xiao Zhan shook his head. Wu Tan City was such a remote city that it had no alchemists. It was not that no alchemists had ever appeared there, but that the city simply could not retain them.

This time, who knew what damned luck the Jia Lie Clan had stumbled upon to actually hire a first-tier alchemist.

"How about we send someone to assassinate that alchemist?"

The hot-tempered Third Elder said viciously.

"The Jia Lie Clan has openly assigned two Da Dou Shi to protect him. Who knows how many guards they have in secret? To assassinate him, we would need to dispatch at least a Dou Wang-level expert."

The First Elder shook his head and sighed.

If they could not kill that alchemist without anyone knowing, the Xiao Clan would face enormous trouble.

Every alchemist was registered with the Alchemist Association. Killing an alchemist openly would inevitably bring retaliation from the Alchemist Association.

"This won't work, that won't work. Are we supposed to just wait for death?"

The Third Elder slammed his hand onto the table, rose to his feet, and roared in helpless fury.

At that moment, a clan guard hurried into the hall and reported respectfully, "Clan Leader, outside is a man in a black robe who claims to be an alchemist. He says he wishes to cooperate with the Xiao Clan."

Xiao Zhan and the Third Elder were both stunned for a moment before delight overwhelmed them. "Quickly, invite him in!"

"No, that would not be respectful enough. I'll go invite him personally."

Xiao Zhan hurriedly stood up, intending to go out and welcome the alchemist.

"Hehe, there is no need. I have already entered."

Just as Xiao Zhan was about to move, an aged voice rang out. A figure clad in a black cloak then walked into the hall.

The four people in the hall hurriedly rose to their feet.

Xiao Zhan cautiously cupped his hands and said respectfully, "I heard that you wish to cooperate with the Xiao Clan, sir. Is that true?"

Beneath the black cloak, Xiao Yan saw his father bowing to him and naturally did not dare accept it. He turned his body slightly as Yao Lao spoke in a hearty voice:

"Of course it is true."

Then Xiao Yan took out a bottle of Blood Coagulation Powder and gave it a gentle push. The jade bottle flew before Xiao Zhan.

Xiao Zhan reached out and caught the jade bottle. When he pulled out the stopper, a rich medicinal fragrance immediately spread through the air. The three elders also gathered around, took a sniff, exchanged glances, and nodded.

This medicine was far better than the Jia Lie Clan's Rejuvenation Powder.

"This is Blood Coagulation Powder. It can be taken internally or applied externally. Thirty gold coins per bottle, and we split the profits fifty-fifty. How does that sound?"

Yao Lao said with a chuckle.

The four of them were all overjoyed.

A fifty-fifty split?

This was truly a pie falling from the sky.

Their initial expectation had been that even a ten-percent share would have satisfied them.

They could even have accepted no share at all. With this Blood Coagulation Powder, they could stabilize the merchants in their market district and resolve their current predicament.

Xiao Zhan hesitantly asked, "This may be somewhat presumptuous, but Xiao would still like to ask why you chose to cooperate with the Xiao Clan and offered such favorable terms?"

"Hehe." Yao Lao smiled and said mysteriously, "I have taken a liking to your son Xiao Yan's talent and intend to accept him as my disciple."

Xiao Zhan abruptly raised his head, ecstasy filling his eyes. For his son to be accepted as the disciple of an alchemist was truly wonderful news beyond measure.

A trace of jealousy appeared in the eyes of the three elders. Why was Xiao Yan so fortunate?

Xiao Yan's cultivation talent alone was already outstanding enough. Now that he had become an alchemist's disciple, his future was even brighter.

It seemed that the Xiao Clan was destined to rely on Xiao Yan in the future and grow into a colossal, top-tier power.