Hearing Wen Xiancheng praise her notebook so highly, Cui Qianqian felt as though her heart had been filled with honey.
Smiling at Wen Xiancheng, Cui Qianqian said, "All right, at least you know quality when you see it. When do you need these things? Can you come pick them up at noon the day after tomorrow?"
Wen Xiancheng was delighted too.
Finally, some progress!
Nodding at Cui Qianqian, Wen Xiancheng said, "No problem. I'll come pick them up at lunchtime the day after tomorrow."
After saying goodbye to Cui Qianqian, Wen Xiancheng returned to his lodging, ate a meal, and immediately began practicing illusion arts.
An urgent desire kept burning inside him, driving him to improve his control over illusion arts as quickly as possible.
Late that night, the Mouse Clone got up too.
Just as it was about to go out, it heard that rustling under the bed again.
The Mouse Clone did not climb down there.
It was too dirty under the bed, and it did not want to get itself dirty.
It would just wait for the three little mice to come out.
Before long, the three little mice did indeed crawl out from under the bed, peeking around.
Seeing no movement nearby, they ran toward the makeshift wardrobe.
Holy crap!
The Mouse Clone felt an urge to curse.
They still haven't given up?
They still want to chew my wardrobe?
That's where I keep the clothes I wear!
The Mouse Clone climbed down and blocked their way.
Seeing the Mouse Clone appear, the three little mice hurried over and gathered in front of it, looking exceedingly affectionate.
The Mouse Clone pushed them aside, tapped the makeshift wardrobe with its right forepaw, and squeaked, baring its teeth in a fierce expression.
The three little mice exchanged looks, constantly making all sorts of gestures.
The Mouse Clone felt as though its head had swollen to twice its size.
Having a mouse's body but not understanding how mice communicated was indescribably frustrating.
Still, seeing that the three little mice had stopped chewing the makeshift wardrobe, the Mouse Clone guessed they had understood what it meant.
Only, their expressions seemed to suggest they were discussing what to do.
Remembering that it also needed to wear down its teeth every day, the Mouse Clone looked around, finally fixing its gaze on a short piece of wood on the table that had been gnawed into a crooked shape.
It carried the wood down from the table in its mouth, dropped it in front of the three little mice, and then Mouse Clone tapped the wood and began gnawing on it.
Seeing this, the three little mice hurried over.
The four little mice gathered around the short piece of wood and gnawed away with great enthusiasm.
After gnawing for nearly an hour, the three little mice were satisfied.
One of them sniffed the Mouse Clone, then pointed under the bed.
From the looks of it, it was actually inviting the Mouse Clone into their home.
The Mouse Clone shook its head.
Like hell!
Your mouse hole is so dirty. I'm not going in there.
Now that the three little mice were no longer gnawing on the makeshift wardrobe, the Mouse Clone had nothing to worry about, so it climbed up to the window and crawled outside.
It was going for a stroll!
Seeing this, the three little mice climbed out after it.
The four little mice wandered around the area.
Suddenly, as though something had occurred to it, the little mouse with the broken tail squeaked twice at the Mouse Clone.
The Mouse Clone looked at it in confusion, only to see it race north.
After running two meters, it stopped again and squeaked at the Mouse Clone.
This time, the Mouse Clone understood perfectly.
Does it want to take me somewhere?
The other two little mice seemed to know where the broken-tailed mouse wanted to go. They took off at a run, unusually excited.
Seeing this, the Mouse Clone hurried after them.
The four little mice crossed a grassy field, swam across a ditch, and eventually arrived at the foot of the Royal Academy's wall!
Then they climbed over the wall one after another and entered the Royal Academy.
Finally, half an hour later, they reached a place inside the Royal Academy that looked like a Medicinal Herb Garden!
Medicinal herbs of every kind grew everywhere!
They stretched as far as the eye could see!
The four little mice hid on a ridge at the edge of the Medicinal Herb Garden, keeping their distance and going no farther.
An owl was perched not far ahead of them!
The owl stood on a scarecrow, seemingly dozing.
The three little mice kept moving their mouths, as though communicating something.
Finally, one little mouse slipped cautiously into the Medicinal Herb Garden while watching the owl nervously.
The owl did not seem to notice!
Only then did the other two little mice cautiously slip in after it.
The Mouse Clone followed behind.
The four little mice darted through the medicinal herbs.
Eventually, they stopped in a patch of blood-stanching grass in the Medicinal Herb Garden.
Understanding dawned on the Mouse Clone.
It had previously wondered where the three little mice had gotten their blood-stanching grass.
So they had stolen it from here!
Each of the three little mice bit off a stalk of blood-stanching grass and prepared to leave.
Seeing that the Mouse Clone had not bitten off any, they all stopped.
The broken-tailed mouse put down the blood-stanching grass in its mouth, ran over to an intact plant, and made a biting gesture.
It seemed to be urging the Mouse Clone to hurry up.
The Mouse Clone shook its head.
It began wandering around the Medicinal Herb Garden.
Wild joy surged through it.
It was certain now: these had to be medicinal herbs grown by the Royal Academy.
According to its memories, the Royal Academy was the best place to cultivate in the Yue Kingdom, supported by enormous funding allocated every year by the Yue Kingdom's royal family.
Then would their Medicinal Herb Gardens contain only low-grade medicinal herbs like blood-stanching grass?
Obviously not!
The Mouse Clone wanted to explore every inch of this Medicinal Herb Garden!
It had an utterly crazy idea!
Aptitude-Enhancing Pills!
Aptitude-Enhancing Pills were so expensive that ordinary people could not afford them at all.
But this was the Royal Academy!
Perhaps it could gather all the medicinal herbs needed to refine Aptitude-Enhancing Pills!
At the very least, it could find some medicinal herbs for pills that aided cultivation!
With that thought, the Mouse Clone bit off a small piece of each kind of herb, then ran back.
It would take these medicinal herbs home and use the browser's image recognition feature tomorrow to identify them and determine which ones it could use.
At first, the three little mice did not understand why the Mouse Clone was biting off a small piece of each kind of herb and running back.
But after the Mouse Clone made five round trips, they understood!
They spread out too, biting off a small piece of each kind of herb and delivering it to Wen Xiancheng's rented room.
By daybreak the next morning, they had collected more than thirty kinds of medicinal herbs!
Afterward, the three little mice all crawled under the bed.
The Mouse Clone also lay down on the bed and went to sleep.
After working all night, it was exhausted and needed rest.
Wen Xiancheng ate breakfast, then used the browser to identify the thirty-odd kinds of medicinal herbs, taking notes as he went.
The assortment of herbs was rather haphazard, and most could serve as supplementary ingredients for several kinds of pills.
However, Wen Xiancheng did not lose heart.
I'll go take a look every night over the next few days.
That Medicinal Herb Garden is so big. How much have I explored so far?
Sooner or later, I'll find the medicinal ingredients I need for pills that aid cultivation.
After identifying these medicinal herbs, Wen Xiancheng searched for the formula and ingredients for Aptitude-Enhancing Pills.
There was no formula online.
The formula for Aptitude-Enhancing Pills was a closely guarded secret, and there currently seemed to be no one in the Yue Kingdom capable of refining them.
Far to the east, a great nation called the Wu Kingdom had alchemists of that caliber.
However, a list of the medicinal herbs needed to refine Aptitude-Enhancing Pills was available online.
This list appeared to have been published by an alchemist from the Wu Kingdom named Sun Ying.
Sun Ying could refine Aptitude-Enhancing Pills himself!
Moreover, he accepted commissions to refine Aptitude-Enhancing Pills.
However, four sets of ingredients had to be prepared for each commission.
He charged no refining fee.
But no matter how many Aptitude-Enhancing Pills those four sets of ingredients yielded, the person who commissioned him could only take away one portion.
The rest belonged to him.
And the ingredients needed for a single portion of Aptitude-Enhancing Pills were extremely complicated, making them difficult for ordinary people to collect.
Wen Xiancheng sighed.
This Sun Ying really is a crafty fox.
Charging a refining fee would hurt his reputation. Doing it this way actually costs people more, yet he still gets to reap a good name!
It really does pay to be a little crafty in life!
(End of chapter)
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