One of a Kind

Zhang Xuezhou had previously spent a whole day refining pills from two purple Ganoderma lucidum and one Polygonatum sibiricum. Now, with hundreds of large medicinal herbs in his Lesser Heaven and Earth Bag and 782 boxes of processed herbs brought in from the Office of the Inner Clerk, Zhang Xuezhou felt this was going to be deadly.

He undoubtedly increased the number of pills refined in one go.

Refining fifty pills is one thing, refining one hundred pills is another, and directly reaching the upper limit of Qin Furnace No. 8 is still refining. Zhang Xuezhou directly chose the highest limit of two hundred pills.

If Qinlu No. 8 could produce 500 pills at a time, Zhang Xuezhou felt that he could also do the same.

This was a pill refining attempt that even he himself wasn't confident in, after all, the Demon Core that the new emperor had brought from the Office of the Inner Clerk were of very average quality, far inferior to the Demon Core provided by Hongku.

Zhang Xuezhou simply hadn't expected that his first attempt at alchemy would be successful.

"A mid-grade Qi and Blood Fortune Pill!"

"A huge... a very generous gesture!"

"Two hundred pills at once is indeed a generous sum. The Alchemist at the Office of the Inner Clerk probably haven't even started refining them yet!"

The new emperor took the pill, smelled it, and compared it with his own Qi and Blood Fortune Pill. He finally concluded that there was nothing wrong with the pill refined by Zhang Xuezhou; it was flawless in terms of color, size, smell, and many other aspects.

This was a successful alchemy and medicine-making endeavor, and also a victorious gamble.

But it wasn't just Wei Qing who was trembling; even the new emperor himself felt tormented.

Investing such a huge amount of medicinal herbs and Demon Core at once would be very disheartening for anyone if they failed.

Standing next to this Qin Furnace No. 8, the new emperor felt uneasy, fearing that he would see a large quantity of medicinal herbs go to waste.

"Are we going to refine another two hundred?"

Seeing Zhang Xuezhou examining the medicinal herbs again, the new emperor couldn't help but ask a question.

"That must be two hundred," Zhang Xuezhou nodded. "We need to hurry and refine as many as possible before these medicinal herbs rot!"

Without refrigeration, sterilization, or preservation methods, medicinal herbs are mainly dried in the sun, while some are smoked over a fire.

Zhang Xuezhou didn't expect that purple lingzhi, a medicinal herb that could be soaked in water, could be stored for too long.

Moreover, once he succeeds, subsequent attempts at replicating the alchemy will be much simpler. While not 100% successful, a success rate of 70-80% is not insignificant.

"We're in a hurry, yes, we have to be in a hurry!"

Hearing this irrefutable reason, the new emperor could only nod repeatedly.

Before refining pills, the Alchemist of the Office of the Inner Clerk would burn incense, bathe, and cleanse themselves, adjusting their minds and focusing their attention before lighting the fire and starting the furnace to refine the pills. This process was quite lengthy.

No Alchemist has ever said that they need to rush to refine pills.

From the moment the medicinal herbs arrived and were unpacked for inspection, to the moment the furnace was lit and the pills were made, Zhang Xuezhou spent less than an hour in total.

The new emperor felt that this amount of time was not enough for the Alchemist of the Office of the Inner Clerk to bathe and cleanse themselves.

It was clear that they were about to start the second batch. He helped tidy up the Qi and Blood Fortune Pill and also helped carry a box of charcoal to the Pill Cauldron.

"Godfather, the Dongfang master refines elixirs like laying eggs! Why don't the Alchemist in the Office of the Inner Clerk learn from him? That way we wouldn't have to work so hard!"

Huo Qubing lifted a wooden bucket of water and poured it into a water vat, then looked at the mountain of various wooden boxes piled up in the side hall.

As long as he thought about it, Huo Qubing felt that his task of carrying buckets of water would never end.

Of course, Huo Qubing didn't want to hand this task over to others. After all, the smell in the Alchemy Chamber was really wonderful, and he could feel his strength increasing, even though the wooden bucket for drawing water was much lighter.

Of course, fetching water wouldn't deflate his bloated belly. If he had a little free time, Huo Qubing would also use the "Eighteen Strikes with Sticky Clothes" technique, which utilizes the power of Qi and Blood from the three acupoints.

This caused Huo Qubing to experience both pain and pleasure; at times he wanted to persevere, and at other times he longed for this kind of life to end soon.

"There are many Alchemist in the Office of the Inner Clerk, but there is only one Dongfang Shuo!"

Huo Qubing's question was simple, and the answer was also simple.

The new emperor couldn't say that the many Alchemist were incompetent, after all, these alchemy masters had maintained the needs of the Great Han Dynasty's high-ranking officials for nearly a century.

Even before Zhang Xuezhou, the Great Han Dynasty was not without elixirs.

But Zhang Xuezhou was unique. The other party was not a pure Alchemist, and seemed not to care about the value of medicinal materials. He was not overly cautious or fearful.

Without witnessing Zhang Xuezhou's past practice of refining pills for himself alone, the new emperor would surely suspect that Zhang Xuezhou was either a spendthrift or deliberately sabotaging the project.

Having witnessed Zhang Xuezhou's alchemy and pharmaceutical skills, the new emperor had to admit that Zhang Xuezhou was quite unique.

He had seen the dregs from Zhang Xuezhou's failed alchemy attempts and knew very well that the prerequisite for using Zhang Xuezhou for alchemy was having a large and wealthy family with an urgent need for it, so that the other party could practice alchemy at will.

In other words, having Zhang Xuezhou alchemy involved an element of 'gambling'.

This is a factor he dislikes intensely; too much gambling always leads to disaster, but it's also a factor the new emperor can't let go of.

Life always requires taking a gamble to achieve big gains with small investments.

"Each person only has one," Huo Qubing said.

"Yes, each person has only one," the new emperor nodded, "Unique!"

His words were both a reply to Huo Qubing and a compliment to Zhang Xuezhou.

However, the new emperor noticed that Zhang Xuezhou had no reaction; the other party seemed to be immersed in alchemy and completely ignored the thoughts of others.

Moreover, Zhang Xuezhou was not refining a single batch of pills this time. The new emperor saw that various dried goods and medicinal herbs were already soaking in the vat where tofu had been brewed.

The seven large vats meant that Zhang Xuezhou would be refining seven batches of pills, and would also empty the two boxes of Demon Core he had brought with him to the last few.

Although he Zhang Xuezhou that Zhang Xuezhou had successfully refined another batch of pills, the new emperor couldn't stand such exaggerated pill refining.

If there were a skilled Alchemist, these materials could produce at least seven hundred Qi and Blood Fortune Pill, maintaining an overall success rate of 50%. This would require Zhang Xuezhou to produce at least two more batches of pills to break even.

But whenever he thought about Zhang Xuezhou's success rate of getting one out of four batches of pills by sheer luck, he couldn't calm down.

"I need to stay calm. After all, these purple Ganoderma and Polygonatum were all harvested by Dongfang Shuo. At the time, he had no idea whether the secret place would completely disappear. He just gave them to him without warning. He truly produced a great medicine in this alchemy and medicine-making process..."

Despite repeatedly trying to comfort himself, the new emperor, upon seeing Zhang Xuezhou's fervent cries of "Ignite the Fire!" once again, ultimately chose to say goodbye and temporarily leave, opting instead to have others assist him.

"Don't worry, I'll definitely help you out these next few days until we finish this!"

Wei Qing, who was helping out at the Pill Cauldron, called out, which made Zhang Xuezhou nod.

The successful first batch of pills was due to past experience and the combined efforts of the new emperor, Wei Qing, and Zhang Xuezhou. All three were people with high fortune, and perhaps the success rate of the pill refining was also increased by the Unseen.

The new emperor's departure at this time was somewhat lacking, but Zhang Xuezhou, having gained experience, was more confident.

The Alchemy Chamber requires many tasks, such as lighting fires, fetching water, boiling and simmering medicinal herbs, and moving the herb boxes around. Zhang Xuezhou could only wait and take over at this time.

He only heard a series of voices outside the hall, and after a moment, the bare-chested and belly-less Zhufu Yan crawled in from one side of the Alchemy Chamber.