novelPrice, Three Spirit Stones (1)
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Chapter 364: Price, Three Spirit Stones (1)
Translator: StarveCleric Editor: StarveCleric
An austere person, Qi Shengyu was a 4-star intermediate apothecary of the Myriad Kingdom Alliance.
He had always been in charge of overseeing the Wall of Pill Formulae.
The Wall of Pill Formulae was connected to many Tier 1 Kingdoms, and it was used as a platform to resolve the problems those guilds faced. Usually, there was nothing much for him to do, however today, upon reaching his position, he realized that it was activated.
"It's from Tier 1 Tianwu Kingdom?"
Qi Shengyu could see the location and the identity of the person who activated the wall on the other side.
"Mu Yangfeng?"
Casually flipping open the list of apothecaries, Qi Shengyu browsed through the names and frowned."A 2-star pinnacle apothecary? He must have just succeeded the 3-star apothecary examination and has yet to change his emblem! Even so, to activate the Wall of Pill Formulae and request for a grade-4 pill formula right after clearing his examination, isn't he being too impatient?"
At which, his face turned grim.
Apothecaries who possessed an earnest desire to learn were welcomed by Qi Shengyu. However, one should at least reach 3-star pinnacle before requesting for a grade-4 pill formula to study. Clearly, the other party was being overambitious.
Despite having barely reached a rank of 3-star—not to mention, you haven't even changed your emblem yet—to request for a grade-4 pill formula, are you taking this as a joke?
"Furthermore, he even asked for the formula of the grade-4 intermediate Frigid Yin Pill!"
After seeing the pill formula that the other party wanted, his rage crescendoed.
Apothecaries who had just cleared the 3-star examination would still be having difficulties forging a grade-3 primary pill, and yet, the other party was actually asking for a grade-4 intermediate pill formula...
Were all the apothecaries so overambitious nowadays?
"Hmph!"
Harrumphing coldly, he wrote out the price for the exchange.
You want a grade-4 pill formula? Fine, I'll give it to you. However, you'll have to be able to pay the price for it first. If you can't, you better pull down your head and study humbly.
Thus, he intentionally inflated the price by three times so as to deter the other party.
As expected, as soon as he wrote those words, the Wall of Pill Formulae fell silent.
"Looks like the best way to deal with such ignorant fellows is to scare them off..."
Qi Shengyu muttered silently to himself as he poured himself a cup of tea and sipped on it.
He thought the other party would back down upon facing this obstacle, but contrary to his expectations, the Wall of Pill Formulae suddenly shone once more, and a line of words slowly floated into appearance.
"I don't have the spirit stones you're asking for, but I can answer any issues you are facing in your pill forging. If you have any queries, feel free to ask!"
Pu!
He spurted out his tea.
With widened eyes, Qi Shengyu coughed non-stop.
Feel free to ask?
Answer my question?
In that instant, ten thousand divine beasts stampeded across Qi Shengyu's head.
The heck!
I am a 4-star intermediate apothecary! Even if I really had a query, I would consult a 5-star apothecary rather than a 3-star primary apothecary like you. To utter such arrogant words, aren't you afraid of suffering a retribution from the heaven?
He thought that he could scare the other party off by inflating the price by three times, but what he received instead was the other party's conceited response. Rage immediately flurried through his body.
"Apothecary Qi? What's wrong?"
Seething with rage, he was just about to teach this disrespectful fellow a lesson when, 'jiya', the door to the room suddenly opened, and an elder walked in.
The head of the Myriad Kingdom Alliance Apothecary Guild, Su Xing!
He was the only 4-star pinnacle apothecary within the entire Myriad Kingdom Alliance!
"Nothing much, just that I'm facing an arrogant fellow from Tianwu Kingdom!" Suppressing his anger, Qi Shengyu harrumphed.
"An arrogant fellow?"
Guild Leader Su was stunned for an instant. Given their prestige as the headquarter of the Apothecary Guild for the Tier 1 Kingdoms, very rarely did members from lower branches dare to anger them. Qi Shengyu quickly recounted the matter to him, and he widened his eyes in shock at the entire matter. His gaze subconsciously turned to the Wall of Pill Formulae with a look of incredulity.
Your head!
A 3-star apothecary who had only achieved his breakthrough recently was actually telling a 4-star intermediate apothecary to shoot his question, as though a teacher?
This was no longer arrogance—more like having a screw loose!
After all, no rational person would dare to spout such words to a high-ranked apothecary!
It was no wonder why Qi Shengyu had flown into a rage. Even Su Xing himself felt dizzy-headed just by listening to the recount of the incident. That Apothecary Mu's head must have surely suffered a stroke for him to dare to utter such nonsense!
"Show me his background..."
As the headquarter of all Apothecary Guilds in the lands of Myriad Kingdom Alliance, they had the information of all apothecaries within the area.
Soon, a file was delivered over by an apprentice, and grabbing it, they began browsing through it and... that fellow didn't seem to possess any exceptional aptitude. To put it in short, he was nothing but average.
It had been an entire seventeen years since the other party had reached 2-star pinnacle. How could he act so arrogantly when he had only just achieved a breakthrough?
Was his head crushed by a door or did some savage beast accidentally kick it?
Su Xing blinked his eyes, stupefied.
"Guild leader, what should we do?"
Qi Shengyu harrumphed."Should we indict this fellow of insubordination and strip him of his license?"
There was a common trait shared by many of the occupations in the continent—strict hierarchy. Lower ranked members were expected to treat those of higher ranked members with a high degree of respect. And this was an official rule.
Given how arrogant this fellow had spoken, they could easily charge him with insubordination and strip him of his apothecary license.
"Calm down, there's no need to rush it. We should at least test him with a question first. It won't be too late to charge him after he fails to answer it correctly!" After a moment of hesitation, Guild Leader Su replied.
One thing the world didn't lack was eccentric individuals, and they couldn't possibly strip him of his apothecary license just because he had spoken arrogantly.
Perhaps, he might really have to strength to back his words up.
"Alright!"
Qi Shengyu nodded."It just happens that I have a question that I wanted to consult guild leader but haven't gotten the chance to yet. I'll pose the question to him and I hope that guild leader can help me vet his answer! If he were to answer it erroneously, I'll make sure to knock deeply into his dense head that the prestige of a high-ranked apothecary is not to be challenged!"
"Un!" Guild Leader Su Xing nodded.
Upon seeing the other party's agreement, Qi Shengyu picked up a brush and started writing on the wall.
"For the forging of the[Constellation Sea Pill], Purple Pearl Grass, Evening Sun Flower, and Three-leafed Green have to be fused together. Why would there be a loss in the medicinal properties of the medicinal herbs despite procedures being followed strictly?"
Seeing the question Qi Shengyu jotted down, Su Xing nodded his head.
This question was indeed rather difficult. Many 4-star apothecaries faced similar problems while trying to forge the Constellation Sea Pill.
Back then, he was no exception as well.
A lot of research and experiments had to be done before he managed to arrive at the correct answer.
However, to actually pose a question which he himself didn't have the answer to, Qi Shengyu must be truly infuriated.
"Even some 5-star apothecaries would find it hard to answer this question. It's only due to my good fortunes that I chanced by the answer in an ancient manual. Given such, how could a person who had barely reached 3-star possibly answer it..."
Harboring such thoughts, Su Xing turned to look at the Wall of Pill Formulae, curious to see what the arrogant fellow on the other side would reply with.
...
Meanwhile, on the other end of the wall.
Apothecary Mu wasn't the only one who had flown into a frenzy. Even Jiang Chen and Apothecary Hong Yun's eyebrows were twitching furiously.
This was no longer just a simple case of wreaking havoc; this a challenge to the other party's authority, a clear case of insubordination!
If the other party decided to indict Mu Yangfeng of this crime, they could easily strip his qualification as an apothecary straight!
"The elder on the other end of the wall must be infuriated!"
With twitching lips, Apothecary Hong Yun sent a look of sympathy to Mu Yangfeng.
The countdown to the end of his career had already started... Tick tick tick...
Weng!
Shaking his head, the wall suddenly flashed and a line of words appeared.
"Constellation Sea Pill?"
"Purple Pearl Grass, Evening Sun Flower, and Three-leafed Green?"
Seeing the content of the question, Apothecary Hong Yun was completely bewildered.
He didn't even know what the Constellation Sea Pill was, so how could he possibly know the reason behind the loss of the medicinal properties of these three herbs?
He immediately sneaked a peek at Mu Yangfeng and saw a constipated look on the other party's face.
Then, he turned his gaze to the culprit of this entire mess, Liu Cheng.
That fellow seemed to be confused as well, seemingly uncomprehending of the question. Just as Apothecary Hong Yun was wondering how Liu Cheng was going to resolve this mess, the other party suddenly stood up and touched the Wall of Pill Formulae...
Then, picking up a brush, he began writing once more.
...
"Dry the Purple Pearl Grass under extreme heat for three days, remove the roots of the Tenth Sun Flower, and choose a Three-leafed Green with a maturity of five years and below!"
Words soon appeared on the Wall of Pill Formulae, and upon reading its content, Qi Shengyu abruptly stood up, and his nose flared in anger.
"Nonsense, what utter nonsense!"
"The Purple Pearl Grass possesses yin attribute and it thrives in dark places. Once exposed to extreme heat, its medicinal property would dissipate swiftly. It wouldn't even survive for a day, lest three!"
"As for the Evening Sun Flower, it is known to bloom only under the evening sun. Only with the setting of the celestial flame would the earthen flames be reignited, and through its roots, the Evening Sun Flower absorbs the earthen flames to nourish itself and develop its medicinal properties. If the roots, where the bulk of its medicinal property is harnessed in, were to be removed, how much of medicinal property could it possibly retain?"
"As for the Three-leafed Green, under normal circumstances, its maturity would require at least ten years. At just five, it would be no different from other ordinary grasses, devoid of any medicinal property..."
"If I were to do as he says, the loss of medicinal properties is just a small matter—I fear that there might even be none at all!"
The more Qi Shengyu spoke, the faster his words got. Cracking sounds originating from his clenching of fists echoed loudly in the room.
There were no 4-star apothecaries who had the experience of forging Constellation Sea Pill who didn't know the medicinal properties of these three main ingredients.
The advice the other party offered were a complete joke, utter rubbish!
"Guild leader, there's no need to consider it anymore. There's clearly something very wrong with this fellow's head. I'll apply for the stripping of his apothecary license right now..."
Harrumphing coldly, Qi Shengyu turned to look at Guild Leader Su to seek his judgement on this matter. But to his surprise, he only saw the latter, who he had known to be able to keep his composure under all circumstances, staring at the wall with widened eyes, completely dumbstruck.
"Guild leader..."
He couldn't help but shake the other party to wake him from his daze.
"Ah?"
Only then did Su Xing finally recover from his shock and, with quivering lips, he replied, "This... His method is correct!"
"Correct?"
It was Qi Shengyu's turn to be dumbstruck this time around.
Are you for real?
"Due to its yin attribute, cold energy easily accumulates in the Purple Pearl Grass, and during the forging of the Constellation Sea Pill, this cold energy would hinder the fusing of the medicinal herbs, thus inducing the dissipation of medicinal properties. As such, it has to be exposed to extreme heat to remove the cold energy!"
"As for the Evening Sun Flower, it serves primarily as a mediating factor. While its roots do possess incredible medicinal properties, it is, in fact, excessive. It only neutralizes the medicinal properties of the Purple Pearl Grass. The same goes for the Three-leafed Green as well..."
"This is what I read on an ancient manual. Even 5-star apothecaries would find themselves stumped by this question... How did he know this?"
Qi Shengyu was dumbfounded."Guild leader, you mean that... the solution he proposed is correct?"
"That's right. Not only is it correct, it is perfect. I have tried it out myself and there's no problem with it!"
Su Xing nodded.
"This... How is this possible?"
Qi Shengyu felt as though he was going insane.
He thought that the other party was just an arrogant fellow who had just passed the 3-star apothecary examination. He couldn't have expected that the other party would be able to solve such a difficult question which even he was stumped by...
Are you for real?
Am I the 4-star intermediate apothecary, or is he?
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