Chapter 107: Blood Essence Condensing Pill
Yang Kun wanted to go together to help Su Yan, but upon second thought, although he was Half-step True Intent, he was still inferior compared to Lord.
Rather than following and becoming a burden, it was better to return to Grindstone Stockade first and help Lord handle the follow-up matters.
Thus, he agreed, preparing to transport the trade goods back.
“How should I address you, miss?”
Su Yan followed that girl, already riding Scaled Horses out of Yellow Cave Valley, following a mountain path, heading continuously outward from Hundred Thieves Cave.
The girl ahead had a slender waist and straight posture riding the horse, waist and horse as one, moving slightly. Hearing Su Yan’s address, she giggled replied: “Lord can call me Cai Yao. Big Sister is already waiting on the road; Mister will have to trouble yourself a bit.”
Her voice was crisp. She slightly turned her gaze to look at Su Yan, her big eyes blinking as if curious: “Mister must be the new Leader of Grindstone Stockade. I’ve never seen Jiao Yang Sou and his brothers so respectful.”
“You guess.”
Su Yan just followed without answering her. Don’t be fooled by her delicate appearance; her strength had also reached Spirit Nurturing Realm. Right now, she was just probing for news.
“I guess Mister definitely is. Otherwise, how could Jiao Yang Sou and his brothers refine a new pill like Blood-Strengthening Pill.”
Cai Yao followed Su Yan’s words, then said: “We’ve talked for so long, yet I still don’t know how to address Mister. It’s Cai Yao who was impolite.”
“Poison Bandit Pang Tianfeng.”
Beneath the mask, Su Yan smiled and said this.
Cai Yao’s pupils shrank, and she shook her head slightly: “Mister is teasing me. Pang Tianfeng was chased and killed by Xu Guan, his life or death unknown. How can he compare to Mister.”
Although Pang Tianfeng had caused some commotion in the outer mountain, he was not a True Intent Realm Martial Artist after all. In these desolate mountains, he was just a somewhat formidable figure.
Moreover, if Pang Tianfeng had alchemy skills, why would he still be robbing along the way?
As the two talked, they had already arrived outside Hundred Thieves Cave. A group of people with torches blazing bright were waiting by the roadside.
The leader rode a red Scaled Horse, dressed in red robes, with a long whip at her waist and a dagger hanging by her leg. Her eyes rippled as she saw Su Yan and came forward: “Mister, forgive us. We’ve made you walk a few extra steps.”
Although Su Yan was only at Spirit Nurturing Realm, for the identity of Second-order Pill Master, she had no choice but to take it seriously.
“Du Leader, here are three thousand taels in banknotes.”
Su Yan tossed the banknotes, and Du Erniang caught them smoothly, then handed over the beast hide parchment scroll.
On the beast hide parchment scroll was the refining method for Blood Essence Condensing Pill.
‘Triple blood refining, using Blood Crystal to refine the pill, thereby reducing the demand for main ingredients… This refining method is somewhat interesting.’
Su Yan’s Basic Alchemy had reached Transformation Realm, and his Herbology skill was the same. His understanding of medicinal properties and refining was no less than Xu Zhongdao’s, only higher.
Naturally, he saw the pros and cons at a glance. Extracting material grades to reduce the use of high-order materials was its advantage.
But it was also a limitation, because the pill’s limit was Second-order Low-grade, with no possibility of modifying the pill prescription to enhance the medicinal effect.
‘Flesh and blood from one First-order Perfection Feral Beast can produce one furnace of pills…’
If switched to Second-order Feral Beasts, their flesh and blood could naturally be refined multiple times, though they were hard to obtain.
“Mister, can this pill be refined?”
Du Erniang appeared to be asking, but if it turned out the pill couldn’t be refined after examination, that would be another matter.
“Yes, prepare the things.”
Beneath the mask, Su Yan’s eyes showed a subtle glint. Blood Essence Condensing Pill didn’t emphasize materials but techniques; its refining was much more difficult than Beast Essence Pill or Muscle Strengthening and Meridian Connecting Pill.
Joy flashed in Du Erniang’s eyes, hidden but not shown, and she nodded: “Please follow me to San Die Stream, Mister.”
The team Du Erniang brought was not large, just over twenty people, one horse each, all Scaled Horses. Though traveling by moonlight, they moved quickly.
But they were all accustomed to traveling in the mountains, so their speed wasn’t much slower.
The group traveled for about three hours until dawn was breaking, finally arriving at San Die Stream.
The so-called San Die Stream was a river crossing the desolate mountains, flowing through two gorges like a long dragon, with many aquatic Feral Beasts. Leading out of the desolate mountains, it connected to the eight-hundred-li water system of Bai Lu Lake in Yun Cang Town, as well as some neighboring county towns.
This desolate mountain river was undeniably important. That Du Erniang could settle here as a stockade leader showed she had plenty of means.
Following the mountain path inward, near the water, wooden walls rose high, backing against the mountain with water access. On the ground was a village with continuous wooden houses, like a settlement.
Further in, they dug into the mountain body, extending into caves, and built more inside and on the cliffs in hidden cave heavens. Only torch firelights like stars could be seen scattered at intervals, but the full shape of the stockade couldn’t be discerned.
“Leader is back!”
As the team approached, the sentry shouted loudly, verified the team, and then let them in.
“Cai Yao, take Mister to rest first.”
Du Erniang gave the order, then said to Su Yan: “Mister, rest first. I’ve prepared the materials fully and will send them to the Alchemy Room shortly, then invite Mister to refine the medicine.”
Alchemy Room?
Su Yan’s eyes flickered slightly. It seemed Du Erniang’s way of doing things like this wasn’t the first time.
“No problem, lead the way.”
Su Yan remained composed, following Cai Yao into the stockade. The lower stockade wasn’t the mid-mountain residences; the inner rooms built relying on caves were.
The plank road spiraled, caves interspersed. The sound of rushing water came from the pitch-black depths below. Looking over the edge of the plank road, the bottom couldn’t be seen.
“Mister, be careful. Below is the connected waterway with surging undercurrents. Even a Spirit Nurturing Realm falling in might not climb back up.”
Cai Yao reminded from ahead, soon leading Su Yan around a few bends to a room partitioned by a cave, with rock walls, a fragrant wooden bed and couch, covered in soft cushions.
Two young girls stood at the door, without martial skills but pretty, no older than fifteen or sixteen, with delicate and soft figures.
“These two are newly selected maids from the lower stockade. Mister may dispatch them as he wishes.”
“No need, thanks for Du Leader’s kind intentions.”
Su Yan waved his hand in refusal, his voice extremely flat.
Cai Yao’s expression remained normal. She waved to dismiss the two maids, saying only: “Since Mister doesn’t need them, just call for Cai Yao if there’s anything.”
She exited the room, leaving Su Yan alone in the cave room.
He muttered to himself: “Using this to test cadres is really poor timing.”
Du Erniang had some scheming, but some actions were too hasty. Perhaps she was used to dealing with bandits and robbers in the past, being so direct.
……
In the inner cave stockade’s top layer, Cai Yao came directly here after leaving Su Yan’s room.
Knocking and entering, Du Erniang was already waiting in the boudoir.
“Leader, he didn’t accept Xi’er, Huan’er, or Liang.”
Du Erniang’s eyes flickered: “After all, he’s not some rough mountain man. Probably a black glove from the city.”
The various forces in the city knew the bandits in these desolate mountains couldn’t be eradicated completely, so more or less they had buried their own people.
Some pulled strings, others directly joined the fray, turning their own into thieves to do dirty work.
Su Yan’s concealed posture now, plus the faintly revealed alchemy skill, clearly showed this tendency.
Cai Yao looked worried: “Then should we still let him…”
“What is there to fear? City folk are at most True Intent Realm. Even Liang Ying and Zhao Pan are only at True Intent Realm second layer Ruyi Stage. If it succeeds, what do we have to fear from them?”
A fierce glint flashed in Du Erniang’s eyes. Martial Artists who don’t strive, what kind of Martial Artist are they? Moreover, like her, having only accidentally obtained a Visualization Diagram, without matching cultivation manuals from great sects further on.
For this martial cultivation, aside from grinding basic work, other methods had to be sought.
Du Erniang shifted tone slightly: “You serve him well. After all, he’s someone who can refine pills. Satisfy his demands as much as possible.”
“Yes, Leader.”
Su Yan rested for half a day. Cai Yao brought alcohol and meat, fruits, and then told him the materials were ready.
He immediately didn’t want to waste time and said: “No need for the food. I’ll refine the medicine first.”
Though Cai Yao was surprised, she nodded: “Mister, follow me.”
The Alchemy Room was in another direction of the inner cave, isolated from moisture and connected to the outside for better air circulation.
Without earthly fire in the inner cave, charcoal was needed for alchemy, making such an environment especially necessary.
After walking about four or five minutes, passing a few bandit-guarded spots, a cave room embedded with a heavy iron door appeared before Su Yan.
“Miss Cai Yao.”
Guarding the Alchemy Room were two sturdy men at Blood Moving Realm, with strong Qi and Blood, rare experts.
Cai Yao just nodded slightly and said indifferently: “This is the Mister Pang whom Leader invited to refine pills. Serve him well.”
Though she didn’t believe Su Yan was Pang Tianfeng, since he said so, Cai Yao went along with it.
It was just a code name; once relations deepened, the real name would naturally come out.
“We’ve seen Mister.”
The two saluted Su Yan. Su Yan entered the room with Cai Yao, immediately seeing two dissected First-order Perfection Feral Beast corpses.
One was a blue-green mountain-wandering python, the other a Serrated Alligator.
The medicinal herbs as auxiliary materials were placed in order. A pitch-black Alchemy Furnace stood in the center, with charcoal fire already lit, firelight even, emitting heat.
“Mister, if there’s anything else needed, tell Cai Yao, and she’ll prepare it immediately.”
Su Yan shook his head: “Enough.”
Cai Yao exited and closed the door. Su Yan grabbed the pitch-black Alchemy Furnace, shook it to familiarize himself with its weight and material.
“At least a First-order High-grade furnace; quite generous. So where did the previous ones go?”
There must have been other Pill Masters in San Die Stream before, but now they were all gone.
Unknown if they left after refining or something happened.
Su Yan grew more curious and also wanted to know what the other Second-order pill prescription Du Erniang had was.
“Using Blood Essence Condensing Pill as a test for alchemy skill… Does she really think others can’t see through it?”
Su Yan placed the Alchemy Furnace over the charcoal fire; a layer of ash covering it shook off, firelight brightening as it heated the furnace continuously.
He familiarly preheated the furnace. Once the temperature rose, he threw in Feral Beast flesh and blood, skeletons one by one. True Essence flowed and fused into the furnace, continuously extracting Blood Essence and removing impurities.
The difficulty of Blood Essence Condensing Pill lay not in fusion pill-forming, but in extracting Blood Essence—repeated three times, condensing the full essence blood of one First-order Perfection Feral Beast.
This process required full concentration and skilled techniques; any carelessness would make the Blood Essence extraction inferior.
But for Su Yan, this was no difficulty.
As the charcoal fire rose steadily, an insect-type White Ape and Green-scaled Poisonous Flood Dragon appeared behind Su Yan, inhaling surrounding Spiritual Energy and converting it continuously into his True Essence.
Time passed bit by bit. As impurities were expelled, clumps of flesh and blood under True Essence fusion and adjustment gradually turned into a mass of dark red liquid.
First extraction: the dark red liquid in the furnace was still head-sized, shaking like sticky asphalt.
Second extraction: impurities further removed, the Blood Essence turned crimson, crystalline like crystal.
By the third extraction, the Blood Essence began to condense, like shattered gems.
Su Yan added the medicinal herbs in sequence. Medicinal fragrance gathered, with Blood Essence as core, gradually condensing into pills.
This step actually took less time than the prior extraction.
In less than a quarter-hour, the final pill-forming completed. Pills with a faint fishy fragrance settled in the furnace.
Bright red, perfectly round and full—eight in total.
“Six flawless, two slightly less perfect, but acceptable.”
Su Yan swallowed one Blood Essence Condensing Pill, immediately feeling like a fireball entering his abdomen. Qi and Blood mobilized throughout his body, while absorbing Spiritual Energy, speeding up True Essence conversion considerably.
He circulated True Essence to absorb it, eyes flickering slightly: “True Essence Pill focuses on True Essence condensation and circulation, for cultivation and accumulating True Essence.”
“Blood Essence Condensing Pill has stronger effects, mainly using essence blood as main ingredient, also tempering muscle and bone, strengthening meridians, with foundation-strengthening ability. But for Spirit Nurturing Realm, it’s a bit too potent.”
The stinging pain in his meridians was real. This was still because Su Yan’s body was strong enough; for other Spirit Nurturing Realm, one pill would need days to digest slowly.
“If using Blood Essence as main ingredient, logically even non-First-order Perfection Feral Beasts should work. But ordinary Feral Beasts can’t withstand such repeated extraction, and the final product would be slightly inferior.”
Extraction time and count were limited; impossible to refine infinitely. First-order Perfection after this step reaching comparable to Second-order materials was already good.
Using Late First Order for extraction might only yield First-order Perfection effect at best.
But Su Yan was different.
His mind stirred, quickly thinking of his advantage.
Blood Fiend Mother Worm split into tens of thousands of Blood Bees, which already had the ability to extract beast blood. Using this for Blood Essence refining might condense pseudo-Second-order beast blood essence through quantity.
“Might try after returning. If successful, accumulation speed would increase greatly.”
Su Yan smiled. If a Pill Master could only refine pills strictly per prescription without changes, it could only be said their skill was inadequate.
Though martial arts flourished in this world, medicinal herb resources weren’t infinite. Main ingredients could vary by time and circumstance.
Thus, Pill Masters needed to modify prescriptions.
Su Yan turned his gaze to the Serrated Alligator, muttering: “Let’s try first, and see Du Erniang’s reaction.”
After refining once, Su Yan was more proficient. This time, he took out about five hundred Blood Bees from Insect Realm Space.
These Blood Bees had hatched days ago, used recently for combat and hunting, already refining essence blood in their bodies.
He forced out the Feral Beast Essence Blood refined by the Blood Bees, fusing it one by one into the Blood Essence extraction process.
A wisp of unique faint fragrance came; Su Yan’s eyes brightened.
Feasible.
Blood Essence quality improved faster than before.
He sped up, using the same technique. About an hour later, the second furnace of Blood Essence Condensing Pills succeeded.
Nine in total, all flawless pills, similar medicinal fragrance but slightly milder.
“As expected, feasible.”
Su Yan had already decided to have Jiao Yang Sou and them organize Blood Bees for large-scale hunting.
But that could wait until return. He pocketed half the pills, putting only seven into the jade bottle.
Then he opened the iron door, seeing Cai Yao outside, and said: “Mission accomplished. Two furnaces, eight pills total.”
“Wh-what?! Eight pills?”
But Cai Yao stared at Su Yan in shock, her beautiful eyes rippling with splendor. This person’s alchemy skill was actually so impressive.
