Chapter 409: Precious Medicinal Ingredients
Chapter 409: Chapter 409: Precious Medicinal Ingredients
She had studied alchemy since she was a child, collecting many rare medicinal ingredients and a few alchemy furnaces over the years. However, the sudden sight of so many treasures—including ingredients she had long sought but never found—still came as a huge shock to Ning Xuan.
Fu Rong gently patted Ning Xuan’s shoulder. "Of course. During the competition, you can use anything here as you wish. Come, let me show you some of the rarer and more precious ingredients first."
Ning Xuan nodded and followed Fu Rong toward the first crystal cabinet.
A completely snow-white Lingzhi lay quietly inside the cabinet, its surface covered by a layer of crystalline frost. It gave off faint wisps of chilling air, even at room temperature.
"This is a Thousand-year-old Snow Ganoderma," Fu Rong said, her voice dropping a little. "It grows on glaciers in the far north and is extremely rare. They say many lives were lost in the search for this very Lingzhi."
"This Snow Lingzhi is definitely hundreds of years old. It would be perfect for refining into an elixir pill." Ning Xuan’s eyes shone with excitement as she gazed at the Snow Lingzhi.
’The Nine Revolutions Holy Healing Pill I’m preparing to refine is missing a key ingredient, and this Thousand-year-old Snow Ganoderma is the perfect primary component. The rule is that I can take anything I successfully refine into an elixir within these three hours... so I won’t be polite about it.’
Ning Xuan reached out and took the Thousand-year-old Snow Ganoderma.
When Fu Rong saw what Ning Xuan was doing, her expression changed. "What are you doing with that? Put it back, quick!"
"Didn’t you say we could pick any ingredient we wanted? I’m going to use it to refine an elixir," Ning Xuan said, clutching the Thousand-year-old Snow Ganoderma with no intention of letting go. Her tone was almost innocent.
"Heh, Master Fu, if she’s not going to appreciate your kindness, why bother trying to talk her out of it?" Lan Shuiyu sneered from behind them. "All she thinks about is getting a freebie, without stopping to consider if she even has the skill for it."
"My fault, my fault," Fu Rong said, explaining anxiously to Ning Xuan. "Ning Xuan, I only told you that you could take any ingredient and keep it if you successfully refine an elixir. I didn’t tell you about the special conditions. This entire row of cabinets contains exceptionally rare and precious ingredients that are over a thousand years old. Because they’re so valuable, if you take one and succeed, you can of course keep your creation. But if you fail and waste the ingredient, you have to pay for it at full price. Haven’t you seen the prices listed on the bottom shelf? They’re astronomical! If you ruin even one of these, you’ll be indebted to the Association for the rest of your life."
The Alchemist Association was wealthy and powerful, so while they could afford to lose some of the more common ingredients, it would be a painful loss to see these priceless treasures wasted for nothing.
Thus, these precious treasures were mainly for display; no one had ever actually dared to have designs on them.
The older the ingredient, the more immense the energy it contained, which made processing and refining it incredibly difficult. The slightest misstep could cause the energy to surge violently, destroying the ingredient’s medicinal properties and rendering it useless.
"Don’t worry, Fu Rong. I know ingredients this old are difficult to handle, but rest assured, I won’t fail," Ning Xuan said with confidence as she placed the Thousand-year-old Snow Ganoderma into the special Space Button designated for the exam.
To prevent cheating and maintain control, contestants were only permitted to carry this one Space Button.
"Ning Xuan, this is no joke! I reached the Level of an Alchemy Master over forty years ago, and to this day, I can only handle ingredients that are under five hundred years old. This is a thousand-year-old ingredient—it’s precious and incredibly rare. Don’t make a terrible mistake in a moment of pride. It’ll be too late for regrets then." Fu Rong was genuinely frantic, doing her best to persuade Ning Xuan to put the ingredient back.
"I’ll look at the other ingredients. If I find something more suitable, I’ll put it back," Ning Xuan said, but it was just a half-hearted excuse to get Fu Rong to stop nagging her.
However, as she turned to glance aside, her eyes fell on a fist-sized, crimson fruit in the next cabinet. "Fu Rong, look! What’s that red ingredient? Is that a Red Flame Fruit?"
Ning Xuan’s eyes sparkled as she pointed to the fruit, its surface covered in golden patterns.
"It is a Red Flame Fruit," Fu Rong explained. "Legend says they only grow deep within the magma of a volcano. See the golden patterns on its surface? They almost seem to flow. That’s actually a natural formation from accumulated energy."
Seeing Ning Xuan’s interest, Fu Rong carefully opened the cabinet door. A wave of heat immediately billowed out. Ning Xuan could feel the scorching aura, but strangely, the heat didn’t make her uncomfortable. On the contrary, it felt almost familiar.
"Don’t touch it!" Fu Rong warned. "Direct contact with a Red Flame Fruit will burn your meridians. You must not touch it." After she spoke, she personally shut the cabinet door and pulled Ning Xuan toward the next precious ingredient.
As they continued on, Ning Xuan’s gaze was captured by another ingredient. It was shaped like ginseng but was entirely jet-black. Its roots were gnarled like a coiled dragon, and three silvery-white leaves sprouted from its crown, emitting a faint glow.
"That’s Netherworld Ginseng," Fu Rong explained before Ning Xuan could ask. "It grows in places with extremely dense yin energy, like ancient battlefields or mass graves, and survives by absorbing the soul power of the dead. It is one of the primary ingredients for refining a Life-extending Pill, as it can repair a damaged Divine Soul."
Ning Xuan stared at the Netherworld Ginseng, desperately wanting to take it. But she wasn’t familiar with the elixir recipe for the Life-extending Pill; she had no idea how to refine and use such a rare treasure.
The priceless treasures only filled a single row of cabinets, and by the time Fu Rong had led her all the way down it, Ning Xuan had already taken a liking to several more ingredients.
Far from having any intention of returning the Thousand-year-old Snow Ganoderma, she was now calculating just how many batches of elixirs she could get away with refining.
"Ning Xuan, come on. Let’s go look at the pill furnaces," Fu Rong said.
Ning Xuan nodded and followed Fu Rong deeper into the room when her attention was suddenly caught by a pill furnace in the distance. The furnace was a deep blue-black with an archaic design. Intricate cloud patterns were carved into its body, and a faint light seemed to flow across its surface.
"That’s the ’Qingmang.’ Looks impressive, doesn’t it?" Fu Rong explained. "This pill furnace has a long history. Its energy conduction is extremely sensitive, which makes it hard to control. It has a tendency to explode."
Ning Xuan gave a dismissive nod. In truth, her attention had already been stolen by a gorgeously ornate pill furnace up ahead. The furnace was pure gold, its lid carved with nine spread-winged phoenixes. Each phoenix’s eyes were inlaid with rubies that glittered brilliantly under the light. It was breathtakingly beautiful.
"That’s the ’Nine Phoenix Sun Rising Furnace’," Fu Rong said, following her gaze. "It’s suited for Fire Attribute Spirit Controllers. When a Fire Attribute Spirit Controller uses this pill furnace to refine fire-attribute elixirs, it can increase the success rate by about twenty percent. However, it places very high demands on the controller’s Spiritual Power. The slightest misstep, and this one will explode too," Fu Rong once again explained with due diligence.