5: Synthetic Pharmacopoeia, back to the village

After clearing out the herb pamphlets from the pharmacy, Su Ye carried his basket and went to the Spirit Hall again.

Money makes the world go round, this saying is indeed true.

After spending a few gold soul coins to bribe internal staff, Su Ye successfully obtained eight illustrated guides on Soul Beasts used for popular science among low-level Soul Masters.

A basket full of books was a bit heavy, so Su Ye didn't return to Mingri Village and found a hotel in the city to stay.

Whoosh—

The books were poured from the basket onto the soft large bed.

He used to get sleepy reading in his previous life, but at this moment, Su Ye inexplicably felt a fondness for reading.

"Again!!"

Su Ye rubbed his hands together, thinking that merging things was indeed addictive.

Herb Pamphlet + Herb Pamphlet, Merge!

Ding!

Obtained 《Illustrated Guide to Basic Herbs》.

《Illustrated Guide to Basic Herbs》 X2, Merge again.

Ding!

Obtained 《Illustrated Guide to Fundamental Herbs》.

Ding!

...

After a while, Su Ye had two thick books in his hands.

One was called 《Medicine Classic Vol. 1》, which included illustrated guides to all herbs in the Douluo World.

One was called 《Soul Beast Compendium》, as the name suggested, it was a summary and explanation of Soul Beasts.

"Herb knowledge..."

"Soul Beast knowledge..."

"Now I have everything!"

Su Ye stroked his chin, feeling a little admiration for his own strategy.

He was not a Soul Master and couldn't hunt Soul Beasts in the Soul Hunting Forest through the Spirit Hall.

To hunt Soul Beasts and obtain soul rings, he would definitely go to forests where wild Soul Beasts gathered.

If he was going into the forest, if he didn't do a good deed and plow the land, where would the newly grown herbs have space to absorb nutrients and grow?

Hmm, this could be considered helping plants solve their housing pressure.

"Sigh, it would be great if I had a storage ring."

Looking at the two thick books before him, Su Ye scratched his head, feeling a bit troubled.

He couldn't carry them every day, and the gold coins were also quite heavy.

But as for storage rings, he didn't even know how to merge one.

"Never mind, I'll leave them here for now."

Putting the items into the cabinet, taking the gold coins, Su Ye left the hotel again.

West of the city.

Following the clanging sound of hammering, Su Ye found a blacksmith shop.

A flagpole stood tall, a cloth banner fluttered, revealing a hammer symbol.

Inside the shop, over a dozen burly men were working with great enthusiasm, their muscular arms swinging iron hammers, sparks flying with bangs.

Seeing Su Ye approach, a muscular man wearing an apron immediately tossed away the water in his cup and cheerfully came over to greet him.

"Little brother, did you come here to forge something?"

"Don't worry, the quality of the things our Shuta Brothers Blacksmith Shop forges is absolutely top-notch."

"If you don't believe me, you can ask around. Customers who buy items from us are always like this."

The burly man grinned, showing his bright white teeth, and gave a thumbs-up, praising himself.

Su Ye asked directly, "What's your skill level when it comes to forging swords?"

"No problem, it's a piece of cake."

Barshu closed his eyes and spoke boastfully; it was just a sword, something he was best at. Meeting the demands of this small place was a cinch for him.

Glancing around, the shop seemed to only have ironware. Su Ye wasn't reassured and asked again, "I want to use rare metal for forging, the harder the metal, the better. Can you do that?"

"Then you've come to the right place!"

Barshu made an OK gesture, his expression brimming with confidence, "I'll say this right now, as long as you can afford it, unless the metal is too hard to melt, it will become a sword in my hands!"

Seeing how proud the other party was, Su Ye couldn't help but believe him a little. All he wanted was hard metal; the sword was more of a pretense.

Of course, he also wanted to merge a good sword to make it easier to hunt Soul Beasts.

Thinking this, Su Ye took out ten gold soul coins from his pocket.

"Alright then, forge me a hundred swords."

"This is the deposit!"

Hiss~

Gold soul coins~

The golden light made Barshu's eyes gleam; it had been a long time since he had encountered such a large order.

Just as he was eagerly about to take the gold coins, he seemed to remember something, his eyes suddenly widened, and he blurted out.

"You just said, how many swords do you want us to forge?!"

"A hundred, I guess." Su Ye's voice trailed off.

"You..." Barshu's tower-like body trembled slightly, finding the warmth of the sun a bit unbearable.

This is... a difficult situation~

Realizing he was being a bit demanding, Su Ye smiled and changed his request.

"It's fine, if you can't make this many, fifty is also okay. I'll go check out other blacksmith shops later."

"..." Barshu was speechless, merely clenching his fists tightly.

This was reckless, turns out it's a life-or-death situation...

...

Three days later, in the afterglow of the setting sun.

On the outskirts of Luo City, a bullock cart pulled several large boxes, slowly moving along the muddy road. A young man wearing black close-fitting clothes sat on top.

The young man had sword-like eyebrows and starry eyes, looking very handsome. The bull walked very slowly, occasionally letting out a moo. He, meanwhile, held a classic book and studied peacefully.

"Hmm, the effect of this Tri-Flower Fruit is even stronger than Qingling Grass. If I find a tree, I'll strike it rich."

"With dozens of fruits, I might even merge a Ten-Thousand-Year Fruit King directly. I can make a note of this."

Rip—

Su Ye directly tore off the page. A good memory is no match for manual notes; it would be more convenient for reviewing later.

Moo—

Driving the bullock cart, Su Ye returned to Mingri Village.

In the small courtyard, Old Tom lay on a chair, enjoying the leisure of time.

"Night kid, haven't seen you for days, and you're pulling so many things. Where did you go?"

"Nothing much, just went to Luo City for a look."

"Luo City is good, seeing more of the world will be good for you. Sigh, if I had known you were going to Luo City, I should have gone with you to visit my second son. Maybe he could have helped you with something."

"Oh right, didn't you want herbs, kid? I've picked quite a few on the mountain these past few days, and they're all planted in my backyard. Just take them yourself if you need them."

"..."

After not seeing him for a few days, Old Tom seemed to have become more talkative.

Although he had only lived here for half a month, the old man's open-mindedness, especially his gentle and nurturing care, made Su Ye feel very close and friendly.

To be honest, Old Tom treated him like a real grandson and cleaned up after him quite a bit.

If he didn't have the system, he would likely have accepted living a stable life in Mingri Village.

But now, his heart had already flown towards this entire continent.

Jumping off the cart, Su Ye sat beside Old Tom. After a moment of hesitation, he finally spoke.

"Old man, I'm leaving."

On the tree, the chirping of cicadas was particularly harsh.

Without asking for the specific reason, Old Tom, after a moment of silence, nodded. He knew Su Ye was a person with many ideas and willing to take action.

This Mingri Village, after all, was too small~

"Are you in a hurry?"

"Yes, I plan to leave tomorrow."

Sighing in his heart, Old Tom feigned indifference, fanning himself with his cowboy hat as he slowly stood up.

"It's good you're leaving. All day long you've been messing with those noisy things, disturbing the peace of the village."

"Remember to take all the things you've been tinkering with when you go, otherwise this old man won't dare to live in this courtyard anymore."

Old Tom walked away unhurriedly.

It was just... the figure beneath the cowboy hat seemed even older.