15: Chapter 15 Shuo Mouse

Baicao Pavilion, Extraction Room.

Dozens of massive stone mills and copper cauldrons were lined up, and the air was thick with the pungent scent of medicinal herb juice, mixed with a faint smell of blood.

This was the first step in refining Medicinal Pill, and also the dirtiest and most exhausting work.

"Hurry up! The front line urgently needs three thousand catties of Hemostatic Powder, the medicinal liquid must be extracted by tonight!"

Manager Wang Tong held a whip, pacing back and forth in the aisle, occasionally whipping the ground with a crisp snap.

Gu Shen stood before a bronze vat half the height of a person, holding a massive wooden pestle, forcefully crushing the Spiritual Plant inside.

That was a Low Grade Spiritual Plant named red blood vine. Its juice was like blood and had a pungent, fishy smell; it was the main ingredient for refining Hemostatic Powder. However, its fibers were extremely tough. Ordinary apprentices needed to wrap their wooden pestles in Spiritual Qi and pound it a thousand times to crush it and extract the juice.

Gu Shen swung his arms mechanically.

At this moment, he was already at Qi Refining Stage 4, so this bit of physical exertion was nothing to him.

His attention was entirely on the rolling medicinal paste in the vat.

According to the rules of Baicao Pavilion, one hundred catties of red blood vine needed to yield sixty catties of juice, with the remaining forty catties of dregs discarded. In reality, however, the medicinal potency of the red blood vine wasn't fully extracted; at least thirty percent remained in the dregs, merely inaccessible due to the limitations of mundane fire and human strength.

"This is a waste."

Gu Shen's eyes flickered.

If it were before, he could only watch as these essences were thrown into the Earth Lung Well. But now, his hand was pressed against the rim of the vat.

Taking advantage of the moment when Manager Wang Tong turned to scold another apprentice.

Gu Shen's Divine Sense stirred slightly, and the Great Furnace in his brow trembled.

"Absorb."

An invisible suction force traveled along his palm and reached into the bottom of the vat, silent and soundless.

[Detected red blood vine medicinal paste.] [Refining...]

Within his Sea of Consciousness, the phantom fire of the Great Furnace swirled.

The medicinal potency mixed deep within the fibers and dregs was forcibly stripped away. They did not turn into juice, but were further compressed and purified by the Great Furnace, with the herbal fishy smell and moisture removed.

It took only three breaths.

A lump of viscous, black-red jelly the size of a pigeon egg floated quietly at the bottom of the Great Furnace.

[red blood essence glue.] [One hundredfold concentration of red blood vine essence. Mortals can use it to regrow bone, Cultivator can apply it externally to instantly stop bleeding and heal wounds.]

Gu Shen felt a surge of joy.

The medicinal efficacy of this thing was several times stronger than the Hemostatic Powder sold as a finished product by Baicao Pavilion!

He calmly withdrew his Divine Sense, and the wooden pestle in his hand continued to pound rhythmically.

The medicinal paste in the vat looked no different, just a shade darker, and the amount of juice was exactly at the sixty-catty standard line—no more, no less.

"Gu Shen, is this vat done?"

Manager Wang Tong walked over and peered inside.

"It is done, Manager Wang Tong."

Gu Shen put down the wooden pestle and wiped the sweat with the towel hanging around his neck, looking exhausted. "Exactly sixty catties of raw liquid."

Manager Wang Tong used a ladle to scoop up a little to check. The quality was average—not top-tier, but faultless.

"Be quick, pour it into the aging barrel over there, and hurry up with the next vat!"

"Yes."

Gu Shen honestly lifted the large vat.

All day long, Gu Shen repeated the same actions.

Pounding medicine, refining, pouring the vat.

In the eyes of others, he was a tireless workhorse. In reality, he was a greedy fat rat.

For every vat of red blood vine he processed, he managed to skim off a lump of red blood essence glue.

By the time the sun set behind the mountains and the bell for the end of the shift rang, Gu Shen's Sea of Consciousness Great Furnace had already accumulated ten full lumps of red blood essence glue.

...

Dragging his "exhausted" body back to Bitter Water Alley.

Gu Shen closed the door, and the spiritual light of the activated Vajra Talisman flashed and vanished.

He sat at the table and took out the two empty porcelain bottles he had left over previously—one had held qi gathering pill, and the other had held barrier-breaking pill.

With a thought.

Ten lumps of red blood essence glue were taken out from his Sea of Consciousness, perfectly filling these two small bottles.

"These are good things for saving lives."

Gu Shen looked at the red agate-like jelly in the bottles.

In the coming chaotic times, this kind of top-tier wound medicine that could instantly stop bleeding was invaluable. Whether he used it himself or took it to the Ghost Market later to trade for Spirit Stone, it was hard currency.

"Added to my previous accumulation..."

Gu Shen began to count his current family assets.

Cultivation: Qi Refining Stage 4. Cultivation Technique: Longevity Art (Stage 4), Golden Light Finger. Magical Artifact: gold-severing saber, black turtle shield, poison evil bead refined from the blue scorpion dagger. Equipment: shadow shoes. Assets: three and a half Spirit Stone, two bottles of red blood essence glue, one shadow cat bone spike.

"Poor."

Gu Shen sighed.

Although he seemed well-equipped, the Spirit Stone in his pocket were truly too few. Three and a half, not even enough to buy a Medium Grade Talisman.

Moreover, he had an urgent need—a Storage Pouch.

The previous Storage Pouch was "stolen goods" from a bandit Cultivator, so he had burned it. Now, he relied on his pockets to carry things when he went out. Once he had more items, he couldn't carry them at all, which was extremely inconvenient.

"A lowest Low Grade Storage Pouch costs about ten Spirit Stone."

"Still short by six and a half."

Gu Shen's gaze involuntarily turned toward that "mysterious world."

In the eyes of this native Cultivator, it was an unknown "ancient ruin" or "different dimension." There was no Spiritual Qi there, yet it had exquisitely crafted "mechanical Puppet creations" and "Heaven And Earth Treasure" everywhere.

"The refined red copper is already sold out, I must go restock."

Gu Shen stood up and checked the equipment on his body.

The black turtle shield was hidden against his chest, the gold-severing saber hung behind his waist, and the poison evil bead was tucked into his sleeve.

"This time, I must find a larger 'mechanical ruin'."

He remembered some huge, square mechanical creations he had seen last time in the ruin called "mall."

Those things should contain quite a bit of good iron or refined red copper.

Just as he was about to set off.

Knock, knock, knock.

Urgent knocking suddenly came from outside the door.

Gu Shen's expression turned stern, his right hand instantly gripping the poison evil bead in his sleeve, and his Divine Sense probed out like quicksilver pouring onto the ground.

A person stood outside the door.

Not Ma Liu, nor a bandit Cultivator.

It was an old man in a gray robe with a wrinkled face.

That was his next-door neighbor, Old Man Zhang. An old Loose Cultivator who had spent his whole life in the market, at Qi Refining Stage 2, making a living by drawing Low Grade cleaning Talismans for Talisman shops.

"Fellow Daoist Gu, are you asleep?" Old Man Zhang's voice carried a hint of trembling and anxiety.

Gu Shen frowned.

He and this Old Man Zhang were only nodding acquaintances, with no deep friendship.

"Fellow Daoist Zhang, what is the matter?" Gu Shen did not open the door, asking through the door panel instead.

"Fellow Daoist Gu, could we speak in private? This old man... this old man has a great fortune he wishes to offer you."