Chapter 26: Medicine Cauldron
Xiao Xun'er looked at the two thunderbolts on Xiao Bai's palm. Her red lips slightly parted, and her face was filled with shock.
"What kind of thunder is this?"
With her knowledge, there were few things on the Dou Qi Continent that she didn't recognize, but she had never seen or even heard of these two types of thunderbolts.
According to ancient books, there were many different types of thunderbolts on the Dou Qi Continent before, but now only two are known to exist: one is the black magic thunder, and the other is the nine-mysterious gold thunder.
In addition to these two, the more famous one is the pill thunder produced during alchemy.
On the Dou Qi Continent, elixirs are divided into grades one through ten, with first-grade being the lowest and tenth-grade the highest, also known as the Emperor Pill.
When an elixir reaches seventh-grade, pill thunder appears.
At the eighth grade, it can produce pill thunder ranging from one to nine colors, and the quality of the elixir is determined based on the color of the thundercloud produced.
As for ninth-grade elixirs, they are divided into ninth-grade treasure elixir, ninth-grade mysterious elixir, and ninth-grade golden elixir, in ascending order of quality.
Black magic thunder is the pill tribulation that appears when the ninth-grade treasure pill is formed. Cultivators below four-star Dou Sheng face the risk of death against black magic thunder.
The Thunder Clan, one of the eight ancient clans, controls a black magic thunder pool. Clan members use it to cleanse and refine the lightning attribute in their Dou Qi during cultivation. Occasionally, someone in the clan can convert the lightning in their Dou Qi into black magic thunder.
Once successful, they become nearly invincible among those of the same level.
The Nine Mysterious Golden Thunder has not appeared for many years, as it is the tribulation for the ninth-grade golden pill. Its power is immense—even high-level Dou Shengs must be extremely cautious when facing it.
"This one is Wood Thunder. It carries the energy of wood and has healing effects. It's a type of thunder that can both attack and assist."
"The other is Ice-Fire Yang Thunder, which contains the energy of ice and fire. Both thunder and fire are violent, so its power is quite impressive!"
Seeing Xun'er's surprise and curiosity, Xiao Bai directly told her the names of the thunders.
"No wonder Brother Xiao Bai wants to learn alchemy. These two thunders just happen to possess fire and wood attributes. But with thunder involved, will it even work?"
Xiao Xun'er finally understood why he wanted to acquire alchemy inheritance.
"I'm just trying to see if it works," Xiao Bai shook his head.
Xiao Xun'er looked at Xiao Bai with shining eyes, gave him a delicate thumbs-up, and smiled:
"Brother Xiao Bai is so bold, trying this at the cost of a Heavenly Flame!"
Xiao Bai looked at the girl pretending to be brave and teased, "Are you praising me or mocking me? Why do I feel like you're calling me a prodigal?"
Xiao Xun'er put her hands behind her back and said coquettishly, "Of course I'm praising you! Even if Brother Xiao Bai loses everything, Xun'er still has some secret savings. It'll be enough to support the both of us!"
Xiao Bai was both touched and speechless.
This girl sure knows how to tease!
If this continues, will Xiao Bai truly devote himself to just one person?
The next morning, Xiao Bai planned to head out early.
Last night, he had received a basic alchemy manual and two first-grade pill recipes from Yao Lao.
Yao Lao had been generous, giving them to him directly. Without an Alchemist Union in Wu Tan City, Xiao Bai could obtain such things with ease.
After reading through the alchemist basics from Yao Lao, Xiao Bai decided to buy some medicinal ingredients today to give it a try.
As for a pill furnace, Xiao Bai didn't plan on buying one. He had asked Yao Lao last night, and learned that even a simple two-nozzle cauldron costs over 100,000 gold coins—equivalent to the Xiao family's annual income.
He didn't have that kind of money, nor did he need it. He had already made other plans.
The most important part of a pill cauldron is the fire inlet. On one hand, it allows alchemists below the Dou Ling level to manifest actual flames using their Dou Qi.
Since they haven't reached Dou Ling, their Dou Qi can't naturally produce substantial flames.
On the other hand, because of the wood attribute in the body, the fire inlet is needed to transfer wood-attribute Dou Qi into the cauldron.
Xiao Bai was different. He intended to use his two types of thunder directly for alchemy and didn't need a conventional medicine cauldron.
If his courtyard hadn't needed a stove for cooking, he would've used a cooking pot instead.
As he walked to the gate of the Xiao family, a loud voice suddenly called from behind.
"Brother Bai!"
Xiao Bai secretly rolled his eyes. Why did he keep running into this guy?
And this guy's voice had been dead and lifeless for the past three years, but today he sounded energetic—just like the Xiao Yan of old.
Turning his head, he saw a young man in black not far behind.
Seeing Xiao Bai turn around, the young man grinned and waved energetically, revealing gleaming white teeth.
Xiao Yan ran over with a smile. "Brother Bai, heading out? Let's go together!"
Xiao Bai knew he was going to buy medicinal herbs that Yao Lao had instructed him to get, so he nodded and walked on.
"Let's go. But I have to stop by the blacksmith shop first."
"Blacksmith shop?" Xiao Yan was curious but didn't ask further when Xiao Bai didn't elaborate.
Along the way, Xiao Yan was in a great mood. The gloominess from yesterday had vanished. His eyes were full of confidence. Who knows—maybe Yao Lao gave him some expired chicken soup for the soul last night.
Xiao Bai went to the blacksmith shop not to make weapons, but to collect a custom-made small tripod: three legs, two ears, round belly, and a lid.
He had ordered it two days ago, and today was the pickup day.
He needed it to refine medicine, but not the kind of cauldron used by traditional alchemists, so he had to have one custom-made.
The main goal was to make it cheap and durable. Since refining pills could cause explosions, sturdiness wasn't a requirement.
A blacksmith shop was the best choice.
The Xiao family resided in Dongcheng District, the aristocratic quarter of Wu Tan City. Although there were no imperial nobles here, the three major families all lived in this area.
Both the northern and southern districts were commercial zones. The Miteer Auction House was in the north.
The west side was a poorer area. Noisy shops like blacksmiths could only be found there.
Xiao Bai and Xiao Yan made their way to a large blacksmith shop in West City.
When the shop owner saw them, his eyes lit up, and he greeted them warmly.
"Young Master, you're here! The tripod is ready. Made with the ebony steel you asked for—guaranteed tough and durable!"
Ebony steel had both the hardness of steel and the flexibility of wood. Unfortunately, it wasn't very conductive for Dou Qi.
Strong fighters looked down on it for weapon-making, but mercenaries loved it because it was cheap, strong, durable, and saved them money on gear.
Xiao Bai didn't have many gold coins, so he had to choose this material. It was just an experiment, after all. If using thunder to refine medicine proved successful, he would upgrade the material.
But today, the shopkeeper's enthusiasm felt unusual. Last time, when he heard Xiao Bai wanted to use ebony steel, he ignored him.
Now he was overly friendly.
Xiao Bai frowned slightly, sensing something was off.
But he wasn't worried. With his current strength, he could walk sideways in Wu Tan City.
Besides, he had Yao Lao. He wanted to see what this boss was up to.
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(End of this chapter)