Chapter Twenty-Four: An Unexpected Encounter with an Old Acquaintance

  Jiangnan walked into the Medicine King City, and saw that the city was bustling with people coming and going, the streets were crowded, and the shops on both sides of the street were very prosperous, with all kinds of goods dazzling to the eye, making it hard for one to take them all in. It was much more prosperous than the Qi Wang City.

  This is because the Medicine King City has the Medicine King Mansion, and the Medicine King Mansion's Lingdan Crown is unparalleled in the world, attracting martial artists from all over the world to gather here. Not only are there powerful families, but even the royal family of Jianwu Country often comes to purchase Lingdan.

  This is absolutely a place where dragons and snakes are mixed together, from kings and nobles to robbers and thieves, everything is available!

  "Only thirty percent of his cultivation remains..."

  Jiang Nan walked on the streets of Yao Wang City, slightly furrowing his brow. He had just fought a fierce battle with Tong Ling Mi Yuan and killed Qiao Liang, then sprinted across the river surface for 800 miles, exhausting a large amount of his true energy, almost as much as when Jiang Xue had drained away 80% of his yang energy!

  This great war had depleted more than half of his true energy, and the characteristics of the Demon Prison Mysterious Fetus Scripture made it temporarily impossible for him to recover quickly. If he were to cultivate slowly, by tomorrow's sunrise at most, he could only recover one or two percent of his cultivation.

  He walked all the way, only to see that the streets on both sides were like a bustling city, with wine houses, brothels, workshops, and all sorts of strange shops selling all kinds of things. Not only were there medicine shops, pharmacies, weapon shops, and armor shops, but also shops selling various materials, and even places selling martial arts techniques!

  "The commerce of Medicine King City is truly prosperous, far surpassing Qi Wang City!"

  Jiang Nan walked into a pharmacy, and the fragrance of medicine wafted up to his nose. The store was bustling with people coming and going, doing a very good business. All pharmacies in Medicine King City were run by Medicine King Manor, with fair prices and no cheating of old or young.

  "Sir, are you here to buy medicine or see a doctor?"

  A shop assistant came forward with a flattering smile: "If you want to see a doctor, please go to the sitting room and let the doctor take your pulse for diagnosis..."

  Jiang Nan smiled slightly and flipped his palm, revealing a jade bottle in his hand. He chuckled and said, "Is this the refined elixir that your esteemed sect has been collecting?"

  "It turns out that sir is an alchemist, I apologize for my disrespect."

  The shop assistant stood up respectfully and said: "Sir, please wait for a moment, I'll go and call the boss."

  Jiang Nan nodded, and the shop assistant hurriedly rushed into the inner hall. After a moment, an old man with white eyebrows and whiskers walked out of the inner hall, cupped his hands together in respect and said: "Sir, may I take a look at your medicinal pellet?"

  Jiangnan handed the bottle of Yiqi Dan to the shopkeeper, who opened the jade bottle and poured out a Yiqi Dan. He took out a silver needle and carefully inserted it into the spiritual elixir, then pulled out the needle and observed for a moment before exclaiming: "Although this is indeed a Yiqi Dan, its quality is exceptional - it has 10% medicinal efficacy! This is truly rare and precious! I wouldn't have thought that someone as young as you could refine a 10% dan. You are worthy of respect and awe!"

  "The old man smiled and said, 'This bottle of Yiqi Dan was given to me by a friend as a precious gift, but it's of no use to me, so I thought of selling it.'"

  Jiang Nan smiled and said: "May I ask, old sir, what did you mean by 'Dan Pin' and 'Ten Complete Dan' just now?"

  "So that's how it is. I said you're so young, yet you've managed to refine the Ten Perfection Elixir, truly astonishing and unconventional. It turns out it was a gift from a friend. People in different trades are like people living in different mountains, you wouldn't know the lingo of an alchemist like me, it's only natural."

  The shopkeeper smiled and said, "The classification of Dan medicine corresponds to the realm of martial arts. For example, Yi Qi Dan, Yang Shen Dan, and Yun Shen Dan are useful for those in the five realms of Li Tian within the martial arts world. However, they have little effect on those in the five realms of Lian Qi, so they are low-grade spiritual elixirs. Those in the Lian Qi realm need to take higher-grade spiritual elixirs, such as Bu Qi Dan, Huo Ling Dan, and Shen You Dan. These three types of elixirs are many times more expensive than Yi Qi Dan! Since you said that Yi Qi Dan is useless to you, I suppose you must be a high-ranking martial artist in the Lian Qi realm!"

  At this point, the shopkeeper couldn't help but feel a deep respect. Jiangnan was not very old, yet he had already cultivated to the level of refining his Qi. Even among the great families and powerful clans, such a talented individual would be hard to come by.

  So even if Jiang Nan dresses normally, he doesn't have any slight disdainful intention.

  "Is it another reconciliation?" Jiang Nan couldn't help but say.

  The shopkeeper smiled and said, "Young man, you don't know that the Spirit Dan is not entirely pure spiritual energy, but also contains impurities. The ratio of impurities to spiritual energy is what determines its quality. For example, a seven-achievement dan has seven parts spiritual energy and three parts impurities. When taken, the impurities are absorbed along with the true energy or into the body, requiring mental effort to expel and refine them, making it not very valuable. If not expelled, they will accumulate in the body, and taking such medicinal pellets repeatedly will only increase the accumulation of impurities, ultimately hindering one's innate talent for martial arts and restricting their cultivation to the current realm, unable to progress for a lifetime."

  The shopkeeper said that different professions are like different mountains, and indeed they are. He had only known before that spiritual elixirs could enhance cultivation, but he hadn't expected there to be so many subtleties involved!

  "The purer the elixir, the higher its value. The impurities in the 90% Elixir no longer affect a martial artist's potential, so it is highly sought after. However, the most valuable one is still the 100% Elixir!"

  The shopkeeper smiled and said, "Young man, this bottle of Yiqi Dan is a top-grade medicine, very valuable. There are twelve pills in total, each worth seventy taels of silver, making a total of eight hundred and forty taels. If you have no objections, I will settle the account with you now."

  Jiang Nan nodded, the owner of this medicine shop did not desperately lower the price just because he was an outsider. Even if the Qi Wang Fu bought Ling Dan from the Medicine King's residence, they would have to spend 100 taels of silver to buy one. The owner had lowered the price, but it wasn't unreasonable.

  Jiang Nan smiled and said: "May I ask if your esteemed shop has any elixir formulas for sale?"

  The shopkeeper was taken aback, and laughed: "Young man, you want to learn alchemy? Listen to my advice, alchemy seems easy, but the intricacies are countless, more complicated than martial arts. The probability of successfully refining a spiritual elixir is not high. Even if one refines a spiritual elixir, there's still a great chance it'll be a failed elixir. There have even been people who've gone bankrupt and still can't refine a single good batch!"

  He smiled proudly: "Throughout Jianwu Country, only my Medicine King's Manor can cultivate top-notch alchemists! As the saying goes, alchemy and martial arts cannot be cultivated together. People from the martial world who learn alchemy will hinder their progress in cultivation. My Medicine King's Manor's alchemists spend too much time on alchemy, so their martial arts cultivation is not as strong as other manors."

  Jiangnan also knew that the old shopkeeper was indeed well-intentioned. Although the Medicine King's Manor had all sorts of spiritual elixirs and wonderful medicines, it had almost never produced a martial arts grandmaster who stood out from the rest. Even if someone relied on the power of spiritual elixirs to cultivate the Divine Wheel, their actual strength would still be slightly inferior to that of others who had cultivated the Divine Wheel through normal means.

  This is because the alchemist delayed for too much time, although the spiritual elixir improved his cultivation, but his realm was unstable and his foundation was not stable, and his mental state had not been tempered a thousand times, so the same cultivation could not exert the same strength.

  Jiang Xue had also warned him that using the Ling Dan to boost his cultivation was only a minor path, and it would easily cause instability in his foundation. Only when his cultivation was hindered could he rely on the medicinal power of the Ling Dan to break through the bottleneck. Cultivating himself was the orthodox way, with a solid foundation, and his strength would be even more powerful.

  "Shopkeeper, I naturally have a sense of proportion. If I really don't have the talent for alchemy, I will diligently cultivate myself."

  "Old Master, bring out the recipes for Yiqi Dan, Yangshen Dan and Yunshen Dan. Then, prepare ten doses of each of these spiritual elixirs and settle the account at once."

  The shopkeeper no longer tried to persuade him, and took out the recipes for Nurturing Body Dan, Beneficial Qi Dan, and Contained Spirit Dan. He smiled and said: "My Medicine King's recipes are not kept private, nor are they expensive, one hundred taels of silver per copy, but those who can master them are extremely few, young sir please think thrice."

  Jiangnan received three dan formulas, only to see that each of the three dan formulas had hundreds of high-quality xuan paper, with dense and tiny characters recording various medicinal materials, dosages, medication times, fire sizes, taboos, and alchemy secrets, which made him quite satisfied.

  The shopkeeper then ordered someone to divide the medicine into ten portions and, after settling the account, handed over a silver bill worth more than 100 taels to Jiangnan.

  "Now Dan Fang is available, but still lacks Dan Furnace."

  Just as Jiang Nan was about to leave the pharmacy, a clear voice suddenly came from behind him: "Brother, we meet again!"

  "Older brother?"

  In the south, he was taken aback for a moment, turned his head to look back, and saw only a red-clothed young girl standing behind him, her face overflowing with youthful vitality, making him suddenly remember the encounter by the mountain stream, and smiled: "It's actually Younger Sister Yue."

  That beautiful girl was dressed in a red dress, her skin as white as snow, and she was indeed the female disciple of the Medicine King's Mansion whom Jiang Nan met at the Mountain God Temple, Yue Ling'er.

  "County Master, who is this?"

  By Yue Ling'er's side was a young man who appeared somewhat wealthy, dressed in luxurious attire, looking dignified and extraordinary. He swept his gaze over Jiang Nan, slightly furrowing his brow as he spoke.

  "Marquis Wu, this gentleman is the one I once told you about, who saved me and killed the Golden Scaled Red Threaded Python!"

  Yue Ling'er introduced them with a smile: "Gentlemen, this is Mu Qin'nan, the young master of the Mu royal family, and he is a member of the Mu royal clan."

  "Have met Brother Mu."

  Jiang Nan slightly cupped his hands and bowed towards Yue Ling'er, smiling: "So, Younger Sister is still the Princess of Medicine King's Manor, my apologies for the disrespect."

  Yue Ling'er smiled and said: "Brother, last time you left in a hurry, I didn't get to ask your honorable surname and name. This time, you can't decline."

  "Report back to the princess, I am surnamed Jiang, named Nan, styled Zicuan, from the land of Tianzhu. The princess can directly address me as Zicuan."

  Yue Ling'er was stunned, the Tianxian land was a mysterious place, adjacent to Jianwu country. It was originally the border of Zhongtu Jinghua country. A few years ago, the great war of the heavenly gods affected that place and turned it into a dead land with no vitality. The Jinghua country was destroyed, and tens of millions of people fled thousands of miles, with countless deaths and injuries.

  Because of this matter, the originally rich and prosperous Middle-earth became a land of heavenly punishment.

  She had originally thought that Jiang Nan came from the Qi Wang Fu or the Mu Wang Fu near the Lu Xia mountain range, but she did not expect that Jiang Nan actually came from Tian Zhen's land and was a remnant of Zhong Tu.

  "Zi Chuan, how did you end up coming to my Medicine King City?" Yue Ling'er changed the subject to avoid Jiang Nan's embarrassment, and asked curiously.

  "I came here mainly to buy a few danfang and try if I have the talent for alchemy."

  Jiang Nan smiled and responded, although he had been a slave in the Qi Wang Fu before, but after all, he was from a big family background, a scholarly family, and after knowing that Yue Ling'er was the princess of the Medicine King's mansion, he didn't feel any constraint at all. His response was calm and composed, although his clothes were slightly shabby, his temperament made people dare not underestimate him.

  "Do you want to learn alchemy?"

  Yue Ling'er's eyes lit up, and she said reproachfully: "Why didn't you come to me directly? Are you still being distant with me? I may not dare say anything else, but when it comes to alchemy, I can actually be of some help."