Ascending to Immortality by Slaying Spirits

Chapter 68 - The Xiang Family Orders Pills
A day passed quickly. As soon as Lin Le arrived at Danxia Pavilion, Zhou Ziyang hurriedly came up to greet him: "Master Zhou, you've arrived."

"What's wrong? Is there something wrong with my pills?" Lin Le asked, a hint of doubt in his eyes.

“No, that’s not it. I have complete confidence in the medicine you concoct, Master.” Zhou Ziyang shook his head. “It’s just that I have a request that I need your help with.”

Lin Ledao: "What do you mean?"

"Please come inside with me." Zhou Ziyang led Lin Le to a room, then served him a cup of tea and said, "There is a large family here called the Xiang family. They have commissioned us to refine a batch of pills for them."

The Xiang family?

Lin Le was surprised but remained calm as he asked, "Is it some kind of unorthodox elixir?"

For normal pills, they could easily purchase or even refine them themselves; only for uncommon pills would they specifically entrust someone else to do so.

“Yes.” Zhou Ziyang nodded. “It’s called Tiger Bone and Leopard Tendon Pill, a low-grade ninth-rank pill, and the quantity is very large.”

"How big is it?" Lin Le asked.

“This number.” Zhou Ziyang held up one finger.

Lin Le's tone carried a hint of surprise: "A thousand?"

“One thousand bottles,” Zhou Ziyang said.

Lin Le's pupils contracted slightly. A thousand bottles? There's no fixed number of pills in a bottle; it depends on how many pills can be made from a single batch of herbs. Some bottles contain six pills, while others contain three.

Generally speaking, three pills is the minimum number. That means the Xiang family needs three thousand grade nine pills, which would cost six hundred thousand taels of silver at the fair price.

"How much is the selling price per unit?" Lin Le didn't rush to ask what the Xiang family needed these pills for, but instead asked about the price first.

“A bottle costs three hundred taels, but Danxia Pavilion only takes one-tenth of it,” Zhou Ziyang said.

Lin Le nodded slightly: "That works too."

Lin Le didn't care too much about the one-tenth. After all, without Danxia Pavilion, he wouldn't have gotten the deal. Giving a one-tenth commission was reasonable, even a bit low.

"Let me see the prescription." Lin Le reached out his hand.

Zhou Ziyang handed the prescription to Lin Le: "Here you go."

Lin Le glanced at it and frowned slightly. His alchemy skills weren't just skills from a game; they were real, hard-earned, so he could understand the properties of the ingredients in the prescription.

This is probably not some kind of Tiger Bone and Leopard Tendon Pill, but rather an unorthodox and potent drug that, while capable of rapidly improving physical fitness, comes at the cost of overdrawing one's life force.

To refine or not to refine?
It's fine if they don't refine them, but if they do, given the Xiang family's character, these pills are probably not meant for training assassins.

Seeing Lin Le's slightly furrowed brows, Zhou Ziyang asked with concern, "Is there a problem, Master?"

"There's no problem, it's just that some of the techniques are a bit difficult, but that's a minor issue. I'll get used to it in a couple of days." Lin Le returned the pill formula to Zhou Ziyang. "I'm just curious now, what does the Xiang family you mentioned need these pills for?"

"Isn't this because the imperial aura hasn't gathered yet?" Zhou Ziyang sighed. "The number of demons and monsters outside the city is increasing day by day. Several villages have been wiped out, and towns are suffering heavy casualties."

"So in order to protect the industry, our county magistrate and the Xiang family joined forces to train a group of soldiers. In order to speed up the training, they specially prepared a batch of pills here."

"What about the composition of the recruits?" Lin Le pressed.

Zhou Ziyang patiently explained, "They are servants of wealthy families. After all, these soldiers are mainly there to protect them, so loyalty is their top priority."

"Oh." Lin Le suddenly realized, but a chill ran through her.

What soldiers? Just food for the animals!
Upon hearing that the county magistrate had also joined in, Lin Le knew that this group of soldiers was probably offering as blood sacrifice to that old fox in order to appease its grief over the loss of its offspring.

No wonder they need this unorthodox elixir; it turns out they just want to fatten the pigs up as soon as possible. They don't care how long the pigs' lifespan is, since they won't live more than a few months anyway.

"Send thirty portions of medicinal herbs to my place today, I'll practice first," Lin Le said.

“Okay,” Zhou Ziyang said.

In the alchemy room, Lin Le put the medicinal herbs in one by one and started the fire to refine the pills. After the time it takes for an incense stick to burn, Lin Le clapped his hands, and five pills flew out.

Lin Le picked one up and examined it; it was a good quality one.

After all, this is the first time refining this kind of pill, so it's normal for it to be of good quality.

He turned to look at the Hun Tian Ling beside him: "Have you mastered it?"

The Ω-shaped ribbon next to him scratched itself and then nodded.

"Refine five portions and show them to me," Lin Le said.

The Hun Tian Ling wrapped around five portions of medicinal herbs and began refining them.

As the true qi was consumed and the heat rose, a pile of pills was lifted in front of Lin Le after an incense stick had burned.

The quality varies greatly; most are substandard products, while a small portion are good products.

Lin Le picked out the defective product and drank it himself.

Although it was a potent medicine, it had no effect on him. After all, to improve physical fitness, there needs to be room for improvement, and Lin Le's physical physique was currently at its limit, with no room for further enhancement.

Therefore, no matter how potent this potent medicine is, it can only be obediently refined into a precious elixir of qi and blood by the Lotus Divine Power.

After consuming the second-grade pill, Lin Le started the furnace again and said earnestly to the Hun Tian Ling, "I'll refine it one more time and learn well."

Hun Tian Ling nodded vigorously.

Lin Le taught, and Hun Tian Ling learned. After repeating this process three times, Hun Tian Ling finally produced high-quality pills every time.

"Not bad!" Lin Le patted the Hun Tian Ling. "It truly deserves to be my best magical artifact."

The Hun Tian Ling proudly raised its "head".

The Universe Ring remained silent; it suddenly felt a pang of pity for its companion.

Stepping out of the alchemy room, Lin Le handed the pill bottle to Zhou Ziyang: "Here, today's wages aren't much, no need to pay me in cash, we'll settle it tomorrow."

Zhou Ziyang glanced at the bottles and was astonished to find that there were seven bottles that had been refined.

This is a new elixir formula. For an ordinary alchemist, the success rate would be good if it were only one in ten. But Zhou Botong actually achieved a one-third success rate so quickly. He truly deserves to be called a master who can refine rare and precious products.

“Okay.” Zhou Ziyang nodded.

Lin Le nodded and turned to leave.

After Lin Le left, Old Yan came to Zhou Ziyang's side, glanced at him, and couldn't help but raise an eyebrow: "He does have some skill. I myself am no better than him."

Although Lin Le had contradicted him, Old Master Yan didn't hold any grudges. After all, who would resent someone who constantly brought them benefits?

You should know that as the head alchemist here, he is entitled to take 10% of the profits from this branch.

The more Lin Le earned, the more he earned.

“Can we try to absorb him?” Zhou Ziyang said. “From my observation, this person’s actions are energetic, and he is probably not too old.”

"Don't do that." Old Yan waved his hand. "I've also looked into those murder cases. They involved people of all ages and genders. If we recruit such vicious people, they will surely cause trouble in the future. When the time comes to hold us accountable, neither of us can bear the responsibility."

"Listing now is good; it doesn't offend anyone, and we benefit from it too."

Zhou Ziyang thought for a moment and nodded: "That's true."

He abandoned the idea of ​​recruiting Nalinle.

(End of this chapter)