Chapter 177: Boiling Blood Elixir

The peaches were finished; besides being delicious, they seemed to have no other special effect.

But the fact that they were extremely delicious was already more than enough.

Having eaten the Lady’s peaches, he now prepared to begin alchemy.

In the alchemy chamber, Li Lin sliced the White Elephant Divine Meat into twenty portions, each roughly the same size.

Then he mixed each portion of divine meat with different proportions of alchemical ingredients and placed them into the furnace for refining.

Blue flames burned fiercely.

As time passed, the furnace fire flared up, then died out.

One portion of elixir after another emerged from the furnace.

Li Lin examined each one carefully.

And he kept shaking his head.

These elixirs looked impressive—yellow, green, blue, purple, black, all colors present—but they were all duds, some even toxic.

The fusion effect between the White Elephant Divine Meat and the herbs was not good.

There was even a sense of repulsion.

He had already used up seventeen portions of White Elephant Divine Meat, leaving only three chances.

Though the chances were few, through the experiments, he had begun to vaguely understand the “medicinal nature” of the White Elephant Divine Meat.

This substance could greatly increase one’s blood qi—but not permanently.

Because ordinary people could not absorb it, they needed medicinal agents to solidify it.

Thus, Li Lin had specially formulated an elixir recipe to permanently fix this blood qi in place.

After using up the final three portions of White Elephant Divine Meat, he produced three elixirs.

Two of them were perfect, truly capable of permanently solidifying the blood qi of the White Elephant Divine Meat—translucent red beads, strikingly beautiful.

The third was also a success, but had a certain… flaw.

This elixir was a vivid red, capable of boosting blood qi, but only temporarily—and the effect was extremely intense.

It could be used as a kind of “stimulant.”

Li Lin estimated it would cause the user’s cultivation to surge briefly, but once the effect wore off after about fifteen minutes, the user would suffer chaotic blood qi and intense physical discomfort.

Li Lin named it “Boiling Blood Elixir.”

This elixir formula inspired Li Lin; he replaced the White Elephant Divine Meat with other herbs.

He produced an improved version of the “Boiling Blood Elixir.”

The temporary boost was weaker, but the side effects were far smaller—almost negligible.

Provided you didn’t swallow ten or more in a row!

The two perfect elixirs that permanently increased blood qi, Li Lin named “Solid Blood Elixir.” He also tried to improve them by replacing the White Elephant Divine Meat with other materials, but after testing many rare herbs, none worked, so he temporarily gave up.

At this point, Li Lin was quite satisfied.

One trial with the White Elephant Divine Meat had yielded two new elixir formulas—and his alchemy skills had improved dramatically.

Now, when he refined a batch of herbs, his success rate was much higher than before.

The elixirs’ effects were also significantly stronger.

Seizing this opportunity, he refined another batch of Elixir of Eternal Youth, Strength Pills, and a smaller quantity of Life-Restoring Pills.

Although Li Lin had switched to cultivating the Foundation Establishment method and now absorbed spiritual energy, he seemingly no longer needed the primordial qi generated by the Life-Restoring Pills.

But cultivation was never so inconvenient—primordial qi produced by the Life-Restoring Pills could be refined into spiritual energy, albeit inefficiently: a large mass of primordial qi could only be condensed into a speck of spiritual energy the size of a fingernail.

Though inefficient, even a mosquito is meat.

That was spiritual energy… Li Lin needed to stay in the “Precipice” temporary small spiritual vein for three or four hours just to gather a speck that size.

So… swallow the Life-Restoring Pills.

He swallowed pills while practicing dual cultivation, then, after his two wives fell asleep, he sat cross-legged to absorb spiritual energy.

He was utterly swamped.

Logically, under such intense diligence and effort, he should have been exhausted.

But in reality, his spirit was excellent.

Light-bodied and full of qi, he could feel his spiritual energy growing stronger, transforming his body.

Though slowly, he sensed it every single moment.

Another morning arrived.

Li Lin went to the main hall for breakfast.

He rarely ate breakfast with Huang Qing or Hong Luan anymore.

Not because he didn’t want to, nor because there was any conflict among them—but because the two of them were too exhausted to wake up.

There was nothing to be done; though their physiques had improved immeasurably and they had even begun practicing fist and sword techniques—technically entering the realm of martial arts—they still paled beside Li Lin’s current physical condition.

On the surface, Li Lin looked little different from before—his muscles weren’t pronounced, his skin merely slightly better.

But his strength and speed had increased dramatically.

Though officially he was an Eighth-Rank Spirit Hunter, in reality, he possessed at least Seventh-Rank Spirit Hunter combat power.

After breakfast, Li Lin put on his official robes and went to the county government office.

At the entrance to the Military Bureau, he met Xiao Chunzhu, dressed in the uniform of a Constable.

A few days ago, he had become Constable and now could independently lead about twenty government office runners on patrol.

Logically, Xiao Chunzhu could now lead patrols on his own, yet he still waited at the Military Bureau for Li Lin, only setting out with his men after confirming he had no “assignment.”

“Good morning, Constable Xiao.”

“My lord, County Wei ,” Xiao Chunzhu bowed with a smile. “The Assistant Prefect said that once you arrive, you’re to meet him in the courtroom.”

Li Lin nodded and went to the courtroom.

Since the Prefect had not yet taken office, the Assistant Prefect was still acting in his stead.

Jiang Jili rose when he saw Li Lin.

In Li Lin’s presence, he dared not sit while speaking.

“County Wei Li, do you remember the hunt against the Taowu True Lord several months ago?”

Li Lin nodded.

The Taowu True Lord had been slain near Luofeng Ridge in the western suburbs of Jincheng—this affair had actually been secretly orchestrated by his father-in-law, Huang Yan.

“Lately, strange occurrences have emerged there. Likely, scattered fragments of yin qi stones have given birth to many small anomalies, requiring a large force to suppress and eliminate them.”

Li Lin frowned.

“This isn’t my concern,” Jiang Jili shrugged. “It’s an order from your father-in-law, Prefect Huang. Also joining you in the suppression are the County Wei of Beiliu County and several Spirit Hunters.”

A document was placed before Li Lin.

Li Lin picked it up, studied it, nodded, signed and sealed it, then said: “I’ll depart tomorrow.”

“Travel safely,” Jiang Jili smiled.

“You watch yourself too,” Li Lin replied with a smile. “The Zhuxianhui might come after you.”

“So why did you go out of your way to provoke them?”

“They provoked me—they go around slaughtering civilians. If there are no civilians left, what use are officials like us?”

Jiang Jili chuckled. “That’s a fair point, but the Zhuxianhui sounds mysterious—they likely wouldn’t dare act against the Jiang family.”

“You’re impressive.”

Li Lin gave a thumbs-up and walked away.

Jiang Jili sat back in his seat, staring at the order document on the desk, sighing helplessly: “Strange… why does Huang Yan value Li Lin so highly… he’s merely the husband of his own concubine’s daughter, yet even now he’s still paving his way.”

(End of Chapter)