Chapter 259: Gourmet Appreciation: Tang San Refines Pills and Searches for Treasures

Tang San persisted for a period of time, but still failed to enter the profession of Soul Guidance Master, and was deeply struck by this.

However, Tang San soon opened his mind; perhaps he truly lacked talent as a Soul Guidance Master, so he began to research the second thing he was interested in.

Tang San was also very interested in being an Alchemist, though his level of interest was far less than that for crafting weapons.

After reading the materials on Alchemists for a few days, combined with his experience from his past life, he felt the Alchemist profession was very simple.

For relatively special plants, a single stalk could be used to refine pills.

There were also some pills that required special medicinal effects, which needed a combination of several plants; this kind of combination was exactly the opposite of poison.

In many combinations for poison, the medicinal properties conflict, but alchemy requires that the medicinal properties must not conflict.

Tang San soon thoroughly researched the few publicly available pill formulas.

However, alchemy requires an alchemy furnace, and medicinal ingredients are not very cheap, so in the end, Tang San found Oscar and Ma Hongjun.

Compared to the others, these two were not attending to their proper duties.

But sometimes it is just like this; the two people who do not attend to their proper duties end up doing the best.

Oscar and Ma Hongjun ate and drank every day, rarely eating expensive things, and only eating what was economical and cheap.

With the establishment of the group, they found an opportunity to make money.

The group was called the Play and Food Exploration Group, and as more and more people joined, the fame of Oscar and Ma Hongjun grew higher and higher.

Moreover, every time they went to a restaurant, they ate very fastidiously; they had to eat all the dishes, and after eating, they would write a review for every dish and then share these reviews in the group.

After the foodies in the group finished reading the reviews, they knew which dishes in which restaurants were delicious, and then when they went to eat, they would directly order the dishes that were reviewed as delicious.

There were over a thousand people in the group, and if each person brought four or five friends when they went to eat, then the business of that restaurant would absolutely explode.

Because Oscar and Ma Hongjun were not very rich at the beginning, the places they went to eat were not very high-end; most were snack streets, and some were food stalls.

Gradually, the flow of people in these places increased, and the business of some shops that had not been visited by Oscar and Ma Hongjun slowly faded.

Of two adjacent shops, one would be packed with people, with a line outside, while the other would be a bit desolate.

This situation happened too often, and these merchants with poor business began to inquire.

After tossing and turning and inquiring through various channels, they finally found out the reason.

Consequently, some people sought out Oscar and Ma Hongjun, spending money to invite them to their shops for a food tasting.

Being able to taste food for free and get paid for it—given the personalities of Oscar and Ma Hongjun, they naturally accepted.

Many shops sought the two out to come and taste, and Oscar and Ma Hongjun also knew their purpose: they wanted them to write better reviews when they wrote their dish evaluations.

The two were not stupid; the reason they gained the recognition of the people in the group was that their evaluations of the dishes were very authentic, and the actual food matched the evaluations perfectly, not just written randomly to fool people.

Therefore, some shop owners spent large sums of money, wanting Oscar and Ma Hongjun to write a good review and give their dishes a high score.

The two originally had no intention of making money; they mainly just liked to eat, drink, and have fun. Now that many people came to them for free tastings, there was even less need to talk about money.

Being without desire makes one strong, so the two wrote their dish evaluations truthfully, without any falsification, and their scoring was also very cautious.

For the sake of dish scoring, Oscar and Ma Hongjun specifically studied culinary arts, and then began to evaluate and score based on eight aspects: color, aroma, taste, form, vessel, name, meaning, and interest.

Oscar had a food-type martial soul, and Ma Hongjun had a Fire Attribute Spirit. Since coming into contact with the chef profession, the two discovered that their talent in the culinary field was too good.

Especially when the two worked together, the food cooked with Oscar's culinary skills and Ma Hongjun's Phoenix Flame would be even more fragrant.

Not long after, the two obtained their Special-grade Chef Certificates from the Gourmet Association.

The reviews they wrote afterwards were even more professional; having two special-grade chefs personally taste, evaluate, and score was already a major gimmick.

Later, the two also recruited other special-grade chefs from the Gourmet Association to join the tasting team.

There are countless delicacies in the world, and one person cannot taste them all.

Holding the attitude of developing gourmet food and learning from each other, they attracted many more chefs to join the team.

With more talent, Oscar directly established a Gourmet Appreciation Association.

As the tide rises, the boat floats; now it was not so easy for restaurants to invite them for personal tastings.

The association was divided into nine levels of Appraisers.

Upon receiving an invitation from a restaurant, they would dispatch the corresponding person to appreciate the food.

In the midst of this, the two earned a fortune.

With the reputation of the Gourmet Appreciation Association spreading, Oscar and Ma Hongjun also became known to many people.

Naturally, their information was also placed on Jerry's desk.

After Jerry saw it, he was also a little surprised.

Oscar and Ma Hongjun had disappeared for several years, and when they appeared again, they had become the presidents of the Wuhun City Gourmet Appreciation Association.

One has to say, they are really capable!

They had never violated the regulations of Wuhun City; everything was operated legally.

Moreover, the two were not wanted persons by the Spirit Hall.

Jerry still knew the personalities of the two; Oscar was not bad by nature, but Ma Hongjun was a bit problematic.

Judging from their performance after arriving in Wuhun City, Ma Hongjun's Evil Fire should be gone.

Is it possible even without an Immortal Herb?

It seems they both have Zhujiao Guanghuan; even if he intercepted the Immortal Herb, they still had other ways to resolve the Evil Fire.

Afterwards, he stopped paying attention to them; as long as they did not violate the regulations of Wuhun City and operated legitimately, let them be.

The two of them were not important figures, and Jerry had never counted them in, so he stopped worrying about them. Moreover, what they were doing was also beneficial to the development of the Wuhun City business circle.

With the Spirit Hall not interfering, the two developed very well; gradually, they gained status and reputation in Wuhun City.

Tang San envied their open and above-board development, but he was helpless; after all, people are different.

This time, Tang San sought the two out to borrow money; currently, they were the two richest people.

The two did not say anything and lent Tang San a large sum of money.

After buying an alchemy furnace and medicinal ingredients, Tang San began to attempt alchemy.

Tang San successfully refined the Recovery Pill, the Restoration Pill, and the Detoxification Pill—three types of pills with publicly available formulas—within just a few days.

These three types of pills are used frequently, and there are many formulas for them.

For the Recovery Pill alone, over a hundred formulas have been published; although there are slight differences in the efficacy of each, they are all used for healing, so they are all categorized under the Recovery Pill.

Whatever medicinal ingredients are available, one uses the corresponding formula to refine them.

Alchemy was thus easily mastered by Tang San, causing his self-confidence to explode.

As expected, not being able to learn to be a Spirit Guidance Master was because he lacked talent, but he possessed talent as an Alchemist, and he learned it very easily.

For a period of time afterward, Tang San worked during the day and refined pills at night.

For the three publicly available pill formulas, Tang San refined every one for which he could collect the ingredients.

At first, Tang San felt these were all life-saving medicines and was reluctant to sell them, but as he had more and more pills on hand, he was a bit strapped for cash, and feeling too embarrassed to go borrow from Oscar and Ma Hongjun again, he could only sell some.

Subsequently, Tang San had a breakthrough in his thinking: using pills to support the refinement of more pills.

He used the money from selling pills to learn more alchemy knowledge and refine even more powerful pills.

Many Alchemists eventually embarked on this path.

However, what gave Tang San a bit of a headache was the lack of medicinal ingredients.

Even in Wuhun City, high-age medicinal ingredients are very rare.

Moreover, the highest age of medicinal herbs sold on the market is only nine years.

Tang San knew that once medicinal ingredients reach ten years, they will develop a Spirit Ring and turn into a Soul Beast; in that case, they cannot be used for alchemy.

But memories from his past life told Tang San that there are medicinal ingredients of even higher ages.

The higher the age of the medicinal ingredient, the better the medicinal effect.

That the Spirit Hall has no medicinal ingredients over ten years old is something Tang San can understand.

But Tang San thought of three treasure lands.

The Sunset Forest—he had seen it from the outside once back then—was Dugu Bo's herb garden, and later the Spirit Hall cultivated medicinal ingredients there.

Having heard Dugu Yan describe the situation inside, Tang San felt that it was a treasure land, somewhat like the Ice and Fire Yin Yang Well; whether it specifically is, he needs to verify for himself.

If it is, then that place can definitely cultivate medicinal herbs over ten years old.

Why does the Spirit Hall not sell medicinal ingredients over ten years old?

Even if they sold medicinal ingredients over ten years old, it seems it wouldn't have any impact, right?

If the Spirit Hall doesn't sell them, could it be because the Spirit Hall only discovered that the place could accelerate plant Growth, but collected the medicinal ingredients before they grew to over ten years old?

Tang San felt a bit doubtful, but aside from this reason, he really couldn't think of anything else.

Or perhaps the Spirit Hall never tried letting the plants grow to ten years; in their view, they would transform into Soul Beasts at ten years, so they never discovered the function of the treasure land.

Thinking of this, Tang San couldn't help but feel a trace of excitement.

If he used higher-age medicinal ingredients to refine pills—ten-year ingredients, hundred-year ingredients, thousand-year ingredients—wouldn't the medicinal effects be even more powerful?

The more he thought, the more excited Tang San became.

This day, Tang San took his day off.

He first took the Teleportation Array to reach Heaven Dou City.

Heaven Dou City can be said to have taken on a completely new look now, but many places were developed following the style of Wuhun City; it seems the connection between the Heaven Dou Empire and the Spirit Hall is very deep.

Although he knew Empress Xue Ke was a disciple of Chrysanthemum Douluo, Tang San never felt that Chrysanthemum Douluo had much power in Wuhun City; he was just an academy teacher.

Moreover, Jerry was often not in Wuhun City, and Tang San had seen Xiao Wu, Ye Lingling, Zhu Zhuqing, Xue Ke, and Ning Rongrong gathering together many times, but Jerry never participated at all.

It seems Jerry's relationship with them isn't that great either; it's just occupying the name of having the same master.

After arriving in Heaven Dou City, he realized he was wrong; based on the relationships he saw, there was no need at all for Wuhun City to help Heaven Dou City develop.

There must be a secret in this, only he didn't know it.

Although Tang San had always treated Jerry as a rival, he had been in Wuhun City for so long and basically never saw Jerry's shadow, and he also heard that the Pope had come out of seclusion, so all the affairs of the Spirit Hall should have nothing to do with Jerry.

In Tang San's eyes, Jerry was just like Yu Xiaogang—a researcher; as for power, he had some, but not much.

If Jerry were to know that Tang San evaluated him this way, he would probably laugh himself to death.

After arriving in Heaven Dou City and resting briefly, Tang San went to the Sunset Forest.

Following the location in his memory, he arrived at Chrysanthemum Douluo's herb garden.

What met Tang San's eyes, however, was a forest; the herb garden no longer existed.

Hahaha, the Spirit Hall really doesn't know a good thing when they see it.

Back then, seeing that Chrysanthemum Douluo's herb garden had many medicinal ingredients, they occupied this place, and once the medicinal ingredients were mature and harvested, they abandoned this place.

After all, this place is in the Heaven Dou Empire, a bit far from Wuhun City; planting in Wuhun City is more convenient.

No wonder there were no high-age medicinal ingredients; it turns out the Spirit Hall didn't discover the secret of the treasure land either.

Doesn't this just make it cheaper for me?

Subsequently, Tang San began searching everywhere here, wanting to find the place Dugu Yan described, but after searching for a long time, he didn't find a single place that matched.

It is here, that's right; when he left back then, he had seen the herb garden here with his own eyes.

Moreover, the stone engraved with the words "Spirit Hall" was even found by Tang San, buried deep in the soil, with only half exposed.

Seeing this situation, could it be because of the events from a few years ago, when the heavens and earth changed drastically and the territory was expanding?

Could it be because of this reason that the treasure land is no longer here?

In the time that followed, Tang San came over whenever he had free time, and he searched the entire forest, but he didn't find the location of the treasure land.

Instead, he found many huge Meteorites.

Could the Ice and Fire Yin Yang Well have been struck by the Meteorites that fell from the sky back then?

Aside from this explanation, Tang San couldn't think of any other.

Only this explanation makes sense.

Tang San organized his thoughts.

Back then, the Spirit Hall captured the Poison Douluo and occupied his medicinal garden; after the medicinal herbs matured, they harvested them and withdrew. This place was left unattended for a long time, became overgrown with green plants, and then the world underwent a great upheaval; the treasure land was struck by a Meteorite and disappeared from then on.

Damn it, this is just too unlucky!

Tang San could not help but complain.

After working so hard for so long, he hadn't found anything.

However, the Spirit Hall hadn't gained anything either; thinking of this, Tang San felt much more balanced.

Right, he suddenly remembered that when he previously posted a task to acquire medicinal herbs, he saw someone posting to acquire Meteorites.

He would treat these Meteorites as his hard-earned wages for this period; overall, he didn't lose out, and he even made a profit.

Thinking this way, Tang San felt much better instantly.

However, regarding the treasure land, Tang San still held a bit of wishful thinking.

Treasure lands are all naturally formed; even if one is destroyed naturally, it might be born again in the future.

It seems he should inquire more about special places in the future; perhaps he might be able to find a treasure land.

That way, he would have endless medicinal herbs.

Because of medicinal herbs, the Spirit Hall restricted the development of Alchemists, so they did not take Alchemists seriously, and their data was basically considered completely public.

During this period, he also made some inquiries, and those who have become Alchemists now are only refining these few types of pills.

Therefore, Tang San was certain that the Spirit Hall did not attach much importance to the profession of Alchemist.

Once he finds a treasure land and refines more powerful pills, then we shall see if you, Jerry, can still hold onto your God Position of the Medicine God, hahaha.

Thinking of this, Tang San was exceptionally happy.

(End of this chapter)