Chapter 10

The medicinal ingredients needed for True Origin Pill are sold in major pharmacies; on average, the cost per pill is under ten thousand.

But if you sell the finished Dan Medicine, one pill can sell for two hundred thousand!

You can also directly sell the Dan Formula patent to the Martial Hall; making several tens of millions is no problem.

However, doing so would make the origin of the Dan Formula hard to explain, and selling Dan Formula patents repeatedly would easily attract investigation.

Currently, Lu Jing's most reliable idea is to open his own pharmaceutical company, which would continuously generate profits for him.

"First, find a pharmacy to refine a few pills and test their efficacy."

Lu Jing made up his mind.

He went onto the street to look for a pharmacy that could rent out a refining room.

With technological development, the refinement of Dan Medicine has trended toward mechanical automation.

As long as you use professional equipment and set the heat and time properly, it's fine.

No specialized knowledge is needed to refine Dan Medicine.

"Sir, our refining room is not available for rent; the formulas have patent fees and cannot be used by individuals."

Seeing the pharmacy staff's firm refusal, Lu Jing helplessly shook his head and could only get up and leave.

"It seems I was too naive; the refining room is a trade secret, and to prevent people from avoiding patent fees and refining Dan Medicine privately, it's strictly guarded......"

If you want to borrow the refining room, you not only need to apply through cumbersome procedures, but also need to hold a Dan Medicine patent usage certificate.

Lu Jing currently has no intention to apply for a patent, because patent review takes too long— as little as a year, as many as several years— and he doesn't have that time.

After visiting several pharmacies in a row, as soon as they heard Lu Jing wanted to borrow the refining room, they all firmly refused.

"Try one last time; if still refused, I'll have no choice but to sell the Dan Formula."

Lu Jing arrived at the door of the last pharmacy at the end of the street and sighed.

This pharmacy is named Huichuntang, just opened not long ago, and still has opening flower baskets at the entrance.

Lu Jing perked up and strode inside.

A strong scent of Chinese medicine wafted over, and inside the pharmacy various medicinal ingredients and Dan Medicines were neatly arranged.

Behind the counter was a male clerk playing on his phone; seeing Lu Jing enter, he didn't look up and said, "The Dan Medicines are priced; just have a look!"

After saying that, he continued playing on his phone.

This shop's management is clearly lax, and business isn't very good.

Perhaps we could rent the refining room through the clerk?

A thought flashed in Lu Jing's mind; he approached the counter and asked in a low voice, "Friend, can I borrow your refining room?"

The male clerk playing on his phone blinked slightly, then frowned and waved his hand, saying, "No, no, we only sell Dan Medicine here; the refining room is not for external loan!"

"Don't rush to refuse," Lu Jing said, pulling a thousand dollars from his pocket and stuffing it into the clerk's hand, "Please consider it."

A few minutes later, Lu Jing followed the clerk to the pharmacy's second floor.

The clerk first turned off the pharmacy's surveillance, then lowered his voice and said, "Hurry up and use it; at most one hour, and clean up after you're done......"

"Don't worry, I'll restore it to its original state after use; for each item on this list, give me two portions."

Lu Jing handed the clerk a list of the medicinal ingredients, then pushed open the refining room door and entered.

Indeed, money can make the ghost push the mill.

Lu Jing nodded in satisfaction; this refining room is quite spacious, with various pieces of equipment arranged especially neatly.

Not long after, the clerk came upstairs again and delivered the medicinal ingredients needed for True Origin Pill.

Some of the medicinal ingredients were deliberately added by Lu Jing to confuse others.

This way, there's no need to worry that someone could deduce the True Origin Pill's Dan Formula from the ingredients.

"Let's begin; refining Dan for the first time really makes me a little excited......"

Lu Jing allocated the medicinal ingredients according to the ratio, then placed them one by one into the refining equipment.

This part is the most crucial; the dosage must be precise to the milligram.

No matter which medicinal ingredient's dosage is wrong, it will cause the Dan Medicine's properties to change.

After the mixture was prepared, Lu Jing powered on the equipment.

Whoosh!

Flames rose, and the medicinal ingredients were successively refined into liquid medicine according to the preset program.

Then, through stirring, it cooled into pellet form.

"Successful?"

Lu Jing looked at the pellets in the tray emitting a dark blue luster, and a hint of joy appeared on his face.

To know whether the refinement succeeded, you just need to place it in the synthesis slot and check the description.

【True Origin Pill (Intermediate Dan Medicine)】: made from Union Orchid, Purple Treasure, hundred-year Jade Immortal Root, Gold Essence Ginseng……

"It passed the synthesis slot appraisal; looks like it truly succeeded!"

Lu Jing carefully stored this True Origin Pill, then continued refining the next one.

With the experience of the first success, the second pill's speed became even faster.

After finishing the second pill, Lu Jing put the remaining medicinal ingredients into the equipment and burned them into dregs.

Creak!

The refining room's door was opened.

The male clerk poked his head in and whispered, "An hour is up now; overtime will incur extra charges!"

"I'm already done; I'll tidy up a bit."

Lu Jing dumped the dregs into the drain to rinse clean, then walked out of the refining room.

Before leaving, Lu Jing settled the medicinal ingredients fee of eighteen thousand, and exchanged phone numbers with the clerk.

It will be convenient to borrow the medicine preparation room for refining Dan Medicine later.

Now the money earned from selling Dan Medicine has all been spent.

But Lu Jing didn't feel the slightest bit of regret, because if these two True Yuan Pills were sold, they'd be worth at least four hundred thousand!

"Two True Yuan Pills, one for myself to take, the other to keep and sell for money......"

Not long after Lu Jing left, a red sedan pulled up in front of the pharmacy.

Qin Ziyi got out of the car and, seeing the deserted Huichuntang, gave a wry smile.

"I really don't know how much longer my pharmacy can hold on."

The Qin family had already been a Dan Medicine lineage a hundred years ago, holding patents for several intermediate Dan Medicine formulas.

Relying on the patents of the Dan Formulas, they started from scratch and grew larger and larger.

But with the changing times, these old Dan Formulas were gradually phased out.

The once-prosperous Qin family also declined along with them.

By Qin Ziyi's generation, all she was given was this single pharmacy, and judging by the current situation, it's not far from closing.

"Those Dan Formulas in the family are too outdated; the required medicinal ingredients are expensive, yet the resulting Dan Medicine is only mediocre......"

"After all, it's technology from a hundred years ago; put to use today it has no competitiveness at all. If we want the pharmacy to bounce back, we still need to find a way to obtain new Dan Formulas!"

Qin Ziyi knows the pharmacy's predicament, but Dan Formulas aren't easy to acquire.

She went out this time because she heard that a new Dan Formula had been developed in the neighboring province, and she traveled a great distance to get there.

But after verification, this Dan Formula turned out to be all show; its actual effects upon consumption were not noticeable.

Moreover, the seller lion-heartedly opened his mouth, demanding twenty million right off the bat.

Naturally, the deal fell through.

Qin Ziyi entered the pharmacy and saw the male clerk behind the counter looking somewhat flustered, busy putting away his phone.

"Boss, you're back."

Xue Jun greeted Qin Ziyi while slipping his phone back into his pocket.

Already in a bad mood, Qin Ziyi became even more annoyed and gave Xue Jun a sharp glance.

She then went upstairs.

This Xue Jun usually likes to slack off and often plays on his phone during work hours.

Once he even stole medicine from the shop to sell outside, and when caught he still dared to make excuses.

Qin Ziyi made up her mind that once she finished her current tasks, she would definitely fire this Xue Jun.

Ignored by Qin Ziyi, Xue Jun rubbed his hands and lecherously stared at her sexy back.

"Tsk tsk, being pretty is one thing, but her figure is also great......"

After Qin Ziyi's figure disappeared upstairs, Xue Jun finally withdrew his gaze, took out his phone, and continued scrolling through videos.

Just as he was getting into it, he suddenly saw Qin Ziyi appear in front of the counter.

"Boss Qin, I......"

Xue Jun felt a bit flustered, because Qin Ziyi's face had darkened terrifyingly, her beautiful eyes full of coldness.

"Xue Jun, the medicine preparation room has been tampered with; you should know what's going on, right!"

"Huh? I didn't do it......"

Xue Jun hastily shook his head, cold sweat beading on his forehead, "Boss, what happened?"

Seeing Xue Jun playing dumb, Qin Ziyi gave a cold sneer and said, "Playing dumb, huh? You're fired—pack your things and get out."

Having said that, she no longer paid attention to Xue Jun and turned to go upstairs.

This Xue Jun is really getting more and more outrageous, daring to let people into the medicine preparation room, such an important place.

The more Qin Ziyi thought about it, the angrier she became; her already annoyed mood was instantly ignited into fury.

As soon as she stepped into the medicine preparation room, she smelled a hint of herbal residue, clearly indicating someone had refined Dan Medicine inside.

The traces of use can be cleaned up, but the smell won't dissipate anytime soon.

"Damn it, this set of equipment cost me over five million to buy—I must make sure it doesn't get damaged."

Qin Ziyi furrowed her brows and carefully inspected the equipment for any damage.

"The equipment should be fine......"

After checking, Qin Ziyi let out a sigh of relief, "I was scared to death—I don't know what that damned Xue Jun brought in here; I need to quickly maintain the equipment."

Having said that, she began to adjust the equipment, removing the lid of the medicine-making machine and cleaning out the herbal residue inside.

"Huh? What kind of Dan Medicine did this person refine, to produce dark bluish-black herbal residue?"

While cleaning the equipment, Qin Ziyi suddenly noticed some residual herbal residue inside the medicine-making machine.

She inexplicably took a cotton swab, dabbed a little of it, and placed it under the microscope to analyze its composition.

"I must be crazy—what's there to study? Could it be some new Dan Formula?"

Qin Ziyi gave a self-mocking laugh, but didn't stop her hands.

"Xue Jun, you brat, don't go yet!"

At that moment, downstairs Xue Jun was packing up, just about to walk out of Huichuntang, when Qin Ziyi rushed over and stopped him.

"Boss, it's really not my fault—I saw the pharmacy's business was terrible, so I rented out the medicine preparation room to someone else......"

"And that person said the Dan Medicine he refined was his own research, not illegal, so I agreed."

Xue Jun still thought the equipment was damaged and hurriedly tried to shift the blame.

Upon hearing this, Qin Ziyi's eyes lit up; she grabbed Xue Jun and excitedly asked, "Do you have that person's contact information!"

"Yes......"

"Give it to me quickly!"

At this moment, Qin Ziyi was very anxious, because the drug residue she had just tested not only required medicinal ingredients that were very cheap.

Yet its efficacy is several times that of ordinary dan medicine!

If we could get hold of this Dan Formula, what would Huichuntang have to worry about lacking business?