Chapter 8: Taming the Fragrance

  As for Xiao Hong, Xu Qing would never have paid attention to a lowly miner like him before. Although he had helped the famous Sang Hongyun with some things, what did that matter?

  "Big brother, is this guy the one who helped Lord Sang Hongyun quarry stones?" Xu Nan asked in a low voice.

  "What's the big deal, it's just being used by Lord Sang Hongyun for a while." Xu Qing snorted disdainfully and then ignored Xiao Hong. In his eyes, Xiao Hong was just a small miner who would soon die. Without the charity of Lord Sang Hongyun, he didn't believe Xiao Hong could survive even a year.

  As for the conversation inside and the eyes they were talking with, Xiao Hong could guess that they were likely to be discussing themselves and not saying anything good.

  However, Xiao Hong didn't take it too seriously. In his eyes, wanting to survive and being respected by others ultimately relied on one's strength. As long as he improved his strength, nothing else mattered. With his current strength, it was impossible for him to surpass Xu Qing.

  He barely swept a glance at Xiu Qing, then ignored him and walked slowly to the sales counter, saying to the pharmacist: "Two taels of Su He Xiang and two taels of Zhu Xiang."

  Having said that, Xiao Hong spread out his hand and placed ten silver coins on the sales counter.

  The pharmacist was just a worker, looked at the ten silver coins on the table, didn't have much reaction like Xu Qing did, expressionless, started to take the money and hand over the goods. In one minute, two small medicine packets were placed in front of Xiao Hong.

  Xiao Hongye didn't intend to stay, picked up his backpack and left directly.

  Hurriedly returning home, Xiao Hong locked the door, pulled up the curtains, and opened a box containing pharmaceutical tools. Inside were all sorts of bottles and jars, some new and some old. The new ones he had bought with his own money, while the old ones, along with these books, he had picked up near the academy.

  Without much delay, Xiao Hong began to process and refine the materials he had collected throughout the day. He carefully placed the crystals into a container, heated them until they dissolved, ground the crystal sand into powder, extracted juice from some herbs or crushed others. All his movements seemed light and efficient, clearly indicating that Xiao Hong was already an expert in medicine production.

  From start to finish, his expression remained calm and focused.

  Half an hour later, more than 20 kinds of materials have been processed and placed in various containers. The next step is to mix the proportions, which is an extremely delicate task. Even a slight error can change the efficacy of the medicine or even lead to complete failure.

  Xiao Hong's expression became even more focused as he carefully pinched the test tube filled with bright pink **, while his other hand had already picked up a small pinch of crystal sand powder and was carefully pouring it into the test tube.

  Then, in the test tube, a violent reaction suddenly occurred, just like boiling water, bubbles rolled out, and after a few seconds, as the inside of the test tube gradually calmed down, it had turned into a red viscous state, like syrup.

  This is not the end, after the bubbles in the test tube have completely subsided, Xiao Hong poured the viscous ** into the mixed powder of Xun Sha and Zhu Xiang.

  After stirring evenly and drying, Xiao Hong's hands had an extra plate of deep red, like mosquito-repelling incense. However, it was much more expensive than mosquito-repelling incense. Just this one plate, with all the materials added together, was worth at least fifteen silver coins. Xiao Hong also gave this medicine the name "Yu Xiang".

  Carefully putting away the remaining incense ash and other materials, Xiao Hong hastily fixed the agarwood on top of the wooden box, placing it beside the bed. Sitting at the head of the bed, Xiao Hong had a bamboo tube hanging from his neck, with both ends facing his mouth and the agarwood, making it more convenient for him to better absorb the fragrance of the agarwood smoke.

  Everything was ready, and Xiao Hong slowly picked up the Fire Demon Mark beside him, aiming at Yu Xiang.

  "Ah, what a waste of money." Just thinking about burning fifteen silver coins like this made Xiao Hong feel a sharp pain. From young to old, he had never done anything so extravagant before. However, in order to increase his strength and save himself, Xiao Hong no longer had the leisure to care about such things.

  No longer hesitant, Xiao Hong used his magic to ignite the incense through the fire crystal. However, Xiao Hong's eyes widened slightly as he saw that the burning speed of the incense was much faster than he had imagined. Originally, he had estimated it would burn for an hour, but at this rate, even ten minutes seemed too long.

  However, Xiao Hong is now powerless to change anything, and can only strive for every minute and every second of time. He covers one end of the bamboo tube with Yu Xiang, points the other end at his mouth, closes his eyes, calms his mind, and begins to use breathing exercises to train his Yu Li.

  As the faint smoke entered his nostrils, circulating in his body with the airflow, Xiao Hong's expression suddenly changed, and he felt that the power within him was growing, like a spring bamboo shoot after rain, gradually increasing.

  Valid!

  With this idea, Xiao Hong's heart was suddenly filled with a huge sense of happiness, and deep down, there was also a sense of accomplishment. After all, whether others had thought of this method or not, it was he who came up with it now, and it seemed to be working pretty well.

  The turmoil in his heart only flashed for a moment, and then was suppressed by Xiao Hong, trying to keep his mood as calm as possible. Because this breathing exercise can only achieve a more significant effect when the body and mind are more relaxed.

  Ten minutes, fleeting as it was, and Xiao Hong slowly opened his eyes again. A hint of joy flashed in his eyes, for in just ten short minutes, his driving force had increased by five units, reaching 143 units, which wasn't bad in terms of efficiency.

  However, the next moment, Xiao Hong's face flashed a hint of pain, and as soon as he opened his eyes, he felt dizzy and nauseous.

  Unable to help himself, Xiao Hong, who was sitting on the bed, dry-heaved several times and then fell head-first onto the bed. As for what was happening with these symptoms, Xiao Hong was still very clear - it was nicotine poisoning. When someone smokes too much, they will experience dizziness, nausea, weakness in all four limbs, and other symptoms.

  The direct cause of this phenomenon is the brain hypoxia and the slight poisoning caused by nicotine entering the bloodstream. Although Xiao Hong was not poisoned by nicotine, it was almost the same, but there was no big deal, and he would be fine after resting for a while.

  "As expected, it's the side effect." Xiao Hong muttered to himself, lying drowsily in bed. Apparently, although this fragrance had an obvious effect, it was not perfect. At present, the two most troublesome problems were how to eliminate this side effect and how to improve the efficiency of using the fragrance.

  Otherwise, a 10-minute practice requires an hour of recovery, and the efficiency is naturally greatly discounted. In the long run, it's not good for the body either. Moreover, spending 15 silver coins, which is equivalent to 1500 copper coins, every 10 minutes is too extravagant.

  Although his mind was still dull and confused, Xiao Hong did not stop thinking.

  It wasn't until more than an hour had passed that Xiao Hong finally came to, and then he got out of bed. As his mind continued to turn over the events of the past few hours, he began to gather up the fish that was struggling for its life in the large basin.

  Reduce costs, improve efficiency and eliminate side effects. This is the urgent problem that Xiao Hong needs to solve under his eyes. Otherwise, it cannot be a sustainable training method at all.

  "What to do?" Xiao Hong muttered to himself, which was also one of his thinking habits. At the same time, his hands were not idle, still holding a small knife, scaling the fish, removing its internal organs, and then cutting it into blocks.

  Bang!

  Everything was done, Xiao Hong habitually inserted the small knife in his hand directly into the chopping board. However, just as Xiao Hong inserted the seemingly worn-out small knife into the chopping board, his eyes moved slightly, and then he quickly pulled out the knife and carefully examined the blade.

  The blade part is bright silver, the knife part is light gray. This knife was left by Xiao Hong's father and has nothing special about it, nor can it be said to be very valuable. The blade material uses a layered steel design, in other words, high-hardness steel is sandwiched in the middle, wrapped in a layer of lower hardness and higher toughness steel on the outside. This ensures both the hardness of the blade and the tenacity of the knife body, making it sharp while not easily breaking.

  "Sandwich steel..." Xiao Hong muttered to himself, his brain also frantically spinning, as if there was a new way to solve the problem.

  What if you wrap another layer of medicine outside the incense, reduce the burning speed of the incense, and ensure that you will not be poisoned by carbon monoxide?

  Slowly putting the fish pieces into an iron cauldron, Xiao Hong pushed open the door and walked out of the house. At the entrance of the house, he lit a fire and placed the iron cauldron filled with water and fish meat on top of it to prepare a bowl of fish soup.

  Sitting on the threshold, gazing at the changing bonfire in front of me, leaning against the door frame, my mind is still thinking about the question just now.

  The more I think about it, the more feasible it seems, and the more I feel that there is a way. As long as we grasp the reaction between the medicines well, if possible, we can even make two kinds of medicine reflect each other, forming an even stronger kind of medicine to boost one's energy.

  However, the idea is good, but wanting to complete it is a bit difficult, at least with Xiao Hong's current pharmaceutical level.

  "It seems that I still need to improve my knowledge reserve." Xiao Hong muttered to himself, then carefully took out the two mysterious magic beads from his pocket, with the help of the dim firelight, he turned them over and observed the patterns on them, this seemed to have become one of Xiao Hong's habits.

  Although most of the patterns above are still incomprehensible to Xiao Hong, he still wants to learn a thing or two about the smooth and mysterious carving techniques inside.

  Of course, what Xiao Hong is most curious about now is that mysterious black-green magic bead. It can't be controlled by his willpower, but it looks like a successful magic bead after all. So, what's its use?