With no other choice, he could only grab one pharmaceutical manual after another, frantically flipping through them.
Even if his eyes were sore and swollen, he dared not stop.
This was because it concerned whether he could secure his position as the number-one Second Grade sitting alchemist.
As time ticked away, the books around Niu Baotian had piled up into a mountain, yet he still hadn’t found the elixir recipe he was looking for.
Fire Cloud Fruit and Taiyin Golden Ganoderma, these two medicinal herbs, the former belonged to the Fire Attribute, while the latter was Freezing Yin and Gold Attribute. To use these as main ingredients to concoct a Second Grade Elixir that strengthened the Fire Element Sword Vein was extremely difficult.
Fire can overcome Gold, and moreover, the Fire Cloud Fruit is Yang, while the Taiyin Golden Ganoderma is Yin; they inherently counteract each other.
Concocting them together in the Pill Furnace, other than the risk of it exploding, there’s also the possibility that the medicinal properties of the two precious main ingredients will neutralize each other.
Just like acid and salt, mixing them together will weaken each other.
Niu Baotian kept grabbing his hair, and there was already a layer of hair on the floor.
"Alchemy Master Niu, you seem to have a lot of leisure time!" A grating voice sounded, with a sarcastic tone.
A middle-aged man, also wearing a Second-grade alchemist robe, came over and stood outside of Niu Baotian’s Alchemy Room, peering inside.
There were a total of six Alchemy Rooms for Second Grade alchemists here, which meant there were a total of six Second Grade sitting alchemists.
The middle-aged man greeting Niu Baotian was named Qiao Dusi, with a hooked nose and narrow, small eyes, giving the first impression of being scheming and cunning.
This man’s status was only second to Niu Baotian. He had always been second in rank and probably dreamt of becoming the top-ranked Chief Second Grade sitting alchemist.
"So it’s Alchemy Master Qiao, is there something you need?" Niu Baotian looked up and swept a glance at the other, his tone very cold and indifferent.
It was clear that he didn’t want to bother with this man; he was vexed.
"Not at all, not at all, I just heard that you took on an important deal a few days ago. Concocting a Second Grade Elixir for strengthening the Fire Element Sword Vein for Minister Wu. How is it going? Seeing how relaxed you are, you must have already concocted it, right?"
Qiao Dusi asked with a sinister smile, reveling in schadenfreude.
"Get lost! I have no time to idle chat with you!"
Niu Baotian did not mince words and continued to flip through the pharmaceutical manual in his hands.
A layer of fine sweat seeped out on Niu Baotian’s forehead, and he didn’t even care to wipe it.
"Heh, don’t be so hot-tempered! You’ve already failed one transaction last time, which damaged the reputation of our Medicine Guild’s Hall. If this deal fails again, I’m afraid you won’t have the face to sit in this seat of the top-ranked Chief Second Grade sitting alchemist."
"At that time, you’ll probably have to look up to my nose!"
The laughter of Qiao Dusi carried a sense of triumph.
It would be incredibly difficult for him to defeat Niu Baotian squarely. He thought at least he would be under Niu Baotian for another decade or so. But Niu Baotian had unlucky fates, running into two difficult deals in a row.
How to concoct the Fire Cloud Fruit and Taiyin Golden Ganoderma together?
At least Qiao Dusi himself had no confidence in it.
A pharmaceutical manual was thrown fiercely towards Qiao Busi. He was so frightened that he shrank his head back, quickly dodging it.
Just then, a rough and bold voice came from outside.
"Is Alchemy Master Niu here? I entrusted him with two main medicinal herbs a few days ago, asking him to concoct a furnace of Second Grade Elixir that can strengthen the Fire Element Sword Vein. Is it done?" The owner of the voice was imperious.
"Minister Wu, please take a seat in the VIP room for a moment, I will immediately go and inquire for you!"
The manager at the reception desk bent over like a bowing turtle, treating this Minister Wu with utmost respect.
After all, Minister Wu was the Minister of War, with high status and significant authority, in charge of the armed forces throughout the land, and his own strength was formidable.
In the Jianyun Dynasty, if not walking sideways, at least very few people dared to oppose him directly. Even Prince Liu would have to stand aside.
"I’m busy and don’t have time to sit down! I’ll go ask myself!"
As he spoke, Minister Wu walked into the Alchemy Room inside, with nobody daring to stop him.
A sly smile appeared on Qiao Dusi’s face; now there was going to be a good show.
"Oh, Minister Wu, a man of myriad responsibilities during the day! Are you here to collect elixirs?" Qiao Dusi greeted him politely, smiling as he said hello.
Minister Wu nodded slightly.
"I’m afraid I’m going to disappoint you. Our Alchemy Master Niu seems to have never made this kind of elixir before. He has been studying these last few days!"
"Alas, a Chief Alchemist really needs some true skills to hold his position. Take the other day, for instance, when a customer came in with a very rare Purple Mandala for alchemy, and guess what happened?"
"Not only did our Alchemy Master Niu ruin the customer’s medicinal herb, but he even poisoned himself. It’s really not easy at all."
Qiao Dusi put on a fake sympathetic face like a cat crying over a dead mouse, shaking his head and sighing continuously.
All of them were alchemists from the Medicine Guild’s Hall and should have been helping and respecting each other. Instead, he chose to reveal Niu Baotian’s shortcomings right in front of an important customer.
It was clear that he wanted to sabotage Niu Baotian’s livelihood.
"Minister Wu, your Fire Cloud Fruit and Taiyin Golden Ganoderma are extremely precious medicinal materials. It would be such a pity if someone ruined them!"
"Yesterday I saw Alchemy Master Niu opening the Pill Furnace, but he didn’t do the alchemy himself. Instead, he let an irrelevant young kid fiddle around with it..."
Upon hearing this, Minister Wu immediately became anxious.
Qiao Busi’s gaze turned icy, sweeping towards Chu Feng who was lying inside, asleep. This was a great opportunity to discredit Niu Baotian.
"Where are my two medicinal herbs?" Minister Wu burst into the Alchemy Room, grabbed Chu Feng’s collar, his expression as fierce as a man-eating beast. "Eh, it turns out to be the third young master from the Sword King Mansion."
Minister Wu recognized Chu Feng at once.
However, his expression turned even uglier; everyone knew Chu Feng was a notorious waste.
Good news seldom leaves the house, while bad news spreads far and wide.
Chu Feng’s ’glorious’ record of being the last in his class at the Alchemy Academy every year, due to the malicious spreading by Liu Ping and others, was almost common knowledge.
His two medicinal herbs had cost him a great deal of effort to obtain.
That Niu Baotian would have Chu Feng, a student, to make the elixirs – this thought alone made Minister Wu’s towering rage nearly uncontrollable.
Chu Feng was sleeping soundly and was annoyed at being awakened and rudely grabbed by the collar.
"Hey, let go! Your medicinal herbs are still here, untouched!" Seeing Minister Wu grab Chu Feng, Niu Baotian immediately grew anxious.
If anything happened to Chu Feng or if Chu Feng got angry, it would put his own life in jeopardy.
Niu Baotian was like a fiercely protective dog, throwing aside the Pharmaceutical Manual in his hand and pushing Minister Wu away.
Usually, Niu Baotian would never dare to offend Minister Wu.
But at this moment, when it concerned Chu Feng, he would dare to make a move even if it were the Emperor standing before him.
Upon closer inspection, Minister Wu saw that his two medicinal herbs were indeed still in good condition, and he let out a slight sigh of relief.
Chu Feng had been sleeping hazily and had overheard the argument among these people.
He looked closely and saw that inside the medicine box Niu Baotian had brought out, there were two herbs, each in their own compartment.
One was red as fire, looking like a cloud of fire.
The other had the color of an ancient moon, shaped like a Ganoderma.
"Fire Cloud Fruit? Taiyin Golden Ganoderma? These are nice items."
"Seeing that they still look fresh, could they have been freshly picked? If that’s the case, finding the location of the Taiyin Golden Ganoderma could lead to something great that could enhance the Nine Yang Strange Fire."
Chu Feng, having been reborn as an Alchemy Venerate, was extremely familiar with every kind of medicinal herb.