Story 7 - To Kill Demonic Vines (7?)
When I told the Sect Leader that I needed to see this prescription work in person, I hadn’t been lying. Violet Pill Fairy was a genius at creating new recipes, but she wasn’t a scientist obsessed with perfection. This was also one of her early works. Like fuck would I take the recipe I’d morized at face value.
Of course. The first thing I needed to do was test it to confirm that it worked.
Now that I had set up the formations for our safety, I returned to my courtyard to see a beautiful sight.
Little Spring had prepared a stand with an earthen fla and my golden cauldron on top. He had already started warming it to my normal specifications.
Beside the pillar, he’d arranged a wooden prep table. Various jade boxes cluttered the surface. Three ingredients had been prepped and were waiting in organized piles while the kid sliced off the unnecessary parts of the fourth plant just the way I had explained earlier.
Even though we had access to the space and his spring water, I’d specifically ntioned to him to not soak the herbs. What we wanted was to create sothing others could reproduce. Sothing replicable even without specialized ingredient enhancers.
The kid blinked up at .
I smiled and patted his head. “Good job.”
He grinned.
“Thank you!” he said, and pulled a stem off a red berry. ::While it’s nice out here, the alchemy room in our space is better. So why work here?::
::It’s true that we can enter your space anyti we wish. However, imagine you’re a normal alchemist. You see two children bring batch after batch of pills out of a courtyard, but there is no evidence that they ever worked there? No evidence that they created the dicines themselves.::
His eyes narrowed and grew dark.
::Exactly. They’d either suspect we’d already concocted the pills and were holding out on everyone, or they’d realize that we had a space. Never underestimate the intelligence of any cultivator.::
::Yes, Sister Lin!::
***
On the way to the city, I went over the prescription in my head and devised the best approach to concocting it. Now I just needed to go through the motions.
There were three main ingredients to this recipe: Majestic Plant Killer Walnut, Violet Puffing Fern Leaf, and Viridian Poison Pine Needles. Fifteen more plants were included to either enhance or hinder the effects of the others, creating a balance that was fairly elegant for Violet’s early work.
Two of these herbs, the Rapscallion Oscillating Leafs and the Three Stars Waving Crimson Carrot, were even there to slow down and prolong the effects of the key ingredients. I didn’t know exactly why, but until I saw otherwise I’d assu it was because killing off the vine plague too quickly could harm a mortal body. I’d have to see the effects myself to be sure, though.
This little golden walnut would have the effect that would do the most damage to the demonic vines growing within people. I dropped it right into the bowl of the cauldron, where it hissed. The lid slamd down on top of it and I started counting breaths.
Just before it had fully lted, after I had covered it for a minute, it was ti to add the next one. With a flick of my fingers, the lid lifted high into the air. I grabbed three other ingredients that would enhance the walnut’s plant killer effect and tossed them into the cauldron ten counts apart. Each went in with a small splash and a sizzle.
The next scheduled to go in was the four of the Rapscallion Oscillating Leafs. Each of these leaves looked like long green drills.
Using it here would make the vine-killing effect take longer. Kind of like a ti-release pill from my last life in plant form. Of course, taking longer should allow the pill to utilize its full effect while lessening the impact on the body.
The next main ingredient was Viridian Poison Pine Needles. Beautiful long needles with touches of purple where they originally connected to the tree.
This was a tricky bastard of an herb because it was poisonous, but it could also be used to kill off certain unntionable infections. The kind of infection authors and readers pretended didn’t exist in romantic fiction.
I only uncovered it because of my extensive studies, so its inclusion made wonder how Violet even thought to use it in this recipe.
I an, she was the wife of a harem protagonist, so she had a 99% chance of being a virgin.
Well, at least until she married Bloodsword... or had an encounter with him and a rogue aphrodisiac.
As I counted breaths, I simultaneously made a ntal note to pick up supplies to make antidotes for the various aphrodisiacs. Ones that I’d obsessively developed in my past life.
In every single one of these Xianxia that I read, aphrodisiacs could only be endured but not cured. In my opinion, the people living in those worlds didn’t try hard enough or want it bad enough. Then again, I couldn’t bla them for the author demanding their world be a specific way. But I could shake a ntal fist and silently curse at those writers.
The original author making do all that fucking work by myself. And I never even got to use them.
Still, it was better to have it than not.
It wouldn’t hurt to pick up supplies for so poisons and trick pills while I was at it.
While I’d never been big on utilizing those since they were consumable items, having so extra protection might help.
Actually, a smokescreen pill to help us vanish into the updated space might beco useful one day.
When I finally reached the number I’d been looking for, I grabbed four of the sticky pine needles with my spiritual energy and sliced them in two with a jade knife. Then I lifted the lid with a gesture and threw them in.
The golden cauldron rumbled while I counted breaths and focused on the right timing.
Just as I felt Little Spring take out a protection talisman and placed it on my back, I grabbed the herbs that paired with the pine needles and the Three Stars Waving Crimson Carrot. Quickly, almost one after the other, I threw them into the mix. The glow from the liquid turned angry and red. The bubbles started to rage within the bowl.
Muahahahaha! Did this concoction think it could fail with here?
Never!
I waited until it looked particularly dangerous. This was it. I opened the lid and threw in the Violet Puffing Fern Leaf.
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