In the pavilions and waterside pavilions, the blooming lotus flowers are bathed in the golden glow, and the pothos vines are perfectly embellished. From time to time, a few colorful butterflies flutter in the flower beds.
The originally dark and damp cave had fluorite erected on both sides to keep away the cold.
The dried herbs and unused vials in the courtyard were arranged in an orderly manner, the alchemy pavilion was kept spotless, and there was a lively scene on the mountainside of Miaodan Peak.
Four more small alchemy furnaces were added to the alchemy workshop. They were not far apart. They were usually covered with a piece of white cloth. This may be because the user was not good at learning. The bottom of the bronze alchemy furnace was scorched black. It was obvious that he was controlling the alchemy fire. Too much.
Shen Mingyue put on some makeup and tied her hair with an elegant dark purple hairpin. She stood in the alchemy studio and silently observed the two men and two women who were concentrating behind her.
There were too many failures in improving Bigu Pill today. Elder Shen was so irritated that he stopped refining it and instead taught a few people the common sense that they should master as Dan boys.
"Listen up, you idiots. Ripening and condensing medicinal liquids or medicinal powders are the most important basic skills of an alchemist, and this cannot be slacked off!"
"Within one stick of incense, grind the six herbs in front of you, the condensate that should be condensed, and the powder that should be ground..."
Before Elder Shen finished speaking, the fog restriction outside the cave was triggered. She waved her sleeves, and an extremely unfamiliar face appeared in front of her: "I will come over later to check!" After that, she quickly left the alchemy workshop. .
After she left like this, the invisible intimidation gradually dissipated. The two men and two women breathed a long sigh of relief. They felt so dangerous that they almost wanted to be beaten again.
A few days ago, Hu Yanzhuo was knocked back seven or eight feet by the old lady Shen because the condensing liquid was a few breaths late. He passed out on the spot. When he woke up, his whole body was sore and he couldn't raise his strength. The remaining three were so frightened that they did not dare to breathe. They did not want to make the same mistake again.
Old Lady Shen was the nickname given to Shen Mingyue by several people behind her back. This elder had such a violent temper that the two Jiang sisters would have abandoned their stall and disappeared long ago if Chen Mo had not made a huge contribution as a guarantee.
As for Chen Feng and Hu Yanzhuo, they were Chen Mo's confidants at the North Peak. They had some experience in alchemy, so they were directly assigned to work here.
However, over the past few months, the four of them have also felt that the old woman is not as good-tempered as usual, but she has no reservations when imparting her experience to a few people. Seeing is believing, and her alchemy skills are not like those rumored by other elders. So inferior, even in the middle and upper reaches of the overall level.
Seeing Shen Mingyue leaving, Jiang Ying, who had the most lively temperament, stood up quickly, opened the door a small crack and took a sneak peek to make sure that she was gone. Then she turned around and shook Chen Feng's arm, saying sweetly: "Brother Chen , can you help me refine a few spiritual herbs? You don’t want to see me being beaten away by the old woman, do you?”
Chen Feng is the one with the highest alchemy talent among the four, so he is also the fastest to learn. Jiang Ying and Hu Yanzhuo are both at the bottom. The difference between the two is that Hu Yanzhuo is working hard to catch up, while Jiang Ying is struggling to catch up. Ying Ze put his mind on Chen Feng.
Looking at the pitiful girl in front of him, Chen Feng's face turned red and his heart softened. Although he said it was the last time every time, he still couldn't bear to refuse.
So he sighed and said: "Hurry up, this is really the last time!"
"Okay! I know that Brother Chen is the most helpful person!" Jiang Ying had long known that he would say this, so she couldn't help but smile, took out two herbs and placed them in front of him, and quickly refined the remaining ones. .
Jiang Yan couldn't stand it anymore and tried to dissuade her: "Xiaoying, the old woman is doing it for our own good. Don't you feel uncomfortable when you lie to her like this?"
"If I don't do this, my whole body will feel very uncomfortable!" Jiang Ying rolled her eyes and said angrily, as if she meant something. Hu Yanzhuo's expression on the side couldn't help but become embarrassed, and the movements of his hands also slowed down a bit. point.
...
On the other side, Chen Mo also walked in through the restriction lifted by Elder Shen, took off his disguise and returned to his original appearance. He sat on the stone bench in the pavilion, faced Shen Mingyue and said slowly: "The same people, Elder Li I have been very careful with the spies I sent, so they won’t become suspicious.”
Shen Mingyue bit her silver teeth secretly: "This haunting guy!"
"Elder Shen doesn't look very good today. Judging from your expression, you have failed at least twenty times. I'm afraid those incompetent disciples are all venting their anger on you in the room at this time, right?" Chen Mo smiled softly and put the last words on his face. The truth that was close to the truth was spoken casually.
"The people you recruited are all a bunch of idiots! They all have half of your abilities. Why does this elder have to work so hard?" Shen Mingyue said angrily.
Chen Mo waved his hand, not being dazzled by her words of praise: "The elder's words are wrong. A capable monk's background is not clean, and it will be a disaster if he uses it. It is not as convenient as using it by a disciple who has no strength but is loyal."
Shen Mingyue did not dwell too much on this topic. She pulled up a strand of black hair that happened to be hanging down and said calmly: "What are you doing here this time?"
"It's still about Bigu Pill. This time I brought more than a hundred new formulas and refined them myself."
Shen Mingyue nodded: "I just want to talk to you about this matter. This is not the place to talk. Come with me."
All the fire fluorite on both sides passed by, and Chen Mo was led by Shen Mingyue to her cave. The inside was very simple. Apart from the stone bed in the corner, there was only a table for conversation.
Chen Mo smelled the faint fragrance in the air, and looked at Elder Shen in surprise: "A few of them took care of this?"
"Boy Chen, do you think this elder is a sloppy person?" Shen Mingyue was a little angry and slammed the table, startling Chen Mo. The latter quickly apologized and said no.
"Although it was those two girls who took care of it, they were also under my instructions." After a while, Elder Shen added another sentence, which made Chen Mo feel helpless after hearing this.
"Okay. Let's get back to the topic of Bigu Pill. In recent days, you have also seen the best results. It can only increase the efficacy of Bigu Pill by 20%, and the cost will increase by 10%. Now you How do you think about it?”
Shen Mingyue explained the dilemma at hand. In fact, even if Chen Mo was not here today, she would have a good talk with Chen Mo.
Chen Mo rolled his eyes and asked directly: "Elder Shen, do you want to give up?"
Shen Mingyue sighed and said earnestly, "Boy Chen, I admit that you have some brains, but how can it be possible that you and I can accomplish such an earth-shattering matter as improving the pill recipe?"
"What this elder wants to do is to stop immediately before we invest a lot of spiritual stones and sell the elixir recipe with a 20% increase in price. We will divide the received spiritual stones 50-50. If you think it is not worthwhile, 40-60 is fine. "
Chen Mo sighed in his heart, shook his head and said: "It's useless, it can't be sold at a high price. The elder will understand after I give you a rough calculation."
"One Bigu Pill sells for one and a half spiritual stones. A monk takes it once every five days. The monthly cost per person reaches nine spiritual stones, which increases the efficacy of the medicine by 20%. That is, six pills become five pills. If it were you You are the leader, how many spiritual stones should you choose? Elders need to know that spiritual stones are not just broken silver in the secular world, and breaking them in half is already the limit."
Before Shen Mingyue could finish the calculation, Chen Mo had already told the result: "Four spirit stones are sold for two Bigu Pills, and the price of one pill is increased by half a spirit stone. The effect is still the same. The monthly price of Bigu Pills is increased by one dollar." The spiritual stone comes out. Would you buy it if it were you?"
"Four spiritual stones are sold for three Bigu Pills, and the effect is the same. The price does not rise but falls. It is absolutely impossible for Master Ding to do a loss-making business, right? After much thought, it is most cost-effective to sell three Bigu Pills for only five spiritual stones. Disciples And I’m willing to accept it.”
"But how much profit is there from doing this? Theoretically speaking, only by selling sixteen pills can you earn one more spirit stone than before. Elder Shen himself also said that the cost of refining will be increased by 10%. This kind of food is tasteless. What's the use of an abandoned improved prescription? It's impossible to change the current market situation."
Seeing that Elder Shen was silent, Chen Mo continued: "What is lacking in Bigu Pill now is quantity, not quality. Our purpose of improving the pill recipe is to fill the gap. After earning some spiritual stones, we will change our strategy. Elder, as the main alchemist, you truly win with quality, this is my disciple’s final thought!”
"I don't understand. Can you explain it in more detail?" Shen Mingyue was confused.
"It's very simple. If Elder Shen thinks about it carefully, why are there so many alchemists in the sect, but the supply of Bigu Pills is still in short supply? It's just that the profit is too low, and no one is willing to do it. Refining a furnace of pills costs hundreds of dollars. The Lingshi is not worth making a furnace of foundation-building elixirs, so who wants to waste time here?"
"Elder Shen thinks so too, right? But just imagine, once the improved Bigu Pill is quadrupled in output, not to mention how many spiritual stones you can steadily earn, this great achievement alone is enough to make all the disciples of the sect admire you. !”
"Under this situation, are you still worried about not being able to get good medicinal herb resources? Such a virtuous cycle will leave an impression on the monks of the sect. The elixirs refined by Elder Shen must be high-quality. They flock to them. Aren’t the stones coming here in a steady stream?”
Chen Mo said calmly: "To be honest, Elder Shen. The water in the sect is very deep. Even if we don't show up and let others sell it on our behalf, we have secretly offended many monks. You see, this is selling bigu pills for profit." The business won’t be profitable for long, and it will be screwed up by other monks.”
"In a word, the improvement of Bigu Pill is more about form than reality. Just let all the monks in the sect know your name. As for how much money you can make through this channel, that is an additional surprise and does not need to be taken into consideration."
Chen Mo explained the plan in his heart, and Shen Mingyue was dumbfounded: "This... you have planned this all a long time ago?"
"That's right." Chen Mo said noncommittally: "The plan did not change quickly. This is also the worst plan I expected."
Shen Mingyue looked at Chen Mo and said with a hint of jealousy: "Sometimes, I really want to slap you so hard that you will disappear from the world of cultivation forever!"
Chen Mo smiled lightly and said nothing.
"One more thing, have you discovered anything about Li in the past few months?" Shen Mingyue's level of concern about this matter is no less than that of Bigu Dan.
Chen Mo pondered for a moment. He had a pretty good idea of Elder Li's purpose through clues, but he couldn't tell Shen Mingyue and still expect her to make contributions. Once she lost her ability, no one could guarantee that she would make a contribution. Will not burn bridges across rivers.
Chen Mo thought for a while and said: "How can it be so fast? But just keep a low profile for a while. He is fishing for big fish in the long term, and we have plenty of patience to wait."
...
Chen Mo didn't care about the ranking in the sect competition, but Chen Feng and Hu Yanzhuo were different, so they left the place on the second day after he arrived, leaving only the two Jiang sisters behind.
He and Shen Mingyue each occupied a room, and each asked for a Dan boy to help her. Jiang Ying was afraid that Shen Mingyue would beat her up, so she took the initiative to choose Chen Mo's side.
Jiang Ying helped him grind the medicine powder, which saved Chen Mo a lot of time, but this did not prevent him from failing in alchemy. The most important thing he did every day was to clean the alchemy furnace.
He had failed for half a month, and he was extremely disappointed, not to mention Elder Shen who had suffered repeated defeats. "No wonder he doesn't want to persevere. There is such a reason." Chen Mo thought in his mind.
More than a hundred kinds of spiritual herbs were all consumed quickly. Chen Mo had the last four spiritual herbs left that could be replaced and gave them to Jiang Ying to refine. After finishing refining here, he had to go to the sect. Go to the Kung Fu Pavilion in the sect, pick out a few practical spells and practice them diligently to improve your ability in fighting.
"Senior brother, can I ask you a question secretly..." Jiang Ying looked around and suddenly lowered his voice and said, "Let's make it clear first, you can't be angry, and you can't file a lawsuit against me!"
Chen Mo was thinking about the refining steps in his mind. When he heard the prerequisites Jiang Ying told him, he had the general direction of what she wanted to ask. He said helplessly: "You can ask, I'm not angry."
Jiang Ying received a positive answer, and her expression suddenly became strange. She leaned into Chen Mo's ear and whispered: "Brother, are you and Elder Shen, between you..."
Chen Mo said without thinking: "Yes, it's exactly what you imagined. You can't tell anyone."
When Jiang Ying heard Chen Mo admit it so quickly, he said in surprise, "Ah! So you really are?"
"You can really climb along the pole!" Chen Mo was so angry that he was speechless. He decisively imitated Elder Shen and gave her a slap in the face. He pretended to be vicious and said: "I don't have any serious things to do every day. Thinking about these messy things is worth ten." , from the first day you became my alchemy boy, I saw that your skills were extremely raw, and if you have time to think about whether you can practice condensing medicine, this is no joke!"
"oops!"
Jiang Ying was in pain from the beating. With a flick of his wrist, the powdered medicine that had just been separated was mixed into a pile. They were indistinguishable from each other and it was impossible to take it out.
"I'm sorry, senior brother, I didn't mean it..."
Jiang Ying also knew that he had caused trouble, and apologized to him repeatedly, but Chen Mo waved his hand: "That's it, nothing can be achieved by practicing anyway, so what can we do if we mix them together, step back, and this time we will practice the mistakes."
.
