"Is that so?" Duan Fengbu'er turned his head to look at Qian Jin. "Brother in arms, Kuang Ge is really wild these days." Qian Jin buried his head, using the small iron hammer taken from his Dou Realm to methodically smash the Sand Scorpion King's shell into powder, which he carefully collected. Before, he had been too busy for anything, but now that his thoughts were sorted, one task after another needed to be done right. The scorpion shell was excellent for treating bone injuries, and the scorpion meat itself was said to be quite delicious. In the Ancient Barren Sand Sea, one could easily die of starvation, even with water available.

In the Ancient Barren Sand Sea, most demonic beast corpses were poisonous, or incredibly unpalatable, or worse—if you tried to eat it, it would eat you instead. Such incidents were common. The scorpions, all of them meticulously processed and brought into the hall behind the water curtain, became the primary sustenance for the coming days.

Chekfulit stared blankly at a pile of bones not far away. The story of the undead he had just heard was too fantastical. Undead beings—things that only appeared in the tales of bards—actually existed?

Qian Jin finished packing some of the crushed scorpion shell powder and squatted in front of Chekfulit, frowning repeatedly. Manufacturing medicine for bone injuries wasn't hard; he had indeed prepared quite a bit in the ruins outside the frontier passes, and there was still stock available. However, the injury Lucifer's palm strike inflicted wasn't just to the bones; the Dou Meridian, Dou Apertures, heart, and lungs were all damaged in various ways. Such specific medicines would be hard to find quickly here in the Ancient Barren Sand Sea.

The Ancient Barren Sand Sea was profoundly mysterious, possibly concealing any medicinal ingredient found in the world, but to seek herbs here, one first had to survive.

Never mind two broken arms... Qian Jin tugged at the corners of his lips. Even if both his arms were completely unscathed, surviving in the Ancient Barren Sand Sea was no easy feat, let alone searching for medicine.

The injuries still needed treatment, but how? Qian Jin toyed with a stalk of Hundred Spring Grass in his hand, then glanced at Chekfulit. What would happen if he used the ingredients for mysterious elixirs to craft ordinary potions? Perhaps even Eulala and Adams couldn't predict the outcome.

Potions and mysterious elixirs had always been diametrically opposed concepts. The verbal warfare—the accusations, insults, and belittling between apothecaries and mysterious alchemists—had never ceased since the moment these two professions existed.

Those who studied potions looked down on those who studied mysterious elixirs, and vice versa. Both sides strictly guarded their own barriers, never truly engaging with the other's discipline.

"Making ordinary potions from mutated herbs?" Qian Jin hunched his neck. This idea was certainly audacious. If Eulala knew, she would surely poison him to death with a single vial. Even Adams, usually a relatively affable Grandmaster Apothecary, would probably do the same. Why keep a student like that around? Better to poison him off!

Qian Jin seemed to hear the voices of his two teachers, and he hunched his neck again, looking at the herbs in his hand. Both potion-making and mysterious alchemy were profoundly deep disciplines. It could be said that a person could spend their entire life studying one field and still not exhaust it, leaving no time to study the other. Furthermore, no one had ever truly shouldered the responsibility for both mysterious alchemy and pharmacology, let alone managed to convert and apply them between disciplines.

"No one has ever thought of this before..." Qian Jin inhaled the scent of the Hundred Spring Grass in his hand. "Perhaps... I can try! As long as I don't tell the two teachers."

Iron Bone Steel Flesh Grass: When consumed, it made bones extraordinarily tough, even to the point of being incapable of bending. Thousand Soft Silk Flower: Even stone would soften into a puddle of mud after consuming it.

"The original prototypes for these two mutated herbs were merely Bone Strengthening Grass and Thousand Soft Flower, whose medicinal properties were relatively mild," Qian Jin scratched his head, contemplating the differences. "Later, mysterious alchemy took these herbs to their absolute extremes through extreme methodologies. If ordinary people consumed them, while they wouldn't die, they would certainly be rendered completely immobile."

"It's impossible to completely revert the nature of the herbs to their original state," Qian Jin walked among the clumps of flora, searching everywhere. "But perhaps finding a few other medicinal herbs to neutralize the properties... and then adding the pollen of the Blood Tear Demon Flower, perhaps..."

Pungent, bizarre herbs swirled back and forth in a dozen jade bowls, beakers, and test tubes made of different colored materials, slowly being baked over a faint little flame. The resulting bubbling sound was distinctly bloody and acrid, and the occasional smoke emitted even seemed to form the shape of a skull.

Qian Jin hurriedly went out through the water channel back into the Ancient Barren Sand Sea. When he returned, he clutched a lively, bright green, four-legged lizard that hissed menacingly from time to time. He dropped it into a test tube, and in less than a second, the lizard stopped moving completely.

Its white belly flipped in the bottom of the test tube, radiating an indescribable, eerie aura. The green color gradually receded from the dead body of the lizard, seeping out from its open mouth and mixing with the elixir.

"I didn't expect to get a Green Dragon! I was planning on seeing if I could capture some of the most common gray-brown snakes to substitute."

Qian Jin watched the potion slowly cool. He carefully divided it into four bowls and handed them to Chekfulit. "This is something I made myself. I don't know what grade of potion it is, so just make do and drink it. Whether there are side effects, it's genuinely hard to say."

Duan Fengbu'er watched Chekfulit's expression as he drank the potion and instinctively backed away two steps. This potion must have been incredibly foul. The Iron Man, who hadn't shown any pain even when several of his ribs were broken by a palm strike, was already on the verge of tears after just two sips.

After a busy period, everything was finally laid to rest. Fen Tu Kuangge took out a bronze longsword from Qian Jin's Dou Realm and began cultivating the Great True Gold Dou Qi. Duan Fengbu'er closed his eyes and circulated the Dou Qi circulation specific to his innate bloodline. Qian Jin took out the Magic Hat from his Dou Realm, found a quiet corner, put the hat on, shielding his face, and entered the Endless World directly.

The familiar village, the familiar cooking smoke, and in the distance, the familiar terrifying Great West Mountain, towering majestically, piercing the clouds, its peak unseen.

"Injured?"

Qian Jin plunged one foot into the courtyard of the blacksmith shop, and Uncle Black's somewhat surprised voice reached his ears. Injured? Qian Jin looked at the two arms hanging by his sides. It seemed that even upon entering this Endless World, the external wounds could still be carried over. Support the towering structure, click to subscribe and vote.

"Don't work the forge," Uncle Black mumbled, puffing on his pipe. "Go find Adams first and get some medicine. Treat it first."

"Take medicine?" Qian Jin stopped in his tracks, an awkward expression on his face. "Uncle, I'm a Level Ten Apothecary. I've already taken medicine. In a few days..."

"What you call medicine?" Black didn't even lift his eyelids. "At best, that's just some herbs with slight medicinal effects."

Herbs with slight medicinal effects? Qian Jin's mouth was full of bitter laughter. A Level Ten Apothecary received this appraisal from Uncle Black? It seemed he had thought too highly of himself before. Ah! Indeed! A Level Ten Apothecary really amounted to nothing! He might as well go ask Uncle Adams for some medicine and see what 'real' medicine was.

Leaving the blacksmith shop, Qian Jin carefully hugged the base of the wall and scurried towards Adams's forge. Every time Eulala downed a Volcano Potion, she would always boast about how excellent it was, guaranteeing an iron body and bronze skin afterward, making one invulnerable to injury. Now that his body was hurt, if Eulala saw him, she might act impulsively for the sake of a mysterious alchemist's honor.

"Oh? Isn't that Qian Jin? So early?"

Adams's rough voice, like a broken gong, was loud enough for the entire street to hear clearly. Qian Jin felt a pair of icy eyes staring at his back. Slowly, slowly...

Qian Jin turned around and saw a beautiful woman with a smile on her face. However, this seemingly benevolent smile always carried an aura of extreme danger, like a viper eyeing a frog.

"You still know how to turn around?" Eulala crossed her arms. Her voluminous robe of a mysterious alchemist still clearly outlined her ample bust, making her look enticing. "Weren't you planning on sneaking off to find that fool Adams?"

"Fool?" Adams's imposing, mountain-like physique nearly crushed the doorframe of the potion shop as he rushed out, roaring in anger. "You filthy woman, who are you calling a fool?"

"You!"

A vial filled with purple mysterious elixir tumbled through the air, crashing towards Adams's cheek like a grenade.

Adams ducked his head. The vial shattered against the doorframe, and the purple liquid dripped onto the ground. Qian Jin secretly felt relieved for Adams; this vial was an expression of Eulala’s dark humor—it couldn't kill, couldn't injure, and couldn't heal; its only use was to remove hair.

Once, Eulala had made Qian Jin catch a wild wolf and then poured the elixir on it. Soon, the wolf's fur fell out, and the animal, which had previously held its head high with eyes showing absolute defiance, shamefully lowered its proud head after becoming bald.

Eulala threw the vial and pointed at Qian Jin. "This kid, both arms broken—and you didn't even notice? You still dare call yourself an authority on potions? I have a well in my backyard specifically for burying blockheads and fools! I think you should just go drown yourself in it."

"Arms broken?" Adams's anger immediately vanished. He began examining Qian Jin's body closely. "Broken in so many places? How did this happen? It's so severe? Come with me, I'll mix you some medicine."

Qian Jin quickly turned and followed Adams into the room, secretly feeling lucky this time. If Uncle Adams hadn't come out to distract Eulala, otherwise...