Oulala's words instantly shattered all of Qianjin's daydreams, a jolt of icy cold shooting up his spine straight to the back of his head—he hadn't managed to escape after all!

"You were at second-degree bone injury, now I suspect it's fourth-degree," Adams muttered, digging through bottles and jars to find an ointment and a potion. "You got injured and then got into two more fights. If you get into a few more, you won't need me to treat you; you can just retire like Uncle Black and spend your life as a blacksmith."

"Retire?" Qianjin's brow twitched. "Uncle, are you saying... Uncle Black wasn't always strictly a blacksmith? But a warrior?"

Adams’ hand, gripping the small bottle, stiffened momentarily, a fleeting shadow crossing his face. "Is that so? Did I say that? Uncle Black is just a blacksmith." Qianjin repeatedly studied Adams' face, which was not very good at lying, confirming that the apothecary master was trying to conceal something, yet failing to hide it completely.

Adams lowered his head, gently rubbing the cool ointment onto the broken bones of Qianjin’s arms, then forcefully pouring the potion down Qianjin’s throat. Another wave of coolness flooded his body, rapidly rushing toward the fractured sites.

"This..."

Qianjin stared in astonishment at his injured arms, unable to focus on Adams' previous words. The magic of this potion had reached unimaginable levels. The external ointment was penetrating beneath the skin at a speed visible to the naked eye, while the two internal streams of coldness were also rushing to the broken bones.

In an instant, the pain at the fractures was completely suppressed by the coolness. Immediately following this, he could feel the broken bone ends automatically aligning with perfect precision, and bone tissue was rapidly regenerating.

In just a few minutes, Qianjin clenched his fist forcefully, feeling the surge of power leaping between his palm and fingers.

No more pain? More than just no pain! More importantly... the injury was completely healed!

Qianjin looked at his arms in disbelief. This potion was too miraculous, wasn't it? He only knew that mysterious potions sometimes granted strange, momentary abilities; how could a potion also do this?

Aren't potions supposed to be used for slow, gradual recovery? How could he be fully restored in the blink of an eye? Was this even a potion?

"Impressive, isn't it? Now you know what a great discipline Apothecary is! See how much greater potions are than Mysterious Potions?" Adams beamed proudly at Qianjin. "Never mind an injury like this... even if you suffered a Level Ten critical wound, after taking my medicine, you’d recover quickly!"

Qianjin blinked. If he recovered within the Boundless World, did that mean his body outside the Boundless World also recovered? If it did... that was astonishing!

"Idiot!" A disdainful voice echoed again from Oulala's Mysterious Potion Shop. "Drink my Mysterious Potions, and your body will become stronger than a god! Then, you won't even get injured, so what the hell do you need potions for?"

"Is that so?" Adams swaggered toward the door, swaying back and forth. "Since your potions are so potent, why did Qianjin get injured then? He’s consumed quite a bit of yours..."

Qianjin felt a chill run down his scalp. Let the apothecary uncle argue with Oulala, but why drag him into it? Now...

"Qianjin, come here. I’ve researched a new Mysterious Potion." (Support the tower, click to subscribe and vote.)

Qianjin sighed. In the Boundless World, what he feared most was not Uncle Black sending people with knives to West Mountain, nor fighting hordes of demonic beasts and savage animals, but a single sentence from Madam Oulala.

"I've researched a new Mysterious Potion."

That sentence was a million times more potent than the ultimate forbidden spells of those aloof Arch-Mages from the True Strategy Dynasty. Every time he heard it, his heartbeat would uncontrollably accelerate.

"Strip naked and soak in this medicinal vat."

Oulala pointed to a giant, black medicinal vat nearly two people high. She watched Qianjin, whose body was growing stronger, while in her other hand she held a vial that looked nothing like a gentle, blood-invigorating Mysterious Potion.

Strip naked? Qianjin looked around. There was no changing room, and a stunningly beautiful woman stood before him; how could he undress?

"Afraid I'll look?" Oulala's eyes slightly drooped at the corners, her face full of disdain. "Little fellow, you haven't even fully grown hair yet; what haven't I seen?"

Haven't fully grown hair... Qianjin gave a bitter smile and shook his head. Being teased by this queen-like Master of Mysterious Potions left him speechless.

Waiting until Oulala left the room, Qianjin stripped completely naked and climbed the ladder to peer down into the black vat. The red liquid churned continuously, like boiling magma, making one unsure of what to say just by looking at it.

"Oh, your physique is quite nice, now that you're naked..."

Hearing Oulala re-enter the room, Qianjin flushed violently and jumped straight into the black vat. Being viewed naked was one thing; choosing between that and jumping into the medicine vat was no choice at all—he had to choose the vat.

The moment he entered the vat, Qianjin couldn't help but open his mouth in agony and let out a piercing scream.

He could endure the intense heat of the Four Seasons Valley's water and the sand in the Ancient Barren Desert that seemed capable of melting steel without screaming in pain, but this time he couldn't hold back.

This was pain, the purest and most thorough kind! The moment he entered the vat, the surrounding medicine didn't feel hot or cold; in an instant, it ceased being medicine. It felt as if everything had turned into knives, slashing at his skin simultaneously from different directions!

Wind Cloud Golden Body! A surge of Battle Qi! The peak of the Wind Cloud Golden Body Iron Body Realm! Instantly, the pain from the potion was rapidly diminished, turning into an indescribably comforting massage.

"No using protective Battle Qi or protective Battle Skills," Oulala climbed the ladder close to the black vat, poured the potion down Qianjin’s throat, and used her fair, slender five fingers to grab Qianjin's head, pushing it down forcefully! (Support the tower, click to subscribe and vote.)

Gurgle! Qianjin sank entirely, as if transported back to the Four Seasons Valley of that day, submerging into the vat until not even a strand of hair was visible.

Pain! Both inside and out! Qianjin covered his stomach with both hands. He didn't know which generation of Volcano Potion this was—previously, it was just impact force, but now it had transformed into burning, boiling Fire Qi, while still maintaining a strong impact. The external medicine alternated between feeling like knives and feeling like steel needles boring into him through every pore.

"No Battle Qi, no protective Battle Skills! If you want to avoid being beaten into such a mess next time, you can't use them! If you still want to be beaten into a pulp, then use your protective Battle Qi and skills."

The cold, disdainful tone reached him within the boiling vat. The Battle Qi, which was already stirring within him, preparing to erupt again to lessen the body's pain, was instantly suppressed entirely.

In Qianjin's mind, the image of Qian Zhanxuan's cold, arrogant, and domineering shadow replayed repeatedly: Do not use Battle Qi! Absolutely not!

One second... two seconds... three seconds... one minute... ten minutes... half an hour...

For a full two hours, Qianjin was dragged out of the vat by Oulala like a dead dog, lying on the ground gasping for air, lacking the strength to move a single finger.

"This physique..." Oulala stood with her arms crossed, scrutinizing Qianjin's body. "Not bad, truly not bad."

Cough... Qianjin coughed weakly, lacking the strength even to feel embarrassed, let alone raise a hand to cover his vital areas.

Splash...

A spray of cool water washed over Qianjin's body, feeling like the massage of countless superior masseurs—the Stamina Recovery Potion from the Mysterious Potion line! Qianjin smiled; this potion arrived at the perfect moment.

While dressing, Qianjin looked at Oulala and asked, "Master, do you know about Bloodline Warriors?"

"Bloodline Warriors?" Oulala stared frankly at Qianjin's lower body and nodded repeatedly. "Know them, of course. A bunch of guys possessing bloodline power who can undergo multiple awakenings. Very few awaken to the Heavenly Extreme level, and even fewer reach the Ultimate Awakening. They all think they are the strongest idiots."

Qianjin gave a thumbs-up. He had heard evaluations of Bloodline Warriors since he was very young; whether in books from the True Strategy Dynasty or translated versions of books from the Demon Race, they always praised how powerful and noble Bloodline Warriors were. Oulala's open declaration calling them idiots was a first.

"When the time comes, this old lady will research a potion that can turn a pig into a god after drinking it!" Oulala changed her posture from crossing her arms to placing her hands on her hips. "Then those Bloodline Warriors will truly know what idiots they are."

"Since you know about Bloodline Warriors..." Qianjin probed carefully, "Do you know of any water that, if drunk, can cause someone to awaken their bloodline power?"

"There's no such water..." Oulala paused mid-sentence, her eyebrows knitting together as she looked at Qianjin. "It's not impossible, but it certainly wouldn't be naturally occurring water. For example, if a very powerful magical beast, a Green-Eyed Golden-Horned Python, died, and its body sank into a body of water. If the local topography happened to filter out transitional water toxins over time, the water could develop a medicinal effect. Then there's a one-in-ten-thousand possibility of causing a snake-type Bloodline Warrior to awaken once, perhaps?"

"Of course," Oulala thought for a moment longer. "That possibility is extremely small, because the surrounding materials are just enough for filtering, but not quite enough. You'd also need thousands of different mineral substances, combined with an extremely harsh natural environment, and perhaps... large amounts of miscellaneous pollen. In short, synthesizing something like that is incredibly troublesome..."

A powerful magical beast? Its corpse in the water? Qianjin snapped his fingers. So that's it! The magical beast that Lucifer Ni-han killed—wasn't it a Sand Python? And there were no Sand Python cores or any other parts in the entire stone chamber! He had thought that Lucifer Ni-han had used the parts! Now it seemed the Sand Python's body was still at the very bottom of the water source! That’s why Chek Fuleite gained no benefit because he had the Fallen Angel bloodline, but Duan Feng Bu'er would benefit because he had the Nine-Headed Serpent bloodline! The Serpent Emperor bloodline!

The emotional speeches and passionate outbursts, this High Tower author has mostly put into the novel's text.

When it comes to soliciting monthly votes, I honestly don't know what to say.

I know that if I wrote an impassioned post detailing how miserable my physical condition is, I could secure some monthly votes. But writers, having chosen this profession, are playing with their bodies; I have no complaints about that.

If you want to be healthy, don't be a writer. Most writers are not in good health anyway, unless you’re a powerhouse like Shi San who goes to the gym no matter how tired he is, managing to keep his backside incredibly perky, comparable to many male celebrities. I truly admire that.

So, the emotional and passionate writing will be reserved for the novel.

I managed to climb to ninth place this month, and I shouldn't waste that effort. Everyone, please help me with one monthly vote so I can dominate the rankings for a bit! High Tower offers sincere thanks! (To be continued, support the author and genuine reading!)