For two days now, the first thing Sluvat did upon waking was to sneak into Situ Lei’s laboratory, sitting with him in silence as they stared at the flames beneath the potion-boiling furnace.

He had thought he’d finally encountered a colleague skilled in mysterious elixirs, only to have that fellow, Gan Jin, snatched away by that accursed Potion Master Zhong Sanyi.

Every time Sluvat recalled the scene of Gan Jin being taken, he couldn't help but sigh once more; he truly should have summoned the courage to hold Gan Jin back then!

“Excuse me… may I come in?”

Sluvat’s dull eyes suddenly brightened. He looked up in astonishment at the voice that had been echoing in his mind for the past two days. Gan Jin! This isn't a dream, is it? Gan Jin has actually appeared!

Situ Lei looked up blankly at Gan Jin, then suddenly raised his hand and slapped Sluvat hard across the face, spinning the mysterious apothecary around on the spot.

Gan Jin stared at the scene, utterly bewildered. What? Mysterious elixirs of the Zhence Dynasty—did they come with a special slap as a welcoming gift? This greeting ritual was really rather unpleasant!

If it could be avoided, it certainly should be!

If avoidance was impossible... Gan Jin resolved that from this day forward, he would absolutely never tell any mysterious apothecary that he himself had studied the discipline of mysterious elixirs.

“Ouch!” Sluvat, reacting a beat too slow, slumped to the ground and glared fiercely at Situ Lei. “Damn it! Why did you hit me?”

Situ Lei replied instinctively, “I was checking if I was dreaming.”

“For heaven’s sake!” Sluvat scrambled up from the floor and grumbled, “Couldn’t you have hit yourself?”

“I’m afraid of pain.”

Listening to the conversation between the two mysterious apothecaries, Gan Jin finally confirmed that the actions of these two Zhouzhou were definitely not some peculiar greeting ritual of the mysterious apothecary profession.

“You… you have arrived.”

Hearing Situ Lei’s formal form of address grated on Gan Jin’s ears. He wasn't even twenty years old... well, if you included the time spent in the Endless World, he was just in his early twenties! Being addressed with the honorific "you" by such an elderly mysterious apothecary felt incredibly awkward.

“I… well…” Gan Jin bowed and stepped into the room, his gaze sweeping over the dense forest of herbs on the surrounding shelves. “I wanted to borrow some medicinal ingredients.”

The two mysterious apothecaries quickly made way. “Use whatever you like, whatever you like.”

Seeing the two elderly mysterious apothecaries being so courteous made Gan Jin feel a little uneasy. He finally halted his steps. “How about this: let’s first discuss that mysterious elixir for the Pan family’s Second Altar? Let me see if I can offer any assistance?”

Situ Lei felt so overwhelmed by this sudden burst of fortune that he nearly fainted. Sluvat immediately raised his hand and delivered a sharp slap to Situ Lei’s face.

“Why did you hit me?”

“I was checking if I was dreaming.”

Sluvat blew on the hand he had used for striking, throwing Situ Lei’s own words right back at him.

Situ Lei covered his face, paying no mind to the argument with Sluvat. He quickly retrieved a half-sheet of schematic paper from a metal box. Sluvat rushed out of the room and soon reappeared before Gan Jin, holding the other half of the diagram.

When the two paper fragments were joined, they formed a complete recipe and manufacturing process for the elixir. Although both men had already memorized it, they presented the Pan family’s most secret schematics to demonstrate that they were hiding absolutely nothing from Gan Jin.

Gan Jin took the diagrams with both hands and examined them closely. This made him even more skeptical of the legend surrounding the Pan family. The design of this elixir should have been the work of a true Grand Master of Mysterious Elixirs, shouldn't it? It seemed more likely that the Pan family had an underestimated patriarch in their history who gathered talent to create both the Second Altar and the mysterious elixir.

Reading through a single sheet of paper wasn't difficult, but fully grasping its contents was not something that could be achieved in an instant.

Looking at the diagrams in his hands, Gan Jin realized that things he hadn't understood before suddenly became clear through this paper.

So that’s how it is! Gan Jin nodded softly. If this diagram hadn't made it clear, he wouldn't have realized he was wrong too. No wonder Teacher Oulala always said he was mistaken; the error lay right here.

Gan Jin sat down heavily on the floor, engrossed in the diagrams, forgetting his initial purpose. The two mysterious apothecaries watched him with anxious anticipation.

One hour… two hours… five hours… Gan Jin slowly stretched his arms. In his view, there were flaws in the recipe for this mysterious elixir.

If he showed it to Teacher Oulala, there would likely be even more issues, right? And the configuration method—it would definitely be better if a different processing technique and container were used.

“It’s sheer luck that no one has died from consuming this elixir,” Gan Jin stood up and gently rubbed his lower back. “But honestly, the person who created this mysterious elixir commands true admiration.”

“Well,” Situ Lei intertwined his index fingers, looking at Gan Jin like a bashful bride, and murmured quietly, “Actually, a few people have died from it.”

Gan Jin’s hand, which had been rubbing his back, froze mid-air. This thing actually killed people? By the Stars! It was fortunate he hadn’t given it to Duan Feng’er, or he might have sent him off to accompany Luolin among the stars, vying for who had the thicker skin in the end.

Sluvat nodded with a very serious expression. “The numbers weren't huge—only about a dozen over the entire history of the family…”

Gan Jin was utterly speechless. Mysterious apothecaries certainly had thick skins, but a dozen deaths? That made sense! He had heard of one mysterious apothecary who secretly dosed the well water of an entire village just to test the success rate of a newly formulated medicine, ending up poisoning everyone in the village.

When that mysterious apothecary was brought to public trial, his statement earned applause from the majority of the mysterious apothecaries present, alongside endless curses from the common folk—a story that was forever transmitted throughout the world of mysterious apothecaries.

“Just a village full of people! If it means developing the greatest mysterious elixir, what does it matter if we kill millions or tens of millions?”

For this statement alone, the mysterious apothecary nearly landed on the list of heretics and was nearly wiped out entirely within the borders of the Zhence Dynasty. It was only because the Demon Clan and the Barbarian Clan still strongly supported mysterious elixirs that the Zhence Dynasty dared not destroy its own foundation.

As for the common people, they strictly forbade their children from ever touching the mysterious elixirs that could drive one to complete madness, rendering the value of human life meaningless.

“Luckily, I am not just a mysterious apothecary,” Gan Jin patted his chest in lingering fear. As a warrior, he understood the value of life and held it in high regard.

Situ Lei shook his head repeatedly, sighing at Gan Jin’s reaction. “It’s a real pity. If you could completely cast off those useless shackles in your heart, you could surely become an even greater mysterious apothecary. Your name might become the most resounding in history. It’s the damn study of elixirs that binds your thinking. You should just abandon elixirs; that stuff harms people.”

Gan Jin tugged at the corner of his mouth. This mysterious elixir killed over a dozen people, yet now you turn around and say apothecaries are harmful? Aren’t you ashamed?

Sluvat, seeing Gan Jin’s reaction, quickly stepped in to mediate, afraid Gan Jin would truly walk away. He turned to leave. The temperaments of mysterious apothecaries were not much less volatile than those of regular apothecaries; someone who was both a mysterious apothecary and an apothecary might have an even worse temper.

“Then let’s discuss it,” Gan Jin reached out, grabbed the writing materials surely kept on the mysterious apothecaries’ desk, and rapidly began calculating the various probabilities arising from mixing different mysterious herbs.

The two mysterious apothecaries stared blankly at Gan Jin. Where on earth had this young man learned the study of mysterious elixirs? Many of the methods and possibilities were things they had never even heard of.

Situ Lei’s brief shock gave way as he refocusing his attention on the paper in Gan Jin’s hand. Everyone in this era had their secrets; respecting others’ secrets was respecting oneself. Whether in the history of the Zhence Dynasty or that of the Demon Clan, there were always those who desperately tried to unearth others’ secrets, and their ends were almost invariably tragic.

Discussion, formulation, experimentation… these simple steps consumed an entire day before Gan Jin realized it. Situ Lei sighed repeatedly while watching Gan Jin configure the mysterious elixir. He felt he had lived in vain these past years; merely through the recipe for one mysterious elixir, he had managed to grasp so much about other fields of mysterious elixirs.

Sluvat watched Gan Jin with an expression of utter intoxication. In his eyes, Gan Jin seemed like a colossal, glowing entity. This single conversation was more enlightening than ten years of burying his head in research. In the future, he was certain to secure an important position in the field of mysterious elixirs within the Zhence Dynasty.

Gan Jin took a deep breath and placed the fortieth test tube filled with mysterious elixir onto the rack. Although they were mere deductions, he had derived forty different potential outcomes. Given more time, he could have slowly reasoned out which one was most likely to approach the correct result, but now he was pressed for time to reach the Ancient Desolate Sands.

Gan Jin looked up again at the stone slab ceiling. He was grateful they were conducting these preparations in a sturdy underground chamber; otherwise, the Pan family would have had countless more houses blown up.

In just one night of potion making, there had been seventy-five explosions, six of which caused the structure to collapse, burying them alive. Gan Jin truly admired the two mysterious apothecaries; the first reaction of men who had nearly been buried alive was to hurry back to conduct the next experiment.

“I’ll leave the experimentation to you two,” Gan Jin raised a hand to wipe the sweat from his brow, yawning uncontrollably. “Counting from the moment I was dragged away by the apothecaries, I haven’t slept in three days.”

“No problem,” Situ Lei thumped his chest. “Don’t worry, we can certainly handle this small amount of experimentation.”

No problem? Gan Jin shook his head with a touch of unease. These men didn't even care about their own lives; that wouldn't do! He needed to offer a warning.

[Author's Note: That's the sixth update! Please give more monthly tickets so I can feel inspired! (To be continued, for the rest of the story and more chapters, support the author and legitimate reading!)]

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