Martial Arts: My talent multiplier increased

The scent was very faint. An ordinary person couldn't smell it. But Liu Ruyan's nose wasn't an ordinary person's nose.

She lifted her upper body from the crook of her arms. Very slowly. Slowly, not like someone who had just woken up.

She is in control of herself.

The medicine grinder in his right hand was placed on the table. His fingers trembled slightly as he released the handle.

Her gaze was fixed on the dark gold crystal.

Fang Yuan counted to three. She didn't speak. She didn't ask what it was. She didn't bombard him with a barrage of pharmacological questions like before.

She extended her right hand. Her index finger and thumb, at that fixed clamping angle, approached the crystal extremely slowly.

She stopped when her fingertip was still an inch away from the crystal surface.

"...The essence and blood crystallization of an ancient ferocious beast."

His voice was terribly hoarse. Not the hoarseness of someone who had just woken up. It was the hoarseness of someone whose throat was blocked by something.

"Where did you get this?"

It's not a question. It's the same as when speaking to Fang Yuan—a statement.

Fang Yuan did not answer the question.

"Can you use it to refine pills that enhance your cultivation?"

Liu Ruyan withdrew her fingers from beside the crystal. She placed them on her knees. Clenched. Released. Clenched again.

Fang Yuan's twice-strong spiritual perception swept over her facial muscles—the zygomaticus major muscle was twitching. The orbicularis oculi muscle was contracting at an abnormally high frequency. The pupils were dilating twice the normal value.

It wasn't fear. It wasn't hesitation.

It's greed.

It was the same kind of greed she had on her first day at Baicaotang, when she was rummaging through the medicine cabinets—she couldn't resist buying good things. But this time, it was more than ten times stronger.

Even the best medicinal herbs in Baicaotang's medicine cabinet are still just "medicinal herbs".

The thing in front of us is something that transcends medicinal herbs.

"able."

Liu Ruyan's voice was squeezed out from the bottom of her throat.

"But you have to tell me what you're going to use it for."

Fang Yuan leaned against the medicine cabinet, his arms crossed in front of his chest.

"Fight a heretical cultivator at the Qi and Blood Realm."

Liu Ruyan's fingers stopped on her knee.

She looked up. Her face, stained with medicine, had two eyes staring blankly at Fang Yuan.

"Are you crazy?"

Fang Yuan didn't reply.

Liu Ruyan's mouth was open, as if she wanted to say "You're crazy" again. But her gaze slid from Fang Yuan's face to his waist—the black porcelain jar was still tied there. The broken jar of medicine she made.

Then her gaze slid to Fang Yuan's right hand.

There's a very faint mark on my right fingers—not a medicine stain. It's the kind of thickened keratin left from repeatedly clenching and punching, causing the knuckles to rub against the air at high speed.

She stayed at Baicaotang for five days. Every morning, she kept track of the number of Qi and Blood Pills that Fang Yuanduo asked for.

Three more bottles on the first day. Five more bottles on the third day. Seven more bottles on the fifth day.

A normal pharmacy owner wouldn't have this level of consumption.

She is not stupid.

"You're the one who killed the evil cultivators these past few days."

Fang Yuan waited.

Liu Ruyan's mouth closed. Then it opened again. Her lips switched rapidly between two expressions—"You're out of your mind" and "But you did kill five."

Finally, she lowered her head and looked back at the dark gold crystal.

"The resulting products are extremely potent."

Her speaking speed returned to one and a half times normal. That drug-crazed, rapid speaking speed.

"The energy purity in this crystal is extremely high—higher than any natural essence blood crystal recorded in my master's notes. After being refined into a pill, the user's cultivation level will skyrocket in a very short time. However, the side effects are also significant."

Her fingers gestured in the air, indicating the name.

"The effects of the medicine last for about fifteen minutes. After that, the effects will wear off. The body will enter a period of weakness lasting at least three days. During this period, your cultivation level will drop by one major stage. Your qi and blood will be disordered. Your meridians will be swollen and painful. In severe cases—" Her fingers paused in mid-air for a moment, "It may cause permanent damage to your meridians."

Fang Yuan's face remained unchanged.

"How much will it increase?"

Liu Ruyan raised her head.

"You're at the late stage of the Bone Refinement Realm?"

"right."

Her gaze swept over Fang Yuan from head to toe, then from toe to head. Her assessment was no different from examining the quality of medicinal herbs—checking moisture content, texture, and color of the cut surface.

"If your innate talent is normal, taking this pill in the late stage of Bone Refinement will at most advance you to the early stage of Marrow Refinement. It will last for a quarter of an hour."

Early stage of the Marrow Refining Realm.

Fang Yuan's heartbeat remained unchanged. But the numbers in his mind were racing.

Early stage of Marrow Refining Realm - four minor stages away from Blood and Qi Realm.

not enough.

but--

Fang Yuan's innate talent is not "normal".

It's four times.

How much more efficient is a four-times root bone in absorbing and converting medicinal power compared to a normal martial artist?

He had never tested it under such extreme conditions. The sample size was zero.

Fang Yuan's fingers, which were crossed in front of his chest, moved slightly. He brought his thumb and forefinger together and drew a circle at the base of the thumb and index finger of his other hand.

Liu Ruyan was still talking.

"The refining process of this elixir is very special. The essence and blood energy of ancient ferocious beasts are incompatible with the human blood and qi system. If it is swallowed directly—"

"I know. That's why I'm looking for you."

Liu Ruyan closed her mouth.

She stared at Fang Yuan for two breaths.

"You came to me because you know I can solve the compatibility problem between animal essence and human blood."

Fang Yuan did not deny it.

Liu Ruyan's eyes lit up. That kind of light—Fang Yuan had seen it too many times. Pure, untainted by any utilitarian motives, the excitement of a medicine fanatic seeing a top-tier challenge.

Then her face fell.

"But this refining process requires at least—" She counted in the air with her fingers. "...three days. And I need to prepare the medicinal herbs. At least seven auxiliary herbs. Two of them..."

She turned and glanced at the medicine cabinet of Baicaotang.

"Do you have Crimson Flame Stamen in your medicine cabinet?"

Fang Yuan's lips curved slightly.

"Your master's notes, page 117. It says that Baicaotang might have Crimson Flame Cores."

Liu Ruyan froze.

She turned her head and glared at Fang Yuan.

Her expression was complex. There was surprise that she had even read my master's notes, bewilderment that she seemed to wonder if her speed was even human, and an indescribable feeling—Fang Yuan read one word in her eyes—reassurance.

It wasn't about trusting Fang Yuan as a person. It was about feeling reassured that "someone is taking Master's research seriously."

"The Crimson Flame Bud is in the third compartment at the very bottom of the medicine cabinet. Your manager has been keeping it there for two years, treating it like a climbing plant," Fang Yuan said.

Liu Ruyan had already taken a step forward.

She squatted in front of the medicine cabinet. She pulled open the third shelf at the bottom and flipped through it five times.

She pulled a withered vine from the corner.

The vine's stem has rings of dark red markings. The leaves have withered, but the veins still maintain their complete network structure.

Liu Ruyan brought the vine to her nose and smelled it.

"It's been two years. The drug's effectiveness has decreased by at least 40%."

Her brows furrowed.

"But that's enough. Barely enough." She placed the vines on the table, next to the dark gold crystal. "The remaining six auxiliary ingredients—snow ginseng rootlets, green lingzhi powder, five-colored smilax glabra, borneol, cinnabar, and…"

She flicked her finger in the air.