My health recovery is incredibly fast.

Throwing and catching the ball with both hands is not difficult for him.

But if you use the Hand of Wind...

Xia Zuo tried it out, and the difficulty of summoning two Wind Hands at the same time was already considerable, not to mention having to control them to throw and catch balls.

"Thump, thump, thump..." Several muffled thuds came from inside the carriage. The Wind Hand had used too much force, and the bouncy ball bounced wildly against the wall.

Xia Zuo released the Wind Hand, swung his arms to catch the mischievous pinball, and then summoned the Wind Hand again...

The carriage creaked and turned, the packhorses snorted, and the carriage traveled smoothly along the mountain path, passing through fields and villages, and over one low hill after another.

Chapter 31 Herbal Alchemist

The morning six days later.

Dim's carriage tore through the mist, descended a winding mountain road, merged into a wide, smooth road, and followed the coming and going caravans, heading towards the castle peak on the horizon.

Xia Zuo sat up in the carriage, habitually taking out his toothbrush and mouthwash from his pocket, preparing to sit in the driver's seat to brush his teeth and wash his face.

Faint shouts, mixed with the rumble of several carriage wheels, drifted into the carriage.

He peeked through the window and saw many carriages all around him, with the city walls of Starlight City rising on the horizon in the distance.

Xia Zuo put away what he was holding, leaned forward and gently patted the big guy in the driver's seat, "Dim, we're almost there."

Dim opened his eyes, stretched comfortably, and scratched his thick beard, saying:

"Ah, yes, we're almost there. Let's find a hotel to stay in, get ourselves settled, and then go find those three researchers."

Dim took out his water pouch, took a sip, and turned to say, "By the way, wear your emblem later; those people value seniority the most."

"Okay." Xia Zuo nodded, casually wiped his face a couple of times, sat in the driver's seat, and looked around at the passersby.

The carriage crossed the moat, was inspected by guards, then turned two corners in the market area and stopped in the backyard of an inn.

Tim stepped down from the carriage and patted the packhorse's neck. "Old buddy, wait here for me. I'll come brush your coat once I'm settled."

The packhorse snorted and rubbed its head against Dim's broad chest.

Xia Zuo walked around the packhorse, observing its seemingly ordinary brown coat concealing boundless energy and stamina. "You're really amazing! Do you have a name?"

Xia Zuo turned to look at the horse's owner, "Dim, does it have a name?"

Dim pulled a carrot from his pocket and held it to the packhorse's mouth. "Its name is Carrot, and it likes to eat carrots. I use most of the space in my alchemy pouch to store its food."

"Alright, let's go in." Dim waved and led Shazo towards the back door of the hotel.

The two found the bartender wiping the glasses and asked for two quiet guest rooms.

Xia Zuo arrived at his room and rushed into the bathroom to shower and bathe.

About an hour later, he changed into a neat robe and hood, and together with Tim, who had taken care of the radish, they left the hotel.

The two walked through the crowds and along the streets of the market. Tim's tall stature saved them a lot of trouble, and passersby on both sides of the road made way for them.

In front of a pharmacy, Dim stopped and pointed to his chest at Shazo.

Xia Zuo understood and took out the emblem of an expert-level poison alchemist and put it on his body.

The shop's entrance is adorned with rows of herbs, their aroma mingling with the earthy smell of the soil—a perfect advertisement. In reality, the pre-processed herbs are free of soil, but customers prefer freshness, and soil equates to freshness, so the shop owner has no choice but to cater to their preferences.

"Ding-a-ling~" The bell hanging on the shop door made a crisp sound.

The female clerk at the pharmacy put down the rag she was holding, dried her hands on her apron, and greeted the customers, "Welcome! What can you two do for us?"

Tim gestured with his chin toward the door to the back room. "I'm Tim. I have an appointment to meet with Ms. Julia Willie soon. This is my assistant."

"Okay, please wait a moment." The female clerk nodded in response and quickly went into the back room. A minute later, she returned to the front room and invited Tim and his companion inside.

Shazo followed Dim through a corridor and into a glass greenhouse.

Here, transparent partitions divide the space into different areas, where daisies, wisteria, white camellias, bermudagrass, pink alfalfa... all sorts of herbs and flowers are scattered about. Elemental servants are operating watering cans, shovels, and fertilizer bags, tending to the plants in the flowerpots and wooden troughs.

At the end of the glass greenhouse was an iron gate, which was now open. An elegant lady in a light green robe walked in gracefully, a genuine smile on her face, and a light green vine headband on her head fluttered with her movements.

“Dim, I’m relieved that you came to me first instead of anyone else.”

Julia extended her right hand and shook hands lightly with Dim, then looked at the assistant beside him. Her gaze fell on the emblem on the assistant's chest, and a hint of admiration flowed through her eyes.

"An expert-level poison alchemist... Xia Zuo, it's an honor to meet you. Although this is our first meeting, I have already heard of your achievements. You are surprisingly young and energetic."

Julia extended her right hand again, and shook her wrist up and down as she lightly shook hands with Xia Zuo. "If you want to check my alchemy journal and alchemy room, just tell me."

"Good morning, Ms. Willie," Xia Zuo said with a smile, inwardly marveling at the power of the emblem; he didn't even need to use greeting etiquette to make such a good impression on her.

Julia chuckled and said, "Just call me Julia."

After the two finished introducing themselves, Dim said, "Julia, you know my personality."

He looked at Xia Zuo, as if explaining Julia's earlier words to him, "I usually put the least suspicious people first. So, Xia Zuo, why don't you go check out the alchemy room first? Julia and I will talk for a while."

Julia pulled a bunch of keys from her pocket and handed them to the young poison alchemist. "Go ahead, Shazo. The alchemy journal is on my desk, and you can look at anything in the alchemy room. If you want to check the warehouse of exotic materials, I'll need to unlock the magic circle. Remember to come find me then."

“Okay, Julia.” Xia Zuo took the key, said goodbye to the two, and walked towards the iron gate. Julia and the other walked to a low table in the corner of the glass room.

The first thing Xia Zuo did after entering the iron gate was to take out a pair of white gloves and put them on. Putting himself in others' shoes, if his own alchemy lab were to be inspected by an outsider, he would hope that the person would wear gloves to avoid getting the alchemy lab dirty.

Julia's alchemy room was very neat and clean, with a faint fragrance of flowers and plants. The bookshelves and desks were made of natural wood, and the wooden floors were off-white. There were also white wisteria vines hanging in the baskets by the window. The sun shone brightly outside the window, and the room was warm and comfortable, much better than the poison alchemy room.

Xia Zuo thought for a moment, then took out the headgear and shoe covers and put them on before walking to the desk and sitting down.

About 14 years ago, Julia arrived in the Eastern Continent with the previous expedition of the Mage Temple.

There are 14 alchemy journals on the table, each corresponding to a year's worth of alchemy records.

Xia Zuo started reading from the most recent diary entry. From 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., he finally finished reading all 14 notebooks.

He gained a great deal of knowledge in herbal alchemy.

At the same time, we have gained a clearer understanding of bioalchemy.

Many of the raw materials Julia was responsible for transporting needed to be refined in this alchemy lab before being handed over to the bio-alchemists in the same city.

Xia Zuo took out his notebook and pen from his pocket and wrote down the information that intersected with bio-alchemy.

The rest of the contents of the alchemy journal were not related to the current investigation, but Xia Zuo still noted down the more important events to prepare for future review.

At 6 p.m., the sunset outside the window began to dim, and night was about to fall.

Xia Zuo stood up, stretched his sore wrists, twisted his stiff shoulders, took off his shoe covers, pushed open the iron door of the alchemy room, and went to find the two people who had been waiting in the glass room for a long time.

“Julia, I’ve looked through the 14 alchemy journals on the desk.” Xia Zuo waved the notebook in his hand. “There are a few things I need to check with the warehouse.”

“Okay, come with me.” Julia saw the other person’s gloves and hood and immediately felt a sense of goodwill towards them, and walked toward the iron gate with a smile.

On the wall to the side of the alchemy room desk, there is a metal door with only a handle and no keyhole.

Julia reached out and pressed her hand against the door.

Several swirling, crystal-blue arc-shaped patterns appeared on the door, rotating around Julia's palm for a few seconds. The arc-shaped patterns formed a complete circular pattern with four nested layers, and the sounds of gears turning and chains sliding came from behind the door.

"Click." The metal door unlocked, and Julia pushed it open.

Xia Zuo, having changed into shoe covers, walked in and paused involuntarily.

This warehouse... is more like an art gallery than a warehouse.

On the soft brown carpet, there were rows of glass culture jars of different sizes.

The larger culture tanks are over five meters tall and are divided into three layers from top to bottom. Behind the glass panels of each layer is a lush green plant.

Medium-sized cultivation tanks are used to grow aquatic herbs, with azure water plants flowing slowly in the water.

Even the smallest cultivation jar is as tall as an adult, and it contains a single magical plant that can move around.

As Xia Zuo walked past a spherical glass case, he stopped and looked at the dark gecko inside.

These geckos have a small flower on their tails.

The petals are mostly white, with filamentous bright red patterns distributed on them, and the stamens resemble a drop of bright red blood.

As the gecko's tail detached, the flower fell to the bottom of the display case. About a minute or two later, a new tail sprouted from the tip of the gecko's body, and a tiny flower bud attached itself to the new tail.

Xia Zuo opened his notebook and, referring to the records on a page, observed these flowers called [Blood-Sucking Demon Flowers].

The Blood-Sucking Demon Flower is a parasitic demonic herb. This type of demonic herb cannot survive alone in soil or nutrient solution; it can only parasitize plants or animals.

The Blood-Sucking Flower in front of us can only survive on animals.

Moreover, its growth cycle is relatively short, taking a maximum of three months to develop flower buds—which coincides perfectly with the time it takes for a gecko to grow a new tail after it loses its own. Therefore, the gecko becomes the most suitable medium for cultivating the Bloodthirsty Demon Flower.

The gecko in the culture jar contains the seeds of the Blood-Sucking Demon Flower. The growth of the Blood-Sucking Demon Flower is also the process of the gecko losing blood.

Geckos have suction cups on their claws, which can be seen through glass. The suction cups have bright red blood sinuses, indicating that the gecko remains vigorous even after being repeatedly drained of blood.

These geckos are certainly not ordinary geckos.

Without exception, they had all undergone bio-alchemy modifications and had adapted to the presence of the Blood-Sucking Demon Flower.

The seeds of the Blood-Drinking Demon Flower and the food for the gecko are provided by herbal alchemy.

The gecko that cultivates the magic flower was provided by bioalchemy.

The Blood-Sucking Demon Flower, saturated with gecko blood, must be handed over to bio-alchemy.

This spherical culture vessel is a classic example of collaboration between two branches of alchemy.

Xia Zuo spent some time noting down the current state of the display case, and then asked Julia for some feed and samples of the Blood-Sucking Demon Flower.

He paused briefly at several other display cases to note the inventory of unusual materials.

Around 8 p.m., Shazo and Tim said goodbye to Julia and left the apothecary for the hotel.

The two first went to the backyard to check on the radish, and then went to Tim's room.

Xia Zuo worked out Julia's schedule over the past two years at the table, put down his pen, and said:

“Dim, Julia Willie is fine for now. Her schedule is very regular and hasn’t changed much in the last 14 years. The records in her alchemy journal about the use, replenishment, and transportation of raw materials and products need to be checked with two other researchers to see if they are accurate.”

Xia Zuo packed up his notebook and pen. "Speaking of which, Dim, why do you think Julia is the least suspicious?"

Tim ate a carrot, made a circle with his other hand around his head, and said:

"In the Herbalist Alchemist Guild, members at the expert level and above wear special hats. Male members wear wicker hats woven from rattan, while female members, like Julia, wear vine headbands wrapped around their hair. These are not simple decorations; they require careful daily care to maintain their vibrant green color."