Fruit of One's Efforts

After Shi Li finally told his mother as to what his real job was, it could be said that their quality of life had greatly improved. First off, with Shi Li being able to concoct Three Injuries Recovering Liquid, that meant that Huo Shenshou could delegate the task of concocting the specific medicinal liquid to his disciple. Naturally, Shi Li could not help but become excited when he heard that come from his master, thinking about the great amounts of Three Injuries Recovering Liquid he would be able to concoct and sell. Unfortunately for him, Huo Shenshou cut off his excitement short, telling him to only concoct two batches of Three Injuries Recovering Liquid every week.

Thankfully, Shi Li understood where his master was coming from, remembering that the demand for the medicinal liquid was high, but not high enough for someone like Shi Li to mass produce. In other words, Shi Li was just being told to make the right amount of Three Injuries Recovering Liquid that would meet the demand of his master's alchemical pavilion.

Nevertheless, that meant that he was able to earn 14 silver coins a week from the batches of Three Injuries Recovering Liquid he concocted, setting aside 4 coins to buy two of the Low-quality Tier 0 Meridian Widening Pills. As for the remaining 10 silver coins he would get every week, he gave them to his mother, allowing her to do whatever she wishes with it as long as he was being fed. In fact, he wouldn't even mind if her mother decided to not work as he ate food from restaurants instead.

However, rather than stop working, his mother decided to work even more, always cooking up a feast filled with delicacies for her son by the time he got home. Although Shi Li could not help but worry for his mother as she was possibly doing more work, the content smile on her face could not help but make him think otherwise, wondering if there would ever be a time where his mother truly never had to work.

In any case, after the meal, he ingested one of the Meridian Widening Pills he had bought from Huo Shenshou, instantly feeling his pathways and acupoints open up slightly more than the liquid he had gotten from his master for free back then. After opening up one acupoint under the pill's effect, he came to the conclusion that he had saved about 3 hours compared to him cultivating without any medicine, while he saved around 45 minutes when compared to him cultivating under the liquid's effect. With that in mind, he made sure to make the most out of the pill's effects, skipping the need to head to the alchemical pavilion altogether until the effect of the pills ran out.

Though, on the first time he came back to the alchemical pavilion after ingesting a Meridian Widening Pill, Huo Shenshou advised him to not ingest it often as impurities existed in the pill. Of course, he also offered Shi Li to buy a higher quality Meridian Widening Pill instead, but Shi Li rejected the offer, thinking that it was more worth his while. With that, he told Shi Li to only take two Meridian Widening Pills every week, prompting the latter to nod in response.

And just like that, a month had quickly passed.

"To think I've already been in this world for two months," Shi Li muttered to himself as he headed to the God Fire Alchemical Pavilion, a light smile visible on his face. At the moment, a decent amount of qi had been infused into his legs, allowing him to move at a speed slightly faster than a person running without breaking a sweat.

Unsurprisingly, during this past month, with the help of the Meridian Widening Pills he would buy every week, he had eventually reached the peak of the 3rd Stage of Acupoint Breaking. Though, it did not take long for him to break through the 4th Stage of Acupoint Breaking sometime later, feeling a bit of strength enter his body once more. Right now, 112 acupoints were opened up inside his body, finally allowing him to store almost as much qi as a normal cultivator at the 1st Stage of Acupoint Breaking could. In any case, that amount was enough for him to not run out of qi from a round trip.

By the time he had arrived at his master's pavilion, he quickly entered the back portion of the pavilion, seeing his master solemnly concocting a bunch of the pills and medicinal liquids that the pavilion was lacking. After watching his master do his stuff for a bit, he went ahead and grabbed the items that he would need to concoct a batch of Five Injuries Rejuvenating Liquid.

Surprisingly, after being informed of the existence of Five Injuries Rejuvenating Liquid, Shi Li had not become successful in concocting even one standard batch. At most, the best batch he had concocted was a substandard batch that had effects comparable to its inferior version, the Three Injuries Recovering Liquid.

With that, he placed in more effort in drilling the additional steps the concoction process of Five Injuries Rejuvenating Liquid brought to him into his mind. In fact, other than making his weekly batch of Three Injuries Recovering Liquid and cultivating, this was all he did… other than a few shoddy attempts at concocting the stuff itself.

After feeling like he had gotten all the steps in concocting the Five Injuries Rejuvenating Liquid drilled very well into his mind, Shi Li went ahead and prepared all of the ingredients and instruments he would use for the concoction process before waiting for his master to finish doing what he had to work.

Unexpectedly, it wasn't until over an hour did Huo Shenshou finish concocting pills and medicinal liquids, even going so far as to ask his disciple when it came to stocking the shelves. Although Shi Li did not mind it that much, he could not help but feel like he was slowly forgetting the steps he had just drilled into him an hour ago. With that, he told Huo Shenshou, "Master, I'm going to try and concoct the Five Injuries Rejuvenating Liquid again. I feel like everything's gonna go well this time."

"Alright, Shi Li. Show me what you've learned." Huo Shenshou nodded in response, noticing that everything was already prepared for the attempt beforehand.

Nodding in response to his master's words, Shi Li went ahead and started the concoction process, going through the various steps while his master grabbed a chair from somewhere and sat on it, allowing his body to relax as he intently watched his disciple do his thing.

From the infusion of Reju Weed and Venati Leaves to Luminous Water, to the formation of the solidified drops of Recova Grass juice and Amalgam Powder, everything seemed to be going very well, prompting Huo Shenshou to raise his eyebrow for a bit, muttering inwardly, "And now, the final step. The process of combining it all into one."

Looking at the light cyan liquid that was currently bubbling in the flask, Shi Li could not help but gulp from nervousness as he recalled the various advice he had received from Huo Shenshou while he tried to concoct it time and time again. "Count to 10 and stir it like tea. Count to 10 and stir it like tea."

Taking in a deep breath, he went ahead and did the final step, making sure to repeat his master's advice in his mind even until he was finished adding all of the solidified drops into the mixture. As he slowly mixed the contents in the flask while it was continuing to boil, Shi Li could not help but become nervous as the water was still light cyan in color, wondering if it would turn murky gray a second later.

Fortunately, as if the heavens wanted to reward him for his hard work, the light cyan water quickly transformed as it took on a royal blue hue, allowing Shi Li to feel the potency of the medicine contained in the liquid itself. Shutting off the burner under the flask to allow the contents to cool down, Shi Li could not help but look at his master while clenching his fists from sheer excitement.

Seeing how his disciple had reacted from the surprising success, Huo Shenshou stood up and smiled, telling him, "It seems you've finally gotten the knack of concocting Five Injuries Rejuvenating Liquid. I'm certain that with a few more attempts, you'll be able to concoct it without a problem. Great job, Shi Li."

Just as Shi Li was about to thank his master, Huo Shenshou interrupted him. "However…"

"The recipe is still incomplete?" Shi Li could not help but say in response, not missing a beat. Hearing that, Huo Shenshou could not help but look at Shi Li for a bit in silence before letting out a peal of laughter. After that, he nodded and said, "Yes, the recipe is still incomplete. However, this will be the final version of the medicinal liquid. After all, this is the original recipe where both the Three Injuries Recovering Liquid and Five Injuries Rejuvenating Liquid are based off of."

"Let me guess," Shi Li said soon after, thinking about making a joke as he said, "With how the last two are named, you're going tell to me that the original recipe is called Seven Injuries Resurrecting Liquid or something. Am I wrong, Master?"

"Well…" Hearing his disciple's guess, Huo Shenshou could not help but scratch his head as he awkwardly chuckled. "You're right."

"…"

"…I see."