I Became the Alchemy Master by Picking Up Trash-Chapter 51 - 50: Spirit Fruit

At night, they set up camp in the goblin nest. The nearby star beasts all knew this thicket filled with stumps was the territory of the mad goblins and usually avoided it, making it a rare safe haven.

Dinner, as always, appeared to be a very murky mess in a large pot, but it tasted amazing. Cui Tianxiao now didn’t need any reminding; he automatically joined in to eat. If it weren’t for the Shennong Cauldron with its spatial array, there wouldn’t be enough to go around.

In the past couple of days, Li Xing followed behind the two young masters, picking up quite a few things they left behind. After all, the affluent young masters from the upper city didn’t fancy low-grade star beast meat, so she might as well take it if they didn’t want it.

Li Xing estimated that by the time they left the Datang Forest, the star beast meat in her spiritual pendant would be enough to last until her first-year holiday as a reservist.

At night, Li Xing continued to keep watch. This time, Ye Qingting and Cui Tianxiao didn’t bother with formalities and slept soundly, assured that they would be revitalized the next day to lead the charge.

After another day’s journey, they finally reached their destination. Ye Qingting and Cui Tianxiao were delighted to see the spirit fruits as they had wished.

The quality and quantity of these spirit fruits were both top-notch, leaving Ye Qingting very satisfied.

"Ah Xing, can I ask you for a favor?"

"Go ahead."

"I’d like to ask you to help make some medicine."

"Using the spirit fruits?"

"Yes."

The completely painless old injuries and the restful sleep over three nights convinced Ye Qingting that the large pot of food Li Xing served them was extraordinary, surely containing medicinal spirit plants beneficial to their bodies.

They had traveled in the forest for three days without suffering any injuries from plants, all thanks to Li Xing’s understanding of plant traits.

Li Xing claimed to be an amateur healer, and Ye Qingting believed her, even suspecting she had a real talent. If so, why not let Li Xing try making medicine with the spirit fruits? Maybe it would yield unexpected results.

"Ah Xing, to be honest, my cousin’s spirit sea is injured and needs medication. However, his constitution is unique, and the spirit fruit is currently the only herb he can use."

"Before coming to Datang, the family had already collected many spirit fruits and hired senior healing masters to concoct medicine, but the results were mediocre."

"So, you want me to give it a try?"

Ye Qingting nodded, "Yes. Your reward will be equal to other healing masters hired by the family, and if your medicine works well, you can name your price."

"Can I see your cousin?"

From ancient times, alchemy and medicine were inseparable. With Li Xing’s superb healing skills, if she could examine and diagnose Ye Qingting’s cousin, the treatment could be most effective.

Ye Qingting was troubled, "Well... I’m afraid that’s not possible."

His cousin’s current state wasn’t suitable for seeing outsiders, and amateur healers had mixed reputations, most being nothing more than charlatans selling miracle pills. Unworthy to treat a noble family member.

If his family knew about this, they’d surely accuse him of fooling around. Ye Qingting intended to act first and report later.

Li Xing hesitated briefly before saying, "Without seeing his actual condition, I can only make medicine based on my experience, making it less tailored and possibly less effective."

"Do your best, no need for too much pressure."

His cousin had been frail since childhood, and even the senior healing masters hired at great expense by the family couldn’t help. Though Ye Qingting hoped Li Xing could work miracles, his expectations weren’t high, and he could fully accept it if she failed. It would just serve as another option and hope.

"Alright. There are quite a few spirit fruits here. I’ll use half and save the other half. Take the finished medicine back to him, and if it’s effective, let me know. I can make more based on the results."

Ye Qingting and Cui Tianxiao exchanged glances. Did they misunderstand?

Cui Tianxiao asked, "Xing, are you saying that when we head back, we can take the medicine with us?"

Cui Tianxiao didn’t know how amateur healers made medicine, but he was well aware of the quirks of professional healers.

Even the most basic healing medicine would take two or three days to prepare, with many stipulations and conditions, like working for ten minutes and resting for two hours, with a myriad of issues and a bad temper.

Amateur healers usually weren’t wood element spirits, and their understanding of herb properties was lesser than professionals, so it should take more time. But from Li Xing’s tone, it sounded like making medicine was a quick and uncomplicated task.

"I’ll do it now and give it to you later."

Li Xing didn’t understand the shock on Cui Tianxiao and Ye Qingting’s faces.

The alchemy efficiency here must be incredibly low. It’s not like making an immortal pill for eternal life; does it still take ten days to half a month? Ridiculous!

Getting started immediately, Li Xing harvested the ripe fruits, keeping half in the jade box for preservation and preparing to process the other half directly.

Like a curious child, Cui Tianxiao asked about everything, "Xing, why don’t you dig up the whole plant?"

The Cui Family and the Ye Family were longtime allies. Recently, they also helped collect spirit fruits, and Cui Tianxiao had seen the herbs they delivered, all complete with roots, leaves, and fruits.

"Only the fruit of the spirit fruit is medicinal; there’s no need to uproot the whole plant. If everyone harvested like that, spirit fruits would become extinct."

Li Xing hated the idea of excessive harvesting. On Blue Star, many spirit plants had been dug to extinction by laypeople, and she didn’t want the same to happen here.

Ye Qingting had been staring at the jade box in Li Xing’s hand and hesitantly asked, "Ah Xing, can I take a look at this box?"

"Feel free to look." A preservation jade box is no treasure.

Ye Qingting carefully held the jade box, using his spiritual power to trace the talismans carved on its inner wall, feeling deeply shocked.

The preservation talismans in the jade box contained the profound principles of time, maintaining the freshness of the plants as if they were just picked. This was far superior to the refrigeration preservation talismans used by the Ye Family.

"Ah Xing, where did you get this jade box?"

Li Xing squinted slightly, "I bought it at the money-making site, why, is there a problem?"

Dan cultivators didn’t have many arrays they must learn, but a preservation array was essential. Otherwise, how could they preserve the medicinal properties of valuable spirit plants found during travels?

Judging by Ye Qingting’s reaction, was this jade box some kind of rarity?

"This preservation box is very powerful. I’d like to buy one. Do they have more at the money-making site?"

"Why would you, a martial master, need this?" Such jade boxes had preservation effects useful only for spirit plants, and Ye Qingting, a martial master, shouldn’t need them.

"Xing, you must be naive. Qingting comes from a distinguished healing master family. Though he’s a martial master, he’s knowledgeable about the tools and containers used by healers and loves collecting these herb boxes."

I see.

Taking out a slightly smaller jade box from her spiritual pendant, Li Xing handed it to Ye Qingting, "I’ll give you one. Ten thousand star coins; we’ll settle it at the mission’s end."

"T-Ten thousand?"

"What? Too expensive? You can negotiate."

"No, no, no, just ten thousand, thank you!"

The Ye Family’s preservation boxes sell for thirty thousand each, making Li Xing’s price shockingly low. Ye Qingting feared she’d change her mind and quickly stored the jade box, feeling lucky that the Datang journey was worthwhile.

The spirit fruits were almost all collected, and Li Xing prepared to concoct medicine.

Coming from a healing master family, Ye Qingting naturally respected others’ privacy when making medicines, pulling Cui Tianxiao, who very much wanted to stay and watch, to keep guard nearby.