Refining the Blood Rage Pill was not difficult — what was hard was gathering the ingredients. Every single material required was an Emperor-grade spirit herb, and many of them were obscure, extremely difficult to find.
Gao Xueting had only managed to collect the full set of materials by sheer coincidence back in the day, and she had asked the Emperor-grade Alchemist within the Temple to refine a single batch. In the end, only one pill had been produced — and it was low-grade at that.
Yang Kai, on the other hand, had handed over a high-grade Blood Rage Pill as though it were nothing. The difference in value was incomparable.
Gao Xueting glanced at the pill residue on the ground and immediately understood — Yang Kai must have refined many batches before selecting the single best one to give her.
"Elder Gao, you should discard your old Blood Rage Pill. That thing absolutely must not be consumed," Yang Kai said solemnly.
Gao Xueting nodded. She retrieved the jade bottle containing the Blood Rage Pill from her spatial ring, tipped the spirit pill into her palm, and with a sharp pulse of energy, crushed the old one to fine powder. She then placed Yang Kai's pill into the bottle and looked at him. "Now are you satisfied?"
Yang Kai grinned, winking mischievously. "If Elder Gao ever wants to refine another Emperor-grade pill in the future, feel free to come find me. This disciple's alchemy skills are refined and exceptional, you know — I can even give you a twenty percent discount."
Gao Xueting laughed despite herself. "You're already an Emperor Realm master. Don't be shameless like that surname Wen fellow — you'll just make a fool of yourself in front of others."
Yang Kai's mouth twitched. "So Elder Gao has always thought of Temple Master Wen as a joke…"
Gao Xueting gave a light hum and glanced around, changing the subject. "I see there are still some spirit herbs left in the garden. Why haven't you collected them? What are they doing here?"
After she spoke, something seemed to click in her mind, and she said with sudden realization, "Oh, I understand. When you alchemists gather spirit herbs, you generally don't uproot everything — you deliberately leave some behind as seeds, don't you?"
Yang Kai replied, "There is indeed an unwritten rule like that, but it only applies to herbs that haven't fully matured. This medicinal garden has existed for an extremely long time, and all the herbs here are fully ripe — they can all be harvested."
"Then why leave some behind?" Gao Xueting asked, looking puzzled.
Yang Kai said with a bitter smile, "These particular herbs can't be touched. In this world, there are certain spirit herbs that, once picked, will lose their spiritual energy no matter how well they're preserved. The energy dissipates in an extremely short time, and they turn into withered grass. So most of the time, if you need to use these herbs, they must be freshly harvested. Some of the materials you gathered earlier, Elder Gao, were of this type."
Gao Xueting was startled by this and hastily checked her own spatial ring. Before long, she pulled out two spirit herbs whose spiritual energy had greatly diminished. She said with some regret, "It really is true."
These two herbs were the very ones she had collected here, and yet after barely a day and a half, their medicinal properties had already faded this much. If another two or three days passed, they would likely turn to nothing but dry stalks.
"Then isn't it a waste to leave these behind?" Gao Xueting said, looking at the twenty-odd spirit herbs still rooted in the ground. Every single one here was exceedingly rare.
"It's not a big deal," Yang Kai said with a faint smile, though his words were somewhat disingenuous.
The other herbs he could take or leave — if he couldn't harvest them, they could simply remain here, and if he ever needed them in the future, he could always come back.
It was the Life-Forming Fruit Tree that he found truly difficult to part with.
Three small blossoms had already bloomed on the tree. He didn't know how many more years it would take before new fruit could grow, but this was a species that had long since gone extinct in the world. Having it right before his eyes with no way to take it home was making Yang Kai itch with frustration.
However, he possessed the Small World. If he handled things carefully, there was still a very good chance he could take the entire medicinal garden in one sweep. But for now, Gao Xueting was still here, and Yang Kai needed to send her out first.
"Elder, if you're feeling well enough, let's head out. Junior Sister Lu Wen is still waiting outside," Yang Kai suggested.
"Good."
The two of them made their way to the entrance. Yang Kai waved his hand, releasing several pulses of Emperor Yuan to undo the restrictions, and left the place together with Gao Xueting.
Once outside, a thick scent of blood assailed their nostrils. Looking around, they could see several corpses strewn across the barren wilderness in awkward positions, all of them mutilated, their deaths clearly agonizing.
Gao Xueting was alarmed, fearing there was an ambush waiting outside.
But when she looked more carefully, she saw only two women standing there quietly. One appeared to be around twenty years old — a completely unfamiliar face, though despite her youth she possessed the powerful cultivation of the third-layer Dao Source Realm. The other was none other than Temple Disciple Lu Wen, though Lu Wen seemed to have been badly shaken, her fair face pale.
Upon seeing Gao Xueting and Yang Kai emerge, both women's eyes lit up, and they hurried over.
"Elder Gao!" Lu Wen looked as though she had been reunited with family, her eyes filled with delight, her complexion visibly rosier already.
Zhang Ruoxi smiled gently. "See, Sister Lu? With the Master taking action, there was never anything to worry about."
Lu Wen gave a somewhat awkward smile. "Thank you, Senior Brother Yang, for your help."
Yang Kai waved it off. "You're too kind, Junior Sister Lu. I'm a disciple of the Temple as well. When an Elder is in trouble, it is my duty to step in — I couldn't very well stand by."
Gao Xueting said, "Regardless, I truly owe you my life this time. If it weren't for you, I…"
She shuddered at the thought. Recalling the desperate moment before, she still felt a lingering chill.
Shaking her head, she said softly, "Now that matters here are settled, I plan to return to the Temple. Lu Wen, you'll come with me."
Lu Wen's face brightened. "Yes!"
Although she had been dispatched by the Temple to gather intelligence throughout the Eastern Region, she had been traveling alone for so long that she constantly missed her familiar brothers and sisters, the familiar scenery of home.
Now that Gao Xueting was bringing her back, her joy knew no bounds.
"And you, Yang Kai?" Gao Xueting turned to look at him.