Chapter 20: Primordial Beast Blood
Xue Wei could sense the worry in the clerk's voice, and he nodded his head with a grave expression on his face.
"No need for you to worry about me," he promised, "I know what I am doing. I am not going to consume it directly."
Hearing his promise, the clerk felt a bit better, but he was somewhat puzzled as to how he planned on consuming the ingredients then.
Xue Wei had always had the knowledge of how to make herbal concoctions mixed in the bath, but it was an ancient method to increase one's cultivation system that not many were familiar with. It was also considered outdated because much of the medicinal properties were lost this way.
Although when one consumed a plant only thirty percent of the medicinal properties were released instantly, at least twenty percent would stay in the body, and the lucky could later release more and more of this energy. When one took a pill, depending on the refinement process and purity, one could consume from seventy to hundred percent of the medicinal properties, but when one was making a herbal concoction only forty percent of the medicinal properties would be in the water, and from that one might lose even further of the medicinal properties if one was not able to absorb it all in a timely manner.
Although it sounded like a lot less, one was capable of adding different medicines together and thus increase the potency of the herbal bath concoctions.
When one ate medicinal herbs directly, one could only take one at a time, but when consuming the medicine while bathing was a gentle way of consuming the medicinal properties.
As Xue Wei had said what he wanted to tell the clerk frowned but he waited no longer and instead started to find the ingredients that Xue Wei had asked for. Every herb was in small wooden boxes while the beast cores were in jade boxes. The Primordial Beast blood was in a jade vial.
"That adds up to ten gold, seventy-seven silver and four coppers," the clerk said. The money was many times more than last time, mainly because of the Primordial Beast blood.
Xue Wei nodded his head, found eleven gold coins and handed them over. Although he had a lot of gold, he was still frugal with how he spent them, so he waited to be paid the change before he started leaving.
The money he had all belonged to his uncle, and he did not want to use too much. It was okay to buy things that increased his knowledge or increased his strength, but it was not okay to just give it away for free. Hence he did not tip the clerk.
As Xue Wei left the shop, he walked back towards the mansion to enter yet another and more potent concoction when his eyes landed on the Wayfarer's caravan once more.
Shen Mu and his friends had all left, but Li Jian and his friends had arrived. They were all over the place, some of them were looking at things, others were flirting with their girls or guys, and some were just looking at the others.
Li Jian's group of henchmen contained a full twenty-three experts not counting Li Jian, and all of them were present.
Xue Wei shook his head and was about to walk past them when some of the henchmen finally noticed him. "Look it is the piece of trash!" one of them exclaimed, and all of them turned to look at him.
Although Xue Wei's reputation had changed, and they knew that they were no opponent for him, they still looked down on him because of his low cultivation rank, but Xue Wei completely ignored them as he continued to walk towards his mansion. He was long since immune to being called trash.
Seeing that their words had no influence on him, that he did not even frown, the young man felt insulted, and he glanced towards the Wayfarers that had heard his words and looked on interested. Even Wang Xiaoyun was curious about what was happening.
Li Jian had also heard the voice that called out, and he turned around. His eyes were lightening with anger and resentment. He had wished for his father to step into the fight between these two experts to wipe his shame away, but he had declined.
"I don't believe that your movement technique can save you from being overwhelmed by more than twenty people!" Li Jian sneered to himself, and then he lifted his hand, "All of you heed my order, surround the piece of trash and teach him a lesson!"
Everyone was slightly nervous about it since they had seen Xue Wei fight toe to toe with Li Jian before, but they also had faith in their superior numbers.
Since this was the case, they all rushed towards Xue Wei who just stood there completely casually. He knew that he could not engage in a severe battle with this group, as he could not throw out more than three attacks before his Qi would run out.
Not only this, but he also had all his purchased items, and he had to be careful about them. If he engaged in a full-scale battle his things were likely to become broken, and this was the last thing he wanted.
"Little girl you seem rather worried," one of the elderly women cackled as she saw Wang Xiaoyun stand at the side, her hands twisting and her face staring at the battle.
"Worried?" Wang Xiaoyun snorted, "Who would worry about that playboy?"
"Little miss, we have to acknowledge our feelings," the lady laughed at her, but Wang Xiaoyun did no longer listen and instead focused her entire being on what was happening in front of them.
Xue Wei did not notice that the woman he found interesting was looking at him, all he was observing was his opponents.
Xue Wei did not waste his time and activated the Forbidden Rush. "Sorry Young Master Li, I do not have the time to play with you today," he laughed as he vanished into the wind as if he had teleported.
Everyone present was surprised when they saw this. It was only the Ordinary Warriors that could not sense his movements, all Earth Warriors and above saw his changes and they sighed in admiration. The movement technique was truly exquisite.
"He is not a simple one," the old woman laughed again. "If you like him, then make him yours, little miss," she said as she stood up and ruffled Wang Xiaoyun's hair.
Wang Xiaoyun's face reddened, and she stomped her foot on the floor, "Who said I like him? I only spoke with him once. He lives in this weak country, and his rank is low. Even I am above him, and I am a Wayfarer who has not activated my bloodline!"
"Don't be so eager, your bloodline will be activated in another year, and at the same time this kid might be bringing us a surprise later on." the woman snickered.
"Anyway, we need to deal with a Primordial Beast soon. We came all the way here because they say that the Ice Harpy has been seen in this area and she is a real legendary Primordial Beast. If we can kill her, we will get a great bounty!"
Wang Xiaoyun nodded her head. She knew that they only came to this remote kingdom because their targeted Primordial Beast had been seen here. Although the corpses of Primordial Beasts were worth a lot, the Wayfarers were a large group and needed money to provide for themselves. They needed time to hunt down Primordial Beasts, and thus their expenses were always too high compared to their income.
If they could go for specific Primordial Beasts who were known by the humanity, they could claim a bounty when they delivered the head of the primordial beast, though they were allowed to keep the beast core themselves as the heads were only used to verify the dead Primordial Beast.
Xue Wei was unaware of the conversation that had happened between the Wayfarers, as he had used his movement technique to escape the battle this time and rushed back to the mansion. He felt slightly unsatisfied that he was unable to fight them, but he dared not overestimate his own strength. He too knew that he was not their opponent when they all ganged up on him.
As he returned home, he went straight to his room. He ordered the maid to draw a hot bath for him, and while he was waiting, he sat down and started reading the book about the sects and martial arts families within the rest of the continent.
Xue Wei was entirely focused on reading, and it was not before he finished the first chapter about a Martial Arts Family known as the Ouyang family. They were famous for using fans, zithers, brushes and other artistic materials as their weapons and they had a history of over ten thousand years.
The creator of the Ouyang family had been one of the experts that were playing a central role in the rising against the Primordial Beasts from back when the humans had been kept as slaves and livestock. Ouyang Yong was a real hero of humanity.
As Xue Wei had finished reading about the Ouyang family, he closed the book and turned his attention towards the bathtub.
He then unpacked his many things and took small parts of every item. One leaf of Corpse Grass, few drops of blood essence of the blood ginseng, one petal of solarflower, a shard from a beast core and a tiny bit of the drops of Primordial Beast blood.
Xue Wei was aware that he could not handle a full drop of Primordial Beast Blood, so he split the drop into four portions, adding a fourth to the water.
The water turned from red to black, and the steam started to contain a potent scent of blood. This scent arrived through the entire mansion and even spread out from the estate, alerting everyone in the area as to what was happening.
Manager Su rushed to Xue Wei's room when he smelled the scent of blood, his heart was beating rapidly as he feared that his Young Master was severely injured, yet when he entered the room he found Xue Wei seated in a bucket of water that was completely black, his eyes closed and his breathing regular.
Xue Wei had learned to deal with the pain he gained from sitting in the herbal concoction, and although the pain was even more intense now, it was a pleasant sensation because he knew he was increasing his strength with each minute within the painful water.
When Manager Su saw the concoction, he was at first surprised. He knew that it was possible to extract medicinal properties from plants by adding it to the bath, but he also knew it was an incredibly old-fashioned method.
He looked at the table and saw a whole stack of medicines, he also saw primordial beast blood, and his eyebrow shot up in surprise. These items were clearly enough for Earth Warriors to consume, but Xue Wei was only a fifth layered Ordinary Warrior. Was he not worried about his meridians breaking from the overload of medicine?
Manager Su quickly left the room after ensuring that Xue Wei was fine. He did not want to interrupt him, and instead, he ordered everyone to provide that no one entered the estate while Xue Wei was cultivating.
People came to visit and asked what exactly the scent was from, but Manager Su was mysterious and apologised time and time again, but he did never go into details with what exactly had caused the smell, causing many to be curious.
When the rumour about the blood started spreading through the town, the clerk from the apothecary shop could not keep his mouth shut, and soon everyone knew that Xue Wei had purchased Primordial Beast blood.
Some wished that he would destroy his body from trying to consume such astonishing materials, while others hoped that he would be able to overcome yet another tribulation.