The herbs used to refine Warrior Elixirs were quite common, but alchemists were rare, hence these elixirs were only sold in medicine towers. Elsewhere, most pills were made from medicinal herbs.

It was for this reason that the elixirs sold in medicine towers were only of the highest quality. Take the simplest example, the low-level Warrior Elixir. The price of one low-level Warrior Elixir was 100 silver taels, equivalent to 1 gold tael. A medium-level Warrior Elixir cost ten gold taels, while the more advanced high-level Warrior Elixir required a minimum of one hundred gold taels.

However, Warrior Elixirs were not omnipotent. Aside from the low-level Warrior Elixir, which had no specific requirements for consumption, consuming the medium-level Warrior Elixir caused significant pain. After all, jumping from a low-level martial to a medium-level martial was accompanied by a sudden surge in cultivation base, rapid increase in strength, and some physical discomfort, which was unavoidable. The pain increased even more when consuming the high-level Warrior Elixir.

This was why Yi Yiming had never used Warrior Elixirs to enhance his cultivation level; simply put, he was afraid of pain.

Of course, there was also a flaw in consuming Warrior Elixirs. Due to some side effects, it was difficult for those who consumed the elixir to break through to the human-grade realm. Given this premise, the wealthy and prestigious youths of the capital lost interest in Warrior Elixirs.

In their view, even martial artists at the human-grade realm were not much different from low-level martial artists. Therefore, why should they endure such pain to consume Warrior Elixirs? Among them circulated a saying:

"We are only idle rich, not useless trash! Only those useless trash would resort to Warrior Elixirs!"

However, those with ordinary backgrounds didn't think like that. They didn't have human-grade guards protecting them, so there were plenty of people who wanted to consume Warrior Elixirs. Unfortunately, the third floor of the medicine tower wasn't accessible to everyone. Moreover, even though the Warrior Elixirs from the medicine tower were barely up to standard, the quantity was very limited and far from meeting the demands of many people.

Yi Yiming had spotted this point, which was why he had the idea to refine Warrior Elixirs and then sell them in large quantities. After all, with his unique cultivation method, he couldn't afford to run out of herbs. In the beginning, he could still use money from home to buy herbs, but Yi Yiming knew that this wouldn't last long. Despite his family's strong influence, their financial situation wasn't great.

Thus, he could only earn money to cultivate on his own.

With this idea in mind, Yi Yiming had no more intention to linger. After casually picking two types of herbs, he left the medicine tower with Ye Qi.

As soon as they left the medicine tower, Yi Yiming headed straight for his family's medicine shop because he had seen the herbs needed for refining Warrior Elixirs there yesterday.

...

Half an hour later, as Yi Yiming looked at the piles of herbs in front of him and prepared to start refining elixirs, a system prompt left him dumbfounded.

"System Prompt: Alchemy requires an Alchemy Furnace to be used!"

Damn it, why isn't this like in the games?! Isn't it okay as long as you have the herbs and shout 'Alchemy'?

Unfortunately, Yi Yiming's complaints didn't catch the system's attention. Helpless, Yi Yiming had to run around looking for an Alchemy Furnace.

Yi Yiming's unusual behavior naturally attracted the attention of Duke Wu, and when Old Master Ye called Ye Qi to ask about the specifics, upon hearing Ye Qi's speculation, Duke Wu sprayed all the tea in his mouth in surprise.

"What? Are you saying that brat wants to refine elixirs?" Duke Wu widened his eyes, as if he had witnessed something unbelievable, and exclaimed in astonishment.

Not only was Duke Wu surprised, but even Zhao, the housekeeper pouring tea on the side, was startled. His hand trembled, causing the tea pot in his hand to tilt and spill out most of its contents.

Helpless, Ye Qi wiped the tea off his face. Seeing Duke Wu's astonished look, Ye Qi hesitated for a moment. However, after thinking about Yi Yiming's strange behavior at the medicine tower today, Ye Qi nodded firmly and replied, "Yes."

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After receiving Ye Qi's affirmative answer, Duke Wu and Zhao looked at each other in astonishment, both wearing incredulous expressions, remaining silent for a long time.

After a while, Duke Wu shook his head and chuckled, "Ever since that brat caused a stir a few days ago, he seems to have changed completely. First, he made the Prime Minister's grandson so angry that he spat blood. Now he's messing around with alchemy. I just can't figure him out."

Upon hearing Duke Wu's words, Zhao, the housekeeper, adjusted himself and slowly spoke, "General, perhaps Young Master really can refine elixirs. It's just that we didn't know before. It's hard to say!"

Although Zhao said so, judging from his tone and expression, he probably didn't believe what he was saying either!

In the end, Duke Wu waved his hand and said, "Forget it. As long as that brat doesn't burn down my mansion, let him do whatever he wants. I won't interfere."

...

Regardless of how his grandfather was, at this moment, Ye Yiming looked at the peculiarly shaped small pot in front of him with a mix of amusement and exasperation.

"The Most Bizarre Alchemy Furnace in History: Crafted by a certain highly inept uncle, this alchemy furnace is of unbelievably poor quality! When refining low-level elixirs, it increases the success rate by a mere thousandth! (Friendly Reminder: Due to the abysmal quality of this alchemy furnace, the system suggests the host consider replacing it to avoid unnecessary losses!)"

Increases the success rate by a thousandth?

Damn, it's barely better than nothing. With such an unprecedented alchemy furnace, no wonder the system bestowed upon it the title of "The Most Bizarre."

It's no surprise, given its incredibly strange appearance, resembling nothing more than a small chamber pot, completely shrouded in a dismal black, hardly resembling an alchemy furnace.

Unfortunately, there was nothing he could do about it. It's not that Ye Yiming didn't want a better alchemy furnace; he had turned the entire Duke's mansion upside down looking for one. Even this bizarre alchemy furnace was unearthed from some obscure corner. At first glance, Ye Yiming had mistaken it for a chamber pot!

Staring at the bizarre alchemy furnace before him, Ye Yiming thought to himself: Well, my basic alchemy skill has a 50% success rate for refining low-level Warrior Elixirs. Any old furnace should do.

After preparing everything, Ye Yiming dumped all the herbs needed for refining Warrior Elixirs into the alchemy furnace in one go. Then, with both hands covering the peculiar alchemy furnace, Ye Yiming silently recited in anticipation, "Alchemy!"

Immediately after using the Alchemy skill, Ye Yiming felt a mysterious force emanating from his body. It passed through his hands and transferred to the alchemy furnace.

"Hmm!" The furnace trembled slightly, and Ye Yiming felt its body heat up slightly before it fell silent.

Is that it? No golden light? No herbal fragrance? No earth-shattering effects?

This wasn't what he had imagined at all. It's just not right!

"Ding!" Just as Ye Yiming was deeply puzzled, a prompt from the system sounded.

"System Prompt: Alchemy failed. Alchemy skill proficiency increased by 1 point! Host, please continue to work hard!"

Upon hearing the system's prompt, Ye Yiming was dumbfounded!

Damn it, I was hoping for a great start, but it turned out to be a flop.

Ye Yiming stood dumbfounded for a moment before opening the furnace. As soon as he did, he smelled a charred odor. The medicinal herbs inside the furnace had turned into black ashes.

After cleaning the furnace and reloading it with herbs, Ye Yiming tried again with the Alchemy skill.

"System Prompt: Alchemy failed. Alchemy skill proficiency increased by 1 point! Host, please continue to work hard!"

The system's merciless prompt left Ye Yiming with a darkened face.

Failed again?

This is frustrating! It's a 50% success rate!

After grumbling for a while, Ye Yiming took a deep breath and started refining elixirs once more.

I can't fail this third time!!!

This time, after putting the herbs into the alchemy furnace, Ye Yiming hugged the furnace tightly, praying silently in his heart, "Third time's the charm! May the Jade Emperor, Buddha... (omitting thirty thousand words)... bless me to succeed this time!"

Alchemy!

"Hmm!" With Ye Yiming's silent chant, the alchemy furnace trembled lightly, and the system immediately gave a prompt.

"System Prompt: Congratulations, host! Alchemy successful! You've obtained three low-level Warrior Elixirs! Alchemy skill proficiency increased by 5 points. As this is the host's first successful attempt at alchemy, a special bonus of 10 proficiency points is awarded! Host, keep up the good work!"

Low-level Warrior Elixir: A human-grade inferior elixir. When consumed by an ordinary person, it allows them to become a low-level warrior, gaining 16 cultivation points.

Upon hearing the system's prompt, Ye Yiming's eyes filled with satisfaction. As he looked at the three low-level Warrior Elixirs in his hand, his satisfaction couldn't be described in words.

Perhaps due to the same furnace used for all, all three low-level Warrior Elixirs had the same cultivation points, all totaling 16.

16 points! That's 3 points higher at minimum and 6 points higher at maximum compared to the low-level Warrior Elixirs from the medicine tower.

Seeing such results, Ye Yiming was filled with excitement. He immediately packed away the three low-level Warrior Elixirs. Ye Yiming then began refining elixirs once again.

An hour later, the piles of herbs in front of Ye Yiming had disappeared, replaced by a pile of black ash and sixteen low-level Warrior Elixirs.

Among these sixteen low-level Warrior Elixirs, the ones with the lowest cultivation points had 13, and the highest reached 18, differing from the highest 20 by only 2 points. However, these weren't the focus. The focus was the cost of these sixteen low-level Warrior Elixirs!

To refine these low-level Warrior Elixirs, Ye Yiming had used a total of ten catties of various herbs like grass fruits, ginseng, sage, and refined grass. Because the herbs used by Ye Yiming were all young and had not exceeded a year of growth, despite the large quantity, their price wasn't so high!