Chapter 21 - It is Tough to be Strong (1/2)
Chapter 21 It is Tough to be Strong.
Ancient Strengthening Technique: Chapter 21 – It is Tough to be Strong
“Could it be that herbs of the precious grade and above can’t be directly consumed?” Qing Shui mused. He knew that people in his previous world actually consumed things like 100-year old ginseng with no ill effects!
Qing Yi patted Qing Shui on his forehead and gently said “Herbs of the common grade can be directly consumed after slight processing, but of course the percentage of medicinal strength one can absorb would only be about 10-20%. The majority of the leftover medicinal strength will be wasted. Naturally, there are some exceptions to this. When herbs are aged 500 years or more, the herbs can no longer be consumed directly. If you ignore the safety restriction, and are set on doing so, instead of helping you, the herbs will cause great harm to your body. If the herbs are of Precious Grade or higher, directly consuming it may even lead to one’s death!”
“Ooo, then how about the herbs that cannot be directly consumed? Maybe there is a method for us to absorb the medicinal essence inside of them?” Qing Shui speculated. As the thought about it, the alchemy profession suddenly appeared in his mind.
“Alchemist!”
Seeing that Qing Shui seemed to be extremely interested in the alchemy profession, Qing Yi gave a detailed explanation “The herbs that cannot be directly consumed will need an alchemist to concoct them into pills. Using various methods, after extracting the herbal essence and finally coagulating them into the shape of a pill, they will be able to prevent the excessive loss of medicinal strength! And thus, in this way it will also be more beneficial for a cultivator to consume the pill concocted, rather than the herb itself.”
So that’s the reason why. Qing Shui understood it better now. Initially he thought that directly consuming a herb would at most only lead to a miniscule loss in the amount of energy retained. He originally thought that because the body wasn’t able to absorb such a large amount of energy in one go, the excess energy would be dispersed as waste. He never expected that for herbs graded Precious or higher, the excess amount of energy would cause one’s body to explode, leading to one’s death!
“Mother, since herbs and medical ingredients can be divided into grades, what about alchemists? What is the difference between the pills created by a 3rd ranked alchemist and a 5th ranked one?”
“The higher ranked an alchemist is, the better the quality of his concocted pills will be. Obviously, a common ranked alchemist will find it almost impossible to refine and concoct pills of the Precious Grade.” Qing Yi replied.
The ranks of alchemists was somewhat similar to the classifications of herbs. It was only slightly more complex in comparison. Common, Precious, Jade, King, Royal, Emperor, Saint, Divine. These 8 grades of spiritual herbs were comparable to the 8 different alchemist ranks. The only difference was that, for alchemist, each rank was further divided into 10 levels. Eg. Common-Ranked Alchemist of the 10th level.
“Hmm, it is actually the similar to [Western Fantasy]. The higher the rank of an alchemist, the higher the quality of concocted pills. However, I still do not know when I will be able to master the alchemy arts gifted to me by the Ancient Strengthening Technique. I wonder… If I concoct pills based on the ancient recipes from the Ancient Strengthening Technique, what grade will they be?” Qing Shui’s eyes gleamed with a light, he was getting more and more excited about becoming an alchemist!
“The Situ Clan from Hundred Miles City wants to buy all the precious graded herbs from our Qing Clan. Could it be that they are hiding an alchemist?” Thinking back on how arrogant Situ Bu Fan acted, as well as that cold glance of Shi Qing Zhuang when she was introduced by Situ Bu Fan as his fiancee, Qing Shui could not help but clench his fist. Pieces of the puzzle began to fall in place inside his mind. “Could this be the reason why Qing Shi Zhuang was forcibly betrothed to Situ Bu Fan as his fiancee, despite her unwillingness?”
Qing Yi looked at Qing Shui in shock. This child… his power of deductions are almost godlike.. She smiled and rustled Qing Shui’s hair and said “Your guess is correct, the reason why the Situ Clan is so illustrious in Hundred Miles City is because one of Situ Nan Tian’s sons has broken through to the Jade-Ranked Alchemist level.”
“Just a Jade-Ranked Alchemist, and yet he dares to be so arrogant?” Qing Shui exclaimed in displeasure.
Hearing that, Qing Yi almost coughed out blood. Using a bit of force, she tapped Qing Shui’s head and said “What do you mean with ‘just a Jade-Ranked Alchemist’ `Do you think there are plenty of alchemists? Even in the entire Hundred Miles City, the amount of reputable alchemists can be counted on a single hand. Although the one named Lei from the Situ Clan has only reached the 1st level of the Jade-Ranked, he naturally has the ability to be arrogant!” Qing Yi giggled, half in humor and half in consternation at Qing Shui’s ignorance.
Qing Shui gently shook his head and smiled, seeing Qing Yi happy made him happy too.