He was surprised when he inspected the contents. He noticed about ten stalks of dried medicinal grasses at a corner of the basket.
If he was not mistaken, that was a common medicinal grass known as baby’s breath. Its main function was to cool down the body and was unrelated to restoring a patient’s vital energy.
His brows were tightly locked. He could not think of the reason why Tang Hao had included that particular grass in his list.
The other herbs were just about what he expected. They were common herbs associated with restoring vital energy, such as dang gui and ginseng.
However, the proportions of the herbs were peculiar. They were totally out of balance.
The proportions of each herb played an important role in a prescription. With the wrong proportions, the medicine would lose half its effectiveness.
Hu Huaichun smirked. “I thought you were going to show me something amazing, but this is a half-bungled assortment of herbs! Do you think that your prescription is better than any of my Hu family ancestral prescriptions?
“My Hu family prescriptions have been studied and improved upon over centuries. They have stood the test of time. They’re a hundred, no, a thousand times better than what you’re showing me!”
Everyone exclaimed loudly when they heard that.
They were not surprised by Hu Huaichun’s verdict. Their gaze upon Tang Hao became more condescending than ever.
“Ignorant!” Tang Hao said coldly.
“You…” Hu Huaichun’s face was red with anger.
‘This kid is too arrogant! Is he still defending his bungled prescription?’
Everyone around him was hotly discussing him.
They thought that the kid had lost in mind!
“Did you just say that I’m ignorant?” Hu Huaichun’s body was trembling with anger.
“If you can’t see the details in this prescription, then I don’t have another adjective for you! How is this prescription bungled?”
“Hah! You got your proportions all wrong!” Hu Huaichun said.
“The proportions are wrong? You must be blind! Didn’t you see that I’ve added baby’s breath in the basket? Don’t tell me that you don’t know about medicinal amelioration!” Tang Hao rolled his eyes as he spoke.
Hu Huaichun’s expression stiffened.
He had heard of the term before, and he knew that it was an extraordinarily advanced technique in Chinese medicine. One would not know how to apply it unless they were a master of Chinese medicine.
He was not at that level of mastery yet. He would not have achieved it even if he had studied medicine nonstop since he was born.
If what Tang Hao said was true, then it was not a bungled prescription.
“Even so, I don’t believe that your prescription is better than the Hu family ancestral recipes,” Hu Huaichun said coldly.
“You don’t believe me? How about a competition then?”
Tang Hao was eager to win.
“How should we compete?” Hu Huaichun was surprised.
“We’ll concoct the medicine on the spot. You’ll concoct your medicine based on your ancestral recipes, and I’ll concoct mine. We’ll see which one has a better effect.”
Tang Hao’s eyes scanned the crowd, then pointed at two people.
“Hey, you two, are you willing to try the medicine?”
The two people hesitated.
“Five hundred yuan each!” Tang Hao said.
The two people were immediately excited. They eagerly walked out of the crowd. “Of course I’m willing!” They said.
Drink a bowl of medicine and earn five hundred yuan? They would be stupid if they did not accept it!
Hu Huaichun looked at the two people and was instantly shocked.
He could see that the two people were anemic. They were the best candidates to test the potency of their medicines.
He had to examine them closely before he realized that. However, that kid had spotted those two people by one sweeping glance. That kid had incredible powers of observation.
“So are we doing this, Divine Doctor Hu?” Tang Hao’s tone of voice was provocative.
“Challenge accepted!”
He could not back away from the challenge in front of the public. Furthermore, he was absolutely confident of his ancestral recipe.
“Alright, let’s begin!”
Someone brought them separate charcoal stoves and medicinal bowls. They started concocting their medicine.
Tang Hao did not bother activating the latent potency of the herbs with his qi. He was absolutely confident of winning against the Hu family ancestral recipe.
They spent about an hour concocting their potions.
Finally, they poured out their medicines into separate bowls and handed them to the two people.
When the medicine cooled down a little, the two people lifted the bowls and downed the medicine in one gulp.
Everyone’s gaze was focused on the two people.
Then, they waited for the medicine to take effect.
About ten minutes later, the face of the person on the left was suffused with color.
“I feel very warm!”
He stood up and walked around. He felt warm energy spreading across his body and felt strength returning to his limbs.
Earlier, his limbs felt sluggish because of his anemia.
“I feel powerful!” He said incredulously as he clenched and loosened his fists.
Everyone was shocked when they saw that.
If they remembered correctly, the medicine that he took was the one concocted by the kid.
They looked at the other person. There were no apparent changes to him.
How was that possible?
Did that mean that Divine Doctor Hu’s medicine was far weaker than the kid’s medicine?
Everyone was dumbstruck. Especially Hu Huaichun, who went cross-eyed.
‘The medicine takes effect only after ten minutes?
‘What kind of f*cking joke is that?’
He looked at the person who was walking around excitedly. Then, he looked at the other person who had taken his medicine. He was still sitting quietly. His face slowly turned ashen.
That was a slap to his face!
Some more time later, some color returned to the other person’s face. However, the change was not as drastic.
The crowd fell silent when they looked at the two people.
Even an idiot could tell which one had the better medicine.
Hu Huaichun’s face turned from ashen to bright red.
He was utterly ashamed of himself. He wanted to find a hole to jump in.
Also, he was utterly shocked.
He was considered one of the best Chinese physicians. Not many people could compare to his skills. Where did the kid come from though?
That prescription had utterly blown him away!
It was at least twice more potent than the Hu family ancestral recipe. One could even call it a miracle prescription!
“Anything else that you’d like to say, Divine Doctor Hu?”
Tang Hao turned around to look at Hu Huaichun.
Hu Huaichun opened his mouth, but the words did not come out. He felt incredibly frustrated.
“I submit!” He spat out those two words after a long while.
He had been proud of his family ancestral recipes, but he had discovered that there was a better prescription. The shock to him was immense.
Chapter 262 - Crafting A Pill
“What’s your name, my friend?”
Hu Huaichun came to Tang Hao and asked courteously.
In his eyes, the young man must have had a great physician as his master. That was why he had incredible skills of observation and a miraculous prescription.
“My name is Tang Hao!” Tang Hao said calmly.
“Your surname is Tang, you say!” Hu Huaichun furrowed his brows. He did not know any physician families whose surname was Tang.
“Divine Doctor Tang, about the bloodhemp g
rass…” Tang Hao said.
“Oh! I don’t need it anymore! You can take it!” Hu Huaichun said urgently. His face flushed red again.
He was humiliated in public because of that herb.
Tang Hao paid for the herbs, then left the market.
He rode on a minivan and headed west of Provincial City.
The minivan left the city limits. Another half an hour later, a mountain range came into view. Dirtclod Village was located somewhere in those mountains.
The minivan drove into the village. Tang Hao asked a villager for directions, then headed into the mountains.
Once he entered the mountains, he started running at superhuman speed.
The herb seller only gave him an estimated location. He said that all he had to do was go along the mountain path and cross several mountains. The area was unbelievably vast. Tang Hao was not sure if he was even on the right track.
A normal person would have given up. However, Tang Hao moved at an incredible speed. He could comb over the entire mountain with ease.
He finally found traces of the blue nandina more than two hours later.
He was already deep in the mountains. It was not only a few mountains away, but rather, tens of mountains away.
Tang Hao was silently cursing at the herb seller.
He calmed down and could sense that the qi flow was a lot stronger there.
It was good news for him. With a strong qi flow, there was a higher chance that the Flower of Youth was still surviving.
He walked forward while scanning his surroundings.
Suddenly, his gaze was fixed on a spot not too far in front. There was a plant about half his height. A few flowers bloomed amid the dense branches and leaves.
The flowers were in full bloom, and the petals were as red as blood.
That was the Flower of Youth.
According to the Scripture of the Divine Herbalist, the tree that bore the Flower of Youth could grow up to one zhang, an ancient Chinese unit of measurement a little more than three meters. When it was in season, hundreds of flowers would bloom at once, creating a dazzling sight.
The plant in front of Tang Hao was considered pathetic. It was half his height, and there were only five flowers.
“That’s not quite enough!” Tang Hao mumbled.
Pill-making carried the risk of failure. Even at his current proficiency, there was still a high chance of the furnace exploding. Five flowers meant that he had five attempts. There was no guarantee that he could succeed.
The Pill of Everlasting Beauty was a wondrous item. Any beauty cream or the Jade Bone Pill was trash compared to it.
Every woman wished that they could remain beautiful forever!
Making only one pill was definitely not enough.
Tang Hao started weighing his options.
He wanted to extract the plant and replant it in Dragonrock Village. However, it was incredibly troublesome for him to do so.
Furthermore, the plant looked sickly. The plant might die after he removed it from the soil, which would have been extremely unfortunate.
He thought for a long time and decided that the plant should remain where it was.
He did not feel very secure leaving the plant there, and so he took out jade talismans and set a maze formation around it.
After that, there was no worry that any human or beast would bring harm to the plant.
Then, he took out more jade talismans and laid down a leyline gathering formation.
Tang Hao clapped his hands satisfactorily after all that was done.
With the leyline gathering formation, he could channel more qi to the plant, which would make it thrive.
Then, he carefully plucked the five flowers and kept them in his pocket dimension.
The sky was almost dark when he came out of the mountains.
Tang Hao returned home and began the process of pill-making.
The most important, and also the rarest ingredient of the Pill of Everlasting Beauty was the Flower of Youth. There were several other rare herbs, but Tang Hao managed to find multiple portions of those.
He portioned the ingredients carefully. The ingredients were enough for four attempts.
Tang Hao’s expression was grim.
He needed to have at least one success in those four attempts. Otherwise, he did not know when he would have the complete set of ingredients again. Gathering the other ingredients was already difficult enough, and he did not know when the Flower of Youth would bloom again.
He retrieved his alchemical furnace and made preparations.
Then, he started the pill-making process.
He carefully controlled the intensity of the flames in the furnace, then added the ingredients one by one. The extreme heat transformed the ingredients into blobs of medicinal liquid.
After that was the distillation step. It was the most difficult step in the entire pill-making process. Nine out of ten times, the furnace would explode in that step.
Tang Hao had taken all precautions, but his first attempt ultimately failed.
Boom!
The furnace trembled and he heard a dull thud from within. The furnace had exploded.
“F*ck!” Tang Hao cursed. He felt incredibly sorry for the wasted ingredients, and his expression was grimmer than ever.
One failure. Three more attempts to go.
He did not immediately start on his next attempt. Instead, he rested for a while, and at the same time reviewing the steps he had taken earlier.
He started his second attempt when he felt prepared.
Once again, the furnace exploded in the distillation step. Tang Hao was becoming frustrated.
He rested again before he started the third attempt.
To Tang Hao’s surprise, the third attempt went very smoothly. The distillation process was completed without a hitch. Then, it was the refining step. An hour later, the furnace trembled and a beam of light shot out.
Tang Hao spread open his palm. The beam coalesced into a round alchemical pill that was as red as blood.
He could smell its amazing fragrance.
Tang Hao stretched his lips into a wide grin. He was unable to hold back his joy.
That pill was priceless!
He fiddled the pill in his hands for a while. Then, he stored it in a jade bottle.
He planned to give it to Sis Xiangyi. Her birthday was coming soon.
Then, Tang Hao started his fourth attempt. To no one’s surprise, he failed.
He slept soundly that night. Then, he woke up early the next day and went to class.
When he arrived at the main entrance of Z University, he could feel that the mood was not quite right.
The students were stealing glances at him while whispering among themselves.
“That’s him! I can’t be mistaken!”
Many people were looking at Tang Hao while looking at their phones.
“Where’s the justice? Beauty Queen Liu must be blind to fall for him!”
The boys were staring daggers at Tang Hao, while the girls were looking at him from head to toe and criticizing every inch of his body.
Tang Hao understood what was going on.
They thought that he was Liu Bingyao’s boyfriend.
He laughed helplessly.
He could not blame them though. That day, Liu Bingyao had dragged him from the female dormitory and across the cafeteria. That was enough fuel for rumors to spread.
He shook his head and went into the university.
Chapter 263 - Uncanny Abilities
Several people glanced at Tang Hao from afar as he stepped into the campus grounds.
There were about eight of them in a row, and they were hiding behind a wall.
The person in the lead was a tall, buff, and handsome male. He was none other than Fang Qiming.
Tang Qiming’s face was incredibly sullen as he glared at Tang Hao.
“Tang Hao…” The two words were squeezed past his gritted teeth. His voice was brimming with hatre
d.
“How dare you go out with my love interest? I’ll make sure that you can’t survive in Z University!”
His face contorted viciously as he ground his teeth.
He was the president of the student council, and he was extremely well-connected in Z University. It was too easy to [prank] that guy.
‘That guy is quite brazen!”
“I’ve heard that he’s quite loaded too. But would he be richer than Young Master Fang though?”
The people said mockingly.
They turned toward their left to look at someone in their midst.
“I say, Bowen, how could you have a cousin like that? You must have tolerated him for a long time!” Someone laughed at him.
Tang Bowen panicked when they heard that. He looked at Fang Qiming and said, “I’m not close to that guy. In fact, I hate my cousin a lot.”
Then, he glanced at Tang Hao. His eyes were flashing with envy.
He had thought that he was the more superior cousin. He had enrolled at Z University, and he would have a bright future. He was the top student in Tang Village.
Back then, his cousin Tang Hao was only a hooligan and a school dropout.
However, that loser cousin of his struck a fortune. He made a lot of money, and he also earned himself a spot in Z University through his connections.
That had made him incredibly envious!
Fang Qiming glanced at Tang Bowen and said coldly, “You just have to do whatever I tell you to do. I’ll get you a seat on the student council if you succeed.”
Tang Bowen was immediately ecstatic. “Thank you, Council President!” He said.
Fang Qiming turned around again and looked at Tang Hao. “It’s about to start!”
The other people also looked excited.
A squad of bicycles appeared in front of Tang Hao.
Tang Hao glanced at it and did not pay much attention. He continued walking forward.
The squad of bicycles casually cycled along the path. As they neared Tang Hao, one of the bicycles seemed to lose control and rammed toward Tang Hao.
It was moving at quite a fast speed. A normal person would not have been able to dodge it, and the bicycle would have knocked into him.
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