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"Uh, I was just curious."
Hearing this, Lin Feng quickly distanced himself from the wooden racks.
At the far end, Hua She'er used a token to open another stone door and continued walking inside.
After passing through the second stone chamber, they finally arrived at a room storing items related to alchemists.
As the stone door opened, a strong medicinal fragrance immediately filled the air.
Lin Feng's nose was instantly overwhelmed by the rich scent of various herbs.
"Your Snake-People Clan has quite the collection," he remarked, inhaling deeply.
"Hmph."
Hua She'er shot him a glance but didn't bother to explain that this was only the mid-tier treasury.
If it had been the high-tier treasury, there was no way an outsider like him would be allowed in.
Upon entering the third stone chamber, Hua She'er pointed at the wooden racks and said, "Hurry up and choose. You can only take two fourth-tier pill recipes—no stealing."
"Uh..."
Hearing such distrustful words, Lin Feng chuckled. "With a Dou Wang watching me, even if I wanted to steal, would I even have the ability to do so?"
However, he received no response.
Glancing at Hua She'er, who stood like a wooden stake beside him, Lin Feng said nothing more and began selecting pill recipes.
Approaching one of the wooden racks, he flipped through the scrolls but found only second-tier pill recipes. He quickly put them back and moved further ahead.
Before long, Lin Feng arrived at another wooden rack.
Looking at the scrolls on it, their quality was noticeably better than the previous ones.
"Oh?"
As he examined them more closely, he let out a surprised exclamation.
Picking up a scroll, he unrolled it and studied it carefully.
"A Handbook of an Alchemist! I didn't expect to find something like this here, not just pill recipes!" he said in surprise.
"Tch, making a big deal out of nothing. It's just that some arrogant alchemists in the past liked to venture into the Tagore Desert in search of herbs, only to be discovered and killed by our clan's experts. Naturally, their belongings ended up in our hands," Hua She'er said dismissively, glancing at Lin Feng.
After hearing her explanation, Lin Feng understood.
Due to its unique environment, the Tagore Desert contained many rare natural treasures.
It was only natural that alchemists would come searching for herbs.
Looking at the handbook in his hand, Lin Feng guessed that it must have belonged to some unfortunate alchemist who had been killed, leaving his possessions to fall into the hands of the Snake-People Clan.
Sighing slightly, Lin Feng continued searching.
Reaching the third row of wooden racks, he casually picked up a scroll and found a fourth-tier pill recipe.
A smile immediately spread across his face as he continued searching for the pill recipes of Three Lines Green Spirit Pill and Purple Heart Barrier Breaking Pill.
After flipping through over a dozen pill recipes and alchemy handbooks, he finally found the two pill recipes he wanted on the bottom shelf.
Grinning, he picked up the two scrolls and waved them at Hua She'er before tucking them into his robe.
"Hmm?"
Just as Lin Feng was about to turn around, he caught sight of a pile of medicinal ingredients in the corner out of the corner of his eye.
He hurried over, picked up a few stalks, and examined them. They were all third- and fourth-tier herbs.
"Wait, is this really how you store herbs?"
Pointing at the pile of ingredients on the ground, Lin Feng's expression suddenly turned agitated as he looked at Hua She'er.
With such a crude storage method, any alchemist who saw this would likely have the same reaction as him.
"None of your business. Since you've chosen your pill recipes, follow me out," Hua She'er said impatiently, completely unconcerned by his complaint.
"What a waste!"
Staring at the herbs before him, Lin Feng could tell that many had already lost their medicinal potency due to improper storage.
Then, as if someone had pressed a switch, he suddenly fell silent.
Looking at the pile of herbs before him, Lin Feng immediately understood.
The Snake-People Clan clearly didn't have any alchemists.
Otherwise, they wouldn't store herbs so carelessly.
A thought crossed his mind, and he suddenly put on what he believed to be his friendliest smile as he turned to Hua She'er.
"What do you want?"
Seeing the strange expression on Lin Feng's face, Hua She'er frowned, clearly wary.
"Heh heh."
Lin Feng chuckled, rubbing his hands together before saying, "You've got all these herbs just lying around—guess that means you don't have an alchemist to refine them into pills, huh?"
"No shit. Did you really need to point that out?" Hua She'er scoffed, looking annoyed.
Lin Feng, however, continued in a tempting tone, "Since that's the case, how about I refine these herbs into pills for you? I won't charge you—I'll just take thirty percent of the pills as my cut. But during the refining process, you'll need to provide the pill recipes, and you must allow me to read the alchemists' handbooks here. How about it?"
Hua She'er wasn't surprised that Lin Feng was an alchemist.
After all, the rewards he had asked for earlier were all related to alchemy.
If he couldn't refine pills, it would've made more sense for him to ask for cultivation techniques or Dou Techniques instead.
Hearing his conditions, Hua She'er was tempted.
The Snake-People Clan lacked pills.
If they could stockpile more, fewer warriors would die in battle.
After thinking for a moment, Hua She'er realized this deal wasn't a loss for them.
These herbs were just sitting in the treasury anyway. Instead of letting them go to waste, she might as well trade them for pills.
She nodded. "Fine. You can read the alchemists' handbooks as long as you don't take them away. As for pill recipes, you can only look at the ones for the pills you're refining—no reading anything else."
She knew that pill recipes were a limited resource—every time one was read, it became a little less valuable. Naturally, she wouldn't let Lin Feng browse freely.
The alchemists' handbooks, however, didn't matter as long as he didn't take them away.
"Then it's a deal."
Lin Feng was secretly excited. Although he was already a third-tier alchemist…
His refining techniques had only come from some first-tier alchemist notes left behind by Liu Xi.
Everything else he had learned was through trial and error, which naturally couldn't compare to the knowledge of properly trained alchemists.
Once he finished reading the handbooks here, his alchemy skills would undoubtedly improve significantly.
At the same time, these refining techniques would help solidify his foundation.
Inside the secret chamber, Lin Feng stood before a deep yellow, fifth-tier beast flame burning within a cauldron. Suspended within the flames was a freshly refined third-tier Qi-Gathering Pill. A pleased smile appeared on his face.
With a wave of his hand, the pill flew into his palm. After examining it for a moment, he nodded in satisfaction.
This Rank 5 beast flame was indeed far superior to the Dou Qi flames he had used before.
Ever since obtaining it, refining pills had become much easier.
Of course, that was also partly because he had been cultivating Mo Cheng's High-Grade Black-Class technique.
A month ago, he had already broken through to a three-star Dou Shi.
"Congratulations, young master. The Qi Gathering Pill helps stabilize Dou Qi, and among third-tier pills, it's considered quite difficult to refine," a seductive female voice sounded.
A snake-woman slithered forward, her long tail swaying as she approached Lin Feng.
After comparing the pill to the pill recipe for a moment, she confirmed there was no deception.
Satisfied, she nodded.
"I've been refining pills for you for three months now and haven't cheated you once. Do you really need to be this cautious around me?"
Lin Feng rolled his eyes at the snake-woman before him. She had been sent by Hua She'er specifically to monitor him.
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