The beast spread out its senses to search for the one who dared to intrude into its territory. However, after a thorough sweep of its surroundings, it couldn't find anything.
This surprised the beast because it sensed an intruder, yet it seemed to have disappeared.
Though a bit dumbfounded, since it didn't find anything, it could only go back to its lair.
Meanwhile, Adrian didn't know that he had just narrowly escaped a calamity. He stared at the corpse of the boar, and a smile appeared on his lips.
He took out his sword and quickly walked towards the chest of the beast, where the heart was located.
With a lot of difficulty, Adrian pierced through the tough muscles of the beast before it reached its heart.
Adrian let out a sigh as he wiped the sweat off his forehead. Somehow, fighting a dead beast seemed to be harder than fighting an alive one.
Through feeling, he located the heart of the beast and swiftly pierced through it. He quickly collected the 'heart blood' that was drained from the boar into an already prepared container.
Previously, when he had first killed the Stoneveil Crocodile, he had contemplated whether or not he should collect its heart blood.
However, he eventually decided against it. It would have been almost useless for him at that time and would have lowered the value when he tried to sell it.
Now, he could use it. In addition to the night panther, the amount of heart blood he had acquired would certainly be enough.
What was he going to use it for? Well, it was common knowledge among alchemists that the blood that comes from the heart of beasts was a very potent tonic.
The energy contained in them was similar to that of a pill in the same rank. Of course, they weren't just going to drink the blood.
That would be barbaric. With the addition of a few choice herbs, the power left in the blood could be amplified several-fold.
However, there were some downsides. First of all, the blood had to be extracted quickly from the heart. The longer you waited, the more the energy dissipated from the blood, until eventually, the heart blood just became normal blood.
This, among other restrictions, was the reason that the potions or pills made from the heart blood were not that popular among cultivators.
Even if you are able to kill a beast with sufficient strength and extract its heart blood, finding an alchemist with the required knowledge on heart potions, along with finding the required supplementary herbs, the cost of the whole endeavor would outweigh the benefits.
Naturally, none of this was a problem for Adrian. Not only was he able to kill powerful beasts, but he was also an alchemist, and he had the required knowledge ingrained in his brain.
Furthermore, he was able to find some very good supplementary herbs during this trip into the misty mountains that would be sufficient for the refinement.
This potion was practically made for him. After gathering his thoughts, Adrian brought out his cauldron and set it on the ground.
With a wave of his hands, multiple herbs appeared around him as he sat down in front of the cauldron.
A wave of flames erupted around the cauldron, bringing with it a rapid rise in temperature. With another wave of his hands, two containers appeared near him.
As soon as they appeared, the pungent odor of blood permeated his surroundings. This was naturally the heart blood of the Night Panther and the recently killed boar.
Surprisingly, given how big the two beasts were, their hearts only contained a little amount of blood.
Both beasts only yielded about a litre of blood each. Without wasting any time, he added the heart blood of the beasts into the cauldron.
He started with the night panther, since it had been extracted earlier and was already losing some of its energy.
A wave of steam erupted from the cauldron as soon as the blood entered it. Almost immediately, the blood started boiling as soon as it entered the cauldron.
Adrian knew that time was of the essence, therefore, he didn't waste time and immediately got to work. He reached out and grabbed a few different herbs.
He immediately started plucking the leaves off a flower known as the Moonveil Lotus.
The Moonveil Lotus was a Rank 2 herb used as a supplement in Rank 3 pill refinement.
The lotus boasts large, translucent petals that shimmer like silk under moonlight.
Its petals display a faint silver glow, as if it were dipped in liquid starlight. When touched, they feel cool.
After he was done with the leaves, he moved on to the petals, and soon, he had plucked everything off and added it to the cauldron.
The leaves and flower petals slowly disappeared into the bottom of the cauldron amidst the swirling blood.
No visible change occurred, but this was to be expected. With a deep breath, Adrian took the container containing the boars' blood and started pouring it into the mixture.
As soon as the new blood entered the cauldron, multiple bubbles erupted from the potion, causing a dramatic change in the potion.
The cauldron started vibrating as if it was about to explode. This was as a result of the clash between the two beasts' blood
Even though they were dead, the desire for battle was ingrained deep within them, causing them to want to fight each other even in death.
Beads of sweat fell off Adrian's forehead as he tried his best to control the cauldron. Unknown to the battling beasts, an unknown third challenger was secretly getting involved in their 'battle'.
After a while, Adrian was able to gain the upper hand and suppress the instability inside the cauldron. He was able to successfully merge the two blood essences.
He heaved a sigh of relief as the cauldron stopped shaking. He had spent a significant amount of his spirit energy in order to suppress the two warring blood essences.
Luckily, he came out victorious.