Chapter 20: Chapter 20: Internal Training Medicine Formula, Bone-Fortifying Ointment
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"What a pity. If your second martial soul had awakened earlier, it would have been more suitable as the primary one for cultivation. Now that your first martial soul has already obtained a soul ring, switching the order of cultivation would waste a soul ring slot."
Tang Hao made his judgment, seemingly regretful on Gu La's behalf.
However, if both Gu La and Tang San became auxiliary soul masters, it wouldn't bode well for their future growth. That was certainly not what Tang Hao wanted to see.
If sacrifices had to be made, logically speaking, Gu La would be the more suitable candidate based on seniority.
Yu Xiaogang's eyes flickered. In his view, it wasn't too late for Gu La to change his primary martial soul now.
A single soul ring was undoubtedly important for a one-ring soul master, but for a nine-ring Title Douluo, it wasn't as crucial.
The earlier he changed his cultivation focus, the smaller the loss.
As Yu Xiaogang hesitated whether to repay kindness with kindness and gain some goodwill, Gu La decisively shook his head and said:
"There's no such thing as a regret pill in this world. Besides, in my opinion, neither of my two martial souls is inferior to the other; otherwise, they wouldn't have become twin martial souls."
"Moreover, whether it's psychic attribute spirit beasts or powerful wood-attribute spirit beasts, low-year spirit beasts are rare, whereas ten-thousand-year spirit beasts have self-preservation abilities and are relatively easier to find."
"I believe that no matter which martial soul I choose to cultivate, I can become a Title Douluo."
Gu La's words were filled with emotion and confidence.
Upon hearing Gu La's words, Yu Xiaogang's lips went dry, and he couldn't utter a word.
Internally, he gritted his teeth: Damn brat, always rubbing salt into my wounds—what did being a 29th-level Soul Grandmaster do to you? Just because you have innate full soul power doesn't make you so special!
Yu Xiaogang tightly pressed his lips together. Indeed, having innate full soul power was remarkable, but he was powerless to argue and remained silent.
After some more idle chatter, Tang Hao left behind over three thousand gold spirit coins he had confiscated from a soul-hunting team and told Tang San that he would be leaving for a few months, instructing the two to take care of each other.
Afterward, Tang Hao sent the two back to rest and privately spoke with Yu Xiaogang, though no one knew what was said.
From then on, Yu Xiaogang frequently gave Tang San extra attention, and his attitude became much more assertive.
A week later, Gu La's academy life fell into a routine.
At the classroom entrance, Xiao Wu stopped Gu La.
"What have you been doing these past few days? You disappear as soon as class ends, and you and Tang San have been acting all secretive."
Though her words were directed at Gu La, Xiao Wu's eyes were fixated on the Ultra Ball hanging around his neck. Her pink lips parted slightly, her gaze filled with longing.
Having tasted the energy cubes and then her favorite carrots, the once crisp and delicious carrots seemed to have lost their flavor.
Xiao Wu had endured for a few days but finally couldn't resist and decided to mend relations.
Gu La glanced at her, sized her up from head to toe, nodded, and said, "If you want to know, follow me."
With that, Gu La ignored Xiao Wu and quickly walked down the corridor, pulling out a notebook and flipping through it rapidly.
The notebook contained experimental data from the past week regarding the medicinal bath formula.
Led by Gu La and assisted by Tang San using his Blue Silver Grass martial soul for perception, they developed a body-strengthening formula primarily composed of Bone Jade Bamboo, Red Tangerine Peel, and Ginseng Grass, supplemented by over a dozen other ingredients.
Arriving at the academy garden, they came to a corner enclosed by coarse cloth, blocking outside visibility, while the air nearby was permeated with a faint citrus aroma.
"So fragrant!" Xiao Wu hopped over, her delicate nose taking in a deep breath, offering sincere praise.
"Xiao Wu, you're here too."
Tang San lifted the cloth and stepped out to greet her.
"This fragrance was specially chosen by Brother Gu. It's not only to neutralize the smell of the medicine but also to indicate the stage of the drug reaction. The current gentle and restrained scent means this batch of medicine was extremely successful!"
Tang San was very excited, and understandably so.
He had witnessed Gu La derive an exercise-enhancing drug formula from scratch, step by step.
Although progress on the medicinal bath formula was slow, the oral medication formula was nearly complete, needing only final confirmation of the herbal proportions before they could figure out how to exchange it for endless gold coins.
By then, whether crafting hidden weapons or continuing pharmaceutical research, they wouldn't have to endure the current financial strain, where every penny felt like it needed to be split in half.
Tang San was naturally a research fanatic, otherwise, he wouldn't have risked stealing secret manuals from the inner sect of the Tang Sect—he just previously focused on hidden weapons.
But these days, watching Gu La use his Celebi martial soul to analyze and mix herbs, he had become familiar with pharmaceuticals.
Though his interest in alchemy wasn't great, the sense of accomplishment from effort was addictive, making him reluctant to stop.
"Oh, oh."
Xiao Wu found Tang San, whose eyes were bloodshot from exhaustion, a bit scary, so she softly agreed and changed the subject:
"So, this medicine you've made… does it taste good?"
Tang San froze, his expression conflicted: "It's not about whether it tastes good or not—it's that kind of thing, you know, the kind that's rarely seen."
"It can enhance a soul master's physical condition, allowing us to add a thousand-year soul ring to our second soul ring, breaking the long-standing rule of Douluo Continent!"
The more Tang San spoke, the more excited he became, losing his usual calm demeanor, his eyes filled with fervor.
Gu La, finding it boring, yawned and covered his mouth, exuding fatigue.
The rapid progress in drug research was closely tied to the Celebi martial soul.
Not only because Celebi, as the forest deity, had precise perception and analysis of medicinal plants, but also due to the assistance of Future Sight.
Whether the formula was correct or not, a quick peek half an hour into the future could reveal the results.
Through continuous adjustments, Gu La had created a suitable oral medication formula based on a medicinal wine recipe from memory—the Bone-Fortifying Ointment.
The downside was that repeatedly using Future Sight—even just glimpsing a fragment of the future—took a toll on Gu La's current stamina, requiring frequent rest to recover his mental strength.
Fortunately, everything was worth it. With the formula successful, he now had the capital to implement the next phase of his plan.
Seeing Tang San still trying to explain things to Xiao Wu, Gu La impatiently waved his hand and said:
"Xiao San, the ointment is almost ready. Turn down the heat, don't let it burn. I'll continue revising the paper—we can submit it in a few days."
Upon hearing this, Tang San stopped talking and came to Gu La's side, looking at the experimental data in the notebook with great reluctance:
"Brother Gu, are you really going to publish the formula? Wouldn't it be better if we kept it for ourselves?"
This formula embodied their hard work, mainly Gu La's efforts. Tang San was reluctant to share it freely with everyone.
Seizing the opportunity to educate him, Gu La said: "Xiao San, you need to change this narrow-minded way of thinking. Of course, we can keep it for ourselves."
"But consider this: we spend time and effort, need money to buy ingredients, and then produce the finished product. Isn't the energy we expend valuable? Wouldn't that time be better spent cultivating or training?"
"And if we sell the medicine for profit, sooner or later, we'll attract unwanted attention, requiring significant effort to outwit others. Why not directly exchange the formula for a large sum of gold coins and continue researching new formulas?"
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