Why do I have so many masters?

Mo Xiaoqi was indeed not mistaken.

That secluded valley was not very far from the stockade, taking a little over an hour to reach, and as soon as he emerged through the lush growth of low bushes, the view abruptly opened up.

This small valley, tucked between several mountains, was a clearing filled with lush vegetation, with a narrow gap to the south that could only accommodate one person walking through, appearing deep and seemingly boundless at a glance.

Wang Anfeng dismounted his horse.

The three hundred riders behind him dismounted in unison and methodically.

It seemed that the valley had been undisturbed by outsiders for quite some time, with weeds grow wild everywhere; even snakes could be seen slithering among them. For now, the place was clearly not suitable for settlement.

Gongsun Jing frowned slightly and turned to issue orders; all members of the Qing Taoqi removed their arm armors, leaving forty men armed with waist sabers to cut through the wildly growing weeds, and if they encountered any snakes, to simply chop them dead with one clean cut.

The remaining two hundred-plus people filed out from the entrance shrouded by the jungle, and it took about the time it takes to burn a stick of incense before people gradually began to return, each carrying logs as thick as a person's body.

The marks on the split logs were clearly made by brute force, smashing them apart, causing admiration in the hearts of the bandits watching.

Wang Anfeng wandered through the valley, sprinkling medicine powder here and there, both to keep away insects and repel wild animals.

Secondly, many tracking methods in Jianghu are associated with scent, and using medicine powder to mask odors can fundamentally eliminate such techniques.

Wang Anfeng reached into his medicine bag, but felt an emptiness and suddenly realized that his own supply of medicine had been completely exhausted. Although the medicine bag was crafted by his second master, Wu Changqing, he had been sprinkling medicine powder all along the way and had already run out.

Looking up at the size of the valley, he knew that a considerable amount of medicine would be required to completely mask the scent, and if he were to pick medicine from the surroundings now, it would be too late.

After a moment's hesitation, Wang Anfeng decided to tell Yuchi Jie that he needed to go out and gather some herbs, and then he soared directly up from the side of the mountain rock, reached the top of the mountain, and found a quiet and hidden corner before lifting his right wrist.

The sleeve slipped, revealing a string of Buddha beads.

Wang Anfeng's gaze landed on the Buddha beads, hesitating for a moment.

"Should I just go to the pharmacy to fetch some elixir and perform alchemy... Perhaps?"

Suddenly, he felt somewhat guilty.

But upon seeing those Qing Taoqi that relied on him, he closed his eyes and said softly,

"Return to Shaolin..."

The familiar flash of light passed, and when Wang Anfeng opened his eyes again, he was already atop the mountain of the Shaolin Temple, but he saw none of the familiar masters and seniors, nor the indolent scholar he had seen in days past.

First there was silence, then he closed his eyes with a bit of discomfort.

Wang Anfeng took a deep breath, pushed down the emotions in his heart, and turned to run towards the main peak of the Shaolin Temple. He had studied medical theory for several years in the pharmacy with Wu Changqing and knew its location well.

He swept through to the pharmacy, pushed open the door to find that the ever-smiling old man was gone, but the rows of medicine were complete and intact. Wang Anfeng took out the materials that could mask odors; the Shaolin Temple's special site meant that once an item was removed, a second one would appear in its place.

Then he turned around and started to refine the medicine after lighting the fire in the pill furnace.

This was a miracle medicine rarely seen in Jianghu, but in the prescriptions of Medicine King Valley, it was quite ordinary. Wang Anfeng had been able to refine over a pound of it daily since his youth.

Now with rich inner strength, he forced the flames to purify the medicine with pure masculine energy, and in just a moment, the medicine was ready. He carefully poured the powder out of the inner furnace into his medicine bag at his waist, relieved in his heart.

He had intended to leave immediately, but his gaze swept over the rows of medicinal materials, pausing slightly.

After thinking it over, he didn't leave just yet. Instead, he went straight to the medicine cabinet and again took out more than a dozen types of herbs that could strengthen blood, tendons, and elixir energy, and began alchemy anew.

The furnace fire turned pure blue, and the scent of medicine became even more pronounced.

Wang Anfeng gently placed his hand on the pill furnace, feeling the fusion and transformation of the medicinal properties inside. This elixir, according to the prescriptions of Medicine King Valley, was much more potent than Qi-absorbing Pills and was particularly suitable for Seventh Rank and Eighth Rank Martial Artists to use in their cultivation.

It took about an hour. The scent of the medicine was wafting like smoke, and Wang Anfeng opened the pill furnace, picked up an elixir, and took a sniff, his brow furrowing slightly.

The medicinal strength was strong.

But there was too little of it.

His alchemy skills, derived from Medicine King Wu Changqing, were quite pure. Eighty percent of the medicinal properties in a batch of elixir formed pills, with only a twenty percent loss, but even so, a single batch of pills yielded only a few dozen pills.

He had originally planned to see if his medical skills could help the Qing Taoqi improve their cultivation faster and master the two military formation's lethal moves, but looking at it now, with the speed of refining pills, it was clearly a net loss.

Even if he spent the entire day until he collapsed or died in front of the pill furnace, he would not be able to support the elixir consumption of three hundred Martial Artists.

In that moment, Wang Anfeng somewhat uniquely shared a similar sentiment to Mo Xiaoqi.

Three hundred martial artists above the Eighth Rank.

They can eat so damn much...

Huge eaters.

"It seems it's still no good..."

"Alchemy consumes too much time."

As he played with the elixir in his hand, Wang Anfeng frowned and spoke, then suddenly stiffened, his eyes widening as he stared at the pearl-like elixir in the palm of his hand and murmured in a low voice:

"Alchemy takes too much time..."

"Alchemy?"

"Then why not... just not do alchemy?"

Wang Anfeng hesitated for a moment, then said to himself:

"The only reason to shape it into an elixir is for easy carrying, aesthetics, and easy ingestion, but as long as the medicinal properties remain the same, even if it's shaped differently, it should be the same, right? Whether it's round or flat doesn't matter once consumed and the medicinal properties are absorbed."

"No..."

"Since that's the case, after the medicinal properties are fused, we can just directly extract the medicinal juice and mix it with water."

"But such powerful medicinal properties are too overbearing; ingesting it directly could harm the martial artist's own body."

"If diluted with water, the medicinal properties would scatter."

Wang Anfeng sat cross-legged in front of the pill furnace, deeply immersed in thought, when suddenly, fragments of thoughts in his mind began to merge, brightening his eyes, and he couldn't help but exclaim:

"Wait a minute, no one said that elixirs must be ingested orally, did they?"

"As long as the medicinal properties have fused, once introduced into water and diluted, directly throwing the martial artists in and using their cultivation techniques to absorb the medicinal strength would work just the same, wouldn't it?"

Wang Anfeng abruptly stood up and rushed to the back of the medicine room, where there was a Bronze Great Cauldron tall enough to reach a person's height. He exerted strength in his arms and directly moved the ancestor of the pill cauldrons into the courtyard.

Then, lifting his hand, he slapped open the pill furnace and with the Capturing Dragon Controlling Crane technique, he threw all the medicinal materials into the furnace. With a palm strike of his left hand, a bolt of Thunder Vigor hit the wood, igniting fierce thunderous flames.

Since he no longer cared about the steps of neutralizing the medicinal nature and forming the elixir, Wang Anfeng's pill refining speed was much faster this time. As soon as the medicinal properties had melded, he slapped open the pill cauldron, shouting lowly, and slightly curled his right hand's fingers.

He used spatial Vigorous Qi to extract all the amber-colored liquid, and poured it into a large wooden barrel, the scent of medicine rising. Wang Anfeng stretched out his finger, gently touched the medicine liquid, and tasted it with his tongue.

Feeling the aggressive medicinal properties that even a Seventh Rank Martial Artist would find dominant, Wang Anfeng nodded his head and whispered softly:

"This should be about right..."

"However, the best chance for martial artists to absorb the medicinal properties is when their bodies are completely fatigued."

"In that case... let's simply seal their Inner Qi for the moment, stimulate the Inner Qi purely through External Cultivation, and when they are utterly exhausted and unable to move, their Inner Qi should also be at its most active."

"Then, with the medicinal power as stimuli, it would be even more advantageous to their cultivation."

Wang Anfeng in his green robe, stood in the Shaolin Temple, seriously contemplating how to get those three hundred Qing Taoqi to expend their very last bit of strength.

And when it came to how to shatter the martial artists' luck and push them to their limits...

He had plenty of experience.

Extremely rich experience!

Having prepared in his mind, Wang Anfeng grabbed the barrel filled with light green, overbearing medicinal liquid, ready to leave the Shaolin Temple, when he saw a woodworking axe lying on its side nearby, next to the wall where Master's writing hung.

It must have been placed here by Hong Luoyu at some point. Recalling that he had just arrived in the valley today to build wooden huts and structures, such tools would certainly be needed, he picked it up as well.

In the next instant, Wang Anfeng disappeared from the Shaolin Temple.

On the wall, a crooked line of characters.

Good stuff, +12.

PS: Here's the second update for today...