Chapter 62: Spirit Essence

Vial Alchemy Lab.

Chen Mobai looked at the sign at the entrance, took out the access card Qing Nv had given him, and the guard scanned it, allowing him to enter.

"Perfect timing! This is the successfully blended spirit water. Just pour it and seal it."

As one of Danxia City's top pharmacies, this rented Vial Alchemy Lab was fully equipped. Qing Nv, wearing a white lab coat, handed a pot of standard Qi-replenishing spirit water to Chen Mobai, pointing to a stack of glass tubes inserted in a rack on the adjacent table.

"What about the rest?"

Chen Mobai put down the three large bags of medicinal materials he was holding, took the spout pot, and began sealing. He then looked at the other half of the medicinal liquid that had precipitated in the basin.

"These raw liquids have an excessive amount of pill toxins. After collection, they need to be placed in special sealing bags and handed over to the Vial Pharmacy's recycling staff before you leave. They will collect and dispose of them."

As Qing Nv spoke, she took a rolled-up plastic sealed bag from a cabinet on the wall. When spirit energy was infused into it, it immediately inflated into a perfectly square sealing bag.

"There are 20 tubes this time. Your craftsmanship has improved."

Chen Mobai steadily poured the blended and diluted spirit water from the spout pot into the standardized glass tubes, then stoppered and sealed the openings.

"It's because the equipment in this alchemy lab is better than my teacher's old one, and with practical experience, there's bound to be progress. If I weren't using this lab's equipment for the first time and were a bit unfamiliar, I should have been able to get 25 tubes, almost a 50% yield."

As Qing Nv spoke, she had already sealed the non-standard raw liquids and placed them in a specially marked "Poison" trash bin.

"Are these the materials for the next batch? Let me see."

Saying this, Qing Nv opened the three main medicinal ingredients Chen Mobai had brought from Tianhe Realm. She picked them up and sniffed them lightly, her eyes lighting up.

"The age and medicinal properties of these ingredients are much richer than those from the last two online purchases. Next time we refine, we might be able to get 30 tubes."

Chen Mobai also smiled upon hearing this. He had originally worried that items from Tianhe Realm might not meet standards here.

"However, these ingredients were not well-preserved; some of their medicinal properties have been lost, so they need to be used as soon as possible."

After confirming all three medicinal ingredients, Qing Nv gave Chen Mobai some less-than-good news.

This was understandable, as alchemy techniques on Earth Star had already reached their peak. There were different classified preservation methods for various medicinal properties of ingredients, and some even had specially regulated storage rooms with different temperatures just to preserve the medicinal properties optimally. Meanwhile, in Tianhe Realm, it was probably just dry, ventilated, and cool storage at best. Preserving even most of the medicinal properties was likely already a result of the diligent efforts of those immortal cultivation families.

"By the way, how does your teacher usually charge when selling these Qi-replenishing spirit waters to Vial Pharmacy?"

Chen Mobai asked again. He recently planned to buy a powerful talisman to break through the Ren Water Thunder Art within the water mansion, but he lacked sufficient merit points.

"My teacher only charges a processing fee. The client provides the medicinal materials, and for each refining attempt, regardless of the final yield, they charge 1000 merit points."

"1000 for one attempt? That's too easy money!"

Hearing Chen Mobai, Qing Nv took out a calculator and did some calculations for him.

"Vial Pharmacy has its own medicinal fields and factories. The cost of primary and auxiliary ingredients is estimated to be at most 2000."

"My teacher's success rate for refining Tier 1 Mid-grade Qi-replenishing spirit water is usually over 95%. Each time, they deliver 40 tubes, which at a market price of 200 merit points per tube, sells for 8000 merit points."

"Deducting the 1000 processing fee, 2000 for materials, plus various miscellaneous channel costs, Vial Pharmacy makes at least 4000 merit points profit per refining session."

After listening, Chen Mobai couldn't help but exclaim, "Selling medicine really is profitable!"

"However, we can't ignore the costs for Vial Pharmacy to maintain such a large scale, including salaries for the medicinal fields and factories. But regardless, selling medicine is widely acknowledged in the Immortal Sect as the easiest industry to get rich quickly."

The Immortal Sect has four major disciplines: Arts, Alchemy, Artifacts, and Formations.

Among these, talismans representing magical arts are only profitable in the 'lifestyle' category. Moreover, due to low entry barriers and fierce competition, they generally yield a meager 10% profit. The same applies to artifacts. Artifacts used for combat generally don't fetch high prices. Only artifacts for cooking and daily life, or transportation like airships and cars, can be profitable. Formations are even more high-end products, mostly custom-made for entire residences, emphasizing brand. There are very few manufacturers in this area.

Only the field of medicinal pills is extremely mature. They are indispensable for every cultivator's training and breakthroughs. However, the Immortal Sect strictly controls entry barriers and constantly raises standards. After thousands of years of intense internal competition, Vial Pharmacy is among the six major pharmaceutical giants that have emerged. These giant pharmaceutical companies are practically monopolies. If the Immortal Sect didn't strictly control prices, ordinary cultivators like Chen Mobai might not even be able to afford them, even if they managed to acquire them.

"It's a pity we're not refining Qi-replenishing spirit water for Vial Pharmacy, otherwise they would provide 'Spirit Essence,' which would guarantee a success rate of over 80% for each batch."

Qing Nv looked at the raw liquid in the trash bin that needed disposal and sighed.

"Spirit Essence? What's that? Is it also an auxiliary ingredient?"

"Hmm, something like that. It's an auxiliary ingredient that those large pharmacies specifically use to filter out pill toxins. My teacher's ability to achieve a success rate of over 95% each time, besides her exceptional skill, is also due to the 'Spirit Essence' provided by Vial Pharmacy."

"Can this 'Spirit Essence' be bought?"

"You're thinking too simply. This 'Spirit Essence' is the fundamental reason why those giant pharmaceutical companies stood out during thousands of years of fierce commercial competition in the Immortal Sect. Even if an ordinary pharmacy produced a Tier 4 alchemist, without Spirit Essence, they could at most flourish for a century and would simply not be able to compete with them."

Chen Mobai thought of the countless alchemists of all sizes in the Immortal Sect, but to advance further, these alchemists would ultimately join one of the six major pharmaceutical giants.

"Is this 'Spirit Essence' exclusive to the six major pharmaceutical companies?"

"Not entirely. This 'Spirit Essence' is made from crushed spirit stones that have had their spiritual energy depleted after use. Some can be collected from various channels, but only the six major pharmaceutical companies—backed by either the Immortal Sect or the Four Great Daoist Academies—possess vast reserves of spirit stones."

Upon hearing this, Chen Mobai was instantly stunned.

"What did you say?"

"What?"

"Spirit Essence is depleted spirit stones! That stuff can be reused like that?!"

Chen Mobai was once again struck by the frugality of the cultivators on Earth Star.