Chapter 157: Refining Medicine

“Dammit! I refuse to believe that there’s nothing I can do to you.”

Su Chen was currently holed up in an unknown cave somewhere, mixing various reagents together.

In front of him was a small cauldron. His left hand was below the cauldron, emanating a steady fiery blue glow as his right hand methodically stirred the ingredients in the cauldron.

Most alchemists mastered and used their own Origin Energy flames as opposed to normal flames, as Origin Energy flames allowed them to control the size and temperature of the flames. At the same time, however, this also required alchemists to have a cultivation base high enough to match their high energy expenditure, which meant that most Origin Qi Scholars couldn’t use such a heating method.

Su Chen’s use of flames when refining medicines was exceptionally skilled, and he was only a short ways away from becoming a Master Alchemist. He truly had accumulated quite a bit of experience at this point.

However, at this moment, even if he was a Distinguished Alchemist, his forehead was covered in sweat as he refined this particular elixir. His eyes were firmly glued onto the medicinal cauldron in front of him, and he didn’t even dare blink or relax his concentration for a moment; his microscopic eye was activated and being pushed to its maximum extent.

There was only one kind of medicine that could force Su Chen to focus like this: a Legendary-Tier Medicine.

Thick blue smoke overflowed from the cauldron and didn’t dissipate even as it rose straight into the air. Above the cauldron was an vacuum unit that sucked up this blue smoke and guided it along a long, crystal pipe into a strangely shaped pitcher, where it collected and sat motionless.

However, the crystal pipes had been completely eroded away by the blue smoke in a very short period of time.

“Change pipes,” Su Chen commanded.

The white paper doll beside him hurriedly took down the used pipe and replaced it with another one. Its movements were a bit too slow, however, and a small amount of the blue smoke touched the white paper doll’s body. Its powerful paper strips began to harden and crack as they withered away, frightening the white paper doll into retreating back numerous steps.

“Next time, remember to have the pipe already prepared before pulling the used one off,” Su Chen said.

“Understood,” the white paper doll replied sincerely.

Su Chen sighed. If Iron Cliff were here, that would have been perfect. Having followed him for so many years, Iron Cliff had already become a more than qualified assistant.

“Check the time.” Su Chen continued to stir the liquid in the cauldron as he spoke to the white paper doll.

“There’s still two minutes left,” the white paper doll responded emotionlessly. When it wasn’t begging for mercy, the white doll’s calmness was quite impressive.

The hourglass near the white paper doll continued to flow, the continuous trickling of the grains of sand signifying the passage of time.

After being chased after by the Young Beauty Bloodshed Spider for so long, Su Chen and it were now pretty familiar with each other. Su Chen could very easily guess when it was about to catch up with him.

The time pressure grew stronger and stronger, but Su Chen’s movements only became more and more calm.

The burning flames weren’t chaotic at all, and the blue smoke continued to ascend in a straight column.

“One more minute,” the white paper doll reminded in a calm voice.

Su Chen acted as if he hadn’t heard anything.

The silhouette of an eight-legged spider appeared off in the distance.

Its eight large feet danced across the air as if it were flat ground, flying straight in their direction. As it flew through the air, it yelled, “My little lover, I can smell you from here! I know you’re close to me. Are you finally not running this time? Hehehehe.”

The voice was extremely penetrating and even somewhat bewitching.

However, it was totally ineffective against Su Chen.

“Damn, this spider lady got here a minute faster than we estimated,” the white paper doll cursed.

Even the most meticulous calculations could be off by a little bit.

“Go and delay her,” Su Chen said.

He continued to stably control the flames.

“Me?” the white paper doll explained in shock.

“Yes, you. Go, now!” Su Chen waved his hand, and the Mountain-Beheading Blade flew towards the white paper doll. “Patelocke will help you. Delay her for just this one minute.”

Perhaps it was because his attention had diverted slightly, but the tip of the flame shook slightly. A bit of the smoke leaked out, landing on Su Chen’s arm. Su Chen immediately pulled out a dagger and cut off a large chunk of flesh, then pulled out some medicine and gulped it down.

The white paper doll could only helplessly grab the blade and charge out.

The Young Beauty Bloodshed Spider saw the white paper doll from afar and laughed out loud, “Death Shadow of a Youth, you’ve decided to follow a human? You are a shame to us demons!”

The white paper doll coolly replied, “This is the reason why I am still alive right now. I won’t fight to the bitter end just for the sake of my pride.”

“But you are going to fight me because of your master?” the Young Beauty Bloodshed Spider guffawed.

“Sometimes there’s nothing you can do about that,” the white paper doll sighed. “I bowed my head to a stronger expert in order to survive, but because I did that now I need to face another even stronger individual. I shouldn’t have been greedy about that Stone Heart in the first place; the only reason I survived until now is because I was very cautious not to provoke the existences I shouldn’t provoke. But my master possesses much greater strength than he shows, which resulted in me making an error in my calculations......”

He began to talk in a long-winded manner, describing how he had fallen into Su Chen’s hands.

The Young Beauty Bloodshed Spider frowned slightly. “You talk too much.”

The white paper doll shrugged. “I just hope that you understand, Miss Bloodshed, that I have no choice in this matter.”

“If that’s the case, then you should move aside. When I’ve wrung your master dry, you can serve an even more powerful master. Considering your unique existence, you should be somewhat useful to me,” the Young Beauty Bloodshed Spider chuckled.

“That...... might not be possible,” the white paper doll said with some difficulty. “You need to know that right now......”

He continued to stammer.

The Young Beauty Bloodshed Spider’s expression sank. “You bastard, you’re delaying for time, aren’t you?”

“No, please listen to me......”

Whoosh!

A streak of silver light shot forward, and the white paper doll flew backwards with great shock as shreds of paper were torn off of its body.

The silver light was actually a silver thread that the Young Beauty Bloodshed Spider had spat out. After missing, it continued its path until it hit a mountain behind the white paper doll, splitting it in half upon impact with a low boom.

The explosion spread into the cave, and the flame in Su Chen’s hand shuddered, causing the blue smoke to float throughout the cave.

Thankfully, Su Chen was prepared this time.

The Primordial Blood Incarnation appeared behind him, forcefully blocking the blue smoke behind him.

Bringing out the Primordial Blood Incarnation just to deal with medicine was quite indicative of its power.

The white paper doll outside had already unraveled all of its white paper, the black light shining from its strips of paper in all its splendor.

The Young Beauty Bloodshed Spider laughed loudly. “Hehehehe, Death Shadow of a Youth, these attacks of yours won’t be able do anything against me.”

Her eight spider legs swished through the air as a barrage of silver streaks shot through the air.

The silver streaks collided with the black light, causing a large explosion of energy to burst forth. However, it was obvious that the black energy was inferior to the silver energy. More and more silver streaks shot through the air, the individual strands gradually forming a silver web that descended like a net tossed from the sky. In stark contrast, the black streaks of light were forced back repeatedly and beaten mercilessly. The white paper doll was forced to desperately retreat repeatedly, and it felt like time was slowing down.

In that moment, an instant seemed like ten thousand years.

Bang!

The white paper doll’s black energy was finally completely depleted by the silver wave. After it had lost all of its defenses, it could only float in front of the Young Beauty Bloodshed Spider, watching as the silver wave threatened to swallow it whole.

At that moment, a cloud of blue smoke floated towards her direction.