Chapter 94 — The Roots He Needed

CHAPTER 94

The Roots He Needed

Shi Feng bought the Iron Marrow Stems from Sun Ke after checking their age and condition. The herb seller weighed the usable roots, set aside a soft packet and accepted the ordinary price. Shi Feng kept his hood and face cloth on throughout the purchase. At that counter he was Shen Mo, not Fairy Ling's husband.

The stronger preparation needed several ingredients in the right proportions. He checked his list and headed toward the tower for the rest.

His next stop was Sky Pavilion's ingredient counter. The hall smelled clean, and the herbs rested in sealed trays instead of hanging above a charcoal stove.

He paid more there. He also knew what he was buying.

“Six portions?” Deng Zhi asked.

The counter attendant, Deng Zhi, wore a plain brown robe and carried the steady aura of Bone Refinement. He didn't stare at the hood or ask why a private alchemist needed common bone-strengthening herbs in such quantities.

“Six,” Shi Feng replied. “Dry, without a prepared mixture.”

Deng Zhi checked the boxes and set aside one with a damaged seal before counting the others.

“That one?” Shi Feng asked.

“Returned for inspection,” Deng Zhi replied. “You won't receive it as fresh stock.”

Shi Feng nodded. Honest service didn't need to become a friendship. He paid and accepted the sealed ingredients.

A young man at the next counter was demanding a medicine that would finish Bone Refinement in ten days. His father stood behind him looking increasingly embarrassed.

“Money isn't the problem!” Liang Zhe shouted.

“Ten days won’t finish the bones,” Deng Zhi replied calmly. “Tell me how many you’ve refined. Then I can show you the medicine suited to you.”

The young man lowered his voice. His father leaned toward the counter at once. Shi Feng left them discussing actual cultivation instead of the size of the purse.

Outside, he checked the total. The ingredients took a large part of his recent profit, but he still kept enough money for the next sessions and ordinary expenses. He wouldn't swallow the rent and then act surprised when Gao Yuan knocked.

He thought, Spend heavily where it helps. Don't spend everything everywhere.

The remaining Golden Vein Root from Zhu Shan's earlier payment lay wrapped in his storage bag. With the new stems and common herbs, he could prepare several useful portions for the last golden bones.

He wasn't certain the whole stock would finish the work. No one in Mo Tianheng's known formulas described a skeleton like his. Still, his own progress gave him a sensible estimate.

He'd buy what he needed based on that, not a merchant's miracle promise.

At the furnace, he spent the afternoon making his own medicine. Paid orders were already delivered, and no customer owned any part of these ingredients.

The Golden Vein Root softened slowly. He kept its extraction apart from the tougher stems, then joined the liquids after both reached the right state. The new mortar reduced the stems to even powder without leaving thick pieces at the bottom.

His first portion set too quickly. It formed a hard lump instead of a sound pill.

Shi Feng opened it and checked the center. The herbs' qi remained useful to his physique, but the successful multiplication was missing. He set it aside and reduced the heat for the next attempt.

The second gave two sound pills. The third gave three.

He didn't cheer over five. He recorded the amount, cleaned the vessel, and prepared the next portion while his fingers remembered the correction.

By evening, a modest bottle of useful medicine stood beside a much less attractive jar of failed pieces. Both belonged to him. Neither needed to impress a buyer.

Shi Feng ate a failed portion first and guided the medicinal force into the remaining ordinary traces. Heat spread through his lower back. Another narrow section turned golden, and he stopped to examine the change.

Closer.

The final parts weren't impossible. They were expensive.

He laughed quietly and took a successful pill. Its stronger force followed the same route, giving a much greater advance from the same herbs.

This was why he needed alchemy to improve. His physique let him use failure. His ambitions made success worth pursuing.

Ling Qingzhu was arranging clothes when he returned. She lifted a folded robe from his floor bedding and held it against the light.

“You wear the same sleeve out first,” Ling Qingzhu said.

“Then the other sleeve is saving money,” Shi Feng replied.

She lowered it and looked at the ingredient boxes in his hands.

“More medicine?” Ling Qingzhu asked.

“Some for my own practice,” Shi Feng said.

“Don't leave those under the table,” Ling Qingzhu warned. “I nearly kicked one yesterday.”

“You've challenged the tree and the boxes,” Shi Feng said. “Should I warn the stove?”

Ling Qingzhu threw the folded robe at his chest. He caught it and set the medicine in the kitchen.

When he came back, she was smoothing the rest of his folded clothes. She didn't look at him while doing it.

“Did you sort those?” Shi Feng asked.

“They were taking up space,” Ling Qingzhu replied.

“They still take up space,” Shi Feng said.

“Less badly,” Ling Qingzhu answered.

He smiled and sat on the stool. She passed him a loose tie from one robe and told him to fix it before it fell off.

There was no grand declaration in the room. Her book lay open beside the bed, his sword leaned safely against the corner, and the new medicine waited beyond the kitchen door. He felt happy looking at it all.

Shi Feng thought, I could get used to this for much longer than a few months. He didn't say so. She was arguing with the stubborn fold of his collar, and interrupting would probably make her blame him for it.

Later, when she slept, he took the next portion of medicine. Golden light spread through the last unfinished sections of his skeleton. The flow slowed, then steadied again when he guided it from a different angle.

The end was no longer hidden behind months of uncertain progress. He could see where to put his next step.

The last portion warmed his left hand so strongly that he set it flat on the table. The wood held. He deliberately tightened one finger until a shallow mark appeared, then relaxed it again. Previously, checking his strength often ended with something broken. This time he stopped exactly where he intended.

Cultivation wasn't only filling the body with more force. He needed to remain its master afterward. Xu Changhe's sword notes became more useful each day his bones grew stronger.

He washed the cup and covered the medicine before returning to his bedding. Behind the screen, Ling Qingzhu turned once and settled again. He lay down quietly, already planning which orders to finish before taking a few days for the final refinement.

He'd paid for enough herbs to finish the First Extreme in one secluded push—and with Eastern Palace watchers now asking questions at the city gates, tomorrow morning he would leave the capital by the ridge path and not return until every bone shone gold.