Chapter 63: Side Effects

"What?" Liu Binglan's expression, which had just relaxed a little, shifted abruptly once again.

Had anyone else said such a thing to her, she certainly would not have believed it. However, she was already well aware that Xiao Nan's medical skills were far from ordinary.

More importantly, his tone right now was completely serious; he did not look like he was joking at all.

Looking at Xiao Nan with a nervous expression, she asked, "What illness do I have now?"

"You took that piece-of-trash medicine made by the Li family, didn't you?" Xiao Nan asked.

"Are you talking about the Qi-Gathering Beauty-Nourishing Pill?"

Liu Binglan was somewhat speechless. Today, the Qi-Gathering Beauty-Nourishing Pill was undoubtedly a fiercely sought-after, top-selling product across the entire Dragon Kingdom.

It had even begun to make a name for itself abroad.

Yet, in Xiao Nan's mouth, it had been reduced to trash medicine.

"Yes." Xiao Nan looked at her with a faint smile. "You took it, didn't you?"

"Of course."

Liu Binglan nodded. "I would never casually endorse any product. If I haven't personally tried it and approved of it, I refuse to be its spokesperson—no matter how much money they offer."

"So, you completely approve of the Qi-Gathering Beauty-Nourishing Pill?" Xiao Nan asked again.

Liu Binglan took a sip from the coffee cup in front of her and said, "The reason the Qi-Gathering Beauty-Nourishing Pill is so immensely popular right now is precisely because its efficacy has been recognized by countless consumers, isn't it?"

"Naturally, I am no exception. After taking a single Qi-Gathering Beauty-Nourishing Pill, my skin underwent a very noticeable change compared to before. It's just that you don't usually follow celebrities or pay attention to me."

"Anyone who is familiar with me would find this easy to notice."

"The magic of the Qi-Gathering Beauty-Nourishing Pill in skin care and beauty is far beyond comparison with any other cosmetic drugs, facial masks, or skincare products."

"Not a single woman can resist it."

With that, Liu Binglan looked at Xiao Nan in confusion. "Didn't you just say I had contracted some new illness? Why are you suddenly bringing up the Qi-Gathering Beauty-Nourishing Pill?"

Xiao Nan bluntly stated, "Your new illness is something you contracted precisely from taking the Qi-Gathering Beauty-Nourishing Pill. The Li family's Qi-Gathering Beauty-Nourishing Pill is a piece of trash medicine that poses an extreme hazard to human health."

"It's one thing that you took it without using your brain, but to actually help them endorse it and lead your vast numbers of fans to buy it—you are simply harming others as well as yourself."

Xiao Nan was not saying this because he held a grudge against Li Yadong and wanted to maliciously defame the Li family's Qi-Gathering Beauty-Nourishing Pill.

In the true recipe for the Qi-Gathering Beauty-Nourishing Pill that he had previously written for Lin Ziqing, the medicinal herbs known as *Wikstroemia* and *Buddleja* were not only rare, but also extraordinarily expensive.

In order to help the Li family cut costs, that so-called Divine Doctor Pan had thought of substituting *Acorus gramineus* and *Cornus officinalis*—two ingredients that were countless times cheaper—in place of *Wikstroemia* and *Buddleja*.

From the very beginning, Xiao Nan had felt in his heart that such a practice was definitely unreliable.

After promising Lin Shuyun that he would help the Lin family, Xiao Nan—who still had plenty of ingredients for refining Qi-gathering pills on hand—specifically acquired some of the cheap ingredients, *Acorus gramineus* and *Cornus officinalis*, which the Li family had added to the Qi-Gathering Beauty-Nourishing Pill.

He attempted to refine the Li family's version of the Qi-Gathering Beauty-Nourishing Pill.

However, even with Xiao Nan's exceptionally superb alchemy skills, after an hour of refinement, he was completely unable to produce the Li family's version of the Qi-Gathering Beauty-Nourishing Pill.

Xiao Nan ultimately reached a conclusion.

That was, using these two cheap ingredients as substitutes made it fundamentally impossible to refine the Qi-Gathering Beauty-Nourishing Pill.

Yet, somehow, that Divine Doctor Pan had managed to concoct it.

Xiao Nan refused to believe that Divine Doctor Pan's level of pharmacological knowledge was superior to his own.

There was definitely something fishy going on here.

After acquiring one of the Li family's Qi-Gathering Beauty-Nourishing Pills to study, Xiao Nan quickly found the reason.

As it turned out, the Li family's Qi-Gathering Beauty-Nourishing Pill also contained an ingredient called *Spatholobus suberectus*.

Because the dosage of *Spatholobus suberectus* used was extremely minute, many people—including Lin Ziqing's research team—had failed to detect it after dissecting the Li family's pill.

Being deeply versed in pharmacology, the moment Xiao Nan saw *Spatholobus suberectus*, he immediately understood what was going on.

*Spatholobus suberectus* was an herb with extremely strong blending properties.

Divine Doctor Pan had used this exact item to force *Acorus gramineus* and *Cornus officinalis*—which were originally completely incompatible with the other herbs in Xiao Nan's formula—to blend together.

In the end, he had managed to concoct this trash version of the Qi-Gathering Beauty-Nourishing Pill.

It took Xiao Nan a mere half-hour to discover that while this Qi-Gathering Beauty-Nourishing Pill retained a considerable portion of the efficacy from his original formula, it possessed one fatal side effect.

The two cheap ingredients, which were originally completely incompatible, had been forcibly fused together with the other herbs by means of *Spatholobus suberectus*.

Once ingested by a human, this combination would cause immense damage to the human central nervous system.

Xiao Nan could be certain that for anyone who took this Qi-Gathering Beauty-Nourishing Pill, considering individual differences in physical constitution, the side effects would begin to manifest in as short as a month or as long as half a year.

Once the central nervous system suffered severe damage, the person would begin to experience mental derangement and ultimately become an idiot.

Having discovered this terrifyingly hazardous side effect of the Li family's Qi-Gathering Beauty-Nourishing Pill, even if Xiao Nan had no personal animosity with the Li family, he could not possibly allow them to continue selling it.

For every single pill of this trash medicine sold, it could potentially create one idiot; the hazard was far from ordinary.

It had been over a month since the Li family sold their first batch of ten thousand bottles of the Qi-Gathering Beauty-Nourishing Pill.

Xiao Nan estimated that by now, a portion of those ten thousand people should already be starting to fall ill.

His previous phone call to Li Yunbao was precisely to have him investigate those individuals and gather evidence.

He had to strike down that damn Divine Doctor Pan and Li's Pharmaceuticals in one fell swoop.

Not only was it to help the Lin family, but it was also to rid society of a scourge.

"How is that possible?"

Liu Binglan was deeply frightened by Xiao Nan's words, looking at him with utter disbelief in her eyes. "The Qi-Gathering Beauty-Nourishing Pill was researched and developed under the personal direction of Divine Doctor Pan, and it has been on the market for so long."

"Both the Li family's business competitors and major medical institutions around the world are conducting deep analyses of this phenomenal medicine."

"If it truly posed any harm to the human body, how could it possibly have gone unexposed for so long?"

Xiao Nan sneered.

Even with his years of intensive study of the *Tianshi Medical Canon*, his medical skills having reached the realm of mastery, and his matchless proficiency in various pharmacologies, it had still taken a considerable amount of energy for him to discover the side effect of the Li family's pill.

How could those so-called medical institutions and quack doctors possibly discover such a thing?

Let alone those people, Xiao Nan believed that even Divine Doctor Pan himself was probably unaware of it.

"I am only telling you this for the sake of these fifty million."

Xiao Nan handed Liu Binglan's bank card back to her, stood up, prepared to leave, and said indifferently, "Since you don't believe it, go back and continue being your brand ambassador. Your money is returned to you."