Chapter Ninety-Seven: Blood Vitality Potion

Qi Xiao first blended the Dragon Blood Fruit with the Fire Lizard Blood. The two mighty currents of vital essence fused with one another, releasing wave after wave of searing heat.

Then Qi Xiao slowly poured in the Springwater of Life. Its purity and harmonizing power steadied the blood essence in the mixture, while also lending it a breath of vigorous vitality.

He ground the Blood Thorn Fruit carefully into powder and added it to the liquid. Its properties complemented the Dragon Blood Fruit, further enhancing the potion’s ability to strengthen the body.

The Fire Rock Marrow was then dripped in with great care. With each drop, the temperature of the entire test vessel rose a little, as though imitating the burning of blood essence within the body.

At last, Qi Xiao placed the Blood Spirit Grass and the Dark Blood Crystal together into the beaker. He immersed the entire Blood Spirit Grass in the thick blood essence; its leaves unfurled within the crimson liquid, releasing a green radiance that looked faintly uncanny.

The Dark Blood Crystal, meanwhile, dissolved slowly and silently in the blended liquid, its essence seeping into every molecule, deepening the potion’s potency and extending its duration.

Winding, twisted tongues of flame burned beneath the vessel. In this forest stained by a curse, even the fire seemed to carry a trace of decadence and unrest.

In the end, as thick pulses of blood essence and life energy surged and clashed within the cup, they gradually merged into a deep crimson liquid.

The finished potion was a dark red in appearance, with only a faint golden sheen drifting across its surface. It could not only rapidly bolster the drinker’s vital essence for a short time, but also permanently improve physical constitution. Qi Xiao had prepared three bottles in all, and since he did not need that little bit of recovered vitality, he simply took one out and drank it at once.

The moment the potion touched his tongue, Qi Xiao sensed a strange flavor, sweet yet faintly spicy. It was the distinctive taste of Dragon Blood Fruit’s fruity sweetness entwined with the heat of Blood Thorn Fruit.

This was immediately followed by a scorching sensation, as though a flame had ignited in his throat. As the one who had made the potion, Qi Xiao naturally understood that this was the intense vitality bestowed by the Fire Lizard Blood, now spreading rapidly through his body.

As the potion flowed into his stomach, a warm current began to gather in his abdomen, then slowly spread throughout his entire body, bringing with it a comforting yet powerful heat.

The harmonizing power of the Springwater of Life softened that current further. Qi Xiao felt life energy surging within him, as though every cell were cheering in delight.

With the movement of his blood essence, Qi Xiao could feel his strength filling out little by little. His muscles, bones, and even every cell were being nourished by that force, becoming more vigorous. His body seemed to swell with power, as if boundless energy were gathering there, waiting to erupt. He even had the illusion that he could smash a mountain to pieces with one punch.

The coolness of the Blood Spirit Grass began to emerge amid the heat, bringing a trace of relief to Qi Xiao’s throat and stomach and balancing the potion’s fierce stimulation.

As for the essence of the Dark Blood Crystal, it was working in the deepest parts of his body. Qi Xiao could feel it nourishing his marrow and internal organs, strengthening his inner vitality.

The potion’s effects sank all the way into his bones. Qi Xiao felt his constitution beginning to change in subtle ways; every heartbeat was strong and forceful, every breath deeper than before.

Though much of this was merely the effect of his own mind, the rise in physical condition brought about by the potion was real enough. It was only because Qi Xiao’s original body was so frail by wizard standards that the improvement seemed so obvious.

If an ordinary wizard who cultivated the bloodline path drank it, they would likely only gain a modest enhancement. For them, the effect Qi Xiao himself cared little about most of the time, the rapid replenishment of blood essence during battle, would probably be far more important.

Qi Xiao put away the remaining two bottles of potion and also recalled the soundproof wooden box. Leaning on the Dragon Flame Staff, he headed toward the center of the forest.

He was already not far from the core area, and he intended to take a look. After that, he would meet Hope in the real world as well. He did not know whether Hope in reality would be as gentle as he had been in the dreamscape.

There were no shortage of good things inside Doe Forest. As Qi Xiao made his way toward the inner region, he also gathered materials along the way, most of them flowers, herbs, and fruits related to blood essence. Although he did not plan to continue dual cultivation in bloodline magic, he was still willing to make a few related potions and improve his physical strength a little.

In truth, most element-aligned and mystery-aligned wizards would choose to implant some kind of extraordinary bloodline in order to improve their physique. Some would even directly replace their original organs with the extraordinary organs of powerful creatures.

This would undoubtedly provide great help to a wizard’s combat strength, and most wizards cared little for so-called human propriety. In some ways, it was quite similar to biological alchemy.

But for Qi Xiao, it was still far from that stage. At the very least, he could not yet bring himself to replace an arm or an eyeball with that of another creature. If it were only a matter of implanting some extra organs, perhaps that would be acceptable.

He cut down several stalks of Blood Vine Flower. The remaining buds looked as though they were close to blooming; if he had time in the future, he could come back and harvest them again. In any case, he would be staying here for a month, so time was fairly plentiful.

The scent of Blood Vine Flower was not like most materials of its kind, which were heavy with blood essence. Instead, it was relatively light, resembling a blend of lavender and jasmine. In alchemy, this flower served a function much like the Blood Spirit Grass Qi Xiao had used earlier, helping to provide and harmonize blood essence.

He also collected some lust-affinity materials, though he had no immediate idea how to use them. After all, these things were practically the same as aphrodisiacs, and anything made with them in alchemy somehow felt unlikely to be entirely respectable.

In fact, apart from the time they spent studying, most alchemists were away year-round. Materials had to be gathered somehow. As for buying them from a materials shop, setting the price aside, most rare materials simply were not for sale. Qi Xiao was only able to avoid worrying about supplies for the time being because his teacher had provided him with an initial stock.

The materials in this forest were extraordinarily rich in both variety and quantity. If Doe Forest were located in a region where wizards commonly settled, it would likely have been visited by alchemists countless times already. Only because Doe Forest lay on a remote island at the edge of the sea, where ordinary wizards found it difficult to set foot, could Qi Xiao pick so freely. All kinds of extraordinary herbs stood everywhere, as though he were taking everything at no cost.

Just as Qi Xiao parted a curtain of vines, he suddenly saw a human figure beneath an ancient tree not far away. He held his breath and did not act rashly.

After a long while, the figure on the other side remained motionless. Qi Xiao silently stepped back, and once he was at a safe distance, he murmured an incantation and, after a long absence, took the ethereal energy elemental gun from spatial magic.

Spatial magic was nowhere near as convenient as a storage artifact. Not only did it require reopening the space every week and carry the risk of intrusion by void creatures, but each retrieval also consumed magic power to cast the spell. The movement it produced was large as well, since it involved many spatial nodes. It was far less swift and discreet than a storage artifact.