Chapter 62: Chapter 62 Spiritual Extract l
Translator: 549690339
Treasure Bottle Alchemy Room.
Chen Mobai looked at the sign on the door, pulled out the access card given to him by Qing Nu, and the doorman let him in after a quick swipe.
“You’re just in time, this is the successfully blended spiritual water. All you have to do is pour it into its packaging.”
As one of the top pharmacies in Red Sandstone City, the rented Treasure Bottle Alchemy Room was fully equipped. Dressed in a white lab coat, Qing Nu handed a kettle of standard Qi-replenishing Spirit Water to Chen Mobai and pointed to a dozen glass tubes plugged into slots on the table nearby.
“What about the rest?”
Chen Mobai placed the three large bags of medicinal herbs he was holding onto the table, grabbed the spout pot to start packaging, and looked at the remaining half of the medicinal liquid that had been separated in the pool.
“These original liquids exceed the standard for pill poison content. After collection, they need to be put into special packaging bags. Before you leave, give them to the recycling officer of the Treasure Bottle Pharmacy. They’ll take care of their disposal.”
As she spoke, Qing Nu took a rolled-up plastic bag from a cabinet on the wall. With a bit of spiritual power injected, it immediately inflated and turned into a square packaging bag.
“You’ve improved, there are 20 tubes this time.”
Chen Mobai steadily poured the diluted spiritual water from the spout pot into the standard glass tubes. Then, he stopped up the tube orifices, sealing them.
“The equipment in this alchemy room is better than what my old master used. Plus, I have practical experience now. I would definitely have improved. If I wasn’t unfamiliar with this alchemy room, there would have been 25 tubes, nearly a 50% success rate.”
As she spoke, Qing Nu had already packaged the original liquid that didn’t meet the standard and put it into a trash bin marked “poison”.
“Is this the next batch of medicinal herbs? Let me take a look.”
Saying so, Qing Nu opened up the main medicinal herbs that Chen Mobai had brought over from Tianhe Realm, took a whiff, and her eyes lit up.
“The age and medicinal properties of these herbs are more substantial than the ones we bought online the last two times. We might be able to yield 30 tubes in the next refinement.”
Hearing her words, Chen Mobai also smiled. He had been afraid that items from the Tianhe Realm might not meet the criteria here.
“However, these herbs have been preserved poorly, some of the medicinal properties have already vanished. They need to be used up quickly.”
After confirming all three types of medicinal herbs, Qing Nu gave Chen Mobai some less-than-uplifting news.
This was expected, after all, in Dihuan Star, the alchemy techniques have reached an apex, and there are classified preservation methods for different properties of medicinal herbs. Some even have specifically designed medicine warehouses set at different temperatures just to best preserve the medicinal properties.
However, in the Tianhe Realm, the best-case scenario they have is likely just dry, ventilated, and cool storage. If over half the medicinal properties can be preserved, it’s already the result of the cultivators’ hard work.
“By the way, how does your master usually charge the Treasure Bottle Pharmacy for selling these bottles of Qi-replenishing Spirit Water?”
Chen Mobai asked. Recently, he was planning to buy a strong amulet to break through the Ren Water Thunder Method inside the Water Mansion, but he was short on Good Deed Points.
“My master only charges a processing fee. The party providing the medicinal herbs pays for them. Regardless of the final production rate, he charges 1000 Good Deed Points per processing session.”
“1000 per session, that’s easy money.”
Upon hearing Chen Mobai’s words, Qing Nu pulled out a calculator and did some math for him.
“Treasure Bottle Pharmacy has its own medicinal fields and factories, and the cost of the main and auxiliary medicinal herbs add up to around 2000 points at most.”
“My master crafts rank-1, intermediate grade Qi-replenishing Spirit Water with 95% or more success rate each time, handing over 40 tubes to them. With the market price of 200 Good Deed Points per tube, they can sell them for a total of 8000 points.”
“Minus the looo-point processing fee, the 2000-point material cost, and a bit of costs for other channels, Treasure Bottle Pharmacy makes at least 4000 points in profit per processing session.”
After hearing all this, Chen Mobai couldn’t help but sigh, “Selling medicine really is profitable.”
“However, we also can’t ignore the cost of maintaining such a large scale operation for Treasure Bottle Pharmacy, or the salary costs at the medicinal fields and factories. But regardless, selling medicine is acknowledged as the easiest way to get rich in the Immortal World.”
In the four disciplines of the Immortal World – Technique, Pill, Instrument, Array-
The talismans representing spells only sell well if they are for daily life. As the barriers of entry are low and competition is high, the profit margin is usually slim.
It’s the same for magic artifacts, those used for combat generally don’t sell well. Only kitchen tools, airships, cars, and these sorts of transportation tools allow one to make money.
Formations are even higher-end products. Most are custom-made private orders for entire houses. Branding is vital there, and very few manufacturers tackle this field.
Only in the domain of medicinal pills is the industry exceedingly mature. Everyone needs them when cultivating and progressing, but the barriers to entry are strictly monitored by the Immortal World, raising the standards constantly. After thousands of years of internal competition, six large-scale pharmaceutical institutions, including Treasure Bottle Pharmacy, emerged.
These large-scale pharmaceutical companies are practically monopolies. If not for the Immortal World’s strict control on prices, ordinary cultivators like Chen Mobai might not be able to afford them even if they managed to secure some.
“It’s a shame that they’re not refining Qi-replenishing Spirit Water for the Treasure Bottle Pharmacy. Otherwise, they would provide ‘Spiritual Extracts,’ which could help ensure a success rate of over 80% each time.”
Looking at the original liquid in the trash bin waiting to be discarded, Qing Nu couldn’t help but sigh.
“Spiritual Extract? What’s that? Is it a type of auxiliary medicinal herb?”
Chen Mobai asked.
“Yes, something like that. It’s an auxiliary herb that large pharmacies use specifically for filtering pill poison. The reason my master has a success rate of over 95% every time is not only due to her superb skills but also because of the ‘Spiritual Extract’ provided by the Treasure Bottle Pharmacy.”
“Can you buy ‘Spiritual Extract’?”
“You’re making it sound simpler than it actually is. That ‘Spiritual Extract’ is precisely why these large-scale pharmaceutical firms stand out amidst the fierce competition in the Immortal World’s marketplace. Any ordinary pharmacy, despite having a rank-4 alchemist, wouldn’t last long in the competitive pharmaceutical industry due to the lack of ‘Spiritual Extract’.”
Chen Mobai thought about all the alchemists in the Immortal World. These alchemists usually join one of the six major pharmaceutical firms to better their opportunities in the end.
“So, this ‘Spiritual Extract’ is only available in the six major pharmaceutical firms?”
“Not necessarily, ‘Spiritual Extract’ is obtained by ground-up spiritual stones that have been drained of their spiritual energy. It can be collected from various channels, but only the six major pharmaceutical firms, supported by either the Immortal World or one of the four Daoist Academies, have a vast reserve of spiritual stones.”
Upon hearing this, Chen Mobai was taken aback.
“What did you say?”
“What?”
“Spiritual Extract is crushed spiritual stones that have been drained of their spiritual energy?! That thing can be reused like that?!”
Chen Mobai was once again moved to tears by the thriftiness of Dihuan Star’s cultivators..