Chapter 42: Chapter 29: Seven-step Fragrance_2
Translator: 549690339
One could say, aside from boiling medicine, he had no other experience handling herbs.
Starting with no foundation at this time, the success rate of a newcomer in making medicine was naturally imaginable.
He had failed several times in making sedatives at the beginning.
A series of failures forced Lu Yuan to temporarily stop trying to make more medicine.
The reason was simple – it wasn’t the herbs that were failing, but the money.
They had spent hundreds of silver taels on the medicinal ingredients.
Even though Zhou Ze was a generous person and had given him enough ingredients to make about ten portions of Seven-Step Fragrance, he couldn’t afford to waste them like this.
After four failures, forty silver taels had been lost.
His hard-earned money burned away just like that – who wouldn’t feel heartache?
“So from now on, I can’t just grope around blindly like a headless fly.
After the painful realization, he changed his previous strategy.
He began summarizing the experiences from his previous failures.
Then he studied the Wanfang Medicine Compilation seriously, focusing on researching the properties of the various ingredients for the Seven-Step Fragrance sedative, and prepared to start from there.
After several days of this, he finally gained some insights.
He gained a deeper understanding of the properties of various medicinal ingredients and the control of temperature.
Feeling more confident about his improved mastery, Lu Yuan began a new attempt to make medicine.
This time, his results were better.
Although he still couldn’t make the Seven -Step Fragrance, at least he managed to make some sedatives.
However, these sedatives were either too weak or not secretive enough. They could only be considered as inferior products, far from what he wanted.
“These things can only fool those stupid wild beasts. As for the Jianghu people, there’s no way they’d fall for it,” he reasoned.
Lu Yuan picked up a pile of heavy-smelling powder, frowned as he looked at it, and poured it directly into a small bottle nearby to save it.
These were the sedatives he had made with great effort and money. Even if they were inferior, they couldn’t be wasted.
He decided to use these inferior sedatives to lure prey.
The smell of these sedatives was too strong for use outside the mountains, as the people there would easily detect them. It was of poor practicality. But the wild beasts in the mountains lacked human wisdom.
Moreover, they were just wild animals that ate raw food.
The bloody smell from hunting and eating animals was enough to overpower the smell of these sedatives.
“I remember that just before winter, while hunting in the mountains, I discovered a dens of Fierce Tigers and wild bears. I was afraid of their ferocity at the time and didn’t dare to take any risks,” Lu Yuan thought.
“But now with these inferior sedatives, I can catch a few rabbits, smear the sedatives on the meat, and throw it in front of their dens.
I don’t believe that those hungry animals, who just went through the winter, will not eat meat delivered to their door.”
After planning the spring hunt in his mind, Lu Yuan turned to pick up his homemade pencil and began to record his failed experiences in the medicine-making manual.
Failure is the mother of success.
He did not fear failure.
As a long-lived person with a lengthy life ahead of him, there was plenty of time to learn various knowledge slowly.
Failure in the present was not terrible. What was terrible was not making any progress despite the failures.
A truly strong-willed person would face failures, learn from them, accumulate experience, and then defeat them the next time they face them.
Lu Yuan didn’t know if he counted as a strong-willed person.
But whether he was or not, he was slowly trying to become such a person at this time.
And currently, making the Seven-Step Fragrance would be his first step towards success.
Lu Yuan believed that he would succeed.
Spring cold lingers, and warmth comes and goes.
In a blink of an eye, the bitter winter had passed.
On this day, Lu Yuan went to a small pavilion beside Plum Forest outside the town to bid farewell to Sun Siwen.
“Brother Sun, I wish you success and get what you desire in this spring examination,” Lu Yuan offered as he raised his glass in blessing.
“With Brother Lu’s auspicious words, I must achieve honor and fame on this journey,” Sun Siwen also picked up his wine glass and downed it while looking at Plum Blossoms around, which were wilting as the season was almost over.
In the next few days, he would stay in the county town and participate in the spring examination.
Having endured long, grueling years of study, he didn’t know whether he could weather the cold winter like these Plum Blossoms and finally bloom.
“I’m off.’
With a loud laugh, Sun Siwen picked up his book-box and gradually disappeared along the official road.
As he watched Sun’s disappearing figure until he could no longer see him, Lu Yuan turned back to walk home.
In the blink of an eye, it was already February. Early spring had arrived.
Sun Siwen had embarked on his path to pursue fame and fortune, and Lu Yuan should also prepare for the new year’s hunting.
“I spent one hundred silver taels at the beginning of the year on sedatives. This expense is too large. I need to catch more prey this year and earn it back,” he thought on his way home.
Lu Yuan was now in dire need of money.
The consumption of money for his training was one reason, and the production of sedatives was another reason.
“Although I can now successfully make the Seven-Step Fragrance, one dose costs ten silver taels. It’s just too expensive,” he said, his mouth twitching at the thought of the horrifying costs to make the sedatives.
That’s right, during this winter, after eight consecutive failures, he had finally succeeded in making the Seven-Step Fragrance..