The Beautiful CEO's Personal Mad Doctor

Cheng Yuan said calmly, "Housekeeper Niu, you only have a surface-level understanding. Other Alchemists need forty-nine days to refine a batch of Pills because their failure rate is too high. They need countless attempts just to meet the conditions for Solidifying the Pill. But I’m different. I don’t have a failure rate. I can refine large batches in a short amount of time."

Niu Fu was stunned speechless, completely at a loss for words.

Hu Shishi, who was standing to the side, was also completely baffled.

"Xiaoyuan, you’re not just bragging, are you? You can really refine large batches of Pills in a short amount of time?"

"Yes. I can give you a demonstration right now. Housekeeper Niu, bring the herbs over!"

Niu Fu quickly brought over all the medicinal herbs the Hu Family had prepared.

Cheng Yuan examined the herbs carefully, then couldn’t help but frown. "Where are the Astragalus Root and Atractylodes? If I remember correctly, the Pill Recipe for the Qi Enhancement Pill includes both."

Niu Fu gave a wry smile. "I didn’t expect that Young Master Cheng truly knew alchemy. I didn’t select the herbs according to the Pill Recipe, but instead just picked some of the older and more valuable ones so it would be convenient for you to trade them. It was my mistake."

Cheng Yuan waved his hand. "It’s not your fault, Housekeeper Niu. I’ll figure something out."

With that, Cheng Yuan called Duan Yanming. The call connected almost immediately. "Xiaoyuan," came Duan Yanming’s voice, "I’m in the middle of a security meeting. Make it quick."

Cheng Yuan didn’t bother with pleasantries. "Big Brother, I’m in private room 518. I need some aged Astragalus Root and Atractylodes."

"No problem. I’ll have someone send them over. It’s really busy on my end, so I’ll talk to you later."

Duan Yanming hung up.

Less than five minutes later, there was a knock on the door. Elder Qi stood in the doorway with two large suitcases, asking with a hint of reserve, "Which of you is Mr. Cheng?"

"I’m Cheng Yuan."

"Mr. Cheng, these are the medicinal herbs from the Prince. Please inspect them."

Cheng Yuan opened the suitcases and couldn’t help but gasp.

’Big Brother really goes all out!’

The Astragalus Root and Atractylodes were, at a minimum, thirty years old. Cheng Yuan even found two specimens that were over a hundred years old!

"Please thank Big Brother for me!"

’Thank Big Brother??’

Elder Qi’s pupils contracted slightly. ’Could this man be the Prince’s sworn brother?’

Elder Qi’s straight spine instantly stooped, and he adopted the posture of a servant. A wide grin spread across his face as he looked at Cheng Yuan. "Rest assured, Mr. Cheng, I will be sure to pass on the message. If you require any other herbs, please don’t hesitate to ask. I will fetch them for you at once."

"Now that you mention it, I just remembered. I also need some charcoal or coal—the higher the heat value, the better."

’Charcoal?’

’Coal?’

Elder Qi glanced at the Alchemy Furnace in the center of the room and asked hesitantly, "Mr. Cheng, are you perhaps... going to perform alchemy?"

"Yes."

"Understood. I’ll arrange for it at once!"

Ten minutes later, Elder Qi returned with ten bags of charcoal and ten bags of coal.

"Mr. Cheng, the charcoal is from the most slow-burning ironwood, and this is all top-grade coal with a heat value exceeding 7,000 kcal/kg. It’s more than enough to last you the full forty-nine days!"

The corner of Cheng Yuan’s mouth twitched. ’I don’t need this much charcoal and coal!’

’But Elder Qi hasn’t done anything wrong,’ he thought. ’According to conventional wisdom, it really does take forty-nine days to guarantee a single batch of Pills.’

"Elder Qi, thank you for your trouble. I can see you’ve been stuck at the threshold of the Grandmaster realm for some time now."

Elder Qi gave a wry smile. "Yes. I am getting old, and my qi and blood have severely declined. Without the help of a high-quality Elixir, I fear it will be impossible for me to break through to the Grandmaster realm in this lifetime."

Cheng Yuan smiled faintly. "Elder Qi, just wait a little while. I’m about to refine a batch of Qi Enhancement Pills. They might be of some use to you."

Elder Qi froze. ’Mr. Cheng is going to perform alchemy right here, right now?’

’If anyone else had said that, I would have spat in their face,’ Elder Qi thought. ’Do they think alchemy is child’s play?’

But Cheng Yuan was Duan Yanming’s sworn brother. Elder Qi didn’t dare to question him.

Cheng Yuan paid no mind to whether Elder Qi believed him or not. He simply carried the two suitcases over to the Alchemy Furnace.

Soon, Cheng Yuan had selected a set of fairly high-quality herbs. Then, he tossed them all into the Alchemy Furnace in one go.

Hu Shishi and Niu Fu, having never seen alchemy performed before, watched Cheng Yuan’s every move with rapt curiosity.

Elder Qi had been with Duan Yanming for a long time and had once personally witnessed an Alchemist from Medicine Valley at work. He knew the furnace needed to be preheated.

He also knew that different herbs had to be added to the furnace at specific temperatures corresponding to their melting points.

’Cheng Yuan didn’t preheat the furnace and just dumped all the herbs in at once. This is a complete joke!’

Elder Qi simply couldn’t fathom why the Prince would become sworn brothers with such a showboating clown.

Cheng Yuan didn’t know what Elder Qi was thinking, and even if he did, he wouldn’t have cared.

Cheng Yuan grabbed a few pieces of charcoal, placed them in the furnace’s firebox, and then turned to Niu Fu. "Housekeeper Niu, do you have a lighter?"

"Yes, I do."

Niu Fu quickly fumbled for his lighter and eagerly lit the charcoal.

It had to be said, the quality of the charcoal Elder Qi had provided was exceptional. It burst into flames with a vigorous CRACKLE.

Waves of heat radiated outward, and the temperature in the private room rose instantly.

Cheng Yuan nodded in satisfaction, then picked up a bag of charcoal. WHOOSH! He poured half the bag directly into the firebox.

The charcoal was extremely dry and burned with incredible intensity.

In less than two minutes, the outer walls of the Alchemy Furnace began to glow red.

Cheng Yuan activated the Mystical Object Ability of his Double Pupil. Inside the Alchemy Furnace, the herbs were separated into different zones according to their melting points. Some floated high, others low, but all of them hovered in mid-air.

The temperature of each zone was precisely the melting point for the herbs within, ensuring they would all liquefy simultaneously.

Seeing the outer walls of the Alchemy Furnace glowing red-hot, Elder Qi simply couldn’t hold his tongue any longer. "Mr. Cheng, you can’t perform alchemy like this! You’re completely wasting the herbs."

Cheng Yuan asked with great interest, "And why do you say that, Elder Qi?"

"Mr. Cheng, can’t you see? The outer walls of the furnace are already red! That means the temperature at the bottom must be absurdly high. The herbs must be burnt to a crisp by now! You shouldn’t be using only charcoal; you should mix in some coal to better control the temperature."

Cheng Yuan smiled faintly. "Elder Qi, until the furnace is opened, nothing is certain. Just wait patiently."

「Half an hour passed in a flash.」

Cheng Yuan’s expression turned serious. The liquefaction process had reached its most critical juncture. Inside the Alchemy Furnace, several globs of viscous medicinal liquid had formed.

This was the very essence of the herbs, now fully extracted.

They appeared translucent and were quite beautiful to behold.

Another thirty seconds passed, and the liquefaction of all the herbs was complete!

The globs of medicinal liquid swirled and danced in mid-air like joyous sprites.

Cheng Yuan breathed a small sigh of relief. ’Good. The hardest part is over. Next up is Solidifying the Pill!’

Cheng Yuan circulated his Celestial Witch True Essence and slammed his palm against the red-hot outer wall of the Alchemy Furnace!

Even with the protection of his Celestial Witch True Essence, the palm of his hand was scalded red!

A torrent of Celestial Witch True Essence surged into the Alchemy Furnace, violently compressing the air within!

The pressure and temperature inside the Alchemy Furnace skyrocketed!

The medicinal liquids, which had been floating separately, were crushed together, fusing in an instant to form many plump, round Pill embryos!