Henry Clark thought of the price of silver crystal, and the light in his eyes dimmed again. After suppressing those powerless thoughts in his heart, he ordered, “You, yes, you—go wash all these herbs clean, then sort them into three groups. What are you staring at? Your father is already old, he even bought his coffin in advance. Do you still want him to personally help me out? Hurry up.”

“Cough, cough…”

James Bolton heard Henry Clark’s words and couldn’t catch his breath, coughing several times before glaring angrily at Henry Clark. If it weren’t for needing Henry Clark to prepare the medicine, and if it weren’t for the fear of the poison demon William Parker, he really wanted to slap this brat who kept cursing him to die.

David Bolton was even more furious, but the anger in her chest had nowhere to go. She could only grit her teeth and vent her frustration inwardly, obediently following Henry Clark’s instructions.

Obsidian.

It was the fuel needed by alchemists. Without cultivating true fire, they could only rely on it to burn for alchemy and medicine refining. The Rare Medicine Shop had previously stored a lot of obsidian, and Henry Clark found more than a dozen pieces with a casual search.

He lit them and tossed them into the stove.

Henry Clark felt the temperature inside the cauldron rising higher and higher. He immediately crushed the purple tea fruit and another spiritual fruit, poured them into the cauldron, and then, according to a strict timing, threw in the herbs that David Bolton had washed and sorted.

Controlling the fire.

It was a technical skill.

Over the years, Henry Clark had already honed his fire control to perfection. As the meager spiritual energy in his body slowly infused into the fire control inscription beside the stove, the flames burning inside seemed to come alive—sometimes blazing fiercely, sometimes flickering as if about to go out.

Time passed.

After half an hour, Henry Clark’s face had turned as pale as paper, and large beads of sweat rolled down his cheeks. The more precious the herbs, the harder they were to dissolve during refining, and the harder it was to extract the essence. This process had nearly exhausted all of Henry Clark’s strength.

“Boom…”

Henry Clark’s wrist trembled, and flames suddenly flared up inside the cauldron. The refined spiritual liquid burned away in just a dozen breaths, leaving only charred ashes.

Not far away.

James Bolton showed a trace of disappointment, but he also knew that preparing the Hundred-Solution Elixir was extremely difficult. Even pharmacists with decades of experience rarely succeeded on the first try. As for the young man before him, “preparing” was no longer the right word—he was using the methods of an alchemist. He was refining the Hundred-Solution Elixir!

Pharmacists!

There were countless in the entire Zifu County.

But alchemists were as rare as phoenix feathers and unicorn horns!

However, when James Bolton thought of the poison demon William Parker, he felt relieved. After all, that man was a true cultivator. Rumor had it he had already touched the threshold of Foundation Establishment. It was well known that William Parker was very skilled in alchemy, though almost ninety percent of the pills he refined were poison pills.

Failure is the mother of success.

Henry Clark failed in his first attempt to refine the Hundred-Solution Elixir, but he was not discouraged. With the wealthy James Bolton around, even if he failed the next two attempts, he had nothing to worry about—at most, it would just cost James Bolton a bit more money.

“I need jade.”

Henry Clark’s spiritual energy was nearly depleted. It was simply impossible for him to attempt a second refinement right now.

David Bolton was very dissatisfied with Henry Clark. Hearing his request, she immediately retorted, “You need jade to refine the Hundred-Solution Elixir? Don’t tell us you want to add jade to the list of ingredients.”

Henry Clark said, “If I have jade, I can attempt a second refinement today. If not, I’ll have to wait until tomorrow. My spiritual energy is exhausted and needs to recover.”

David Bolton showed a look of disdain and said unhappily, “Are you trying to fool a three-year-old? Jade can help you recover your spiritual energy faster? Don’t think that just because we’re asking you for medicine, we’re complete suckers.”

“No!”

The usually quiet John Foster stepped forward at this moment, studying Henry Clark thoughtfully, and said to David Bolton, “As far as I know, alchemy and array formation are closely related. Truly skilled alchemists are also quite accomplished in arrays, because the pills they refine require inscription structures, and jade is an excellent material for setting up arrays. I think I understand why he needs jade.”

Henry Clark glanced at David Bolton and snorted coldly, “If you don’t know, don’t talk so much. See, someone knowledgeable understands. If it weren’t for her explanation, you’d still be doubting me.”

“You…”

David Bolton felt her face burning, but she really found it hard to believe that this guy, who looked only sixteen or seventeen, not only knew how to refine medicine but also understood arrays? You had to know, to successfully set up an array, a cultivator had to break through to the Foundation Establishment stage, and only after their true qi evolved into true essence could they do it!

Moreover—

All the Foundation Establishment experts in Zifu County combined probably didn’t number more than three, and in the entire Sky Net Empire, probably less than ten. Those who could actually set up arrays were even fewer.

And him…

A kid who hadn’t even grown all his hair, could he really set up an array?

David Bolton really wanted to mock Henry Clark again, but considering that every time she doubted him, she ended up being slapped in the face, she finally held back her sharp words.