Ryan Sullivan finally let go of James Carter, and James Carter hurried out of the criminal police unit—he really didn’t want to stay in a place like that any longer.

At the main entrance, he saw Ethan Brooks. Ethan Brooks was leaning against his Ferrari sports car, squinting at James Carter. He snorted coldly and said, “Kid, you got lucky this time, but you’ll never be this lucky again. Next time, I’ll make sure you die even more miserably.”

James Carter chuckled and said, “Alright, bring it on. I promise, next time I’ll beat you up even worse.”

Ethan Brooks’s mouth twitched, his face still throbbing with pain. He snorted, got into his car, and in the blink of an eye, the Ferrari disappeared from James Carter’s sight.

After giving Ethan Brooks a good beating for nothing, James Carter felt great. If he’d known, he would have hit him even harder—hard enough to make him unable to take care of himself. But when he thought of Emily Harris, James Carter’s mouth twitched again. He didn’t know where she was now, but if possible, he really wanted to see her.

Unfortunately, James Carter no longer had any way to contact Emily Harris, so he’d have to figure something out later.

He went to the bank to withdraw the money that David had transferred to him, and then strolled around the street, hoping to find another job. But jobs weren’t that easy to come by; after wandering for a long time, he still hadn’t found anything.

By chance, he spotted a Chun Cao Tang pharmacy. James Carter suddenly felt an urge to go in, which confused him—he wasn’t sick, so what would he do in a pharmacy? Yet the urge was irresistible, as if there was a powerful attraction inside Chun Cao Tang pulling him in, making him walk through the door.

Once inside, he understood why. This pharmacy sold not only Western medicine but also Chinese herbal medicine. The scent of the herbs gave him a special kind of excitement, as if he’d found something he loved—like an addict discovering top-quality heroin.

At that moment, knowledge about various alchemy ingredients surged wildly in his mind. James Carter’s heart stirred, and he finally understood why he’d come here: the Chinese herbs here were materials for making pills.

There were only a few customers buying Western medicine in the pharmacy, and not a single customer at the Chinese medicine counter. Behind the counter, a young man in his twenties was looking down at his phone, either reading a novel or texting.

James Carter walked straight to the Chinese medicine counter, already having made up his mind. He said, “I’d like to get some herbs.”

Chapter 23: First Signs of Talent

The young man immediately put down his phone, looked up, and said, “What herbs do you want? Do you have a prescription?”

“No, I just want a couple of herbs. Give me fifty grams of goji berries, and fifty grams of angelica root.” In James Carter’s memory, these were the only two Chinese herbs he knew.

“Oh, alright.” The two herbs James Carter asked for were very common and not worth much, so the young man clearly wasn’t enthusiastic. He casually wrote up a receipt and handed it to James Carter.

After James Carter paid, the young man had already weighed out the two herbs, wrapped them separately in paper, and put them in a plastic bag.

As soon as he got the herbs, James Carter left the pharmacy. Walking along, he casually took a small red goji berry from the bag. The moment his fingers touched the herb, a name suddenly appeared in his mind—“Inferior Red Ming Fruit”—along with its medicinal properties: Red Ming Fruit nourishes the liver and kidneys, benefits essence and eyesight. Used for deficiency and fatigue, soreness and weakness of the waist and knees, dizziness and tinnitus, internal heat and thirst, blood deficiency and sallow complexion, blurred vision. However, only a few types of pills use this Red Ming Fruit, and those are just ordinary medicinal pills for treating illness. None of the pills that aid cultivation use this Red Ming Fruit.

This delighted James Carter. He then took out a piece of angelica root, and more information appeared in his mind.

Inferior White Lantern Root: dispels wind and dampness, promotes blood circulation and expels pus, generates flesh and relieves pain. Used for headaches, toothaches, hemorrhoids, abnormal vaginal discharge, skin itching. Again, it can only be used in some ordinary pills.

So it turned out that Earth wasn’t lacking in alchemy materials; it was just that the names of the herbs were different because they were in different worlds. As long as he got his hands on Earth’s herbs, an analysis of their properties would appear. In his mind, he not only had knowledge of the materials and methods needed for alchemy, but also a vast amount of information about various materials. Apparently, to become skilled at alchemy, one had to thoroughly study the ingredients.

The “inferior” in front of the herb names probably referred to the quality of the material. After sorting through the knowledge in his mind, he learned that herbs were divided into five grades: inferior, medium, superior, supreme, and immortal.

The same herb could have vastly different effects depending on its quality. No wonder traditional Chinese medicine had declined—most prescriptions probably used these inferior herbs, so of course the results wouldn’t be good.