Chapter 82

Song Li had previously only studied theoretical knowledge about medicinal herbs, so when he arrived at this specialized medicinal herb area, he felt quite excited. He analyzed the various herbs and medicinal materials he saw in the market from their smell, color, shape, and other characteristics, comparing them with the properties of herbs he had memorized. For ordinary people, these herbs were complex and hard to distinguish, but Song Li could quickly identify the genuine ones and even determine the exact age of the herbs. Watching other customers bump around like headless flies, Song Li finally understood the significant difference between a high-level alchemist and an ordinary person. A sense of superiority and pride welled up in him, and he secretly sighed that alchemists were indeed the most awesome beings on this continent!

After thoroughly inspecting all the stalls in the medicinal herb area and verifying all the herbs and medicinal materials, Song Li ended his "theory into practice" action. Through this process, he had a clear understanding of the herbs he needed to buy. He knew exactly which stall had the most authentic, oldest, and most effective herbs. What comforted him was that all the main and auxiliary herbs required for refining the "Foundation Building Pill" and the "Six Yang Snow Melting Pill" were available here. Moreover, the prices were much cheaper than at the auction house. Some of the stall owners were just farmers who didn't know the value of the herbs they had, having picked them casually from the mountains and brought them to the market in hopes of a lucky sale.

Song Li finally understood why so many people liked to treasure hunt in the market. In his eyes, there were many people who didn't know the value of the goods, making it very easy to find bargains. Of course, experts like him were rare, otherwise, the stall owners would have been out of business long ago.

However, experts like Song Li were rare, but not nonexistent.

When Song Li started buying herbs from each stall according to his memory, he caught the attention of a beautiful young girl nearby.

The girl was about seventeen or eighteen years old, wearing a white long robe, with a well-proportioned figure. Her black hair was tied up with a hairpin, adding a touch of nobility to her youthful and beautiful appearance. Her skin was as tender as freshly peeled lychee, with a delicate oval face, eyebrows like distant mountains, almond-shaped eyes, peach-like cheeks, a delicate nose, and cherry lips. Her features were exquisitely beautiful. Her eyes sparkled, and her every movement was graceful.

Beside her stood a tall, slender young man, about twenty years old. He exuded a noble aura, also wearing a white long robe, and was a handsome figure, though with a slight air of arrogance that made him seem difficult to approach.

Both of them had a starleaf grass emblem on their chests, which every child in the capital over three years old knew was the symbol of the Holy Lion Empire's Alchemists' Guild. Anyone wearing this emblem, no matter where they went in the Star Cloud Continent, would be respected by countless people because they were alchemists!

The clothes they wore were the standard robes of the Alchemists' Guild. According to the guild's regulations, white robes corresponded to alchemists, blue robes to master alchemists, yellow robes to grandmaster alchemists, and black robes to "Grandmasters"! The white robes of these two young people indicated that they were still alchemists. The starleaf grass on their emblems had five leaves, representing their level, meaning they were both fifth-level alchemists. In the alchemist level system, levels four, five, and six were considered intermediate. To be an intermediate alchemist at their age was a sign of great potential! No wonder the stall owners looked at them with a mix of respect and envy. Registered intermediate alchemists of the Alchemists' Guild were big shots in the eyes of these people!

Seeing the beautiful girl staring intently in one direction, the young man followed her gaze and found that she was looking at a tall, handsome young man with clear features. He immediately felt a pang of jealousy and frowned.

"Lu Shu, what are you looking at? So intently?" The young man's tone was tinged with jealousy.

"Oh... Senior Brother Chen, look closely, that young man is also an expert," the girl said, her eyes sparkling with curiosity.

The young man felt a bit better, thinking that she wasn't captivated by the boy's looks but by his expertise. The girl's words made him notice that the boy was indeed an expert. He was buying herbs from several stalls, including baihezi, tielugrass, baleilou, black wild fruit, jinzhan leaves, and duanchang flowers—all precious herbs. With his keen eye, he could see that the boy was picking the herbs with the most suitable age and the best efficacy from the nearby stalls! Moreover, the boy was quick, accurate, and ruthless in his bargaining, clearly a master at finding bargains. Ironically, most of the stall owners were clueless, thinking they had met a generous buyer and were making a big profit, when in fact they were being taken advantage of!

"Hey... These herbs are all necessary for refining the Foundation Building Pill..." The young man suddenly realized this and his eyes widened.

"That's right, these herbs are all necessary for refining the Foundation Building Pill..." the girl said with a meaningful tone.

"How is that possible! Even the lowest-level Foundation Building Pill is a mid-grade earth-class pill, which only a high-level alchemist can refine. How old is this boy? How can he be a high-level alchemist? Impossible, impossible, absolutely impossible!" The young man shook his head, clearly disbelieving.

"My teacher once told me never to easily believe that something is impossible! This world is full of amazing people and events, and miracles and legends can happen right beside us!" The girl's curiosity grew even stronger.

"Maybe he just has a good eye. He might be buying them for an elder to refine. I think this boy is sneaky and unrefined, probably not from a noble family. He might just be a herb collector for some alchemist."

Hearing this, the girl smiled slightly but didn't respond. The boy exuded a mix of nobility and defiance, clearly not a common child. How could he be unrefined? Senior Brother Chen was just too petty, unable to tolerate others' excellence. The girl didn't have much affection for Senior Brother Chen but also didn't dislike him. They were just fellow disciples, learning alchemy from the same master. So her attitude toward him was always somewhat distant, neither overly close nor overly distant. Although she found his behind-the-back criticism of others narrow-minded, it wasn't worth arguing over.

Actually, Chen Gang wasn't that petty. His dislike of Song Li was entirely because he noticed that this junior sister was very interested in the boy, which made him jealous. He had long been infatuated with this beautiful junior sister, but she was oblivious to his feelings.

Although what Senior Brother Chen said was possible, the girl felt that this boy was no ordinary person. Seeing that he was only fifteen or sixteen years old, if he had already reached the level of a high-level alchemist and could independently refine the Foundation Building Pill, it would be truly shocking! She had become a fifth-level alchemist at eighteen and was already considered a rare talent by the elders of the Alchemists' Guild. If this boy was a high-level alchemist, how could she compare to him?

Her intuition told her that this boy must be a high-level alchemist, but her reason told her that it was unlikely! For the first time in her life, she was so intrigued by a stranger that her curiosity was overwhelming! If not for her reserve, she would have approached him long ago.

Seeing the girl's gaze fixed on the boy, the young man felt a surge of jealousy. The more he looked at the boy, the more he disliked him. When he saw the boy eyeing a bag of jinzhan leaves and bargaining with the stall owner, he had an idea. He quickly walked over to the stall, grabbed the bag of jinzhan leaves, and said coldly, "Boss, how much for this bag of jinzhan leaves? I'll take it all!"

The girl frowned slightly. She knew that Senior Brother Chen was just stirring up trouble, as they had no plans to buy jinzhan leaves today. At their level, refining a low-grade earth-class pill was already a challenge, let alone the Foundation Building Pill. However, she didn't stop him, thinking that this might be a chance to meet this somewhat mysterious young man. So she quietly followed and stood by, observing the situation. If a conflict arose, she could step in to mediate.

Song Li had already bought two bags of jinzhan leaves because he could only refine mid-grade earth-class Foundation Building Pills. To help his father successfully build his foundation, he needed to prepare more pills. If the quality wasn't high enough, he would make up for it with quantity. Two bags of jinzhan leaves were enough, but he wanted to buy more just in case. Besides, the prices here were so cheap that he wouldn't miss such a good deal. More was always better.

He was in the middle of bargaining for the stall owner's jinzhan leaves when this guy suddenly appeared, which made him very annoyed.

In theory, with Song Li's reputation in the capital, few people would dare to provoke him. However, this world wasn't like his previous life, where information was abundant and anyone who became famous would have their information spread everywhere, from photos to the brand of underwear they wore. In this era, although Song Li was well-known, his portrait wasn't posted everywhere, and many people who hadn't seen him didn't know he was the famous Prince Ming. So it was understandable that this clueless Senior Brother Chen would provoke him.

"Hey, where are you from? Don't you know about first come, first served? You call yourself a person from the capital, yet you have such poor manners..." Song Li glanced at the guy who was trying to snatch the goods, finding him similar to Pan Shaofeng—both were dressed in fine clothes, thinking they had some background and acting arrogantly. Song Li had intended to be polite, but seeing this guy's attitude, he felt a surge of anger. When Song Li got angry, the consequences were severe. At the very least, he would start cursing.