Demon Suppression Bureau, pharmacy.
Anian was no longer the young girl she had once been—she had grown into a graceful young woman, her clothing still reflecting the style of her hometown.
As the only cultivation specialist focused on medical techniques within the Demon Suppression Bureau, Anian received resources comparable to frontline combatants.
After all, cultivators who abandoned offensive training to specialize exclusively in healing arts were genuinely rare.
Aside from true selfless compassion and personal interest, virtually no cultivator would choose a path that benefited others but not themselves.
Through this resource allocation, Anian had already broken through to the Foundation Establishment realm.
A Foundation Establishment cultivator specializing in medical techniques was already considered a top-tier treasure in this region of the Southern Continent.
Yuzhou City's Demon Suppression Bureau had invested considerable effort to prevent Anian from being transferred elsewhere.
Naturally, Anian's own reluctance to leave was part of the reason.
These days, Anian commanded respect from nearly everyone in the bureau except the director herself.
So many members of the Demon Suppression Bureau owed their lives to Anian's hands.
For all these reasons, Anian's standing within the bureau remained considerable, which also meant she could occasionally waste some medicinal materials.
To research the alchemical liquid techniques that Chu Xingchen had once taught her.
Naturally, given the unique taste, Anian hadn't dared to sample her own creations. Instead, whenever someone suffered minor injuries, she would bring them out with a solemn ritual—please work—and only then administer them.
She would carefully observe the test subject's expression, since Chu Xingchen's reputation rested less on the somewhat miraculous effects and more on the terrifying aftereffects.
As long as the patient didn't cry out for their parents, beg for mercy on their knees, or pound their head against the ground, it was a failure.
After years of studying and replicating Chu Xingchen's methods, Anian still hadn't reached his level.
Reflecting on this, Anian concluded that when brewing this medicine, she had always pursued optimal potency, demanding perfection.
While this had indeed greatly improved her brews, it still left her far from Chu Xingchen's realm.
Anian thought perhaps she needed to flip her approach.
Stop chasing so-called medicinal effects. First pursue extreme bitterness—the kind of bitterness that strikes directly at the soul.
Medicinal effects be damned.
Chu Xingchen's personality suggested he might have brewed it in the most punishing way possible, using it to discipline others, and only by accident produced a liquid with excellent medicinal properties.
The more Anian pondered, the more convinced she became. She decisively began brewing.
So her earlier batches, while somewhat bitter, were at least tolerable if you held your nose.
And the medicinal effects were quite good, earning a solid reputation within the Demon Suppression Bureau.
Though occasionally the taste would go off and change flavor.
But cooking medicine a bit longer or using slightly less of an ingredient would change the taste—it wasn't a big deal.
As long as it worked.
The bitterness lasted only a moment, but the pain was counted in months.
Anian never lacked volunteers to test her experiments.
However… ever since Anian changed her approach to the alchemical liquid, everything was different.
The bitterness kept getting worse.
The medicinal effects kept disappearing.
Those who should lie down for a month still needed twenty-nine days.
Those who should stop bleeding still bled.
The whole thing boiled down to: does it work?
Technically yes, but barely.
The taste grew increasingly outrageous, sometimes leaving people disoriented from the sheer bitterness.
The awfulness came in all shapes and forms, the smell growing ever stranger.
Even with Anian's high standing, she couldn't withstand the mounting rumors.
Before long, whispers spread through the Demon Suppression Bureau—was Anian adding excrement to the mixture?
The bureau director personally held talks with Anian about this.
Anian firmly pushed back—without investment, how can there be returns? If we give up now, will the future deaths be on your head?
Combined with Chu Xingchen's formidable reputation in Yuzhou City.
And Zhao Wanqing's guarantee of the alchemical liquid's effectiveness.
The bureau director ultimately gave the only Foundation Establishment alchemist free rein.
After all, only those with minor injuries were drinking it, and Anian would never give her experimental batches to the seriously wounded.
The director also assured everyone that Anian's alchemical liquid was simply evolving, not that she'd added anything inappropriate out of malice.
Three more years passed.
Anian's once-famous alchemical liquid had become universally feared.
The only people willing to drink it were newcomers.
Many veterans of the Demon Suppression Bureau would even deliberately bring healthy recruits to Anian, having her brew a batch just so they could experience it.
As a unique initiation ritual for joining the Demon Suppression Bureau.
If you couldn't handle Anian's alchemical liquid, how could you bear the weight of protecting Yuzhou City's citizens?
Anian found herself caught between willingness and reluctance—reluctant that her painstaking research had become a training tool, but pleased that volunteers kept showing up.
But the Demon Suppression Bureau didn't recruit every year.
Lately, Anian's pool of volunteers had been shrinking.
Now Anian looked at her freshly brewed alchemical liquid, thinking she'd at least captured about seventy percent of Chu Xingchen's flavor, but she was running short on people to test it.
"Maybe… I should set a rule: anyone who comes to me for treatment has to sample this alchemical liquid after they're cured?"
Anian stroked her chin, murmuring softly.
But wouldn't that mean no one would dare come to her for treatment anymore?
As Anian was still mulling this over, there was a light knock at the door.
Anian looked back.
A graceful woman wearing a gauze hat stood at the doorway.
Anian's eyes lit up. "You must be the new member, right? Finally waited for you."
Xu Linglong paused at her words, momentarily unsure whether to play along, but quickly decided to accept the role.
After all, the most effective way to build rapport was through identity.
Forcing a soul search was something you did only when your cover identity couldn't hold.
At minimum, she needed to map out all the relationships here.
Xu Linglong nodded gently:
"That's me. What can I help with?"
"Oh, nothing much." Anian pointed to a bowl of alchemical liquid sitting nearby. "Drink this, then tell me the taste and healing effects."
Xu Linglong looked over. The Demon Suppression Bureau was quite something, conducting live human testing.
Rather interesting.
Xu Linglong stepped forward, lowering her gaze to the brewed alchemical liquid.
With just a glance, Xu Linglong immediately understood the medicine's properties.
Not poison… just an ordinary healing medicine.
But… why were the effects so weak?
And why did it smell so awful?
Xu Linglong looked at Anian's eager expression and asked:
"Before I drink it, I want to ask—why do I need to drink this?"
"Have you heard of Chu Xingchen's name?"
"Naturally."
"I'm surprised the new generation knows of him too. But that's good—this alchemical liquid was personally taught by Chu Xingchen. It's his secret technique, his winning secret weapon in cultivation to this day. So many people want to know its secrets but can't."
Anian spoke with righteous conviction, wearing an expression that said you'd struck gold, and continued:
"This privilege is exclusive to our Yuzhou City Demon Suppression Bureau. Consider it your entry benefit."
Xu Linglong watched Anian speak with such earnestness, and the information her spiritual sense had captured earlie
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r confirmed she wasn't lying.
She considered it briefly, then picked up the bowl.
Chu Xingchen's winning secret weapon in cultivation to this day?
Xu Linglong looked at the liquid in the bowl, then back at Anian:
"Entry benefit?"
Anian nodded firmly:
"Entry benefit!"