In the depths of the Sea of Consciousness.

Shen Qiang looked excitedly at the content and exhilarated Plague Source after a full meal.

Three different types of Tuberculosis Bacteria were evolving rapidly in its newly grown three leaves, and like the Flu virus, every evolved version came with a corresponding antibody. This meant that, once Shen Qiang mastered the Tuberculosis Bacteria,

he would be able not only to use it to defend against enemies but more importantly, to produce the corresponding antibodies to treat patients.

Tuberculosis, formerly known as consumption.

In ancient times, getting tuberculosis was almost the same as being diagnosed with a terminal illness.

For example, Lin Daiyu, the beauty in "Dream of the Red Chamber," ultimately died of tuberculosis.

With the advancement of modern medical techniques, Ordinary Tuberculosis has become very easy to treat.

However, Tuberculosis Mycobacterium can undergo mutations in morphology, colony appearance, virulence, immunogenicity, and drug resistance.

The most classic example is the Bacillus Calmette-Guerin (BCG) vaccine.

It is an attenuated live vaccine strain obtained by passing the bovine Tuberculosis Mycobacterium 230 times over 13 years in a culture medium containing glycerin, bile, and potatoes, and is now widely used for prophylactic vaccinations, with virtually every child being vaccinated as long as the vaccine schedule is adhered to.

After the BCG vaccination, tuberculosis can be prevented to some extent, especially against meningitis tuberculosa and disseminated tuberculosis.

Yet even with vaccines and various advanced modern medical methods,

Tuberculosis still remains a major Assassin of humankind.

The key reason is that it can easily develop drug resistance during treatment.

This is quite strange.

Because the Tuberculosis Mycobacterium itself is a kind of bacterium that reproduces very slowly.

Under the fastest conditions, it needs eighteen hours to reproduce one generation.

But E. coli can reproduce a generation every twenty minutes; one E. coli, in ten hours, can reproduce to over a billion, while Tuberculosis Mycobacterium, after eighteen hours, will only go from one to two.

Besides, not to be overlooked is the fact that Tuberculosis Mycobacterium itself does not produce endotoxins or exotoxins.

Its mechanism of causing disease is by damaging the mitochondrial membranes of cells, affecting cellular respiration, inhibiting the movement of white blood cells, and causing chronic granuloma.

It induces the proliferation of monocytes and transforms the local situation cells in the inflammatory nests into epithelioid-like cells, which then form tuberculosis nodules.

This means that if one wants to control the Tuberculosis Mycobacterium to attack, it is necessary to ensure a certain number of bacterial colonies.

What excited Shen Qiang in particular was that within the leaves of the Plague Source, the reproductive speed of the Tuberculosis Mycobacterium became abnormally rapid, and moreover, it evolved swiftly.

If nothing unexpected happened, after seventy-two hours,

The Tuberculosis Mycobacterium would complete its final evolution.

By then, combined with the easily occurring pneumonia, Shen Qiang's soft power would undoubtedly undergo a qualitative leap akin to transformation!

The next day was Saturday.

The last workday of the week.

In the morning, before eight o'clock, Shen Qiang received a call from Bai Jiao.

Shen Qiang felt slightly awkward inside.

Originally, according to his plan, he intended to give the Guiyuan Pill to her and Cheng Xinyi, but he couldn't do that. Shen Qiang was not someone to forget favors and violate justice; Xu Nan had been helping Shen Qiang from the start. Therefore, it was natural to think of her first when there were benefits.

As a result, he could only give the refined Pei Yuan Pill to Bai Jiao.

That was initially prepared by Shen Qiang to refine for his own consumption.

Yet before he had a chance to take it himself, he was faced with Cheng Xinyi, who wanted to hold a special Elixir Pills trade fair, and he had no choice but to contribute it.

According to Shen Qiang's assumption,

this obvious brush-off was likely to displease Bai Jiao.

However, to Shen Qiang's surprise, Bai Jiao's voice on the phone was seductive, her laughter sunny. She just said that Shen Qiang must come to the event in person when he had the time, to experience the atmosphere.

This left Shen Qiang somewhat scratching his head.

Experience what atmosphere?

The Pei Yuan Pill, with a cost of several million per pill, had a transparent price. If handled improperly, one could even lose money. This was far from the Guiyuan Pill, which had a cost of five yuan per pill and could sell for tens of millions. Just from one auction event, the commission shared with Xu Nan was 4.47 million.

What was the concept of 4.47 million?

Under normal circumstances, the annual expenses of the Wanxin Hesheng store in the Provincial City, including labor, storefront, and all other expenses, were fully covered.

But the Pei Yuan Pill, well, that was something else.

Its cost was several million.

It could only shorten the time needed for cultivation.

It couldn't directly induce a breakthrough, nor could it save lives.

Those who were not extremely wealthy simply could not afford it, and even if they could, whether they were willing to consume it was another matter.

Because there was no fundamental difference between the world of the Martial Cultivators and the ordinary world.

There were many wealthy Families, but even more were in decline.

The vast majority of Martial Cultivators simply didn't have much money.

A few hundred thousand, a million, or even ten million,

could provide a very comfortable life in the ordinary world.

But in the Cultivation World, that amount of money was roughly equivalent to a standard Flying Sword and a cheap Qiankun Bag.

After all, even in Cultivation, you couldn't just sit cross-legged in your room, operate your True Qi, and have money come to you.

Ordinary Martial Cultivators earned money in much the same way as ordinary people.

Those with brains and capital went into business.

For example, Wanxin and Hesheng, Cheng Xinyi, these two were the most successful businesses dealing in Magical Treasures within the Cultivation World.

Those with skills and ability earned money based on their talents, like Artifact Refining, Alchemy, medical Families relied on clinics and hospitals, Martial Cultivators ran martial arts schools, security companies, and the like.

Those without business acumen, capital, or skills could only rely on big families and Sects, working as security guards, bodyguards, doing miscellaneous jobs, and even members of the Dragon Group basically fell into this category.

Many Martial Cultivators, like ordinary people, went to work, earning a salary of several thousand a month, just getting by.

As for those with crooked ideas, who relied on the powerful strength of Martial Cultivators to commit crimes, theft, robbery, blackmail, extortion—these were undoubtedly another way to make a living in the Cultivation World.

However, once discovered by the Dragon Group and investigated, even hoping for a trial was a luxury.

If the evidence was conclusive, over eighty percent of the evildoers among Martial Cultivators would be killed on the spot.

So Martial Cultivators like Shen Qiang, who made a fortune every day, were absolutely rare in the Cultivation World.

Under such circumstances, Shen Qiang naturally didn't have high hopes for selling the Pei Yuan Pill at a good price.

However, thinking about the elixir trade event, where there would likely be many materials for Alchemy, Shen Qiang still decided to take a look.

If there were suitable raw materials that could be purchased, he would buy some, even if they were not immediately needed.

After all, a dedicated medical trade event was not often held, so after performing a surgery in the morning, Shen Qiang gave notice to the Chief Doctor and arrived at Cheng Xinyi punctually at half-past ten. Just as he reached the entrance, he spotted the beaming Bai Jiao.

If you find any errors ( broken links, non-standard content, etc.. ), Please let us know < report chapter > so we can fix it as soon as possible.