After slightly muttering to himself, Elder Huo stated: "If you have enough contribution points, you can go visit the Black Prison."

Gu Zuo stared blankly: "Black Prison?"

Elder Huo sighed: "All the prisoners there are wicked and beyond redemption, but not to the point where they triggered great turmoil."

Gu Zuo was absent-minded, but he seemed to understand a little.

Following which, Elder Huo began explaining to Gu Zuo.

The Black Prison was located in a certain secret location in the Inner Sect. It had three internal barriers and three external barriers, and it was guarded extremely tightly. Under normal circ.u.mstances, martial artists weren't allowed entry. On the contrary, the frequency of pharmacists going through was comparatively high as long as they had a disciple token and contribution points.

As for why?

That was because the living people of various realms within the Black Prison were the test subjects of the Qingyun City pharmacists.

Gu Zuo was startled, and said: "Using those people to test medicine on?"

Then he promptly understood. Since Elder Huo previously stated that they were all people beyond redemption, rather than executing them… The meaning was that it was better to have them to act as a donation to the pharmacists' cause? After his heart hesitated for a second, he calmed down.

Yes, even in modern times, those who wanted to make breakthroughs weren't without live specimens for their experiments. Only, they normally wouldn't use humans. In addition, there were many kinds of other limits and restrictions.

But this was also because science and technology was very advanced in the modern era, and there were many things that could be used as subst.i.tutes. It was different now. If one didn't use a living person, there basically wasn't any way to conduct experimental verification.

People beyond redemption…

Right. He really didn't need to take the moral standards of the modern era here to display a heart of false sympathy.

After thinking it through, Gu Zuo revealed a grateful expression to Elder Huo: "If it wasn't for elder, I'm afraid this disciple wouldn't have had this channel. Many thanks, Elder Huo."

Elder Huo received this grat.i.tude with a smile.

It was indeed as such.

Although the Black Prison nominally permitted pharmacists free pa.s.sage, the number of pharmacists who knew about the Black Prison weren't that many. After all, not everyone had the qualifications to do testing on live specimens…

After that, Elder Huo said: "If you have enough contribution points, I'll guide you to the Black Prison."

Gu Zuo had a helpless expression: "At this moment, I don't have…"

Elder Huo smiled placatingly: "Pharmacists also have many ways to obtain contribution points. Every refined medicinal pill that's fit for a Xiantian martial artist's consumption is worth one contribution point. Or you can go to the Consultation Pillar to answer complex problems for other pharmacists, and get contribution points that way — These two are the most common channels the Sect's internal pharmacists use to get contribution points.

He continued: "If you want to go to the Black Prison and receive dedicated live specimens, a Xiantian stage one requires ten contribution points. After this, every realm's promotion of one grade requires double the contribution points."

Gu Zuo heard this and did some quick calculations. Then he felt the view before him darkening.

Those contribution points were frightful!

Afterwards, he somewhat hesitated: "Elder Huo, if it was a pharmacist…"

Elder Huo's smile stiffened.

Gu Zuo was a bit embarra.s.sed: "About my findings on the mutated Scarlet Blood Rice, it was also effective after I inhaled the poison…"

Elder Huo understood: "There are also pharmacists. It's just that they're even more expensive. Moreover, they aren't part.i.tioned based on the true qi realms. Rather, it's by their medicine refining skills. Ordinary low-level pharmacists are two hundred contribution points, mid-level ones are four hundred, and high-level ones are eight hundred. Student, you should look carefully before choosing."

Gu Zuo let out a long sigh: "I understand. I'll go to the Consultation Pillar, and look at the questions there first. I only hope that I can find ones that I know, and that some troubleshooting questions show up with lots of contribution points…"

Elder Huo had a kindly expression. He extended a hand and pointed to a place not far away.

Gu Zuo saw there was a small building over there, with a concealed side door.

Elder Huo said: "Go on."

Gu Zuo nodded. After expressing his thanks to Elder Huo, he scampered over like a wisp of smoke.

In the Consultation Hall, there were only ten Consultation Pillars. Compared to the martial artists' Mission Pillars, the styles were about the same, but the numbers were fewer for some reason. Furthermore, the issued missions were different. One could only ask about difficult problems here; one couldn't ask others if they had such and such medicinal herbs —After all, if a pharmacist wanted, there were naturally many martial artists willing to help. Ordinarily, one would also have their own social circles to exchange medicinal ingredients. There really wasn't any need to issue missions.

Instead, a mutual exchange of complex problems was the optimal method of increasing each other's medicine refining skills.

Gu Zuo walked before one of the Consultation Pillars, and inserted his disciple token into the groove on the stone platform.

In a split second, he experienced the feeling of "going online" like his big brother did.

Almost in the blink of an eye, Gu Zuo saw the countless writings on the pillar stop moving in front of him. Each row of text was preceded by a number. If he was finished looking at these rows, he only needed to use a finger to tap the stone platform and the text would automatically scroll to the next page.

After that, Gu Zuo saw those so-called complex problems. In actuality, there were many that were about supplementing fragmentary prescriptions. Some were about unidentifiable flames, and some were about cultivation methods. There were difficult hand seals, or hand seals with lost pages. There were challenges and questions when refining medicine. The list went on and on.

Among them, the ones with the highest contribution points were those about supplementing fragmentary prescriptions. The more precious and unorthodox the prescription, the higher the contribution points rewarded. There were even some that only posted a name and a small list of medicinal herbs, and the contribution points could be negotiated directly… One could say it really was very advanced.

Gu Zuo carefully pondered over things.

It had to be mentioned that if he had to choose, he would naturally select the prescriptions.

Money would be falling into his lap, and it would be even easier to find an excuse for it.

With this kind of thinking, Gu Zuo started flicking on those problems asking about prescriptions one after another.

Tranquil Ocean Pill, Plum Blossom Pill, Golden Light Pill, Starry River Pill… Some had an impact on qi and blood, and some could treat dubious and terrible illnesses. There were ones that could help martial artists refine their bodies. Some were auxiliary medicinal pills that had special effects. For example, after taking it, there would be improvements to one's fire attribute abilities within the body.

What was pleasantly surprising was that each and every prescription posted here that had a definite name were all recorded in the >. What was even more interesting was that some of the prescriptions asked about were actually for medicinal decoctions. It was just that the people who obtained those prescriptions weren't aware of this.

From this, one could see how powerful an inheritance the item books sent by the system were.

Incomparably detailed. Incomparably meticulous…

Gu Zuo decided very carefully on his choices.

Any that suited the great majority of martial artists and could earn large amounts of money couldn't be picked. Any that were unorthodox but exceptionally precious also couldn't be picked. Any whose effects were too strong likewise couldn't be picked. As for those that could treat incurable illnesses… His gaze fell upon a row of text, and he hesitated.

The prescription of the Steadfast Heart Pill.

In total, it required a little more than thirty medicinal herbs. This prescription was badly damaged, and it was short seven herbs.

If someone knew this prescription and wanted to bargain as soon as possible, they could discuss a pretty good price.

The Steadfast Heart Pill's greatest use was to repair the heart.

— If a martial artist wasn't able to achieve Xiantian and his heart had a congenital defect, he could repair it completely using the Steadfast Heart Pill.

Of course, if a person suffered from heart problems but hadn't stepped onto the martial path, an ordinary person's body could maybe live for forty or fifty years. If they could recover enough, extending the lifespan to seventy or eighty years was possible. Merely, living would be relatively bland and every year would always be painful.

And once they set foot upon the martial path, their weakened heart would basically be unable to withstand the pa.s.sing of qi and blood. The higher they cultivated, the faster they would die. Above all, with the checkpoint of entering Xiantian, if their heart problem caused the qi and blood to flow the wrong way, it would directly kill them — Naturally, if they were really lucky and crashed their way through, their lifespan would be slightly longer, but at most it would only be a hundred fifty years. Pain would forever plague them, and each use of Xiantian true qi would ravage the body.

Unfortunately, they would die slowly due to the Xiantian qi. Every year would be more painful than the last. Even after reaching certain realms, they wouldn't be able to get stronger due to the pain. They would ultimately die a miserable death.

Tragic. Too tragic.

Gu Zuo gave a sigh.

Wasn't it just heart disease? Still, there might've been all kinds of pathological changes.

Firstly, the Steadfast Heart Pill could resolve the problem, but it belonged to a category of Human-Level Medicinal Pills that was the hardest to refine. Not only were the medicinal herbs precious, a high-level pharmacist would have to make frequent attempts to be able to refine it. Secondly, even if only a few were refined, it wouldn't be enough. At the minimum, the patient would need to continuously take the medicine three months before their lifespan was predicted to end, taking at least one pill a day — If the medicine was taken every day consecutively, the results would be wonderful. The repaired heart would be even st.u.r.dier.

This signified…

A costly pill refining. The best outcome would be refining ninety pills, and the fewest would require forty-five.

Take Gu Zuo as an example.

His efficiency distantly surpa.s.sed ordinary pharmacists and he often disregarded the medicine refining ranks of others. He was currently at Xiantian Realm stage one. Relying on his own methods, he didn't dare guarantee refining without blowing up a cauldron. Even more, he couldn't guarantee refining top grade pills. Even if top grades were refined, this type of pill was said to have perfect conditions of three pills per cauldron. Forget about even more.

This was the case for Gu Zuo. If other high-level pharmacists tried to access this prescription for the first time, then the failure rate…

Even if it were wealthy people, their scalps would turn numb thinking about the necessary costs to refine enough successful pills.

But there was no need for doubts that the Steadfast Heart Pill was extremely precious.

Gu Zuo thought about it a lot, but he wasn't thinking about the other party saving money. Rather, he was hesitating about whether he would sell this kind of precious prescription or not.

If he didn't sell it, this would be treated as himself having never read this problem, which was admittedly very easy to handle. Yet, the crucial point was that Gu Zuo clearly discovered from that problem that the frame of mind of the person requesting help was very urgent — This definitely weren't the methods of a pharmacist who only wanted to study the prescription. It seemed that person who issued the problem was someone who they themselves or someone close to them was the one who had the incurable illness. They needed this prescription!

If it was the actual person… Gu Zuo felt their desire to survive.

If the patient was a relative or good friend… Gu Zuo was touched by the other party's willingness to pay enormously for their relative or friend.

In that case, what should he do?

The prescription was only precious. There definitely wasn't any danger.

Except, because it was precious… Should he ignore that fleeting cry for help in that problem?

Gu Zuo knew that this world was a world where the weak were prey to the strong, but the law of the jungle didn't mean reckless abandonment without the slightest virtuous thought. He hesitated for a moment before withdrawing from the "computer".

To answer people's problems, he encountered problems himself.

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