Chapter 891: Huge Expenditure
With Gu Yi confirmed as the acting manager of Jingran Pharmacy, the subsequent arrangements became significantly smoother.
Yang Haoran produced a large quantity of medicines, all refined by Feng Xiao. There were remedies for healing injuries, potent poisons, restoratives for mental clarity, and even some capable of temporarily boosting physical strength. These medicines came in various forms: Dānyào, Pharmacist's Medicine, and even some powdered formulations; they weren't all Dānyào.
Of course, whether Dānyào or Pharmacist's Medicine, their differing forms were irrelevant. As long as their medicinal potency was strong, the form didn't matter, because buyers wouldn't concern themselves with its appearance; they cared about the efficacy.
Before Jingran Pharmacy's grand opening, Yang Haoran prepared wine and dishes, inviting Jiang Dashi to sit for a while at the pharmacy. He introduced Gu Yi and Ban Kui to Jiang Dashi, hoping that Jiang Dashi would be able to look after the two of them within his capabilities in the future.
After all, once Jingran Pharmacy opened, Yang Haoran wouldn't be stationed there daily; he had other matters to attend to. Should any trouble befall the pharmacy, having Jiang Dashi, a Ghost Official, intervene would undoubtedly be better than Gu Yi and Ban Kui trying to resolve things on their own.
Naturally, if one day Yang Haoran's strength grew mighty enough, his renown widespread enough that he was known throughout the Underworld, then Ban Kui and Gu Yi's "face" in the Underworld would be far greater than that of an ordinary Ghost Official.
However, at present, Yang Haoran did not possess such capabilities. In the Underworld, he was merely a nobody. Even if others gave Jiang Dashi, a Ghost Official, "face," they would certainly not grant "face" to Yang Haoran, an Underworld Official from the mortal realm. Thus, he hoped Jiang Dashi could, within his abilities, appropriately look after his Jingran Pharmacy.
Jiang Dashi did not refuse Yang Haoran's request, but he made it very clear that his strength was limited, and his status in the Underworld was not high, so there wasn't much he could do to help Yang Haoran.
Jingran Pharmacy opened without any grand ceremony, and apart from Jiang Dashi, no one else came to offer congratulations. Though it appeared rather bleak, Yang Haoran paid it no mind.
Everything had to go through a process. This time, Jingran Pharmacy opened quietly and sparsely, but he believed that one day, he would make the name of Jingran Pharmacy resound throughout the entire Underworld.
Yang Haoran entrusted Jingran Pharmacy to Gu Yi's care. Before leaving the pharmacy, he gave Gu Yi and Ban Kui some instructions, leaving them a substantial sum of Underworld Currency as startup capital. He also left them some Communication Talismans, telling them to notify him immediately if they encountered any trouble they couldn't handle.
Although he had asked Jiang Dashi to help look after the shop, Jiang Dashi's capabilities were ultimately limited. Of course, he couldn't simply dump all the pressure onto Jiang Dashi. As the owner of Jingran Pharmacy, he certainly had to worry more.
As for whether Gu Yi could manage Jingran Pharmacy well, Yang Haoran couldn't be one hundred percent certain. However, this was another test he had given Gu Yi; as long as Gu Yi passed this test, she would truly become Jingran Pharmacy's official manager in the future.
After leaving Jingran Pharmacy, Yang Haoran did not immediately return to the mortal realm but instead headed to other pharmacies in the Underworld.
After a series of troubles, although Jingran Pharmacy had successfully opened, the medicines within it were still too few. Not only was the quantity small, but the variety was also extremely limited, so he had to find a way to change this.
Regarding the quantity of medicines, there was currently only one solution: to have Feng Xiao continuously refine them. Only then could the number of medicines be increased. However, to achieve this, a sufficient supply of spiritual herbs was essential.
As the saying goes, "Even the cleverest cook cannot make a meal without rice. " Without enough spiritual herbs, even if Feng Xiao wanted to refine more medicines, she would be "willing but powerless. " Therefore, one of Yang Haoran's purposes in visiting other Underworld pharmacies was to purchase a batch of spiritual herbs for Feng Xiao to take back. Feng Xiao had given him a list of the spiritual herbs needed before he came to the Underworld, so he only needed to purchase according to that list.
As for increasing the variety of medicines, this depended on how many types of medicine Feng Xiao knew how to refine. The more kinds of medicines Feng Xiao could refine, the richer the variety of medicines in Jingran Pharmacy would naturally become. To increase the variety of medicines Feng Xiao could refine, there had to be Dānyào recipes for refining Dānyào and formulations for compounding Pharmacist's Medicine.
Yang Haoran's visit to other Underworld pharmacies was to see if he could acquire Dānyào recipes. If he could purchase some to take back, Feng Xiao would surely be delighted, and it would count as a form of repayment from him to her.
Moreover, Feng Xiao mastering the refinement of more diverse medicines would also be of immense benefit to him. Thus, he naturally wouldn't be stingy. Even if Feng Xiao hadn't actively mentioned it, he still decided to bring back some Dānyào recipes from the Underworld for her, as it was a beneficial endeavor for both parties.
However, while imagination was beautiful, reality was cruel. Upon arriving at one of the Underworld's most renowned pharmacies, he discovered that reality was completely different from what he had imagined.
First, there were the spiritual herbs. Since Feng Xiao needed to refine medicines in large quantities, a vast amount of spiritual herbs was required.
Yang Haoran knew that the price of spiritual herbs wouldn't be low, and purchasing a considerable amount at once would certainly consume a large sum of Underworld Currency.
Nevertheless, he had still underestimated the price of spiritual herbs. As it was his first time purchasing spiritual herbs in the Underworld, he was shocked to find that their prices were far higher than he had anticipated. The Underworld Currency spent just on buying spiritual herbs alone vastly exceeded his expectations.
As for the Dānyào recipes required for alchemy, not only were their prices ridiculously exorbitant, but their quantities were also extremely scarce. Some good Dānyào recipes couldn't be bought even with money.
Yang Haoran merely inquired briefly with the shopkeeper and immediately understood the reason.
Dānyào recipes were the painstaking crystallizations of Pharmacists' research and effort. In the eyes of most Pharmacists, their self-researched Dānyào recipes were even more important than their lives. Unless absolutely forced, no Pharmacist would willingly put their Dānyào recipes up for sale.
Many of the Dānyào recipes circulating externally were obtained through unconventional means. Once a Dānyào recipe of even slight value appeared, it was quickly collected by other Pharmacists. This resulted in not only a scarcity of Dānyào recipes for sale, but also the vast majority being very ordinary ones. Yet, even these ordinary Dānyào recipes were sold at ridiculously high prices.
Yang Haoran naturally didn't want to buy ordinary Dānyào recipes at ridiculously high prices. After some consideration, he purchased some medicines that Jingran Pharmacy didn't stock from various Underworld pharmacies. The variety was wide, but the quantity was small; he only bought a little of each kind.
He did this, firstly, because his funds were limited, preventing him from buying too much.
Secondly, these medicines were for Feng Xiao's research, not for his personal use. Thus, he felt there was no need to buy too much at once. If Feng Xiao didn't make any breakthroughs and needed more medicines for research, he could always return to purchase more then.
When he left the Underworld, Yang Haoran had almost exhausted his savings, but his personal storage space now contained a considerable amount of spiritual herbs, as well as some medicines Feng Xiao did not yet know how to refine.
Feng Xiao's earlier warning had not been alarmist; the spiritual herbs required for alchemy were indeed a massive expenditure. If Dānyào recipes were included, the cost would be even greater, more than most people could bear.
Of course, if a Pharmacist's alchemy skill was exceedingly high and failures were rare, then even if the spiritual herbs were more expensive, it wouldn't matter. In the end, by selling the refined medicines, they could still earn a hefty profit.
Conversely, if a Pharmacist's success rate was too low, the ultimate outcome would inevitably be expenditures exceeding income. The only benefit would be that the Pharmacist gained practice with a large quantity of spiritual herbs, thereby improving their alchemy skill.
Yang Haoran's current plan was simple: since he couldn't buy proper Dānyào recipes, he would let Feng Xiao research and develop her own. Numerous failures were inevitable in the early stages, but he had prepared himself mentally. He was going to use immense financial resources to forcefully forge Feng Xiao into a true Medicine Sect master of Dānyào!
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