Previously, when he had first killed the granite crocodile, he had contemplated on whether or not he should collect it's heart blood.
However, he eventually decided against it. It would have been almost useless for him at that time and would have lowered the value when he tried to sell it.
Now, he could use it . In addition to the night panther, the amount of heart blood he had acquired would certainly be enough.
What was he going to use it for? Well it was common knowledge among alchemists that the blood that comes from the heart of beasts was a very potent tonic.
The energy contained in them was similar to that of a pill in the same rank. Of course,they weren't just going to drink the blood.
That would be barbaric. With the addition of a few choices herbs, the power left in the blood could be amplified several fold.
However, there were some downsides. First of all, the blood had to be extracted quickly from the heart. The longer you waited, the more the energy dissipated from the blood, until eventually, the heart blood just becomes normal blood.
Also, the heart blood of a beast that dies naturally cannot be used. When a beast dies naturally, its essence had been spent, therefore, no energy is left in its heart blood.
This among other restrictions were the reasons that the 'heart potions' as they were usually called were not that popular among cultivators.
Even if you are able to kill a beast with sufficient strength and extract its heart blood, finding an alchemist with the required knowledge on heart potions, along with finding the required supplementary herbs, the cost of the whole endeavor would outweigh the benefits.
Naturally, none of this was a problem for Adrian. Not only was he able to kill powerful beasts, he was also an alchemist and he has the required knowledge engrained in his brain.
Furthermore, he was able to find some very good supplementary herbs during this trip into the misty mountains that would be sufficient for the refinement.
This potion wa practically made for him. After gathering his thoughts, Adrian brought out his cauldron and set it on the ground.
With a wave of his hands, multiple herbs appeared around his as he sat down in front of the cauldron.
A wave of flames erupted around the cauldron, bringing with it a rapid rise in temperature. With another wave of his hands, two containers appeared near him.
As soon as they appeared, the pungent odor of blood permeated in his surroundings. This was naturally the heart bloods of the night panther and the recently killed boar.
Surprisingly, with how big the two beasts were, their hearts only contained a little amount of blood.
Both beasts only yielded about a litre of blood each. Without wasting any time, he added the heart blood of the beasts into the cauldron.
He started with the night panther, since it had been extracted earlier and was already loosing some of the energy.
A wave of steam erupted from the cauldron as soon as the blood entered it. Almost immediately, the blood started boiling as soon as it enters the cauldron.
Adrian knew that time was of the essence, therefore he didn't waste time and immediately got to work. He reached out and grabbed a few different herbs.
He immediately started plucking the leaves off a flower known as the Moonveil lotus.
The moonveil lotus was a rank 2 herb used as a supplement in rank 3 pill refinement.
The lotus boasts large, translucent petals that shimmer like silk under moonlight.
It's petals display a faint silver glow, as if it were dipped in liquid starlight. When touched, they feel cool.
After he was done with the leaves, he moved on to the petal and soon, he had plucked everything off and added it to the cauldron.
The leaves and flower petals slowly disappeared into the bottom of the cauldron amidst the swirling blood.
No visible change occured but this was to be expected. With a deep breath, Adrian took the container containing the boars blood and started pouring it into the mixture.
As soon as the new blood entered the cauldron, multiple bubbles erupted from the potion, causing a dramatic change in the potion.
The cauldron started vibrating as if it was about to explode. This was as a result of the clash between the two beasts blood
Even though they were dead, the desire for battle was ingrained deep within them causing them to want to fight each other even in death.
Beads of sweat fell of Adrian's forehead as he tried his best to control the cauldron. Unknown to the battling beasts, an unknown third challenger was secretly getting involved in their 'battle'.
After a while, Adrian was able to gain the upper hand and suppress the instability inside the cauldron. He was able to successfully merge the two bloods.
He heaved a sigh of relief as the cauldron stopped shaking. He had spent a significant amount of his spirit energy in order to suppress the two warring bloods.
Luckily, he came out victorious.
'Ah, I really need a better cauldron."
Adrian said in his mind before straightening his posture again and continuing the refinement.
His thoughts weren't without reason. He was currently using the cauldron that he had been 'given' by Alchemist Melvin.
In the past, it might have been enough for him but that was slowly starting to change.
In recent times, he had been consistently working with rank 3 ingredients.
While he might have been able to cope before, it was slowly starting to become too much.
Taking his current situation as an example, if he had a higher rank cauldron, he would have been able to better deal with the instabilities that came with the refinement of the potion.
Keeping his thoughts in check, Adrian reached out and grabbed a ginseng that he had placed nearby.
The ginseng was an all purpose herb that was present in various pill recipes. It was also a herb that didn't have a clear rank.
The age of the ginseng determines its rank. Ginseng that was ten years old and below would only be considered a rank 1 herb.