Hundreds of fox apprentices were busy processing various piles of herbs.
"Rabbit grass, twenty pounds!"
At the master's command, an apprentice ran up carrying a big bundle of rabbit grass. They couldn't precisely measure the weight, but Bai Mo could gauge it. He precisely measured out twenty pounds and tossed it into the cauldron with the apprentices.
"Xishi grass, two large bundles, remove the tips, and prepare to use."
"Single-headed green garlic, start peeling now, peel a hundred heads, keep the skin and garlic separate."
"The green hemp grass is poisonous, be careful not to touch your mouth."
...
With each command, hundreds of fox apprentices followed orders and got to work.
Some used their paws to pinch off the grass tips, some used their mouths and paws to peel the garlic, some held sticks to pound the green hemp grass…
They weren't exactly busy, but they couldn't slack off either. The master's orders were well-coordinated, working in an orderly fashion, moving on from one task to another without any chaos.
As for Bai Mo, he expanded his Divine Sense, constantly observing the changes in the cauldron.
"Things learned from paper are always shallow, so this is how it changes…"
The various properties, pharmacology, and changes of drugs can only be truly judged when actually refined in the cauldron.
Bai Mo observed and pondered, frowning slightly, yet feeling he benefited a lot.
His alchemy skills and knowledge were accumulating!
...
After four hours, a pot of bubbling medicinal soup was completed.
The fox apprentices started packaging it.
The medicinal soup was transferred from the cauldron to barrels, then distributed into small bottles. The fox apprentices, either holding ladles, arranging bottles, setting up funnels, or capping bottles… they had done this many times and were very coordinated.
Alchemy is not an easy job…
By the big cauldron, choked by smoke and fire, many foxes had their fur singed into curls;
The herbs and medicinal soup were irritating, making some foxes cough and tear up;
There were no protective measures while doing this job, and several had burned their paws;
But they still enjoyed it.
On one hand, they could learn alchemy skills. The master had said, the more they learn, the more confident they become, the less they fear danger, and the safer they can live!
On the other hand, the medicinal soup they made was the foundation of Fox Mountain's supplies. The more they made, the more at ease they felt!
Bai Mo watched from the side and suddenly felt curious.
"At Sequence Eight as a Soup Man, one can make medicinal soups.
"But without so many apprentices to help, would it be too exhausting to make the medicine alone?"
After pondering for a moment, Bai Mo found the answer.
"Right, currently, there are openly fewer than ten Soup Men.
"And they don't have so many herbs, can't learn so many recipes, and can't produce so much medicinal soup, thus not needing so many apprentices.
"Why am I worrying about others? Just overthinking…"
Before long, they packaged thousands of bottles of medicinal soup.
The fox apprentices were very excited, competing to take the medicinal soup to the warehouse.
The warehouse was a more or less intact giant palace. The foxes found a cabinet and placed this batch of medicinal soup inside. It was a Bronze Cabinet, already rusted. Once filled with this medicinal soup, it was packed full, unable to hold anything else.
The foxes looked up and saw that the vast warehouse had many other various cabinets, either made of bronze or stone, row after row, column after column, countless.
Each cabinet contained bottles and jars of various sizes, various medicinal soups, and powders.
This was accumulated by Fox Mountain over three years! It's their armory!
The fox apprentices looked at these cabinets, at these drugs, growing more delighted the more they looked.
With a couple of joyful "aow aow" calls, they wagged their tails and left.
...
As the sun set, the evening glow stained half the sky red.
No. 47 Middle School reached the time for dismissal, and students streamed out from the school gate in groups of threes and fives, chatting and laughing.
A group of people suddenly saw Bai Mo in the distance.
"Speaking of which, haven't you noticed that Bai Mo seems to have come into money recently?"
"He's wearing a new parka, isn't he?"
"And new shoes too."
"What's the big deal, they're not exactly high-end goods."
"But he looks so handsome! Before, his school uniform was washed so white that it looked shabby, though he was already handsome back then too."
"Where did he get the money from? Did he get a part-time job? Become a tutor?"
In the crowd, Zhang Shan curled his lip. He knew where Bai Mo got his money but wouldn't tell.
Bai Mo, wearing his new parka and stepping on new running shoes, crossed the road and got into a commercial van.
Inside the van were already four burly men in uniforms, who smiled and greeted him as he got in.
"Let's go, time for the inspection."
The vehicle started and merged into the traffic flow on the road.
This was a task of the Immortal Technique Committee, where they conducted routine inspections on the homes of Immortal-Related Personnel every week.
The four burly men were all members of the Immortal Technique Committee, with two being regular Immortal-Related Personnel and two being newly promoted Sequence Nines of the year. Their inspections were in their duty.
As for the expert Bai Mo, who accompanied as required, he received a stipend of 500 yuan each time.
Along the way, everyone chatted and laughed. One member, named Lu Zhou, was the father of Lu Yang and knew Bai Mo.
"Expert Bai Mo, did you come first in the last monthly test again?
"Ah, makes me so envious.
"Our Lu Yang dropped ten ranks in the last exam."
Bai Mo chuckled awkwardly, tucked into his seat, exchanged some polite words with everyone, signed various "Permission to Use Immortal Technique Documents," "Personal Insurance," "Task Instructions," and other process documents, and chatted a bit with everyone, then took out a tablet from his backpack and started scribbling… Of course, this tablet was also purchased with the stipend and salary from the Immortal Technique Committee.
The car gradually quieted down. The four committee members had many tasks, busy from morning to night every day, and even in the car, they were busy filling out forms and reports, not daring to delay.
As for Bai Mo, he was busy studying the Alchemy Dao. The ancient Alchemy Dao emphasized the Five Elements, Five Senses, and Five Organs, comprising fifteen categories of knowledge. He was currently focused on the "spleen" category.
Everyone was busy with their own tasks.
...
As he pondered, the commercial van stopped at the door of an Immortal-Related Personnel's home.
Bai Mo and the four committee members got out of the car, entered the household, and asked various questions about things like Immortal Dreams, Sequences, and any abnormalities. After recording the details, they got up and left.
This work was tedious and boring, without much significance. But it was quite relaxing.
For Bai Mo, it was especially easy, as he didn't need to ask questions nor make records, just needed to be present.
In this manner, the small team questioned seven or eight households and returned to the commercial van.
It was already nine o'clock in the evening, and Lu Zhou looked at Bai Mo.
"The Immortal-Related Personnel under our team's responsibility have mostly been checked, with only Zhang Shan left. His household is in the same community as Expert Bai Mo.
"Let's go inspect his house, and afterward, conveniently send Expert Bai Mo home."