Making medicine is one of the last crafting unlocks you'll get in . While the crafting weapons and armour options simply appear at the Keeper's Shrine after you progress far enough through Black Wind Mountain, in order to craft medicine you actually have to complete a task for a certain NPC. Doing this will unlock Celestial Medicines as well, which are permanent bonuses you can apply to your character using Mind Cores.
It's a powerful mechanic, but one you could potentially miss if you're blazing through and not exploring every nook and cranny. I'll explain what you need to do to unlock initial medicine making at the Keeper's Shrine, plus the next step to unlock those powerful Celestial Medicines after it.
How to craft medicines
You can unlock the ability to craft medicine in the Yellow Wind Ridge in chapter two by completing a short task for a character called Xu Dog. Once you arrive at the Village Entrance Keeper's Shrine in Sandgate Village:
- Begin to cross the wooden bridge and immediately drop
off its right side into the ravine below
- Head into the cave ahead and look for the fox yaoguai painting symbols on a rock to the left
Xu Dog asks you to retrieve one of his formulas from a frog that swallowed it down below and promises to reward you. The frog in question is the Lang-Li-Guhh-Baw boss, located at the bottom of the pool just behind Xu Dog. If you fought Baw-Li-Guhh-Lang in the Bamboo Grove in chapter one, his moveset is pretty much identical. The main difference is that this frog applies the thunder bane. If you're struggling I'd suggest buying some Shock-Quelling Powder from the Keeper's Shrine store to deal with it.
When you've beaten the boss and retrieved the Evil Repelling Medicament formula, go back to Xu Dog and deliver it. He'll grant you the ability to craft medicine at Keeper's [[link]] Shrines and will tell you he's off to retrieve a lost furnace. Acquiring more formulas as you explore will allow you to craft those medicines at the Keeper's Shrine as well.
How to craft Celestial Medicines
Celestial Medicine is much stronger than the regular kind and grants permanent bonuses to your character such as extra health, mana, stamina, or resistance. You can unlock this once you've claimed the items in the Yellow Wind Ridge.
With both of these you can open the secret entrance in the Crouching Tiger Temple—where you'll fight the Tiger Vanguard boss—by activating the faceless statue at the end of the boss arena. Take the newly appeared stairs down underground, fight through the Civet Sergeants, and you'll reach the Crouching Tiger Temple Cellar Keeper's Shrine.
Just next to this is a furnace and upon closer inspection, Xu Dog will appear and offer his services. From now on you can head back here to craft Celestial Medicines using Mind Cores. If you change your mind about what buffs you want, you can also use the Remake Medicines option to reallocate your Celestial Medicines and change your buffs.