Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation
Upon listening to his words, Xu Shangao became infuriated at once. He said in rage, “Senior Brother Disciple Hou, you naturally have to compensate me for my pills. Are you trying to bully me?”
“I said that I’ve forgotten to take it with me today. I’ll certainly compensate you tomorrow,” Hou Rulong spoke in exasperation as he blushed ever so slightly.
Xu Shangao blocked Hou Rulong’s path at once, refusing to allow Hou Rulong to walk out of his courtyard.
“Senior Brother Disciple Hou, it has always been a mutual exchange between our alchemy sect disciples and your martial art sect disciples. Your behavior today might break the mutual respect between the two sects. I, Xu Shangao, will not consent to the behavior and neither will our alchemy sect disciples,” Xu Shangao declared coldly as he stared straight at Hou Rulong.
Hou Rulong was furious. If this was an ordinary day, he would have given Xu Shangao a huge slap on the face for speaking to him so straightforwardly.
However, he was in the wrong now because he refused to compensate Xu Shangao after taking the pills he refined. His action was already deemed to be against the rules. He could be in some serious trouble if he were to take action by beating Xu Shangao up.
The rule of mutual exchanges between two sects was upheld since the early days. It was a consensus that any martial art sect disciple would not take the elixir refined by an alchemy sect’s disciple without giving compensation. Hou Rulong would be blacklisted by all the martial art sect disciples for his action so that no other alchemy sect disciples would help him to refine elixirs anymore in the future.
Hou Rulong did not have the courage to be the first man down in history. If the incident was propagated, he would not get help from any alchemy sect disciples in the future.
Hou Rulong was troubled as he was confronted by the unyielding Xu Shangao. “So, what do you want from me? Otherwise, I might as well forgo these pills,” he said at once.
Xu Shangao became even more furious upon hearing that. He said, “Senior Brother Disciple Hou, are you teasing me? I worked really hard to refine these pills for you, Senior Brother Disciple. I haven’t slept at all for three days and here you are, declining the pills with just a sentence? Come, come on. Let’s go over to reason things out with the elders.”
Upon saying that, he tugged along Hou Rulong outside, much to the latter’s fear. He pushed Xu Shangao’s away hand hastily and glared at Xu Shangao ferociously. He said, “So, what do you want from me then?”
Xu Shangao told him with a frown, “Here’s the plan. You may take the pills, but you have to agree to an IOU. If you don’t send over the compensation by tomorrow, I’m going to take the IOU to our elder, then I’m coming over to seek justice from your martial art sect.”
Hou Rulong was truly so infuriated by Xu Shangao’s words such that he wished that he could beat him up ferociously.
“Senior Brother Disciple, what are you trying to do there? Do you want to beat me up? I’m telling you that I will go and see the elder if you dare to beat me up,” said Xu Shangao anxiously while retreating back by a few steps after realizing Hou Rulong’s raging expression.
Hou Rulong had a body full of rage but nowhere to vent his pent up anger. The more he looked at Xu Shangao, the more he was disgusted by the boy. He roared aloud instantly, “I shall take an IOU then. Bring me a brush and paper.”
Xu Shangao did not move, but he was staring straight at Hou Rulong as he spoke, “I’m worried that you might run away as soon as I turn around. You should follow me into the residence.”
Hou Rulong had no choice but to follow Xu Shangao into the residence to sign the IOU.
“The IOU is signed. I’m leaving.” Hou Rulong did not wish to remain in this place even for one more moment. He took the pills and left Xu Shangao’s residence in a hurry.
Xu Shangao did not stop Hou Rulong anymore but he kept the IOU joyously.
The next day, Hou Rulong came just as expected. Moreover, he brought over an exquisite dark green dagger as compensation for the Energizing Pills.
Xu Shangao toyed with the dark green dagger in his hands. There was no way to tell if he was pleased or displeased judging by his expression.
Hou Rulong grew impatient. He said, “This dagger is polished with Azure Liquid Gold which is precious enough to exchange for a bottle of your Energizing Pills.”
Xu Shangao appeared to be surprised and joyous as soon as he realized the dagger was made of Azure Liquid Gold. He kept the dagger into his chest pocket joyously.
“Give me back the IOU,” said Hou Rulong with an outstretched hand.
Xu Shangao did as he was told. He passed the IOU back to Hou Rulong who tore it into shreds at once. Then, Hou Rulong turned around and left.
“Hey, Xu, it’s not fun to take that dagger of mine, you know.” Hou Rulong turned around and spoke just as he was about to exit to the courtyard. His tone of speech was tainted with a tinge of coldness.
Xu Shangao felt his chest tighten for a moment. He realized that Hou Rulong would not leave the matter at that easily. He predicted that he would come seeking trouble again.
After Hou Rulong left, Xu Shangao took out the Azure Liquid Gold dagger to take a closer look at it. The more he looked at it, the more he fancied the dagger.
Even though such a weapon was not needed by an alchemist, the Azure Liquid Gold dagger was still valuable and expensive. Moreover, it was extremely sharp. One would not feel any pain instantly when it stabbed one’s body, but it would cause profuse bleeding soon afterward, and the bleeding could not be stopped with ordinary methods.
Xu Shangao wrapped the dagger up with a white cloth cautiously. Then, he tied the dagger around his waist before he went into the alchemy room to study the ancient book and jade scroll Fang Lin had given to him.
Fang Lin did not leave the room even by a step for the next seven days. Xu Shangao was quite worried originally. He wanted to enter the room to check on Fang Lin, but he was afraid that he would disturb his progress. As a result, he had not taken any action recklessly until now.
On the evening of the tenth day after Fang Lin engaged in closed-door cultivation, the door to his room opened. Fang Lin walked out of the room full of vigor and vitality. His face was blushing healthily and his breath was smooth and long.
“You’re finally out, Junior Brother Disciple Fang!” Xu Shangao called out in surprise at once upon running out from the alchemy room in a rush when he heard the noise.
Fang Lin nodded his head and cracked into a smile. He said, “I’m quite lucky to make a breakthrough to level-3 primordial man realm.”
Xu Shangao sized up Fang Lin. Even though he had only broken through a small realm, his entire persona felt much more energized than before.
“Congratulations, Junior Brother Disciple Fang!” said Xu Shangao smilingly.
Fang Lin waved his hand and said, “It’s only level-3 primordial man realm. It’s not even considered the middle range amongst the junior alchemy disciples.
Xu Shangao spoke in all apparent seriousness, “You shouldn’t say that. After all, Junior Brother Disciple Fang, you’ve only joined the sect for a short period of time. You’ve already made a breakthrough so soon, hence it’s a good start for you. Moreover, you’ll surely be able to elevate your realm sooner or later with your alchemy talents.”
Both of them chatted for a while. Soon afterward, Fang Lin joined Xu Shangao in the alchemy room to guide Xu Shangao to refine elixirs.
Xu Shangao’s alchemy natural talent was very ordinary. Of course, this was based on his own perception. In Fang Lin’s view, Xu Shangao was not even considered ordinary. Frankly, his natural talent was simply a chaotic mess. If he were in the Alchemy Saint Palace from Fang Lin’s past life, even the disciple who guarded the door would be more powerful than Xu Shangao.
During the process of guiding Xu Shangao, Fang Lin found that he was almost refraining himself from scolding him impulsively. While he had met plenty of foolish people before in his life, he had never come across one as foolish as this man.
Fortunately, Fang Lin was well aware that he was once the Extreme Alchemist after all. He had mingled with either the alchemy geniuses or great alchemy masters on usual days in the past whereas someone like Xu Shangao was unworthy of his attention.
“Watch the fire. The duration and temperature of the fire are the most important in refining elixirs. You can’t miss even by the slightest bit!”
“Don’t mess up the sequence of the herbs. All the medicinal herbs will go to waste if you mess up even one sequence.”
“Will you please take a close look at the alchemy prescription? Is the ratio of these medicinal herbs correct?”
…
For a month, Fang Lin spared no effort in guiding Xu Shangao. In the beginning, he scolded Xu Shangao terribly every day. However, his guidance began to take effect after a month. Xu Shangao went from a high failure rate in the past to almost a 90 percent success rate in refining elixirs now.
Under Fang Lin’s guidance, Xu Shangao had also begun to attempt at refining Energizing Pills. However, the success rate was way too low. He would only succeed once out of ten attempts if he was lucky. Moreover, the quality of the product was so bad that it could only pass as a low-grade pill.
However, Xu Shangao was already overjoyed just by the fact that he was able to refine the Energizing Pills. After all, it was an elixir that many medium-grade disciples could not even refine.
According to Fang Lin’s words, the Energizing Pills Xu Shangao refined did not even deserve to be called pills. They could only be considered round medicinal slag.
On the other hand, martial art sect disciples would frequently seek Xu Shangao’s help to refine elixirs at the same time that he was receiving guidance from Fang Lin for refining elixirs.
Had it been in the past, Xu Shangao would have found this strange for sure. After all, he was but a low-grade disciple, so the martial art sect disciples would never seek his assistance if they needed help to refine elixirs.
However, Xu Shangao had already predicted that these people were most probably sent by Lin Xu and Hou Rulong in order to make things difficult for himself intentionally. If he were to fail to refine the elixirs they needed, they would propagate his failure vigorously to the others. In turn, Xu Shangao would end up a joke in the alchemy sect.
If this were in the past, there was nothing Xu Shangao could do for sure. However, he had Fang Lin’s help. Xu Shangao took evasive actions against these people and accepted everyone who came to him.
In a few short months, Xu Shangao completed many alchemy commissions from the numerous martial art sect disciples. His reputation grew to new heights at once. Many martial art sect disciples learned that there was a low-grade official disciple in the alchemy sect capable of refining many types of elixirs. Moreover, the quality of the products was rather impressive.
Lin Xu and Hou Rulong never expected this to happen. They were supposed to make things difficult for Xu Shangao, but they did not expect their action to actually give rise to his fame instead. Some martial art sect disciples were seeking Xu Shangao’s help to refine elixirs out of admiration.