Celestial Refining Divine Scripture

"Master, I’m going to do some investigating."

Yi Que dashed off, a bit excited.

Xu Yang looked bewildered.

Dan Qi explained, "Hong Wei is also one of the elders of the Immortal Mountain, with Golden Immortal cultivation; he’s never found a suitable personal disciple. Chi Ning is relatively close to him, and it was thanks to Hong Wei that Chi Ning became an inner sect steward back in the day."

"You made a splash in the assessment. If Chi Ning recommends you to Hong Wei, that’ll be something to see."

Xu Yang understood, giving a wry smile. "I don’t think so. After so many years with no disciple, I bet his standards are insanely high."

"Not necessarily."

Dan Qi gave a knowing look. "That old bastard loves stalling. A few promising seedlings have caught his eye before, but he always tests them secretly. Every time he screwed it up—one got snatched by someone else, another got ruined by an accident."

"Er..."

Xu Yang was at a loss for words.

But even if he did get Hong Wei’s attention, he was already one of Dan Feng’s people now. With Dan Qi as his master, his future prospects were definitely better than with Hong Wei.

After a short while.

Yi Que hurried back, grinning, "Master, I asked around. Turns out, today Chi Ning went to the peak where Elder Hong Wei stays."

"If you ask me, with Little Junior’s performance, there’s a good chance he’s caught Hong Wei’s eye. But knowing Hong Wei’s temperament, even if he’s interested, he’ll probably wait until the newcomer tournament three months from now to decide!"

"Hahaha!"

Dan Qi couldn’t help but laugh to the sky.

"Then we’ll just wait for three months."

"Hong Wei, that old bastard, when your Eldest Brother raised all that hell, he sure threw a lot of shade my way!"

"Master, so what specifically should we do?"

"Simple!"

Dan Qi’s expression sharpened. Looking at Xu Yang, he said, "Before you become a true first-rank Alchemist, master the pill technique I taught you. Stun the other stewards at Dan Feng a bit."

"I’m planning to have you become a seed listed member at Dan Feng!"

"Dan Feng Seed?"

Yi Que froze for a moment, smacking his lips. "Master, I don’t think there’s ever been a Pill Master among the sect’s seed disciples."

"That was then, this is now."

"Just tell me, with your Little Junior’s talent, is he qualified or not?"

"A definite future third-rank Pill Master, my own direct disciple—is he worthy?"

"He is!"

Yi Que nodded vigorously.

Dan Qi snorted. "As long as he’s got the accomplishments, I’ll go straight to the Sect Leader to apply. All these years, how much has Dan Feng contributed to the sect? Now that we finally have a promising seed, how could we let that go to waste?"

"Keep this quiet for now. When the newcomer tournament comes, have your Little Junior participate as a regular inner sect disciple."

"This time, the newcomer tournament will decide two seed disciple slots!"

"Kid, my only demand is that you become one of those two seed disciples!"

Xu Yang hadn’t reacted yet, but Yi Que’s eyes popped wide open. "Huh?"

"Master, wait, you want Junior Brother to get two sets of seed disciple resources all at once?"

"What, can’t I?"

Dan Qi gloated. "If the kid’s got the chops, why not take both? Beats giving them to some useless nobodies. Everyone knows how important pill masters are."

"True, but... if that happens, someone’s going to lose their mind!"

"If Little Junior really pulls it off and his identity gets exposed, he’ll end up public enemy number one."

Yi Que sounded worried.

But Dan Qi didn’t care at all. "Public enemy? So what, if you’re strong enough, being public enemy is a good thing! Besides, you think I’m soft? Think Dan Feng is just for show? If anyone pushes it, I’ll just stop all alchemy for everyone!"

Savage!

Yi Que suddenly felt at ease.

Xu Yang’s expression kept shifting—he finally got it.

He couldn’t help swallowing.

The seed disciple resources at Black Fire Immortal Mountain, even without knowing specifics, must be insane!

First, hide his identity—then snatch two resource sets in the end...

"Kid, this is a massive challenge for you. Do you dare?"

"Why wouldn’t I?"

"Thank you for the opportunity, Master! I’ll give it my all!"

Xu Yang didn’t hesitate for a second.

Turning this down would be plain stupid!

He needs resources to forge his twelve-grade immortal foundation.

If he can get two sets, who cares about being targeted as public enemy.

Like Dan Qi said: so long as you’re strong enough, nobody can object.

Besides, Dan Qi is his biggest backer, ready to wipe away any trouble that shouldn’t be his to bear.

If he can’t pull even this off, all that inherited legacy is wasted on him!

"Good."

Xu Yang gave a decisive answer, making Dan Qi overjoyed.

If you’re going to compete, do it without hesitation!

This disciple—he liked him more and more.

"Little Junior’s got real guts."

Yi Que was full of admiration.

If it were him, he’d really have to think twice.

Even with Master backing you, just snatching that seed slot is tough enough, not to mention the mob you’d face once exposed!

Most people couldn’t handle it!

"Alright, it’s settled then!"

"Go with your Senior Brother—he’ll arrange things for you. Once you’ve grasped it all, have someone notify me!"

"Yes, Master!"

Xu Yang’s face grew serious, then he promptly followed Yi Que away.

"Senior Brother, Master’s mentioned Eldest Brother more than once. What did he do back then?" Xu Yang couldn’t hold back his curiosity.

Sounds like it was quite the scene.

Dan Qi’s ’hate iron won’t turn to steel’ look just added to the image.

Yi Que’s mouth twitched. He said quietly, "Eldest Brother’s a character, alright!"

A character?

"Eldest Brother has even better Alchemy Dao talent than me, but—well, he loves fooling around with weird little gadgets."

"Always coming up with bizarre pills—Dan Feng blew up several times because of him. Stuff like mixing aphrodisiacs, bone-softening drugs into poison pills; or sealing dangerous, corrupt forces into pills that seriously mess with cultivation. All sorts of strange stuff, nobody knows how his brain works."

"On top of that, Eldest Brother loves fighting. That time he competed for the seed slot—it made no sense, right? He’s a pill master, Master’s direct disciple, his rank is as high as a seed disciple, if not higher."

"But that fight shook the whole Immortal Mountain, with loads of strong guests watching. One elite family disciple nearly got crippled, only recovered thanks to a Golden Immortal. A top inner sect disciple stripped naked on the spot, almost did unspeakable things to another guy. And one seed candidate whose master was a Golden Immortal ended up with his immortal veins in chaos, tainted, nearly died; was saved in the end, but lost all his hair and it never grew back, immortal foundation got weird marks—only a super rare immortal elixir can remove those."

"Nobody knows where Eldest Brother found all those weird powers."

"That battle enraged the Sect Leader. Even though Eldest Brother won first place, he didn’t get the seed disciple slot."

"Ever since then, he’s been someone everyone in the sect is scared of—no one wants to fight Eldest Brother. His methods are a disaster for opponents."

Xu Yang was blown away—this Senior Brother was intense.

Poisons, filth, bizarre stuff—even immortal veins get scrambled.

Xu Yang’s eyes sparkled. "Senior Brother, where is Eldest Brother now?"

Yi Que shivered at Xu Yang’s reaction and couldn’t help saying, "Don’t get any ideas, alright? Eldest Brother’s pills are wild, but if you get too close to him, bad things happen."

"At first, he always used his own people for experiments."

Experimented on his own sect brothers?

I’m not afraid.

I have the Celestial Refining Divine Tripod and the Celestial Refining Divine Scripture!

If I get a few tests in, and manage to get Eldest Brother’s special pills—facing enemies would be... just too much.

But he obviously couldn’t say that out loud.

"Ahem, don’t worry, Second Brother. I won’t do anything reckless."

Suddenly.

Buzz!

Something indescribably profound seemed to bloom between heaven and earth.

Xu Yang and Yi Que both trembled as radiant immortal light exploded before their eyes—countless immortal rainbows crisscrossed and shimmered, weaving into a virtual immortal waterfall descending from the sky.

"Immortal Pride List?"

Both of them stared, blurting out in shock.