Chapter 1176: He Must Have Cheated
Hearing this, Brother Cheng’s mouth twitched, too exhausted to retort.
Old man, are you trying to take advantage of me too?
Do I have a face that says "apprentice"?
But he didn’t need to refuse, because both King Lv and Prince Yi stood out.
"Daoist Venerable Tian Lin, this is against the rules!"
"That’s right, the Celestial Palace has heavenly laws and rules. You can teach skills, but no one is allowed to formally take on disciples."
If a disciple takes on disciples, and those disciples take even more, a sect full of direct lineage descendants will appear after a few generations.
In the past, the Ten Celestial Emperors saw many sects and noble families oppressing loose cultivators. To prevent such interest groups from forming in the Celestial Palace, taking on disciples was strictly forbidden.
The intention behind this rule is actually good.
However, the Celestial Palace isn’t devoid of master-disciple relationships.
Take, for example, Daoist Venerable Yi Yuan’s disciples and grand-disciples.
Those master-disciple relationships were established before the Celestial Palace was formed, and naturally continue to this day.
"Rules are made by people!"
Daoist Venerable Tian Lin blew his beard and glared.
"I’m only taking one, can’t you make an exception?"
The head of the Law Enforcement Department, King Lv, thought if it were anyone else, he might have made an exception.
But definitely not Jiang Cheng.
This kid is just a party to a bet and doesn’t have a Celestial Heart.
In ten thousand years, if he still doesn’t have a Celestial Heart, he’ll surely be expelled from the Celestial Palace or even killed.
How could you become his master?
Then when we want to deal with him, won’t we have to get past you, his so-called "backer"?
"Jiang Cheng is from the Ancient Pill Stream, not the same as your faction!"
Off to the side, Daoist Venerable Yi Yuan sneered, "You’re so old and blind, recruiting a disciple without even checking who it is?"
As the founder of the Yidan Stream, he’d been at odds with Daoist Venerable Tian Lin for years.
When they meet, there’s bound to be no pleasantries.
"Ancient Pill Stream?"
Originally, Daoist Venerable Tian Lin was looking at Brother Cheng with burning eyes, but his gaze instantly cooled.
His old face immediately filled with disappointment and disdain.
"Hmph, turns out to be someone who strayed from the right path!"
The Daoist Venerable Beihe next to him also put away his enthusiastic smile.
"Forsaking the proper path of Alchemy Dao to choose Ancient Pill Stream is such a waste!"
They seemed to place immense importance on the divisions of these factions.
It represented their long-held concepts of alchemy, ingrained deeply over the years.
Essentially, it’s as uncompromising as the difference between right and wrong.
Daoist Venerable Taiheng was displeased.
"Watch your words!"
"What do you mean by the proper path of Alchemy Dao, is your Purification Pill Stream the right path? I think it’s just another stray path..."
Daoist Venerable Beihe loudly declared, "Our Purification Pill Stream is dignified and aboveboard, avoiding shortcuts and evil paths, achieving the highest pill formation rate. How is that not the right path?"
Daoist Venerable Yi Yuan also chimed in.
"Your Ancient Pill Stream is neither here nor there, with no real future!"
"As for your Purification Pill Stream, only having a high pill rate isn’t enough, we can refine ten furnaces for every one you refine..."
"Bah, the quality of the stuff you Yidan Stream refine is so inferior, how dare you..."
These people actually started quarreling.
And all the Ultimate Celestial Venerables and Venerables they brought along looked both helpless and indifferent.
Clearly, they were used to these disputes between different streams.
Even the Divine Monarchs were left with no choice.
Brother Cheng was getting impatient.
He wasn’t interested in these factional disputes at all.
What he cared about was that the spotlight on him, the main character, was being shifted away.
These people have completely gone off-topic, haven’t they?
Do you know what core and emphasis are?
"Alright, alright, what’s there to argue about? I just passed a little test, and you guys are getting this excited?"
"Can you guys have some ambition?"
"And you call yourselves masters, what a disgrace!"
When he spoke up, the four eighth-grade Emperor Alchemists immediately fell silent.
While Taiheng was fine, the other three were visibly displeased.
"What did you just say?"
"Kid, you’ve got a lot of nerve, don’t you?"
Tian Lin, who previously wanted to take Brother Cheng as a disciple, now looked at him with disdain, frowning.
"Even though you’ve become a Pill Master, you won’t truly be recognized by us."
"That’s right, you must have stumbled upon the wrong path; passing the test was definitely a mere coincidence."
With that, Daoist Venerable Yi Yuan finally snapped back to reality.
"Right, this kid passing the test is highly unusual!"
"How long has he been in there? Less than a quarter hour, yet he passed the test?"
In the back, Venerable Jin Pi immediately joined in the skepticism.
"In such a short time, let alone the Ancient Pill Stream, even our Yidan Stream couldn’t produce a furnace of Sixth-grade Emperor Pill."
Daoist Venerable Zhengxu also spoke loudly, "Not to mention a Sixth-grade Emperor Pill, even a First Grade Emperor Pill couldn’t be refined in such a short time!"
"There must be something fishy going on!"
With this, the newly arrived Purifying Pill Stream crowd was in an uproar.
"His test took such a short time?"
"There’s definitely something wrong!"
Daoist Venerable Tian Lin and Daoist Venerable Beihe also started to suspect.
Both elders turned their scrutinizing gaze towards Sect Leader Jiang.
"Did you cheat?"
"You better confess now!"
Sect Leader Jiang’s lips curled slightly, as he scanned them with a playful look.
"Didn’t you say before that the Immortal Furnace test is famed for its fairness and impartiality, so no one could cheat?"
"With both the Heavenly Dao and Pill Origin supervising, are you saying you don’t trust them?"
This...
As officials of the Celestial Palace, who dared to say they didn’t trust the Heavenly Dao?
That’s the foundation the Celestial Palace is built on!
For a moment, everyone was rendered speechless.
But what they truly thought inside, only they knew.
Everyone believed Jiang Cheng must have used some trick.
Brother Cheng couldn’t be bothered to prove himself. By now, he was already opening his system skills panel.
The Origin Certification of a Sixth-grade Emperor Pill Master, something extremely honorable in others’ eyes, was nothing to him.
You’re kidding, he should at least get an eighth-grade certification, right?
Otherwise, how could he live up to the status of a system holder?
He opened the system refining technique, which required a whopping three hundred million Immortal Yuan Points to level up.
For the sake of his image, he gritted his teeth and clicked on it.
In the next instant, his refining technique advanced to Level 13, with a flood of alchemy knowledge pouring into his mind.
In such a short time, he’d already successfully and splendidly transformed from a Sixth-grade to an Eighth-grade Emperor Alchemist.
As for the Ninth-grade Emperor Alchemist’s Level 14 System Refining Technique, which required over ten billion Immortal Yuan Points, he could only admire it for now.
"Anyhow, even though the highest level in the Celestial Pill Department is currently only Eighth-grade, it’s still impressive."
Thinking of this, he cleared his throat.
"So, well, do I need to wait before proceeding with the next Immortal Furnace test?"
"Huh?"
Daoist Venerable Taiheng was taken aback, not understanding his intention.
"No, for any test, you can go in anytime."
Jiang Cheng nodded with satisfaction.
"Good, then."
His gaze directly locked onto the eighth opening.