Dao

Inside the hall, all the small sects were chatting, full of envy and awe. Yet Xuanqing, Mingsha, and the three elderly Xuan seemed all deeply worried. The Luoyun Valley was too powerful now, so maybe life would be harder for them in the future.

“Haha, my disciple brother is really good at teaching. This girl can make a Dragon and Tiger Pill, what a great heir of yours.” The Qingyun Taoist laughed and looked at the restriction where Ji Yuewu was at with satisfaction. Why would someone worry about the revival of the sect when he got such a great disciple like that?

Hearing that, the Alchemy Taoist was a little bit shocked and said with a bitter smile, “Don’t mock me, senior brother. Since Yuewu became a disciple of our sect, I have been staying behind closed doors and focusing on reaching the Gold Core stage. So I barely taught her anything, nothing at all, in fact.” However, his eyes were full of surprise and gratification. Every cultivator dreamed of getting their achievements inherited, so did the Alchemy Taoist. Besides, he had devoted his entire life to the alchemy that the continuation was even more important for him. Therefore he was definitely very satisfied with having such a great disciple.

“Formulate!”

Rang the cold voice of Ji Yuewu, and shades of dragon and tiger gradually became clearer within the cloud above her head. There was a mini-sized spirit dragon covered with blue scales rolling up and down while puffing in the smoke. It was a few inches long with two horns on the head and 5 feet under the belly. While under the dragon, there was a fierce white tiger with a pair of wings on its back and a clear “king (王)” character in the middle of its eyebrows, roaring up and down as well.

“Back!”

Another spell came over and both the dragon and the tiger roared to the sky, then they rushed down directly. The cloud and smoke around them vanished gradually. When the mysterious scene disappeared completely, a white shade flashed through the restriction spell. It was a pale Ji Yuewu who walked out of it.

“Here is the Dragon and Tiger Pill, Master.”

There she opened her tender hands. A striped pill as big as a walnut was in her hand, and voices of dragon and tiger were coming out from it, which made it seem truly extraordinary.

“Alright. The stripes are natural and I can hear the roars of dragon and tiger. It has some impurities but still worthy as an inferior third-grade pill. Great, great, great!” The Alchemy Taoist stood up, lifted Ji Yuewu with his spiritual power and looked at her with great satisfaction.

“Congratulations, my Taoist friend, Alchemy Taoist. You have such a wonderful disciple and there is no need to worry about the prosperity of the Luoyun Valley.” Xuanqing blinked and sounded a bit strange.

Yet Mingsha from the Black Evil Sect was in a gloomy face and his eyes turned to be quite worrisome.

As for the three Xuan elders, they felt quite uncomfortable as so far the Luoyun Valley had already surpassed the Flaming Sect with its two Gold Cores, plus those excellent disciples in the younger generation, so it could be really hard for the Flaming Sect in the future.

“Congratulations to the Alchemy Taoist for having such a great disciple!” Those masters in all sects were congratulating them with their disciples.

“Ho ho, thanks, everyone!” The Alchemy Taoist arched his hands and ignored the envy from Xuanqing and the others. He wouldn’t feel better if he was in their position.

Now five out of the six people who participated in the alchemy assessment had made their pills successfully and earned great fame for the Luoyun Valley. However, all of them were focusing on the last restriction spell and they all looked quite weird. Given that Shiao Chen was refining the superior third-grade Life-prolonging Pill, those people couldn’t even help to show their sarcastic faces.

What an arrogant and reckless kid!

“Today we came here to attend the Core Formation Ceremony of the Alchemy Taoist and witnessed the alchemy of your 5 disciples which was indeed awesome. I wonder when the sect competition will start as we shall not waste our time here despite the extra lifetime we’ve got as cultivators.” A master from a small sect spoke after he blinked and nodded to Duan Huaming.

He was looking at the last restriction spell while speaking and his eyes were full of mockery, so it was obvious that he was hinting on somebody.

“Exactly, please announce the beginning of the sect competition, Alchemy Taoist. It is just a waste of time for me to wait for this kid refining a Life-prolonging Pill.”

“This kid is just so arrogant and reckless, why are you still keeping him instead of kicking him out of the sect?”

“That’s right, we all don’t want to wait any time longer, please kick him out.”

There were so many cultivators in this hall that didn’t like Shiao Chen and they were all complaining and looked at the restriction spell where Shiao Chen was in with more mockery on their face.

“Well…” The Alchemy Taoist was quite hesitant.

The Qingyun Taoist was a bit upset as he looked around the hall and said, “I’m afraid even if it was you who would refine it, there wouldn’t be more than 30% possibility to succeed. Do you really believe that he could make a superior third-grade Life-prolonging Pill? If it is doomed to fail, then why does it matter if you end it now?”

Hearing that, the Alchemy Taoist sighed and nodded as he was about to withdraw the restriction spell to interrupt Shiao Chen’s alchemy.

“Please wait a moment, Master. The alchemy assessment of Elixir Valley has always been limited to 4 hours, and there is still a quarter left. I would like to request we wait for him for another half quarter. Besides, there is still no burning smell coming out of the restriction spell, so maybe those spiritual herbs are still fine and brother Shiao Chen is still formatting them. If you withdraw the restriction spell and interrupt him now, I’m afraid junior brother Shiao Chen will never accept that even if he gets kicked out of the sect. Please reconsider it, Master.” Ji Yuewu stepped up and said anxiously as she looked at the restriction spell of Shiao Chen.

Ji Yuewu ranked way higher than those Foundation Establishment cultivators as she had made the Dragon and Tiger Pill successfully, and she was probably only below the two Gold Core cultivators. Moreover, she still had great potential to progress, so her words were indeed important.

The Alchemy Taoist remained calm and nodded after a short break, then he said after a small cough, “Please calm down, my Taoist friends. Our Elixir Valley does have this rule in our alchemy assessment, so please just wait for a while.” Then he closed his eyes as he obviously didn’t expect Shiao Chen to make the pill successfully.

Inside the hall, Ji Yuewu was relieved and stepped down, yet her eyes were still focused on the restriction spell.

“Pss.” Beside her, malicious shade flashed through the eyes of Duan Huaming as he sneered.

Those cultivators all calmed down after the Alchemy Taoist spoke up. They dared not to challenge the decision of a Gold Core cultivator for sure. Plus it was just a quarter, they didn’t want to offend him for such a short time of waiting.

“Ho ho, it seems that junior brother Shiao Chen has been really overestimating himself. If he couldn’t make it then why did he boast about it? It just makes him look like a joke and also brings shame to the Luoyun Valley. He will get kicked out of the sect as well and never get the chance to go back to cultivation again. What a pity.” A quarter had almost passed when Duan Huaming said sadly with a disappointed face.

Yet he felt super excited actually and yelled inside, “How dare you to offend me! You won’t live an easy life. I will torture you in countless ways after you get kicked out of the sect!”

Ji Yuewu felt quite upset as the clock was ticking. Was I wrong about you?

The cultivators in the hall all opened their eyes and they all looked like they had known the result in advance as everyone had a sneer on their face.

Duan Huaming felt really delighted as if he had finally defeated his enemy. He stepped up and said at the moment, “Chief Master, since Shiao Chen failed to make the pill, according to the rule set before, I would like to take the responsibility and kick him out of the sect.”

The Alchemy Taoist nodded and his eyes turned sad. He accepted Shiao Chen and treated him like a direct disciple despite that he was just a nominal disciple, so he truly appreciated him. However, fate was never fair as this kid didn’t have a spiritual root. What a pity.

“Alright, just let him go down the mountain and be an ordinary person to live a normal life. Maybe this is the life he deserves.”

Duan Huaming was very excited, “Thank you so much, Master.” Afterwards, he went directly to the restriction spell which Shiao Chen was at and sneered.

“Wait, there is still one minute left, you can’t go now.” Ji Yuewu bit her lips with her unyielding eyes and stopped him with her hand.

Duan Huaming pretended to be sincere and said, “Shiao Chen is just an ordinary person and he doesn’t deserve your caring, my disciple sister. If you will, I will be with you for the rest of my life.”

Later on, he turned to those cultivators and bowed, “I didn’t mean to hide it from you, my predecessors and Taoist friends. But Shiao Chen doesn’t have a spiritual root and he is just an ordinary person. It was already more than lucky for him to get accepted by our Chief Master. Yet he didn’t cherish it and was never serious about his cultivation. He has also been very arrogant and rude to all of us. Today he even boasted and brought shame to our sect. A person like him should have been kicked out of the sect a long time ago. It is definitely a great decision that our Masters decided to kick him out today.”

As Duan Huaming was criticizing him with his anger, he felt he was the focus of them all and was really proud of himself. But all of a sudden, he realized the atmosphere of the hall changed as they all looked beyond himself with surprise. Meanwhile, a sliver of fragrance came to his face and that made him feel more uneasy.

Duan Huaming turned around slowly and looked at the restriction spell where Shiao Chen was at. His eyes shook and he said with horror, “How is that possible?!”

Ji Yuewu gave him a thrilling smile and said, “Senior brother Duan, thanks for your kindness and it seems that junior brother Shiao Chen is not as bad as you said.”

At that moment, a cloud with a strong herbal fragrance came out of the restriction spell and tangled above the spell restlessly. There was also more and more vitality coming out of it, and those people felt they had gained more energy just by inhaling it.