by Feng Yise
"If you cause trouble again, just wait to be grounded when you get back!" Feng Ruoqing warned coldly. It was clear that she was exasperated by this niece.
Feng Zhirou could not muster up her temper anymore. Only then, did Feng Ruoqing called out towards the house, "Ye Yuan, it was Zhirou's fault yesterday. I apologize to you on her behalf. And also I apologize for my attitude yesterday. I won't force you to be my assistant in the future, alright?"
Creak.
The door opened, and Ye Yuan appeared.
"You're the one who said it! A good woman is as good as her word. You can't go back on it!" Ye Yuan was currently in high spirits. Where were there even any signs of injuries?
"Ye Yuan, you!" Feng Zhirou took a look at Ye Yuan and wished that she could raise her sword to kill him again. But she was completely blocked by Feng Ruoqing.
"You, what you? Don't think that I'm scared of you just because you are some Martial Roll's expert! Wait until I break through to the Spirit Condensation Realm. I can kill you with one hand!"
Ye Yuan was very displeased with this woman!
The Feng Zhirou in the legends was extremely cold and proud and would not spare a glance for anyone. Who knew that when he met her yesterday, she would actually be a complete lunatic!
Ye Yuan had walked around the gates of hell once again. It would be weird if he were pleased to see her!
"Aunt, let me go! I'm going to kill him! I'll see what he has to break through to the Spirit Condensation Realm!" Feng Zhirou struggled desperately but did not manage to break free.
"Enough of this! Just try moving again if you dare!" Feng Ruoqing really released Feng Zhirou, but her words made Feng Zhirou stop.
"Ye Yuan, if you don't want me to force you to be my assistant, fine. But you have to promise me one thing! If you can do it, I will let you off," Feng Ruoqing said calmly.
Hearing her words, Ye Yuan raised his guard instinctively.
This woman might look good-natured, but in reality, she was as unreasonable as Feng Zhirou deep down in her bones. Previously, she had already set a trap for him. Now, who could guarantee that it was not another trap!
"Say what it is first! Better not force me. At most, I will just go back to the capital to continue being a silkpants!" Ye Yuan answered like a hoodlum.
However, Feng Ruoqing did not seem to care. Instead, she gave a sweet smile. "In four days' time, the academy will organize students to go to the capital's Alchemist Association to take part in a group test. I want you and Zhirou to take the test together!"
"Alchemist test?" Ye Yuan was stunned. He did not expect Feng Ruoqing to actually raise such a request.
Taking the test was not much. But he instinctively held some resistance towards the Alchemist Association.
In his past life, he, and his father had poor relations with the Alchemist Association. The two were ostracized by all the other alchemists as deviants.
Now that Ye Yuan was asked to take the test, he felt kind of weird.
"That's right. I want you to participate in the Alchemist Association's Alchemy Apprentice test. And you must go all out! Don't tell me that you can't even pass an Alchemy Apprentice test?"
Feng Ruoqing knew now that Ye Yuan's level was definitely much higher than an Alchemy Apprentice. It was just that he was limited by his strength so he could not refine high-tier medicinal pills.
But with Ye Yuan's Alchemy Dao prowess, would becoming an Alchemy Apprentice not be just like playing around?
Ye Yuan did not immediately reply to Feng Ruoqing, but he paced around to ponder about it for a moment. Finally, he nodded his head and then answered, "Fine. I will join."
Chapter 53 - The Drunken Star Manor Makes Its Move
"Dean, the talent that this Ye Yuan displayed was truly astonishing. I feel that the academy should nurture him well. The Ten Nations Competition will be taking place in half a year's time. We had already lost for many years. If we are at the bottom three again this time, we would really have no place to put our old face in public."
Within the loft, in a deep part of the Dan Wu Academy, Huyan Yong was standing respectfully in front of a middle-aged man.
This man was the dean of the Dan Wu Academy, Jiang Yunhe. He was a figure that carried tremendous weight in the entire State of Qin!
His position in the State of Qin was not even beneath His Majesty!
But Jiang Yunhe was very low-profile as a person, and he rarely showed himself. He pretty much left it all to the associate deans to handle things and did not do anything.
During the few years which students spend in the Dan Wu Academy, they might not even get to see him once.
Even among many of the instructors, Jiang Yunhe was a highly mysterious figure.
Clearly, Huyan Yong was one of the few people in the academy who could meet with Jiang Yunhe.
It was evident that Huyan Yong specifically came to report to Jiang Yunhe about Ye Yuan's matter.
He recounted Ye Yuan's stunning performance to Jiang Yunhe. But Jiang Yunhe only listened quietly and did not comment anything.
"Oh Huyan, calm down. Victory and defeat are common for soldiers. There's no need to fuss over the details. Life is full of ups and downs. When it's time for us to rise up, other people cannot stop it," Jiang Yunhe said nonchalantly.
"But Dean! Ye Yuan, he . . ."
Huyan Yong wanted to say a few more words for Ye Yuan, but Jiang Yunhe gestured to stop him. "I already said calm down. Sigh. Huyan, you are always like this. What are you anxious about? We haven't even started competing yet. Furthermore, we also have quite a few outstanding students this time around such as Long Tang, Zuo Bugui; oh , and also Feng Zhirou that lass. They are all good seedlings. Well, this Ye Yuan that you mentioned isn't bad, but a genius that has not m.a.t.u.r.ed yet isn't a genius. Any genius who hasn't broken through and reached the Spirit Condensation Realm doesn't count as a genius, understood?"
After Jiang Yunhe said all that, Huyan Yong slowly calmed down. He seemed to have understood something faintly. "Dean, are you afraid that . . . Ye Yuan is going down the unorthodox path?"
Thinking about it now, Ye Yuan was just a First Level Essence Qi Realm little rookie a month ago. In a month's time, he already reached the Fourth Level Essence Qi Realm with actual combat power surpassing top geniuses at the Eighth Level Essence Qi Realm. This sort of leap was a little too exaggerated.
Without mentioning about others, even a genius like Long Tang would probably require at least a year's time to train from the First Level Essence Qi Realm to the Fourth Level Essence Qi Realm? But Ye Yuan did it in only a month.
Such astonishing growth was truly inconceivable. The most immediate idea was most likely that he had over exhausted his potential, right?
And the price for over exhausting one's potential was sacrificing future growth!
Jiang Yunhe smiled and said, "I didn't say that. But let's observe for a period of time first. You don't have to worry too much about resources and what not. Didn't Ye Yuan plunder several tens of thousands of Essence Qi Pills? It shouldn't be a problem to train to the Ninth Level Essence Qi Realm."
Huyan Yong sighed and took his leave.
After Huyan Yong left, Jiang Yunhe walked to the window with his hands behind his back and muttered to himself, " Oh Ye Yuan, I really hope that you are a peerless genius. Don't let me down!"
. . . . . .
The alchemist test would be taking place in the capital in four days' time. Ye Yuan figured that he might as well skip classes, and brought Lu-er back home to stay for a few days.
As he had just broken through not long ago, Ye Yuan planned to use these few days to properly consolidate his realm. The next step would be to directly assault the Sixth Level Essence Qi Realm.
Within a minor stage in the Essence Qi Realm, Ye Yuan could completely disregard the bottleneck between realms and directly cross them.
This was already after intentionally slowing down. If it was not out of fear that his foundation would be
come unstable, Ye Yuan could even break through several realms within a day.
After all, the Essence Qi Realm was simply too easy for Ye Yuan who was once a Divine King.
"If Master and Madam know that Young Master became an Earth Rank student, they would be ecstatic." Lu-er was full of pride as if she was the one who became an Earth Rank student.
"It's just being a stupid Earth Rank student. Who cares?" Ye Yuan curled his lips in disdain.
"Of course it's impressive! You don't know what kind of expression they had outside. Each of them stared at the light screen as if they saw a ghost. Initially, I didn't know how amazing Earth Rank students are. But afterward, I heard that there had never been anyone in the Dan Wu Academy who advanced and became an Earth Rank when they were at the Fourth Level Essence Qi Realm. That's when I found out that Young Master is so incredible!" Lu-er said excitedly.
" Haha. There will be plenty more times for them to be shocked in the future. If you are this way each time, wouldn't it be exhausting?" Infected by Lu-er's mood, Ye Yuan also started laughing heartily.
"Why would that be tiring? If that were the case, I would be happy every day!" Lu-er replied seriously.
"Then I will make my Lu-er happy every day, okay?"
"Hehe. Young Master is still the best! Lu-er is already very happy right now! Yii? Why are there so few people in the Fragrant Medicine Pavilion? Normally in the past, the queue would be super long at this time."
The master and servant pair arrived at the Fragrant Medicine Pavilion without realizing it. But then Lu-er found that something was not quite right with the Fragrant Medicine Pavilion.
In the past, the entrance to the Fragrant Medicine Pavilion was always crowded with streams of people. But today, it looked a little deserted.
"Let's go in to check it out."
Ye Yuan entered the Fragrant Medicine Pavilion with Lu-er and discovered that there were really much fewer people. It was not even half of the norm in the past. What was going on?
"Young Master Ye, why are you back?"
The shopkeeper was clearly idling today. The moment Ye Yuan walked in, he noticed this and hurried over to greet the former.
"Shopkeeper Feng, why are there so few people in the Fragrant Medicine Pavilion today? What happened?"
The shopkeeper was surnamed Feng and was the third-born; so he was called Feng San 1 . He was an old employee of the Fragrant Medicine Pavilion and was completely loyal. Even Ye Hang was very respectful towards him.
Hearing Ye Yuan's question, he involuntarily let out a long sigh. "Sigh . . . Isn't it all thanks to that Drunken Star Manor. Who knows where they got the pill formula of something called Essence Gathering Pill. The medicinal effects are 50% stronger than even the effects of a high-grade Essence Qi Pill! These few days, they released the new medicinal pills, attracting everyone over. As a result, our Fragrant Medicine Pavilion's business fell drastically. Sigh. With this sort of medicinal pill, the Drunken Star Manor is now undefeatable. The owner has also been troubled by this these few days!"
"It's really Drunken Star Manor again! Essence Gathering Pill huh . . ." Ye Yuan started to muse.
"That's right. The price of this Essence Gathering Pill is about the same as a high-grade Essence Qi Pill, but the medicinal effects are 50% stronger. As long as one is a martial artist, who could possibly resist this kind of temptation? Sigh. It looks like hard times are ahead for our Fragrant Medicine Pavilion."
Feng San sighed and g.r.o.a.n.e.d. His face was full of worry. It was apparent that he spent the past few days distressed over it.
This move by the Drunken Star Manor came too suddenly without any signs at all. The Fragrant Medicine Pavilion was caught unaware. As a result, this led to the current situation.
"Don't worry too much, Shopkeeper Feng. It's just a tiny little Essence Gathering Pill. It can't cause any huge waves." Ye Yuan smiled as he consoled the shopkeeper.
Feng San looked at Ye Yuan and sighed as he said, "Young Master probably isn't aware of what this 50% medicinal effect means. This is something that can change the medicinal pills market in the State of Qin! With this, the Drunken Star Manor can become a monopoly power in the future!"
Ye Yuan knew that any explanation was futile, so he smiled and asked, "Shopkeeper Feng, is my father in the shop? I will go look for him."
"Yes. The owner has been in a closed-door seclusion in the pill refinement room these past few days." San = Three/Third
Chapter 54 - Resolving Concerns for Father
Ye Hang's hands moved like phantoms as he operated the pill cauldron. The medicinal pill in the pill cauldron was about to form as it gave off a faint light.
"Set!'
Ye Hang gave a low cry, and the light on the medicinal pill dissipated, forming a dark green medicinal pill.
Making a gesture of grabbing at it, the pill flew into Ye Hang's hand.
"Sigh. I was too overconfident. If it were so easy to invent a new medicinal pill, how could it be that it's my, Ye Hang's, turn to do it?" Ye Hang shook his head and threw away the newly refined pill.
Presently, Ye Hang looked utterly haggard. It was evident that he was greatly exhausted.
He was attempting to develop new medicinal pills without getting any sleep or rest these few days in order to prevent the Fragrant Medicine Pavilion from declining. But all of his efforts were in vain.
Even though Essence Qi Pill was not among high-tier pills, after countless years of development, it was actually incomparably m.a.t.u.r.e.
How could it be easy to develop a new medicinal pill which had even stronger medicinal effects than Essence Qi Pill to replace it?
"I didn't think that after working hard for so many years, I, Ye Hang, still can't escape the outcome of defeat. What a failure!" Ye Hang sighed again.
Unwittingly, Ye Yuan's figure suddenly appeared in Ye Hang's mind, and some clarity was restored in his hazy eyes.
"If I'm defeated, then I'm defeated. At least my son has that mysterious teacher. His future accomplishments will definitely be limitless."
He was naturally aware of Ye Yuan's performance in the Dan Wu Academy these past few days, and he was delighted in his heart.
But he was still not aware that Ye Yuan had already advanced to the Fourth Level Essence Qi Realm, passed the Black Rank Advancement test, and became an Earth Rank student.
Ye Hang was originally a sanguine person and did not take defeat heavily. It was just that this bunch of old fellows at the Fragrant Medicine Pavilion had followed him for a long time. His individual success or failure was connected to the livelihood of many people. That was why he tried day and night to regain some lost ground.
Perhaps their hearts were connected. Just as Ye Hang thought about his son, Ye Yuan's knocking on the door sounded. "Father, this Child is back. May I enter?"
Ye Hang's heart shook slightly, and he went to open the door. Sure enough, it was Ye Yuan.
"Father, I heard that you were in a closed-door seclusion, so I came here directly. I didn't interrupt you, did I?" Ye Yuan bowed towards Ye Hang and asked.
"Haha. What's there to interrupt? Yuan-er is back. Any important matter has to be put aside! Come, let us father and son talk in the study room. Tell me what happened in the Dan Wu Academy." Ye Hang pulled his son and headed out.
Ye Yuan was touched. Ye Hang's love for his son really surpassed everything.
Even at this time, Ye Hang was interested to find out about Ye Yuan's experience in the Dan Wu Academy rather than finding a way to save the situation. One could only imagine Ye Yuan's place in Ye Hang's heart.
Before leaving, Ye Yuan swept his eyes around the pill refinement room and sniffed the medicinal fragrance lingering in the air. He already knew the goal of Ye Hang's closed-door seclusion.
. . . . . .
"Yuan-er, I heard that you had a deathmatch with that brat from the Wan Family whose surname was Fei, right after you returned to the academy? And that you finished him off with your Third Level Essence
Qi Realm strength? That is so satisfying! Yii? Y-you . . . already broke through to the Fourth Level Essence Qi Realm?"
Just now, Ye Hang did not notice yet. But as he was talking, he discovered that Ye Yuan's aura was much stronger than before he left. Clearly, he already broke through to the Fourth Level Essence Qi Realm, so he could not help but be astonished.
"Haha. I was fortunate and broke through two days ago. I also passed through three advancement tests consecutively yesterday. Now, I'm already an Earth Rank student."
Ye Yuan was not showing off, but it was because he knew that his father was in a lousy mood. So he found something to cheer him up. It was clear just how much effort he expended from how worn out Ye Hang looked. Ye Yuan felt his heart ache just by looking at him.
As expected, when Ye Yuan told him that, Ye Hang immediately perked up and exclaimed in delight, "The heavens had opened their eyes! My son really became competent! That brat from the Wan Family only just advanced to become Earth Rank, but my son only used a month to do the same! What a resounding face-smacking difference! Hahaha!"
After a bout of hearty laughter, Ye Hang gradually quietened down. But the joy on his face could not be concealed.
Suddenly recalling something, Ye Hang frowned slightly and asked him, "Yuan-er, it's naturally a good thing for your strength to advance so quickly. But would it affect your future cultivation?"
Ye Hang's worry happened to coincide with Jiang Yunhe's. This concern was not without reason.
Cultivating the Martial Dao always focused on moving along carefully each step of the way. It was cultivation's great taboo to neglect a solid foundation in pursuit of a temporary spurt of progress.
Ye Yuan's advancement was truly too rapid. As a father, he was naturally concerned whether or not his son's foundation was unstable, and if it would affect future cultivation.
"Don't worry, Father. I know what I'm doing. The cultivation law that Master passed on to me is highly mystical. If I didn't fear that my cultivation realm rising too quickly would affect my foundation, it wouldn't be a problem for me to cultivate to the Seventh or Eighth Level Essence Qi Realm right now," Ye Yuan replied indifferently.