Chapter 201: Crushed

Suncreek Villa headquarters.

The Xiling artificers were in a great mood, with happy, confident laughter punctuating their pleasant conversation. Most of them had never even seen an upper seventh-grade watersource in their lives, let alone had the opportunity to work with one.

They were drunk on the sublime feeling of power it gave them. It truly helped them find profound revelations.

The Suncreek Villa headquarters was a good place.

Tang Yun and Lu Xiaofeng sighed with contentment. They had never seen their artificers so enthusiastic before. It came from being in an environment that was alive with hope.

If they could, they would want to stay at the Suncreek Villa's headquarters. But the matter was not that simple as they had already been branded with Pei Hao's mark.

Although headquarters had given them the secret watersource as agreed, they could still feel that they were being watched closely for signs of trouble.

Neither side resented it. If the Young Lord had any brains at all, he should indeed be wary of them. And his wariness was well warranted...

Pei Hao had not intended this to be a gift.

But as for what Pei Hao's plan was, even they were not sure. His only command to them had been to go to the Suncreek Villa headquarters.

Tang Yun sighed. It didn't feel good to be in the middle of the sandwich.

He swept those feelings aside. "Today's the first test. What do you say?"

"I heard the Young Lord's first-grade spirit liquid is superb, with 64% tempering strength. That's quite high, but probably because of the secret watersource. If neither of us are given secret watersource, I guess he'll score 61%, maybe 62%," Lu Xiaofeng predicted.

Tang Yun nodded. "He said that we can participate too, but I don't think there's a need. He's been very generous so far, but if we take advantage of it, that could look ugly."

Lu Xiaofeng considered it. "We can't send anyone too bad either," he warned. "I mean... you know our position."

Tang Yun scratched an itch with irritation. "Let's send Liu Fu, how about that? He's a third-grade resonance artificer, a full grade higher than Li Luo."

"He can produce a first-grade spirit liquid with about 60% tempering strength. That should be roughly equivalent to the Young Lord. Give the man some face."

Lu Xiaofeng nodded. "We'll be the baddies, then. Headquarters is going to dislike us even more after this."

Tang Yun pulled a face. The Young Lord had indeed treated them with graciousness befitting his power. It was a pity that he was labeled as a blank palace cultivator when he was young. Otherwise, perhaps House Luolan would not have fallen to its current state.

While they were mulling over their decisions, Li Luo, Jiang Qing'e, and the others appeared in front of the resonance artificers.

"How have the last few days been, gentlemen? Hopefully no one is treating you badly?" Li Luo asked warmly. 

The branch artificers nodded with full agreement.

Li Luo cut straight to it. "Today's the first test," he said to Tang Yun and Lu Xiaofeng. "Let's begin. I've already ordered the ingredients to be prepared. They're exactly the same. You can send people to check them."

Both shook their heads quickly, expressing their trust in the Young Lord.

"Who are you sending today?" Li Luo asked.

Tang Yun smiled sheepishly. "We're sending Liu Fu today. He's a third-grade resonance artificer."

Oof.

A collective grunt of sympathy from the resonance artificers.

"Truly shameless and thick-skinned," Elder Zheng Ping growled. "The Young Lord's only a second-grade, and you send a third? Might as well go yourselves!" The branch artificers were looking a little embarrassed. Tang Yun and Lu Xiaofeng could only smile sheepishly and play it cool.

"No need for admonishment, Elder Zheng Ping, it's all within the rules. I did say that they could send anyone." Li Luo waved it off generously.

The branch artificers felt even worse now.

The Young Lord was practically a saint...

Li Luo turned and led the way to the refining workshops, which were full of ingredients.

To ensure absolute fairness, Li Luo had even implemented a lottery. He had the third-grade artificer Liu Fu draw a lot at random and choose his refining workshop.

The refining began.

Li Luo was a second-going-on-third-grade artificer, while Liu Fu was a third-grade artificer. A first-grade spirit liquid should be easy peasy for both of them, and so there was nothing too exciting about the refining process.

Still, in terms of attitude, Li Luo seemed a little calmer, while Liu Fu was stiff with tension, afraid of making a mistake.

The refining only took a quarter of an hour or so.

Liu Fu finished first, immediately testing his spirit liquid. 61%!

Liu Fu's face showed a glimmer of pride. He had outdone himself.

The branch artificers whispered excitedly among themselves, pleased with his result.

Elder Zheng Ping frowned. He knew what Li Luo was capable of usually, but they did not know how he would fare without the boost from the secret watersource...

While they were worrying, Li Luo finished up quickly enough. He dusted off his hands and admired Liu Fu's work.

"Well, test's over," Li Luo said to elder Zheng Ping. "We'll be off, then, much to do."

He turned and left with Jiang Qing'e and the others.

Elder Zheng Ping was a little startled by Li Luo's abrupt departure. Was he so unconfident in the result that he had to leave immediately?

Tang Yun and the others were of the same mind, but they showed some politeness and waited for him to leave before swarming up.

"Elder Zheng Ping, please test the tempering strength of the Young Lord's work," Tang Yun said.

He gave a surly grunt of acknowledgement. Taking up the tempering measurement needle, he stuck it into Li Luo's spirit liquid.

The needle rose... and rose. 68%.

Elder Zheng Ping rubbed his eyes, sure that he was hallucinating. A 68% first-grade spirit liquid? Truth be told, he had never seen one before.

Still, 68%.

He wordlessly handed the needle over to Tang Yun and the others.

They stared at it for a long time, then stuck it back into the spirit liquid. And again. And again. Eventually, they put it down.

They looked in the direction that Li Luo had gone in.

Now they understood why he had left so quickly. He was not unconfident, but was rather sparing them the humiliation...

Just how scary was this Young Lord?!