Chapter 67 – Giving Pointers to Master Yuan
Translator: Mr Voltaire
Editor: Master Shadow
“Err… what about our medicinal pills?” Seeing that Master Yuan wanted to take Xiao Yun for himself, the elders of the various families were all worried that Xiao Yun wouldn’t have the time to refine pills for them, which caused a few of them to speak out.
“Cheh, you think your medicinal pills will run away?” Master Yuan retorted with a displeased expression.
“Haha, don’t worry everyone. Just go and prepare the medicinal ingredients,” Xiao Yun laughed.
“Medicinal ingredients?” Master Yuan’s eyes lit up as he asked, “What medicinal ingredients do you need?”
“Many of them,” Xiao Yun replied.
“You can tell me if you need medicinal ingredients,” Master Yuan said passionately, “My Cloudsea Merchant Alliance is the largest merchant alliance in the entire Moonwind Kingdom, and our operations span many kingdoms and countries. With a single order, we can gather a whole range of medicinal ingredients within a short period of time.”
“Oh! Haha, I’ll have to trouble Master Yuan then.” After speaking, Xiao Yun immediately wrote up a list.
After receiving the list, Master Yuan’s gaze became serious as he replied, “Looks like little brother Xiao’s knowledge is quite profound.” After looking through the list of medicinal ingredients, he seemed to have discovered something.
“Haha, it’s just a few medicinal ingredients,” Xiao Yun laughed, “Since Master Yuan is willing to treat me with such great hospitality, I’ll do all I can to exchange pill recipes with Master Yuan.”
“Really?” Hearing this, Master Yuan became incredibly excited. The Yuan family had quite a few pill recipes, but not everyone could obtain them. He had very few pill recipes, and if Xiao Yun was willing to exchange pill recipes with him, he would benefit greatly.
“It’s just some pill recipes,” Xiao Yun said as he waved his hand and smiled. “After all, our Xiao family will have to greatly rely on Master Yuan in future.”
“Haha, don’t worry, little brother Xiao. In the future, I’ll take care of everyone in the Xiao family – even the elderly and the young,” Master Yuan said with a smile.
Besides them, the cultivators from the various families silently criticised the old man. This old man was willing to do anything, to the point that he, an elderly man, was treating a youth like a brother.
However, after thinking about it, they couldn’t really blame Master Yuan for acting like this. Even for them, if the youth was willing to call them a brother, they wouldn’t mind.
However, what they truly wanted was to marry their daughters to this youth.
“What a pity!” Thinking back to how they had all been rejected, the crowd shook their heads. After chatting for a while, Master Yuan Xiao Yun went to contact the Cloudsea Merchant Alliance.
“Hmph, if we knew that this would happen, we wouldn’t have invited old man Yuan.” Seeing Xiao Yun hurriedly leave, Yan Shi Yan stamped her foot, looking quite displeased. “These old fellows aren’t good people,” the little girl continuously complained to herself.
“Shi Fei, you need to hold tight to that Xiao Yun! Now those old fellows are all eyeing him!” Duke Yan joked as he slightly narrowed his eyes and gave a meaningful smile.
“I’m not afraid.” Yan Shi Fei earnestly blinked, seeming to be full of confidence in the youth.
Following this, Xiao Yun came with Master Yuan to the Cloudsea Merchant Alliance. This was an incredibly large merchant alliance, and was situated in the Violet Cloud County’s most prosperous region.
There would be auctions here from time to time, and it was a big market for the buying and selling of medicinal pills. Almost all of the Violet Cloud County’s factions were completely dependent on the Cloudsea Merchant Alliance.
No matter if it was Innate Pills, Blood Congealing Powders or Muscle Developing Powders, cultivators couldn’t do without those miraculous medicines. As such, the Cloudsea Merchant Alliance was incredibly revered within the eyes of the people, and everyone treated them with great respect.
Xiao Yun remembered that he had come here when he was younger, but ever since he had lost his talent, he had not had the opportunity to visit.
“My Cloudsea Merchant Alliance spans the entire Moonwind Kingdom, and even has branches in neighbouring kingdoms and countries,” Master Yuan passionately explained to Xiao Yun. He brought Xiao Yun to a pill refining room, where there was a Fire Vein inside.
It was through controlling this Fire Vein’s flames that Master Yuan refined pills. Using the flames from a Fire Vein greatly tested a Pill Refiner, as they could easily cause mistakes when refining pills.
“This Fire Vein had restrictions laid on it by an expert, otherwise, normal people wouldn’t be able to use it,” Master Yuan explained to Xiao Yun.
Xiao Yun nodded. There was a gigantic pill cauldron at the mouth of the Fire Vein, which connected to the flames directly. Because of this, Master Yuan’s control naturally wouldn’t be as proficient as him controlling the variant flames within his own body.
This was why Master Yuan was only a First Rank Pill Refiner.
Master Yuan began to refine pills on the spot, wanting to exchange pointers with Xiao Yun. Although they were ‘exchanging’ pointers, Xiao Yun was mainly the one giving tips. From what he had just seen, Master Yuan had found that this youth’s skill in pill refining was even greater than his.
“Your control over flames is not bad, but it’s a pity that your spirit energy is insufficient. You can’t be distracted at all, making it difficult for you to easily refine medicinal pills.” After watching Master Yuan refine pills, Xiao Yun found where he was lacking. Although Master Yuan had been refining pills for decades and had good control over the flames from the Fire Vein, his spirit energy was low, so his failure rate was quite high.
“Ai,” Master Yuan sighed, “This old man’s talent isn’t very good, and can’t make up for it!”
“I have a way that can help you with this,” Xiao Yun replied.
“Oh, what is it?” Master Yuan’s eyes lit up. He had long since found that this youth wasn’t ordinary, which was why he had asked for pointers. Hearing the youth say these words, he felt his blood boiling, and his eyes filled with a light of anticipation. If he could resolve this problem, he would have a chance at becoming a Second Rank Pill Refiner!
“First, you need to develop your spirit energy,” Xiao Yun said. “If you can fuse your spirit energy with the flames, you’ll be able to control the flames with greater ease, which will help you solve many problems when refining pills.”
“Develop my spirit energy?” Master Yuan asked with a bitter smile, “How can developing one’s spirit energy be so easy?”
“I have an Art that is for Pill Refiners who don’t have variant flames, and instead use Ley Fire, which you can use to increase your spirit energy,” Xiao Yun said as he raised his eyebrows.
“Really?” Master Yuan’s eyes lit up.
“Mm.” Xiao Yun nodded, then taught Master Yuan the Art.
This was an Art that could develop one’s spirit energy, and was an essential technique for Pill refiners. There was also a magic seal which allowed one to form a seal with their spirit energy and fuse with the Ley Fire, increasing their control over it.
This way, they would be able to attain a similar mastery over flames as someone who had a Fire Martial Spirit. This Art was created by the Violet Flame King himself.
“Haha, this is an incredible Art that seems to be made especially for people like me – Pill Refiners with ordinary talent!” After receiving this Art, Master Yuan couldn’t help but loudly laugh, with some tears in his eyes. With this Art, he was confident that he could immediately improve, and would be able to refine Grade 2 pills with ease. In the future, he might be able to improve even more.
“With this Art, Master Yuan doesn’t need to worry anymore,” Xiao Yun said as he smiled.
“Little brother Xiao, you’re truly my benefactor!” Master Yuan exclaimed with an expression of gratitude. “The kindness that you’ve shown me is like that of a master. Please accept my respect.” As he said this, the elderly man was just about to kneel down.
“Don’t, don’t.” Seeing this, Xiao Yun hurriedly grabbed the elderly man and laughed, “Haha, we’re just exchanging pointers; why must you be like this?”
“Little brother Xiao is too courteous,” Master Yuan said seriously. “How could this old one compare to you in pill refining? I, Yuan Xu, will remember this kindness for the rest of my life. In the future, if your Xiao family needs anything, I won’t refuse, even if I have to go through water and tread on fire.”
“Haha, Master Yuan is too polite,” Xiao Yun laughed, and silently let out a breath of relief. Seeing how sincere Master Yuan looked, if he had to leave the Violet Cloud County, he would at least be able to rest at ease about the Xiao family. Even if there were no more Pill Refiners after Xiao Yun in the Xiao family, they would still be able to prosper.
“That’s right. Little brother Xiao, are you really able to refine Mysterious Congealing Pills?” Suddenly, Master Yuan looked at him with a serious gaze.
“Why?” Xiao Yun asked.
“If that is true, I recommend that you don’t reveal this,” Master Yuan said seriously. “It’s fine if you meet someone who values talent, but if someone envies you and desires your pill recipes, that will only bring trouble on you. Even if you want to reveal this, you must only reveal it after you’re recognised by the Heaven Origin Sect, otherwise, it will bring you endless trouble.”
“Master Yuan is right,” Xiao Yun felt that this was reasonable and said, “The problem is that quite a few people know already!”
“That’s no problem,” Master Yuan replied. “We can spread the word that you were merely boasting in order to scare the Qiu family, and that you’re only a First Rank Pill Refiner. That way, no many people will actually believe that you can refine Mysterious Congealing Pills.”
“That would be good too,” Xiao Yun nodded. Being a First Rank Pill Refiner at such an age would already shock most people.
“I’ll write a letter right now to tell the people in my Yuan family about you, and ask them to refer your matter to our ancestor in the Heaven Origin Sect,” Master Yuan said. “When you go to take the Heaven Origin Sect’s examination, you can contact my Yuan family’s people; I’m sure they’ll take care of you.”
“I’ll have to trouble Master Yuan then,” Xiao Yun smiled.
“It’s what I should be doing,” Master Yuan said, “Pill Refiners are extremely rare, especially incredibly talented ones like you. As such, after knowing about your talent, my family’s ancestor will definitely be incredibly happy and provide my Yuan family with many medicinal pills. After all, that was what I came to find you for originally,” Master Yuan dryly laughed.
“I understand,” Xiao Yun replied. Without any benefits, why would someone help another for free?
Master Yuan then continued speaking as he handed Xiao Yun a medallion, “When you’re on your way to take the examination, you can go to any branch of my Cloudsea Merchant Alliance if you encounter any problems. I’ll make sure they treat you well.”
Xiao Yun nodded and put the medallion away. After chatting for a while, he said his goodbyes to Master Yuan.
At the same time, Xiao Yun left behind some pill recipes to help Master Yuan in gathering the medicinal ingredients. Because he would be leaving the Violet Cloud County soon, he needed to quickly refine some pills for his family members.
After leaving the Cloudsea Merchant Alliance, Xiao Yun happily returned to the Xiao family’s residence. Now that they had established rapport with the Cloudsea Merchant Alliance, they wouldn’t have to worry anymore.
When he entered his courtyard, an extremely cold wave of Chilling Qi swept out.
“What powerful Chilling Qi,” Xiao Yun said as he frowned.
The Chilling Qi coming out from the room looked like fog and surrounded the room. Even the people in the distance felt a chill.
“Looks like your little sister’s Chilling Qi has broken out again.” After detecting the Chilling Qi, the Heaven-Devouring Sparrow’s sent out its spirit and reported, “This Chilling Qi is much stronger than last time. This is quite strange – just what sort of constitution does your little sister have?” It felt that the young girl’s constitution exceeded what it had initially expected.
“Could it be that legendary constitution?” the Heaven-Devouring Sparrow wondered.
Xiao Yun did not dally, and immediately hurried towards Xiao Ling’Er’s room.