Chapter 217: Master Lee’s Discontentment, Danger Looms Above Gujiang’s Head
“Master Lee, Master Gu, please come to my side. Let’s discuss these pill recipes on the pill scroll,” Fairfrost Sage said.
“It’s my honor to have been invited by you, Sage.”
“Yes, I shall gladly accept.”
With the Sage’s personal invitation, the two Alchemy Masters were very courteous.
Fairfrost Sage flashed them a faint smile. “I’m an Alchemist too. From now on, treat me as your equal. There’s no need for you both to be overly courteous.”
“Sure.”
The three of them sat down on the floor cross-legged and began to discuss the pill recipes on the pill scroll.
The rest of the Alchemists then started to study it too.
This Iron Alchemy Pill Scroll had a total of eighty-eight incomplete pill recipes. Amongst those, seventeen had already been recovered, so there were seventy-one remaining.
Fairfrost Sage had studied it for a thousand years and only managed to fill in seventeen pill recipes. This showed how tough it would be to fully recover all of the pill recipes there.
Some of the alchemists locked their eyebrows as they stared at it.
Chu Kuangren was amongst the crowd.
He, too, was an Alchemy Master, so he had a certain interest in the tattered pill recipes on the pill scroll. Thus, he began studying it like the rest of the crowd.
“I think it’s only correct if we add the Cleansing Flower here.”
“Right, I thought so too.”
“No, the Cleansing Flower’s medicinal effect is too strong. It’s not suitable here…”
Excluding Chu Kuangren, Fairfrost Sage, Gujiang, and Master Lee were three of the most skilled amongst this crowd of alchemists, but of course, the discussions which ensued between them would also be the most intense.
There were several times when, if it was not for Fairfrost Sage’s presence, Master Lee and Gujiang would have quarreled.
Nonetheless, in such intense debate, Fairfrost Sage had obtained some inspiration too, especially from some of the opinions tabled out by Gujiang. His opinions were very unique, and they often made her feel eye-opening.
“Master Gujiang is indeed a highly esteemed Alchemy Master of the Firmament Star. Your alchemic mastery is superior to mine by miles. I’m impressed.”
Fairfrost Sage looked at Gujiang and complimented him.
Meanwhile, at the side, Master Lee looked very irritated.
Fairfrost Sage had praised Gujiang but not him, so did that not mean that he was inferior to his rival?
Truth be told, Master Lee had noticed something out of the usual as well. Gujiang’s alchemic prowess had now improved by miles as compared to the past, and he had unknowingly surpassed him.
What was really going on here?
“Hah, I’ve been given some pointers by someone great recently, hence I’m able to provide some insight here today. Otherwise, I’m pretty sure I’d make a fool of myself in front of you, dear Sage.”
Gujiang smiled as he said.
Those words surprised the other two of them.
It was a known fact that Gujiang’s alchemic skills were already one of the top one or two amongst the entire Firmament Star. Who else was so great that he could provide him some pointers?
“This great person who has been able to give you pointers, I’m sure his mastery in alchemy must be exceptional. If you could perhaps invite this person here to study this pill scroll together, I’m sure our work here would be sped up more efficiently. I wonder who this person is?”
Fairfrost Sage directly asked.
“Hah, this person is the Sect Leader of our Black Heaven Sect, Chu Kuangren!” Gujiang laughed as he delivered the shocking revelation.
When he finished his sentence, Fairfrost Sage’s expression froze. Master Lee, on the other hand, had a face written full of disbelief. “Chu Kuangren? Do you mean that little kiddo? You’re telling me that he can give you pointers with regards to alchemy, what joke is this?”
“Master Lee, mind your language, please. Our Sect Leader is, after all, the mighty head of an orthodoxy. What you just said was utter disrespect to someone of his esteem.”
Gujiang replied coldly.
“You…” Master Lee’s expression sank the moment he heard that, but he was unable to fire back any appropriate response.
That was because Chu Kuangren’s name had taken the world by storm now. Not only was he the head of an orthodoxy, but he was also an unparalleled elite who was capable of slaying Sages. It was true that he should not have belittled him like how he did earlier even if he was an Alchemy Master.
Even Fairfrost Sage could not help but turn a little serious upon the mention of the two words, Chu Kuangren. “Chu Kuangren is indeed a genius in terms of cultivation, but does he have such mastery as well in alchemy?”
“It’s all true. I only chose to join the Black Heaven Sect because of him.” Gujiang nodded as he said.
/strong>
“I don’t buy that.” Master Lee let out a sneer.
“Up to you.”
Gujiang could not be bothered to deal with his nuisance.
“Alright, let’s continue studying this pill recipe.” Fairfrost Sage steered the topic back to the Iron Alchemy Pill Scroll when she noted how tense the atmosphere had become.
The three of them continued their close study, but this time, the frequency of Fairfrost Sage’s discussion with Gujiang was way higher than with Master Lee.
At first, to protect his pride, she would occasionally pitch in a few words with Master Lee. However, Fairfrost Sage gradually indulged in the mysterious, ethereal realm of the alchemy world with Gujiang, ignoring Master Lee on one side.
After all, Gujiang had gained insight from Chu Kuangren’s pointers for a while now, so his apprehension in alchemy had already tossed Master Lee very far behind.
Master Lee was extremely discontented when he saw this unfold, and his hatred towards Gujiang and Chu Kuangren mounted. Nevertheless, because of the Sage’s presence, he dared not express it out loud.
In the crowd.
Chu Kuangren withdrew his focus on the pill scroll.
To fully patch up the eighty-eight pill recipes on this pill scroll was not an arduous task for him at all. Nevertheless, it would require time.
He needed at least ten to fifteen days.
If he were to say this out loud right now, he reckoned that he would probably shock the Alchemists at the scene to half death.
One should know that Fairfrost Sage herself only managed to patch up a dozen pill recipes throughout her thousand-year-study, yet Chu Kuangren only needed about half a month to fully recover all the pill recipes on this pill scroll.
This was absolutely ridiculous.
However, this was what an Alchemist Grandmaster was capable of. Fairfrost Sage may be a Sage, but her level in alchemy was, at most, just half of an Alchemy Master. Hence, there was no way she could be put on par with Chu Kuangren.
“Well, I don’t have the time to stay here up to ten or fifteen days anyway. My priority is to get the Seven Colored Nebula Flower as soon as I can,” Chu Kuangren mumbled to himself. Instead of filling in the incomplete pill recipes himself, he had a better and faster idea.
He took out a Rubik’s Cube which was the Vitality Pill Tome.
“Tiny Tian, take a look at the pill recipes on this pill scroll, then help me patch them all up.” Chu Kuangren summoned the item sprite, Tiny Tian.
“Leave that all to me, Master.”
Tiny Tian patted on her chest confidently.
Truth was, such a task was indeed just a trivial matter to Tiny Tian who had perfected the collection of pill recipes throughout the ages.
He squeezed his way back into the Rubik’s Cube, and the cube made a few spins. Very soon, pages of completed pill recipes flowed into Chu Kuangren’s mind.
It was the completed version of those tattered pill recipes on the pill scroll.
In just a short time, those dozens or more incomplete pill recipes that had troubled countless Alchemists had been patched up fully!
It was definitely unreasonable to have such a hack.
Chu Kuangren then waddled his way through the crowd until he was in front of Fairfrost Sage and the other two, and said, “Dear Sage, I can recover all pill recipes on the pill scroll.”
At those words, all the Alchemists stopped their study and glanced towards Chu Kuangren, their eyes filled with doubt.
“Who the hell is this?”
“He claims that he can patch up the pill recipes, and even all of them at that? Has this guy woken up yet? Such nonsensical gibberish.”
“What joke is that? A Sage can only recover a dozen of it after studying it for a thousand years. To say that he can recover all of it, there’s no way I’m going to buy that.”
“Exactly. He’s here to stir up trouble probably.”
“Is he using this way to gain the Sage’s attention? Hah, what an attention seeker.”
Fairfrost Sage, who was in the midst of a discussion with Gujiang, turned her glance to Chu Kuangren. When she noticed that there was a faint layer of a spiritual veil on his face, she did not care.
However, she could tell through her senses that this person here was not anybody. She could vaguely sense a kind of danger that she had not felt in a long time.
Gujiang also felt that this person was kind of familiar but he could not see this person’s face clearly, so he could not tell who it was.
Nevertheless, he jeered at Chu Kuangren’s claim that he could patch up all of the pill recipes on the pill scroll. “Little fella, the pill recipes on this pill scroll are all incredibly profound. I suggest you take this back and study it for a thousand years before you come back here and say that.”
Chu Kuangren raised an eyebrow.
‘Really, Gujiang? Can’t believe you dare to say such a thing to your very own Sect Leader.’
‘You better watch out and see if I cut your salary when we get back.’