Martial Peak

After returning to Nine Heavens Holy Land, Yang Kai immediately summoned Xu Hui and let him send out people to inquire about all kind of recent news.

Yang Kai didn’t tell him what kind of news he wanted the Holy Land’s disciples to seek out, only ordering him to deploy them in all directions with instructions to pay attention to any big events that occurred and then report back a month later.

Xu Hui didn’t ask anything and swiftly executed the command.

From the solemn look on Yang Kai’s face, Xu Hui detected that this was a significant matter and that the Holy Master had surly discovered something, otherwise he would not have given such an order.

A few days later.

Early in the morning, Yang Kai came to his room and walked over to the bed with light steps.

On the bed, Xia Ning Chang was still sitting in meditation, her tender body motionless, obviously still immersing herself in the True Alchemic Way.

Yang Kai waited quietly for a while, but seeing her not respond at all, he quietly sent his consciousness into her Knowledge Sea.

Seemingly noticing Yang Kai’s arrival, Little Senior Sister’s Soul Avatar slowly opened her eyes and wore a beautiful crescent-shaped smile, forming a mesmerising picture.

“How was your harvest?” Yang Kai asked.

“I’ve basically absorbed everything, but I’ll need to practice a little to become familiar with it,” Xia Ning Chang nodded lightly.

Yang Kai nodded back. He had delivered the complete contents of the True Alchemic Way to Little Senior Sister’s Soul Avatar in the form of a Spiritual Energy package which would allow her to directly absorb it, coupled with her own understanding of Alchemy and her exceptional aptitude in the Alchemic Way, completely comprehending the True Alchemic Way within a few days wouldn’t be difficult.

“Come with me, we’ll start performing Alchemy now. I’ll also introduce you to several Grandmasters while we’re at it,” Yang Kai grinned and took the initiative to withdraw his Soul Avatar.

The next moment, both of them opened their eyes.

Yang Kai and Xia Ning Chang, hand in hand, entered the pill room that had been set up in the Holy Master Court.

The five Grandmasters had long been waiting here, each of them with their own pill furnace set out in front of them. Each of these Alchemy furnaces was small yet exquisite, flowing fluorescent lines circling them, obviously not ordinary items, each of them Saint Grade quality. A pill furnace was the most important artifact of any Alchemy Grandmaster.

After ten days of rest, these five were now full of energy and anticipation.

Seeing Yang Kai show up, the five Grandmasters all smiled and nodded.

Chang Bao leaned against the wall and joked, “After not performing Alchemy these past ten days, this old master actually felt his hands becoming itchy, kid, let’s get started.”

Yang Kai smiled and replied, “I was thinking so too.”

“But this is a place for Alchemy, what do you want to do by bringing along your beloved woman? Could it be you can’t bear to separate from her?” He Feng chuckled and slowly shook his head, “Young man, your vitality is quite impressive.”

“You two mustn’t do anything too stimulating in the presence of us old guys, we’re not young anymore, too much excitement won’t be good for our hearts,” Hong Fang also laughed.

Xia Ning Chang immediately became flustered, turning a helpless, pleading look towards Yang Kai, as if doing so would allow her to have some self-confidence.

“Come here little girl, come and sit by this old lady, don’t pay any attention to these bad old man!” Kong Ruo Yu kindly beckoned to Xia Ning Chang.

Xia Ning Chang looked to Yang Kai once more and upon seeing him nod, she lightly stepped over to Kong Ruo Yu and sat down cross-legged.

“Such an innocent young lady, with pure, untainted eyes, as if she is untainted by this world, Yang Kai, you cannot mistreat her in the future,” Kong Ruo Yu commented seriously.

“Senior can rest assured, this Junior has only love in his heart for Senior Sister, I will never treat her poorly.”

The five Grandmasters all stared, seemingly not having anticipated that Yang Kai would speak such frank words in front of all of them; however, since he had, it was clear these were his true feelings, or it would have been impossible for him to say as much.

Realizing the depths of Yang Kai’s feelings for this veiled young lady, they all couldn’t help nodding in approval.

Xia Ning Chang’s eyes also became more spirited as a look of happiness filled her face.

“Good, enough idle chit-chat, let’s get started,” Du Wan smiled, finally speaking up to move the situation along.

Yang Kai nodded and called out, “Great Elder!”

Xu Hui opened the door in the next instant, wearing a serious look upon his face, “Subordinate has prepared everything.”

Saying so, Xu Hui pulled out several batches of herbs and said, “These are the twenty sets of materials for today’s pills. Many thanks in advance for Holy Master and several Grandmasters’ hard work; when evening arrives, I will return to collect the finished pills.”

“Great Elder, go out and accept ten more sets of materials,” Yang Kai gave a command.

Xu Hui was stunned, “Accept ten more?”

The five Grandmasters also direct looks of astonishment towards Yang Kai with Chang Bao calling out in shock, “Kid, Alchemy is also a matter that requires a balance of work and rest, if one’s condition deteriorates, they will likely produce an inferior quality pill or possibly even fail altogether. You can refine ten pills a day, we have already seen this, but we old fogies can only refine ten as well, how do you intend to handle another ten on top of that?”

“En, if you can’t refine good pills, it would be better to not refine them at all,” Du Wan also earnestly persuaded. Excellent Alchemists also had strict requirements for the pills they refined, if the quality of their work was poor, it would destroy their hard-earned reputation.

Therefore, excellent Alchemists generally would not allow inferior quality pills to circulate outside. If they refined such a low-quality pill, they would almost always end up destroying it themselves rather than selling it out.

Yang Kai glanced around at them and smiled, “What several Grandmasters say is reasonable, but you need not worry, these additional ten pills won’t require me to refine them, nor will several Grandmasters need to act.”

“Then who will refine them?” He Feng widened his eyes and suddenly looked towards Xu Hui, his expression filled with suspicion.

Great Elder hurriedly waved his hand and smiled wryly, “Grandmaster does not need to consider me, I only know how to take pills, I am a complete novice in terms of studying the Alchemic Way.”

He Feng slightly nodded, “True, you don’t look like someone who knows anything about Alchemy.”

Xu Hui’s face went black, secretly thinking that these Alchemy Grandmasters were really a bit too blunt.

“Yang Kai…” Kong Ruo Yu turned a thoughtful look towards Xia Ning Chang, “Are you planning to tell us that these ten extra pills will be refined by your Senior Sister, right?”

As soon as this statement came out, everyone turned their eyes towards Xia Ning Chang.

Yang Kai however just smiled and nodded, “That’s exactly what I mean.”

“She can also refine Saint Pills?” Chang Bao’s eyes nearly popped out of their sockets, hoarsely calling out, “Impossible, her age isn’t much higher than yours. Even if she began studying Alchemy in her mother’s womb, it would still be impossible for her to have the ability to refine Saint Pills.”

Yang Kai’s mouth twitched as he smiled bitterly, “I didn’t start studying Alchemy in my mother’s womb…”

The five Grandmasters turned somewhat indignant glares towards him and muttered, “You’re different, you can’t be judged using common sense.”

“Is she really able to refine Saint Pills?”

“This old master does not believe it.”

“Little brat, don’t try to play tricks on us, be careful that we old guys get upset with you.”

This was their field of expertise, the skill which defined their existence. Being surpassed already by the young Yang Kai could be written off by them as him being one of this world’s rare geniuses, but if they were to be overtaken by his Senior Sister as well, the several Grandmasters didn’t know what they would think.

At the very least, they would definitely feel depressed, possibly even defeated, and unable to ever recover their confidence again…

“I can…” Xia Ning Chang suddenly declared.

Du Wan brow suddenly rose as he remembered something, turning his eyes to Yang Kai as he asked, “Is she the one you mentioned before, the Senior Sister whose Alchemy talent surpassed your own?”

Back in Grand Boulder City, Yang Kai had once casually mentioned that he had a Senior Sister who was even better at Alchemy than he was. Du Wan hadn’t believed him at the time, but now he suddenly recalled it.

Yang Kai nodded.

Du Wan sucked in a deep breath and solemnly stated, “Words are unreliable while seeing is believing. Great Elder, please bring in ten more sets of materials.”

Xu Hui no longer said anymore and quickly left.

A short time later, he returned with ten more sets of materials.

The pill room’s doors were shut, leaving only the seven people scattered about, sitting cross-legged.

The five Grandmasters were not in a hurry to start refining pills and instead focused all their attention on Xia Ning Chang, all of them quite anxious to see if this little girl was really able to refine Saint Pills as she had said.

Being stared at by these five, Xia Ning Chang couldn’t help turning a timid look towards Yang Kai.

However, she discovered that Yang Kai had already begun to refine a pill and couldn’t help pouting slightly.

“Little girl, what pill furnace do you use, can you take it out and let this old lady have a look?” Kong Ruo Yu asked kindly, she saw that Xia Ning Chang was somewhat nervous and deliberately tried to ease her mood.

“I don’t have a pill furnace,” Xia Ning Chang replied softly.

“You don’t have a pill furnace?” The five grandmasters were shocked, Chang Bao muttering in the next moment, “How can you perform Alchemy without a pill furnace? This smelly brat is really taking us old masters for fools, teasing us like that. Does he think we are naïve five-year-old children? This brat.”

“You keep quiet!” Kong Ruo Yu shot a glare at him before turning back to Xia Ning Chang with a smile, “You don’t use a pill furnace for Alchemy?”

Xia Ning Chang gently nodded.

This time, even Kong Ruo Yu couldn’t help wearing a strange expression; although the words she was speaking were somewhat unbelievable, from the pure and limpid light she saw in her eyes, Kong Ruo Yu could tell that this little girl possessed an innocent heart and it was highly unlikely she was lying.

Patiently, she continued to ask, “How do you usually perform Alchemy? Could you demonstrate for us? We old fogies don’t have any other interests other than Alchemy, so we are all very interested in seeing how you refine a Saint Pill without a pill furnace.”

Xia Ning Chang still just nodded, slowly closing her beautiful eyes, seemingly calming her mood.

A short time later, when she opened her eyes again, the several Grandmasters discovered that the temperament of this little girl had undergone a drastic change.

The original Xia Ning Chang was shy and innocent, but now she exuded a sense of self-confidence, without the slightest hint of panic in her eyes, her every movement measured and stable.

Placing a set of Alchemy’s materials in front of herself, she began meticulously inspecting each spirit grass and herb.

“Saint grade materials…” Kong Ruo Yu whispered softly, “The first thing she took up were the ingredients for a Saint Pill. Can she really refine Saint Pills?”

The five Grandmasters stared fixedly at Xia Ning Chang.

However, Little Senior Sister no longer showed any nervousness or tension; at this moment, it was as if she had entered her own world, and the only thing she could see was the Saint Pill’s materials in front of her.

Suddenly, Xia Ning Chang’s body began emitting a gentle strength.

The moment they felt this energy, the five Grandmasters were all stunned.