"Kid, what alchemist doesn't hold an esteemed status and possess extensive connections?"
"With your alchemy skills, you've already reached the peak of the fifth grade."
"Yet you don't have a single connection. You're absolutely the only one like that."
"Get your alchemist certification and make a name for yourself. It'll help you expand your network too."
"On the path of cultivation, you can't walk alone."
At this point, Old Yao's tone shifted, carrying a hint of teasing.
"You brat are so obsessed with women. Once you become a Rank 5 Alchemist—"
"Wouldn't you be able to find bedwarming maids whenever you wanted?"
Hearing Old Yao's words, Xiao Yan's face darkened.
"Get lost, get lost! You shameless old man!"
"Teacher, when you were young, you probably weren't much better, were you?"
Old Yao smiled faintly and gently stroked his beard.
Everything was understood without words.
The next day:
The crystal lamps in the Alchemist Guild's hall illuminated the bluestone floor as brightly as snow.
Xiao Yan entered with Xiao Yi Xian and headed into the central hall.
Several dozen alchemist apprentices who had registered for the test had already arrived.
Looking around, even the youngest among them were over twenty.
On the stage, Flank and Otto swept their gazes over the crowd before stopping on Xiao Yan.
Their brows furrowed slightly.
A boy of fifteen or sixteen stood out far too much among this crowd.
At such a young age, he had come to take the first-rank alchemist examination?
Could their tiny Black Rock City really possess such a stunning alchemy genius?
Or was he, like those before him, another arrogant brat who had come in to try his luck?
Xiao Yan stood in the hall when he suddenly heard a soft snicker behind him.
"Sister Xue, look. That guy's taking the first-rank alchemist test."
Lin Fei played with the alchemist apprentice badge on her chest, her jade earrings trembling as she laughed softly.
"He looks younger than us. Can he even recognize all the first-tier medicinal ingredients?"
Xue Mei's icy blue eyes swept over the corner of Xiao Yan's robe, stained with medicinal residue. Her voice was as cold as snowmelt from the mountains.
"The Guild's standards have indeed been getting lower and lower in recent years."
Hearing their quiet laughter, Xiao Yan could not even be bothered to turn around and glance at them.
After all, what adult would get angry with children?
Especially two ants.
Meanwhile, Otto and Flank had already come down from the platform as a matter of routine.
Seeing this, the two immediately cupped their hands in salute.
"Our disciples have offended you, young friend. They are still young and ignorant."
"They do not understand that there are always greater people beyond people, and greater heavens beyond heaven."
"They have insulted you, young friend. We hope you can forgive them."
The two had spent many years in the Guild and cultivated for just as long.
Their bearing naturally could not be compared to that of two teenage girls consumed by jealousy.
The person before them was unfamiliar. If he was merely an arrogant brat, it would not matter.
But if he truly was a genius, offending him like this would be—
A terrible loss for no gain.
Most importantly, neither of them could see through Xiao Yan's cultivation!
Naturally, they had to be cautious.
Seeing their masters treat a brat with such respect—
The two girls were immediately displeased, though they could not vent their anger in front of their masters.
He was just a boy trying to show off. Was there really any need for this?
"Young friend, you possess an exceptional bearing. May we ask where you studied?"
"Perhaps you have some old connection with the two of us?"
Xiao Yan shook his head softly.
"My Teacher does not wish for me to reveal his identity outside."
"As for this examination, I'm not here merely to test for first-rank alchemist certification."
"I'm here for Rank 5."
The moment Xiao Yan's words fell, the hall became deathly silent.
The teacup in Flank's hand cracked with a crack, and scalding tea dripped through his fingers.
The Rank 4 Alchemist slowly approached, his snowy white beard stirring without wind.
"Young man, do you know what the fifth grade represents?"
Deep yellow flames lit up in Otto's palm, and surging Dou Qi pressure spread out like a tide.
"There are no more than five Rank 5 Alchemists in the entire Jia Ma Empire. You—"
Before he could finish, spiderweb cracks suddenly appeared across the cyan stone tiles.
Xiao Yan's black robe billowed as Dou Ling pressure erupted into a tangible blast of air.
Lin Fei staggered backward and slammed into a medicine cabinet. Glass bottles shattered all over the floor with a clatter.
Xue Mei tightly gripped a pillar, her icy blue hair ribbon torn apart by the gale as her long hair spilled loose like a waterfall.
"Four-star Dou Ling?!"
Flank's beard and hair stood on end. The aura he had been about to unleash was forcibly pressed back into his body.
"What kind of joke is this?!"
"This is impossible!"
Otto's yellow flames went out with a puff, and he staggered back three steps.
"I paid the registration fee. If I want to take the test, I'll take it."
"Why are there so many questions?"
Xiao Yan's voice echoed through the hall, leaving everyone rooted in place.
The two Rank 4 Alchemists were doing relatively well.
The truly unlucky ones were the several dozen examinees who had remained silent from the beginning.
They had not said a word, yet they had nearly been crushed to the ground by Dou Ling pressure.
Otto and Flank came back to their senses and stared at the crimson-blue flame flickering at Xiao Yan's fingertips.
They had only just recovered when their eyes abruptly widened.
Sensing the submission and retreat of the flames within their bodies, they were utterly stunned.
"He-Heavenly Flames?!"
"Th-This is definitely the legendary Heavenly Flames!"
Only then did they remember yesterday's pill-completion fluctuation, which had carried only an aura and displayed no phenomenon.
Xiao Yan had merely concealed its impression and had not exposed the location.
He had not deliberately hidden the pill-completion fluctuation.
So that fifth-grade pill had actually been—
"Can I take the examination now?"
Xiao Yan's calm voice rang out, and only then did the two come back to themselves.
Their earlier assumptions had been completely wrong!
What Dou Ling expert would wield Heavenly Flames just to joke around about alchemy with them?!
They hurriedly cupped their hands and apologized to Xiao Yan in a fluster.
"O-Of course you can!"
"Please come this way. There's a dedicated examination chamber!"
Xiao Yan stepped forward to follow them, and the black iron door of the examination room slammed shut.
Twelve oil lamps lit up one after another along the walls.
Outside, Flank trembled as he held up a fifth-grade pill formula scroll.
The five ancient characters for "Ice Flame Meridian Opening Pill" on the parchment still carried an archaic majesty.
"This pill possesses both water and fire attributes."
"Its refinement difficulty ranks among the highest even among fifth-grade pills!"
"Why would that lord choose this pill formula?"
Cold sweat seeped from Otto's palm.
"Even Master Gu He back then..."
Inside the sealed chamber:
Xiao Yan lifted the lid of the medicine cauldron, and Fire Cloud Water Flame rose in intertwined streams.
Compared with Kirin Devouring Heaven Flame, Fire Cloud Water Flame was gentler in nature and better suited for alchemy.
Kirin Devouring Heaven Flame, on the other hand, leaned more toward absolute destruction!
Icy blue and crimson intertwined within the cauldron as medicinal ingredients were thrown in one after another.
The entire room's temperature shifted abruptly between scorching heat and biting cold.
Frost bloomed across the crystal window lattice, then melted into glassy liquid.
The two outside sensed the powerful aura of the flames.
Both revealed looks of yearning.
"As expected of the legendary Heavenly Flames!"
Flank slumped into a gilded chair, his fingers clenching deeply around the armrests.
"This aura is simply too powerful."
Otto, meanwhile, cast Flank a sidelong glance.
"Old man, you'd better stop dreaming. If someone really gave you a Heavenly Flame, would you dare absorb it?"
Xiao Yi Xian leaned against the doorframe, toxic mist forming little snakes around her fingertips.
She paid no attention whatsoever to the two young women beside her, who hesitated as they tried to step forward and apologize.
The fluctuations of the Heavenly Flames grew increasingly powerful.
Xiao Yan grabbed a coldwater ginseng from the air with his left hand while his right palm pressed down over a dragonfire fruit.
The two medicinal ingredients transformed into crimson-blue streams of light within the Heavenly Flames, and the pill liquid flowed upside down into the center of the cauldron.
The pill-testing mirror on the wall suddenly burst forth with rosy light!
This was an unprecedented phenomenon since the Guild's founding.
In the waiting hall outside the sealed chamber, earthshaking commotion suddenly erupted at the entrance.
Seventeen Third-Rank Alchemists squeezed together in front of the doorway.
"Damn it! You old bastards dare shove me?!"
"Can you even understand a Rank 5 Alchemist's pill-completion phenomenon?"
"Go back and cultivate properly!"
"I'm elbowing my way through!"
Otto and Flank watched this mad scene, their lips twitching slightly.
As the final pill pattern was branded onto the pill, dark clouds suddenly blanketed the skies above Black Rock City.
A fierce wind swept past, startling the flying mounts into scattering.
The instant Xiao Yan pushed open the black iron door, rosy light pierced out behind him and formed the phantom of a strange beast.
With a light flick of his hand, a round crimson-blue pill floated above his palm.
"Fifth-grade Ice Flame Meridian Opening Pill."
Twin dragons of ice and fire coiled and moved across the pill's surface.
"Would you like to inspect it?"
Before you continue