Teng Shan: Another Day Missing Old Hai

Inside a VIP Room on the second floor of the Auction House.

The view here was expansive, offering an unobstructed look over the entire hall. Built from special materials, it prevented those outside from seeing within.

Mitel Teng Shan stood by the window, his gaze assessing the blue-robed young man below, taking in every one of his actions.

From the young man's interested observation of Ya Fei to his final purchase of that fragmentary map—one they had studied countless times—amid the surrounding crowd's looks of disdain as though he were an idiot.

Beyond that, Teng Shan noticed that the young man seemed particularly fond of magic cores. Eleven magic cores had appeared in this auction, and he had bought every single one, spending nearly a million gold coins.

These actions left Teng Shan utterly baffled.

Had he not witnessed the young man's astonishing battle at Yaoye's Coming-of-Age Ceremony yesterday, he might have classified him as a wastrel fond of collecting magic cores.

But now... Teng Shan could not help but wonder whether there was some deeper meaning behind it.

He had keenly noticed the young man's delight when he bought the fragmentary map, forcing him to consider whether the imperial family had discovered further information about it.

To be honest, Teng Shan regretted it for a moment and wanted to take back the fragmentary map, but in the end, he decided to let it go.

Another day missing Old Hai.

"Ya Fei applied to be assigned to Wutan City, right? When was she originally supposed to leave?"

"Reporting to Patriarch, three days from now. This is the last auction Ya Fei will preside over," the steward behind him replied.

"Delay her departure by two months. Tell those elders to keep a close eye on their juniors during this time. If they do anything that makes the family lose face, don't blame me for showing no mercy."

"Yes."

After casually making the arrangements, Teng Shan finally departed.

Clearly, Chen Guan's earlier appraisal of Ya Fei had given him a somewhat peculiar idea. Chen Guan was at the age when young men began to admire women. Perhaps if they met more often, different sparks might fly.

If things really developed in that direction, he would not mind giving them a push.

Of course, this "push" was not the same kind of "push" Yaoye had once mentioned.

Naturally, Chen Guan knew nothing of the old fox's thoughts.

Not long after Teng Shan left, Chen Guan went to collect his items and walked out of the Auction House without a trace of reluctance.

His objective had been achieved, so there was no need to waste time here.

Normal men liked looking at beautiful women, and he was no exception, but he was not so hotheaded that he would delay important matters for it.

Compared to admiring Ya Fei's elegance here, he currently wanted more to retrieve his Ice Spirit Cold Spring from the Alchemist Guild. That was what was directly tied to improving his strength.

Alchemist Guild.

Only after Chen Guan entered and met Fama did he realize that he had been deceived.

"Purifying the Ice Spirit Cold Spring is rather troublesome. I can only complete a small step each day, so it should take around ten days. Come by every afternoon during this period. You can also help this old man supervise Yue'er's studies."

Fama spoke against his true feelings, not even looking Chen Guan in the face. Even though he had accepted reality by now, seeing Chen Guan still made him frustrated at his failure to live up to expectations.

Chen Guan nodded without minding. It was only ten or so days. Besides cultivating each day, he was usually with the two sisters anyway, and had nowhere else to go.

After this schedule continued for several days, Chen Guan also saw through Fama's intentions. Fama was always taking the opportunity to explain basic alchemy knowledge to him, refining pills before him and displaying the charms of alchemy.

Clearly, deep down, he was still unwilling to give up and was trying to use this method to make Chen Guan interested.

At the very least, he had to guide him onto the path of an alchemist.

With such heaven-defying talent, if he could not even refine pills, Fama felt that he would be struck by lightning.

Chen Guan watched seriously and listened seriously, but whenever Fama asked him to try it himself, he refused.

He could feel Fama's sincere concern, but it was still the same reason: he was unable to bear the other man's intense expectations, and did not want Fama chasing him around to beat him every day in the future. In the blink of an eye, the Ten-Day Period had arrived.

That afternoon, Chen Guan was in the Alchemy Room on the first floor, watching Yaoyue show off the first-tier Rejuvenation Pill she had refined, when Fama suddenly walked in.

"Your Ice Spirit Cold Spring and Blood Lotus Pill."

After saying that, he took out the two items, handed them to the young man, and left. He was tired. Let it all be destroyed.

Chen Guan did not mind it and solemnly stored away the two items.

During this period, he had come to the Alchemist Guild every afternoon. Aside from picking up the Little Girl and listening in, he had often exchanged ideas and made inquiries with other alchemists, and browsed quite a few books from the guild's collection. At the time, Fama had thought he had changed his mind, answering every question and explaining everything in full.

Unfortunately, Chen Guan merely wanted to learn more about absorbing and refining Heavenly Flames.

There truly were quite a lot of records. After all, no one failed to desire such supreme treasures as Heavenly Flames, especially alchemists.

Where there was a dream, there were people striving for it, racking their brains over how they should tame and refine a Heavenly Flame should they ever encounter one.

Although most of their ideas amounted to risking one's life, with an infinitesimal chance of success, he had to admit that these people were truly clever. Every one of them was a talent.

According to these ancient texts, those with Fire Attribute Dou Qi had a higher success rate in refining Heavenly Flames than those with other attributes. That was easy enough to understand.

Beyond that, the grade of one's cultivation method, one's strength, even one's soul realm and physical strength, were all relevant factors.

Refining a Heavenly Flame was bound to be a prolonged battle. If one's cultivation method was too poor, the Dou Qi within one's body would not be enough to sustain the expenditure. Once consumption exceeded replenishment, failure was inevitable.

Strength was even easier to understand. If one was strong enough, one could even forcibly suppress a Heavenly Flame. Xiao Yan's ancestor, Xiao Xuan, was an example.

As for the soul, the higher one's realm, the easier it was to endure that sort of pain. The same applied to physical strength.

Those were all personal conditions. Setting one's own abilities aside, one could also use external items as assistance to improve the odds.

Like the Ice Spirit Cold Spring in Chen Guan's hands and the Blood Lotus Pill he had asked Fama to refine alongside it. They were two of the three essential items Yao Chen had prepared for Xiao Huohuo in the Original Work.

Strength, soul, cultivation method... Chen Guan tallied up his advantages. Compared to Xiao Yan when he refined the Green Lotus Core Flame, this setup was the difference between millet rifles and a Gatling gun. If he could still fail with such an overwhelming advantage, he would truly have no face left to show anyone.

Now, all he lacked was Spirit Absorption! Thinking of that item, Chen Guan felt rather helpless.

It would have been one thing if the imperial family did not have it, but even the Alchemist Guild lacked it. Fama had, however, told him that the Misty Cloud Sect possessed one in its collection.

By Chen Guan's estimation, the one in the Misty Cloud Sect had most likely already fallen into Gu He's hands. That made things rather troublesome.

Gu He had long coveted Yun Yun and Heavenly Flames.

With a faint sigh, Chen Guan had already made his decision. "It seems I still can't avoid this Misty Cloud Sect checkpoint."