Elder Kong's Alchemy Techniques

Kong She ignored Ning Ri's "modest" remarks. Grandmaster was still Grandmaster when he was supposed to be called that. In truth, although Zhou Hai had said Ning Ri had no authority to grant permission, if Ning Ri truly asked the other elders to give him some special privileges, the elders certainly would not refuse.

It all depended on Ning Ri's conscience and his grasp of the proper limits.

In fact, the rule that the Grandmaster had no special privileges had been laid down by the Grandmaster himself, but how could the elders truly dare to follow the sect rules to the letter?

After all, the elders had something to say too—

The matter of you having no special privileges...

Was decided by you using your special privileges.

Then if you said you had no special privileges, your sect rules should be invalid.

And since they were invalid, you had special privileges!

That was perfectly logical too.

However, Ning Ri was no longer concerned with being called Grandmaster. Kong She's words had left him utterly dumbfounded. "Huh? Break through to Golden Core?"

"B-But... I haven't even reached Foundation Establishment yet!"

He had not even resolved the issue of his Dao foundation, and now they were already preparing for Golden Core?

This stride was far too big!

For a moment, Ning Ri felt as though he had not even finished the college entrance exams before needing to prepare for postgraduate entrance exams.

Kong She said seriously, "I heard from Elder Zhou that, Grandmaster Ning, you have already found a direction for Foundation Establishment—you intend to begin with artifact forging, using the method of laying a foundation to achieve a Dao foundation."

"I have heard of your talent in artifact forging, Grandmaster Ning. Given that talent, accomplishing this should not be difficult."

"Therefore, I believe we can directly skip past the Foundation Establishment realm and begin studying and pondering the Golden Core realm."

"Come, Grandmaster Ning. Please take a seat first."

As he spoke, Ning Ri heard a dreadful creaking sound from the corner.

Startled, he turned around and discovered that a chair was crawling out of the corner on its four legs. At the same time, its red cushion flew out, several bloody words bulging from its surface—

"Welcome!"

Ning Ri: "?"

Kong She explained, "Grandmaster Ning, there is no need to panic. This is a creation of Elder Mo's disciple, called the Greeting Chair. It merely failed a little. Its method of welcoming guests is somewhat aggressive, and the coloring looks a little bloody, but it is of no consequence. It is all fake, so please sit without worry."

Ning Ri: "..."

This really was a rare way of welcoming guests.

And with a glance, Ning Ri immediately spotted quite a few flaws in the chair with his current artifact-forging attainments. How was this merely a slight failure? This was an utter failure!

But there was no need for him to show off his artifact-forging skills in this situation. He merely nodded. "All right, Elder Kong."

With that, he cautiously sat down...

The cushion sensed the pressure from Ning Ri's body and slowly descended along his body, returning to the chair.

Only after he sat down did Kong She say, "Grandmaster Ning, Elder Zhou merely asked me to help you comprehend the Heaven-Defying Path, but he did not tell me your level of alchemy. So I would like to ask: how much do you know about alchemy?"

Ning Ri answered, "Elder Kong, this disciple knows nothing about alchemy."

As he spoke, warmth could not help but rise in his heart—

He had been wondering why Kong She had suddenly sought him out. So it turned out Elder Zhou had been quietly pulling strings behind the scenes.

Elder Zhou had considered far too many things for him, inside and out. Whether it was the Spirit Absorption Technique at the beginning or the later Luoxia City mission, Elder Zhou had arranged them all.

And now, after he had casually mentioned his understanding of Foundation Establishment and Golden Core to Chen Xingfeng, Elder Zhou had immediately found Kong She to help him...

Elder Zhou really was a good person!

No wonder he was an elder who would put subtitles on his face to take care of his disciples' feelings!

After receiving Ning Ri's answer, Kong She nodded slightly. "Good."

Then he said in a deep voice, "I heard from Elder Zhou that your understanding of Golden Core is to forge a pill-shaped magical artifact from a gold mine. But in truth, I believe alchemy may better suit your Heaven-Defying Path."

"If you possess heaven-shaking talent in alchemy, you can directly refine a Golden Core within your dantian. That way, it will better fit the meaning of 'pill.'"

"If you use the path of artifact forging to approach your 'Golden Core,' I do not think that is appropriate. What if artifact forging can only handle breakthroughs in your lower realms? That would be troublesome. So it is best to choose a more complete path."

"I wonder what Grandmaster Ning thinks?"

"If you are willing to learn about alchemy, I will take out the techniques right now."

Hearing this, Ning Ri naturally said without the slightest hesitation, "Elder Kong, this disciple is willing to learn the art of alchemy. Sorry for the trouble, Elder Kong. Please guide me!"

His idea of forming a core through artifact forging had been complete nonsense. He was the only person in the world who had not taken those words seriously.

Now that he could learn alchemy, he was naturally delighted beyond measure.

Moreover, a faint expectation had arisen in his heart—

Artifact forging could produce a [Heavenly Craft · Incomplete], helping him fleece a huge wave of skill points.

Then what about alchemy?

Could alchemy also produce some bizarre skill and help him make a fortune?!

"Good!"

Kong She nodded, then stood up and began searching through a row of medicine cabinets behind him...

Seeing this, Ning Ri took the opportunity to inspect the alchemy room...

While Kong She searched, he seemed to think of something. He paused, turned around, and asked, "By the way, Grandmaster Ning, do you need Bandits and a Maiden?"

Kong She's posture as he turned around beside the cabinet made Ning Ri, who had been looking around the alchemy room, freeze. He nearly blurted out, Master, what exactly is your profession...?

But he swallowed the words in time and asked in confusion instead, "I... Elder Kong, why would this disciple need that?"

Kong She said, "I know that some people in the sect need specific settings in order to reproduce that astonishing learning ability."

"You previously burst forth with astonishing learning ability in that kind of environment."

"If you need it, I can have Bandits and a Maiden appear right now."

"Do not worry. It is still that same maiden from last time, the one who called you young hero."

Ning Ri: "..."

He understood it. Elder Kong's unspoken meaning was that he had already made the preparations...

Ning Ri could not help wiping away nonexistent cold sweat from his forehead. With a dry laugh, he said, "...Haha, thank you for your concern, Elder Kong, but there is no need. Having you here is enough."

Kong She nodded without joy or sorrow. "That works too."

After saying that, he turned back and continued searching through the jade slips.

After Kong She had searched for quite a while, Ning Ri was already beginning to regret why he had not simply started practicing his blade earlier.

What kind of jade slip was this? Why did it take so long to find?

But at that moment—

Kong She finally found what he wanted to give Ning Ri.

Rustle, rustle—

The jade slips had been steeped through with medicinal ingredients. Carrying a faintly bitter medicinal fragrance, they fell before Ning Ri.

The medicinal fragrance entered Ning Ri's nose, making him first feel a trace of bitterness as his brows furrowed. But they soon relaxed again. The fragrance seemed to have a mind-refreshing effect; after entering his nose, it made Ning Ri feel as though his brain worked much better...

Kong She placed a huge pile of jade slips before Ning Ri and said, "Take them."

Ning Ri hurriedly helped catch the jade slips, asking curiously, "Elder Kong, what are all these?"

Kong She said, "Some are alchemy techniques."

"Some are alchemy insights."

"Whenever each of my disciples broke through their alchemy realm to Foundation Establishment, they would leave behind their insights as Qi Refinement alchemists."

"By compiling their insights and realizations, I came to understand many common problems among Qi Refinement alchemists, and thus thought of many methods to resolve them."

Ning Ri understood. So they were collections of wrong answers.

Eh, did those disciples know that the things they submitted had been turned into collections of wrong answers by their master...?

Kong She continued, "After compiling their alchemy insights, I sealed away their jade slips."

"Once quite a few of the jade slips here spread outside, they would be enough to utterly ruin my reputation in the alchemy education world. Therefore, it took me quite some time to find them and break the seals upon them."

Ning Ri: "..."

Good fellow, so they were not collections of wrong answers, but piles of terrible work.

Kong She said, "The reason I have taken them all out is because I want you to first learn my techniques. After you finish learning them, look through these jade slips as well. I believe that with your ability, you should be able to compile different insights from them."

"At the same time, you can see just how outrageously wrong they can be."