The two of them arrived before a room, and Xuandu bowed as he said:
"Teacher, your disciple has brought Uncle Tongtian's disciple, Xian Junyu, to see you!"
"Come in!"
Laozi's voice came from inside, and the door opened as well.
Xuandu and Xian Junyu walked straight in.
"Your disciple Xian Junyu pays his respects to First Senior Uncle!"
Upon seeing First Senior Uncle, Xian Junyu respectfully bowed as well.
"Yu'er, there's no need to be so formal. What brings you here?"
Laozi asked calmly.
As for Xian Junyu's purpose, Laozi had not divined it. After all, he was not Yuanshi, who had to use those Saintly methods for everything. It was completely meaningless.
"It's like this, First Senior Uncle. Your disciple wishes to learn Artifact Refining from you..."
Not knowing whether First Senior Uncle was willing to teach him, Xian Junyu felt quite nervous at that moment.
If he was rejected, he truly did not know whom else to ask.
Hearing this, Laozi was slightly surprised. However, despite his surprise, he still asked expressionlessly:
"Learn alchemy from me? As far as I know, Yu'er, you're already studying Artifact Refining as well. Why have you taken up alchemy too? Don't you know that biting off more than you can chew is unwise?"
Laozi was not refusing Xian Junyu. He merely felt that learning too many unrelated things was not a good idea.
Everyone had a path suited to them. Knowing more things was not always better. If one knew too much, one might instead lose sight of one's own path.
"Your disciple knows that biting off more than he can chew is unwise. It's just that I'm truly interested in alchemy. After learning from Master, I can already refine Fourth-grade Golden Elixirs..."
Xian Junyu slowly explained.
He also revealed that he could already refine Golden Elixirs, hoping that Laozi would not reject him.
With his system, he had saved the time needed for cultivation. How could he possibly bite off more than he could chew? He not only wanted to chew it—he wanted to digest it completely.
"Fourth-grade Golden Elixir!"
Hearing that his senior brother could refine Fourth-grade Golden Elixirs, Xuandu cried out in surprise.
He had followed his master Laozi for several thousand years, yet he could only refine First-grade Golden Elixirs. Even so, he had felt that his alchemy talent was already quite good.
He had never expected that this senior brother, an outsider to alchemy, could actually refine Golden Elixirs. Didn't that mean his senior brother's alchemy talent was even better than his?
At this shout, Laozi glanced at Xuandu.
"Sorry, Teacher. Your disciple was out of line..."
Xuandu bowed to his teacher and immediately shut his mouth.
After glancing at Xuandu, Laozi looked at Xian Junyu with great surprise as well.
As far as he knew, Xian Junyu had never learned alchemy. At the very least, when he had gone to study Artifact Refining from Yuanshi, he had not known how to refine pills.
In other words, he had learned alchemy in just a few hundred years and could even refine Fourth-grade Golden Elixirs. Thinking about it this way, he truly possessed alchemy talent.
As for whether he was lying, Laozi had never even considered that possibility. Xian Junyu could not possibly lie to him, and no one dared to lie in front of him.
"You can refine Fourth-grade Golden Elixirs? In that case, you aren't merely greedily pursuing skills. However, words alone prove nothing. Yu'er, refine a batch of Fourth-grade Tianyuan Golden Elixirs for me to see!"
As Laozi spoke, he pointed toward the Alchemy Furnace and Spiritual Materials not far away.
In his heart, he had already agreed to teach Xian Junyu. Before doing so, however, he wanted to see how he refined pills.
"Very well. Then your disciple will have to make a fool of himself!"
With that, Xian Junyu stepped forward and began selecting Spiritual Materials to refine the pill.
Xuandu stared fixedly, wanting to know whether his senior brother could truly refine a Fourth-grade Golden Elixir.
At the request of the many readers, the VIP member ad-free feature is now available.
Click to view.
However, when he saw Senior Brother Xian Junyu's technique, he felt that it seemed somewhat familiar.
As Laozi watched Xian Junyu's techniques and sequence of steps, the corners of his mouth lifted slightly, though they soon returned to normal.
Every alchemist had their own techniques. The steps could be broadly similar, but techniques were different. They were a person's habits.
An alchemist's techniques were basically shaped by the first person who taught them. When they first entered the field of alchemy, their first teacher's techniques were practically carved into their bones.
Even after changing teachers and gradually developing techniques of their own, traces of the first teacher would always remain.
Yet Xian Junyu's techniques actually contained traces of his own. This surprised Laozi somewhat.
However, he did not ask immediately.
With the support of the Six Ding Divine Fire, after quietly waiting for a day, the Fourth-grade Tianyuan Golden Elixir was successfully refined.
"The pill is complete. First Senior Uncle, please take a look!"
After taking out the Fourth-grade Tianyuan Elixir, Xian Junyu carried it in both hands and brought it before First Senior Uncle Laozi.
Xuandu, who stood nearby, was completely stunned.
His senior brother could actually refine a Fourth-grade Golden Elixir!
At that moment, Xuandu even began to wonder whether his teacher had always been lukewarm toward him because his alchemy talent was inadequate.
Although he knew perfectly well that his teacher could not possibly be like that.
Looking at the mid-grade Fourth-grade Tianyuan Golden Elixir in Xian Junyu's hands, Laozi stroked his beard, nodded, and said:
"Mm, not bad. You can indeed refine a Fourth-grade Golden Elixir. Although there are still some minor issues, Yu'er truly does possess alchemy talent!"
"Since you have talent, follow me and learn alchemy!"
Seeing that Xian Junyu truly possessed talent—and rather outstanding talent at that—Laozi readily agreed to teach him.
Only then did Xian Junyu completely relax.
"Your disciple thanks First Senior Uncle!"
Xuandu, who stood to the side, also recovered from his shock.
Seeing that his teacher was willing to teach Senior Brother Xian Junyu, he did not feel any negative emotions merely because his senior brother's talent was higher.
Instead, he was exceptionally happy. Having someone to compete against would help him improve more effectively, and he also wanted to personally witness the rise of an alchemy genius.
"There's no need to be so formal. How much you can learn will depend on yourself. If you lack talent, no matter how I teach you, it will be useless!"
"By the way, Yu'er, I find your alchemy techniques somewhat familiar. Did you truly learn them from your master, Tongtian?"
Laozi finally asked the question.
Hearing this, Xuandu pricked up his ears as well.
He had originally thought that the sense of familiarity was merely his imagination. He had not expected his teacher to find it familiar too. It seemed that this was not an illusion of his.
In that case, he and his teacher really had seen these techniques somewhere.
Not knowing why First Senior Uncle was asking this, Xian Junyu explained with some confusion:
"I did learn alchemy from my Master. However, I only began learning from him when I started refining Eighth-grade Pills. Before that, I had always refined them while reading the Jade Slips..."
All kinds of situations constantly arose during alchemy, while the Jade Slips brought out of the Scripture Pavilion recorded solutions to all kinds of problems.
Thus, when he first began refining pills, he refined them while searching for explanations to the mistakes he encountered.
"You refined them while reading the Jade Slips? Did you bring them with you? If so, take them out and let me have a look..." Laozi said with slight hesitation.
After hearing Xian Junyu's words, Laozi already had a guess. Even so, he still wanted to see the Jade Slips personally and verify it.
"Oh, I did bring them!"
"First Senior Uncle, look. These are the ones..."
In an instant, Xian Junyu took out all the Jade Slips that had taught him the basics of alchemy.
Before you continue