Apprenticeship

"If it's a ready-made Heavenly Flame, then Senior Xu will have to come with me to get it. It won't be easy for me to take it alone!"

After hearing Xiao Bai's condition, disbelief flashed through Yao Lao's eyes, and he grumbled, "Kid Xiao Bai, don't tell me you were planning from the start to just give me a map and make me go look for it myself?"

Hearing his shocked words, Xiao Bai rubbed his nose a little awkwardly.

Seeing him like this, Yao Lao instantly understood that his guess had been right, and he could not help feeling speechless.

Damn it, this little bastard looked all proper and serious on the surface, but sure enough, he was full of rotten schemes underneath. Good thing he had kept a card up his sleeve and added a condition in time.

"You're not going to confirm there's a Heavenly Flame with just one Heavenly Flame map, are you? What if there isn't one, or someone already took it first, or it's just a young Heavenly Flame? What are you going to use for the trade then?"

"This old man will only give you what you want after seeing the Heavenly Flame. Don't even think about trying to get something for nothing, kid!" Yao Lao said with a serious gaze.

"Don't worry, Senior. At first, I really did intend to give you the Heavenly Flame's location, but the Heavenly Flame truly exists, and it's in mature form. I can guarantee that. However, I need Senior to come with me, or else it won't be easy to take!"

"How exactly will it be hard to take? Don't tell me this Heavenly Flame has an owner. If it does, I'm not going!"

Having an owner meant there would be conflict, and anyone who could possess a Heavenly Flame either had a powerful background or strength. At the moment, he did not want to provoke either kind.

Seeing that Yao Lao seemed a little ready to give up, Xiao Bai decided to make the bait more fragrant and the situation more urgent. Otherwise, this fish called Yao Lao was going to slip away.

"It has no owner and hasn't been discovered yet. There won't be any conflict with others. It's just in the Underground Lava, so I'll need Senior's help. But we have to move quickly. If we wait too long, someone else might get there first!"

Yao Lao pondered for a moment, then agreed.

On one hand, the children before him could be said to have grown up under his watch. He understood their dispositions and approved of them quite well, especially Xiao Bai. Unfortunately, he had the Lightning attribute.

Second, Heavenly Flames were far too tempting. If he wanted to revive, he needed Heavenly Flames. If this succeeded, he would have two types, only one short of three. Then things would be much easier.

"This old man needs some time. I can't set out immediately. That won't be a problem, will it?" Yao Lao said to Xiao Bai while stroking his beard.

Xiao Bai nodded and said, "No problem. We'll set out in three months!"

He knew Yao Lao needed to settle Xiao Yan first, so he gave him three months.

According to the timeline in the original work, Medusa Queen would only obtain the Green Lotus Core Flame a year and a half later, so he was not in a hurry.

Xiao Yan was standing off to the side, feeling a little bored, when he suddenly noticed two pairs of eyes staring eerily at him, making him panic a little. He swallowed and said, "Bai Ge, what's wrong with you two? Why are you suddenly looking at me?"

Now he no longer dared to curse the old man inside the ring. Earlier, ignorance had made him fearless. Now that he knew the old man was a Rank 8 Alchemist, if he still opened his mouth and cursed him out, that would just be stupid.

Even though he still felt somewhat aggrieved, when under another's roof, one had no choice but to lower his head.

"Boy, are you willing to take this old man as your master?"

Yao Lao floated over to Xiao Yan. A kind smile appeared on his face as he lightly stroked his beard with one hand and held the other behind his back, presenting the air of an enlightened expert.

"Take... take... take you as my master?"

Xiao Yan looked left and right, making sure those words had been said to him, and for a moment, he was a little lost.

After the confusion, he grew conflicted. It was as if two little people were arguing inside him:

Xiao Yan a: Take him as my master? Like hell! This old geezer's background is unknown, and he sucked away my Dou Qi for three years. I haven't even settled the score with him yet!

Xiao Yan b: Do it! Hurry up and do it! Didn't you just hear Bai Ge say it? This old man is a Rank 8 Alchemist! He's definitely a powerhouse. Once you take him as your master, what the hell is the Misty Cloud Sect worth!

Xiao Yan a: Then he just gets away with sucking me dry for three years? And I'll have to call him teacher from now on? Anyway, I... I can't say it!

Xiao Yan b: Hmph! Being born humble is no disgrace. A true man knows when to bend and when to stand tall. What's wrong with calling him teacher? It's not like you're calling him foster father!

The expression on Xiao Yan's face flickered with struggle, while the two little people inside him had already started fighting.

Suddenly, he thought of Xiao Bai. Right now, he trusted Xiao Bai without reservation.

Xiao Yan hurriedly turned his head and looked at Xiao Bai as if seeking help.

"Bai Ge..."

Xiao Bai was speechless. In the original work, Yao Lao had used alchemists as bait to hook him into becoming his disciple. Now, because of him, this guy knew even more, so why had he become even more hesitant instead?

He wondered whether his appearance had made Xiao Yan much weaker, costing him some of his original decisiveness.

Rubbing the space between his brows, Xiao Bai felt a little mentally exhausted and said, "Do you want to become stronger? Today, you just shouted at someone, 'Don't bully the young and poor.' If you don't take him as your master now, are you going to shout at people in the future, 'Don't bully the middle-aged and poor'... 'Don't bully the old and poor'?"

"Pfft...!" Xiao Xun Er's lovely laugh rang out from the side.

Yao Lao also felt the urge to burst out laughing, but he forcefully held it in. Right now, he was supposed to be acting as a teacher. He could not laugh!

Still, this kid Xiao Bai really had an interesting way with words. Hahaha...

After Xiao Bai said this, Xiao Yan also figured it out. Becoming stronger was what truly mattered. If he had been strong enough, how could he have suffered the humiliation of having his engagement broken off in public today?

Putting aside the sentimentality in his heart, Xiao Yan knelt before Yao Lao and respectfully kowtowed three times, formally addressing him, "Teacher!"

Seeing Xiao Yan perform the formalities with such proper precision, Yao Lao nodded in satisfaction, and a trace of warmth entered his eyes.

"Good, good, good..."

Yao Lao was pleased with Xiao Yan. Because of his past experience of being betrayed by a disciple, he had been even more cautious in choosing someone this time.

And Xiao Yan was the candidate he had only settled on after observing him for nearly ten years. This time, he did not believe that he, Yao Chen, would take in another utterly heartless disciple.

"Teacher, can you help me break through to Dou Zhi Qi Level 7 within a year?"

Xiao Yan said in distress. This was the matter he cared about most right now. Next year, he would be sixteen, and on the Dou Qi Continent, that age counted as adulthood.

In the Xiao Clan, if one could not reach Dou Zhi Qi Level 7 by the age of sixteen, they would be assigned to various businesses. Even though his father was the Clan Head, there was no avoiding that.

So the most urgent matter for him now was not the matter of the Misty Cloud Sect, but the Coming-of-age ceremony one year later.

"For others, going from Level 3 to Level 7 in one year would be very difficult, but you are different. Your foundation was already solid three years ago;

on top of that, you have a tenacious character, and you have not missed a single day of cultivation over these three years. So for you, reaching Level 7 is not impossible—it just requires a little method!"

Xiao Yan's eyes shifted. Thinking of Yao Lao's identity, he asked curiously:

"Could we use external help? For example, medicinal pills?"

Yao Lao said calmly, "More or less! But with the toughness of your meridians right now, your body couldn't withstand the impact of ordinary medicinal pills, not even the lowest-grade Qi Gathering Powder!"

"The lowest-grade Qi Gathering Powder?" Xiao Yan rolled his eyes. As expected of a Rank 8 Alchemist—what a tone!

A medicinal pill that was being bid up to sky-high prices in the Jia Ma Empire was called the lowest-grade by him. If Bai Ge hadn't confirmed that he really was a Rank 8 Alchemist, Xiao Yan would have thought the old man had gone mad.

"Then, Teacher, your method is...?" Xiao Yan calmed himself and asked with a slight frown.