Gu Ni's Shock!

"Uncle Gu Ni," Ya Fei called softly.

The old man's hands paused. He did not turn around, but there was clear annoyance in his voice at being interrupted.

"Miss, haven't I told you not to let anyone come in and disturb me while I'm refining medicine?

Fortunately, I hadn't started yet. Otherwise, the whole morning's work would have gone to waste."

"I know you work hard, Uncle Gu Ni."

Ya Fei walked in with a smile, her tone familiar. "But I brought little brother Lu Heng here today to broaden his horizons, and to borrow your precious place for a while."

Only then did Gu Ni turn around, his aged face carrying the pride of someone long accustomed to high status.

He glanced at Lu Heng behind Ya Fei, his brow furrowing slightly.

"This boy?"

Gu Ni looked Lu Heng up and down, then snorted softly.

"Miss, the alchemy room is an important place. How can you bring just anyone in here? The fire energy here is scorching. It would be bad if Lu Heng got hurt."

Gu Ni bore Lu Heng no ill will. He simply thought Ya Fei was being foolish.

Even a minor furnace explosion could be fatal here. What was the point of bringing in a child under ten?

Lu Heng stepped forward and bowed slightly, his manners impeccable. "This junior is Lu Heng. Greetings, Master Gu Ni."

"Mm."

Gu Ni responded coolly and turned to Ya Fei.

"Miss, what do you need this place for?"

The corners of Ya Fei's lips rose as she dropped a startling statement.

"Little brother Lu Heng wants to try refining medicine."

Gu Ni's hand shook violently, and the medicinal herbs nearly fell from his grasp. He looked up in astonishment, as though he had heard the funniest joke in the world.

"Refining medicine? Him?"

Gu Ni pointed at Lu Heng, his beard practically bristling.

"Miss, that joke isn't funny. Do you think anyone can become an alchemist just because they want to?

It depends on talent!

Dou Qi must possess both fire and wood attributes, and one must also have exceptional soul perception—conditions that occur once in ten thousand!

Not to mention the need for a famous master's guidance. Just learning to recognize medicinal herbs takes three to five years..."

Whenever Gu Ni touched on his area of expertise, he could not stop talking. His tone was full of an alchemist's superiority and disdain for laymen.

Ya Fei did not argue. She merely looked at Lu Heng with a faintly amused smile.

Lu Heng did not respond.

Words were useless. It was better to show him directly.

Lu Heng spread open his right hand, palm facing upward. The whirlpool within him trembled sharply, and red Dou Qi surged out through his meridians.

With a soft puff.

A ball of crimson Dou Qi burst into existence above the young boy's fair palm.

The sweltering heat in the air instantly rose another level.

Gu Ni's unfinished "You still have a long road ahead" stuck in his throat.

He stared fixedly at the ball of Dou Qi in Lu Heng's palm, craning his neck forward like an old goose being choked.

"This... this color..."

Gu Ni took two steps forward. He even forgot an alchemist's dignity, bringing his face close to Lu Heng's hand. His nostrils flared as he took a deep breath.

The scorching heat was mixed with the vitality of the wood attribute.

There was no mistake.

"Fire and wood attributes—it's fire and wood attributes!"

Gu Ni muttered to himself before abruptly raising his head. His gaze swept back and forth between Lu Heng's childish face and the Dou Qi in his hand.

"No! How can Dou Qi in the Dou Qi stage have a color?"

Gu Ni's voice suddenly rose several pitches. "Could it be that you're already a Dou Zhe?!"

Dou Qi at the Dou Qi stage was milky white. Only upon reaching the Dou Zhe stage and condensing a Dou Qi Whirlpool could one determine one's attributes and cultivate the corresponding techniques.

But how old was Lu Heng?

Gu Ni turned his stiff neck toward Ya Fei. Even the finger pointing at Lu Heng was trembling.

"Miss, this boy... Lu Heng... he doesn't even look ten yet, does he?"

Even among the direct heirs of those great families in the Imperial Capital, who had been piled up with medicinal pills, he had never heard of anyone reaching the Dou Zhe rank before the age of ten.

Ya Fei held a silk handkerchief and lightly covered her red lips, but the pride overflowing from her peach-blossom eyes could not be concealed.

As she looked at the flustered Uncle Gu Ni, she felt as though she were looking at herself yesterday when she had lost her composure.

The feeling of shocking other people was truly satisfying.

"Uncle Gu Ni, listen to yourself. Little brother Lu Heng won't turn ten until next month."

Ya Fei strolled unhurriedly to Lu Heng's side and reached out to straighten the boy's collar. Her tone carried a trace of casual boasting.

"He only broke through yesterday. He said his fire and wood attributes seemed well suited for alchemy, so he wanted to try it here. What do you think? Is that alright?"

Gu Ni felt that he had probably lived his several decades for nothing.

Just over nine years old.

A Dou Zhe.

Dual fire and wood attributes.

Put those three phrases together, and it was simply unreasonable.

"Seem well suited? With talent like this, how is that merely well suited..."

Gu Ni took a deep breath and tried to suppress the storm in his heart. The way he looked at Lu Heng changed completely.

From looking at a troublesome little brat to looking at a priceless treasure.

No wonder.

No wonder Miss had endured such immense pressure from the family three years ago, keeping this orphan by her side despite all the gossip.

Gu Ni had originally thought Ya Fei had simply softened her heart, or had some other motive. Now, it seemed she had clearly picked up a true dragon stranded in shallow waters!

Her eye for talent was terrifyingly sharp.

"Ahem."

Gu Ni cleared his throat, trying to recover some of the dignity of a second-tier alchemist, though his voice still wavered slightly.

"Talent in cultivation does not mean talent in alchemy. Alchemy requires precise control through soul power. Many powerful experts cannot even refine a single medicinal herb to purity..."

Though he said that, his feet were far more honest.

He turned and walked to one wall, pressing a mechanism that revealed a more secluded quiet room.

"Since we've come this far, let's give it a try. I also want to see whether a nine-year-old Dou Zhe is truly capable of everything."

His words sounded a little sour, but they also carried anticipation.

After all, if he could truly witness the birth of a monstrous alchemist, it would be something to talk about for an old man who had been stuck at the second tier for years.

The quiet room was not large. Sound-absorbing stones were embedded in all four walls, and a stone platform stood in the center.

Lu Heng did not hesitate. He took out the dark-red, twin-mouthed medicinal cauldron he had just bought from his Storage Ring and set it onto the stone platform with a thud.

Gu Ni stood to one side, his hands tucked into his sleeves. Although he did not speak any more discouraging words, his expression remained stern.

"Lu Heng, do you know how to refine medicine? I mean, do you know how to control the heat and distinguish the degree to which a medicinal liquid has been refined?"

"I've read a few books and know a little," Lu Heng answered modestly.

In truth, when he had opened the Dou Practitioner Chapter last night, the contents of the Pharmacopoeia of Ten Thousand Worlds: Volume I had already been imprinted in his mind.

The habits of medicinal herbs, methods for controlling flame temperature, and extraction techniques now felt like instincts he had been born with.

But he had not put them into practice yet!

Ya Fei said nothing. She merely retreated quietly into a corner, doing her best not to interfere with Lu Heng.

Yet her beautiful eyes remained fixed on the boy, while the silk handkerchief in her grasp had been squeezed full of creases.