Yao Lao Awakens

Fa Ma was the first to speak, his smile genial. "For Master Su to become a sixth-tier alchemist at such a young age, your talent is truly frightening. Please forgive this old man for being presumptuous, but might Master Su be from the Central Plains?"

Su Zhao smiled faintly and took a sip from his teacup. "Hehe, it would not be convenient for me to reveal my origins."

Realizing he had been too forward, Fa Ma shook his head slightly and said apologetically, "This old man was presumptuous."

Ever since entering, Jia Xing Tian had been secretly observing Su You.

The black-robed man had never taken a seat, standing half a step behind Su Zhao like a silent shadow. His aura was concealed without the slightest leak, yet given Jia Xing Tian's cultivation, he could vaguely sense the vast Dou Qi contained within the man's body. He was absolutely no ordinary Dou Emperor—at the very least, he was at the peak of the Dou Emperor realm!

Such a top-tier expert remained at the youth's side like a guard, not even sitting down. His respect for the youth seemed carved into his very bones.

Countless thoughts raced through Jia Xing Tian's mind. Was he from a great family in the Central Plains?

Or the successor of some reclusive sect? No matter what, this youth's identity was far from simple. He was absolutely not someone their tiny Jia Ma Empire royal family could afford to provoke.

Rather than guard against him, it would be better to befriend him.

Su Zhao set down his teacup and slowly said, "Apart from bringing Elder Hai back to see his old friends, I came to the imperial capital to gather some alchemical ingredients. I will not be staying for long, so there is no need for you all to worry."

Jia Xing Tian hurriedly replied with an ingratiating smile, "What are you saying, Master Su? You may stay in the imperial capital for as long as you wish. May I ask what medicinal ingredients you require? If our royal family can be of any help, we will certainly not hesitate!"

Su Zhao smiled lightly. "Then I shall thank you. I have yet to decide how long I will remain here. During that time, if any of you require pills, you may come to me. I can refine any pill below the seventh tier. Of course, everyone knows the rules for alchemists: prepare the prescription and three sets of ingredients yourselves, while the payment will be negotiated separately."

Jia Xing Tian and the other two were startled once more.

He could refine any pill below the seventh tier!

Did that not mean his alchemy had already reached the standard of a quasi-seventh-tier alchemist? Fa Ma had immersed himself in alchemy for decades, yet even he could not help sighing inwardly at this moment.

"The younger generation is to be feared."

After exchanging a few more pleasantries, Jia Xing Tian and the other two saw that Su Zhao had traveled a long way and tactfully rose to take their leave. They agreed to visit again another day, then departed separately.

Once the reception room had fallen quiet, Su Zhao took out a sheet of parchment from his storage ring and wrote down a list of medicinal ingredients. He handed it to Hai Bo Dong. "Elder Hai, please have the Mittel Family help gather the ingredients listed here."

Hai Bo Dong took it and gave it a glance. More than a dozen ingredients were listed, including several rather rare varieties. He nodded. "Rest assured, Young Master. I'll make the arrangements immediately."

The ingredients on that list were needed to refine a fifth-tier pill called Soul Nourishing Liquid, which was specifically used to nourish the soul and accelerate the recovery of a soul body.

The reason Su Zhao wanted to refine the Soul Nourishing Liquid was naturally to make Yao Lao in that black ring wake up as soon as possible.

The materials for Soul Nourishing Liquid were not especially rare. With the Mittel Family's foundations after operating in Jia Ma Sacred City for many years, they gathered every ingredient on the list within just a few days.

Su Zhao did not delay. On the very day he received the ingredients, he entered the alchemy room the Mittel Family had specially prepared for him.

The alchemy room was deep within the family's rear courtyard. Its four walls were built from heat-resistant stone, and its interior was spacious, bright, and well ventilated. It was clearly designed specifically for alchemy.

Su Zhao looked around, nodded in satisfaction, and raised his hand to retrieve the Heavenly Abyss Cauldron, setting it firmly in the center of the room.

With his current Dou King cultivation, refining a fifth-tier pill was already effortless.

He closed his eyes and adjusted his breathing for a moment. Once his mind had completely settled, he opened the cauldron and lit the fire, adding the medicinal ingredients one after another.

The Origin Flame burned them one by one. In no more than a moment, a rich pill fragrance spread from the cauldron.

Unlike the scent of ordinary pills, this fragrance carried a peculiar crispness, as though it could seep into the depths of one's soul. More remarkably, the pill fragrance condensed into a pale green color visible to the naked eye, rising like smoke and coiling above the alchemy room for a long time without dispersing.

Colored pill fragrance was precisely the mark of a fifth-tier pill.

Su Zhao slapped the body of the cauldron, and the Heavenly Abyss Cauldron's lid sprang open. A small mass of emerald-green medicinal liquid slowly rose from within, enveloped in Origin Flame as it floated in the air, radiating a gentle, mellow glow.

He took out the black Bone Flame Ring. With a lift of his hand, the medicinal liquid transformed under his control into a thin stream of jade-green fluid that slowly flowed into the ring, where it was completely absorbed by Yao Chen's sleeping soul body.

In an instant, an immense soul force suddenly surged from the ring!

It was so vast and pure that it resembled a volcano that had lain dormant for years before suddenly erupting. In a single moment, it spread throughout all of Jia Ma Sacred City.

Several Dou Emperor experts in the city changed expression at the same time and turned their gazes toward the Mittel Family, their faces filled with shock and uncertainty. That soul fluctuation was far beyond what an ordinary alchemist could possess. Even a sixth-tier alchemist like Fa Ma was nowhere near its equal!

Standing in the alchemy room, Su Zhao felt the soul pressure crashing toward him and could not help feeling secretly shaken.

This was Yao Chen, once the number one alchemist of the Central Plains, a ninth-tier grandmaster of alchemy!

Even with only a soul body left, he still possessed such terrifying foundations. How horrifying must he have been at his peak?

From within the Bone Flame Ring, an illusory soul figure slowly drifted out and condensed in midair.

He was an old man with white hair and beard, his face lean and his body somewhat translucent and insubstantial. Yet he naturally carried an imposing, mountain-like bearing.

He slowly opened his eyes. There was a trace of confusion in his gaze from just awakening as he looked around and spoke in a hoarse voice. "Have I... awakened again? This place is..."

Su Zhao stepped forward and cupped his hands. "Senior Yao Lao, this is not the Central Plains. This is the Northwestern Continent, a place called the Jia Ma Empire."

Yao Chen's gaze fell upon Su Zhao. He looked him over, then swept his eyes across the surroundings, gradually recovering his senses. Staring at Su Zhao, he asked, "You awakened me? You are an alchemist?"

Su Zhao nodded. "Sixth tier."

Yao Chen's brows shot up. "I see. It seems this old man must thank you properly. No, wait!"

He suddenly realized something. His illusory eyes widened, and his voice rose several pitches.

"You became a sixth-tier alchemist at such a young age? And your realm—Dou King?! Which family raised you? The Pill Tower?"

In Yao Chen's eyes, a genius who could become a sixth-tier alchemist at this age while also possessing Dou King cultivation could never have been nurtured in a small place like the Northwestern Continent.

He was most likely from some great power in the Central Plains, with the Pill Tower being the most likely possibility.