After dinner, the family lingered together for a while before Xiao Meng dragged Xiao Yan into Xiao Yan's room.
"Give me back my Soul-Nourishing Wood." Xiao Meng kicked the door shut and held out his hand to Xiao Yan.
Xiao Yan had a headache. That piece of Soul-Nourishing Wood had already been claimed by Yao Lao. Getting it back would be rather difficult.
"Third Brother, could you give it some more time?" Xiao Yan asked with an awkward smile.
"Give it time, my ass. Hurry up and give it back," Xiao Meng snorted.
"But my master won't give it to me." Left with no choice, Xiao Yan sold Yao Chen out.
"Oh? He won't? He's got some nerve, huh?"
Xiao Meng gave a cold smile, then looked at Xiao Yan's finger. "Take off that ring and give it to me."
"Third Brother, what are you planning?" Xiao Yan's heart trembled, but he still took off the ring and handed it to Xiao Meng.
"Old man, are you coming out on your own, or are you coming out on your own?" Xiao Meng shouted.
Xiao Yan's mouth twitched.
"Smack!"
When Yao Lao ignored him, Xiao Meng slapped the ring onto the table, then jumped onto the tabletop and shouted, "Old man, if you don't come out now, believe it or not, I'll piss on you?"
"You two really are brothers." Yao Lao nearly coughed up blood. These two bastards kept threatening to piss on him. This was utterly intolerable.
Xiao Yan: "???"
"Give me back my Soul-Nourishing Wood." Xiao Meng was not surprised in the least when he saw the old man who seemed to have condensed from a cloud of mist.
Yao Lao immediately changed his expression. After clearing his throat twice, he smiled lightly. "Little one, lend me that thing for a few more days. I'll return it to you soon."
"No." Xiao Meng refused without hesitation. If not for this old bastard, how could Xiao Yan have possibly stolen his prize?
Just thinking about it made him furious.
"Little one, I am your little brother's master. As the saying goes, if you won't respect the monk, at least respect the Buddha, right?" Yao Chen said with a kindly smile.
"Respect my ass. I don't even respect Xiao Yan's face, so why would I respect some monk or Buddha? Hurry up and return my Soul-Nourishing Wood." Xiao Meng curled his lip.
Xiao Yan: "???"
Yao Lao looked utterly bewildered. What the hell did monks and Buddhas have to do with anything? Was that what he had meant?
"Little one, I see that your Soul Force is powerful and far beyond ordinary. You are a once-in-a-million alchemical prodigy. Would you be interested in learning alchemy from me?" Yao Lao forced out a gentle smile.
But in Xiao Meng's eyes, that smile made Yao Lao look like a wolf in sheep's clothing, trying to fool him like some innocent rabbit.
Xiao Yan rolled his eyes furiously at the side. His teacher truly had no shame. For the sake of that Soul-Nourishing Wood, he would say anything.
"Old man, it's true that I'm a once-in-a-million alchemical prodigy, but I'm not interested in learning alchemy from you," Xiao Meng said calmly.
Yao Lao: "%￥@￥..."
"Give you an inch and you take a mile. Do you have any shame at all? What alchemical prodigy?" Yao Lao finally understood why Xiao Yan was so shameless. Like brother, like brother.
"Old man, what's with that look?" Yao Lao's disdainful gaze stung Xiao Meng badly, reminding him of what had happened at the Mite'er Auction House today. It was understandable that a Second-Grade Alchemist had not believed him—after all, that man had poor judgment. But this old fellow had once been a Venerable-level expert. How could he lack even this much discernment?
Thus, Xiao Meng felt that Yao Chen was definitely looking down on him. After all, this old fellow had once been a ninth-grade alchemy grandmaster.
"This is a look of admiration. Can't you tell?" Yao Lao said with a smile.
Xiao Meng flew into a rage. This guy was treating him like an idiot. "Hurry up and return my Soul-Nourishing Wood, or I won't let this go today."
"Little one, don't be angry, don't be angry. We can talk this out properly."
Yao Lao's cheek twitched, but he kept a gentle smile on his face. "Lend me that Soul-Nourishing Wood for a while longer, and I'll teach you all my alchemy skills. You should know that, when it comes to alchemy, there are very few people on the entire continent who can compare to me. What do you say?"
Xiao Yan's face darkened. When his teacher became shameless, he truly had no bottom line. He had clearly told him that his third brother could not cultivate Dou Qi. Without Dou Qi, how could he refine pills?
"Hmph!"
Xiao Meng snorted. "Since you love bragging about your alchemy skills so much, I won't pretend anymore. Let me be honest with you."
"Actually, I'm already a Second-Grade Alchemist."
A Second-Grade Alchemist?
Third Brother was a Second-Grade Alchemist?
Xiao Yan and Yao Lao were both dumbfounded.
"Third Brother, take it easy. Could you stop boasting?" Xiao Yan quickly recovered. He truly could not stand watching anymore. Xiao Meng did not even have Dou Qi in his body. How could he possibly become an alchemist?
Xiao Meng was displeased. Who the hell was boasting? He was telling the truth.
So, he took out the pill he had refined and said, "This is the pill I refined."
Looking at the black, lumpy thing in Xiao Meng's hand, which had only a faint sheen to it, Yao Lao nearly burst out laughing. This counted as a pill?
"Little one, are you sure this is a pill?" Yao Lao was speechless. It did not even possess the most basic medicinal fragrance. It was practically a lump of coal.
Xiao Meng said calmly, "This is a second-grade pill called the Tiger Fiend Pill. Its effect is to increase the combat strength of a Dou Master-level expert eightfold for a short time."
"Keep boasting!"
"Go on, keep boasting!"
"Keep boasting with that straight face!"
"You don't even possess Dou Qi, yet you can refine pills?"
"If other alchemists heard that, they would definitely spit in your face."
"Besides, I've heard of thousands of pill formulas, but I've never heard of any Tiger Fiend Pill. It increases combat strength eightfold? Why not say that taking it makes one invincible under heaven?"
"You little brat, go fool ghosts with that!"
"What are those expressions supposed to mean? You don't believe me, do you?" Xiao Meng became enraged. Xiao Yan and Yao Lao were looking at him as though he were an idiot. He simply could not tolerate it.
"Old man, if you don't believe me, you can inspect it." In truth, Xiao Meng felt a little uncertain. Yao Lao had once been a ninth-grade alchemy grandmaster, so it was impossible for him not to recognize whether the thing in Xiao Meng's hand was a pill. Therefore, Yao Lao's expression likely meant that this thing could not be considered a pill at all.
But he had indeed refined it according to the Swagger Emperor's alchemy experience. Logically speaking, there should not have been any mistakes.
Yao Lao rolled his eyes. Although he was certain that the thing in Xiao Meng's hand could not possibly be a pill, Xiao Meng did not seem to be deliberately showing off. With a sweep of his sleeve, he drew the thing from Xiao Meng's hand and examined it carefully.
"Brat, are you deliberately making a fool of me?" After inspecting it, Yao Lao became even more certain that it was not a pill.
It was simply a pile of spiritual herbs mashed together. Their medicinal properties had neutralized one another, so this was nothing but a lump of—trash.
"That's impossible. I refined this according to the Swagger Emperor's method. How could it have gone wrong? Did I make some mistake during the refining process?" Xiao Meng frowned tightly. He jumped down from the table, opened the door blankly, and walked out.
The pill he had refined was identical to the one described in the Swagger Emperor's memories, so he had never checked whether it was actually a successful product.
"Third Brother, what's wrong? If it isn't a pill, then it isn't a pill. You don't need to be so disappointed. If you need pills, just tell me. I'll refine them for you." Xiao Yan thought Xiao Meng had suffered a blow, which was why he looked so dejected.
"Stop bothering me. I have something to do." Xiao Meng strode away, not even caring about the Soul-Nourishing Wood anymore. He wanted to rush back and investigate where he had gone wrong. How could the thing he refined not even count as a pill?
"Teacher, is this really not a pill?" Seeing Xiao Meng's reaction, Xiao Yan felt that he did not seem to be lying.
Yao Lao glared. "Can your teacher not tell whether something is a pill?"
As soon as he finished speaking, Yao Lao tossed the pill Xiao Meng had refined onto the table. The force was so great that a crack appeared in the pill.
Yet at that moment, Yao Lao's expression changed drastically, and shock filled his face.
Before you continue