Aunt Xue

Xiao Yan had assumed that the Ye Clan would deliberate over his matter for several days, but he had underestimated Ye Zhong's standing within the clan. Before even a day had passed, Xiao Yan had barely returned to his residence and sat cross-legged to cultivate when a servant knocked on his door, interrupting him and leading him to an alchemy chamber.

With just one glance at the doors, even Xiao Yan could tell that they were worlds apart from the alchemy chambers at Canaan Academy.

"Is this... Smoke Crystal Stone? A top-grade material for forging fire-element weapons, and they actually used it to make doors? This is far too extravagant..."

After entering, Xiao Yan discovered that the spacious alchemy chamber contained only one person: Xin Lan from earlier.

The young girl was sitting on a cushion. The moment she saw Xiao Yan enter, she hurriedly lowered her head, not daring to look at him, her face flushing bright red. After all, the two of them had nearly ended up betrothed for no apparent reason just now. It was only natural for things to feel awkward when they met again.

Xiao Yan was not blushing or anything, but he too sensed the strange atmosphere. He could only steel himself and step forward to greet her. "You're Xin Lan, right? Hello."

Like a startled fawn, Xin Lan hurriedly replied, "Ah, yes. Hello, Senior Brother Xiao!"

Xiao Yan could only find a cushion neither too close nor too far away and sit down. The servant had said he had come to learn alchemy, but he had not expected this situation. Seeing Xin Lan like this, Xiao Yan found it hard to ask anything further, and the two waited in silence.

Fortunately, the awkward atmosphere did not last long. Before long, a slender woman pushed open the door and entered. She appeared to be no older than thirty, yet quite a few silver strands were mixed into her hair.

Xiao Yan knew that many female cultivators practiced techniques or secret arts that preserved their appearance. This woman was probably older than she looked.

The moment Xin Lan saw her, she gave a sweet smile. "Aunt Xue!"

Naturally, Xiao Yan did not dare act presumptuously. He hurriedly rose and bowed. "This junior is Xiao Yan. Greetings, Senior."

After the woman called Aunt Xue smiled in response to Xin Lan, she gave Xiao Yan an appraising look and said rather coldly:

"Xiao Yan, is it? I have already heard about you. I will be teaching you during this period, so listen carefully. I do not care whether you possess real skill or entered my Ye Clan through some connection. If you cannot satisfy me, I will report to the elders and send you back where you came from!"

Faced with such blunt words, Xiao Yan did not get angry. Neither servile nor overbearing, he said:

"Xiao Yan understands. Then I will have to thank you for your guidance. If I cannot satisfy you, there will be no need for you to say anything. Xiao Yan will leave on his own."

Aunt Xue was somewhat surprised by his response. She had not expected this boy, who was about the same age as Xin Lan, to possess such courage. A trace of goodwill rose in her heart, but she still said coldly:

"Fine. Then let us begin. Start the furnace and casually refine a pill for me. Let me see your foundation."

After acknowledging her, Xiao Yan took out his medicinal cauldron and chose a Second-Grade healing pill that he often refined.

Once the refinement was complete, Xiao Yan withdrew the flames. He felt that his performance this time had been fairly ordinary. He quickly took out the pill and handed it to Aunt Xue.

Yet Aunt Xue merely glanced at the pill before sharply criticizing him:

"Is this your alchemy? Pathetic!"

"You did not make full use of your soul power at all. Otherwise, why would a mere Second-Grade Pill lack even pill patterns?"

"When refining the Purple Qi Flower just now, the mistake you made was even more basic. You should have..."

Aunt Xue went on at length, pointing out more than twenty mistakes in Xiao Yan's alchemy. Her words left Xiao Yan somewhat embarrassed and irritated, but he did not bear any resentment, because Aunt Xue truly had real ability. Every issue she pointed out genuinely existed, leaving him unable to refute her.

Though Xiao Yan did not know Aunt Xue's true level, using Fire Elder as a comparison, he could still guess that she was at least an alchemy master above the sixth grade.

After Aunt Xue's "critical" instruction, Xiao Yan slowly reflected on the problems she had pointed out. Aunt Xue then turned to Xin Lan and continued:

"Very well. Xin Lan, it is your turn. Refine something once. Even a First-Grade Pill will be enough for him to learn a thing or two."

Xin Lan had never seen Aunt Xue be so severe before, and she was so frightened that she returned to her obedient little-girl manner.

Xin Lan quickly took out her small medicinal cauldron and began refining. Xiao Yan carefully observed from the side. Just as Aunt Xue had said, although Xin Lan's grade was lower than his, Xiao Yan found quite a few aspects of her refining techniques worth learning from.

Xin Lan soon succeeded as well, and Aunt Xue gently pointed out three or four shortcomings. Comparing the two, setting aside Aunt Xue's deliberate emotional bias against him, Xiao Yan's flaws in alchemy truly were not small!

After instructing Xin Lan, Aunt Xue looked at Xiao Yan again, her voice suddenly turning cold. "Refine another one. Let me see how much you have learned!"

Three hours later, the lesson ended. Aunt Xue signaled that Xiao Yan could leave. "You may go first. We will continue tomorrow."

Xiao Yan respectfully bowed, then pushed open the door and left.

Only then did Xin Lan rise and walk over to Aunt Xue. She carefully tugged on Aunt Xue's sleeve. "Aunt Xue, why were you so fierce?"

Aunt Xue smiled and tapped Xin Lan on the forehead, looking nothing like the harsh woman she had been toward Xiao Yan. "Hmph! Who knows where that little brat came from, but he opened his mouth and said he wanted to marry our Xin Lan. It would be strange if Aunt Xue gave him a pleasant expression!"

Xin Lan's face reddened again when she heard that. Realizing Aunt Xue was teasing her, she clung to Aunt Xue's arm and began acting spoiled.

"No, Aunt Xue! Senior Brother Xiao already has a marriage agreement. He only came to our Ye Clan to study!"

Aunt Xue smiled and poked Xin Lan's little cheek. "You silly girl. They say girls favor outsiders once they grow up, and it seems that is true. You only met him for the first time this morning, yet you are already calling him 'Senior Brother Xiao'?"

Embarrassed and annoyed, Xin Lan raised her little fists and pounded Aunt Xue. After fooling around for a while, she remembered something and asked worriedly, "Aunt Xue, are you really dissatisfied with Xiao... Xiao Yan? If you want to drive him away, the First Elder will not agree."

Aunt Xue patted Xin Lan's little head. "No. That Xiao Yan boy really has some skill. His foundation is a little lacking, but he could almost immediately correct the mistakes I pointed out. That kind of sensitivity toward alchemy is truly frightening..."

After sighing, Aunt Xue smiled again and pinched Xin Lan's cheeks. "Xin Lan, when you ask that, are you worried about Aunt Xue, or that brat?"

Xin Lan's cheeks, which had only just cooled down, became hot enough to fry an egg again. "Of course I'm worried about you, Aunt Xue! Aunt Xue is awful! I'm not talking to you anymore!"

With an angry huff, Xin Lan shook off Aunt Xue and pushed open the door to leave. Yet as soon as she stepped outside, she saw Xiao Yan standing not far away. When he saw her emerge, he waved at her.

Remembering their earlier conversation, Xin Lan could not help feeling bashful. But she could not simply ignore Xiao Yan either, so she could only force herself to walk over.

"Senior Brother Xiao, did you need something?"

"Oh, it's like this. Next, I have to study medicinal ingredient knowledge. The servants said you are going too, and that I should follow you from now on."

"Oh... oh, s-so that's it. Then, Senior Brother Xiao, follow me."

Xiao Yan was equally speechless. He could roughly guess that this had most likely been arranged by Ye Zhong as well. Someone of that status would not care about things like marriage agreements. As long as Xiao Yan nodded, Ye Zhong would absolutely recruit him into the Ye Clan as a live-in son-in-law immediately.

Realizing this, Xiao Yan understood that over the next half year, he would probably have plenty of contact with the girl walking ahead of him. He immediately rubbed his brow with a headache.

"Getting stronger really is difficult!"