Seeing Xu Chang'an freeze, Ding Songyan smiled and asked:
"Then what did you come here for?"
Xu Chang'an remembered one of his reasons for coming and hurriedly said:
"Yang Shiduo is leaving for the Flame Capital. He came to see me an hour ago and treated me to drinks."
"The Flame Capital is a good place. He ought to go there." Ding Songyan nodded gently with a sigh.
Xu Chang'an looked bewildered.
"What do you mean...?"
"Yang Shiduo came to say goodbye to me too." Ding Songyan could not be bothered to explain.
Understanding dawned on Xu Chang'an, and he rubbed his hands together with a sly grin.
"Second Brother Ding, I've cultivated the Blameless Profound Art to perfection in the mortal realm. The Lesser Limitless Method will probably take another year."
"Just say what's on your mind." Ding Songyan saw at once that the fellow had another purpose.
Xu Chang'an chuckled.
"I've gathered both materials for my first unusual aperture, the Ghost Mound. Yang Shiduo and I found the yin corpse grass at Potter's Field, and I bought the nine-thread soil.
"Second Brother Ding, don't you know Doctor Shao? Could you ask him to help me create the aperture?"
"Why seek far away when you have someone right here? I can help you create it, and your Aperture Creation Method won't leak out either." Ding Songyan sounded eager to try.
Xu Chang'an froze. Clearly troubled, he nevertheless forced a smile.
"But you don't have any experience, do you? Besides, you don't have any of the instruments here.
"Don't worry about the Aperture Creation Method. It's not as though I'll only have my apertures created at Doctor Shao's."
He had no desire to become Second Brother Ding's practice subject. Doctor Shao was the safer choice. This was his first step