So Wind-Thunder Pavilion Means Nothing to Them?

In Wind-Thunder Pavilion, Thunder Venerable had been waiting on the main seat of the great hall for quite some time. Feng Qing'er should be back by now, he thought. A trip to the Pill Tower should not take this long.

Before long, footsteps sounded outside the hall. Thunder Venerable looked up and saw Feng Qing'er walk in.

Seeing his disciple return, Thunder Venerable was about to ask how it had gone, but Feng Qing'er spoke first.

"Master, the alchemist who made that Eighth-Tier Nine-Colored Pill isn't from the Pill Tower."

Thunder Venerable froze, surprise spreading across his face.

"What? Not from the Pill Tower?"

At her master's reaction, Feng Qing'er nodded and continued without hesitation. "The Three Elders said so themselves. They said the pill wasn't made by a Pill Tower alchemist, and they're investigating the alchemist's identity too."

Thunder Venerable frowned and fell silent for a moment, turning the news over in his mind. If the alchemist was not from the Pill Tower, could they be from the Yao Clan?

After all, apart from the Pill Tower, only the Yao Clan on the Dou Qi Continent could train an alchemist capable of making an Eighth-Tier Nine-Colored Pill.

The thought startled him. If the Yao Clan was behind this, the matter was far from simple.

The Yao Clan had always been mysterious and kept a low profile, rarely appearing in public. For a young alchemist capable of making an Eighth-Tier Nine-Colored Pill to emerge now, there was likely more to this than met the eye.

As Thunder Venerable pondered this, he noticed something wrong with Feng Qing'er's face. Her left cheek was visibly red and swollen, as though someone had struck her.

Had his disciple been mistreated on her trip to the Pill Tower? His frown deepened. "What happened to your face? Who hit you?"

At his question, Feng Qing'er felt emboldened. She put on an aggrieved expression and accused Jiang Yuan, embellishing the story as she went.

"Master, a Pill Tower disciple hit me! I was speaking with the Three Elders in the Pill Tower square, and that man slapped me out of nowhere."

"Worse still, the Three Elders covered for him! They didn't even reprimand him. They just let him leave!"

Feng Qing'er recounted what had happened. She had embellished it, but she felt she had not strayed too far from the broad outline.

Thunder Venerable's face darkened, his brows drawn tight.

"Someone from the Pill Tower struck a member of Wind-Thunder Pavilion, and the Three Elders covered for him? They clearly have no regard for us."

Her account had angered Thunder Venerable. Wind-Thunder Pavilion could not match the Pill Tower's long-standing influence, but it was still a force to be reckoned with on the Dou Qi Continent.

For the Pill Tower to openly shield an ordinary disciple who had struck his own was an unmistakable slight to Wind-Thunder Pavilion.

Seeing her master's expression grow darker, Feng Qing'er knew her words had worked. She dropped to her knees and looked up at Thunder Venerable with a pleading expression.

"Master, I suffered such humiliation at the Pill Tower. Please stand up for me! The man who hit me went too far. He has no regard for Wind-Thunder Pavilion at all. Please help me get justice!"

Thunder Venerable looked at Feng Qing'er kneeling before him. After a moment's silence, he spoke.

"Don't worry. I'll teach that bastard a lesson. Not just anyone can bully a disciple of Wind-Thunder Pavilion."

Feng Qing'er was overjoyed to hear her master agree.

With her master personally dealing with that man, the bastard was as good as dead.

As soon as he made that promise, Feng Qing'er thought, I'll make sure he gets what's coming to him. Jiang Yuan will learn what happens when he crosses me.

No one had ever slapped her before. Jiang Yuan was the first, and she would make him pay no matter what.

"Thank you, Master!"

Feng Qing'er rose with a smug smile, as though she could already see herself grinding Jiang Yuan beneath her heel.

Thunder Venerable, however, was thinking about something else. The Space Trade Fair was auctioning that pill, and what mattered to him was the identity of the alchemist who had made it.

"Qing'er, are you sure the Three Elders weren't lying to you? Was the pill truly not made by a Pill Tower alchemist?"

Feng Qing'er nodded. "I heard them say it myself. It should be true."

Her firm answer only deepened Thunder Venerable's doubts. If the alchemist was not from the Pill Tower, then the pill must have been made by an alchemist from the Yao Clan.

Every alchemist on the Dou Qi Continent capable of making an Eighth-Tier Nine-Colored Pill was someone the major powers sought to win over. If Thunder Venerable could bring this alchemist into Wind-Thunder Pavilion, its strength would grow enormously. He made up his mind: he could not let the matter end here.

"All right. I'll remember what happened. Go and rest. As for the brat who hit you, I'll go to the Pill Tower myself and demand an explanation."

"But first, keep sending people to investigate that alchemist. We must find them and make sure we build a good relationship."

Feng Qing'er nodded at once. What she wanted most was to see Jiang Yuan punished, but since her master had promised to go to the Pill Tower himself, she could wait a little longer.

"As you command, Master."

Feng Qing'er turned and left the hall. A cold smile lingered on her lips as she went; she was already looking forward to seeing her master settle the score with Jiang Yuan at the Pill Tower.

Once Feng Qing'er had gone, Thunder Venerable sat in the hall and thought for a while, lightly tapping the armrest with his fingers.

The Pill Tower's protection of its disciple could wait. The urgent matter was uncovering the mysterious alchemist's identity.

If he could make that alchemist owe Wind-Thunder Pavilion a favor, they would have a reliable source of pills in the future.

"Someone, come here."

At his call, a subordinate soon entered.

"Keep looking into that alchemist. Report back the moment you find any clues."

"Yes, sir!"

The subordinate withdrew. Thunder Venerable leaned back in his chair, weighing his next move. Whether the alchemist belonged to the Yao Clan or some other faction, he would find a way to make contact.