Quite a few talented young people had come to compete in this Alchemist Grand Meeting.
Xue Mei from Black Rock City, Pill King Gu He's disciple Liu Ling, and others had all entered.
But their brilliance had been completely eclipsed by someone who had appeared out of nowhere.
"Yan Xiao, eighteen years old... a fourth-tier alchemist!?"
Most people's first reaction was that it was impossible.
Even Pill King Gu He hadn't been this heaven-defying back in his day, had he?
But Xiao Yan had little interest in socializing with these people. He knew he was destined not to remain in the Jia Ma Empire for long, so there was no need to cultivate unnecessary relationships.
Jia Nan Academy, and the Central Plains farther beyond it, were where he should set his sights in the future.
He had that confidence.
Unfortunately, even when he wasn't looking for trouble, trouble always liked to come looking for him.
Because of Ya Fei, he had gotten into a fight with someone named Mu Zhan, who apparently was a young master from one of the Jia Ma Empire's Three Great Families...
"Tsk, tsk. A beauty bringing disaster."
Having concealed his aura, Sun Buxiao browsed the market with Xiao Yan for medicinal supplies, inspecting a medicinal herb as he smacked his lips.
Ya Fei, standing beside Xiao Yan, couldn't help looking a little awkward.
Of all the men she had met in her life, Sun Buxiao could be called the only one outside her family elders who was completely unmoved by her charms. Even young Xiao Yan occasionally showed a flicker of youthful impulse.
A true patriarch of repression.
"Don't you usually run into this sort of thing, Brother Sakigawa?"
Brother Sun's female companion, the one he called Sister Xiao Yi Xian, was also a rare