The Wei Clan's western courtyard.
Inside Alchemy Room One.
Wei Yi sat quietly before the pill furnace.
Half a month had passed since his return from Hongshan Ridge.
The turmoil stirred up by the Abnormal Fire had been far too great, so Wei Yi had stayed within the clan for the past half month, both to avoid those troubles and to take the opportunity to focus on studying his newly acquired Crimson Crystal True Flame.
As for matters outside, he left them all to his father.
At that moment, Wei Yi was completely focused, strands of dazzling Crimson Crystal True Flame streaming from his palms.
The Abnormal Fire enveloped the entire pill furnace, constantly accelerating the pills' refinement and condensation.
Shen Qiulan and Wei Ruomei stood behind him, holding their breath in concentration, not daring to disturb him in the slightest.
Still, traces of worry involuntarily showed in their eyes.
What Wei Yi was refining this time was no ordinary pill, but Origin-Breaking Pills, specifically used to aid breakthroughs to the Great Martial Master realm.
Origin-Breaking Pills were fourth-grade pills and extremely precious. Correspondingly, they were also quite difficult to refine. Even a seasoned alchemist like Shen Qiulan would not dare thump her chest and guarantee a hundred-percent chance of success.
Wei Yi had already kept at it for nearly an hour, and the process was almost at its final stage. If the pills still failed to take shape, then this refinement... would probably fail.
"Will he succeed?"
Shen Qiulan and Wei exchanged a glance, both faintly worried.
Although Wei Yi's alchemy had advanced at astonishing speed in the half month since he acquired the Abnormal Fire, in their eyes, he had still studied alchemy for too short a time and had too little experience. Refining fourth-grade pills as difficult as Origin-Breaking Pills was still a little too much for him.
Sigh, if he fails, he fails. We'll just count it as practice for Yi'er.
Though it would be a shame to waste these precious ingredients, as long as Yi'er can become a true master of alchemy someday, it will all be worth it.
That was what Shen Qiulan thought.
The ingredients for Origin-Breaking Pills were expensive, and she was normally reluctant to use them herself, but what could she do? Wei Yi was her own son.
Just then, a rich medicinal fragrance suddenly burst from the pill furnace, instantly filling the entire space.
The lid lifted on its own, and crystal-clear pills emerged from the furnace one after another.
Shen Qiulan and Wei Ruomei both could not help widening their eyes.
A hint of a smile involuntarily appeared on Wei Yi's calm face as well.
He had succeeded!
"Ding! Player Wei Yi successfully refined a batch of fourth-grade Origin-Breaking Pills. Alchemy experience +12,000." "Ding! Player Wei Yi's alchemy experience is full. Automatically advanced to LV37."
The system notifications sounded.
Successfully refining one batch of Origin-Breaking Pills had directly given Wei Yi twelve thousand alchemy experience and advanced his alchemy to LV37.
Without a doubt, Wei Yi was now a fourth-grade alchemist.
And an exceptionally monstrous talent even among fourth-grade alchemists.
After all, LV37 alchemy meant a seventy-percent success rate when refining fourth-grade pills. With the addition of the Crimson Crystal True Flame, that success rate could reach around ninety percent, something simply unimaginable to ordinary fourth-grade alchemists.
"He really succeeded?"
"Sixteen Origin-Breaking Pills? So many? This..."
Shen Qiulan and Wei Ruomei both looked utterly shocked.
Wei Ruomei's lovely eyes were filled with admiration.
"Yi'er, you're already a fourth-grade alchemist?"
Shen Qiulan suddenly realized what this meant and could not help drawing in a sharp breath.
Her talent for alchemy could be considered first-rate, yet it had taken her so many years to become a fourth-grade alchemist. But Wei Yi-how long had he been studying? There seemed to be no comparison between them at all.
Although she had long known that Wei Yi had great talent for alchemy, she had never expected it to be this monstrous. She even could not help wondering whether this was still her son.
Wei Yi smiled at her words.
He nodded in acknowledgment but offered no further explanation.
He did not know how to explain it himself.
"Mother, have someone deliver one of these sixteen Origin-Breaking Pills to Wei Yuan and each of the others. They helped me quite a bit when I refined the Crimson Crystal True Flame last time. Consider it my thanks."
"As for the rest, do whatever you like with them. I don't want any."
"You don't want any?"
"I don't need them." Wei Yi shook his head with a wry smile. The experience he had accumulated had already brought him to the tenth-stage Martial Master level. To break through further, he did not need any precious pills, but rather for the system to issue a breakthrough quest.
"I'm planning to leave."
Before his mother could question him, Wei Yi continued.
"?"
"I've stayed home for so long. It's time I left. I can't keep hiding like this forever."
At those words, Shen Qiulan and Wei Ruomei both froze, then could not help sighing softly.
"You're planning to return to True Martial Academy?"
In the study, Wei Tianyang spoke.
"You should understand that although half a month has passed since the Abnormal Fire incident, the turmoil hasn't completely died down. Quite a few people outside still have their eyes on you."
"If you stay home, we can at least guarantee your safety. But once you leave, we won't be able to guarantee that."
Wei Tianyang spoke with a serious expression.
"I know."
Wei Yi nodded.
"But if I wait until the turmoil is completely over, I'm afraid I'll have to hide at home for a year or two." Wei Yi shrugged. "I don't have the patience to hide that long."
"Then what do you intend to do?"
After a moment's silence, Wei Tianyang asked again.
"I heard the Overlord Sect will be recruiting a new batch of disciples soon. Our academy has ten places. I want to go."
"Staying at True Martial Academy isn't safe, but the Overlord Sect is different. If I become a core disciple of the Overlord Sect, I doubt many people will dare make a move against me again. At least, that should be the case within the Great Chu Dynasty."
Wei Yi laid out his plan.
The Overlord Sect was a true titan among the Great Chu Dynasty's powers, far mightier and more terrifying than even the ten great clans, such as the Wei Lineage.
If the ten great clans were first-rate powers within the Great Chu Dynasty, then the Overlord Sect stood above the first rate.
The Overlord Sect was the absolute overlord of the Great Chu Dynasty's south. Even the Great Chu imperial family did not dare provoke it lightly.
And Wei Yi's idea was to become a core direct disciple of the Overlord Sect.
"That won't be easy."
Wei Tianyang looked at Wei Yi as he spoke slowly.
The Overlord Sect had countless ordinary disciples, but its core direct disciples could be counted on one's fingers. Calling the selection of its core disciples one in ten thousand would be no exaggeration. It truly was no simple matter.
"If it were too easy, where would the challenge be?"
"It's precisely because it isn't easy that it's valuable."
Wei Yi smiled instead.
"Do you know why the Sun Clan wanted to seize the Abnormal Fire?" Seemingly struck by a thought, Wei Tianyang suddenly asked.
"Father, did you uncover something?"
Wei Tianyang took a dossier from the desk and handed it to Wei Yi.
Wei Yi accepted it and swept his gaze over it, his eyes immediately narrowing slightly.
"Yuwen Bei?"
"The second son of Yuwen Hui, an elder of the Overlord Sect?"
Wei Yi instantly recalled the young man in brocade robes he had fought back then.
He had already suspected that the man had a significant background. Now, looking at this, his suspicions had indeed been correct: the man was a talented martial artist painstakingly nurtured by the Overlord Sect.
"The Sun Clan wanted to establish ties with Yuwen Hui, and Yuwen Bei was the intermediary they found."
Wei Tianyang slowly began,
"If my guess is right, it wasn't the Sun Clan who wanted the Abnormal Fire this time, but Yuwen Bei."
"Because Yuwen Bei himself is also an alchemist."
"By taking the Abnormal Fire, you offended not only the Sun Clan, but Yuwen Bei as well."
"If you become a disciple of the Overlord Sect, even if Yuwen Bei doesn't dare act against you openly, he certainly won't hold back on underhanded tricks."
"Father, do you mean you don't want me to go to the Overlord Sect?" Wei Yi raised an eyebrow.
"No, I have no particular intention. I'm merely explaining the situation clearly to you. The choice is entirely yours," Wei Tianyang said, his expression unchanged.
"In that case, I have all the more reason to go to the Overlord Sect." Wei Yi picked up the dossier and answered with utmost seriousness.
"You know there's a tiger on the mountain, yet insist on heading straight for it?"
"You're joking, Father. Yuwen Bei hardly qualifies as a tiger. At most, he's just a little kitten."
Once those words were spoken.
Father and son exchanged a glance, then suddenly both could not help laughing.
One laughed with confidence.
The other with gratification.