Clear Moon City, the residence of Young Lady Lin Yutong.
Old Luo wore a grim expression as he looked at his Young Lady and said in a deep voice, "That was how it happened. Song Chen was taken away from the Fire Dragon Mountain Range by Hu Tian, and I never saw either of them again after that. Young Lady, they may very well have fled. We must make other preparations!"
Lin Yutong frowned slightly. The gentle smile that usually lingered on her face had vanished, and she seemed somewhat downcast. "Old Luo, you said Young Master Song had been using us from the beginning, but how could he have known so early on that Lin Yuheng and the Black Fire Sect would go to the Fire Dragon Mountain Range to hunt the Unicorn Fire Spirit Flood Dragon?"
Old Luo did not hesitate over this question and replied directly, "Perhaps they did not know beforehand, but the moment they saw the Flame Spirit Flood Dragon, Song Chen must have made his decision. Moreover, Hu Tian had not gone all out when fighting the Black Fire Sect's expert. He must have long been prepared to take someone and escape.
"Besides, thinking about it now, this operation was so dangerous, yet Ye Chen had insisted on coming with us to such a perilous place. That was clearly abnormal. He must have known something beforehand!"
Clearly, Old Luo was now full of distrust toward Ye Chen. He felt that everything the other party did was done with ill intent!
Yet Lin Yutong still seemed somewhat doubtful. Or perhaps, deep down, she simply did not want to believe that Ye Chen had deceived her...
"Old Luo, I think we should wait until Young Master Song and the others return before discussing this. Making baseless guesses without any evidence is never a good thing." Lin Yutong's tone was firm.
However, Old Luo still could not calm his thoughts, and he was extremely disdainful of his Young Lady's naïve way of thinking.
Return? Those two scheming fellows may have already vanished without a trace. Why would they come back?
Just as he was thinking this, a servant from the Princess Residence suddenly came to report that Young Master Song had arrived and requested an audience...
"What?! He really came back?" Old Luo's expression changed, and he looked utterly astonished.
As for Lin Yutong, she secretly let out a sigh of relief.
It was good that he had returned. Now they could clear things up, saving Old Luo from being so furious and treating Young Master Song as a bad person.
Dressed in a green robe, Ye Chen entered the room alongside Hu Tian. Seeing Lin Yutong and the grim-faced Old Luo inside, Ye Chen calmly greeted them. "Miss Lin!"
Before the furious Old Luo could speak, Lin Yutong smiled and nodded first. "Young Master Song, you have worked hard on this trip to the Fire Dragon Mountain Range. I had originally been worried that you might encounter danger, but now that I see you have returned safely, I can finally rest easy."
It had to be said that there was a reason why Lin Yutong enjoyed a reputation in Clear Moon City far greater than that of her brothers and sisters.
At the very least, her gentle temperament, coupled with her breathtaking beauty, made her someone every man in Clear Moon City longed to admire.
"Thank you for your concern, Miss Lin. This operation was originally meant to stop Lin Yuheng and the Black Fire Sect, but because of my stubbornness, the mission ultimately failed. The Unicorn Fire Spirit Flood Dragon still fell into the hands of Lin Yuheng and the others. For that, I should apologize to Miss Lin."
The existence of Dragon Yuan was not something just anyone could know about.
Ye Chen had only learned of it because, when he was young, he had been forced to read ancient books related to alchemists from the Ye Family's records, where he had come across it by chance.
As for why Lin Yuheng knew about it, it was probably because of the Black Fire Sect.
After all, the Black Fire Sect was an old-established force in the Pill Region and even a peak second-rate force. Its inherited knowledge might not necessarily have been inferior to that of the Ye Family.
Hearing Ye Chen's words, Lin Yutong was just about to say that it did not matter when Old Luo, who could no longer hold himself back, finally spoke.
"Let us set the matter of apologizing aside for now. There is something I am rather curious about. What exactly did Young Master Song experience over the course of this day? Your cultivation actually broke through directly from Da Dou Shi to Dou Ling? Hehe, such a terrifying rate of advancement—is that not a little too shocking?"
As he spoke, Old Luo's eyes narrowed, and his tone grew heavier. "Or perhaps Young Master Song obtained some special treasure in the Fire Dragon Mountain Range..."
Ye Chen glanced at him and knew that this old fellow would not let the matter rest. However, he had already prepared a response.
"Oh, you mean my cultivation... Old Luo, you do not know this, but I was suddenly taken down by the Dou Emperor under Lin Yuheng in the Fire Dragon Mountain Range. That made me deeply realize the inadequacy of my own strength, so I took a Seventh Grade Pill to raise my cultivation a little. At least if I encounter danger in the future, I will be able to run faster..."
"A Seventh Grade Pill?" Old Luo narrowed his eyes slightly.
Once pills reached the Seventh Grade, their significance became entirely different!
After all, in the Pill Region, alchemists below the Sixth Grade were as numerous as hairs on an ox, and even Sixth Grade Alchemists were not particularly rare.
But once an alchemist reached the Seventh Grade, they would become an honored guest in any faction. Many weaker factions could not even afford to hire a Seventh Grade Alchemist...
Take Clear Moon City, for instance. As far as Old Luo knew, the strongest alchemist there was only a Sixth Grade Advanced Alchemist. Although the Clear Moon City Lord knew several Seventh Grade Alchemists, beings of that level were simply not someone Clear Moon City could afford to support. Naturally, they would not choose to join them.
"For Young Master Song to take a Seventh Grade Pill while only at the Da Dou Shi level, is that not rather wasteful?" Old Luo asked in a probing tone.
Ye Chen smiled faintly, looking utterly unconcerned. "It is merely a Seventh Grade Pill. My master can refine one casually. What is there to waste?"
Old Luo's heart shook upon hearing this. He then carefully examined Ye Chen and found that he did not seem to be boasting.
Moreover, a mere Da Dou Shi was able to keep a servant stronger than himself by his side. If there truly was a Seventh Grade Alchemist behind him, then it all made sense.
After all, for a Seventh Grade Alchemist, not to mention a Half-Step Dou Zong, even genuine Dou Zong Strong Persons willing to serve at their command were plentiful!
Unlike Old Luo, whose thoughts were complicated, Lin Yutong was simply curious. She asked, "Then does that mean you are also an alchemist, Young Master Song?"
Ye Chen chuckled and nodded. "That is right. I am also an alchemist, and a Third Grade Alchemist at that!"
Although a Third Grade Alchemist was nothing remarkable in the eyes of Lin Yutong and the others, Ye Chen's delicate features made it obvious that he was still quite young, perhaps only just an adult.
To become a Third Grade Alchemist at such an age already meant he could be compared with the heirs of many alchemist families in the Pill Region...
It seemed that everything he had just said might really have been true!
Before you continue