Return to Clear Moon City

Clear Moon City, the residence of the Young Lady Lin Yutong.

Old Luo's face was dark as he looked at his young lady and said in a deep voice, "That is how everything happened. Song Chen was taken away from the Fire Dragon Mountain Range by Hu Tian, and since then, I have not seen either of them again. Young Lady, they may very well have already fled. We must make other preparations!"

Lin Yutong's brows were slightly furrowed. The gentle smile that usually lingered on her face was gone, and she seemed rather downcast as she said, "Old Luo, you say Song Gongzi was using us from the very beginning, but how could he have known so early 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 said directly, "Perhaps they did not know before, but the moment he saw the Fire Spirit Flood Dragon, Song Chen must have already made his decision. And when Hu Tian fought the Black Fire Sect's strong person earlier, he did not use his full strength at all. He must have already prepared to take him and flee.

"Also, thinking back on it now, this operation was so dangerous, yet Ye Chen insisted on going with us to such a dangerous place. That was clearly abnormal. He must have known something long ago!"

Clearly, Old Luo was filled with distrust toward Ye Chen at this moment. He felt that everything the other party did carried ill intent!

It was just that Lin Yutong still seemed somewhat doubtful about this, or perhaps, deep down, she was unwilling to believe that Ye Chen had deceived her...

"Old Luo, in my opinion, we should wait until Song Gongzi and the others return before saying anything. Making groundless guesses like this without any evidence is never good," Lin Yutong said firmly.

Old Luo still found it hard to calm down, and he was extremely disdainful of his young lady's naive thinking.

"Return? Those two fellows with ulterior motives might have vanished without a trace long ago. They would still come back?"

But just as he was thinking this, a servant from the Princess Residence suddenly came to report that Song Gongzi had come to request an audience...

"What?! He really came back?" Old Luo's expression changed, then his face filled with surprise.

As for Lin Yutong, she secretly let out a sigh of relief.

It was good that he had returned. Now that he was back, they could clear everything up, and Old Luo would not be so angry or treat Song Gongzi as a bad person anymore.

Dressed in a long green robe, Ye Chen stepped into the room with Hu Tian at his side. Looking at Lin Yutong and the grim-faced Old Luo inside, Ye Chen greeted her calmly, "Miss Lin!"

Before the furious Old Luo could speak, Lin Yutong was the first to smile and nod. "Song Gongzi, you worked hard on this trip to the Fire Dragon Mountain Range. I was originally worried that you might be in 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 Lin Yutong enjoyed prestige throughout Clear Moon City far beyond that of her brothers and sisters.

At the very least, with her gentle personality and her city-toppling beauty, she was absolutely the woman every man in Clear Moon City yearned for and admired.

"Thank you for your concern, Miss Lin. This operation was originally meant to stop Lin Yuheng and the Black Fire Sect's movements, but in the end, because of my willfulness, the mission failed, and the Unicorn Fire Spirit Flood Dragon still fell into Lin Yuheng and the others' hands. For this, I must 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 those Ancient Records in his clan about alchemists, and had happened to see it there.

As for why Lin Yuheng knew, it was probably because of the Black Fire Sect.

After all, the Black Fire Sect could be considered an old established faction in the Pill Region, and it was also a peak second-rate faction. In terms of inherited knowledge, it might not necessarily be inferior to the Ye Family.

After hearing Ye Chen's words, Lin Yutong was just about to say that he did not need to mind it, but Old Luo, who could no longer hold back at her side, finally spoke.

"We can set the apology aside for now. This old man is more curious about something else. I wonder what exactly Song Gongzi experienced over the course of this day, for your cultivation to break directly from Da Dou Shi to Dou Ling? Heh, such terrifying breakthrough speed—isn't that a little too world-shocking?"

As he spoke, Old Luo's gaze sharpened, and his tone grew heavier as he continued, "Or could it be that Song Gongzi obtained some special treasure in the Fire Dragon Mountain Range..."

Ye Chen glanced at him and knew this Old Thing definitely would not let the matter drop, but he had already prepared a response.

"Oh, you mean my cultivation... Mr. Luo, you may not know this, but when I was suddenly killed in the Fire Dragon Mountain Range by that Dou Emperor under Lin Yuheng, it made me deeply realize how lacking my own strength was. So I took a Seventh Grade Pill and raised my cultivation a little. That way, at the very least, if I run into danger again in the future, I can run a bit faster..."

"A Seventh Grade Pill?" Old Luo narrowed his eyes slightly.

Once a pill reached the seventh grade, the meaning it represented was completely different!

After all, within this Pill Region, alchemists below the sixth grade could be said to be as numerous as ox hairs, and even Sixth Grade Alchemists were not particularly rare.

But when an alchemist's grade reached the seventh, then in any faction, they could become an honored guest. There were even many weaker factions that could not afford to invite a Seventh Grade Alchemist at all...

Take Clear Moon City, for example. As far as Old Luo knew, the strongest was merely a Sixth Grade Advanced Alchemist. Although the Clear Moon City Lord did know several Seventh Grade Alchemists, existences of that level were simply not something Clear Moon City could support, so they would never choose to join them.

"For Song Gongzi to take a Seventh Grade Pill with the cultivation of a Da Dou Shi, wasn't that a bit too wasteful?" Old Luo said, his tone probing.

Ye Chen smiled faintly, looking completely unconcerned. "It was only a Seventh Grade Pill. My master can refine them casually. What waste is there to speak of?"

Those words shook Old Luo inwardly. Then he examined Ye Chen carefully and found that the other party did not seem to be bragging.

Moreover, for a mere Da Dou Shi to have a servant stronger than himself by his side, if there was a Seventh Grade Alchemist behind him, then that made sense.

After all, to a Seventh Grade Alchemist, let alone a Half-Step Dou Zong, there were plenty of true Dou Zong strong people who would willingly be driven by them!

Unlike Old Luo, whose thoughts were complicated, Lin Yutong simply felt a little curious and asked, "In that case, Song Gongzi, are you an alchemist too?"

Ye Chen chuckled and nodded. "That's right. I am also an alchemist, and a Third Grade Alchemist at that!"

A Third Grade Alchemist might not be much in the eyes of Lin Yutong and the others, but judging from Ye Chen's delicate face, he was clearly not very old. Perhaps he had only just come of age.

To become a Third Grade Alchemist at such an age was already enough to compare with many descendants of alchemist clans in the Pill Region...

It seemed that everything he had just said really might be true!