After hearing the old Daoist's account, Zhao Yuancheng nodded and smiled at him. "You've gathered quite a bit of information, fellow Daoist. It seems you put plenty of effort into asking around while I was cultivating in seclusion at my cave abode."
"Hahaha! This old man doesn't have many talents. I've just lived a few years longer. If I hadn't run into you on this trip, I'd have died at that demonic cultivator's hands long ago."
The old Daoist grinned. "Still, if you ask me, though those four all stand a good chance, they can't compare with you."
"Oh? You flatter me, fellow Daoist."
"Ah, that's no flattery! There's no need to be modest."
The old Daoist waved a hand. "That fire technique you showed earlier was the most wondrous I've seen in my life. It's absolutely first-rate among those in the Path Seeking Realm!"
Mentioning Zhao Yuancheng's fire technique rekindled the old Daoist's enthusiasm. "I may have reached the end of my own path, but over the years I've met plenty of formidable figures in the Alchemy Dao. Compared with your command of fire, though, theirs was still..."
Zhao Yuancheng listened to the praise with a smile, but his thoughts had already turned elsewhere.
Apart from the four alchemists the old Daoist had named as likely to pass the ceremony's assessment, he had noticed three other unusual people among the Alchemy Dao cultivators who had come for the assessment.
What set them apart was neither their clothing and appearance nor their cultivation realms. All three carried a distinctive aura that did not belong to this world.
To cultivators born and trained in Azure Waves, that aura was something utterly unfamiliar.
Thus, the vast majority of cultivators, including the Mystic Insight Venerable, could not identify it with any certainty.
Zhao