Supreme Elder

Cooperation with Li Jingming went smoothly, and the two soon launched their grenade business in full. Yi Xuan upgraded his previously improved artifact-refining cauldron again. The new cauldron could process fifty grenade parts a day, nearly twice as many as before.

Getting more artifact-refining cauldrons, however, was not something that could be done in a day or two. Li Jingming understood and did not rush Yi Xuan.

The only unhappy person was probably that kid Liang Shi. Ever since Yi Xuan had begun working with Li Jingming, the grenade business had no longer needed him.

Yi Xuan knew Liang Shi must have felt disappointed, but he paid him no mind. A few times, the two even ran into each other in the alley, and Yi Xuan ignored him.

Liang Shi did not understand why. He had helped Yi Xuan run errands before, and they had worked well together. Why had Yi Xuan suddenly stopped paying attention to him?

Liang Shi thought about it for a long time, but he still could not figure out how he had offended Yi Xuan.

He wanted to approach him and ask, but Yi Xuan never gave him the chance. He would either hurry away or turn around and go back, leaving Liang Shi deeply disappointed.

Finally, one day a month later, Liang Shi knocked on Yi Xuan's door.

Seeing the boy standing at his door with tears all over his face, Yi Xuan found it a little funny. He stepped aside and let him into the courtyard.

In the small courtyard, Yi Xuan sat beside the stone table while Liang Shi stood before him, head lowered, not daring to speak.

After taking a sip of tea, Yi Xuan said, "What exactly did you come to see me for? I've finished this whole pot of tea, and you haven't said a word. If you still don't speak, I'm leaving."

Hearing that Yi Xuan was going to leave, Liang Shi hurriedly raised his head and said, "Immortal Master, I don't understand how I offended you. If I've done anything wrong, I'm willing to be beaten or scolded. I only beg you not to treat me like this!"

Liang Shi's feelings toward Yi Xuan were complicated. They had not known each other long, but Yi Xuan was the person who had appeared when Liang Shi was at his most helpless.

The day they met on the street was Liang Shi's second day in the city. A boy who had left his home and had no family with him, he had gone a whole day without food.

Before meeting Yi Xuan, Liang Shi had been considering whether to swipe something from a street stall to fill his stomach.

But Yi Xuan's appearance interrupted that thought. Afterward, Yi Xuan gave him a job and an astonishing income, allowing him to acquire a small courtyard of his own in the city in less than a month.

All of this was thanks to Yi Xuan. Liang Shi even found in him the feeling he had had with his parents. But unexpectedly, ever since that group had come last time, Yi Xuan had stopped paying attention to Liang Shi.

By rights, Liang Shi now had a little money to spare. Even without following Yi Xuan, he would have had no trouble living in the city.

But Liang Shi was deeply anxious, and all he could think about was finding out why Yi Xuan's attitude toward him had changed.

Yi Xuan looked at the boy standing before him, tears streaming down his face, and smiled. "How does that feel?"

"Boo-hoo... It hurts! Just like when my father and mother left me behind!"

Yi Xuan nodded. "It does. That feeling hurts! But of all the painful feelings in your entire life, this is only the mildest!"

"I don't know what happened in your family. If you don't tell me, I won't ask."

Yi Xuan looked at Liang Shi and continued, "Since you want to work for me, you have to become the kind of person I need. This is the first step. I can't let you become dependent on me! I want your attitude toward me to be like your attitude toward your parents after they were gone."

Yi Xuan was not treating Liang Shi this way to make trouble for no reason. He was very satisfied with Liang Shi and wanted to take his training further.

But after more than two months together, Yi Xuan had discovered that the boy had become dependent on him. That was not something Yi Xuan wanted to see. Such dependence would slowly rob him of his ability to think for himself, and whenever he could not make a decision, he would turn to Yi Xuan for help. Yi Xuan did not need a subordinate like that.

After hearing Yi Xuan's words, Liang Shi nodded, only half understanding. Yi Xuan knew that turning the boy into the person he needed would not happen overnight, but he could plant a seed in his heart now. As for when it would sprout, Yi Xuan did not know.

After having Liang Shi tidy himself up, Yi Xuan took a few parts out of his Storage Bag. They were the parts needed to assemble a grenade.

"Watch my movements carefully!" Before Yi Xuan had finished speaking, his hands were already moving swiftly between the parts. In less than ten minutes, he had assembled a grenade.

It was the first time Liang Shi had learned that the grenades he had sold for nearly two months were assembled this way.

"Did you understand?"

Seeing Liang Shi nod, Yi Xuan took the grenade in his hand apart again. Then he said to Liang Shi, "I have business on the mountain. Practice assembling it the way I just did. When I come back, I want you to show me, so I know you can put these things together too!"

After saying that, he left behind another, intact grenade and headed straight for the mountain.

Yi Xuan was not going up the mountain to look for the sect leader this time. His master had entered secluded cultivation and would not come out until he succeeded, so even if Yi Xuan wanted to find him, he could not.

Yi Xuan wanted to visit the Scripture Pavilion and look through the information on Rootless People again, to see whether the sect's records contained anything besides what he had already read.

Yi Xuan was in a hurry to find information about Rootless People because, in the two months since he had broken through to the Qi Refining Realm, Eighty-First Layer, he had actually broken through five more layers in succession. He was now at Qi Refining, Eighty-Sixth Layer.

Moreover, Yi Xuan had cultivated only five times in those two months. In other words, every time he cultivated, his realm rose by one layer.

Although this was not a bad thing, Yi Xuan was still a little worried. Such a strange cultivation speed was unheard of. Even the sect's records of a peerless genius with a ninth-grade Spirit Root who had once appeared in the Southern Frontier described no cultivation speed so astonishing.

When he arrived at the entrance to the Scripture Pavilion, Yi Xuan saw that the Supreme Elder guarding it was pretending to doze. Yi Xuan shook his head and started toward him with a mischievous grin.

But the Supreme Elder seemed to know something. His eyes suddenly opened, and he stared straight at Yi Xuan, making the hair stand up all over Yi Xuan's body.

"What are you up to again, brat? Are you trying to play tricks on this old man again?"

Seeing that his intentions had been exposed, Yi Xuan gave an awkward laugh. "How would I dare? You're the Supreme Elder, the pillar holding up the sect. How could a little nobody like me dare play a joke on you?"

"Hmph? You've played plenty! What are you here for?"

"It's been days since I last saw you, and I've missed you. I just came to see you!"

The Supreme Elder listened to Yi Xuan, disbelief written all over his face. "That sounds nice. If you're here to enter the Scripture Pavilion, why not just say so? Every time, you say you've come to see me, but I never see you bring anything when you visit."

Seeing that his thoughts had been seen through, Yi Xuan quickly smiled and said, "That's why they say you're wise. You guessed right away. So, shall I go in first?"

With that, he slipped inside in a flash without waiting for the Supreme Elder to speak.

The Supreme Elder smiled and shook his head, then continued pretending to doze in his chair.