After Su Yanhong left, Jiang Yuan turned his head to face the elderly man in front of him.
“You’re the Medicine Master?”
Dressed in white robes with a white jade hairpin, the old man exuded an otherworldly aura, also appearing dignified and full of vitality.
The Medicine Master nodded, then asked, “Young friend, what brings you to me?”
“I want to make a deal with you,” Jiang Yuan said expressionlessly.
Raising an eyebrow, the Medicine Master intrigued and asked, “A deal?”
“I need some refining materials. In exchange, I can teach you alchemy for free,” Jiang Yuan said seriously.
The declaration silenced the surroundings. The middle-aged individuals in the midst of alchemy halted, all turning to look at Jiang Yuan with astonished eyes.
Even the Medicine Master wore a surprised expression after a brief moment before laughing and saying, “You? Teach me alchemy?”
“Yes,” Jiang Yuan nodded earnestly, showing no signs of jest.
The onlookers who are now recovered from their shock, erupted into laughter, and treated Jiang Yuan’s statement as the punchline of a colossal joke.
“Hahaha, this is the funniest thing I’ve heard in my life! This kid actually wants to teach our master alchemy?”
“What a presumptuous fellow! Does he not realize the identity of our master? Daring to utter such arrogant words in front of him!”
The crowd looked at Jiang Yuan with disdain, openly mocking him. To them, his words were nothing but a self-inflicted humiliation.
Who was the Medicine Master?
The sole third-rank alchemist in Zhongzhou!
Undoubtedly the foremost figure in alchemy in Zhongzhou, excelling in both medical and poisonous arts with disciples who could each stand alone as accomplished alchemists.
To call him a master alchemist was an understatement!
Yet here was an unknown young man, audaciously claiming to teach him alchemy?
Was this not an act of seeking humiliation?
As the crowd ridiculed, Su Yanhong arrived with materials in hand.
Jiang Yuan took the materials and walked straight to the alchemy furnace.
The onlookers were puzzled.
“What is he planning to do? Does he intend to refine alchemy on the spot?”
“Alchemy? Don’t joke! Look at his age, does he seem like someone who has studied alchemy?”
Amid the various skeptical voices, Jiang Yuan threw the materials into the furnace and began his own method of refining.
Witnessing Jiang Yuan’s technique, the onlookers intensified their scorn.
In their eyes, Jiang Yuan wasn’t refining any elixirs, he was just messing around!
“He clearly doesn’t know how to refine alchemy, yet he insists on embarrassing himself here!”
“I say, Sister Yanhong, even if you’re fatally poisoned, you shouldn’t give such precious materials to this kid to waste.”
“Young man, stop refining. To spare the materials, kneel down now and kowtow to me three times. I might consider taking you as my disciple, given your dedication to alchemy.”
Hearing the mockery from the crowd, Su Yanhong felt extremely anxious because she had placed her last hope in Jiang Yuan.
If Jiang Yuan couldn’t detoxify her, she would be completely doomed.
Despite the ridicule, the Medicine Master instead of averting his gaze, stared fixedly at Jiang Yuan. He discerned certain intricate patterns within Jiang Yuan’s seemingly chaotic refining technique.
In fact, Jiang Yuan was the founder of alchemy, as well as refining, inscriptions, and formations – the four ancient arts.
Three hundred million years ago, Jiang Yuan, out of boredom, invented these four ancient arts before passing them on to his four disciples on his way to the sun.
These disciples became known as the Four Ancestors – Patriarch of Alchemy, Patriarch of Crafting, Patriarch of Inscriptions, and Patriarch of Formations. While these arts were faithfully passed down, the subsequent generations couldn’t fully grasp them.
Over the course of three million years, the knowledge dwindled, and many techniques were distorted, deviating from Jiang Yuan’s original intent.
In the current era, humans only possessed a superficial understanding of the four ancient arts, and many techniques were severely misinterpreted.
This lack of understanding led people to view Jiang Yuan’s refining technique as mere chaos.
*
As time passed, ten minutes later, a white mist emanated from the furnace in front of Jiang Yuan.
The onlookers regarded the furnace with skeptical eyes.
“Is it steaming? Could it have already formed a pill?”
“Don’t joke! It’s only been ten minutes. If it were that easy, I’d eat my hat!”
“Exactly! Our alchemy processes take at least two hours, and even our master needs half an hour. If he can truly make a pill in ten minutes, I’ll cut off my head and let him use it as a ball!”
“He’s been randomly fiddling with things from start to finish. I bet he just exploded the furnace, right?”
Just as the crowd voiced their skepticism, Jiang Yuan opened the furnace and extracted a pill.
Everyone was rendered speechless.
“It… It actually formed a pill? How is this possible!”
“Am I seeing things? In such a short time, even if it’s a waste pill, it shouldn’t be possible!”
People found it hard to believe that someone could produce a pill in such a short time, and even if it was a waste pill, it was still astonishing.
Amid the incredulous gazes, Jiang Yuan proudly displayed the crystal-clear pill in his open palm. It sparkled like a crystal, pure and flawless, emitting a radiant glow in the sunlight.
“It’s… It’s so dazzling! What is this?”
“My goodness! A pill that even reflects light! Is this really a pill?”
“I’ve lived for more than half a century and have never seen such a pill!”
The radiant glow of the pill was so intense that people couldn’t help shielding their eyes with their hands.
