Translator: Silavin
“Big Brother Licheng.” Seeing it was Xiao Licheng, Li Lingyan also greeted him. After all, he was someone even more outstanding than her, and his looks were also the cream of the crop, so Li Lingyan neither accepted nor rejected Xiao Licheng’s ambiguous attitude.
“Who is he?” After his gaze shifted to Qin Yichen, Xiao Licheng asked after sizing him up for a few moments.
“Him?” As soon as Qin Yichen was mentioned, the expression on Li Lingyan’s face changed, and she said with three parts mockery and seven parts teasing, “This is the Alchemy Grandmaster my Father invited back!”
She emphasised the two words ‘Alchemy Grandmaster’ particularly heavily, successfully attracting the attention of everyone on the second floor.
Qin Yichen felt helpless. It seemed like if he did not perform well, in the eyes of this Young Mistress, he would be eternally labelled as a fraud.
“Alchemy Grandmaster?” Xiao Licheng was slightly startled for a moment, and he sized up Qin Yichen again. He found that the latter did not seem to have anything extraordinary about him, especially those plain clothes, which were particularly eye-catching standing there.
Looking at Li Lingyan’s face full of resentment, he more or less understood what was going on. He stood up proudly and said with pretended nonchalance, “Since Little Brother is a Grandmaster invited back by the Patriarch, then I, Licheng, also want to seek advice from a Grandmaster like you about Alchemy knowledge.”
“Seek advice?” Qin Yichen did not give him a good look and said with snort, “You’re not qualified.”
He was indeed speaking the truth. He did not think highly of this so-called prodigy.
However, when these words were heard by the crowd, it was a different story.
Even Li Lingyan did not expect that someone who had been docile in front of her just a moment ago would suddenly become so arrogant and conceited in the blink of an eye.
The Alchemy Disciples on the second floor were directly stunned, their faces full of astonishment. After all, the one standing in front of Qin Yichen was none other than Xiao Licheng!
Even Grandmaster Ran Rui praised him highly, yet this boy of unknown origin actually said that he was not qualified to seek advice from him.
This was arrogance to the extreme.
“You!…” The elegant and nonchalant smile on Xiao Licheng’s face disappeared without a trace. He stared at Qin Yichen with a gloomy expression and said with a snort, “Although I, Xiao Licheng, am untalented, I became an Alchemist at the age of eighteen, and now, I also have a year of Alchemy experience. I do not know what achievements you, a Grandmaster, have?”
Becoming an Alchemist at the age of eighteen. This was a huge honour. With this achievement, it made sense why everyone praised him. This holds true be it in Spreading Cloud City or in the Li Family.
“I can’t refine Pills yet.” Qin Yichen said indifferently, with a justified and confident demeanour that drew many mocking gazes.
Even Li Lingyan felt that his brain must have short-circuited. [You can’t refine Pills? Is this even something to brag about?]
Faced with these mocking and strange gazes, Qin Yichen appeared very calm. He added to the smug-looking Xiao Licheng, “However, I can refine Sixth Grade Medicinal Liquids. Can you?”
“Hm? Sixth Grade Medicinal Liquids?” Xiao Licheng was slightly stunned, then said mockingly, “Grandmaster is indeed a Grandmaster. In this Spreading Cloud City, the number of people who can refine Sixth Grade Medicinal Liquids can be counted on one hand. I did not expect Grandmaster to have reached the same level as Grandmaster Ran Rui at such a young age. I, Licheng, am ashamed and admit defeat!”
His words, however, were spoken with the intention of influencing the crowd.
These Disciples, relying on high-quality Pill Furnaces, could refine Third Grade Medicinal Liquids at most. Before condensing a Divine Soul Bead and becoming a true Alchemist, no matter how good the Pill Furnace they used was, they still could not refine Fourth Grade Medicinal Liquids.
Even Xiao Licheng, who was known as an Alchemy Prodigy, had a very low success rate in refining Fourth Grade Medicinal Liquids.
Fifth Grade Medicinal Liquids had to be refined by Alchemy Grandmasters of Ran Rui’s level. As for Sixth Grade, even for Ran Rui, he had to exert all his efforts, and he could not reach the Sixth Grade every time.
Yet, this brat, who was only in his teens actually said that he could refine Sixth Grade Medicinal Liquids. This was simply too absurd!
However, they did not know that it was precisely because Qin Yichen could casually refine Sixth Grade Medicinal Liquids that even Ran Rui addressed him as Grandmaster.
“Sigh…” Feeling their gazes, Qin Yichen sighed inwardly and did not say much. He walked straight to the medicine rack and picked up a bamboo basket to put medicinal herbs in.
He walked casually among the medicine racks. Every time he picked up some medicinal herbs, he directly threw them into the basket, making it unclear to the crowd what exactly he wanted to do.
“Wait!” Just as Qin Yichen was about to pour the medicinal herbs into an empty Pill Furnace, Li Lingyan stopped him. “You did not even weigh them. How can you be so reckless? Do you not know that even a slight difference can cause the furnace to explode?”
In their view, Qin Yichen’s actions were those of someone who did not know how to refine. In fact, they doubt he had never even been exposed to Alchemy.
For any Disciple, their first lesson was to practise weighing medicine! If this was not done accurately enough, it was simply impossible to proceed to the next step.
“Grandmaster, you should still weigh them. These Pill Furnaces are all Human Grade and quite expensive.” Xiao Licheng was also gloating on the side. At this point, he completely viewed Qin Yichen as a joke.
He really had never heard of anyone refining Medicinal Liquids or Pills without weighing.
“I do not have the habit of using scales.” Qin Yichen smiled faintly and directly poured all the medicinal herbs from the basket into the Pill Furnace.
“How can you do this!?” Looking at Qin Yichen, who was igniting the fire and refining on his own, Li Lingyan was so angry that she stomped her feet and glared at him.
Although a single Pill Furnace would not bring much of a loss to the Li Family, how many Medicinal Liquids would have to be refined to make up for one exploded Pill Furnace, which exploded for no reason?
“It’s done!” Just as everyone was about to denounce him together, Qin Yichen withdrew his palm from the Pill Furnace, smiled at Li Lingyan, and then walked leisurely towards the stairs.
“What!?” Everyone had confused expressions.
What did he mean by ‘it’s done’?
[Could it be…] Looking at Qin Yichen, who was holding the back of his head and leaving, Li Lingyan came to her senses from her resentment. She hesitated for a moment before lifting the lid, her gaze completely stuck onto that Pill Furnace.
Instantly, a fragrance of medicine assailed the nostrils, making the muttering crowd focus their gazes over.
“This…” Looking at the situation inside the Pill Furnace, Li Lingyan was dumbfounded. Her small mouth opened and closed, but she could not even say a single word.
From the moment Qin Yichen ignited the fire until now, it definitely had not been more than two minutes. Originally, she had been waiting for the furnace to explode, thinking that after it exploded, she would have her Father expel this fraud.
Li Lingyan had felt that this brat would back down after she pressured him enough. After all, he should be afraid of causing consequences he could not bear if the furnace exploded. However, she never expected that inside the Pill Furnace, there was actually an almost crystal-clear Medicinal Liquid!
It was pure Medicinal Liquid, without a trace of Medicinal Dregs!
In other words, Qin Yichen had successfully refined those medicinal herbs into Medicinal Liquid in that extremely short span of time, and judging by the purity of this Medicinal Liquid… it was at least above Fifth Grade!
“Ahhh…” Instantly, there was a sound of gasping around them. Those eyes were filled with nothing but astonishment and shock!