chsdbacks 15. Changes in Relationships
15. Changes in Relationships
"Xiao Yan, Xiao Yan, where are my pills?" Zi Yan had already arrived at Xiao Yan's room early in the morning, looking at him expectantly.
"You're really punctual." Xiao Yan said helplessly. He had agreed with Zi Yan to come find him to collect the pills one hour after sunrise every day, but no matter where he was, Zi Yan would stare at him with her big eyes as soon as the time came.
"Here you go." Five pills were placed in Zi Yan's hand. Then Xiao Yan took out another pill, hesitated for a long time, and handed it to Zi Yan.
"Here, this is a sixth-grade pill. It's very potent, so be careful."
Zi Yan's eyes widened at the sight of the pill. She wiped away imaginary drool and grabbed the pill in her hand. "At least you have some conscience, hehe."
"Grandma, you've been eating plenty of good stuff. Five pills a day, I'm practically your personal alchemist now."
"No way!" Zi Yan replied angrily, "You took all the good stuff, I didn't even get a tenth of it, and you even said that you couldn't find herbs while staying in the Heavenly Serpent Mansion, and you even tried to cut back on your daily pills."
When she got emotional, Zi Yan's eyes welled up with tears, which made Xiao Yan feel a little sorry for her, if not for the fact that she had already trampled the ground.
"Hmph, off to play with Sister Xun'er." Everyone likes Xun'er's temperament, and Xun'er herself also likes Zi Yan very much, so they spend every day together, while Xiao Yan is excluded.
Before Xiao Yan could even calm down for a minute, a voice that terrified him even more rang out.
"Brother Xiao Yan." Xu Yingwu's voice came, and Xiao Yan gave a wry smile.
If anyone is more persistent than Zi Yan, it's definitely Xu Yingwu. Zi Yan leaves as soon as she gets the pills, but Xu Yingwu can stay with him for an entire day. Ever since Xu Yingwu witnessed Xiao Yan refining pills, he's come to him every day to ask about difficult pill-refining problems. His questions aren't easy to answer, so he often spends most of the day on them. Although Xiao Yan also learns a lot from Yao Lao's answers, it's still not as satisfying as learning on his own.
"Brother Xiao Yan, I discovered these problems while refining pills yesterday. I hope you can teach me without hesitation."
"No problem, no problem," Xiao Yan said with a wry smile.
However, before Xu Yingwu could ask his question, Xiao Yan and Xu Yingwu simultaneously noticed that the Dou Qi in this area suddenly became thinner, as if it had been sucked out and rushed towards the room where Su Zhang was.
Xu Yingwu exclaimed in surprise, "Is Teacher about to emerge from seclusion?"
Xiao Yan muttered to himself, "Ten days have passed. It's finally over."
After gathering his fighting spirit, it took another quarter of an hour for a powerful aura to emanate from the room.
"Hahaha, finally, we've taken this step."
"Six-star Dou Zong already?" Xiao Yan sensed the powerful aura emanating from Su Zhang. The improvement in Dou Qi was secondary; what was more important was that Xiao Yan felt Su Zhang's soul power had become pure and vast. For alchemists, soul power was the foundation of their existence. Su Zhang's enlightenment in one go had been a great benefit, and becoming a seventh-grade alchemist should be a natural progression for him.
"Congratulations on your successful advancement, teacher," Xu Yingwu said, bowing.
Su Zhang looked at Xu Yingwu and Xiao Yan standing outside the door with deep emotion, then said to Xu Yingwu, "Yingwu, wait outside for a moment, Xiao Yan and I have something to discuss."
After saying that, Su Zhang pulled Xiao Yan into the room, leaving Xu Yingwu, who looked bewildered, watching Xiao Yan being dragged away.
Xu Yingwu paced around the door twice, clapping his fists together, his blank expression turning into a determined one: "That's it, Teacher probably means that I didn't come to see Brother Xiao Yan early enough. Teacher is reminding me to ask questions as early as possible. Yes, yes, it seems I still can't wait until dawn tomorrow."
Xiao Yan had no idea how much trouble Su Zhang's casual actions had caused him, because he saw Su Zhang crying like a child.
"Your Excellency, Su Zhang has received your teachings, and even in death I cannot repay your kindness."
The old doctor looked at the excited Su Zhang with a sigh, never expecting him to be such a sentimental person.
"You studied my records and achieved your own path in alchemy, which can be considered as inheriting my mantle. Su Zhang, I only have one disciple in my life, Xiao Yan." Yao Lao paused here. Only Xiao Yan knew how important Han Feng was to Yao Lao, and how much Yao Lao regretted it.
"Would you be willing to become my disciple?" the old medicine master asked solemnly.
Su Zhang was taken aback at first, then his face lit up with ecstatic joy as he kowtowed and said, "Disciple Su Zhang greets Master!"
Su Zhang's fate was entirely changed by Yao Lao. The Pill Tower's selection of disciples was not without reason; he possessed an exceptionally high sensitivity to medicinal herbs, otherwise he wouldn't have been chosen as a disciple for alchemy. However, he severely lacked innovation, which is why the Pill Tower hadn't nurtured him extensively. Yao Lao's appearance, however, completely showed him a clear path. Therefore, even decades later, he still felt boundless gratitude and admiration for Yao Lao. For Yao Lao to agree to accept him as a disciple was something he had never even dared to dream of.
"You've taken my notes first, which means you've started learning. From now on, Xiao Yan will have to call you Senior Brother."
Although it was impolite for Yao Lao to do this, Xiao Yan accepted it naturally because of his age.
"Senior Brother," Xiao Yan bowed to Su Zhang.
Su Zhang's face was full of smiles. "Junior brother, there's no need for such formalities. This is Su Mu Ling Yu. Wearing it can enhance the wood attribute and increase your pill-forming rate. Consider it a small gift for our first meeting."
The moment the Su Mu Ling Jade arrived in Xiao Yan's hands, he felt an intense, almost gushing, flow of wood-attribute energy. All alchemists possess fire attribute with a touch of wood attribute, but since fire is the primary element, a weak wood attribute often affects the pill-forming process. Now, with this jade, Xiao Yan can almost no longer worry about the wood attribute issue.
"Senior brother, this is too precious, I cannot accept it," Xiao Yan said sincerely.
"Hey, just accept this from your senior brother. You and the teacher have suffered so much. If your senior brother doesn't show some appreciation, this guilt will probably affect him for the rest of his life."
Upon hearing this, Xiao Yan smiled and nodded, saying, "Then thank you very much, Senior Brother."
Su Zhang pushed open the door and said to Xu Yingwu, who was guarding outside, "Yingwu, come here quickly. From now on, Xiao Yan will be your uncle. Come and pay your respects."
"Huh?" Xu Yingwu scratched his head in confusion, as he clearly remembered that it wasn't like this just now.
However, he could not disobey his master's orders, so Xu Yingwu respectfully said, "Xu Yingwu greets his martial uncle."
Xiao Yan also looked helpless. "Brother Xu, from now on, we'll address each other as we would our own terms. You call me Martial Uncle, and I'll call you Brother Yingwu."