9 Hitting The Road (1/2)

|Yao Lao's POV|

What is this? Today, Xiao Yan had an argument with his little 'girlfriend'. Then, he came to me in a hurry to learn alchemy from me. He forced me to help him choose a cauldron to buy (with his Xun Er's money by the way, lol). He made me help him pick herbs to refine pills.

All along, I advised against it but he insisted. And to my shock, he was a natural genius! I'm not certain yet, but I am almost 100% sure! Although he failed a couple of times in the beginning, all alchemists do that.

Then the Yang brat decided to try. And I discovered that he had talent equivalent to, if not greater than Xiao Yan's! What was going on today? Have the Heavens finally avenged me by giving me two heavenly talents as students? As if it were making up for the first rotten apple I had?

Although Xiao Yan had a head start, both managed to successfully refine the Blood Clotting Grass at the same time. It wasn't that Xiao Yan was less talented. It was that he was feeling pressured by the addition of Yang Lei and the fight he had with Xun Er.

After they had repeated this process many times, I told them to switch to the other two herbs: the Poppy Flowers and Lively Fruit. Surprisingly, the two of them were able to learn from their mistakes so quickly!

What is this? Why are the Heavens so unfair? It wasn't so easy for me back then! In just an hour or so, they have finished refining so much of the three herbs!

”All of the required ingredients have been refined, now you need to fuse their medical abilities. This is the most important step in alchemy,” I sighed.

Although Xiao Yan ran into a minor problem when he was fusing the Lively Fruit kernel with the other two, he ultimately succeeded and both he and Yang Lei succeeded on their first try in alchemy!

|3rd Person POV|

”Nice job,” Xiao Yan nodded and fist-bumped with Yang Lei. It seemed as if his mood had improved.

”Thanks. You did great too,” Yang Lei replied. He looked at Xiao Yan carefully. He was concerned that he was still emotionally unstable.

”I've been thinking of going to the Magic Beast Mountain Range to train a little?” Xiao Yan looked at Yang Lei for permission. He wanted to vent his emotions on the beasts there.

”Hmm… Alright,” Yang Lei nodded. He also wanted to get some combat experience. As a young master of the Yang Clan, he was always protected. Not anymore… in this world, there was no more protection!

”We'll go only to the outer periphery, where there will be Rank 1 Magical Beasts there. Equivalent to a Dou Zhe.”

”Uh, you'll be relying on me?” Yang Lei was surprised. Did he have to carry two goddesses and one brat?

”No, just for protection until I break through to Dou Zhe…” Xiao Yan felt embarrassed. He needed to breakthrough as quickly as possible!

”Sure,” Yang Lei agreed. They decided to set out tomorrow for the Magical Beast Mountain Range. Meanwhile, they quickly began to cultivate…

”Bang!” Xiao Yan broke through first. Before he had met Yang Lei, he had already been close to a breakthrough. Now, with the strong drive for strength, he had quickly broken through.

”Boom!” Shortly after Xiao Yan's breakthrough, Yang Lei experienced the same thing. His cultivation was now at the 6th stage of Martial Novice! This worlds also had 9 stages for each realm, but were called stars instead. Therefore, Yang Lei was now equivalent to a 6-star Dou Zhe.

They laughed and congratulated each other. They decided to have a gentle spar- without weapons of course. Yang Lei suppressed his cultivation to have a fair fight with Xiao Yan. After a long sweaty fight, Yang Lei and Xiao Yan declared a draw. There was no benefit in dragging out the fight.

Exhausted, they fell onto the floor and fell asleep. Yao Lao sighed and decided to watch over them.

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The next day, Xiao Yan dropped by his father and told him about his departure. Although he was reluctant at first, the Xiao Clan Lord finally wished them luck and sent them off.

”Wow, your father's pretty nice!” Yang Lei gave his brother a thumbs-up.

”Yeah,” Xiao Yan smiled. He thought about his mother and shook his head.

Sensing something wrong, Yang Lei asked, ”What about your mother?”

”She died,” Xiao Yan let out a heavy breath as he took out the black ring that Yao Lao resided in.

”That ring. It was hers?” Yang Lei asked. He noticed that Xiao Yan treasured the black ring greatly.

”Yep,” Xiao Yan nodded. He looked at Yang Lei and said, ”What about your mom? You've told me about your dad and brother, but not about your mom.”

”Ah, she's… gone. She was forced to leave after she gave birth to my younger brother, Yang Xin. I've never seen her face…” Yang Lei shook his head.

”That's deep, bro…” The two youths deepened their friendship as they slowly made their way to the dangerous Magic Beasts Mountain Range.

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