Dan Jun was not only hailed as the number one alchemist of the Tianxuan Continent, but he was also an expert of the Grotto-Heaven sixth realm. His identity and status were of peerless nobility!
To be able to take Dan Jun as one's master and even become the next Alchemy Tower Master—this was absolutely a blessing any young man across the Tianxuan Continent dreamed of!
For a moment, every young person in the plaza gazed at Ye Yunfei with looks of utter envy and jealousy.
Even those of the older generation were extremely envious.
"Haha, Dan Jun actually wants to take Master Liuyun as his disciple!" Lu Dachong exclaimed with a hearty laugh. "This is truly a carp leaping through the Dragon Gate, soaring straight to the heavens for Master Liuyun!"
Given his relationship with Master Liuyun, once the Master became Dan Jun's disciple, and especially later when he became the Alchemy Tower Master, the White Tiger Gang would be leaning against a giant tree, reaping endless benefits!
Just as everyone believed Master Liuyun would certainly agree...
"You wish to take me as your disciple?" Ye Yunfei asked with a light laugh.
"Yes," Dan Jun nodded.
"Let me be honest with you," Ye Yunfei said blandly. "You aren't qualified to take me as your disciple."
A mere Fourth-Grade Treasure Pill Master wanting to take an Alchemy Venerable as a disciple—what kind of joke was this?
What?!
Dan Jun wasn't qualified to take him as a disciple?
Ye Yunfei's words caused everyone in the plaza to freeze in disbelief.
"Young man, your arrogance has gone a bit too far!" Dan Jun's face revealed displeasure.
"You have been in seclusion, trying to break through to Fifth-Grade Treasure Pill Master," Ye Yunfei said, staring at Dan Jun. "I imagine you've gained many insights, even suspecting you have already become one. However, I tell you, you can only be considered a pseudo Fifth-Grade Treasure Pill Master, not yet a true one."
As an Alchemy Venerable, Ye Yunfei could sense the aura of the pill flames within Dan Jun's body, allowing him to deduce the man's current alchemy level. The pill flames of an alchemist matched their skill.
Hearing this, Dan Jun shuddered violently, staring at Ye Yunfei with incredulous eyes.
"How did you know?" Dan Jun asked, word by word.
"Do you wish to know why you still cannot be considered a true Fifth-Grade Treasure Pill Master?" Ye Yunfei smiled.
"Why?"
"Simple," Ye Yunfei said. "It's not a lack of talent. You lack opportunities for practical refinement. I imagine Fourth-Grade herbs are already quite precious within the Alchemy Tower. As for Fifth-Grade herbs, even if you have them, they are extremely rare. You certainly wouldn't be willing to use Fifth-Grade herbs for mere practice. Therefore, you can only seclude yourself in meditation, blindly deducing the realm of the Fifth-Grade Treasure Pill Master. Even if you've deduced and understood some insights regarding this realm, it remains theoretical—you cannot be considered a true Fifth-Grade Treasure Pill Master."
"You speak the truth," Dan Jun answered with a sigh after a moment's silence.
"Do you wish to know how true Fifth-Grade Treasure Pills are refined?" Ye Yunfei said suddenly. "I can demonstrate for you."
"How would you demonstrate? Do you possess Fifth-Grade herbs? Impossible!" Dan Jun was startled at first, then shook his head.
"Who said you need Fifth-Grade herbs to demonstrate? Watch carefully."
Ye Yunfei pointed a finger, and roaring flames ignited once more within the Chaos Cauldron before him.
"Five Elements essence, enter my cauldron!"
With a soft shout, Ye Yunfei stamped his foot. Boom... The earth rumbled. Then, under the astonished gazes of the crowd, streams of differently colored Five Elements energy surged up from the ground across a thousand li and fell into the Chaos Cauldron.
Back at Tianyuan Sect, Ye Yunfei had once borrowed the earth's Five Elements energy to forge swords. With his current cultivation, executing this technique again came even more naturally.
"Solar and Lunar Essence, Star Radiance, enter my cauldron!"
Forming several hand seals, Ye Yunfei pointed at the sky and uttered another soft shout. Rustling... From the Nine Heavens, waves of brilliant light poured down—Solar Essence, Lunar Essence, Star Radiance—all flowing into the pill cauldron.
"Essence of flowers, grass, trees, and plants, enter my cauldron!"
Forming a few more seals, Ye Yunfei pointed around the plaza. Whooosh... Within a radius of a hundred li around the plaza, all flowers, grass, trees, and plants rapidly withered at a visible speed as their life force was swiftly extracted, converging in a continuous stream toward the Chaos Cauldron.
"What is Master Liuyun doing? Performing magic tricks? This is amazing!"
"This is no trick! Being able to summon the Five Elements essence, Solar and Lunar Essence, Star Radiance, and the life force of flora... this is divine art! The means of an immortal!"
Watching Ye Yunfei's miraculous display, everyone in the plaza was utterly shocked and cried out in amazement.
"Refine!"
Lightly pressing his hands toward the Chaos Cauldron before him, Ye Yunfei gave a soft shout. Rumble... Thunderous roars erupted from within the Chaos Cauldron.
Then, Ye Yunfei began applying all kinds of profound alchemy techniques to the cauldron, his movements as fast as lightning, dazzling to the eye.
"These are indeed the techniques for refining Fifth-Grade Treasure Pills!" Dan Jun could not help but shudder violently, his eyes surging with wild joy.
He stared fixedly at Ye Yunfei's every step, every movement, not daring to blink.
And the more he watched, the more excited he became.
"So that's how it is!"
"I understand now!"
"Marvelous! Simply marvelous!"
...
Dan Jun watched as if intoxicated, utterly immersed in the alchemy techniques Ye Yunfei was demonstrating for him. Many difficult and puzzling points he had struggled to comprehend before now suddenly became clear. It felt like clouds parting to reveal the blue sky!
However, within the entire plaza, only Dan Jun alone could truly comprehend the alchemy techniques Ye Yunfei was demonstrating. The other alchemists, even including the Alchemy Tower Master and several elders, watched in a dazed stupor. They knew the techniques must be extremely profound since even Dan Jun was exclaiming in praise, but they simply could not grasp the critical nuances. As for the Tower's ordinary disciples, it went without saying!
"He is so young, yet his alchemy skills are this advanced," Xiao Chuchu thought, her beautiful eyes fixed unblinkingly on Ye Yunfei, a faint sense of defeat growing within her. "Perhaps he is more qualified than I am to become Dan Jun's disciple."
"Wait!" Xiao Chuchu's delicate frame trembled as she suddenly realized something. "That benefactor who used Sound Transmission to guide me in refining that Second-Grade Treasure Pill earlier... I never knew who they were. Could it be... him! Only he would possess such ability! Yes, it must be him! But why would he help me? Could it be..."
She couldn't help but lightly bite her silver teeth as her gaze towards Ye Yunfei began to shimmer with a strange light.
"Pills Complete!"
After a little less than half an hour, Ye Yunfei uttered a soft shout.
Swoosh! Swoosh!...
Ten dazzling orbs of light shot up from the pill cauldron, hovering before Ye Yunfei. They were ten illusory treasure pills, radiant and dazzling to the extreme.
The highest realm of alchemy took the universe as the cauldron, all living beings as the herbs, and the laws of the Great Dao as the flames! Within the vast sea of stars, there were once supreme alchemists who refined entire planets, including all life upon them, into a single pill. Of course, such a method was excessively cruel, the work only of vicious-tempered alchemists.
Ye Yunfei's current strength was still far too weak to achieve the realm of using the universe as a cauldron, all beings as herbs, and the Dao as flames. He could only perform a small-scale simulation and demonstration.
"Did you see clearly?" Ye Yunfei asked Dan Jun, his gaze calm.
"I saw clearly!" Dan Jun replied, bowing deeply towards Ye Yunfei. "Master Liuyun, thank you for demonstrating such a profound and wondrous alchemy technique. It has enlightened me immensely, benefiting me beyond measure. Your pill arts surpass mine by untold heights! What I said earlier about taking you as a disciple was ignorant and presumptuous. In truth, you are qualified to be my master. Please accept my bow!"
The entire plaza fell into absolute silence once again.
Everyone was shaken to the extreme.
Hadn't Dan Jun wanted to take a disciple just moments ago? Why did it now seem like he was the one trying to acknowledge a master instead?