On the day of the Alchemy Grand Assembly, Ruan Se woke up earlier than usual.
She changed into a clean blue long dress, and at the end of the silver chain tied around her waist, she had added a small Storage Bag.
Once everything was ready, she walked to the door of Lai Li’an’s room, raised her hand to knock, but the door was pushed open from the inside.
Lai Li’an stood at the door, the mask on his face covering the upper half of his face from the bridge of his nose, leaving only his sharply defined jawline exposed.
He saw the slight surprise on Ruan Se’s face, and the corner of his mouth curled up.
“What, only you are allowed to go see the sights, but I am not allowed to go watch the excitement?”
Ruan Se was silent for a moment, then said coldly,
“Senior, today Yunze Market is teeming with forces from all sides. The Enforcement Hall has more than three times the usual manpower. Although your face is mostly covered, your build, aura, and cultivation level are all there. What if someone recognizes you…”
“It’s been so long already,” Lai Li’an adjusted his mask nonchalantly.
“Besides the Enforcement Hall, who would keep fixated on a rogue cultivator like me? And besides, aren’t I wearing this on my face? If you don’t tell and I don’t tell, who will know who I am?”
Still full of holes.
Ruan Se looked at him, a hint of helplessness flashing in her eyes.
She knew she couldn’t stop him, and let out a light sigh, tacitly agreeing.
Lai Li’an hadn’t told her that he had been invited to be a judge.
But to be honest, he was very curious to see what expression would appear on those usually cold and self-possessed eyes when Ruan Se saw him from the audience.
Just thinking about it was interesting.
In the courtyard, the White Crane was ready to depart.
Ruan Se lightly leaped onto the crane’s back, her blue skirt tracing a beautiful arc in the air.
She turned her head to look at Lai Li’an, who was still standing under the eaves.
As if suddenly remembering something, she tilted her head slightly.
“Senior, when do you plan to go?”
Lai Li’an’s expression froze slightly.
He cleared his throat.
“I think your crane is quite impressive. How about…”
Ruan Se almost immediately understood what he meant.
“No. Senior, go by yourself. My White Crane is wary of strangers and won’t carry anyone else.”
Lai Li’an couldn’t very well say he didn’t know how to fly.
He coughed dryly, put on a stern face, and waved his hand seriously.
“Forget it, forget it. I’ll come later. You go first, no need to wait.”
Ruan Se gave him a look, then gently patted the side of the White Crane’s neck.
The White Crane let out a clear cry, spread its wings and took off.
In no time, it carried her over the treetops of the old locust tree and disappeared into the morning light.
Lai Li’an stood there, watching the direction where the person and the crane had gone, the corner of his mouth twitching.
‘This girl is far worse than Su Wan’er.’
‘If Su Wan’er were here, she would have let him ride on her flying sword without a second thought.’
He dejectedly adjusted his mask and walked out of the courtyard gate.
On this day, every blue stone slab in Yunze Market seemed to be vibrating slightly.
From dawn onwards, there was no end of escape lights in the sky.
Streams of various colors flashed over the market, and the sounds of sword hums rose and fell one after another.
The east city gates were wide open.
Hundreds of cultivators wearing various sect uniforms filed in.
The shops on both sides of the main street had all taken down their usual shop signs and replaced them with uniform vermilion banners, embroidered with the four big characters “Cangwu Alchemy Gathering.”
Every inn had hung out a wooden sign saying “No Vacancy.”
The rogue cultivators who arrived late could only sit cross-legged in the square, waiting for the assembly to begin.
This was the busiest day in Yunze Market in a hundred years.
***
“Damn it, why is this place so far away?”
Lai Li’an supported himself on his knees, panting heavily as he looked up.
The seemingly endless staircase still wound through the clouds and mist, with no end in sight.
He had been climbing for almost half an hour and had only covered a little more than half the distance.
From time to time, cultivators flew past on swords or rode leisurely on various flying spirit beasts, looking straight ahead without even deigning to glance at him.
‘I swear that after the Alchemy Grand Assembly, I will definitely learn to fly.’
Fortunately, there were not a few rogue cultivators walking on foot like him.
As he was panting and moving upward, a cultivator with a pointed mouth and monkey-like cheeks sidled up to him without a sound.
“Fellow Daoist, are you also here to attend the Alchemy Grand Assembly?”
Lai Li’an turned his head to look at him, nodded slightly, and didn’t say much.
That cultivator immediately perked up, looked around, lowered his voice, and pulled a thin booklet from his sleeve.
He opened the booklet to one corner and brought it close to Lai Li’an’s eyes, saying mysteriously,
“Fellow Daoist, look, for us to meet on the same step must be fate. I have here an ancient relic, obtained from the cave dwelling of a fallen rogue cultivator grandmaster. The pill recipes recorded inside—if you can refine even one, it will be enough to astonish the entire assembly. Today, meeting you is fate. I won’t ask for thousands or tens of thousands—only three hundred spirit stones, and this peerless pill recipe is yours! Three hundred spirit stones—you can’t lose money or be cheated, but you can buy a chance to make a name for yourself!”
‘Ancient relic, three hundred spirit stones.’
Lai Li’an sneered inwardly.
In other areas, he might be a half-baked amateur, but in the Dao of Alchemy, the “Eternal Alchemy Divine Scripture” in his mind was a genuine heavenly-grade pill scripture.
He could tell at a glance whether a pill recipe was real or fake.
His eyes swept over the page of the pill recipe that the other had opened.
He understood in his heart and let out a cold laugh.
‘If some greenhorn actually tried to refine according to this pill recipe, at best the furnace would explode and the ingredients would be ruined; at worst, their meridians would be damaged, and they’d have to lie in bed for at least ten days to half a month.’
‘He really dares to make this up, and really dares to sell it.’
Lai Li’an moved his gaze from the booklet and waved his hand politely.
“No need, I trust my own strength.”
After speaking, he turned and quickened his pace up the stairs.
That cultivator froze for a moment, as if he hadn’t expected such a blunt refusal.
He took two steps to follow and wanted to say something more, but Lai Li’an’s pace was even faster, and within a few steps he had mixed into a group of rogue cultivators ahead.
After he had gone far, that cultivator indeed found a new target.
Spittle flying everywhere, his boasts became more and more exaggerated, and he started bragging that “the pill refined from this recipe can allow someone to directly break through from Foundation Establishment to Golden Core.”
The young rogue cultivator who was targeted had eyes that grew wider and wider, and his hand was already reaching toward the spirit stone pouch at his waist.
Lai Li’an glanced over from a distance and didn’t linger.
Cutting off someone’s path to wealth is like killing their parents.
This man was clearly a long-time con artist who drifted between various markets, and there might be accomplices behind him.
If he was exposed publicly and flew into a rage, calling a few people to surround him, although Lai Li’an was not afraid, it would be asking for trouble on the eve of the Alchemy Grand Assembly.
He turned around and was about to step onto the next stair when suddenly a loud shout came from behind him.
“Stop right there!”
Lai Li’an turned around and saw a young man in his twenties pushing through the crowd, grabbing the wrist of the cultivator who was collecting money.
The young man was wearing a set of washed-out cloth clothes, the cuffs a bit frayed, not looking like a disciple of any major sect.
In front of the circle of watching cultivators, he began to point out the flaws in that pill recipe one by one.
Every point was well-reasoned and clearly laid out.
The surrounding cultivators listened and grew more alarmed, and some had already started shouting for the Enforcement Hall.
The con artist’s composure finally shattered layer by layer.
He tried to argue, but every detail the other said was so precise that he had no way to refute it.
He fiercely shook off the young man’s hand.
Not even daring to pick up the booklet that had fallen to the ground, he turned and pushed through the crowd, slinking away down the descending stairs.
A round of applause broke out around him.
Lai Li’an stood on a few higher steps and casually glanced at the System Panel.
[Shao Jiao, Foundation Establishment Middle Stage, Middle-grade Fire Spirit Root]
He raised an eyebrow slightly.
‘An acquaintance. But I heard that the Wuyue Sect is a small, insignificant sect. It’s a miracle they could train an alchemist of this level.’
‘A Middle-grade Fire Spirit Root is not advantageous in the Dao of Alchemy. Control of the fire is extremely dependent on the quality of the spirit root. To be able to reach a level that even Ruan Se is wary of under such innate conditions—that is definitely not luck.’
‘Even more rare is that he could have minded his own business, but he was willing to stand up for a complete stranger, and he debunked the scam with solid reasoning. He clearly did his homework and is not acting on impulse.’
‘Given time, if he encounters a better opportunity, this kid’s future will be limitless.’
‘But unfortunately, he is Ruan Se’s opponent.’
Lai Li’an gently shook his head, withdrew his gaze, and turned to leave.
Then, out of the corner of his eye, he saw that there was someone behind Shao Jiao who hadn’t been there before.
That person was wrapped in a cloak, tall and imposing.
The hood of the cloak was pulled down extremely low, his face completely hidden in the shadows.
He stretched out one hand, grabbed Shao Jiao’s arm, and pulled Shao Jiao in another direction.
Lai Li’an’s steps froze.
He subconsciously took another glance at the system panel.
[Yin Wuji, Early Golden Core, High-grade Gold Spirit Root]
‘Wait? Who?’