Everyone gasped in shock after hearing the elder’s invitation.

“Elder, thank you for your consideration, but I don’t know anything about the Dao of Alchemy.” Zhao Fan replied calmly. In reality, his heart was beating so quickly that he could hear it in his ears. A Core Condensation expert asked him to become his disciple!

“Little friend, if you already have a master, say that. Do you think I, Sun Chen, am a fool? If you don’t have any achievements in alchemy, doesn’t that mean I am even worse than trash? You discerned the errors in Zheng Luo’s techniques and predicted that the pills would become unstable and fail before they did!” The elder’s hopeful face went a bit rigid. Zhao Fan didn’t want to become his disciple.

The crowd’s gaze changed at a moment’s notice. Now that the elder explained it in simple terms, it was easy to see how shocking the young man was. To notice the mixed pills was impressive but might have relied on luck. However, predicting that pills would crumble just from watching the skill used to make them once was on another level. Even a Master Alchemist might not dare to claim to be able to do so!

Of course, this didn’t concern Zhao Fan.

“What horsecrap, how would I not notice it if it’s me who made them break apart in the first place!” Hei Long laughed internally. Zhao Fan felt a little unresolved about letting Hei Long use this method of cheating to swoon Yun Tian, but Zheng Luo’s character was not to his liking either. As for the process itself, it was not difficult at all. Hei Long casually manipulated the insides of the pills to slowly crack while he ground away at them with the use of the mysterious energy.

On the other hand, Yun Tian stood silently to the side with a bleak expression. If the youth even denied the elder’s invitation, how could he have enough status to be accepted as a disciple?

Under the astonished crowd’s gaze, Zhao Fan retained his calm composure and focused his eyes on Yun Tian.

“Yun Tian, I’m impressed by your skill. Do you want to become my disciple?”

Yun Tian’s face contorted in shock, but he didn’t hesitate. He dropped down to his knees, giving three kowtows in Zhao Fan’s direction while hitting his forehead heavily on the ground.

“Master, disciple greets you!” Yun Tian yelled loudly with tears in his eyes.

“I have made it! I finally have a shot at fully repaying the debt my father left!” His previous boisterous attitude crumbled. All that was left was gratitude and hope.

Elder Sun felt angry but couldn’t do anything as Zhao Fan moved too fast, leaving no room for him to compromise. As the saying goes, the early bird gets the worm. If Zhao Fan hesitated in snatching Yun Tian, then the elder would have!

“Let’s leave. Also, ask that idiot to pay you the bet later. I don’t think he’s in the best condition right now.” Zhao Fan smiled.

“Y-yes, master, I shall follow you!” Yun Tian jumped up and quickly hurried to catch up to Zhao Fan. They both headed out of the dueling hall before arriving at the main area where the clerks were. Zhao Fan, or more accurately Hei Long, remembered something and went up to the clerk to buy some materials.

“Master, are you going to make Qi Gathering pills?” Yun Tian felt puzzled. However, he quickly realized that even the most basic pills had potential. For example, maybe Zhao Fan would show him how to create mixed-pills!

“Yes,” Zhao Fan replied bluntly. However, this didn’t stop Yun Tian from feeling excited and expectant.

After they brought a few sets of materials, the duo left. Unexpectedly, Hei Long’s next destination was the Formations Guild.

“I want something to introduce me to formations and some necessary tools.” Zhao Fan spoke to the female clerk. Yun Tian wore a dumbfounded expression but restrained from asking any questions.

“Sure, we have a few copies of the “Introduction to Formations” book created by our founder. I recommend buying a few Dark Earth spiritual steel plates to go along with the formations in the book.”

“Perfect, I’ll take the book and twenty plates.” Zhao Fan replied. The clerk got sent into a daze. Why did the youth need twenty plates? Did he not know that it was not easy to damage the Dark earth steel?

“Okay, that will cost one hundred twenty spirit stones.”

Zhao Fan took out his money pouch and carefully counted out a hundred and twenty shining pearls. It was a tedious process to take out and count so many pearls, especially for bigger deals, but it wasn’t a huge deal.

“Sir, have you heard of mid-rank Spirit Stones?” The clerk saw the slightly troubled look on Zhao Fan’s face.

“There are different types of Spirit Stones?” Zhao Fan was surprised, which caused the clerk to laugh.

“Of course! One mid-rank spirit stone is worth one hundred low-rank spirit stones.” She explained.

Mid-rank spirit stones? Does that imply that there are high-rank spirit stones as well?

“Yes, one high-level spirit stone is worth one hundred mid-rank spirit stones or ten thousand low-rank spirit stones” The woman easily guessed his next question.

“Here, do you want me to exchange your low-rank spirit stones for mid-rank?” She offered.

Zhao Fan’s face lit up. If it would be much easier for him to trade in the future, why would he deny it? Just as he was about to agree, his smile froze.

“Could you let me see a mid-rank spirit stone first?”

The clerk chuckled and handed him what looked like a larger low-rank spirit stone.

“Young man, don’t worry. Prestigious guilds like ours wouldn’t tarnish our name for a quick buck.” She realized that the youth in front of her was much more clever than he seemed. If he hadn’t heard of mid-rank spirit stones before, it was a real possibility that he could be getting scammed by the one informing him. As the saying goes, the ignorant are fearless. They wouldn’t doubt information given to them, only realizing once they lost half their fortune!

Zhao Fan quickly ascertained that what the clerk spoke was the truth. It was easy for him, who could control the strange energy and observe much more than the average cultivator, to tell that the middle-rank stone had one hundred times the qi than that of the low-rank stone.

He handed the mid-rank stone back with a bag of low-rank spirit stones to the clerk, who went into an adjacent room. In a couple of moments, she exited the room and handed Zhao Fan his bag.

“Here, fourteen mid-rank spirit stones and fifty-six low-rank spirit stones. I already deducted the price.” In her other hand, she held a bag with the items.

As he exited the guild, Yun Tian remained silent and followed. Next, the two arrived at the warehouse. Some workers who were on standby quickly went up to greet Zhao Fan.

“Young Master Zhao, we finished cleaning everything recently. Please inspect the work to your satisfaction.” A burly man explained to him politely. Zhao Fan nodded and circled the warehouse before going inside.

“Good job. I will tell my father to contact you once I need your help” He was pleased to see the whole place, which looked like a jungle before, now clean. Inside, the warehouse was spotless and even smelled nice. The workers gave it their all to ensure they would continue getting paid.

The group of men all quickly left, leaving Zhao Fan and Yun Tian alone.

“Yun Tian, when I said I was not decided on the path of alchemy, I wasn’t lying to you. I don’t have any accomplishments in alchemy.”

“Stop being so humble. I believe with your skills at such a young age, even the best alchemists in the city would bow their heads,” Yun Tian hurried to dismiss what he said.

Zhao Fan’s face didn’t change expression.

“The only reason I could tell the pill was crumbling was because of an underhanded method. As for the mixed pill, it was also a fluke. I’m not lying to you. I really am just a normal person.”

“That can’t be, then why-?” The white-haired youth’s eyes went wide open as he realized Zhao Fan was not joking.

“Listen, I can tell you are a prideful person even if your circumstances are bad. I believe you will at least listen to your master before deciding.” Zhao Fan said plainly.

“...”

“Now that you are my disciple, even if you were to leave, that old man will never accept returned goods. Neither will anyone else, considering that would be offending him.” Yun Tian’s face darkened.

“Your only option is to either follow me or move to a different city where you can become someone else’s disciple.”

“...”

Yun Tian remained silent but was feeling anger rising in his heart.

“It isn’t hard to infer that you can’t leave the city. So you only have one option. Still, I am benevolent and will leave you a way out. If you leave now, I will give you five-hundred spirit stones on top of what Zheng Luo owes you. These stones will help you decide what you want to do and get you back on your feet.”

“What’s the other option?” Yun Tian swallowed back the anger and thought about his next course of action. The thought of beating Zhao Fan occurred in his mind, but he realized that someone with so much money and even workers under him probably had an impressive background. Even if he was impulsive, he was not so stupid to offend another power.

“I already said, you continue following me. Even if you are my disciple, that doesn’t mean anything to me.” Zhao Fan said in a monotone voice.

“However, if you choose to remain now, you will follow me for the rest of your life!”

Yun Tian felt a force land on his shoulders, suppressing him from moving as the youth’s voice echoed in the empty warehouse.