Translator: Atlas Studios Editor: Atlas Studios

At this moment, there was no longer a smile on Xu Luochen’s face.

He couldn’t smile anymore.

His face was even a little stiff.

“Senior Brother Luochen?”

Seeing that Xu Luochen didn’t speak for a long time, Ye Ping couldn’t help but speak up, seeming a little curious.

‘Damn!’

‘Damn!’

‘Damn!’

Xu Luochen snapped back to his senses.

He was at a complete loss for words.

‘This thing can be refined for real?’

At this moment, Xu Luochen felt that his eyes were playing tricks on him.

However, everything seemed so real.

‘This is so damned absurd.’

Xu Luochen really didn’t know what to say.

‘This method can also be used to refine pills?’

‘Are you kidding me?’

At first, Xu Luochen really felt that Ye Ping was lying to him, but after witnessing that scene, he couldn’t continue with the lie.

‘Little Junior Brother is a peerless alchemical prodigy.’

‘No, he’s not just a genius in alchemy, he’s an invincible alchemical prodigy.’

‘Gathering spiritual energy and forming pills.’

‘This is a godly power.’

‘Let me calm down.’

‘Let me think about how to continue fabricating.’

‘How do I do it?’

‘How do I do it?’

‘What can I make up?’

After thinking about it, Xu Luochen really did not know how to make it up.

‘He managed to learn such an absurd alchemical technique too?’

‘If other alchemists see this, they’ll vie for Ye Ping, won’t they?’

While Xu Luochen was thinking about it incessantly, Ye Ping’s voice sounded again.

“Senior Brother Luochen, I understand that I’m not qualified because I can’t refine a complete pill, but please don’t worry, I will work hard and atone for my shortcomings. I won’t be negligent.”

Ye Ping said.

He felt that he definitely didn’t meet the standards to qualify since he refined an incomplete pill.

However, Ye Ping was confident in himself because he had at least succeeded on the first try and that was much easier than comprehending the sword mark.

‘Seems like I have some talent in alchemy.’

However, those words were strangely harsh when Xu Luochen heard them.

‘Make up for your shortcomings?’

‘Are you saying that to me?’

‘Are you looking down on me?’

Xu Luochen was upset.

He was frustrated.

He really wanted to be alone.

“Little Junior Brother, the fact that you managed to refine a pill is already wonderful. It might be a failure, but your aptitude is not bad. Work hard, I have high hopes for you.”

Xu Luochen wanted to force himself to smile.

However, he somehow couldn’t bring himself to smile.

It was as if he had lost the ability to smile.

Hence, he looked a little bizarre.

“Really? Senior Brother, you’re not lying to me, right?”

When Ye Ping heard what Xu Luochen said again, he couldn’t help but get excited.

After all, with poor talent in cultivation and the Sword Dao, it was hard for him to have something that he was good at. Naturally, Ye Ping couldn’t help but be excited.

‘Lie?’

‘I do want to lie to you.’

‘But I can’t.’

Xu Luochen was so upset that he really wanted to cry.

He didn’t know how to keep up with the lie.

‘Gathering spiritual energy and forming pills.’

Spotless pill.

‘He can learn such an absurd ability?’

“No, I’m not lying to you, Junior Brother Ye, study hard during this period of time. Aim to produce a complete pill. By then, I’ll let your other Senior Brothers and Senior Sisters teach you other tricks.”

Xu Luochen did not want to stay there anymore and just wanted to leave now. He felt really uncomfortable and wanted to have some time alone to cry his heart out.

“Thank you, Senior Brother Luochen, I will definitely work hard.”

Ye Ping thanked him with a bow.

There was finally something Ye Ping was good at. He was obviously overjoyed.

Just like that, Xu Luochen left.

He wandered alone aimlessly in the Qingyun Dao Sect like a ghost.

Along the way, he took out the ‘Basic Alchemy’ book from his arms.

There were tears in his eyes.

“Ten years! Ten years! I have learned the art of alchemy for ten years, but I can’t even refine the most basic pill. Yet, Little Junior Brother managed to refine a Spirit Gathering Pill in less than a month of learning!”

Xu Luochen muttered to himself, “Xu Luochen, Xu Luochen, how can you have the cheek to continue living in this world? I’d die if I were you.”

He had suffered a huge blow today.

The main reason was that he didn’t expect that a genius like Ye Ping would be from the Qingyun Dao Sect.

‘Oh, no, he’s a freak.’

‘He managed to learn a pill-refining technique that I made up?’

What kind of a genius must one be to do that?

Xu Luochen wanted to cry out loud, but he held his tears back in the end. He then tossed the ‘Basic Alchemy’ book aside, thinking that it’d be fine even if he didn’t refine it.

With a heavy heart, Xu Luochen tried hard to keep himself from crying.

As he stumbled into the main hall of the sect, the alchemy furnace appeared in front of him.

At this moment, Xu Luochen could not hold it in any longer.

Soon, the sound of howling filled the main hall and Xu Luochen burst into tears.

It was not that he wasn’t strong enough. In fact, he was already very strong.

Ever since he was old enough to remember things, he had already begun learning alchemy.

He studied lots of alchemical books and would taste medicinal herbs every now and then. In order to improve his skills in pill refining, he even almost put his life at risk.

Even after putting in hard work for decades, he ended up failing the alchemy exams time and time again.

That wasn’t all.

He didn’t expect a random Ye Ping to surpass him.

Anyone in his place would not be able to take such a blow.

Ten years of his hard work could not compare to one month’s worth of Ye Ping’s efforts.

He decided to forget it. Most importantly, Ye Ping was not only better at gaining an epiphany, the pill he refined was countless times better too.

Just like that, he continued all the way until late at night.

The sky was as dark as ink.

A figure appeared on the cliff of Qingyun Mountain.

It was Xu Luochen.

He was clad in a white robe that was fluttering loudly in the cold wind.

On the cliff, the wind was strong and cool, but his heart was even colder

At this moment, Xu Luochen suddenly thought of Su Changyu. He wanted to laugh calmly, but no matter how hard he tried, he could not smile.

He wanted to cry.

However, there were no more tears for him to cry.

On the cliff.

After a long time, Xu Luochen sat down cross-legged, and he took out a painting, which Ye Ping had painted for him.

After taking out the painting, Xu Luochen laid it on the ground and weighed it down with a stone before taking out a brush and grinding some ink.

He then started writing.

It was April.

It wasn’t Autumn yet, but it felt like winter to Xu Luochen.

He was filled with misery and sorrow. At this moment, he felt poetic.

“The snowflakes flutter, the north wind blows. It’s nothing but bleakness.”

Xu Luochen wrote those words on the painting.

That was the first line.

It was quite literary.

However, Xu Luochen soon fell silent.

After a while, he felt upset again because he couldn’t figure out what to write for the second line.

Perhaps because of his misery, Xu Luochen soon began to be casual with the poem.

“On the third day of April, the wind is warm but my heart is cold.”

“Standing alone on the cliff, I gaze at the bright moon quietly.”

“Who can understand my sorrow?”

‘No, no.’

Xu Luochen took a careful look at it but felt that the last line was missing a rhyme.

He then picked up his brush and wrote the last line.

“Only Senior Brother understands this moroseness.”

‘Ah, this is not bad.’

‘Not only does it allow me to express the sorrow in my heart, it gets Eldest Senior Brother involved too. The scene is right.’

‘Eldest Senior Brother would definitely be touched.’

Thinking of this, Xu Luochen’s mood became slightly better.

He wiped his tears that were about to fall before continuing to write.

“3rd of April—Xu Luochen.”

After doing that, Xu Luochen put the painting away.

‘When Eldest Senior Brother comes back, I’ll let him take a look.’

However, when it was nighttime, an inexplicable melancholy and sorrow surged in his heart for some reason.

It was much more unbearable than before.

“Only Senior Brother understands this moroseness.”

Xu Luochen muttered to himself.

He then gazed at the sky quietly.

He wanted to have some quiet time alone.

Under the cliff in Qingyun Dao Sect, Ye Ping’s third Senior Brother, Wang Zhuoyu, and Chen Lingrou, were quietly watching Xu Luochen.

“Third Senior Brother, why do Second Senior Brother and Eldest Senior Brother both like standing on the cliff alone?”

Chen Lingrou was chewing a cucumber with bewilderment in her watery eyes.

“I don’t know. Luochen usually likes copying your eldest Senior Brother. Does he think he’s very handsome?”

Wang Zhuoyu stood at the side and shook his hand.

“Seriously? When I saw Senior Brother Luochen today, he seemed to have cried. Surely it doesn’t have something to do with Little Junior Brother, right?”

Chen Lingrou felt that it was unlikely.

“Does it have something to do with Little Junior Brother? That’s strange. Little Junior Brother, is your aptitude really poor? Senior Brother Luochen has a mild temperament. Even he can’t stand Little Junior Brother, is that so?”

Wang Zhuoyu became even more curious.

“I don’t know, but more or less so, I guess. Third Senior Brother, why don’t you teach Little Junior Brother some array formations?”

Chen Lingrou asked.

“No, I’m about to take the array formation master exam. I won’t go for now. Why don’t we let the others go?”

Wang Zhuoyu shook his head. He was rather very busy recently, so he wouldn’t have time to teach Ye Ping.

“The rest have gone down the mountain for a long time. If you don’t go, why don’t I go look for Eldest Senior Sister?”

Chen Lingrou asked curiously.

“Eldest Senior Sister? Nah, Eldest Senior Brother might have the highest cultivation level among us, but Eldest Senior Sister likes doing strange things. Why don’t we let Senior Brother Luochen try hanging on for a while?”

Wang Zhuoyu said.

Ka-cha.

Chen Lingrou took another bite of cucumber and said, “I don’t mean anything else, I just think Senior Brother Luochen seems to be overwhelmed.”

“It’s up to you. If anything happens, you’ll be responsible anyway. It has nothing to do with me. Okay, go back early and get some rest.”

Wang Zhuoyu stretched his back and left.

Chen Lingrou was left alone to stare at Xu Luochen, deep in thought.

After an hour, Xu Luochen walked down from the cliff.

Chen Lingrou hadn’t left.

After seeing Xu Luochen, Chen Lingrou could not help but speak up.

“Senior Brother Luochen, you don’t have to feel bad. Master always says that those who like laughing are blessed. Don’t pull a long face, or you might become unlucky.”

Chen Lingrou comforted Xu Luochen.

The fatigued Xu Luochen glanced at Chen Lingrou and simply nodded without saying much.

‘Those who like laughing are blessed?’

‘If I pull a long face, I might become unlucky?’

He had already suffered such a huge blow.

He didn’t believe that he could encounter something even unluckier.

‘Am I going to get beaten up for no reason?’

At the thought of this, Xu Luochen blew out the lamp and fell asleep.

Just like that, a ray of the golden sunlight penetrated the darkness.

At the foot of the Qingyun Dao Sect, two figures appeared.