Chapter 4839 — Such a Big Mouth
The Blossom Guardian · Page 2 of 2
Absolute Success meant a hundred percent success rate in refinement—the realm nearly every alchemist pursued. Whether of high grade or low, it was an eternal, unchanging dream.
"Absolute Success?" It was the first time Wei Zhao had heard the term, but a moment's thought made it clear. With a perfectly ordinary expression, he said, "Oh, that. It is easy enough. What is so strange about it?"
"Easy?!" Qing Xuanzi gave such a start that he nearly bit off his own tongue, and stared at Wei Zhao as though at some freak of nature. "I said Absolute Success, mind you—how could that be easy? I have never seen a single alchemist achieve it. Aren't you afraid a strong wind will catch your tongue..."
Here Qing Xuanzi suddenly froze. The man was not boasting idly—he had genuinely achieved Absolute Success. What was as hard as climbing to heaven for himself might truly be child's play in this fellow's eyes.
Seeing Qing Xuanzi suddenly struck dumb and silent, everyone assumed he was once again scheming some way to squeeze the Hong Clan Chamber of Commerce. Even Wei Zhao thought so. But when they saw what Qing Xuanzi did next, they were all struck senseless.
Thud! Qing Xuanzi dropped to his knees before Wei Zhao, his expression turning incomparably grave and reverent. "Master above," he said solemnly, "please accept your disciple!"
"What is this? What is going on here?" Not only Wei Zhao but Chai Laoshi, Steward Hao—every soul in the hall—was struck dumb on the spot.
Even Ling Yuanqing's expression turned somewhat odd. The chief alchemist of his own academy had suddenly knelt before another man begging to be taken as a disciple—such an outlandish thing he had truly never encountered. The man had plainly been scheming against this very opponent a moment ago, so how had such an astonishing twist come about all at once?!
Another one whose face turned faster than the pages of a book! Watching Qing Xuanzi's expression, Wei Zhao could not help the twitch at the corner of his mouth, and instinctively thought of Aotian Ba—except that creature, while talking pleasantly enough, would suddenly turn on you and fling you into the sea, whereas this one before him was rather more peculiar: in the thick of a furious quarrel, he would suddenly drop to his knees...
Ignoring the strange looks from the crowd, Qing Xuanzi gazed at Wei Zhao with burning eyes and said cautiously, "If your disciple has not guessed wrongly, you must surely be a first-grade Mystic-Rank alchemist?"
By the hierarchy of alchemists, above seventh-grade Yellow Rank lay an entirely new realm—the legendary Mystic-Rank alchemist. Even a first-grade Mystic-Rank was a height no seventh-grade Yellow-Rank alchemist could ever hope to reach. It could only be looked up to, never rivaled.
"Oh?" Wei Zhao gave him a look of inexplicable meaning at these words, neither admitting nor denying it on the spot.
"It must be so. Your disciple has seen no few seventh-grade alchemists, but not one could refine a seventh-grade Great Restoration Pill so swiftly. Never mind ten in a day—I have never even heard of one in a day. And on top of that, yours is Absolute Success. Apart from a first-grade Mystic-Rank alchemist, your disciple truly cannot conceive of any other possibility!" Qing Xuanzi declared with the utmost conviction.
As the chief alchemist of the Morning Star Academy, Qing Xuanzi was regarded by all as a figure of lofty, unassailable stature. Yet behind that glory lay a torment of colossal proportions: he had been stuck at the seventh grade for over two hundred years without the slightest breakthrough!