Dead silence.
The entire alchemy courtyard fell into a strange, pin-drop silence.
The air, which had been shimmering with colorful light and rising temperatures from the various magnificent spiritual flames just a moment ago, now seemed to have been frozen by the insignificant little flame in front of Yue Qingqian.
Everyone's gaze was focused on the young girl squatting on the ground, still holding half a fire-starting stick, looking innocently at the result of her long efforts.
After a brief silence, there were irrepressible, rising and falling whispers and bursts of laughter.
"Am... am I seeing things? Is she... making fire by drilling wood?"
"Heavens, this is the funniest thing I've seen all day! An inner sect disciple, in Elder Liu's alchemy class, performing the trick of a mortal starting a fire?"
"Is the Ninth Peak out of people? Why did they send such a... weirdo over? Is she trying to make us laugh to death so she can inherit our cultivation resources?"
Wang Teng, Li Haoran's number one follower, laughed until he was bent over, making no attempt to hide his ridicule, "Senior Brother Li, look, what did I tell you? What kind of characters come from that retirement peak! Isn't there something wrong with her head? She's completely disgraced our Sky Profound Sect!"
Even the usually gentle and refined Li Haoran had his brow tightly furrowed at this moment, completely unable to comprehend the absurd scene before him. In his view, this junior sister from the Ninth Peak was either trying to show off or was completely ignorant of the Dao of alchemy. She might even be protesting and humiliating Elder Liu's class in a silent way. No matter which it was, it was utterly foolish.
And Yue Qingqian, the center of everyone's attention, was in a state of extreme panic.
She was just trying to strictly follow her senior brother's supreme directive to be "low-key, ordinary, and inconspicuous." In her view, what could be more basic and unremarkable than a mortal making fire by drilling wood?
But she had never imagined that the extreme of being low-key would turn into another kind of "center of attention"!
She could feel the gazes from all directions, mixed with ridicule, contempt, and confusion, like needles on her back. Her small face flushed red, and her heart turned cold, "It's over... it's over... I think... I've messed things up... Senior Brother's plan has been completely ruined by me..."
She had even begun to rapidly rehearse the various apologetic expressions and begging postures from the An Actor's Self-Cultivation that her senior brother had taught her, preparing for the thunderous wrath of Elder Liu that was sure to follow.
The only one in the entire courtyard who did not move was the alchemy elder, Liu Changqing.
He still stood in his original spot, his rigid and serious face expressionless, but his pair of falcon-like eyes were fixed on the... mortal fire in front of Yue Qingqian.
Under the astonished and uncertain gazes of the crowd, he slowly, step by step, walked towards Yue Qingqian in the corner.
Each step was like stepping on the heartstrings of everyone present. The formless pressure of a Golden Core master made the air in the entire courtyard heavy. The laughter disappeared, and everyone held their breath, waiting to see how Elder Liu would deal with this audacious female disciple.
A gloating smile had already appeared on Wang Teng's face.
Yue Qingqian was so nervous her heart was about to leap out of her throat, her small hands tightly gripping the corner of her robe.
Finally, Elder Liu stopped in front of Yue Qingqian.
He did not fly into a rage as everyone expected, nor did he even look down at the female disciple who was on the verge of tears from fright. All his attention was completely captivated by the small flame that was gently swaying in the breeze, looking as if it would be extinguished in the next second.
Without a word, he bent down, moved closer to the mortal fire, and observed it carefully, with an expression of concentration that was almost reverent.
The disciples present, including Li Haoran, were all dumbfounded.
They could not understand Elder Liu's actions at all. Wasn't that just an ordinary fire? What was there to see? Could it possibly burn into the shape of a flower?
However, in the eyes of Elder Liu, a Dao fanatic who had been immersed in alchemy for hundreds of years, what he saw was a world-shaking scene, completely different from what everyone else saw!
Yes, this fire was weak, it was ordinary.
But... it was too stable! So stable it was almost demonic!
Elder Liu's sharp spiritual sense, which was comparable to a precision magical treasure, could clearly "see" that from the moment this flame was born until now, its core temperature had not fluctuated by even a thousandth of a degree! Its influence on the surrounding air currents was controlled within a minuscule range! The burning piece of wood was being carbonized at a rate so uniform it was as if it were being measured by a ruler! The remaining ashes were a pure, snow-white color, containing no impurities!
What did this represent?
This represented that the caster had achieved an unbelievable, absolutely perfect control over every detail of the entire "combustion" process!
In an instant, it was as if a bolt of lightning that pierced the heavens and the earth struck Elder Liu's mind! The bottleneck in his Dao of alchemy, which had been stagnant for hundreds of years, seemed to loosen at this moment!
A thought grew wildly in his mind, uncontrollable, causing goosebumps to rise all over his body.
"Return to simplicity! This... this is the true return to simplicity!"
His mind was roaring wildly.
"I... I understand! This girl, she is not trying to show off at all! She is 'discussing the Dao'! She is using this most primitive, most simple method to explain to me the ultimate truth of the Dao of alchemy!"
"The foundation of the Dao of alchemy lies not in how high the temperature of the flame is, or how magnificent its form is! It lies in 'stability'! Absolute stability! Only the most stable flame can perfectly stimulate the medicinal properties within the spiritual herbs! She... she is enlightening me! Enlightening this fool who has been obsessed with pursuing all kinds of powerful, strange flames, but has long forgotten the original intention of the Dao of alchemy!"
The more Elder Liu thought, the more excited he became, and the more he felt he had touched upon the truth.
When he looked at Yue Qingqian again, his gaze had completely changed. He was no longer looking at an ordinary disciple, but at a peerless prodigy who carried a supreme legacy of the Dao of alchemy and was playing a game in the mortal world! A monster who was worthy of being his "fellow Daoist"!
He slowly straightened up, his eyes burning with a flame called "fervor."
He ignored Li Haoran's magnificent fire dragon, ignored the various forms of spiritual flames of the other disciples, and ignored the astonished and uncertain gazes of everyone present.
He extended a finger that was trembling slightly from excessive excitement, pointed at Yue Qingqian, who was still squatting on the ground in a daze, and in a loud voice that resounded throughout the entire courtyard, filled with endless appreciation and desire, he announced:
"You! Are good! Very good!"
"From this day on, you shall be my, Liu Changqing's—personal disciple!"
As his words fell, the entire courtyard was dead silent.
The gentle smile on Li Haoran's face completely froze. The gloating expression on Wang Teng's face was fixed, as if he had been hit by a petrification spell.
And Yue Qingqian, her mind went "buzz" and became a complete blank.
She just wanted to be eliminated in a low-key manner! How... how did she become an elder's personal disciple?!
This... This is completely different from Senior Brother's script!!!