Elder Liu's earth-shattering announcement was like a heavy bomb, setting off a monstrous wave in the small pond of the alchemy courtyard.
After a brief, dead silence, the entire courtyard instantly erupted. All the disciples' gazes, like searchlights, focused on Yue Qingqian. Their eyes were filled with shock, confusion, jealousy, and a thick sense of disbelief.
A personal disciple!
That was an existence completely different from ordinary disciples, inner sect disciples, and core disciples! It meant receiving the true teachings of a Golden Core elder, an endless supply of cultivation resources, and a meteoric rise in status within the sect!
Li Haoran, in particular, although he was the grandson of the Alchemy Hall's elder and exceptionally talented, was only favored by several elders collectively. No single elder had ever explicitly stated they would take him as their sole personal disciple. But now, this honor had been so easily snatched away by a nobody from the Ninth Peak who had been making fire by drilling wood in class?
How could he accept this!
However, Yue Qingqian, at the center of the storm, felt not a shred of joy, only an endless, bone-deep panic.
There was only one thought madly echoing in her mind: "It's over! It's completely over! I've upgraded Senior Brother's 'perfect failure' plan to an 'epic success'! I'm going to be killed by Senior Brother when I get back!"
Elder Liu was currently in a state of ecstasy from having found a piece of uncut jade and paid no attention to the reactions of others. He looked at Yue Qingqian as if she were a rare treasure, took a step forward, and was about to pull her by the wrist into the alchemy room.
"Good disciple! Come, come, pay no mind to these common folk! Come with me, let's have a good discussion on the topic of 'the source of the Dao of alchemy contained within mortal fire'!"
Being grabbed by the hot hand of a Golden Core master, Yue Qingqian was so scared her soul almost flew out of her body.
She knew that once she was pulled inside, there would be no escape!
At this critical moment, the calm and collected face of her senior brother, Lin Fan, and the various emergency plans he had taught her, flashed through her mind like lightning.
That's right! There are the pills!
Without hesitation, the moment she was pulled, she used her other hand with the speed of lightning to retrieve a "Spiritual Energy Depletion Pill" from her storage pouch and quickly popped it into her mouth.
The pill dissolved instantly upon entering her mouth, its effects taking place immediately.
In an instant, Yue Qingqian's small face turned deathly pale at a visible rate, without a trace of color. The spiritual energy that had been circulating steadily within her immediately became chaotic, and her aura weakened to an extreme. Her body went limp, her delicate frame swaying as if she would faint in the next second.
"Ugh..." she let out a pained moan, her voice as faint as a thread, "E-Elder... my spiritual energy... seems to... have a problem... It's so uncomfortable... I need... I need to go back immediately... to regulate my breathing..."
Her acting, at this moment, reached its peak.
Elder Liu was startled and quickly supported her. A scan with his spiritual sense revealed that the spiritual energy in her body was indeed erratic and chaotic, looking as if her foundation was unstable and she was on the verge of cultivation deviation at any moment.
His fervent mind immediately began a new round of "rationalization."
"That's it! That's it! This girl must have poured all her heart and soul into comprehending the Dao of alchemy, to the point of neglecting the stability of her own cultivation! As the saying goes, 'a genius in the Great Dao is often one-sided.' How many prodigies in history have had obvious shortcomings because they were too focused on one field! Yes, it must be like this!"
At this thought, not only did he not have any suspicions, but his love and appreciation for his newly accepted disciple grew even stronger.
"Sigh, it was my fault for being too hasty," he quickly let go of her hand, his face full of concern. "Good disciple, your health is important! Quick! Go back to your peak and recuperate! Tomorrow... no, in three days! When you have recovered, come and report to me! This is my token. With this token, you may come and go as you please throughout Hundred Herbs Peak!"
As he spoke, he stuffed a wooden token that exuded a rich medicinal fragrance into Yue Qingqian's hand.
Yue Qingqian took the token as if she had been granted amnesty. Using the last ounce of her "strength," she gave a weak bow to Elder Liu and then, under the extremely complex gazes of the crowd, she staggered to summon her flying sword and, in a wobbly manner as if she would fall from the sky at any moment, she "arduously" fled from Hundred Herbs Peak.
She flew like the wind, no longer daring to take the safe route planned by her senior brother. She took the shortest straight line and rushed back to Lesser Peak at the fastest speed of her life.
When she landed in the courtyard, Lin Fan was leisurely sitting in his rocking chair, sipping freshly brewed tea, enjoying a rare moment of peace.
"Senior Brother! This is bad! Senior Brother! I messed up! I completely messed up!!" Yue Qingqian cried out, rushing to Lin Fan like a frightened little rabbit.
Lin Fan was startled by her appearance, but his face remained calm. He put down his teacup, poured another for his junior sister, and motioned for her to sit down.
"Don't panic," his voice was calm and powerful, as if it carried a strange soothing power. "The sky won't fall. And even if it does, we still have our tunnels. Sit down, have some tea, and tell me what happened, word for word, slowly, and in detail."
Under her senior brother's comfort, Yue Qingqian's emotions finally stabilized a little. She picked up the teacup and, not caring that it was hot, drank it all in one gulp. Then, in an almost tragic tone, she recounted the surreal scene that had unfolded at Hundred Herbs Peak.
From how she had discreetly made fire by drilling wood, to the ridicule of the crowd, to Elder Liu's heaven-defying "rationalizations," and finally, to how he had, against all odds, announced on the spot that he would take her as his personal disciple.
She spoke quickly, urgently, afraid of leaving out any detail.
And as she spoke, the calm and indifferent expression on Lin Fan's face began to crack, bit by bit.
When Yue Qingqian said, "Elder Liu announced on the spot that he would take me as his personal disciple," a tiny, almost invisible crack silently appeared on the ordinary ceramic teacup in Lin Fan's hand.
After she had finished her story, a long, suffocating silence fell upon the courtyard.
Lin Fan's head was bowed, his expression unreadable, only the hand holding the teacup was trembling slightly.
After a long while, he slowly raised his head. His handsome face was as black as the bottom of a pot.
He finally spoke, his voice hoarse, filled with endless despair and sorrow:
"A personal disciple... and a Golden Core elder's personal disciple at that..."
"Junior Sister," he murmured to himself, "our 'Invisibility Plan'... is completely... bankrupt..."
He stood up and paced back and forth anxiously, constantly muttering, "It's over... a personal disciple means compulsory missions, contact with the sect's upper echelon, being bestowed with all kinds of rare but hot-potato materials, becoming a thorn in everyone's side... This isn't trouble, this is a heavenly tribulation! This is a man-made disaster!"
Seeing her senior brother's agonized look, Yue Qingqian's heart filled with endless guilt and self-blame. "I'm sorry, Senior Brother... it's all my fault... I shouldn't have..."
"No."
Lin Fan stopped abruptly, and a strange light suddenly flashed in his originally despairing eyes.
"It's not your fault," he said through gritted teeth. "It's 'its' fault!"
He did not specify who 'it' was, but Yue Qingqian knew that her senior brother was talking about the omnipresent Heavenly Dao, which was bent on causing them trouble.
Lin Fan's gaze fell on the elder's token in Yue Qingqian's hand, which still carried a medicinal fragrance.
"Wait..." he seemed to have suddenly thought of something. "You said, with this token, you can come and go as you please throughout Hundred Herbs Peak?"
A brand new, bold, and even insane plan began to brew wildly in his mind.
"Come and go as you please... does that also include... the heavily guarded medicinal herb warehouses of Hundred Herbs Peak? And the Scripture Pavilion that houses countless ancient, unique alchemy formulas?"
The despair on Lin Fan's face gradually faded. In its place was a profound, peculiar light, like that of a fox that has spotted a chicken coop, full of wisdom and calculation.
Perhaps... this disaster that had fallen from the heavens could be turned into... a golden opportunity... to shear the sect's wool and reinforce his own safe house?