After parting ways with Yani, Xuanyan walked toward the washing area of the alchemy hall. The faint sll of burnt materials still clung to his robes, and dark stains marked the sleeves from the long refinent.
He washed himself with cold water. The chill spread across his skin, slowly clearing the heaviness in his mind, while the lingering heat from the earlier backlash gradually faded.
After changing into a clean set of robes, Xuanyan sat down for a while instead of leaving imdiately. His mind still felt strained. Controlling the spiritual fla with such precision for nearly an hour had drained more than he expected.
He leaned back slightly and exhaled. "Alchemy really isn’t sothing ant for humans..."
After resting for a while, Xuanyan finally stood up and returned to et i Lingyao.
When Xuanyan returned, i Lingyao was already waiting inside the chamber. She did not speak imdiately. Her gaze slowly moved over him from head to toe, as if evaluating sothing beyond the outco of the duel.
"You took your ti," she said calmly, a faint hint of amusent hidden in her tone.
Xuanyan cupped his fists slightly. "Disciple needed a mont to recover."
"Mm." i Lingyao stepped a little closer, her eyes lingering on him. "That much is obvious. Your refinent may have failed, but your control over the fla did not falter until the very last mont. That level of control is not sothing a beginner should have."
Xuanyan remained composed. "Disciple was simply fortunate."
"Fortunate?" i Lingyao’s lips curved slightly. "If that was fortune, then most alchemists in this sect have been quite unlucky their entire lives."
With a light wave of her hand, a small storage pouch appeared in her palm. "Regardless, you perford well enough. This is your reward—two thousand low-grade spirit stones."
Xuanyan stepped forward and accepted it with both hands. "Thank you, Master."
i Lingyao released the pouch, her fingers brushing his for a brief mont before withdrawing. "From today onward, you are officially my personal disciple," she said, her gaze lingering on him for a heartbeat longer. "Try not to embarrass from now on."
The conversation did not end there. i Lingyao’s gaze remained on him as she spoke again, her tone calm but deliberate. "Tell , Xuanyan... when did you first et Lingling?"
Xuanyan was not surprised by the question. He already knew she would ask. "I had seen senior sister before in the sect," he replied. "But we never interacted. We only beca acquainted recently, after a small incident in the outer sect."
"Recently..." i Lingyao repeated softly, her eyes narrowing slightly as if recalling sothing. "So before that, you were just another unnoticed disciple?"
Xuanyan did not deny it. "That would be accurate, Master."
i Lingyao studied him for a mont a faint, unreadable smile touching her lips. "Yet in such a short ti, my daughter not only noticed you... but grew quite close to you."
"Senior sister Lingling is kind by nature. She treats people well."
"Kind?" i Lingyao let out a soft breath. My daughter may be gentle, but she is not so easily attached.
She did not continue that topic. ’Tell about Tang Lishen instead.’
When speaking about Tang Lishen, Xuanyan exaggerated the story as much as possible. He described Tang Lishen as an extrely degenerate and shaless person, adding a few extra details here and there to make everything sound even worse.
"Master, you don’t understand. That guy is a disaster. If there is trouble within ten miles, Tang Lishen will sohow be standing right in the middle of it."
i Lingyao raised an eyebrow. "A disaster?"
Xuanyan nodded seriously. "Yes. If misfortune had a human form, it would probably look like Tang Lishen. Just standing near him is enough to make everyone’s life worse."
"After that, that bastard even tried to assassinate ," Xuanyan added with a faint shake of his head. "I was actually impressed. Most people at least wait a few days before trying sothing like that."
"And the worst part was his character. Like I said, he was degenerate. The way he looked at Lingling... like she was sothing to take for his own pleasure. If I wasn’t there, I don’t know what would have happened to my sweet senior sister."
Xuanyan paused briefly, letting the words settle. "So that’s what I understood about him from our first eting."
"Hmm." i Lingyao nodded slightly. "I see. I asked my daughter about this as well, but she is a bit clumsy and did not explain his character very clearly. In any case, you do not need to worry about him for now."
For the first ti, Xuanyan’s attention sharpened. Just this morning, the system had sent him a ssage—Tang Lishen’s luck had increased again. Even after combining his own luck with Ye Qingfeng’s, Tang Lishen’s fortune was still greater than both of them.
Right now, Tang Lishen was the most dangerous variable.
"Why?" Xuanyan asked imdiately. "Did sothing happen... or did you do sothing, Master?"
i Lingyao nodded. "I sent a ssage about this incident to the Sect Leader. I made it clear that Tang Lishen, the personal disciple of Inner Sect Alchemy Elder Han iyu, tried to assault my daughter in front of other disciples. When he failed, he didn’t back off. Instead, he vented his anger on soone else... and eventually tried to assassinate my newly accepted personal disciple."
"I see... so that’s what happened." Xuanyan kept his expression calm, but his thoughts moved quickly. Then why did his luck increase? Don’t tell a new heroine appeared and protected him... causing his luck to spike even higher than ours. A main heroine, maybe.
He looked at i Lingyao before finally asking, "What punishnt did he receive from the Sect Leader for such a cri?"
"The Sect Leader might not have even opened my ssage yet," i Lingyao said with a faint sigh. "When I heard what Tang Lishen did—especially the assassination attempt—I was furious. I wrote the letter imdiately and sent it to the Sect Leader."
"You might not know this, but Han iyu is a Golden Core cultivator. If I want her to properly punish Tang Lishen, I have to pressure her through the Sect Leader. Normally, the Sect Leader would not interfere in a conflict between disciples."
"But after that ssage, Han iyu returned to the sect yesterday. Whether the Sect Leader intervened or not, I cannot say. In any case, she personally dealt with Tang Lishen. The punishnt was harsher than I expected—I only received confirmation a few hours ago."
"What did she do?" Xuanyan asked impatiently.
"Han iyu crippled Tang Lishen without hesitation and threw him into the outer sect courtyard," i Lingyao replied. "She removed his status as her personal disciple on the spot. Even I was shocked for a mont."
Xuanyan kept his face calm after listening to i Lingyao, but his mind raced. In every story he had ever read, this was how it started. Cripple the genius, throw him to the outer sect, let him suffer among the weak. That was never the end. That was the prologue.
"Congratulations," he thought dryly. "You have unlocked the "Fallen Genius" background. Hidden inheritance and mysterious master sold separately.
Tang Lishen’s luck had risen for a reason. Sowhere in the outer sect, an opportunity was already waiting for him. Xuanyan was sure of it.
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