Meng Hao had barely seated himself before Zhou Dekun continued to rant: “The Black Sieve Sect invited alchemists from two other Sects to help train their own alchemists. Instead of having us lecture first, they ask the World Pill Division to speak! It’s outrageous!
“The two of us need to be careful. The World Pill Division clearly has ill intentions. They obviously want to humiliate us. If that happens, then we’ll lose a lot of face when we go back to the Sect.” Zhou Dekun clenched his jaw and stared fixedly at Chen and Li. “I probably have it a bit better off than you,” he continued. “You need to be careful in your pill concocting. Ai… Alright, listen. If you have any problems with your pill concocting in the coming days, come find me immediately. I can answer any questions you have. I’ll do my best to help you get up to speed as quickly as possible.”
Meng Hao smiled. There had been friction between the two of them, but the recent days spent together caused him to realize there was no reason to be so irked by the man. He shook his head with a smile. “I don’t think I’ll make any mistakes, don’t worry.”
“You… Ai… Fang Mu, we’ve had our differences. Big or small, it doesn’t really matter. Right now, the World Pill Division is trying to provoke us. We are here to represent the East Pill Division!” He looked over at Meng Hao. With a sigh, he slapped his bag of holding to produce a jade slip which he handed over. “I prepared this for you last night. It’s a collection of information based on my hundred years of cultivation of the Dao of alchemy. All of my knowledge and experience is collected together here. Take a close look, and we can corroborate and test the information together. I’m sure it will help you improve your skill in the Dao of alchemy.”
Meng Hao stared in shock for a moment. He accepted the jade slip and then scanned it with Spiritual Sense. He studied it silently for a long moment. Finally, he looked back up at Zhou Dekun. The information inside was genuine. It contained all the experiences of one of the most senior Furnace Lords of the Violet Fate Sect. The information therein was incredibly valuable.
After examining the jade slip, Meng Hao knew that he had been a bit rash before. Any Furnace Lord deserved respect, and could be learned from. Zhou Dekun’s way of thinking was a bit rigid, but his detailed understanding of the Dao of alchemy had reached the pinnacle.
Such attention to detail would affect the success rate of pill concoction. Meng Hao might be somewhat more talented than Zhou Dekun in the Dao of alchemy, and have a more profound understanding. However, his success rate in pill concoction was only around three or four batches out of ten.
From the jade slip, though, Meng Hao could see that Zhou Dekun’s success rate was around eight batches out of ten.
“Many thanks, Grandmaster Zhou!” said Meng Hao, his expression serious as he clasped hands and bowed deeply to Zhou Dekun. This jade slip would be of no small help to him.
“There’s no need for that,” said Zhou Dekun. His expression, however, revealed how pleased he was. In his mind, he thought, “This kid might have finagled his way to being a Furnace Lord, but he doesn’t seem that bad. When I get back to the Sect, I’ll have to discuss things with the other Furnace Lords and see if I can improve his reputation.” He cleared his throat, and then sighed and finally brought up something that had puzzled him endlessly, “For the past few days, I’ve been thinking about what you said in the valley that day. Actually, some of it does make sense…. Also, I wanted to ask you something. I really was sure that the plant I was holding was a Seven Leaf clove. I really didn’t think I could have made a mistake. But, I know that the leaves should glow with seven colors at dusk. I just….”