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Chapter 1596: Young Talent

Old Lord Taishang’s expression was unspeakably arrogant. Although he was showing off a little, Ye Zichen was completely convinced of his attainments as a pill refiner. 

If he said he could refine it, Ye Zichen trusted that he could in fact refine it.

“We’ll need this pill refined in bulk. When you got here, you most likely saw it: all of our alliance’s pill refiners are here. Might you help them so that they can refine it too?”  

“This…” Old Lord Taishang had been quite pleased with himself earlier, but his expression darkened, and he hesitated. “Divine-grade pill refiners have the skills and experience. So long as they see the pill recipe, they ought to be able to figure something out. If there’s something they don’t understand, I can naturally help them. But I’m afraid I won’t be able to help those beneath the divine-grade.”

“Don’t underestimate how difficult this pill is to refine, or how expensive its ingredients are. The refining process is extremely cumbersome. Without many years of experience, it’ll be very difficult to produce.” 

Pill refiners divine grade and higher? Adding the forces of the allied divine mountains together, they had quite a few.

Actually, Ye Zichen knew a bit about pill refining himself, or he wouldn’t have been called “Grandmaster Ye” down in the Lower Lands. He was keenly aware of how difficult this pill was to produce. At least, given his current attainments, it would be difficult for him to understand the recipe.

The way he saw it, if someone had even a thirty percent chance of successfully producing this divine-grade medicine, that was enough. If Old Lord Taishang could really help all their divine-grade pill refiners produce this pill, that would far exceed Ye Zichen’s initial estimate.

“That’s plenty!” A sharp light flashed through Ye Zichen’s eyes. Then, he said, “I’ll have to trouble you to start now. I already sent people to clear a space for refining, and the materials are already in place.”  

“I knew before I got here that I’d be in for a tough job. Indeed, you haven’t disappointed me, kid.” Old Lord Taishang laughed. 

“I’m troubling you because you’re capable. The end of the era is fast approaching, and we don’t have much time left,” said Ye Zichen.

“That’s true. The end of the era affects us all. Fine, then. Let these old bones of mine shine one last time,” said Old Lord Taishang, his eyes flashing with solemn light. “I’ll go now, then. In the near future, don’t come looking for me, and have that monkey and three eyes behave themselves. Refining medicine requires a quiet environment. I’ll do my best to supply as much of the medicine as I possibly can.” 

“I’ll have to trouble you, then.” Ye Zichen cupped his fists and saw him off. Ye Zichen then delegated the task of distributing medicine to the wounded Outsiders to members of the Upheaval Alliance. 

The Upheaval Alliance had already relocated here from the Central Divine mountain, and the experts of the Profound Pavilion had made the journey with them. 

There had been a few incidents during their retreat. Just as they were preparing to leave Heavenly God City, they encountered a group of unknown people who tried to kill them. However, an expert proficient in the grand dao of space assisted them, transporting them here safely from the Central Divine Mountain.

When Xiao Yumei and Hu Bazi told them this, Ye Zichen and Xuan Ji fell into silent contemplation.

 Thinking about it, they had a rough sense of which factions the unknown would-be-killers hailed from. They’d made such a blatant assassination attempt within city limits, yet the God Emperor’s Estate had made no attempt to stop them. This was only possible if they’d acted on Zhou Wu’s orders.

Clearly, Zhou Wu had decided to break their tense, superficial peace. But that expert proficient in the dao of time…

Although Ye Zichen and the great emperors said nothing out loud, all of them guessed at her identity.

“Hermit Emperor, Ocean Emperor, Auntie…” Ye Zichen stepped into the sky and stopped in front of the great emperors. They nodded at him.

Then, he heard the Ocean Emperor say, “Is everything in order?”

“Roughly, but in the near future, I’ll have to trouble you to share your network of pill refiners divine-grade and higher. Old Lord Taishang and I just discussed it, and he’s confident he can teach any pill refiner divine-grade and higher to make the medicine described on the parchment. The more such pill refiners we have, the more pills we can refine, and the greater our advantage,” said Ye Zichen. 

“No problem.” The Great Emperors nodded.

Ye Zichen then added, “How is gathering up your Divine Mountains’ young talents going?”

He brought this up because, back in the group chat, he’d told them that the Outsiders reminded him to make good use of his temporal divine artifact.

After they found out about the First Era’s destruction, he couldn’t hide anything else from them. He told them about his temporal divine artifact too.

They had stringent requirements for deciding which talented youths could enter. They had to be less than a thousand years old with monstrous talent.

This was the decision he and the great emperors had reached after their discussion. The temporal divine artifact was precious, but its interior space was limited. They couldn’t let just anyone inside.

Those who’d been born too long ago had used up or frittered away too much of their talent.

Someone who’d yet to cross the threshold to the ruler realm after tens of thousands of years would likely never succeed. Even given tens of thousands of years more, extra time was unlikely to have a significant influence. 

It was better to give their resources to those younger, more monstrous talents.

Perhaps, by relying on the temporal divine artifact, they might produce new imperial-level experts in time for the end of the era. 

“Bi’an, Qianling, and Chao Feng went out gathering talents, but they just said in the group chat that they’re on their way over. Judging by the time, they should be here soon.”

Almost as soon as he said that, they heard several streaks cutting through the air. 

When they looked up, they saw four flying boats, operated respectively by Bi’an, Chao Feng, the Jade Pool Palace Master, and the Lord of the Big Dipper, Ye Rong. 

“Speak of the devil.” The Hermit Emperor laughed.

Each of the four flying boats contained around ten thousand experts. Their auras were uneven. Some were just earth supremes, while others were diviners. All of them were talented youths from across the Upper Three Realms.

So much hope had been placed on these few hundred thousand youths’ shoulders. Furthermore, Ye Zichen saw quite a few familiar faces among their ranks. 

The Minister of the Right, Gou Yuzhuan. The Herbman Lorie, the Heaven Swallowing Dog Little White, the Vermillion Bird Zhuge Kongming, Xia Keke of the Dragon Clan…

His old friends, who’d always been at Ye Zichen’s side, shockingly all appeared on the Tenth Divine Mountain. It was clear that, while the great emperors sought out talents to enter the temporal divine artifact, they’d brought the vermillion birds and other friendly clans into their alliance. 

But the ones most worthy of Ye Zichen and the emperors’ attention were the few with ruler-level auras. 

They were less than ten thousand years old, but they’d already become rulers. That was enough to make just anyone want to get a good look at them. 

When his gaze landed on those with ruler-level auras, Ye Zichen realized…. That the Four Directions Palace’s Seventeenth Highness Liu Qing and Twelfth Highness Cui Twelve were among their ranks. There was also a cold but handsome youth clad in white. He stood proudly upright atop a dragon boat, and he looked unfamiliar. There was a girl next to him with pleasant features, and her eyes darted to and fro, as if she were curious about everything. She held a doll in her arms. 

But it was their auras that really stunned the great emperors, not their appearances. The girl was a divine general level expert, while the youth…. Was at least an imperial king!