Chapter 981: Xiang Huaizhi

Gu Changsheng stared as the Lightning Qilin rose to its feet inside the orb of spirit light and roared ferociously at him. Gu Changsheng froze. He hadn’t expected the legendary Qilin soul to look like that. He opened his mouth, then closed it again without a word.

Li Guanqi noticed the man’s reaction and asked, “Uncle Gu, is something wrong? Do these two things not match the descriptions in the pill formula?”

Gu Changsheng let out a bitter laugh and shook his head with a sigh. “It’s not that they’re different. Quite the opposite, actually. Both their quality and their age are more than sufficient.”

Realizing what had made Gu Changsheng hesitate, Li Guanqi let out a quiet sigh. “We found both in a mysterious Qilin ruin. There was just one Seven-Colored Glass Flower and one Qilin soul. Finding more will take some luck.”

Anyone commissioning an alchemist was expected to supply three sets of materials. Even if a single furnace yielded a perfect batch of nine pills, the client received only three. The alchemist kept the rest, including any unused materials. That was why alchemists remained wealthy despite the enormous cost of their craft.

All the spirit materials listed in Li Guanqi’s pill formula were exceedingly rare. Nevertheless, Gu Changsheng and his colleagues managed to acquire several sets of these materials by leveraging every connection they had.

But the Seven-Colored Glass Flower and the Qilin soul were another matter entirely. With only one of each, they had just one chance. They could not afford to fail.

Guo Feng, Jiang Qizhi, and the others soon emerged from cultivation and arrived one after another. All three fell silent as they looked at the contents of the chest. They knew how difficult it had been to find those two materials, but with only one set, they had only one chance.

Frowning, Guo Feng said, “Old Gu, we’ve only got one set of materials here…”

Nobody else said a word, but their concern was clear. The pill formula was so difficult that it required five tier-eight alchemists working in unison, yet they had only one set of materials. Succeeding would be as difficult as a mortal ascending to heaven.

The mood turned heavy, but Li Guanqi tried to break the tension. “Please don’t worry about it, seniors. Just give it everything you’ve got.”

He offered them a reassuring smile. “Even if it doesn’t work out, I’ll still be fine for a while. We’ll have learned something, and I’ll get more materials.”

Jiang Qizhi frowned and sighed. “A Qilin soul? Where would you even find another one? You said yourself that those ruins disappeared after you left.”

Li Guanqi pulled out the Qilin jade seal with a smile and said, “There’s still a chance. Maybe there are other Seven-Colored Glass Flowers that I just didn’t see.”

Meng Wanshu had remained silent the whole time. She knew full well that once the ruins disappeared, finding them again would be a matter of luck, even with the Qilin jade seal. The ruins had remained where Xuan Lin had told them to look only because he hadn’t needed to enter.

Gu Changsheng’s expression relaxed slightly, and he spoke in a reassuring tone. “Then that’s all we can do.”

The group made their way to the main hall. Gu Changsheng took a sip of tea and said, “Now we’re just waiting to hear from Xiang Huaizhi. He still hasn’t sent word after all this time, so there’s no telling when he’ll arrive. But since the aura inside Guanqi’s body is getting harder to suppress, I don’t think we can afford to wait more than another two days. If he isn’t here by then, we’ll have to begin refining the pill.”

Li Guanqi frowned. He hadn’t expected Xiang Huaizhi to go completely silent after returning to the Seventh Territory.

Meng Jiangchu reached out and placed a hand on Li Guanqi’s wrist. Blazing fire-element power charged into him like a wild beast, and the fire mark between his brows flickered with dark green flames as five ghostly flame silhouettes worked to reinforce the seal inside him. After a while, Li Guanqi let out a long breath. The power he’d been struggling to suppress had finally eased.

Meng Jiangchu smirked. “Your mother told me you two kept her company for the past couple of days. She was really happy to have you there.”

Then Meng Jiangchu pointed to the empty space beside Li Guanqi and grinned. “Thank you, little one.”

Peng Luo peeked out from his hiding spot and sheepishly scratched his head. Being thanked by a Mahayana Realm cultivator made him a little uneasy.

Li Guanqi pulled out an ancient jade slip and studied it for a long time. At the sight of it, Meng Jiangchu and the others fell silent and turned to look at him.

In the end, Li Guanqi put the jade slip away. His grandfather knew about his condition. After all, Xiang Huaizhi had overseen the placement of the fire mark.

Xiang Huaizhi was probably still busy in the Seventh Territory. Several of the Eight Generals had sustained serious injuries during the battle with Sha, and as an alchemist, he needed to tend to them before he could come.

Suddenly, a terrifying wave of fire-element power swept across the entire Gu clan domain. Everyone leaped to their feet and teleported outside the main hall. Overhead, space twisted and warped as flames erupted and a rift a hundred zhang wide tore open in midair.

Xiang Huaizhi emerged from the fire, riding a flame beast. Looking a bit pale, he said in a low voice, “I’m not too late, am I?”

Gu Changsheng cursed under his breath. “Late? You haven’t practiced with us even once, and we’ve only got one shot at this! What are we supposed to do?”

Xiang Huaizhi’s eyes gleamed with ‌unprecedented confidence. His voice was cold and firm. “One shot is enough.”

He turned to look at the massive pill-refining cauldron. “Shall we begin?”

This time, Gu Changsheng wasn’t the only one whose mouth twitched. Guo Feng and Jiang Qizhi couldn’t help it either. “Maybe we should have a practice run first?”

Xiang Huaizhi did not refuse. Instead, he gazed intently at Li Guanqi. Before Li Guanqi could decipher the meaning behind that look, Xiang Huaizhi sent him a voice transmission. “I heard about the apprenticeship. I’m willing to meet him, but accepting him as my disciple is another matter.”

Li Guanqi’s eyes lit up, and he bowed deeply. “That alone is an honor.”

The group then made their way to the peak of the Gu clan’s tallest mountain, where the pill-refining cauldron was.

Gu Changsheng frowned at Xiang Huaizhi’s pale complexion. “Do you need time to recover?”

Xiang Huaizhi waved his hand dismissively. “No need! Let’s begin. You should all be used to working together, so a few practice runs with me should be enough.”

With that, all five tier-eight alchemists took their positions in midair and slowly sat down. Meng Jiangchu also sat before the cauldron since everyone aside from Xiang Huaizhi needed to draw on his heavenly fire.

Li Guanqi watched with a nervous knot in his chest. Though this was only a practice run, it represented the possibility of mending his divine soul.