|Yao Lao's POV|

What is this? Today, Xiao Yan had an argument with his little 'girlfriend'. Then, he came to me in a hurry to learn alchemy from me. He forced me to help him choose a cauldron to buy (with his Xun Er's money by the way, lol). He made me help him pick herbs to refine pills.

All along, I advised against it but he insisted. And to my shock, he was a natural genius! I'm not certain yet, but I am almost 100% sure! Although he failed a couple of times in the beginning, all alchemists do that.

Then the Yang brat decided to try. And I discovered that he had talent equivalent to, if not greater than Xiao Yan's! What was going on today? Have the Heavens finally avenged me by giving me two heavenly talents as students? As if it were making up for the first rotten apple I had?

Although Xiao Yan had a head start, both managed to successfully refine the Blood Clotting Grass at the same time. It wasn't that Xiao Yan was less talented. It was that he was feeling pressured by the addition of Yang Lei and the fight he had with Xun Er.

After they had repeated this process many times, I told them to switch to the other two herbs: the Poppy Flowers and Lively Fruit. Surprisingly, the two of them were able to learn from their mistakes so quickly!

What is this? Why are the Heavens so unfair? It wasn't so easy for me back then! In just an hour or so, they have finished refining so much of the three herbs!

"All of the required ingredients have been refined, now you need to fuse their medical abilities. This is the most important step in alchemy," I sighed.

Although Xiao Yan ran into a minor problem when he was fusing the Lively Fruit kernel with the other two, he ultimately succeeded and both he and Yang Lei succeeded on their first try in alchemy!

|3rd Person POV|

"Nice job," Xiao Yan nodded and fist-bumped with Yang Lei. It seemed as if his mood had improved.

"Thanks. You did great too," Yang Lei replied. He looked at Xiao Yan carefully. He was concerned that he was still emotionally unstable.

"I've been thinking of going to the Magic Beast Mountain Range to train a little?" Xiao Yan looked at Yang Lei for permission. He wanted to vent his emotions on the beasts there.

"Hmm.. Alright," Yang Lei nodded. He also wanted to get some combat experience. As a young master of the Yang Clan, he was always protected. Not anymore.. in this world, there was no more protection!

"We'll go only to the outer periphery, where there will be Rank 1 Magical Beasts there. Equivalent to a Dou Zhe."

"Uh, you'll be relying on me?" Yang Lei was surprised. Did he have to carry two goddesses and one brat?

"No, just for protection until I break through to Dou Zhe.." Xiao Yan felt embarrassed. He needed to breakthrough as quickly as possible!

"Sure," Yang Lei agreed. They decided to set out tomorrow for the Magical Beast Mountain Range. Meanwhile, they quickly began to cultivate..

"Bang!" Xiao Yan broke through first. Before he had met Yang Lei, he had already been close to a breakthrough. Now, with the strong drive for strength, he had quickly broken through.

"Boom!" Shortly after Xiao Yan's breakthrough, Yang Lei experienced the same thing. His cultivation was now at the 6th stage of Martial Novice! This worlds also had 9 stages for each realm, but were called stars instead. Therefore, Yang Lei was now equivalent to a 6-star Dou Zhe.

They laughed and congratulated each other. They decided to have a gentle spar- without weapons of course. Yang Lei suppressed his cultivation to have a fair fight with Xiao Yan. After a long sweaty fight, Yang Lei and Xiao Yan declared a draw. There was no benefit in dragging out the fight.

Exhausted, they fell onto the floor and fell asleep. Yao Lao sighed and decided to watch over them.

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The next day, Xiao Yan dropped by his father and told him about his departure. Although he was reluctant at first, the Xiao Clan Lord finally wished them luck and sent them off.

"Wow, your father's pretty nice!" Yang Lei gave his brother a thumbs-up.

"Yeah," Xiao Yan smiled. He thought about his mother and shook his head.

Sensing something wrong, Yang Lei asked, "What about your mother?"

"She died," Xiao Yan let out a heavy breath as he took out the black ring that Yao Lao resided in.

"That ring. It was hers?" Yang Lei asked. He noticed that Xiao Yan treasured the black ring greatly.

"Yep," Xiao Yan nodded. He looked at Yang Lei and said, "What about your mom? You've told me about your dad and brother, but not about your mom."

"Ah, she's.. gone. She was forced to leave after she gave birth to my younger brother, Yang Xin. I've never seen her face.." Yang Lei shook his head.

"That's deep, bro.." The two youths deepened their friendship as they slowly made their way to the dangerous Magic Beasts Mountain Range.

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The scorching sun blazed as the high temperature caused the surface of the ground to crack open. When one's sole stepped on the soil, waves of heat would rush into their sole. Everywhere, travelers could be seen, dripping with sweat while cursing at the hellish weather.

On a wide dusty road, two youngsters dressed in common clothes were sweating heavily as they struggled to walk. The youngster on the left was walking queerly. Every step of his smashed heavily into the ground as if it was not just a foot but a ton, bringing forth a cloud of yellow dust.

If one were to take a closer look, they would be surprised to see that this youngster was carrying a humongous black sword on his back. Instead of calling it a blade-less broadsword with no edges or a sharp tip, one might say that it was a large metal ruler.

The youngster on the right was walking more normally. However, one might hear otherworldly curse words. Literally.

Obviously, these two youngsters were Xiao Yan and Yang Lei respectively.

"Man, the Magic Beasts Mountain Range was further I thought!" Xiao Yan gasped from the extreme heat. He tiredly dragged his feet that felt as if they weighed a thousand pounds, drawing strange looks from other travelers that passed by.

"How close are we to the Magic Beasts Mountain Range?" Yang Lei frowned. He looked at the sun. It was going to set in roughly two hours. They needed to find a place to rest and shelter up.

"Well, it should have been a one day journey.. Now it's two because Yao Lao insisted on this.. this thing!" Xiao Yan's face was livid as he pointed at the ruler on his back.

"Ah.. that thing," Yang Lei nodded. Indeed, Xiao Yan would have to stop occasionally from exhaustion. He asked, "Hey, do you want me to carry it for you?"

"Sure," Xiao Yan agreed without hesitating for a single second. Strangely, Yao Lao didn't object to this..

"Damn!" Yang Lei exclaimed. He had not expected that such an ordinary-looking object would be so frightening. Not only did it turn the rapid spirit energy within his body sluggish, it was also so frickin' heavy such that Yang Lei almost broke his back while using all his strength to make his spirit energy flow. Yang Lei finally understood his martial brother's pain.

"Wow, it can actually suppress my spirit energy too?" he was surprised. Yang Lei's cultivation was not of this world's: he cultivated spirit energy, not Dou Qi.

"Of course. It is made of black meteoric metal and is probably the only one in the entire continent. Not only is it very tough to break, it is also extremely heavy. Most importantly, it has a weird effect of suppressing one's Dou Qi and, er.. spirit energy. If you can get used to being under its suppression, your strength after removing it in future battles will shock everyone," Yao Lao said with a smile as he gave a belated explanation directly to his two student's minds with his powerful soul strength.

"Cool!" Yang Lei nodded his head. On the inside, however, he was cursing, "Where the hell did you find something like this? This thing is so.. terrifying! But I must endure! I can't lose out to my junior martial brother!" He fought the urge to toss the ruler and quit.

Under Xiao Yan's astonished gaze, Yang Lei slowly straightened his curved back in defiance to the black ruler's suppression.

'F*ck this sh*tty ruler! I will stand up straight!' He roared mentally as he fought to keep his back straight.

"Let's go, shall we?" He forced a grin and beckoned his martial brother to continue on their journey.

"Uh.." Xiao Yan struggled to close his mouth which was open like a fly trap. How did he manage to get up so quickly? It had taken him 5 minutes just to get up, not to mention straightening his back! Unbeknownst to him, Yang Lei had become a god, an idol to look up to.

Xiao Yan quickly scrambled after his senior martial brother. As he walked beside his brother, he continuously admired him for his iron will.

After traveling for one thousand meters or so, Yang Lei finally gave into his cramping back and untied the ruler from his back, dropping it with a ground-shaking thud. He had underestimated this ruler, it was more terrifying than he had thought!

'Oh my god! Brother Yang was able to carry it for about a thousand meters!' Xiao Yan was still in shock. He himself had only been able to carry it for a few hundred meters on his first try!

'Man, I feel ashamed! I was bested by a mere ruler!' Yang Lei thought as he wiped the sweat off his brow.

'What the actually f*ck? I have another monster-like student!' Yao Lao's eyes felt dry from his nonstop staring at him from within the black ring. He had learned 101 new ways to curse from his wonderful students..

"Eh," Yang Lei broke the silence, "I didn't do as good as I wanted to.." He scratched his head in an embarrassed manner as he sat down underneath the soothing shade of a tree at the side of the road.

"Wha..what do you mean?" Xiao Yan asked the question that he and Yao Lao felt like screaming. Not as good as he wanted? Was that not good enough?

"What I mean is that I have higher cultivation than you.. yet, I was only slightly better.." Yang Lei elaborated, "Is that not right?"

"Hm.. maybe." Still, Yang Lei's position in Xiao Yan's mind didn't decrease at all. Xiao Yan felt that even if he had the same strength as his senior martial brother, he still wouldn't be able to do that impressive feat.

'These two are so stupid. Yes, strength is important. But the most important is one's will to go on! The will to go against the heavens! And this is exactly what I see in these two..' Yao Lao nodded his head secretly in his mind as he stroked his long, white beard. He was extremely satisfied with his two students.

"Hey, let me see the map," Yang Lei reached over and grabbed the map from his martial brother. He traced his finger over the dry map parchment and nodded. "Alright, we'll stop at Qingshan Town for the night!"

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Author's Note: Hot doctor babe incoming! Two chapters later, I think... Yay!

Also, please leave comments, and reviews, and power stones!

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