In the hustle and bustle of Phoenix City, an elderly man with a calm bearing stroll through the crowd in the street.

The smell of herb and medicine lingering around his body attracted many reverence gazes from the surrounding cultivator.

Many could guess that he was an alchemist, hence the respect he received.

As he approached the City Lord's Mansion, he could smell a similar fragrant that usually stuck to his body came from the mansion's direction.

'What a strong fragrant of medicine. They must have already invited another alchemist.'

The elderly man chuckled while caressing his long white beard.

'Who is the alchemist? If the alchemist still comes here after looking at the recipe, whoever they are, they certainly wasn't a nobody.'

His curiosity reaching its peak.

He increased his pace and arrived in front of the gate within a short time.

"Halt your step! This is the lord's mansion, state your name and your business!" a young guard stopped the elderly man and started questioning him.

The elderly man didn't seem to be offended by the guards. He still smiling and said, "I'm Alchemist Chen. I came here to answer Heaven Sword Sect's First Elder, Elder Yang's Invitation."

The young guard exchanged looks with a middle-aged guard, and then the older guard bowed slightly to the elderly man.

"Please forgive our rudeness. We don't know if it's Lord Grand Alchemist Chen Xi who comes here. Please wait a moment; I'll inform Madam and Elder Yang."

"It's fine. It's also my fault that I can't come earlier."

The guards bowed once again and quickly entered the mansion.

***

Ding!

[Qi increased by 1,440. Current Qi 1,763,829/2,043,000]

Snowy and Feng Xue cooped at the refining room for seven days straight while once or twice a day went out to take a break or chat with Elder Yang and Madam Feng.

They originally wanted to find a certain rabbit—who had a knack to make trouble everywhere she went to—that had been gone as long since the first time they stay in the refining chamber.

They could only hope that Rong Hua could contain her mischief and didn't bring big trouble after returning.

In the past week, Snowy had refined more than twenty Golden Core Congealing Pill sets and some lower Earth-rank pills and upper Profound-rank pills.

Meanwhile, she also practiced refining the antidote for black scorpion poison using the ability of her cauldron, Alchemy Simulation.

It was a great help for her because she could repeatedly experiment with the formula without fearing the loss of ingredients.

Her <Alchemy's Mastery> proficiency had been increasing too after fully comprehending the intermediate section of Compendium of Alchemy Dao.

Her theoretical knowledge and insight, in truth, had already reached Alchemy Saint level.

However, due to her low cultivation, she could only exert her capabilities to the Alchemy Grandmaster and Alchemy King level. Therefore, she could be considered as a pseudo-Alchemy King.

Nevertheless, it was enough to make her the best alchemist in the Eastern Region. At this point, the success of refining the antidote for Black Scorpion's poison is a matter of course.

Due to her incessant training, Snowy had also gained a new skill which is <Fire Mastery>.

With this skill, her control of heat and temperature became more meticulous.

Now, if she wanted to, she could even use Myriad Flame for cooking without turning the food into ashes.

Today, it was finally the day Snowy would refine the medicine.

Feng Xue, Madam Feng, and Elder Yang had already gathered in the refining room.

"Are your preparation done?" asked Elder Yang.

"Un, it's okay. I will definitely succeed," replied Snowy confidently.

Feng Xue chimed in, "Yes, Snowy had been working so hard this past week. I believe the result won't disappoint us."

"Yes, Snowy had been working hard all day-" Madam Feng gave Feng Xue a teasing look, while letting out a peal of laughter, "And you worked as hard in the night~"

"M-mom!!"

Feng Xue squealed to hide her embarrassment while snowy could only face downward and use her hand to cover her blushing face.

Their nightly "massage session" wasn't exactly a secret since everybody in the mansion had already aware of Feng Xue and Snowy's close relationship.

Fortunately, the awkward atmosphere quickly dispersed when a middle-aged guard entered the chamber.

"Madam, Young Miss, an elderly man was waiting outside the mansion and called himself Alchemist Chen. I assume he was the esteemed Grand Alchemist Chen," reported the guard.

"Does he already exit his close-door cultivation? Why at this timing, though..." Elder Yang sighed.

If this were before he saw Snowy's capability, he would already jump merrily seeing his arrival.

But now, it only gave him a headache.

"It's okay, let me receive him. I was the one who invites him in the first place, so I'll try to talk to him about this. Snowy, continue your preparation; we will proceed as soon as possible," said Elder Yang before he left to meet Grand Alchemist Chen.

***

"Master Chen, sorry for the late welcome. We don't know that you'll exit your cultivation session very soon. Please don't take offense to our ignorance," Elder Yang slightly bowed after saying his apology.

Master Chen Xi waved his hand, "No, it's not your fault. The fault is with me because I didn't give you a notice before entering seclusion."

"I felt sudden enlightenment out of the blue."

"I couldn't contain my excitement, so I rushed to enter seclusion to comprehend it right away. Alas.."

"The gain is no good?" asked Elder Yang right away.

He was a Grandmaster in Sword Dao, so he understood the difficulty to improve further when they had reached a? certain level.

Having enlightenment didn't necessarily mean their cultivation would improve. On the contrary, it felt like an invisible barrier blocked their way of understanding the dao further.

This happened to almost all cultivators who were considered as apex experts in the Eastern Continent since a couple of thousand years ago.

They all came to the same conclusion: the condition in the Eastern Continent didn't seem suitable if they want to become stronger.

That was why many people who didn't give up their aspiration to reach the dao focus their attention on finding a way to leave the Eastern Continent.

"Yeah, it wasn't as good as I hope," said Master Chen Xi, sounding disappointed.

"Anyway, I smell herbs and medicine's fragrant even from afar. Are you inviting someone else? Is they someone I know?" asked Master Chen Xi excitedly.

His gloominess from before seemed like a lie.

'He truly lives up to his nickname, Alchemy Freak indeed,' Elder Yang chuckled when he saw the impatient Master Chen Xi.

Master Chen Xi was famous for his obsession with Alchemy, he didn't have any descendants nor did he have any disciplines.

His excuse was they could only distract him from his lifelong pursue in Alchemy Dao.

This was also why despite his high attainment in Alchemy Dao, he was still only an ordinary Elder in Pill Haven Sect.

He just couldn't bother with the sect's management or power struggle within the sect.

As long as he could practice Alchemy peacefully, he would support whoever had control in Pill Haven.

No one was more dedicated to Alchemy other than him.