Chapter 2625 — After-Dinner Conversation, Part One — A Successor Gains Insight Through Years of Cultivation and Fortuitous Encounters with Herbs, but Everything Changes After Becoming an Alchemist

An alchemist must constantly expend physical strength and true energy while refining pills, and must always spend time recovering them. This leaves far fewer opportunities to inherit the legacy. Most of the remaining time is devoted to alchemy, leaving even less chance to come into contact with plants and comprehend the inheritance.

"I see." Wei Zhao suddenly understood. "But it doesn't matter. I have an extra second-grade pill cauldron. I'll bring it next time and give it to Xinxin. That fool You Panhu gave it to me."

"By the way, speaking of You Panhu, Xuanchen has sent people to seek information from Jingjing. It's possible that the Hidden You family leaked the news. Above them stands the Xuandan Sect, and behind the Xuandan Sect..." The White Leader suddenly thought of something and said to Wei Zhao, "...is that place."

"Oh? The You family? The Xuandan Sect? That place?" Wei Zhao froze for a moment, then could not help giving a bitter laugh. So that was where the problem had arisen! He had been thinking of tempting You Panhu into trading for something good, never imagining that he would be the one to suffer in the end.

It seemed that, as his strength rose higher and higher without his realizing it, the level of the people he encountered had risen with it as well. Among those around him, there would inevitably be people connected to still higher circles. From now on, he truly had to proceed with caution.

"I'm only guessing. I don't know whether that's really what happened," the White Leader said. "But how did You Panhu know that you had Zhang Liju's alchemist notes?"

"That's difficult to say. I never revealed it to him. Today was the first time I told you about it." Wei Zhao could not make sense of it either.

"Then that's strange. Forget it; there's no point dwelling on it for now." The White Leader waved a hand. "Let's eat."

"All right!" Wei Zhao nodded. Naturally, he had not thought that something had gone wrong at the cultivators' marketplace auction. Someone from the Hidden You family had been bought off within the auction house itself, and that was how the news had leaked.

"Master, Senior Brother Wei Zhao, what are you talking about? What You family? What Xuandan Sect? What happened? And who is Jingjing? What are Zhang Liju's alchemist notes?" Guan Xin was utterly lost. But what concerned her most was who Jingjing was. It was a girl's name, and Wei Zhao seemed rather close to her. Otherwise, the White Leader would not have brought her up here. Guan Xin grew a little anxious.

"The You family and the Xuandan Sect are two alchemical powers," Wei Zhao explained. "Jingjing is my classmate, and also my... well, our relationship is roughly the same as yours and mine. She's an alchemist too, though she's already a second-grade alchemist. She was a little tired today, so she didn't come. When we have the time, I'll bring her over so the two of you can get acquainted and discuss and study alchemy together."

"Oh, I see..." Guan Xin was both pleased and disappointed. She had known for a long time that Wei Zhao had many women who favored him, and she did not demand anything of him. As long as there was a place for her in his heart, that was enough. She nodded and said, "All right. Then I'll have to ask her for guidance."

"As for Zhang Liju's alchemist notes, Teacher Bai will have to explain that part," Wei Zhao said.

"Heh heh. Zhang Liju was our founding grandmaster. As for Wei Zhao, he is essentially Zhang Liju's inheriting disciple as well. So if we go by seniority, he would be our founding grandmaster too..." As he spoke, the White Leader gave Guan Xin a general account of Zhang Liju's affairs. "But Wei Zhao insists on calling himself my student, and there isn't much I can do about that. We'll each follow our own line of seniority."

"So that's how it is..." Guan Xin breathed a sigh of relief. Fortunately, the White Leader had not insisted. If he had, would that not have made her Wei Zhao's disciple's disciple, or even more junior? She certainly did not want that.

"Exactly. Wei Zhao, since you and Xinxin already knew each other, come visit our home more often from now on," the White Leader said.

"Of course. Then I'll gladly accept your invitation!" Wei Zhao nodded.

Guan Xin kept stealing glances at Wei Zhao with a smile. There were things she wanted to say to him, but with the White Leader present, she could not bring herself to say them. For now, she could only keep them to herself.

After dinner, the White Leader's wife and Guan Xin went to clear away the dishes, while Wei Zhao followed the White Leader to the study. On the way there, however, Wei Zhao was pondering something extremely important: the joint-strike cultivation method he had obtained from the Hidden Zhuang family.

At first, Wei Zhao had thought the joint-strike cultivation method was not very practical. But now it seemed immensely useful. If Han Jingyi and Guan Xin refined pills together, there was a real chance they could produce a third-grade pill. The trouble was that Wei Zhao could not cultivate this joint-strike method. He possessed the means, yet had no way to put them into practice, which was genuinely frustrating.

Before, he had been troubled by his inability to find suitable and trustworthy alchemists. But with Guan Xin joining them, Wei Zhao would naturally feel at ease. Guan Xin and Han Jingyi were both people he trusted; neither could possibly harm him. Still, this joint-strike cultivation method required further study.

Thinking of the joint-strike cultivation method inevitably brought joint-strike martial arts to Wei Zhao's mind, and from there his thoughts turned to his own Madfire Eight Trigrams Palm and the Five Elements Eight Trigrams Palm on Tagan Long.

Exactly! Earlier, Wei Zhao had regretted that Xiao Yi had not used the Five Elements Eight Trigrams Palm, leaving him no way to secretly learn it. But the White Leader was the sect master of Xiao Yi's sect, the Five Luminaries Sect. Could he have a manual for the Five Elements Eight Trigrams Palm?

Once he and the White Leader entered the study, Wei Zhao could hardly wait to ask, "Teacher Bai, do you know Tagan Long?"

"Of course. Isn't he the man Xuanchen selected to carry out the plan? You beat him into a cripple." The White Leader found Wei Zhao's sudden question rather puzzling and looked at him in confusion. "Why are you asking about him?"

"He knows a martial art called the Five Elements Eight Trigrams Palm. Have you heard of it, Teacher Bai?" Wei Zhao hurriedly continued.

"The Five Elements Eight Trigrams Palm?" The White Leader paused, then shook his head. "The Five Luminaries Sect stands on a level even higher than the ancient sects, and its collection contains countless martial arts. There is no way I could know what Tagan Long cultivated. I don't even know much about the martial arts Xiao Yi and the others use. You know that, before, I devoted myself entirely to alchemy. Apart from the martial arts I practiced myself, I never studied the others, nor did I have the time."

"I see..." Wei Zhao was somewhat disappointed after hearing that, but when he thought about it, the answer was only natural. What ordinary person would spend their time studying a vast assortment of martial arts and memorizing all of them? The White Leader was an alchemist, certainly, but even the hidden clans that possessed only one or two martial arts could hardly be expected to memorize techniques they did not practice.

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