Chapter 4841 — Circumstances Are Stronger Than Men

Once, he had been a peerless prodigy in pill refinement, bursting onto the scene from nowhere. In a mere few decades he had soared straight to the sixth rank, and before his hundredth year he had reached the seventh—a feat that in those days shook the four seas and stunned the entire world of pill refinement!

Yet just when everyone, himself included, assumed he would unquestionably become the next Mystic-Rank Alchemist, he stalled—and stalled for over two hundred years, right up to the present. Few in the pill-refining world even mentioned the name Qing Xuanzi anymore; those who did could only remark that he had faded into the common crowd.

Two hundred years had nearly worn Qing Xuanzi's spirit to nothing. He had thought his path in pill refinement would end there, that he would never advance another step—only to suddenly encounter Wei Zhao, a man who could refine ten superior Great Return Pills in a single day and who possessed the absolute secret of guaranteed success!

Hope blazed in Qing Xuanzi's heart once more. Compared with the Way of pill refinement, which he regarded as his very life, everything else was passing cloud; even dignity and pride could be cast aside entirely. To advance, he wanted nothing more than to take Wei Zhao as his master on the spot!

He knew, of course, that this would not be easy—his earlier conduct had thoroughly offended Wei Zhao. Unless the man had a hole in his head, there was no chance he would accept him so readily. But Qing Xuanzi did not mind. Whatever it took, he would try, for what if he succeeded?

After all, this was a once-in-a-lifetime chance; a legendary alchemist of guaranteed success was not someone one met every day. Besides, if he, the Academy's chief alchemist, cast aside his dignity and bowed to a master before all present, Wei Zhao might, out of consideration for the Hong Clan Trading Company's face, nod and agree.

Hearing this, Wei Zhao was dumbfounded. He had somehow been taken for a legendary Mystic-Rank first grade—the man's imagination was truly something else...

"There is nothing I can teach you," Wei Zhao said after a moment's hesitation. "In pill refinement, the master brings you through the door, but the cultivation is your own. You are a seventh-grade alchemist, after all—you should have felt the truth of that deeply enough yourself."

Taking on such a chief alchemist as a disciple for nothing was not a bad thing, but Wei Zhao had always relied on the Divine Farmer's Cauldron for his refining. What could he use to teach such a disciple? Surely he could not just lend the man the Divine Farmer's Cauldron?

"This disciple does not ask Master to impart any profound secrets," Qing Xuanzi said, gazing at Wei Zhao with pleading eyes. "I ask only that Master offer a pointer or two and share a little of your insights into pill refinement. This disciple would be wholly content and would not presume to ask for more."

He understood the principle Wei Zhao spoke of, of course. In truth he did not need systematic instruction from Wei Zhao—it was neither necessary nor useful, for at his level he had long since developed a style of his own, and being taught from the beginning again would avail him nothing. Yet often what blocked him was not a systemic problem, but some small, seemingly trivial one.

At such moments, all it usually took was a word of guidance from an expert, and everything changed at once!

Seeing the utter sincerity on the other's face, Wei Zhao was somewhat moved. He thought for a moment and said, "Very well, then. A pointer or two I can give, but..."

By the terms of their earlier wager, all pills Qing Xuanzi refined henceforth would be handled by the Hong Clan Trading Company. For that reason Wei Zhao did not mind offering some guidance. But he had not finished speaking—what he had meant to say was that taking him as a disciple was out of the question—when, with a thud, Qing Xuanzi dropped to his knees again.

"This disciple Qing Xuanzi pays his respects to Master!" Qing Xuanzi cried out excitedly, scrambling to prostrate himself in the full rite of accepting a master, forcibly choking back the rest of Wei Zhao's words.

The crowd around them erupted into an uproar. Qing Xuanzi's first kneeling might have been dismissed as the man inexplicably having a fit, but now that he had done it a second time, it could only mean one thing: the man was absolutely in earnest.

Wei Zhao stared speechlessly at Qing Xuanzi, who knelt before him and would not rise. The wood was already a boat; he had inexplicably acquired a disciple, and no less than the chief alchemist of Morning Star Academy. If word of this got out, it would be spectacular beyond belief...

"All right, get up first." Wei Zhao had no choice but to reach out and help Qing Xuanzi to his feet. Though this had not been part of his plans, on reflection it was not bad—it gave Chai Laoshi and his people a powerful patron, and having such a disciple remain at Morning Star Academy would also let him look after Wang Xinyan and Huang Xiaotao. No bad thing.

Steward Hao and the others sat slumped on the ground, their expressions stiff. Things had come to this point; the outcome of the grand auction was beyond doubt. Qing Xuanzi had been their greatest reliance, and now the pillar of their side had defected to the other and even knelt to become Wei Zhao's disciple. What the hell was the point of carrying on!

Every steward of the trading companies was filled with ten thousand resentments, but there was nothing to be done—circumstances were stronger than men.

One thing could be foreseen: with Qing Xuanzi as a powerful patron, no trading company in Morning Star City could ever stand shoulder to shoulder with the Hong Clan Trading Company again, much less get the chance to kick a man when he was down as they had today. For no one would dare offend the Hong Clan again—that would be tantamount to offending Morning Star Academy!

Yet this outcome, a tragedy for Steward Hao and his kind, was cause for universal rejoicing among certain others. Not only Chai Laoshi and his companions, but Wang Xinyan and Huang Xiaotao, still in Box Three, were beside themselves with excitement.

And as the two women cheered, the Donghai Divine Nun beside them wore a look of utter shock, her gaze shifting back and forth between Wei Zhao and Qing Xuanzi as she shook her head in speechless disbelief.

Nor was she alone—the other giants of Morning Star Academy, Ling Yuanqing and Wei Hebei among them, were likewise staring at Wei Zhao in a daze.

Though they had not known Wei Zhao's identity as early as the Donghai Divine Nun had, they were, after all, giants of the Foundation Establishment stage. So long as there was the faintest impression, even if they could not recall it at first, with time they would always manage to remember. They had now all recalled where they had seen Wei Zhao before—was this not the very creature they had once meant to forcibly take as a disciple!

Back then, in the Southern Continent's waters, at the first stop in Zhenduan City during the open selection, Huang Xiaotao had been taken under the Donghai Divine Nun's wing, while Wei Zhao had concealed his spirit-root attributes and slipped through. Later they had met again in Waihu City, and on the advice of Qin Deli, the purchasing steward, the three giants had personally rushed to the Qingtian Escort Agency—all to bring Wei Zhao into their fold. Only in the end, it had not succeeded.

At the time they had thought Wei Zhao merely happened to be capable of fighting above his level. The three giants of Morning Star Academy had never imagined that this creature, so young, could be so formidable!