More than twenty days was neither long nor short.

Ruan Se had already ruined sixty-seven cauldrons of medicinal herbs. This Sixth-Grade Pill was indeed very difficult to refine, but the Senior had said it was already a relatively simple pill, so she was still somewhat frustrated.

Lai Li’an had grown accustomed to such days. During the first few days, Lai Li’an would still run over to ask, “Are you alright?” Later, he learned to judge the situation from the recurring muffled sounds.

A crisp pop meant a cauldron explosion; a dull thud meant Spiritual Power had dissipated.

This evening, no sound came from the Alchemy Room. Lai Li’an stood up from the veranda, stretched his stiff neck, and glanced toward the Alchemy Room.

After about the time it takes to drink a cup of tea, the Alchemy Room’s door was pushed open from the inside.

When Ruan Se walked out, she held something new in her hand.

It was a small white jade bottle. She held the bottle very steadily, but as she walked up to Lai Li’an, her fingers subconsciously tightened.

“It’s done,” Ruan Se said very calmly, but Lai Li’an noticed her fingertips were trembling slightly.

Lai Li’an took the jade bottle and opened the stopper. An extremely faint fragrance drifted out from the bottle.

The previously intense and bewitching aura had all been contained within this tiny pill.

The Azure Wood Qi-Harmonizing Pill was a success.

Lai Li’an looked at it for a long while, replaced the stopper, and handed it back to Ruan Se.

“The quality is very good.”

Although it was only a few short words, it still filled Ruan Se with endless joy. She calmly took back the jade bottle.

“Thank you for your guidance, Senior.”

Lai Li’an waved his hand, motioning for her to sit. Ruan Se hesitated for a moment before sitting down on the steps beside him. With about an arm’s length of distance between them, neither looked at the other; both simply gazed at the old locust tree in the courtyard.

Twilight slowly slipped down from the treetops, and the white crane had already curled up into a ball and entered dreamland.

“Senior.”

“Mn.”

“May I ask you a question?”

“Ask.”

“Just who exactly are you, Senior?”

Lai Li’an blanked slightly; this wasn’t the first time he had heard this question.

He remained silent for a moment, not answering directly, but instead asking in return, “What do you think?”

Ruan Se lowered her head. Beneath her veil, the corners of her lips moved as if she were weighing her words.

“Senior’s attainments in the Alchemy Dao are not beneath those of my sect’s Supreme Elder, and this junior cannot see through Senior’s Cultivation Base. Any random Cultivation Technique, Pill, or talisman Senior takes out would be enough to shock the Cangwu Realm. Yet someone like Senior is willing to stay in this small courtyard, guarding an unconscious disciple every day, and watching this junior suffer a cauldron explosion over and over again.”

She paused.

“Senior is either a reclusive expert weary of the mortal world, or…”

She did not continue.

Lai Li’an waited for a moment. Seeing that she wasn’t going to speak again, he finished the sentence for her: “Or, an immortal treating the mortal world as a game?”

Ruan Se neither nodded nor shook her head. She just sat there quietly until the twilight dyed her dress a grayish-blue.

“Senior, I am not trying to probe you,” she finally spoke again. “I was just wondering, if one day Senior has to leave this place, would Wan’er… be sad?”

Lai Li’an’s fingers twitched slightly.

Ruan Se did not wait for his answer. She stood up and patted the dust off her skirt. “I’m going to feed Wan’er her medicine.”

Lai Li’an sat alone on the steps, Ruan Se’s words still lingering in his mind. He was a transmigrator; he did not belong to this world. This fact had been set in stone the moment he opened his eyes in that stinking ditch.

He had no Sect, no master, and none of the innate sense of belonging that those cultivators had. He had crawled out from among the mortals, relying on deceit, acting, and a set of entirely fabricated rhetoric.

He had never really thought about the “future,” because for him, just surviving the present in the Cultivation World was already a luxury.

But now someone asked him, if one day you had to leave, would anyone be sad?

Whether Su Wan’er would be sad, he naturally knew the answer, but what about himself?

Lai Li’an looked up at the moonlight and suddenly gave a self-deprecating laugh.

He was no hidden expert, nor was he an immortal playing games in the mortal realm; he was just a fraud.

But this fraud now had a girl counting on him, so he had to establish a firm foothold first. As for the future, he would worry about it later.

That same night, on the other side of Yunze Market.

A middle-aged cultivator in a gray robe stood outside the Alchemy Room. After glancing inside through the half-open door, he finally couldn’t help but push it open and walk in.

Meng Qiuran was sitting cross-legged in front of the Alchemy Cauldron. His robes were stained with medicinal dregs and ash, and his hair was casually tied behind his head.

There were two prominent dark circles under his eyes, but the hand resting on the Alchemy Cauldron was so steady that it didn’t tremble in the slightest.

The gray-robed cultivator stood behind Meng Qiuran for a long time, hesitating to speak.

He was Meng Qiuran’s Martial Uncle and had watched the child grow up. The boy had absolute talent and outstanding comprehension, but his personality was far too flighty, never able to sit still.

Every time he practiced alchemy, he would run out for some fresh air before even getting halfway through, or he would drag his senior and junior brothers off to drink and chat. He had been scolded by him countless times for this very thing.

But this time, after Meng Qiuran returned from his travels outside, he was like a different person. He spent all day holed up in the Alchemy Room, forgetting to eat and sleep as he repeatedly refined.

“Martial Uncle, if you keep staring, this batch of pills of mine is going to be burned to a crisp by your gaze,” Meng Qiuran said without looking back, a hint of teasing in his tone.

The gray-robed cultivator wasn’t annoyed at being called out. He stroked his beard, walked into the Alchemy Room, and squatted down beside him, his tone carrying a bit of emotion, “Qiuran, your Martial Uncle has lived to this age and seen many geniuses, as well as many hardworking people. But those who are both talented and hardworking are rare. What did you encounter on your trip out this time?”

Meng Qiuran didn’t answer immediately; his gaze fell on the dancing flames in the furnace.

“Martial Uncle,” he suddenly spoke, his tone losing some of its usual flippancy, “this Alchemy Conference will be very different.”

The gray-robed cultivator raised an eyebrow, waiting for him to continue.

“A very formidable person will be participating.” Meng Qiuran paused, the image of that scorched black mountain peak leveled by heavenly lightning surfacing in his mind.

He took a deep breath. “I have to perform well in front of that Senior. In the small chance that the old man is pleased, I might just gain another path.”

The gray-robed cultivator looked at the light in Meng Qiuran’s eyes that was brighter than the furnace fire. He didn’t ask any more questions, simply patting his martial nephew’s shoulder before getting up and walking out of the Alchemy Room.

To be able to turn his restless martial nephew into an alchemy fanatic, no matter who that “Senior” was, they deserved a word of thanks from him.

As the day of the Alchemy Conference drew closer day by day, the number of cultivators in Yunze Market visibly increased. Those coming and going on the streets were no longer just Rogue Cultivators; more and more Sect disciples began to appear everywhere.

Wearing various Sect uniforms, they formed groups to purchase Spiritual Herbs and alchemy tools in the Market. Every Alchemist knew clearly what the once-in-a-century Cangwu Alchemy Conference meant.

Meanwhile, deep within the Law Enforcement Hall, a dark current had never subsided. The file of that murder case still rested on Elder Sun’s desk.

The direct evidence of the case pointed to an unidentified Golden Core Cultivator, but all clues for a deeper investigation had inexplicably gone cold.

Li Xiuyuan had reported the progress of the investigation to him more than once. The only female cultivator from the Alchemy Sect who might have had close contact with the murderer could not be thoroughly investigated due to her status.

Fortunately, Fu Yuan did not continue to aggressively apply pressure. After this Nascent Soul Elder of the Heavenly Veil Sect personally stood before that sword mark, his attitude subtly changed.

He only occasionally sent someone over to ask about it, maintaining a posture of demanding justice, but in reality, it was more like providing an explanation to the internal members of his Sect.

He was prepared to wait until the Alchemy Conference ended, and until the attention of the various factions in the Market shifted away from this matter, before making any further plans.