Chapter 54: Did Little Junior Brother Paint For You?
Su Changyu was stunned.
He was completely dumbstruck.
‘The Ancient Godfiend Body Tempering Technique is just a random lousy manual that the Sect Leader bought from a street stall.’
‘This thing has beautifying effects?’
“I guess so. Anyway, after I practiced it, I became like this.”
Ye Ping was not entirely certain, but he could only answer honestly.
“Little Junior Brother, let me take a look at the secret manual.”
Su Changyu was astonished.
He definitely didn’t believe that the Ancient Godfiend Body Tempering Technique was real, but he reckoned that it was likely some kind of ancient beautifying technique.
‘What do I rely on to survive in this tumultuous world?’
‘My face and good looks, of course.’
‘My swordsmanship can be poor, but I must be good-looking.’
That was Su Changyu’s life motto.
“Eldest Senior Brother, hold it.”
Without uttering another word, Ye Ping simply handed the Ancient Godfiend Body Tempering Technique to Su Changyu.
“I’ll take this and study it for a while. During this period of time, practice hard with your eldest Senior Sister. Don’t be lazy, understand? Little Junior Brother!”
After receiving the Ancient Godfiend Body Tempering Technique, Su Changyu felt a little excited too.
If it was really an ancient method for beautifying and enhancing one’s good looks, he would definitely strike a huge fortune. In the world of immortal cultivation, many fairies would resort to all means for the sake of making themselves more beautiful. If it was really effective, he would sell it immediately. By then, he wouldn’t need Ye Ping to paint for money anymore.
He could make a living for himself.
“I understand, goodbye, Senior Brother.”
Ye Ping nodded before watching Su Changyu leave.
Soon, Su Changyu left the rear cliff.
He placed the Ancient Godfiend Body Tempering Technique in his arms and decided to put aside the matter regarding the beautifying effects for the time being.
He wanted to go look for Xu Luochen.
He wanted to see what Ye Ping had painted for him.
“Luochen, oh, Luochen, don’t follow in your Senior Brother’s footsteps, or else you’ll face the music from Master.”
At this moment, Su Changyu kept muttering to himself, hoping that Xu Luochen wouldn’t be as silly as him.
However, even though Ye Ping had painted a portrait of Xu Luochen, Su Changyu didn’t think that it would be a huge problem. It would be sold for at least 6,000 taels of gold, right?
“No, Luochen is much less handsome than me. It should probably be worth 3,000 or 4,000 taels of gold.”
Su Changyu shook his head.
He thought about the fact that Xu Luochen’s painting might be worth at most 3,000 or 4,000 taels of gold.
If that was really the case, he wouldn’t be upset either because there would be at least 3,000 or 4,000 taels of gold.
‘It can’t be worth nothing, right?’
Just like that, Su Changyu arrived at Xu Luochen’s residence in less than 15 minutes.
“Junior Brother Luochen.”
Standing in front of the door, Su Changyu knocked on the door.
However, there was no response for a long time.
“Junior Brother Luochen!”
Su Changyu continued knocking on the door. At the same time, he was a little curious and wondered, ‘It’s already late afternoon. Why is he still sleeping?’
‘Did he go commit theft last night?’
Just when Su Changyu was wondering, a weak voice sounded.
“Coming, Eldest Senior Brother…”
Xu Luochen’s voice sounded casually.
After a few moments, the door of the room was opened.
Su Changyu saw an extremely haggard face.
“Junior Brother Luochen, you…”
Su Changyu was a little surprised. Xu Luochen, who was in front of him, was completely different from the Xu Luochen he remembered.
‘Luochen might be a wastrel, but he’s always smiling and he’s easily appeased. Why is he so depressed and disheveled now? Lost love? Or did he get cheated out of his money?’
Su Changyu was filled with bewilderment.
“Eldest Senior Brother, come in.”
Xu Luochen’s eyes were listless and he asked Su Changyu to go in to talk.
Perhaps because he had just woken up, Xu Luochen seemed weak and soft.
“What’s wrong with you?”
Su Changyu sat in the room, feeling rather concerned about Xu Luochen. After all, Xu Luochen was his Second Junior Brother whom he had known for more than ten years.
“Eldest Senior Brother, I finally understand why you like slipping into a trance alone on the cliff at night.”
Xu Luochen sat on the chair, appearing very disheveled.
“Cliff? Slipping into a trance? Since when have I ever done that on the cliff?”
Su Changyu felt a little puzzled.
However, after seeing the gaze in Xu Luochen’s eyes, Su Changyu immediately came to a sudden realization.
However, his expression soon changed.
“You… Little Junior Brother?”
Su Changyu vaguely understood something, but he could not bring himself to say it.
Seeing the expression on Su Changyu’s face, Xu Luochen understood that his guess was right. Hence, he immediately nodded and said, “Eldest Senior Brother, you’ve guessed correctly. Little Junior Brother… is indeed very talented in alchemy.”
Xu Luochen said.
This!
After his answer was confirmed, Su Changyu was dumbfounded again.
Ye Ping had shocked him too greatly.
Forget it that he was very talented in the Sword Dao.
‘He’s really competent in alchemy too, huh?’
‘That’s unfair.’
“How talented is he?”
Su Changyu couldn’t help but ask.
“Eldest Senior Brother, you should know a little bit about alchemy, right?”
Xu Luochen asked dejectedly.
“I do know a little.”
Su Changyu nodded. Although he did not know much, he knew quite a bit from just watching Xu Luochen memorize alchemical knowledge from books everyday.
“What are the conditions needed for refining a pill?”
Xu Luochen asked.
“A pill furnace, heat, medicinal herbs, and technique.”
Su Changyu thought about it, and then answered it word for word.
“In that case, Eldest Senior Brother, do you know how Little Junior Brother refined pills?”
Xu Luochen’s voice seemed even more helpless.
“How else could he have refined it? He couldn’t have gathered spiritual energy and turned it into pills, right?”
Su Changyu was puzzled. ‘Go ahead and tell me then, why are you keeping me in suspense?’
However, after he finished saying that, Xu Luochen stayed silent.
At this moment, Su Changyu froze in shock.
“Don’t tell me that Little Junior Brother can really do that?”
Su Changyu’s voice trembled a bit as he spoke.
Xu Luochen did not answer but nodded, leaving Su Changyu dumbfounded.
‘Damn it.’
‘This is outrageous.’
‘How is this possible?’
‘Gathering spiritual energy and forming pills?’
‘This exists only in the immortal cultivation novels written by scholars of the mortal world, right?’
‘That’s completely impossible. Alchemy, refining pills, refining medicinal herbs into pills, that’s all common sense. Gathering spiritual energy and turning them into pills? Even Mahayana cultivators can’t do that, right?’
Su Changyu was confused.
“Do you know what’s the most incredible?”
Xu Luochen sounded even more miserable.
“There’s something more?”
This time, Su Changyu really couldn’t guess it.
‘This is outrageous enough, but there’s something even more outrageous?’
“Little Junior Brother, he… the pill he refined was a non-poisonous pill. Eldest Senior Brother, I feel terrible. I worked hard and cultivated the Dao of Alchemy painstakingly for decades, but I couldn’t even pass the alchemy exams. Little Junior Brother… I don’t want to live anymore.”
At this point, Xu Luochen couldn’t help but wail loudly and burst into tears.
He really felt terrible.
‘This feeling sucks.’
‘Comparison is the worst.’
‘Look at them, now look at me.’
He had always thought that he was good, but he now felt as if he had received a slap to his face. Who would be able to stand that?
“Non-poisonous pill? Are you fooling me?”
Su Changyu didn’t know what to say.
‘How can there be a non-poisonous pill in this world?’
Xu Luochen remained silent and took out two Spirit Gathering Pills, which he then placed on the table and showed to Su Changyu.
In an instant, Su Changyu froze in shock.
Apart from Xu Luochen’s crying, there was no other sound in the room.
Some time later, Su Changyu finally snapped back to his senses.
However, after that, he really didn’t know what to say.
“Okay, okay, don’t cry, don’t cry. Crying makes me frustrated.”
Su Changyu told Xu Luochen to stop crying. ‘Is this reasonable?’
“Eldest Senior Brother, it’s not that I’m affected, but who can stand it?”
Xu Luochen stopped crying, but he was still sobbing while his body twitched.
After that, Su Changyu was at a loss for words again.
Indeed, when he knew that Ye Ping’s talent in the Sword Dao was that terrifying, he was on the verge of tears, but he was emotionally stronger. Of course, it was probably because Ye Ping’s talent in the Sword Dao was not as outrageous as that of alchemy.
“Okay, don’t be so upset anymore. Think positive and learn from your junior brother. I used to think you’re rather emotionally stable, but I didn’t expect you to be unable to stand it after suffering a blow. Think about it, isn’t that a good thing?”
Su Changyu comforted Xu Luochen.
Xu Luochen couldn’t help but be stunned.
‘A good thing?’
‘This is a good thing?’
‘What’s good about it?’
Looking at Xu Luochen’s dumbfounded face, Su Changyu sighed and then continued speaking in a serious tone.
“Junior Brother Luochen, think about it, if your little Junior Brother has such an incredible talent in alchemy, he’ll definitely be famous in the future, but no matter what, who taught him alchemy? You were the one, weren’t you? This is a trace that can never be erased.”
“When your little Junior Brother rises to fame in the future and becomes a world-famous alchemist, wouldn’t you get glory too since you were his initiation mentor?”
Su Changyu had a knack for persuading people.
All of a sudden, Xu Luochen was stunned after hearing his words.
‘Actually, he makes sense.’
“But… but I was just making things up.”
Xu Luochen felt that there was something wrong.
“So what if you made it up? Didn’t he succeed in refining it? Don’t you deserve credit for it? What do you mean fabricate? It’d be fabricated if he failed? How can it be considered a made-up technique if he succeeded?”
“Maybe you were lucky and managed to comprehend the Supreme Dao of Alchemy by fluke. Then, you imparted it to him. Did the first alchemist of the world have a teacher too? Are you silly?”
Su Changyu said with some displeasure.
In fact, he had said those words for himself.
Sss!
“Eldest Senior Brother, those words seem to make sense.”
At this moment, Xu Luochen’s mood inexplicably changed for the better.
The more he thought about it, the more he felt that it made sense.
‘Yes, if it can’t be practiced, it’d be fabricated. Since he succeeded, how can it be fabricated?’
‘Yes, maybe I really comprehended the Supreme Dao of Alchemy by fluke, but Little Junior Brother is good at comprehending so he managed to learn it too.’
‘Whatever the reason, I taught Ye Ping alchemy. Wouldn’t that make me the teacher of a master of alchemy?’
Thinking of this, Xu Luochen’s mood instantly got better.
“Yes, yes, Eldest Senior Brother, you’re right. Hahaha, yes, that’s right, I taught it to him. Hahaha, Eldest Senior Brother, you’re really smart.”
In an instant, Xu Luochen stopped looking dejected and now had a silly grin on his face.
“Okay, don’t rejoice too soon. If you have nothing to do, go study some alchemy. You have to finish what you started teaching him, but I won’t help you with that. You have to think for yourself.”
Su Changyu said.
“Okay, okay, no problem, no problem.”
After airing his woes, Xu Luochen felt like he was in a much better mood.
“Oh, by the way, Senior Brother, why did you suddenly come to see me today?”
Xu Luochen asked.
At the mention of this, Su Changyu immediately thought of his purpose for coming here and couldn’t help but whisper mysteriously,
“Did Little Junior Brother make a painting for you?”
Su Changyu asked.
‘Painting?’
Xu Luochen was slightly stunned.
He frowned, slapped his thigh, and said, “Yes, yes, yes, he painted for me. Eldest Senior Brother, come and admire it.”
At the mention of the painting, Xu Luochen was more energetic and immediately got up to get the painting.
Su Changyu smiled with anticipation.