Chapter 782: Feted on All Sides
For a moment, the Wei father and son played second fiddle while young master Ji San and Jiang Chen bathed in the limelight. Jiang Chen was especially popular. Almost every guest who had shown up wanted to greet him and introduce themselves. Thankfully, Jiang Chen had a good memory. Although there were literally almost two thousand guests present, he was able to memorize all of their names and faces after a brief introduction.
Jiang Chen had seen countless grand spectacles in his past life, so naturally he wasn’t subject to stage fright. In fact, one might even say he was handling this situation with ease. His composure had surprised even the Wei father and son duo. They knew that Jiang Chen was from a small place called the Myriad Domain. They’d thought that he would display a bit of apprehension at being met with such a scene. They’d never imagined that he would be able to deal with this situation as perfectly as he did. He didn’t act obsequiously nor superciliously, nor did he make himself appear unapproachable or insincere to others. Even the Wei father and son themselves found it very difficult to achieve such perfect balance during socialization. For a time, the atmosphere was incredibly harmonious.
The judges, young master Ji San, Jiang Chen, Wei Tianxiao and a few other clan members sat together at one table. With this kind of lineup, even House Wei could only act as attendants to the real heavyweights. While they were seated, Pill King Yu and Jiang Chen kept up a steady discourse of pill dao between them. Jiang Chen gave both questions and answers, and he showed no pressure at all despite communicating with someone as great as Pill King Yu. This scene made even the great scholars of pill dao present at the scene feel incredibly surprised.
“House Lord Wei, you’ve truly picked up an incredible talent,” Pill King Yu smiled wryly. “Even I’m feeling tempted to bring Pill King Zhen into my fold.”
The Wei father and son smiled politely in response, but gave no answer. It was young master Ji San who borrowed courage from the alcohol strumming through his veins and smiled, “No way, no way! House Wei had been in a slump for so many years when it comes to pills, and it is only now that their luck had finally changed. You can’t do this to House Wei, Pill King Yu!”
Pill King Yu smiled in response, “How would I dare to do so when you’ve spoken, young master Ji San. Speaking of which, why are you still at second rank despite your true strength, Pill King Zhen?”
Jiang Chen smiled, “I’ve never cared too much about such t.i.tles. Back then, my teacher taught me not to care too much about worldly fame. That being said, I wasn’t able to shed my attachment entirely. Otherwise, I would’ve stayed away from the mortal world and found myself a quiet place to cultivate and prove my dao.”
Everyone laughed in response to his words.
Pill King Yu sighed, “Your teacher must be a particularly skilled person who lives beyond this world. How else could he have produced a genius like you?”
This so-called teacher was a fictional character that Jiang Chen had always used as an excuse, so he followed Pill King Yu’s line of thought after hearing his praise and nodded, sighing, “It is unfortunate that he had only taught me ten years of pill dao. How good would it be if I could study a hundred years of pill dao under him?”
If he could climb this far in just ten years time, then the heights he could attain after a hundred years of study was literally unthinkable.
The Deviant Pill Faction pill king was eighth rank pill king, Lu Fengzi. He was commonly known as Pill King Lu Feng. Currently, he was scratching his cheeks and staring at Jiang Chen, eyes bright with eagerness, “Pill King Zhen, is it possible for you to contact your teacher?”
Jiang Chen smiled, “Why do you wish to meet him, Pill King Lu Feng?”
“I want to learn from him too, even if it’s just for three to five years. If three to five years is too long, then three to five months is good enough too!” Lu Fengzi was a diehard fan of the Deviant Pill Faction. Ever since he’d discovered that Jiang Chen was a representative of the faction, he could hardly sit still. Everyone was laughing loudly at his comments, but Lu Fengzi looked utterly serious and hopeful when he said this to Jiang Chen. It was obvious that he wasn’t joking.
Jiang Chen replied a bit apologetically, “I’m sorry, Pill King Lu Feng. I haven’t seen him in a very long time already. I’m not sure myself where he is right now.”
But young master Ji San suddenly asked, “Didn’t he leave behind any methods to contact him?”
Seeing the pa.s.sion in the young master’s eyes, Jiang Chen couldn’t help but smile, “Young master Ji San, are you hoping to learn pill dao from my teacher too?”
Young master Ji San chuckled, “Even if I wanted to, he would find my miniscule pill dao talent undesirable! Plus, I highly doubt that I could beat the queue to become your teacher’s disciple.”
The reason he asked this question was because he was thinking about the Pinecrane Pill. Jiang Chen once told him that his teacher knew how to refine the Pinecrane Pill. The young master had never forgotten about that tidbit. Seeing the br.i.m.m.i.n.g curiosity in everyone’s eyes, Jiang Chen knew that his fictional teacher had tantalized the crowd. At this point, he had no choice but to continue the lie no matter what.
“I do have one method to contact him, but I’ve never used it in my life. He warned me not to contact him unless I was in the most critical of dangers. Moreover, he told me that I could only contact him that one time. Once this method is used, I can never go find him again. That is why I’ve never used this contact method, nor did I dare use it. By preserving it, I am preserving the memory of our time together.” Jiang Chen’s words sounded incredibly truthful. No one could voice any doubts regarding its authenticity.
Lu Fengzi looked a little dejected when he heard this, “Does this mean I will never have the chance to learn from him?”
Jiang Chen smiled, “The world of martial dao is like the heavenly dao, always leaving a sliver of hope. There will always be a sliver of hope. Come, everyone, let us drink!”
Everyone raised their cups in response. No one could overlook Jiang Chen’s existence nor underestimate him after today’s battle, even without taking his mysterious and powerful teacher into account. After all, it was easy to come to the conclusion that his master was absolutely beyond the level of pill kings. He must be, at minimum, a pill dao emperor, or perhaps someone even greater than a t.i.tled Great Emperor.
Even a veteran pill king who’d lived for over a thousand years like Pill King Yu looked incredibly fascinated by the possibility Jiang Chen’s teacher represented, “The Divine Abyss Continent is as vast as the sea. The human domain may not even stretch over even a tenth of the entirety of Divine Abyss Continent’s map. Pill King Zhen’s teacher may be an extraordinary expert who has shunned all worldly affairs. He should be a t.i.tled Great Emperor at minimum. In fact, he may even be an expert greater than that!”
t.i.tled Great Emperors were the greatest experts in the Upper Eight Regions. The seven most powerful people in Veluriyam Capital were the seven great emperors, and they were all t.i.tled Great Emperors.
Was Jiang Chen’s teacher even more powerful? The crowd couldn’t help but feel this claim to be a little exaggerated. Was there really such a powerful expert in the Divine Abyss Continent? Every person present was a reputable figure in Veluriyam Capital. All of them looked incredibly wary when this topic was brought up.
“Pill King Yu, aren’t t.i.tled Great Emperors the greatest existence in Divine Abyss Continent?” A pill king asked curiously.
Pill King Yu smiled wryly, “I’m not sure about this myself. But I have heard from others that this is not the end for the people of the Divine Abyss Continent.”
“What else is above this level? If a cultivator aspires to rise higher, then they must break through the dao of heaven and win its acknowledgement.”
“Those who are successful are called empyrean experts! It is said that there were a lot of empyrean experts back in the ancient times, and almost every great force on Divine Abyss Continent back then possessed a great number of empyrean experts.” Everyone started discussing the topic fervently.
Pill King Yu smiled at Jiang Chen, “Pill King Zhen, has your teacher ever told you about this?”
In Pill King Yu’s opinion, Pill King Zhen’s teacher was certainly no ordinary person to have known the solution to the Ingenious Decan Pill Enigma. He might very well be one of those legendary empyrean experts who s.h.i.+ed away from worldly affairs. All eyes turned to Jiang Chen. It was obvious that they were very curious about this topic.
Jiang Chen rubbed his nose and smiled wryly, “Everyone, please don’t forget that I only spent ten years with my teacher. I was quite young back then too, so I wasn’t that interested in those affairs. That being said, he did mention that Divine Abyss Continent is so big that it exceeds my imagination. There are plenty of incredibly mysterious hidden experts in this world. Unfortunately, I didn’t know what level of cultivation he was in at the time.” His explanations were intentionally vague. No one could pick fault from it.
Pill King Yu said, “Setting aside his cultivation level, his attainment in pill dao alone is absolutely an achievement that all pill kings must look up to. In fact, I doubt anyone of us could a.n.a.lyze the pills we’d given you as a test as easily as you did.”
Pill King Lu Feng also nodded, “That’s true. If I was in your place, I dare say that I am a bit better than that Pill King Rong, but the gap between our skills wouldn’t have been nearly as big. How did you do it, Pill King Zhen?”
Jiang Chen smiled wryly on the inside when he saw yet another question being thrown at him. He had already reined in his performance during the earlier bet, but that didn’t stop everyone’s curiosity from shooting through the roof. He had no choice but to keep weaving more lies, “During the ten years I learned pill dao with my teacher, I had to memorize all kinds of pill recipes almost everyday. In ten years time, my teacher had made me memorize at least one hundred thousand types of pill recipes. Therefore, I’d learned of most of the pills you’d shown me before.”
An uproar broke out after those present heard Jiang Chen’s explanation. In the world of pill dao, most pill masters possessed their own particular inheritance. However, the pa.s.sing down of such inheritances between pill masters had always been a delicate topic. They would never allow a pill recipe to disseminate unchecked to the public. Even for the likes of a pill king, the number of pill recipes they’d truly mastered didn’t exceed ten thousand, even if they could retain quite a number in their heads. Moreover, most of these pill recipes were common knowledge in the greater world.
However, the number of unique and exclusive pill recipes that they truly possessed absolutely didn’t exceed a hundred. However, this Pill King Zhen claimed to remember a hundred thousand pill recipes. It was more than a little shocking.
Seeing everyone’s stunned expressions, Jiang Chen immediately understood that the number he reported was too shocking. In reality, the number of pill recipes he remembered, including those from the empyrean plane and the worldly planes beneath the empyrean planes, across millions of years were well beyond a million. He had purposely reported a small fraction of that number already, but it still stunned everyone present into dead silence. It was obvious that everyone was shocked by his claim. What did one hundred thousand pill recipes mean? It meant that Jiang Chen was literally a walking treasure vault of pill recipes. h.e.l.l, even actual treasure vaults of pill recipes wouldn’t contain so many!
Jiang Chen was already starting to regret his decision a little. He smiled wryly, “Please don’t look at me like that. In reality, my teacher told me that most of the pill recipes I memorized are just run-of-the-mill recipes. The only reason he told me to memorize them is so that I can better master the basics of pill dao. Most of those pill recipes have no real use behind them.”
Despite his best efforts to explain things, the others hadn’t felt any better. In fact, they were all shaking their heads with wry smiles and feeling extremely conflicted on the inside.