A pill as big as a dragon’s eye shot up to the sky! With a sweep of her hand in the air, Chu Liuyue grabbed the pill and put it into a jade box, leaving behind only the lingering rich herbal scent in the air.
Elder Wan Zheng returned his attention to Chu Liuyue and stared unblinkingly at the box in her hand. He was even more nervous than when he was refining the pill himself.
Chu Liuyue walked over and handed the box to him. “Master.”
Elder Wan Zheng reached out for the box, only to hurriedly wipe them down on his clothes before carefully taking it from her. He then took a deep breath to calm himself down.
Creak…
As the jade box opened, a refreshing medicinal scent hit his nose. Lying quietly in the middle of the box was a rich-blue round pill with nine lines on it.
Elder Wan Zheng’s eyes lit up in delight. “It’s a ninth-grade pill! It’s a ninth-grade pill!”
Even though it was slightly inferior, it was still a ninth-grade pill. Despite having expected this outcome, Elder Wan Zheng couldn’t help but feel excited and happy when he saw the pill. “You’ve succeeded! You didn’t disappoint me, Chu Yue! Hahaha! It won’t be hard for you to get a place on the Qing Yun Ranking next month!”
A 16-year-old ninth-grade heavenly doctor! That’s an incredible feat even across the entire academy! Many people will be shocked and envious of this!
“Rong Xiu, what do you think about Chu Yue’s skills?” asked Elder Wan Zheng excitedly. It was understandable that he wanted to show off his outstanding student, not to mention that the person he was showing off to was Rong Xiu.
“Excellent.” Rong Xiu smiled and nodded his head. “Congrats, Elder Wan Zheng. I’m sure Chu Yue will have a bright future under your guidance!”
“Hahaha! He sure is good!” As Elder Wan Zheng held the pill in his hand lovingly, he couldn’t help wanting to let everyone in the academy know that his precious student had broken through to become a ninth-grade heavenly doctor.
Most people experienced multiple failures when attempting to get past this hurdle, but Chu Yue managed to succeed in just less than five tries.
“Hehe, it’s not easy to find a student I like these days! The last one I liked was taken away by the director. Good thing I didn’t let this kid get away this time!”
Rong Xiu blinked. “Master, who are you referring to… when you said: ‘the last one you liked?’”
Elder Wan Zheng’s laughter died off instantly. It was only then that he realized he was so carried away that he had accidentally mentioned the past again. He coughed and tried to gloss it over. “Nothing—that was just stuff in the past. I was just mentioning it in passing… I didn’t mean to compare you with anyone!”
Elder Wan Zheng felt somewhat guilty when he looked at Chu Liuyue. He hurriedly explained, “I promise, you’re the best student to me!”
Knowing that he had mistaken her, Chu Liuyue was caught between laughter and tears. However, she was heartened to hear that.
Although she wanted to ask more questions, she couldn’t bring herself to do so when she saw his slightly flustered look. With a nod, she said, “Thank you, Master.”
“There’s nothing to thank about!” Seeing that his disciple didn’t seem to mind about this, Elder Wan Zheng heaved a sigh of relief and secretly told himself not to shoot his mouth off again. “Actually, I didn’t teach you anything at all. It’s all thanks to your own intelligence and hard work that you managed to break through!”
He knew very well that he hadn’t actually done much for Chu Yue since it had only been less than two months since the latter joined the academy. Chu Yue had also spent most of his time locked up at Fengmin mountain, so the time he had spent teaching Chu Yue wasn’t a lot.
Even though Chu Yue managed to break through to become a ninth-grade heavenly doctor so quickly largely because of his own efforts, he was still immensely pleased and proud of his disciple. He had a feeling that his student would make something of himself in the future.
“Alright, that’s it for today since you’ve broken through and managed to refine the pill! It’s getting late. You should go back with Rong Xiu now. Go familiarize yourself with the surroundings and learn from him. In the meantime, I’ll adjust your curriculum.” Since Chu Liuyue turned out to be more outstanding than he thought, Elder Wan Zheng had to make tweaks to his lesson plans.
Chu Liuyue looked at Rong Xiu with a cock of an eyebrow.
“Rong Xiu is also quite accomplished in the heavenly doctor path. You’ll definitely learn a lot of things from him.” Elder Wan Zheng patted Chu Liuyue’s shoulder and looked at her with great expectations.
Chu Liuyue narrowed her eyes.
Rong Xiu was basically perfect in the academy elders’ eyes, so whatever he did… Not only would it not arouse their suspicion, but he would also receive their strong support. All Chu Liuyue could do now was agree with what her master said, so she nodded. “In that case… Please guide me along, Senior.”
…
After returning the pill to Chu Liuyue, Elder Wan Zheng quickly left.
Chu Liuyue had a rough idea of what he was about to do from his hurried and gleeful departure.
“It looks like many people will know that you’ve become a ninth-grade heavenly doctor in no time.” Rong Xiu raised his eyebrows.
“Before that happens, I believe more people will know that I’ve moved to stay with you.” Chu Liuyue looked at him with a smile. I’m sure there will be as much commotion as when people find out that I’ve refined a ninth-grade pill, if not more.
Rong Xiu didn’t deny it, and he laughed instead. “Isn’t it only right for us to stay together?”
