When Yuan Buyu heard "Alchemy Hall," he didn’t know what it should be called. Beside him, Mr. Bai Liu lightly coughed and said, "Alchemist of Jiu Province."
"Alchemist of Jiu Province?"
Both Yuan Buyu and Zhou Lingyi looked at him.
Mr. Bai Liu said, "In ancient tis, there were many alchemists. They wandered the world, only to seek Immortal Mountains and famous caves, tracing the footsteps of predecessors,
because they had no fixed abode, all nine provinces have hosted their teachings, and thus they earned the na ’Alchemist of Jiu Province.’"
"Where did you learn that?" Yuan Buyu seed a bit frightened.
He was also a storyteller, and as they say, insider knowledge is best. He was all too familiar with those storytellers, each one with silver-tongued eloquence, relying on quick wit, spouting nonsense.
He was afraid that the na "Alchemist of Jiu Province" was sothing Mr. Bai Liu made up on the spot.
"Junior brother, you might have forgotten that we storytellers speak all over, gathering every odd story, with our minds like a general store."
As Mr. Bai Liu spoke, his tone shifted cleverly, "Oh, right, I just rembered, junior brother is not a storyteller anymore, he’s a cook, always covered in smoke and fire, working by the stove, it’s understandable not to know so of the obscure folklore."
These words implicitly criticized Yuan Buyu as an inexperienced "kitchen worker,"
Listener Zhou Lingyi couldn’t help but smile — storytellers speak with such wit, it was true to their reputation, even quarrels within the realm are filled with entertainnt.
With a "hmph," Yuan Buyu asked, "Leaving aside the kitchen work, Bai Liu, let ask you, did you see anything special from my apprentice’s incense rising?"
"I did."
"Then tell ?"
"Can I say it?" Despite his likeliness to mock Yuan Buyu, Mr. Bai Liu’s mouth has a guard.
He was a cautious man by nature, very aware of the saying "disaster erges from careless talk."
"Speak it out, we’re all on the sa side; who would rat you out?" Yuan Buyu said.
"Alright, I’ll say it then."
After Yuan Buyu’s approval, Mr. Bai Liu said, "These days, while a guest with Zhou Family’s Troupe, you’ve said the big master was chosen by Nuo God, and later, unwittingly, won Blood Well Venerable’s favor,
but now it seems, the big master wasn’t chosen by Nuo God or Blood Well, there’s soone higher up who chose the big master."
Yuan Buyu nodded and said to Zhou Lingyi, "I had the sa thought as my junior brother, if Nuo God had chosen Xuanzi, then the hall Xuanzi was to pass through was determined by Nuo God,
but Nuo God is just a heavenly deity of the human world, even being able to help Xuanzi choose this ancient and lost hall of Colorful Play Master was quite unexpected,
and this ti, picking ’Alchemist of Jiu Province’ hall is beyond the capability of the Venerable or Blood Well,
thus, Xuanzi coming to Laijing Country wasn’t picked by Nuo God, he is rely a helper of so greater figure, bringing Xuanzi to Laijing Country."
When Zhou Lingyi heard this, she spoke with a long breath, "Who else could be above that? Tao Ancestor? Witch God? Ancient Buddha? Or those two supre wills?"
Yuan Buyu didn’t answer, but quietly watched the sky, saying, "Soone up above has chosen Xuanzi, there must be a reason behind it, and what could that reason be?"
"Perhaps they know Laijing Country is weak, Buddha Country strong, and if two countries are at war, Laijing Country would not prevail, so they sent the big master to stem a collapsing tide, to support a crumbling tall tower?"
Mr. Bai Liu suggested.
"If that were the case, they wouldn’t have picked an alchemy hall for Xuanzi, but rather chosen an extrely powerful hall for him."
Yuan Buyu said, "Among all the halls in the world, openly, the greatest strength lies in Wuwen Mountain, Divine Arrow, and storyteller, these three major halls,
but secretly, Laijing Country has a long history of practice, and surely so lost halls’ power surpasses these three,
if it were for war, Xuanzi should learn those types of hall skills."
"Sigh, can’t figure it out, can’t figure it out, the minds of those above, we’d better not guess what they’re thinking, I sll pastry, I’m off to the kitchen to grab a bite, you folks chat."
Mr. Bai Liu grabbed his long robe and quickly walked towards Zhou Family’s Troupe’s kitchen.
"Is it that you can’t guess, or you’re afraid to keep guessing?"
Yuan Buyu shouted after Mr. Bai Liu.
Without turning his head, Mr. Bai Liu just raised his hand, saying, "Both, both, can’t guess nor dare to guess — I don’t have a good apprentice like you to back up, if I get in trouble, nobody will plead for even if I’m buried alive."
After Mr. Bai Liu disappeared, Zhou Lingyi asked Yuan Buyu, "Mr. Yuan, I want to ask, when you say not daring to guess, what exactly do you an?"
"Master Zhou knows, the Supre Will has been missing for hundreds of years, and the oversight above has grown weaker."
Pointing upward, Yuan Buyu said, "There must be sothing happening in the sky, and Xuanzi’s elixirs just might be able to solve the heavenly issues."
"Is it really that mysterious?"
"Just wild guessing, just wild guessing." Yuan Buyu knew, if things went awry with the heavens — it would an a great calamity, and if Xuanzi were entangled in these matters, it would be a matter of life and death.
He didn’t want Zhou Lingyi to worry.
"However, Master Zhou, judging by Xuanzi’s usual conduct, there’s actually no need to worry about him."
"Then who should I worry about?" Zhou Lingyi asked.
"Be concerned about the sky above our heads, lest Xuanzi accidentally pokes a hole in it."
As Yuan Buyu finished speaking, Zhou Lingyi inadvertently chuckled, though there was still a trace of anxiety hidden in her eyes.
...
"Suffering of all beings becos the elixir, sacrificing life to save heaven and earth."
In Zhou Xuan’s ditation, he saw a fractured heaven and earth. The sky, ant to be green, was filled with countless holes.
The holes were hollow, and within them, bloody rain poured. From Zhou Xuan’s perspective, there should have been innurable eyes in the sky, but for so reason, they had all been gouged out.
If a human loses their eyes, they are blind.
The sa applies to the sky,
so Zhou Xuan saw, upon the earth, countless mortal beings, and in the blood rain, a fierce sun appeared.
The fierce sun, like a furnace, roasted the countless mortals into wisps of fog.
The fog rose, coalescing into a pill form to nd the eyes gouged out of the sky.
"Human Pill and Qi Pill, Alchemist Bai Lu believed Qi Pill was genuine, but from this ditation, might it be— Human Pill is the authentic elixir in this world of Laijing Country?"
Zhou Xuanzheng was puzzling over it,
when the voices of Big Child and Third Child rang out simultaneously, "Master! Wake up quickly! If you don’t wake, your Green and Red Fish will be stolen away!"
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