Chapter 54 Relieving His Father's Worries

Ye Hang's hands moved like phantoms, driving the medicine cauldron. The pill inside was about to form, emitting a faint glow.

“Condense!”

Ye Hang gave a low shout, and the glow on the pill dissipated completely, solidifying into a jade-green pill.

With a wave of his hand, the pill flew into Ye Hang's grasp.

“Alas, I overestimated myself. If a new pill were so easy to develop, how could it have fallen to me, Ye Hang?” He shook his head and tossed away the pill he had just refined.

Ye Hang now looked haggard, clearly having expended considerable mental energy.

He had spent the past few days sleeplessly developing a new pill, hoping to reverse the decline of the Fragrant Medicine Pavilion, but all his efforts were in vain.

Although the Vitality Pill was not a high-grade pill, after countless years of development, it had long reached maturity.

How could it be easy to create a new pill to replace the Vitality Pill with even greater efficacy?

“I never thought that after all these years of effort, I still couldn't escape defeat. What a failure!” Ye Hang sighed again.

Somehow, the image of Ye Yuan suddenly surfaced in his mind, and a hint of clarity returned to his confused eyes.

“Even if I lose, at least my son has that mysterious master. His future achievements will surely be boundless!”

He had naturally learned something of Ye Yuan's performance at the Danwu Academy these days and was deeply satisfied.

But he did not yet know that Ye Yuan had already advanced to the fourth level of Yuan Qi and passed the Xuan-level advancement assessment to become an Earth-level student.

Ye Hang was by nature an open-minded man and did not take success or failure too seriously. However, the old staff of the Fragrant Medicine Pavilion had followed him for a long time, and his success or failure affected the livelihoods of many, so he worked day and night to turn things around.

Perhaps it was telepathy—just as Ye Hang thought of his son, Ye Yuan's knock came: “Father, I'm back. May I come in?”

Ye Hang's heart stirred, and he went to open the door. It was indeed Ye Yuan.

“Father, I heard you were in seclusion, so I came directly. I hope I'm not disturbing you.” Ye Yuan bowed to Ye Hang and said.

“Ha ha, disturb? Now that Yuan'er is back, even the most important matters can wait! Come, let's go to the study and talk. Tell me about the Danwu Academy.” Ye Hang took his son's hand and headed for the study.

Ye Yuan was moved. Ye Hang's love for his son truly surpassed everything.

At a time like this, Ye Hang still had the mind to learn about his son's affairs at the academy instead of trying to reverse the decline—this showed how much Ye Yuan meant to him.

Before leaving, Ye Yuan glanced at the alchemy room and sniffed the medicinal fragrance lingering in the air, understanding the purpose of Ye Hang's seclusion.

…

“Yuan'er, I heard that as soon as you returned to the academy, you fought a life-and-death battle with that brat surnamed Fei from the Wan family and killed him with your third-level Yuan Qi strength—how satisfying! Eh, you... you've broken through to the fourth level of Yuan Qi?”

Ye Hang hadn't noticed earlier, but now that he spoke, he sensed that Ye Yuan's aura was much stronger than before, clearly having broken through to the fourth level of Yuan Qi. He was greatly surprised.

“Hehe, I made a breakthrough by chance two days ago, and during yesterday's advancement assessment, I passed three consecutive levels. I'm now an Earth-level student.”

Ye Yuan wasn't showing off; he knew his father was in low spirits and wanted to cheer him up. Seeing Ye Hang's haggard appearance, he felt a pang of concern.

Sure enough, hearing this, Ye Hang perked up considerably and exclaimed joyfully, “Heaven has eyes! My son has truly made something of himself! That Wan family brat only just rose to Earth-level, and my son reached it in just one month—what a slap in the face! Hahaha!”

After a hearty laugh, Ye Hang gradually calmed down, but the joy on his face was impossible to hide.

Suddenly remembering something, Ye Hang frowned and asked Ye Yuan, “Yuan'er, your rapid progress is naturally a good thing, but will it affect your future cultivation?”

Ye Hang's concern coincided with Jiang Yunhe's; such worry was not unfounded.

In martial arts cultivation, one must always advance step by step. Pursuing rapid progress at the expense of a solid foundation is a major taboo.

Ye Yuan's progress was too fast. As a father, he naturally worried that his son's foundation might be unstable, affecting future cultivation.

“Father, rest assured. I know what I'm doing. The technique my master taught me is extraordinary. If I weren't worried about advancing too quickly and harming my foundation, I could have reached the seventh or eighth level of Yuan Qi by now.” Ye Yuan said nonchalantly.

Hearing this, although Ye Hang still had some concerns, he felt reassured.

The mysterious master in Ye Yuan's dreams had taught him so many skills; he surely wouldn't harm him.

“That's good. By the way, you've only been at the academy a short while—why have you returned to the imperial city? Are you short on cultivation resources?”

Ye Yuan's decision to take the alchemist assessment was made only yesterday, and Ye Hang had not yet received the news.

“In four days, the academy is organizing a group assessment at the Alchemist Guild. I'm here to take the alchemist assessment.”

“Alchemist assessment? Hmm, since you can refine the Inch Heart Pill, passing the apprentice assessment should be no problem. But the alchemist assessment only allows three attempts, and you have little experience. Are you confident?”

In Ye Hang's view, Ye Yuan must have failed countless times before succeeding in refining the Inch Heart Pill.

A father knows his son. Ye Yuan had never touched alchemy before; without thousands of hours of practice, how could he have a high success rate?

“I've practiced a lot these days. It should be fine.” Ye Yuan smiled.

“That's good. Spend the next two days adjusting well and strive to be in top form for the assessment.” Ye Hang encouraged.

Ye Yuan naturally nodded in agreement, then took the opportunity to ask, “Father, when I came back just now, I asked Manager Feng. Have you been worrying about the Gathering Yuan Pill these past few days?”

At the mention of this, a flicker of unease crossed Ye Hang's face, but he quickly concealed it with a smile. “Yuan'er, just focus on your cultivation at the academy. Don't worry about family matters. Wan Donghai hasn't been able to defeat your father all these years, and this time won't be any different.”

Ye Yuan sighed and said, “Father, I've grown up. Such a childish lie won't fool me.”

Ye Hang looked embarrassed. “Ha... haha, actually... this time... it's a little difficult.”

“Father, my master taught me a lot about alchemy in my dreams. There's a pill called the Explosive Yuan Pill, with several times the efficacy of the Vitality Pill. It should help you through this crisis.” Ye Yuan said solemnly.

“Several times? You mean a second-grade pill? That's useless.” Ye Hang shook his head. He didn't believe there was any first-grade pill with several times the efficacy of the Vitality Pill.

Ye Yuan also shook his head. “It's not a second-grade pill; it's a first-grade pill.”

“What? A first-grade pill? Several times? How is that possible?” Ye Hang's eyes widened, his face full of disbelief.