Qi Zhiheng arrived at Danfeng, intending to inspect the situation of his disciples.
He went first to the alchemy room with the most disciples, and the moment he entered, everyone's eyes turned to him.
They had all witnessed Qi Zhi's tribulation from afar recently, knowing that their master had already reached the Nascent Soul stage. For a group of children and teenagers, this was truly a source of pride! During this time, they held their heads high whenever they saw others! Their master was a Nascent Soul cultivator; even the peak master of Dan Peak was only a Nascent Soul cultivator. Moreover, they had already heard other disciples in the sect discussing that their master might be the first level-five alchemist in the sect!
Upon hearing this news, they secretly rejoiced for quite some time. Unfortunately, their master had not appeared on Dan Peak since breaking through to the Nascent Soul stage, leading many Dan Peak disciples to speculate that they, Qi Zhiheng's disciples, might have been abandoned.
It's normal to have this thought. After all, Qi Zhiheng is at the Nascent Soul stage and has the potential to become a Level 5 Alchemist. A figure like the Peak Master would only select the best disciples, and most of them would be Level 3 Alchemists. However, Qi Zhiheng's disciples are of varying levels, ranging from Level 1 to Level 2 to Level 3. I've never seen a Level 4 disciple with so many. Having too many disciples inevitably distracts the cultivators, making it impossible to teach them all. It's understandable that Qi Zhiheng would choose to give up the vast majority.
Those disciples who had finally become second-level alchemists couldn't help but feel uneasy upon hearing such remarks, while those disciples who were still hovering at the first-level alchemist level were even more anxious, both hoping that Qi Zhiheng would return and fearing that he would announce their death sentence upon his return.
Therefore, when Qi Zhiheng entered the alchemy room, everyone held their breath and looked at him.
Qi Zhiheng had anticipated that his arrival would be the center of attention, but why was it so quiet? Shouldn't there be cheers and applause? Why were these children standing there like they were being punished?
Qi Zhiheng was of course unaware of the torment these children were enduring, as if their master would pronounce their death sentence at any moment!
Qi Zhiheng looked around and joked with his disciple, "What? You don't welcome me back?"
The disciples, thinking Qi Zhiheng was angry, immediately knelt down: "Please forgive us, Master!"
Qi Zhiheng: "???"
A child of about eleven or twelve years old almost burst into tears, crying out with a pained expression, "Master, please don't expel me from the sect!"
Qi Zhiheng was speechless. He quickly told everyone to get up: "What's going on? What did you do to offend me while I was away? Get up and talk to me."
"Master, we didn't!" replied the disciple who had been so frightened that he had cried out to Qi Zhiheng not to expel him from the sect.
Qi Zhiheng found this strange: "Then why did you suddenly kneel down? And why did you ask me not to expel you from the sect? When did I ever ask you to be expelled from the sect?"
The child asked timidly, "Master, are you really not going to send us away?"
"No rush!" Qi Zhiheng said, "I came here today to see how your alchemy is going. Before I went into seclusion, I promised to take on a group of formal disciples, and I'm here today to do so."
Upon hearing Qi Zhiheng's explanation, everyone cheered, and the alchemy room was filled with joy.
Qi Zhiheng asked around to find out what had happened. When he learned the truth—that these people were afraid he wouldn't take him as a disciple—he was both amused and exasperated, thinking that these kids these days were too prone to overthinking.
"Alright, I came here to tell you all to refine the best pills you can currently make. I'll be here to check on you in a bit, and if you perform well, I'll select some to become official disciples." After Qi Zhiheng finished speaking, the disciples returned to their seats and began selecting spiritual herbs to prepare for pill refining.
Qi Zhiheng went to other alchemy rooms to find some of his higher-ranking disciples.
He mainly wanted to find out if any of his disciples had gone astray.
"You've all worked hard these past few days. Has anything happened in the alchemy room?" Qi Zhiheng asked Ye Hanyuan first. "You've been taking care of the alchemy room's affairs these past few days, haven't you?"
Ye Hanyuan said, "It's my disciple and third junior brother who are managing it."
"Is everything still normal?" Qi Zhiheng asked again.
Ye Hanyuan replied, "There were some minor conflicts between us, but they have all been resolved."
Qi Zhiheng heard that it was a minor conflict, so he didn't pursue it further. He instructed, "I plan to take on some disciples later. By the way, I may have to go out again in a few days, and the return date is uncertain."
"Master! Are you leaving again?" Feng Yuanyi's tone carried a hint of complaint. It goes without saying that his master entered the Enlightenment Tree more than two years ago, and after returning, he went into seclusion for two years. It was hard to say anything about that, since seclusion is something that cultivators often go through. But now that he has just returned, he is planning to leave again. There is simply no time left to teach them alchemy.
Qi Zhiheng looked at Feng Yuanyi and smiled, "What? You can't bear to part with your master?"
"Yes! Master, where are you planning to go this time?" Feng Yuanyi thought to himself, leaving is fine, but it would be best if he could take him with him.
"This trip is for personal reasons." Qi Zhiheng explained his son's decision to go out and help others, then said with a helpless expression, "As you all know, I have many enemies. If I don't go with them, something might happen."
Upon hearing this reason, Feng Yuanyi's eyes immediately lit up: "There are quite a few spiritual herbs in the Thousand Water Mountains. Master, why don't you take me with you? With your protection, I might be able to gather more spiritual herbs!"
Qi Zhiheng was somewhat surprised: "You also want to go to the Thousand Water Mountains? It's not impossible."
Upon hearing Qi Zhiheng's agreement, Ye Hanyuan immediately added, "Master, you can't be biased. If you're going to bring Third Junior Brother along, you should at least bring me along too."
Rong Gu stared wide-eyed at them. Ah! He wanted to go too!
Qi Zhiheng observed the reactions of his three disciples, considered several options, and then made a decision: "Since you all want to go, then you can all go together!"
The three disciples were very happy, and then Qi Zhiheng continued, "After your junior brothers have finished refining the pills, go and inform them that we will meet in five days and go to the Thousand Water Mountains together. It is my dereliction of duty as their master. I have been taking you in for so long, but I have never taken you out to train. Always refining pills in the pill refining room is too restrictive. I will take you out to see the outside world."
The smiles on the three disciples' faces froze. They had thought this was an honor for the three of them, but they never expected their master to plan to take more than a hundred people with him! They were unhappy!
Qi Zhiheng, however, paid little attention to his disciples' inner turmoil. He sent his disciples off to carry out their tasks.
After the disciples in the Great Alchemy Chamber had finished refining their most satisfactory pills, Ye Hanyuan and Rong Gu each went to an alchemy chamber to hand over the matters that their master had instructed them to. Of course, they tacitly avoided mentioning that Qi Zhiheng had returned to the Thousand Water Mountains because their master's son was going there. They only said that their master planned to take everyone on a training trip to learn how to identify and harvest spiritual herbs.
After explaining everything, he collected all the pills they had refined, intending to take them to his master for inspection.
Before the children could even process the intense competition for official disciple slots, they received this news.
The eleven or twelve-year-old child suddenly started having wild thoughts again: "Is Master planning to abandon us all in the wilderness?"
Before he could finish speaking, Rong Gu smacked him on the head: "What nonsense are you talking about? Master is just taking us to the Thousand Water Mountains for some training. With Master's strength, he can definitely guarantee our safety. You don't need to worry."
Some of the other disciples also had their own reservations, but none of them voiced them. After hearing Rong Gu's words of comfort, they didn't take them seriously. Rong Gu was the eldest disciple, and naturally received preferential treatment from their master; he wouldn't be abandoned. But those of them who weren't very good at alchemy might not be so fortunate.
Qi Zhiheng had no idea that his disciple had such a rich imagination, which led him to have two disciples put all the collected pills on his table.
Among them were pills for formal disciples and pills for unregistered disciples. Qi Zhiheng first looked at the pills for formal disciples to confirm that these people had indeed made some progress before he went to look at the pills for the unregistered disciples.
He wasn't too particular about accepting disciples; as long as their character was good, he would accept them as long as they could refine second-level pills.
Qi Zhiheng inspected the items and found that these disciples were quite capable. There were actually thirty-six bottles of second-grade pills. Although the quality was still a bit lacking, these children were still young and could be trained slowly in the future.
Qi Zhiheng wrote down a list and then walked to the front of the Great Alchemy Chamber.
Qi Zhiheng looked kindly at the disciples below, as if he were seeing a huge pool of spiritual veins. He said, "Your performance was good. Originally, I promised ten disciple slots, but given your exceptional focus on alchemy, I will make an exception and accept thirty-six formal disciples. Those who didn't get a slot shouldn't panic. As long as you can become a level two alchemist and haven't taken any wrong paths, I will accept you as formal disciples. Next, I will announce the formal disciple slots. Listen carefully."
Qi Zhiheng read out the names of the thirty-six disciples, who immediately cheered. The others who hadn't become formal disciples understood that he had been eliminated because he hadn't yet become a level two alchemist. Since it was based on merit, they had no complaints.
After accepting his disciples, Qi Zhiheng went to find Tang Min.
Thirty-six level-two alchemists and one level-three alchemist! That's enough to exchange for thirty-six low-grade spiritual veins and one mid-grade spiritual vein!
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