This situation also made Third Master quite depressed. No matter what, he was still an outstanding expert, yet he had been surpassed by several juniors, and one had even far exceeded him.

Sigh, at this rate, these three girls would enter God Level within a few years. How shocking was that? How old were they?

Others might be stuck before Emperor Level their entire lives. Geniuses might be stuck before Saint Level, and geniuses among geniuses would still be stuck before God Level. Yet they had entered Saint Level at this age, and Guxing was already at Peak Saint Level.

When Guxing had just broken through, Third Master understood this fact. In the current Luo family, Guxing was definitely among the top ten, and this was only temporary—in the future, she might be number one.

By then, she wouldn't just be first in the Luo family, but possibly first in the entire world, as long as she was given enough time.

Guxing's current progress was incomparable to anyone. Her growth speed was several times that of others. She had enough time to catch up with others—this time could even be said to be less than twenty years.

Twenty years to become the world's number one—this seemed a bit long when spoken, but consider that others had a much earlier starting line than Guxing, leading by far too much. Moreover, while Guxing was catching up, others were continuing to run. Twenty years actually wasn't long—on the contrary, it was already very, very short.

Of course, before becoming world's number one, it didn't mean the current world's number one could defeat her. She had ways to remain undefeated—that is to say, within less than twenty years, she could fear no one.

...

Third Master now even more agreed with Lingling and the others living here with Xiaoyao. He believed Xiaoyao would give them benefits. Previously, when Xiaoyao refined pills, he had shared them with the girls, giving them considerable advantages.

Although, except for Lingling, the other girls had very ordinary talents, so what if they were ordinary? If they had continuous support from superior pills, even ordinary talents could achieve great accomplishments—at minimum, they might possibly surpass him, something he had never thought of before.

In fact, Xiaoyao indeed did this, giving Lingling and her sisters many pills. As long as he had surplus from his refinement, he would give them some.

With Xiaoyao's pill refining skills, his surplus was truly enormous. Therefore, Lingling and her sisters could be said to have a constant supply, making their future achievements limitless. Lingling even had hope of reaching God Level.

A few days later, Third Master came to Xiaoyao's prince mansion again. This time he came to collect pills and incidentally see how Xiaoyao refined pills. With so many pills being produced daily, it must be very hard work.

"..."

When Third Master saw Xiaoyao, he was stunned. At this moment, Xiaoyao was drinking wine with the Young Miss, while Chi Chi sat on the table pouring wine for them both, looking very cute.

Wait, what cute? How could he be in the mood to say Chi Chi was cute at this time? Why did Xiaoyao look so idle?

Could he have had someone else refine pills? No, that couldn't be right. Guxing was cultivating on the side, and the Nangong sisters were discussing matters at another table—they seemed to have moved their workplace here.

They were all here, so who could be inside?

Zhuque Leiting? Impossible. At this time, she should be at the royal palace, discussing deeper cooperation between the two families with Luo Yunqing. This was surely also because of Xiaoyao—the Zhuque Family increasingly favored the Luo family and had already placed them on an equal footing, unlike before when they looked down on them somewhat.

Setting that aside, although Zhuque Leiting lived at Xiaoyao's prince mansion, her relationship with Xiaoyao wasn't that close. The two only had some transactions between them.

Xiaoyao wanted the Zhuque Family's cultivation methods, while Zhuque Leiting wanted Xiaoyao's guidance. Both sides had to pay certain prices to get the other to agree.

The former had already been completed—Xiaoyao had used ten Spirit Refining Pills to complete the transaction. He had already obtained the Zhuque Family's bloodline cultivation method, complete without any omissions.

The Zhuque Family greatly valued their relationship with Xiaoyao. Ten Spirit Refining Pills were already enough to make them take notice, plus Xiaoyao might have even more pills—this was also something they wanted to trade for.

Zhuque Leiting had already discussed this matter with Xiaoyao, but Xiaoyao had been too busy recently. If it were just for her personally, that would be manageable, but for the Zhuque Family, the quantity was too large—he couldn't supply that much.

Therefore, the Zhuque Family wanted to share with the Luo family—this was also a major reason for strengthening their alliance relationship with the Luo family.

Since they needed an alliance, they decided to share, but this sharing method wasn't equal division. Rather, they would give a portion, and this portion would be of the inferior kind.

In Xiaoyao's words, those were just defective products—they could have as many as they wanted without any problem.

Xiaoyao had also participated in discussing this matter. Luo Yunqing had personally come to find Xiaoyao to talk. Xiaoyao felt this was very good—allying with others this way not only showed the Luo family's attitude toward forming alliances, making people abandon unnecessary wariness, but could also gain more allies.

"Why are you drinking here?" Third Master looked at Xiaoyao and asked.

"No choice—I can't leave this place now, so I can only drink here," Xiaoyao replied, but his answer didn't seem to address what Third Master wanted to ask.

"...I'm not asking about that. I'm asking why you're drinking when you should be refining pills. You said you were very busy," Third Master said irritably. This question was obviously clear—how could you misunderstand it like that?

"Pill refining also requires waiting for the right heat. The time in between is spent waiting. I have plenty of free time—I just can't leave," Xiaoyao replied.

"Well..." Third Master had nothing to say. He wasn't ignorant about pill refining requiring waiting for proper heat, but generally alchemists would watch from the side, afraid of missing something or unexpected changes occurring. Who would directly drink outside like Xiaoyao?

This also demonstrated Xiaoyao's mastery of pill refining heat control—he had absolute confidence to act this way.

"Third Master, you're here to collect pills, right? They're already prepared for you over there. Third Miss!" Xiaoyao called to Nangong Third Miss—as usual, she would handle this matter.

"Got it. Third Master, the items are with me," Nangong Third Miss raised her head. Seeing Third Master, she understood what this was about.

"Leave them with you for now. I'll drink some wine with Xiaoyao—this wine smells wonderful," Third Master replied. He couldn't just leave like this—at minimum he had to drink some wine, or he'd feel like he was at a loss. Besides, he also had some things to discuss with Xiaoyao.

"Sigh, one more person drinking..." the Young Miss sighed. Obviously, she didn't want this wine to be shared. Xiaoyao didn't matter, but others were a bit hard to accept, though she couldn't refuse.

"..." Third Master felt somewhat depressed. It was just drinking some wine—why be like this?

"Little glutton, give him a wine cup and fill it up," Xiaoyao said to Chi Chi. After Xiaoyao spoke, Chi Chi took a wine cup from the table to Third Master, then held up the wine pot and filled it for him.

Third Master had a thought—if the little girl before him weren't a monster beast, she would really be spirited and cute. But even now, she was equally adorable.

"Thank you!" Third Master picked up the wine cup and drained it in one gulp, exclaiming it was good wine—he had never drunk such fine wine.

"Naturally—this is Xiaoyao's private collection. If it weren't top-grade wine, he wouldn't bother storing it," the Young Miss said. Indeed, for Xiaoyao, ordinary wines could be casually brewed and didn't need collecting.

What was called "ordinary" here actually wasn't ordinary. For many people, this "ordinary" was already top-grade—something they couldn't drink in a lifetime.

After Third Master continued drinking several more cups, he put down his cup and said: "Xiaoyao, I also came today to mention something..." When he said this, he paused again, seeming to find it somewhat difficult to speak.

"Go ahead, I still have some time now," Xiaoyao said unconcernedly.

"This is about your father..." When Third Master said this, he looked at Xiaoyao, wanting to see his reaction—whether it was rejection or acceptance.

However, he was disappointed. Xiaoyao seemed to have no reaction at all.

"He's still at a crucial stage of cultivation, so he can't return immediately. When he heard you were still alive, he was very happy and wanted to see you right away, but Great-grandfather stopped him. Great-grandfather's meaning is for you to go there. They all want to meet you," Third Master continued.

"Meet me? Alright, I'll go after I return from the Carefree Sect," Xiaoyao was somewhat surprised. What did they want to see him for? But since they were elders, going to see them was no matter—he just had to finish his proper business first.

"After returning from the Carefree Sect? How long will that take? Can't you go there first?" Third Master frowned. He already knew about Xiaoyao going to the Carefree Sect and didn't find it strange.

"If I go there first, that's also fine—then I won't refine pills," Xiaoyao nodded.

"Ah, then let's wait until after going to the Carefree Sect," Third Master said with a dry laugh. They wanted to see Xiaoyao just for a gathering, but Xiaoyao's pill refining was related to the Luo family's development plans—naturally this matter couldn't be delayed.

After that, Third Master chatted a while longer, then Xiaoyao went in to tend the furnace. Under normal circumstances, Xiaoyao might be inside for a long time, so Third Master didn't wait. He took the pills that had been produced earlier and left.

When leaving, Third Master felt like someone was missing—that beautiful girl who had come with Xiaoyao, called Hei Xue.

At this time, Hei Xue was handling some matters, contacting people from the Demonic Sound Sect to learn about the situation there. In fact, things there were about to begin. If Xiaoyao went after one month, he would actually be quite late.

(End of Chapter)