Chapter 177: The Lecture Continue

　　Xiao Fang carefully walked toward the great hall. From inside came a young voice, which seemed to be talking about something, but she could not understand it at all.

　　Very soon, a scene that stunned her appeared in her eyes. The young man, whose name was Li Yunxiao, was talking with confidence and composure at the front while the group of alchemists, who had come in before her, sat humbly beneath and listened attentively. Even Master Zhang Hua and Master Bi Qianjin sat among them with a thirsty and hungry look on their faces.

　　The little green sword, which was supposed to have exploded, was not only perfectly intact, but seemed to have been completely refined, and was spinning back and forth between Yunxiao’s fingers like a pen. “Now, is there anything else you don’t understand?” As Yunxiao said that, his eyes fell on the old man, who was smiling wryly.

　　Zhang Hua swallowed hard and asked respectfully, “Master, I still don’t quite understand why it gave us a reverse effect after we joined hands to suppress the violent aura?”

　　“It is actually very simple,” Yunxiao said as he tossed the sword onto the table like a toy and sat down on a chair, crossing his legs. “I’m a little thirsty. Do you have water?”

　　“Ah? Water?” Zhang Hua paused a moment, then he saw Xiao Fang, who was about to go back out and report what she saw to others. “Xiao Fang! Where are you going?” he called out hurriedly. “Bring some water for this Master! Be quick about it!”

　　“Are you crawling there? Hurry up!”

　　“Fu*k! You are quite agile normally, but why are you so slow now? Don’t let Master wait for your water!”

　　“Why didn’t you prepare water in advance? You don’t want to work here anymore, do you?”

　　The group of alchemists, who were absorbed in the lecture, turned to glare at Xiao Fang and began to scold her. Some of them were so angry that they even shouted at her to dismiss her from the job. Trembling with fear, she took a cup of water and ran over, almost bursting into tears.

　　“Ma-Master, please have a cup of water…”

　　She placed a cup of water before Yunxiao as she bowed and prepared to leave. There was a group of alchemists still waiting for her outside, and she could not afford to offend even one of them.

　　“Where are you going? Stay here! Perhaps Master has other orders for you later.” Zhang Hua frowned and glared at her, as if he were very dissatisfied with her.

　　Xiao Fang froze and her face turned glum immediately, but there was nothing she could do or say. So, she lowered her head and stood to the side, not daring to take another step.

　　Yunxiao saw everything. With a smile in his eyes, he took a sip of water and his face turned dark as he slapped the table and snapped, “What kind of attitude is this?”

　　That startled Zhang Hua and the others immediately. No one knew why he flew into rage suddenly, and they all exchanged anxious glances.

　　Yunxiao pointed at Xiao Fang and said, “I can’t believe you all have the heart to scold such a beautiful girl in loud voices and order her to do things like she is a maid, and yet someone even shouted her to be dismissed from her job? I really doubt whether you are alchemists or not. As a qualified alchemist, one must first have a compassionate heart. Do you have it? I can’t imagine how you will treat common people when you’ve treated a beautiful girl so badly! None of you deserve to be an alchemist!”

　　“Ah? This…”

　　Everyone was struck dumb. Bi Qianjin was the first to come back to his senses. He quickly waved at Xiao Fang and said, “Come and sit here, Xiao Fang! We were indeed too harsh on you in the past, Master is right! How can an alchemist still be an alchemist when he or she doesn’t have a compassionate heart?” He took out a storage bag and held it out as he said kindly, “I don’t have any gold coins on me. Take these one hundred medial-grade Primordial Stones first as compensation from the association.”

　　“Ah? One hundred medial-grade Primordial Stones!” Xiao Fang’s heart raced. How many gold coins were they worth? She felt her head stop working and she could not do the calculation anymore.

　　Meanwhile, Zhang Hua said, “Master’s words have enlightened me as well. I propose a pay rise for Xiao Fang!”

　　“Yeah, I just remember, Xiao Fang has been working here for years, but she has never received a raise, has she?”

　　“Heaven! We were too selfish and inhumane in the past! We only thought for ourselves but never cared about the difficulties of others!”

　　“No wonder we have not made any progress in alchemy for years. It turns out that we lack a compassionate heart!”

　　“You’re absolutely right! Let us gather signatures and demand the association to give Xiao Fang at least a tenfold raise.”

　　“Tenfold? Over the past few years, the currency has been over issued to an insane extent! I say we need to give her at least a one-hundredfold raise!”

　　“That’s right!” Zhang Hua said seriously, “It must be at least a one-hundredfold raise. We will propose it to the deputy president of the branch after this. If the raise doesn’t meet this number, we will put in our own money!”

　　“Yes, let’s do it!” Every alchemist shouted in agreement, as if they suddenly had a great deal of animosity with the association about the salary system of common people.

　　Xiao Fang only felt that her mind was completely petrified, causing her to lose her ability to think, She felt as if she were in a dream as she listened to all the concerned words around her. ‘No! I’m indeed in a dream!’ Suddenly, all the wrongs she had suffered over the years came back to her. With tears welling up in her big eyes, she looked gratefully at Yunxiao.

　　Yunxiao chuckled as he clapped his hands and said, “All right, based on your performance, you’re not hopeless. Let us continue! Where were we just now?”

　　“We were talking about why it gave us a reverse effect after we joined hands to suppress the violent aura,” Zhang Hua said hurriedly and carefully. The whole great hall quieted down once again.

　　The old man sat in the back row with his legs crossed. He felt strange and delighted at the same time as he watched these alchemists behave so humbly. ‘Haha! I never thought these arrogant, fastidious, but incompetent alchemists would look like this, sucking up to someone like some lowly people! Damnit! Where is your air of arrogance and dignity? Fu*k!’

　　He gave each of them a middle finger in his heart. But at the same time, he was totally aware that the reason these alchemists behaved like this was that they were thoroughly convinced by the boy’s strength and knowledge. For example, Martial Grandmasters and Martial Emperors were all lofty figures, but if there was a Martial Supreme or a Martial Sovereign in front of them, they would also wait carefully to the side like some servants.

　　It filled the old man’s heart with curiosity. He wondered which power could cultivate such a young alchemist who could convince even third-tier alchemists. ‘What tier is this boy at then? Damnit, he is only fifteen years old, and he is also a one-stars Great Martial Master! Since when did such a genius appear in Firecrow Empire?’

　　He knew nothing about alchemy, so he could only guess. Meanwhile, every alchemist in front of him listened attentively to the lecture, not daring to think about anything else or even breathe too loud.

　　After wiping away her tears, Xiao Fang carefully sat to the side, waiting for orders. No matter who this young man was, she knew that she would be treated completely differently from now on because of him. Alchemists were cold and indifferent, but they were proud of themselves, so they would not go back on their own words. Besides, a one-hundredfold pay rise was nothing to these wealthy people.

　　“Actually, it is very simple. I’ve told you just now that the reason the refinement failed is due to the overly high proportion of Still Copper Stone. Because Master Bi…”

　　“Master, please call me Xiao Bi or Xiao Jin, but don’t call me Master. I don’t deserve it!” Bi Qianjin hurriedly interrupted.

　　“Oh! Because Xiao Bi had just advanced to the third-tier and his cultivation base is not stable yet, he used the third-tier material in an excess proportion to increase the success rate, believing that it could improve the probability of success. This is a suicidal move. How can you control a high proportion of third-tier materials when you can’t even control a low proportion? As a result, during the refinement process, it greatly destroyed the materials’ structure, causing a core instability. As soon as I walked through the door, I sensed that the damage will worsen if you continue, and with Xiao Bi’s strength he could never stop it. Therefore, I asked this beautiful girl to move further away, lest she is hurt by the explosion.”

　　Xiao Fang’s face turned red slightly, and she lowered her head in embarrassment. In her heart, she scolded herself for being such an ignorant girl and taking Yunxiao as a madman.

　　All the alchemists were so shocked that they were rendered speechless. ‘He can sense to such a fine degree simply through the energy waves coming from the artifact! Heaven! What tier is this Master at?’

　　“The theory is the same when you joined hands to suppress it with soul power later on. Yes, your joint soul power is strong enough to suppress the violent aura, but it also further destroyed the structure. Unless you could go beyond the level of the materials and completely suppress these structures, they would explode even more violently when they lost control. You should know that the Still Copper Stone is not the only third-tier material in this little sword. At least ten materials had been destroyed by your concerted efforts to suppress the violent aura, so an explosion was inevitable.”

　　Everyone had an enlightened look. Alchemists were a group of people who sought the Dao at the cost of their lives, because many of them were killed by explosions during the refinement process. A new theory learned and experience earned meant a higher chance of survival. Therefore, they were very grateful as they absorbed and digested the knowledge taught by Yunxiao.

　　The old man in the back could not bear it anymore. “Then, how did you suppress the violent aura? Don’t tell me that your soul power is strong enough to completely suppress the power contained in these materials.”

　　Yunxiao glanced at the old man and explained triumphantly, “The basic principle in flood control should be dredging, and not blocking, and it is the same principle I applied here. While I dispersed the violent aura with various incantation gestures, I was constantly fixing the damaged structure in the materials. After I had completely resolved the risk of explosion, I took the opportunity to fix the shape of the sword.”

　　Damaged materials could be repaired?

　　All alchemists gaped, as that was already beyond their knowledge.