The patriarch of the Yan family nodded in agreement.
In the banquet, everyone went back to enjoying themselves and planning how to strengthen their relationship with Yan family, who had the future Master Alchemist in their ranks.
However, only three people at the banquet were displeased.
The first one was none other than Han Cai, who wanted to enjoy the food but had been made the center of attention with a complimentary engagment.
The second was Yan Pengfei, whose fiancée had been spoken for by someone else.
And the third was Xu Qiaolian, the fiancée who was looking at the bald, hairless eleven-year-old kid who was supposed to be her future partner.
The three of them each had their own thoughts and feelings about the situation, but for now, they all had to play their parts in the ongoing drama of clan politics and relationships.
As the banquet continued, the various family patriarchs and members mingled and discussed their plans for the future. The atmosphere was filled with anticipation and a sense of change, as everyone knew that the Xu family now owned a business in the verdant city Xu family would need their materials to sell.
The banquet continued late into the night, and many guests were reluctant to leave, enjoying the festive atmosphere and the company of fellow cultivators. As the event finally came to an end, the Yan family members returned to their rented mansion in Verdant City, satisfied with the outcome, while Han Cai was very unsatisfied. Two lives of experience, and he was played as a fiddle by these old men. You could never underestimate anyone.
Once the less-than-pleasing banquet was over, the Yan Family patriarch led the family back to Yan City. Han Cai returned to the Rui household, resuming his daily schedule of making pills and cultivating. Han Cai had already reached level nine of Qi condensation and was now ready to break through to the Foundation Establishment stage. All his techniques were stuck at level 3, but his Instant Freeze technique showed signs of breaking through to reach level four. At level four, he would be able to instantly freeze opponents at a distance of two hundred meters, a significant increase from the current forty meters. This was why level four techniques took time to develop, as there was a qualitative jump in power.
Han Cai decided to stop other activities and divide his time between alchemy, practicing Instant Freeze, and cultivating. Now that he had created talismans to aid in cultivation, he used them to speed up his progress. Six months after returning from the banquet, Han Cai broke through to the Foundation Establishment stage, with the Celestial Qi in his dantian starting to turn liquid. He was very satisfied with his growth since he had reached Foundation Establishment through his own efforts without any use of the system. Han Cai avoided using the system as much as possible as the temptation if it was too high.
Two months after reaching the Foundation Establishment stage, Han Cai achieved a breakthrough in Instant Freeze, reaching level four. To his surprise, his Sword Blizzard technique also broke through to level four the following month, enabling him to summon six swords, twice the number he could at level three.
Han Cai then decided to work on improving his flame techniques, as Scorching Chain and Meteor Strike were close to breaking through as well. However, before he could achieve these breakthroughs, his great-grandfather called for him.
Yan Rui, sitting on a cushion as usual, said, "I will be taking you to the Azure Dragon Sect for the test. The patriarch and some other elders will be joining us too. Take some time to say goodbye to your mother and father."
Han Cai nodded and asked, "When do we depart?"
Yan Rui replied, "Next month."
After a few minutes of silence, Yan Rui coughed and added, "As you know, once you leave, the family will stop receiving pill supplies for six months, and if you get selected, the supply might stop permanently. So, before you leave, it would be great if you could concoct a few extra pills."
ραпdα -n૦νe| , c૦m Han Cai nodded, then left his great-grandfather's courtyard and returned to his own, where he began concocting pills for the family. Now that he could concoct high-grade pills, medium-grade ones posed little challenge. Han Cai could easily produce more than five hundred medium-grade pills. A sleeping dragon was still a dragon, and his dormant Legendary Grandmaster Alchemist talent, though dormant, still made him better than ordinary alchemists.
Han Cai decided to concoct a substantial quantity of medium and lower-grade pills for the clan so the clan's pill business does not go cold turkey.
As Han Cai busied himself with concocting pills, the entire Yan Clan found themselves in a dilemma. Since the clan's beginning, only their ancestor had ever joined the Azure Dragon Sect. Each year, clan elders and members dreamed of the day when another clan member, someone from their household, would join the Azure Dragon Sect, elevating their clan's status to a major family in the Verdant area. However, year after year, their hopes were shattered as their candidates failed.
With Han Cai's test at the Azure Dragon Sect drawing near, the clan members were torn. Yan Rui was determined to see Han Cai join the sect, knowing that as soon as he did, the Rui household would become the main household of the Yan Family, and Yan Rui would wield even more power than the patriarch.
However, unlike Yan Rui, the rest of the clan was not excited about the prospect of Han Cai leaving for the sect's test. In recent years, Han Cai had become their cash cow. More than money, the pills gave them a lot of leverage and favors from many clans, businesses, and cultivators. Once he left for the test, there would be no pills for six months.
Worse still, if Han Cai were selected, they would lose all leverage, with the Rui household reaping most of the benefits as they would get to open stores in the major cities of the Azure Dragon Kingdom on behalf of the clan. While the clan would profit, the majority would go to the Rui household.
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