The Crazy Son-In-Law

Both the emergency pellet and energy pellet were basic pellets, requiring no precious materials. The pill refining room had them in stock. The emergency pellet was used to calm the mind and assist in meditative concentration. Since Zhou Tianheng carried it with him at all times, he must take it frequently for its effects to be more apparent upon inspection.

“Alright, I’ll go now,” Song Linger responded and headed out towards the pill refining room.

“Please, have a seat while we wait for my disciple to refine the pellets. Their quality will reveal itself clearly,” Xiao Shun said, turning to Zhou Tianheng and Zhou Yi.

“Very well, we’ll see about that,” Zhou Yi harrumphed and helped Zhou Tianheng sit back down on the sofa.

Zhou Tianheng seemed rather uneasy, his emotions complex with both anticipation and apprehension.

“Wen Yao, please brew some tea for our guests,” Xiao Shun requested.

“Yes, right away,” Wen Yao replied.

Soon, Wen Yao brewed tea and served it to the two men.

About ten minutes later, Xiao Shun stood up. “Let’s go take a look,” he said.Content protected by Nôv/el(D)rama.Org.

It took around half an hour to refine basic pellets like these. Song Linger should have the ingredients prepared and started the actual pellet refinement process by now, so there were no secrets left.

Mastery over fire control required experience and intuition anyway. If it were ordinary people like Duan Jia or Wen Yao, Xiao Shun wouldn’t need to be so careful. But Zhou Tianheng was an outsider well-versed in pill refinement, so he had to be prudent. After all, Xiao Shun planned to use these pellets to control Zhou Tianheng and make him swear loyalty.

Soon, the three arrived at the pill refinement room. Inside were three exquisitely crafted pellet furnaces. Song Linger was wholly focused, skillfully controlling the fire of two furnaces. These were the first pellets she practiced refining as a beginner, so she was extremely adept now.

In just a few minutes, the room filled with rich medicinal fragrances.

Zhou Tianheng had been immersed in pellet arts for decades and was highly sensitive to such scents. He realized that the pellets Song Linger was refining were likely different from the standard energy and emergency pellets he knew. The rich aromas were telling.

Zhou Yi’s expression grew heavier and heavier. From the moment he entered and saw the three refined furnaces and Song Linger’s adept fire control, it was evident they knew pellet refinement. And now these dense fragrances were unlike anything he’d smelled in the Zhou residence’s pill refinement room.

Could this man really be some expert? Impossible. He looked to be just twenty some years old, around the same age as Zhou Yi. There was no way.

Another ten plus minutes passed, and freshly refined energy and emergency pellets came out.

“You two must be intimately familiar with these pellets, so there’s no need for me to elaborate. Go ahead and see how they differ from your own,” Xiao Shun said placidly.

He had full confidence in Song Linger’s refinement skills. At minimum, the energy pellets were thirty percent more potent than the ones auctioned off by the Old School Society yesterday. The emergency pellets were at least fifty percent stronger.

Song Linger proudly presented the pellets to the Zhou elders. Just their outward appearance alone proved her pellets were superior quality, giving her an edge over the Zhou family’s.

Zhou Yi stared gravely at Zhou Tianheng.

Zhou Tianheng picked up an emergency pellet and swallowed it. Soon, he felt a cool sensation swirling in his chest, then slowly spreading through his limbs and extremities. His previously chaotic emotions immediately calmed, his mind serene. Compared to his own emergency pellets, the effects astonished him.

At the same time, Zhou Yi also downed an energy pellet. As a pellet family, energy pellets were fundamental. He knew their effects like the back of his hand. But after trying Song Linger’s energy pellet, he grew uncertain.

Hers were worlds apart from the Zhou family’s. Despite his arrogance, he had to admit her energy pellets were far, far more potent than the Zhou’s.

He even wondered if these were really energy pellets.

“Master Xiao, you have shown me the error of my ways. Please impart your teachings, I earnestly beg you,” Zhou Tianheng turned and bowed deeply to Xiao Shun, his tone sincere.

Though ashamed, Zhou Yi still couldn’t swallow his pride. He stood awkwardly, extremely uncomfortable.

“Kneel, and I will teach you,” Xiao Shun stated.

“Don’t go too far! Even if you have some skill, that’s no reason to humiliate people so!” Zhou Yi instantly erupted in rage, eyes bulging furiously.

“The pellet arts have always been secret teachings, so give me one reason why I should instruct you for no benefit. You may choose not to kneel, which is no loss to me. But if you rely only on yourselves, it may take decades, even centuries, before you resolve the flaws in your formulas and refinement techniques,” Xiao Shun reasoned.

Zhou Tianheng immediately grasped Xiao Shun’s implication – he wanted them to become his disciples!

How ironic. Just yesterday at the auction, he himself had thought of accepting Xiao Shun as a student. Now their positions were reversed, and he had to take Xiao Shun as his master. Truly, fate toyed with people.

The pellet arts declined two hundred years ago. His Zhou family, as a pellet clan, also began declining around then, weathering the storms over generations in decline. The remaining formulas they had were mostly incomplete, and the refinement techniques verge on lost.

In recent decades, the cultivation world rose, bringing pellets back into cultivators’ view. As a Zhou descendant, Zhou Tianheng retook up his ancestry’s work. With exceptional aptitude, over a decade of diligent research gradually filled in his family’s incomplete formulas.

But those original formulas took pioneers decades or even centuries to develop. No matter Zhou Tianheng’s talent, ten-odd years could not possibly produce flawless results.

Later, he joined the Old School Society with his pellet skills, utilizing their vast resources, including many fragmented formulas and rare materials, to improve the formulas over the past few decades.

But as time passed, his own fame grew, and he became blinded by reputation and profit, losing his original aspirations.

Xiao Shun’s appearance at the auction finally awakened him, making him realize how hollow his “master” reputation was. What shamed Zhou Tianheng even more was the realization that his Zhou family couldn’t even properly refine the most basic pellets. How absurd his title as pellet refinement master was!