Chapter 11- A Rare Visitor

The Central Continent was the biggest continent on planet Daiyu. It was also known as the Xingyun Dynasty governed by the Xingyun Imperial Family, one of the two imperial families on the planet besides the Tang Dynasty on the Tang Continent.

Out of all the other continents, it was considered the most powerful and prosperous.

From the Emperor and his Ministers down to the commoners in its 8 states, everyone was happily living their lives.

This situation where peace reigns throughout the empire were due to the Emperor's strict laws on corruption and violence. He was a man of benevolence who believe that the empire should place the protection of its citizens above all else because without them, there would be no empire to speak of.

To demonstrate this fact, he made a clear contrast between the cultivation world and the mortal world.

The large sects and clans had gotten a warning that if their conflicts or struggle over cultivation resources ever get the common people involved, then they would have to pay a heavy price.

The Emperor himself was a Saint realm being and not just an ordinary one, but one that was said to be on the verge of going beyond that realm.

Under his command were his three generals, who were shockingly also Saint realm beings but had alone recently broken through. This lineup made it so that one word from the Emperor could bring catastrophe to the sects and clans, making them afraid and wouldn't dare to go against his order.

The only exception where the cultivation world came in contact with the mortal world, was when the sects held their Disciple Selection Ceremonies.

They would go into the mortal world and choose children who had developed Spirit roots to enter their sects. The Emperor did not prevent this because for a sect to grow a new generation of talented disciples was needed.

In fact, his second son was a Conclave disciple of a Sage-level Sect called the Solitary Sword Sect and was considered to be extremely talented being that he was only sixteen.

For most Sects, a disciple would need to be in the Core Formation realm or have immense talent to qualify for a Conclave disciple position. The prince checking both of those boxes made one see that he was not to be looked down on.

In contrast to him was his older brother the Crown Prince, who was at the late stage of the Foundation Building realm. But even so, no one would look down on him for having a lower cultivation level than his little brother. Due to one fact that when he tested for a Spirit root, it was discovered that he possessed one of the Legendary Physiques, the Nine Sun Extreme Yang Physique.

Due to his physique having a fire attribute, he decided to become an Alchemist.

An alchemist was someone who studies the Dao of alchemy by learning the different spiritual herbs, and concocted medicinal pills using pill formulas.

Alchemists could be separated into Grades 1 to 9.

A Grade 1 alchemist could only concoct grade 1 pills that only affect Qi Gathering realm cultivators, while a Grade 2 alchemist could produce grade 1 and grade 2 pills that can affect Foundation realm cultivators.

There were some geniuses that could concoct grade 2 pills while still being in the Qi Gathering realm, but they were rare.

Alchemy masters have always been sought after. It was to the point where some sects and clans would go as far as to exhaust a countless number of resources to train their alchemy disciples, but only a few could actually achieve something.

The number of people who had reached the 1st Grade was plenty, but going up the ranks they become fewer and fewer. The highest level of alchemy masters on planet Daiyu was the 5th Grade, and they could be counted on one hand.

The reason why practicing alchemy was so difficult to begin with, was that in addition to studying thousands of different spiritual herbs and their properties, while also memorizing hundreds of pill formulas, alchemists must also focus on cultivating their Spiritual Qi as well.

For example, if a Grade 1 alchemist wanted to concoct a grade 2 pill, they would have to be in the Foundation realm, if not then their Qi Gathering realm Spiritual Qi would run out before they could concoct the pill.

For most Qi Cultivators, cultivating Spiritual Qi was already difficult. Now having to learn alchemy on top of that would only slow down their cultivation progress. So most consider it a waste of time learning it. At the very least they would study the basics and that's it.

This year the crown prince was nineteen years old, and it was said that if he had focused on cultivation alone instead of diverting his attention to alchemy, he would have surpassed his younger brother's cultivation a long time ago.

When the crown prince decided to become an alchemist, the Emperor was very supportive of his decision.

He had taken the liberty to hire several renowned alchemy masters to teach his son about alchemy. He even gifted his son a top-quality pill furnace used by Grade 4 alchemists and sent out an order to build a large courtyard that took up a third of the palace.

Inside the courtyard was an alchemy lab that had the best facilities and tools used by top-level alchemists.

The Emperor had wanted his son to have the best of everything as he pursued his goal.

However, once the crown prince had actually started practicing alchemy, the Emperor immediately regretted his decision.

"Booooom….!!"

A loud explosion echoed from the Imperial Palace.

Two palace guards that were guarding the palace gates turned their heads to look in the direction of the explosion. One of them sigh and said.

"Is the Crown Prince really concocting pills? That's the sixtieth explosion today and it's still noon."

The other guard that was to his side shook his head corrected.

"You're wrong, that's not the sixtieth it's the sixty-second."

The guard who was corrected turned his head and looked at his compatriot with a bitter smile on his face.

"My bad, it looks like my ears are starting to fail me."

On the south wing of the palace, a miniature mushroom cloud could be seen rising into the air from a building.

At the building's entrance, a teenager with bright red hair wearing golden imperial robes could be seen coming out of the smoke.

After struggling out of the entrance he coughed a few times before saying.

"Ah, it was a bust again."

After letting out a heavy sigh he shook his head in disappointment.

"Crown prince, Young Master Li Fang is here to visit you."

A middle-aged man wearing servant's attire said while approaching the teenager.

"Junior brother Fang has come to visit me?"

He asked in a perplexed tone.

"I wonder why he decided to visit, fine let him in."

The servant received the order and headed back to the courtyard's entrance.

After a while, another teenager could be seen strolling through the courtyard towards the smoky building.

He wore black and white inner and outer robes.

As he walked through the courtyard he gave off the feeling of being one with heaven and earth, as if he and the heavens were in total balance. Even the pace of his steps was balanced and equal, sounding as if someone was playing a piano key rhythmically. Each beat sounded alike with the same interval between them.

"Haha, Junior brother Fang what's with the sudden visit?"

The Crown Prince had his hands behind his back while a smile spread across his lips.

However, if it wasn't for the black smudges on his face and clothes, he would've looked a bit more charming. Some of the black smudges had even gotten on his teeth making his smile a bit weird.