Profound Heaven Soul Sovereign

"Ah, Lord Zhou, you’ve finished your alchemy! How did it go? Was today’s session a success? I’ve already prepared hot water for you. Would you like to wash your face first?" Zhou Yu’s eyes lit up as he immediately scurried over like a fawning lapdog.

"Lord Zhou." Lu Yue also spoke with pleasant surprise, hurrying forward.

Zhou Yu’s face immediately darkened. ’How can this Lu Yue be so tactless? She’s completely ruining my golden opportunity to suck up!’ He couldn’t help but roar angrily, "Lu Yue, Lord Zhou just finished his alchemy and is very tired! Can’t whatever you have to say wait? If you disturb Lord Zhou’s rest, can you afford the consequences? Lord Zhou, come, this way. Watch your step..."

Zhou Huarong saw Lu Yue as well and stopped. "Oh, it’s you, Lu Yue. What is it? Are you waiting for me for something?"

"Lord Zhou, the young man you asked me to look out for just arrived at the Association."

"Young man? What young man?" Zhou Huarong didn’t react for a moment.

Hearing this, Zhou Yu was secretly delighted and snorted coldly. "You’ve got some nerve, Lu Yue. Are you trying to make fun of Lord Zhou? Go on, shoo! Why would Lord Zhou care about some young man? You dare to jest with Lord Zhou? I’ll settle the score with you later."

Lu Yue’s actions had really annoyed him. He had already decided he would have to teach her a good lesson later. ’This little brat, does she think she’s somebody just because she became the head attendant? Just you wait and see how I deal with her later.’

Lu Yue said anxiously, "Lord Zhou, it’s Ye Xuan! The young man who beat up Lai Mao the other day!"

’Why is this Lu Yue so clueless?’

Zhou Yu’s face darkened. He was about to say more, but he saw the previously dazed Zhou Huarong jolt. He practically flew to Lu Yue’s side and asked anxiously, "Where is he? Where is he now? How long has he been here? Did you manage to keep him here?"

Zhou Huarong’s questions came out like machine-gun fire, so fast that Lu Yue almost couldn’t process them.

"He’s been here for a while... but I already had Chen Jia try to keep him here. I... I think she managed to, right?" 𝓯𝙧𝓮𝓮𝒘𝓮𝙗𝙣𝒐𝒗𝒆𝓵.𝓬𝓸𝒎

"What? He’s been here for a while? What do you mean you ’think’ she kept him here? Either she did or she didn’t! What is this ’think’?!" Zhou Huarong was bursting with fury, his beard bristling. He trembled with anger as he pointed at Lu Yue and roared, "Didn’t I tell you? As soon as that young man arrived, you were to notify me at the first possible moment! Do you not understand what ’first possible moment’ means? It looks to me like you’re ready to pack your bags and get out!"

Lu Yue’s eyes turned red with grievance. "Lord Zhou, I came here the very first moment I could! But Zhou Yu said you were performing alchemy and could absolutely not be disturbed, no matter how urgent it was. He even said that if I disturbed you, atoning with my death wouldn’t be enough, so I..."

Zhou Huarong’s eyes widened in fury as he whipped his head around to look at Zhou Yu. "Zhou Yu, is that what you said?"

"I... I..." Zhou Yu’s mouth hung open, but he couldn’t get a single word out. He realized that things seemed to have gone far beyond his expectations.

Having become a manager at the Alchemist Association, Zhou Huarong was no fool. Seeing Zhou Yu’s expression, he instantly understood what had happened. "So that’s it! You rotten brat! Is this how you do your job as my assistant? Get out! Get out of my sight right now! If Ye Xuan has already left, I’ll hold you personally responsible!"

"Lu Yue, go to the Chairman’s office right now! Tell him the young man he’s been looking for has arrived! I’ll go downstairs to find Chen Jia." Zhou Huarong knew the most important thing right now was to keep Ye Xuan here. After spitting out the orders, he shot down the stairs like the wind.

"Find the Chairman." Lu Yue was dumbfounded. As for Zhou Yu, he practically fainted.

At the front desk on the first floor, Chen Jia was chatting and giggling with a few other attendants. "Let me tell you, I just saw the most hilarious thing. That kid Lu Yue asked me to look after actually went to the request area and wrote an answer to the problem Chairman Hua posted. I almost died laughing! He’s just a little brat, what does he know about alchemy? He was just putting on a show. I bet he was just trying to get my attention. Too bad for him, I’m not into little kids, hehehe."

"Haha, something like that happened? Why don’t I ever get to see things like that?"

"Stop laughing, everyone, stop laughing! Chen Jia, maybe he’s actually an Alchemy Master! You’ve really hit the jackpot, hahaha!"

The group was bent over in laughter, unable to stop.

Just then, a figure rushed in front of them like a whirlwind, startling Chen Jia and the others. After seeing who it was, Chen Jia’s group scrambled to stand ramrod straight, putting on what they thought were their most brilliant smiles. "Lord Zhou," they said respectfully.

"Chen Jia, where is the young man Lu Yue asked you to look after?" Zhou Huarong demanded frantically.

The brilliant smile on Chen Jia’s face froze.

A short while later, in the request area...

Zhou Huarong’s face was grim, his complexion ashen. He was like a barrel of dynamite about to explode, gathering energy. Finally, the dynamite barrel detonated. He roared furiously, "Where is he?! Didn’t you say he was here? Where is he?! Chen Jia, you tell me, where in the hell is he?!"

Chen Jia was so scared her face had lost all its color. On the verge of tears, she said, "I don’t know, Lord Zhou! He was just here a moment ago! Maybe he’s somewhere else now..."

"Find him for me! If he is anywhere in the Alchemist Association, you must find him!" Zhou Huarong all but roared.

The words had barely left his mouth when another gust of wind seemed to sweep through, and an old man with graying hair and a beard, dressed in simple clothes, hurriedly appeared in the request area.

"Zhou Huarong, where’s the kid? Let this old man have a look." Hua Luoxuan feigned composure, putting on an air of profound nonchalance.

Zhou Huarong, who had been so imperious and furious just moments before, now looked embarrassed. He said cautiously, "Chairman Hua, cough cough, well..."

A moment later.

"What? You’re telling me you let him get away? What the hell do I pay you to be the general manager of this Association for?! You can’t even keep an eye on one person! What use are you?!" Hua Luoxuan’s beard bristled and his eyes glared, all his initial composure gone. He grabbed Zhou Huarong by the neck with both hands, his expression making it seem like he wanted nothing more than to strangle him to death on the spot.

’This...’

’What is going on?’

Chen Jia felt a wave of dizziness, an unreal sensation of wanting to faint. She felt like she could pass out right there. Her calves were trembling. She could never have imagined that the young man she had looked down on so much could not only alarm Lord Zhou Huarong but was also considered this important by Chairman Hua Luoxuan himself.

This was Chairman Hua Luoxuan of the Alchemist Association! A distinguished Royal Alchemist of the kingdom, a man of noble status! Even if the City Lord of Blue Moon City himself were to visit, he probably wouldn’t be treated with this much intensity.

How could she know that after that day, Hua Luoxuan had studied the leftover Bone Marrow Cleansing Liquid from Ye Xuan over and over again? He had discovered its many powerful properties and was now utterly in awe of it. He had finally heard that Ye Xuan had returned, only for Zhou Huarong to fail to keep him here. He felt like killing Zhou Huarong.

In an instant, the entire Alchemist Association was thrown into chaos. All the guards and attendants were mobilized to search for a young man, but in the end, they found nothing.

Hua Luoxuan and Zhou Huarong suppressed their rage and turned to Chen Jia with bloodshot eyes. "Quickly, tell us everything Ye Xuan did when he was here, from beginning to end. If you tell a single lie, you know the consequences..."

Terrified, Chen Jia hurriedly recounted everything, word for word.

When he heard that Ye Xuan had actually answered his question in the request area, Hua Luoxuan leaped up. He hastily took out a key and, in disbelief, opened the cabinet in the request area.

Sure enough, inside his cabinet, an answer sheet lay quietly.

Hua Luoxuan scanned the answer sheet, his eyes burning with intensity.

Beside him, Zhou Huarong and the others were itching with curiosity and couldn’t help but sneak a peek. They didn’t see much, but they caught this one line: "...I suggest you go back and review ’Properties of Common Continental Herbs’ by Master Ye Xiaoyao a few more times. With such rotten fundamental knowledge, you probably won’t have any great achievements in the future. If you don’t shore up your basic knowledge, what’s the point of being an alchemist? You might as well go back to being a farmer."

’Rotten fundamental knowledge? Might as well go back to being a farmer?’

Zhou Huarong and the others were scared out of their wits. ’Heavens, this Ye Xuan is arrogant beyond belief! Does he even know who he’s talking to?’

A dignified Third Grade Alchemist, the Chairman of the Blue Moon City Alchemist Association, Hua Luoxuan—the highest-ranking alchemist in all of Blue Moon City! If even he wasn’t qualified to be an Alchemist, then who in Blue Moon City was?

Thinking of Chairman Hua Luoxuan’s explosive temper, the corner of Zhou Huarong’s mouth twitched, and he was so scared that he subconsciously took two steps back.

He could already picture Chairman Hua Luoxuan flying into a thunderous rage after seeing that sentence. Staying close to him right now could be fatal.

And indeed, under everyone’s watchful eyes, Chairman Hua Luoxuan’s hands, which were holding the answer, began to tremble. His eyes grew wide and round, the muscles in his face slowly contorted, and his complexion gradually flushed red.

’It’s coming, it’s coming.’

Zhou Huarong and the others held their breath, bracing themselves for Chairman Hua Luoxuan’s earth-shattering fury.

Hua Luoxuan’s body shook more and more violently, his eyes grew wider and wider, and he looked like a volcano about to erupt, his rage building to an incredible peak.

It was only to be expected. A little brat had dared to give such an evaluation to the dignified Chairman of the Alchemist Association. Anyone would be furious! It was blatant mockery, blatant contempt. Even death by a thousand cuts wouldn’t be too much for such an offense.

In an instant, the air in the request area grew so tense it was suffocating. Even breathing felt like a luxury. Every second stretched on for an eternity.

Finally, just as everyone thought he had suppressed his rage to its absolute limit, Chairman Hua Luoxuan exploded.

"A master! A master!"

A roar like thunder shook the heavens, but unexpectedly, it wasn’t a roar of anger.

Hua Luoxuan grabbed the collar of Zhou Huarong, who had tried to hide somewhere, and yanked him forward in an instant. Spittle flew everywhere, spraying all over Zhou Huarong’s head and face, as the Chairman trembled with excitement. "Did you see this? Did you see?! This is a true master! This is a true alchemy expert! To understand the medicinal properties of Dark Night Grass so thoroughly, so deeply, so incisively! He’s absolutely right! I’m an idiot! I might as well go back to being a farmer! No wonder I always failed when concocting the Awakening Potion! Haha! To not even understand such a simple principle... I’m an idiot! I’m a complete and utter idiot...!"