Chapter 62: Chapter 62- Fostering Rivalry and Officially Becoming A Disciple

Young-Hwa released an internal sigh.

’And here I thought that I had found myself an excellent disciple. Don’t tell me the youngest brother’s disciple will be the same? I doubt he can beat my piece of treas-I mean, my disciple as well.’

Young-Hwa sighed once more before he turned to Yoon-Jae and barked.

“Damn brat! Do you see how talented your rival is? Now you need to work ten times as hard to beat him!”

Strangely, Yoon-Jae’s normal reaction of dismissing his Master’s words to train harder didn’t fall on deaf ears, but he instead stared at Sol with battle intent in his eyes.

Young-Hwa seeing this was first taken aback, but he soon nodded in satisfaction. Perhaps having these brats display their talents here wasn’t a waste of time.

This was the intention of both the old man and Young-Hwa, to light a competitive fire in their disciples.

As for Sol, he too shared the same sentiment, and he stared back at Yoon-Jae with his eyes gleaming.

Seeing that their goal had been achieved, Young-Hwa said.

“Yoon-Jae, go help him register for our Alchemy Pavilion and find a courtyard in the Inner Mountain for him to stay.”

Yoon-Jae nodded before he motioned for Sol to follow him.

“Brat, here.”

Before Sol left with Yoon-Jae, the old man threw him a jade slip.

“Use this to contact me in case of emergencies. But don’t expect to get me every time, and don’t bother contacting me to beat up some brat you’re having a dispute with. I’m your Master, not a hired ruffian that likes to beat up children.”

Sol nodded and carefully placed the jade slip into his robes; however, he couldn’t help but raise a single eyebrow in skepticism when he heard his Master’s latter words. Didn’t he beat him up during his training?

The old man instantly picked up on what Sol was inferring, and he angrily yelled.

“Damn brat, get out of here!”

Sol turned and hurriedly rushed out of the pavilion with Little Zeel on his head.

The old man watched Sol leave before a complicated expression appeared on his face.

“Are you planning on venturing over to the Western Continent after this?”

Young-Hwa asked his brother, and without turning the old man nodded.

“Out of all of us, you were with Master the longest. The youngest and I don’t approve of you going down this path alone, but we can’t bring ourselves to stop you either.”

The old man remained silent, but Young-Hwa continued to say.

“Before you go, you should know the Royals and even the Church have sent invitations to our Martial Alliance Academy.”

This time the old man couldn’t help but turn to his brother.

“What for? Are they planning on sending their younger members here?”

“It isn’t just that, they’re proposing we do the same. An exchange of some sort.”

The old man frowned.

“Has the Six Holy Sects and Five Great Clans agreed to this?”

“Not yet, but there are rumors of some people pushing for it.”

“*Snort!*… What use is there starting up this exchange program when they’re planning on going to war with each other?”

“Eldest Brother, isn’t it obvious? For as long as one could remember our two Regions have been separated. We barely know anything about each other. Wouldn’t it be more logical to scout your enemy’s strengths and weaknesses before going to war?”

The old man snorted once again.

“So, they’re planning on using these children in the younger generation to test the waters?”

Young-Hwa nodded.

“There is also the issue with our difference in cultivation systems. We know each other’s way of cultivating to a certain extent, but due to our lack of contact, we have never fought. How the strength of our cultivators at each cultivation realm is compared with each other is a mystery to us. But if we had a central point where the talents of the younger generation of each region fight and compare cultivation strengths as well as talents, our understanding of each other’s power dynamic would increase.”

The old man paused when he heard his brother’s words before saying.

“It sounds as if they intend to have this generation become a trial-and-error period before showing their true colors.”

Young-Hwa scowled and said.

“Eldest Brother, it’s exactly what they intended to do. There are talks about peace and cooperation among the Six Holy Sects and Five Great Clans, but that’s merely for show. They’re plotting to use the Mountain Range as a springboard to invade the Western Continent in the future; the same as the Western Continent.”

The old man soon sighed after a while before saying.

“Look after that brat for me, but don’t pamper him. And tell the youngest when he comes that I’ll return soon.”

Young-Hwa nodded solemnly before he watched his brother slowly disappear from the pavilion hall.

….

…

..

In the outside world, Sol was following behind Yoon-Jae as they walked towards the Teleportation Hall to head for the Administrative Mountain. Soon after they reached, Sol momentarily paused at the front.

“Brother Yoon-Jae…”

Sol started but then paused to follow a crazed Alchemy Disciple with his eyes. Sporting a cautious expression he then asked.

“…Can you explain why the Alchemy Disciples are behaving like this?”

Yoon-Jae smiled and then responded casually.

“It’s a requirement that Master set for disciples in both the Outer and Inner Mountain. If they fail to pass a test given to them every month three times, then they’ll be kicked out of the Alchemy Pavilion. You’ll see more of them like this since it’s only the middle of the second month in the year.”

“A test? That’s all?”

Sol was surprised and a bit unconvinced that a test would make the disciples become this crazy.

Just what kind of test would make them act like this?

This was what Sol thought, but when he heard Yoon-Jae’s next words, he couldn’t help but suck in a cold breath of air.

“Master said those in the Outer Mountain should learn three thousand different pill formulas and fifteen thousand medicinal plants, as well as their characteristics every month. As for the disciples in the Inner Mountain, you can see they have it worse off since they would need to learn fifteen thousand pill formulas and thirty thousand medicinal plants.”

“This—Are there even that many pill formulas and medicinal plants to memorize?”

Yoon-Jae chuckled at that.

“Pill formulas and the various types of medicinal plants are in the millions, probably billions. What these disciples have to learn is only a drop in the bucket!”

“Does Brother Yoon-Jae have to take the tests as well?”

Sol and Yoon-Jae had already entered the Teleportation Hall and had gotten onto a teleportation platform.

Before Yoon-Jae activated the teleportation platform he turned to Sol and asked.

“What’s your name?”

“Ah! My name is Sol.”

Sol quickly responded. He was kind of surprised he hadn’t told Yoon-Jae his name yet. He had felt so comfortable speaking with him that he had forgotten to.

Yoon-Jae smiled and then said.

“Brother Sol, to answer your question… Ehem, you’re looking at the number one alchemy genius in the Martial Alliance Academy! I’ve already memorized most Tier 1 and Tier 2 pill formulas and medicinal plants, along with learning their concocting methods. I’m even looking forward to start studying Tier 3 pill refinement soon.”

Sol titled his head at that, the old books he read on alchemy didn’t allow him to make sense of what Yoon-Jae had just said.

Yoon-Jae, seeing this, waved his hand dismissively and said.

“Don’t worry, you’ll understand what I mean soon enough. I suppose it would be a waste if you entered the Alchemy Pavilion and didn’t learn a thing or two about alchemy. Especially given your high affinity for the Wood Element.”

Sol nodded but wondered how different Alchemy was from Runes Inscription. He was now slightly eager to give it a go.

Yoon-Jae activated the teleportation platform and upon reaching the Administrative Mountain, they went to register Sol.

Just like that, Sol officially became a Martial Alliance Academy disciple of the Alchemy Pavilion.

In the future when Sol looked back on this very day, he would feel both happiness and regret in joining the Academy.

However, he ultimately might not have changed his decision in the end.

Source: Webnovel.com, updated by NovelKeep