C12 Dark Aura

"As expected of the disciples from the Taoist Artifacts Hall, their monthly salaries really are quite a bit higher than the disciples from my Ye Family!"

After snatching all the savings of Zhou Nan and the other Taoist Artifacts Hall disciples, Ye Lan estimated that he earned around two thousand silvers.

Lying helplessly on the ground, Zhou Nan glared menacingly at Ye Lan, who was counting the money he stole from him like a money grubber.

Before he even had the time to do anything, however, he boiled in rising anger to the point of fainting on the spot.

Dumbfounded, the surrounding cultivators contined to stare the unbelievable scene before them.

Ye Lan's ridiculous feat today would definitely spread throughout the entire Lucid Aqua Town like wildfire.

A useless good-for-nothing with blocked meridians had somehow defeated Zhou Nan, who was in the fourth stage of the Body Tempering Realm, and his other lackeys at the first or second stage of the Body Tempering Realm with a single punch.

This piece of news would definitely shock the entire town!

Perhaps there would even be some who refuses to believe such news.

"Shaoge."

Ignoring the shocked expressions and gazes of the other cultivators, Ye Lan walked towards Yin Shaoge and helped him up.

"Are your injuries serious?"

Ye Lan asked with a worried expression upon seeing Yin Shaoge's slightly pale face.

"I'm fine. I'll just need to rest for a while. On the other hand, you seem to have grown a lot since the last time I met you. You have certainly gained my utmost respect."

Yin Shaoge chuckled as he looked at Ye Lan.

"Hehe! Your sworn brother here is no longer the same trash of the past. From today onwards, no one will dare to bully the two of us anymore!"

Ye Lan replied with a smile.

Hearing his words, Yin Shaoge felt warmth embracing his entire body.

So this was what it meant to be one's sworn brother. Regardless of how he ended up as trash from his times as a peerless genius, his brother had always been there to care about him.

"Alright, that's enough of that talk. Anyways, why did you suddenly come to my Taoist Artifacts Hall?"

Yin Shaoge asked.

"Oh! I came here to buy a Pill Furnace at your hall since I'm preparing to refine some pills myelf."

Ye Lan replied honestly.

"You want to buy a Pill Furnace? Does that mean you know how to refining pills?"

Yin Shaoge gazed at Ye Lan in surprise. From what he knew, Ye Lan had never been able to cultivate due to his blocked meridians. Let alone the path of alchemy, he had never even attempted to study martial arts.

However, Ye Lan had suddenly achieved the ability to knock Zhou Nan down with a single punch, which served as a deep shock for Yin Shaoge.

Having just heard about how Ye Lan knew how to refine pills, how could he not be surprised?

"Yep!"

Ye Lan nodded with a smile as he supported Yin Shaoge.

"This... Are you serious?"

Recovering from his daze, Yin Shaoge could not help but question him.

"What? Do you not trust your brother's abilities?"

Ye Lan replied with a smile, not minding Yin Shaoge's questioning.

"It's not that I don't believe you, but it certainly is quite unbelievable."

"Come to think of it, how did you attain such abilites in such a short time? Not only do you have the strength to defeat Zhou Nan in one go, but you even know how to concoct pills now?"

Yin Shaoge bombarded him with questions.

"It's a secret~"

Ye Lan said playfully, not intending to tell anyone about his reincarnation.

After all, who would believe him even if he told them that he was reincarnated?

Thus, Ye Lan decide to keep him in suspense.

"Tsk... brat, I see you've even learned how to keep you brothers in the dark."

Yin Shaoge laughed in slight annoyance.

Ye Lan replied with a bright smile.

"Anyways, let's go! I'll definitely get you a Pill Furnace. In fact, you can even take it for free since we're sworn brothers."

Yin Shaoge suddenly said.

"How could I do that? Although we may be sworn brothers, your Taoist Artifacts Hall is nevertheless a business at the end of the day."

"Besides, if I were to simply take something from your Taoist Artifacts Hall for free and those elders above you find out, you'll be in for a lot of trouble."

Ye Lan quickly replied.

He fully understood that Yin Shaoge did not have much authority and power in the Taoist Artifacts Hall despite being its current administrator. Otherwise, how would Zhou Nan and the other Taoist Artifacts Hall disciples dare to act so disrespectful in front of him?

If he casually took anything from the Taoist Artifacts Hall, Yin Shaoge would definitely have to suffer the consequences.

He did not want his brother to suffer because of him.

"Haiz... I'm sorry for letting you down, Ye Lan. I'm still so useless despite being the older one here."

Hearing Ye Lan's words, Yin Shaoge's expression darkened as he was clearly in pain.

"Stop spouting nonsense? In my eyes, you are much stronger than Zhou Nan and his group of lackeys."

Ye Lan comforted him.

"I, Yin Shaoge, am quite fortunate to have met a brother like you in this lifetime."

Hearing that, Yin Shaoge responded with a bright smile on his face.

"Haha! The same goes for me!"

Ye Lan laughed.

"Come, let me guide you to the Pill Furnaces."

Yin Shaoge said.

With that, the two of them proceeded to head into the section of the Taoist Artifact Halls where the Pill Furnaces were being sold.

"Why don't you take a look around? Which one catches your eye the most?"

Upon their arrival at the destination, Yin Shaoge asked Ye Lan with a smile.

In the Martial God Continent, the Pill Furnace served as an essential item for all alchemists, for they needed it in order to refine medicinal pills.

However, in Ye Lan's previous life as the number-one alchemist, he utilized the sky as the furnace and the earth as its fire when refining pills. During that time, there was never another alchemist in the Martial God Continent who could accomplish such a ridiculous feat, let alone compete with him.

This was also the reason why Pill Furnaces were so important to alchemists.

In the Martial God Continent, Pill Furnaces are divided into five different ranks: yellow, profound, earth, heaven, and divine ranks. Each rank is further separated into three different grades, including the low, middle, and high grades.

The higher the rank and grade of the Pill Furnaces, the higher the success and quality of the pill refinement.

Thus, every alchemist in this world yearned for a good Pill Furnace even in their dreams.

But unfortunately, the ones of higher quality were extremely difficult to come by.

Even in the Taoist Artifacts Hall, the best Pill Furnace they were able to forge was one of the high-grade profound-rank. And that was only for sale in the Taoist Artifacts Hall located in the Imperial City.

On the other hand, the best-quality Pill Furnaces in Lucid Aqua Town were only of the high-grade yellow-rank, worth around a hundred thousand silvers.

Most other Pill Furnaces were generally in the low or middle grade of the yellow rank.

The middle-grade yellow-rank Pill Furnaces were worth tens of thousands of silvers.

Meanwhile, the low-grade ones were worth three thousand silvers at most.

"Since I don't have that much money on me right now, I'll just take the low-grade yellow-rank Pill Furnace."

Ye Lan replied as he took out three thousand silvers and handed it over to the shop assistant.

As for the remaining silvers, Ye Lan planned to use them to buy various medicinal herbs needed to refinie Body Tempering Pills.

At the moment, Ye Lan only needed a normal Pill Furnace. Buying one of higher-quality now would simply be a waste of money.

With his vast knowledge and unparalleled skills for alchemy, he didn't even consider the possibility of failure not the quality of the pills.

"Let's go to my room and have a good drink. After all, it's been a while since the two of us have seen each other."

Seeing how Ye Lan had already bought the Pill Furnace, Yin Shaoge invited him enthusiastically before bringing Ye Lan to his room.

"I heard that, in a month, you will be having a duel with Qin Yijun on the Central Arena? Is that true?"

Staring at Ye Lan, Yin Shaoge gulped down a cup of liquor and asked.

He had only learned of this news today.

"That's right."

Ye Lan nodded with a smile and also finished the liquor in his cup in one gulp.

"Remember, you're not allowerd to lose! If you do, don't bother recognizing me as your elder brother!"

Yin Shaoge exclaimed jokingly.

Unable to do anything to assist Ye Lan now, he could only cheer for him at the side.

Although Ye Lan's current strength and cultivator are definitely inferior to that of Qin Yijun, Yin Shaoge nevertheless firmly believed in his brother's abilities.

"In that case, you'll inevitably remain as my elder brother for your entire life!"

Ye Lan replied with a smile.

Hearing those words, Yin Shaoge burst into hearty gales of laughter as he drained another cup of liquor.

"Oh, right. Shaoge, try circulating your cultivation technique."

Suddenly, Ye Lan said seriously.

He knew that Yin Shaoge had once been the peerless genius of the Dragon Abyss Empire. But for some reason, his cultivation stopped advancing at some point and instead regressed. Ever since then, he had been stuck at the third stage of the Body Tempering Realm, unable to increase his cultivation any further.

In his previous life, Ye Lan could not do anything to help Yin Shaoge. Knowing nothing about cultivation nor alchemy at that time, he could only watch as his sworn brother committed suicide, unable to bear his burden.

On the contrary, Ye Lan vowed to investigate and help Yin Shaoge find the reason why his cultivation regressed instead of advancing any further.

"Why?"

Yin Shaoge asked out of curiosity.

"Allow me to take a look at your body's condition!"

Ye Lan replied.

"Ye Lan, I appreciate your kindness, but only I know the current state of my body. No one has ever been able to see through it!"

Yin Shaoge smiled bitterly and refused politely.

"Alright, cut the crap and do as I say."

Ye Lan urged.

Helpless, Yin Shaoge could only sit down cross-legged and silently circulate his cultivation technique.

At the same time, Ye Lan activated his Eye of Crimson and began analyzing Yin Shaoge's body.

As Ye Lan lifted his gaze and looked at Yin Shaoge from head-to-toe, he noticed a dense amount of Genuine Qi entering Yin Shaoge's body and flowing into his dantian along his meridians.

However, when the Genuine Qi gushed into Yin Shaoge's dantian, a mass of dark aura suddenly appeared and continuously devoured all the Genuine Qi that he had absorbed.

"This dark aura..."

Ye Lan revealed a slight frown upon noticing the mass of dark aura as its evil presence caused him to feel a great sense of unease.