"I'm sorry, but I must decline."
Kaela's answer was clear and firm, even though her voice carried a trace of regret.
As a former Seventh-Grade Alchemist, once standing proudly at the peak of the Soul Realm, Kaela knew better than most how much raw talent and opportunity mattered in the path of alchemy. It wasn't just about formulas and fire control. It was mostly about time, perception, spirit comprehension, and divine timing.
If not for the time constraint…
She glanced at Lyra again. With a few decades or perhaps even less, she might have molded the girl into a Fourth-Grade Alchemist. But with a hard deadline of Two years or a little longer if Leo gave her some extra time.
With Lyra's current spiritual foundation, her soul capacity, and the limitations of her cultivation base it was almost impossible.
And Kaela didn't wanted to agree for things she couldn't do. Even if her very soul longed for a second chance at life, she wouldn't disgrace her name or her whole life by promising the impossible.
That was simply who she was.
But Leo didn't seem surprised by her answer. In fact, he chuckled softly, as if expecting her to say exactly that.
"What if I sweeten the deal?" he said lightly, raising his left hand.
With a flick of his fingers, two objects materialized in the air between them - one was a snow-white jade bottle that radiated a cool, refined spiritual aura; the other was a mysterious, violet-gold flower that seemed to shimmer with its own internal starlight, its petals gently swaying despite the absence of wind.
Kaela's eyes widened immediately.
"That's… the Soul-Nurturing Bloom?" she gasped.
Her voice trembled with awe and disbelief. "You're offering… this… to her?"
For a brief moment, Kaela was no longer a proud expert of the past but a mere woman stunned by the sight she was seeing in-front of her.
The Soul-Nurturing Bloom more commonly referred to as the Yangshen Flower in the Celestial Pill Sect's archives was something that hadn't appeared in the world in thousands of years. It was thought to be extinct across the continents. The Yangshen Flower was not only valued for its unparalleled effects on the soul, but also because it was known to grow only in lands touched by primordial divine essence.
In some ancient records, wars had been fought across empires for just a single petal of the flower.
Leo meanwhile, held the Divine Flower with an effortless calm, his expression unshaken as if such a treasure were mere common piece. With a casual flick of his wrist, he revealed it, no hesitation as though plucking it from thin air. And why wouldn't he? Thanks to the system, his inventory brimmed with such rarities. To him, this was nothing. But to the world this was a miracle.
"That's correct," he said mildly. "This flower, along with the elixir in this jade bottle, both are for Lyra."
He paused before adding, "The bottle contains a dose of the Bone-Marrow Recasting Pill."
Kaela suddenly froze.
She inhaled sharply, her crystalline form flickering from the shock she was experiencing.
The Bone-Marrow Recasting Pill, known in higher realms as the Nirvanic Essence Elixir, was a peak-tier alchemical marvel even she had only heard about in theory. It could reshape a cultivator's body from the very root of their bones and marrow, opening meridians, enhancing elemental affinity, and more importantly allowing one's cultivation path to be rebuilt from scratch with far greater purity.
It wasn't just priceless.
It was legendary.
To see both of these treasures presented at once and offered not to a Monarch, not to a peerless genius but to a young alchemist barely out of her foundational phase?
Kaela was left momentarily speechless.
Was this… truly just a clan ancestor? Or he had something more?
Leo's calm voice came again. "So? With these two treasures, do you still think it's impossible?"
"I… I…"
Kaela's thoughts tangled in a storm of logic and wonder.
This man knew her background. He knew her rank, her soul affinity, her capabilities. And still, he'd chosen to trust her with the future of his descendant… or perhaps with something more.
He wasn't just handing over alchemical materials.
He was handing over fate.
A moment passed. Then Kaela let out a slow breath.
"…Fine," she said. "How could I possibly say no after this? If I declined now, I'd be the one unworthy."
She paused, and her voice softened. "With these two yes. I can train her. It won't be easy, but reaching Fourth-Grade Alchemist in two years… is within grasp."
Leo smiled. "Good. Then we begin now."
"Lyra," he called gently. "Sit and prepare yourself."
"Yes, Ancestor."
Lyra didn't hesitate this time. Her eyes were still wide from what she'd overheard these weren't mere cultivation aids, they were life-changing treasures not available even in the whole of Dusk Empire or even the whole world.
She settled cross-legged on the spiritual mat and opened her mouth obediently.
Leo tapped the jade bottle, and a gleaming white pill flew into her mouth, dissolving before it even touched her tongue.
In an instant, a wave of radiant heat flooded her entire body. Her bones creaked and her marrow bubbled. Muscles spasmed as divine energy flowed into every corner of her frame.
Lyra bit down to stifle a cry, sweat pouring from her temples.
It was as if her entire body were being melted and recast within a furnace.
And indeed it was doing that.
Her spiritual root, once classified as High-Tier, began to morph under the pill's effects. Her soul core began to stabilize, tighten, and expand.
From High-Grade → to Peak-Grade → to True Spirit Root.
And then *crack*.
A subtle shift occurred within her soul sea. The breakthrough was not loud or flashy, but both Leo and Kaela sensed it.
Her innate soul affinity had evolved.
A moment passed.
"…She's not just Peak anymore," Kaela murmured, unable to hide the awe in her voice. "She's formed a Divine Spirit Root. That's the qualification for cultivating the Heart Flame."
Leo didn't respond.
Instead, he conjured a wisp of pale, chaotic fire - the very same fire Kaela had noticed earlier but was not able to see it clearly.
But now, with full focus, she stared at it harder.
"This flame…" she muttered in shock, "isn't conjured. It's born. This is—no, it can't be—"
"The Chaos Flame of Genesis?"
A fire birthed not from worldly techniques, but from primordial laws something theorized to only exist in the Age of Origins.
Leo used it with practiced ease, wrapping the Soul-Nurturing Bloom in it. In seconds, the sacred flower melted into a pool of viscous golden fluid, its essence purer than any alchemical extraction method Kaela had seen in her life.
She stood silent.
The air grew hushed around them as Kaela was witnessing something she had only heard in fairytales among her clan.
Even the wind around them halted.
Leo did not boast but simply guided Lyra to the best path to maximize the absorption of the Soul Nurturing Bloom.
And Kaela?
She no longer questioned who he was.
She just wanted to see what else this man could do in the future. And if he could conjure more miracles like this one