"What?!"
"Your family also refines pills?!"
Yang Fan's astonishment was beyond words.
"Don't look down on me! My great-grandfather was an alchemist," Huo Wu declared proudly.
Yang Fan frowned. "Then why doesn't your family refine pills anymore?"
"When he was young, my great-grandfather loved alchemy—but it ruined his cultivation. Our elders smashed all his 'useless' tools in anger."
"Even now, there's still a cauldron hidden in our backyard warehouse—the one he secretly saved."
Yang Fan understood.
Alchemy in Douluo offered soul masters negligible benefits.
Even the Breaking Clan—the continent's so-called "pill-refining powerhouse"—only produced basic healing consumables like Blood-Clotting Powder.
After ten thousand years of development, their pinnacle achievement was the mediocre Mystic Water Pill.
Huo Wu's ancestors were right:
From a cultivation perspective, Douluo's pills did hinder progress.
The Breaking Clan refined pills for two reasons:
1) Yang Fan's grandfather's passion for alchemy
2) Survival—their primary income source.
"So… this 'amazing cauldron' you mentioned is your great-grandfather's?"
Yao Lao had once said: "A good cauldron needs decades of herb-infused tempering."
If Huo Wu spoke the truth…
"What are you scheming?" Huo Wu's eyes narrowed. She sensed trouble brewing.
"Help me steal that cauldron from your great-grandfather," Yang Fan said bluntly.
Huo Wu's face darkened.
"Yang Fan! I treat you as a friend—do you think I'm a fool?!"
Her expression screamed: FURIOUS.
"That useless relic just gathers dust in your house! Let me inherit your great-grandfather's legacy—he'd be thrilled from heaven!"
Instead of moving her, Yang Fan's words enraged her further.
"My great-grandfather's still alive, you idiot!" she snapped.
Yang Fan froze—then seized the opening.
"How about this: take me to meet him. I'm sure he'll gladly gift me the cauldron."
Huo Wu scoffed. "Your audacity knows no bounds."
But after relentless pestering, she relented.
Let's see what sparks fly between these two generations.
…
Though Blazing Flame Academy sat outside Tian Dou City, the Huo family mansion occupied prime real estate in the city center—a reward from Emperor Xue Ye for their contributions to the empire's soul master pipeline.
Huo Wu's great-grandfather lived in a quiet courtyard at the estate's rear. Though retired as clan head decades ago, he remained the family's most revered elder.
"Great-Grandfather! I've come to visit!"
Led by Huo Wu, Yang Fan finally met the old man—a lean, sharp-eyed elder who looked over a hundred (Yang Fan dared not guess his true age).
Such was a soul master's blessing: longevity.
While ordinary families cycled through three generations, soul masters stayed vigorous for centuries.
"You rascal—you still remember your old great-grandfather?" The elder's eyes twinkled with warmth before shifting to Yang Fan.
"Great-Grandfather, this is my friend Yang Fan. He wants the cauldron you used for alchemy when you were young."
Huo Wu's bluntness left Yang Fan no room to maneuver.
"A guest!" The elder gestured gracefully. "Child, brew tea for our visitor."
Yang Fan had heard Huo Wu call her great-grandfather "refined"—but this hospitality toward a stranger stunned him.
"Please, sit."
The elder's wrinkled hand beckoned so gently Yang Fan felt rude refusing.
"You wish to buy my old cauldron?"
The Huo family's directness shone through again.
"No—not buy," Yang Fan clarified. "Just… borrow it."
Exactly.
He'd never intended to pay.
This was calculated:
If the elder truly cherished alchemy, the cauldron held sentimental value. Offering money might offend him.
So Yang Fan gambled.
"You… refine pills too?" The elder's eyes lit up, scrutinizing Yang Fan anew.
"A little." Yang Fan handed over a Tier-3 Rebirth Pill. "I made this recently. Without a proper cauldron, its quality suffered."
No lie—this was his best pill, stored in his soul tool.
He'd wager everything he had: only he and Yao Lao could produce such quality in Douluo.
He aimed to shake the elder's soul.
The elder took the pill—his hands trembling.
Memories of youth flooded back.
"Th-this… you made this?" His voice quivered with emotion.
When Yang Fan nodded, the elder's gaze transformed.
"Incredible! Truly incredible!"
"I've never seen a pill of such quality!"
Though unaware of pill tiers, he recognized its rarity.
If only I'd crafted such pills in my youth… perhaps the clan would've supported my alchemy path.
Alas—he'd been unskilled.
"Can you tell me this pill's effect?" The elder leaned forward, childlike eagerness shining in his eyes.
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