"Golden Velvet Sunflower Stem?"
Ling Feng’s eyelid twitched as he took a closer look and nearly spat out a mouthful of old blood.
That was clearly just an ordinary root, without the slightest medicinal value, and it had nothing to do with the golden velvet sunflower stem.
If he had to point out a similarity, it was that the golden velvet sunflower stem was indeed white...
Ling Feng’s forehead darkened. He thought he had encountered some senior expert, but it turned out to be someone who didn’t know the first thing about herbs.
However, the fact that this person possessed the only copy of the Medicine King’s Scripture meant he was probably no ordinary individual.
"Ha ha ha..." Yan Cangtian joyfully pinched the root, his eyes sparkling momentarily, "With this golden velvet sunflower, my Hundred Herbs Elixir will finally be complete!"
Having said that, he tossed the root into his tattered waist pouch and turned to leave.
"Senior..." Ling Feng frowned and reached out to stop Yan Cangtian.
Regarding the Hundred Herbs Elixir, Ling Feng had also come across it in the Medical Scripture passed down in his family. It required finding the roots of a hundred precious Spirit Grasses and combined with countless precious ingredients to successfully refine.
If the old man used the root of this weed in place of the golden velvet sunflower stem, wouldn’t all those precious ingredients be wasted?
Out of the stance of a medical practitioner, Ling Feng couldn’t help but speak up to advise, "Senior, the root you just picked is not the stem of the golden velvet sunflower."
"What?" Upon hearing this, Yan Cangtian bristled immediately, "Boy, you dare to question me?"
Instantly, a terrifyingly powerful aura bore down, making Ling Feng shudder.
Ouyang Jing, standing behind, stumbled backward more than a dozen steps and collapsed to the ground, his legs giving out. He stared up at the unremarkable old man, utterly shaken.
Ling Feng took a deep breath, fixated on the disheveled old man before him, puzzled as to who this seemingly mad elder could be!
"Senior, I am merely stating the facts."
Ling Feng took another deep breath and said firmly yet respectfully, "The Golden Velvet Sunflower requires extremely humid conditions to grow, yet this forest is unsuitable for its growth due to the lack of Spiritual Energy—not to mention, it’s constantly bathed in sunlight. How could it possibly support the growth of the Golden Velvet Sunflower? Thus, the root Senior just picked is absolutely not the golden velvet sunflower stem."
"Ssss?" Yan Cangtian’s eyelid twitched. He took out the root from his pouch and examined it carefully, comparing it to the information in the Medicine King’s Scripture several times before tossing the weed root aside.
"Damn it, I was wrong!"
Yan Cangtian stamped on the weed root fiercely and cursed a few times, then turned to Ling Feng with immense joy, "Ha ha ha, young man, you are truly remarkable to have identified it as a weed at a glance, even more capable than this old man!"
The corners of Ling Feng’s mouth twitched. Surely anybody with a bit of medical knowledge wouldn’t make such a basic mistake...
"Senior flatters me." Ling Feng touched his nose, thinking it’d be wise to keep his distance from this peculiar elder. He bowed slightly and said with a light smile, "I am due to attend the entrance examination of the Heavenly Position Academy, so I won’t disturb Senior any longer. I shall take my leave!"
When Yan Cangtian heard Ling Feng was about to leave, he quickly spread his arms to block him, saying urgently, "What? You want to leave just like that? No, no, that won’t do. You know the Medicine King’s Scripture, and you’re aware of the properties of the Golden Velvet Sunflower; you must also understand Alchemy, right?"
"I only know a little."
"Heh heh heh..." Yan Cangtian stroked his messy beard, eyeing Ling Feng with a not-so-kind gaze and grabbed his shoulder.
Yan Cangtian leaped up, and although Ling Feng thought he was going to be taken away by the strange elder, Yan Cangtian pulled, and other than a slight bounce in place, Ling Feng remained unmoved.
"Hmm?" Ling Feng blinked, turning his head to look at Yan Cangtian, puzzled, "Senior, what do you mean by this?"
Yan Cangtian inwardly cursed his luck.
Because he had overused the Elixirs he refined, his power had become unreliable, and just then, he had lost his power completely.
"Cough, cough!" Yan Cangtian coughed dryly, grabbed Ling Feng’s shoulder, and leaped up again.
However, Ling Feng remained completely unmoved.
Yan Cangtian’s old face reddened, realizing his power wouldn’t return anytime soon, he quickly released his grip, and then patted Ling Feng on the shoulder, chuckling, "You’re quite sturdy, aren’t you!"
Ling Feng’s mouth twitched a few times. What was this old guy really up to?
"Um..." Yan Cangtian took a few steps back, smiling genially, "I’m called Yan Cangtian. Kid, what’s your name?"
"Junior Ling Feng," Ling Feng pursed his lips, thinking that the old man’s name was quite domineering.
To dare use ’Cangtian’ as his name, plus the aura he had just shown, he was definitely much stronger than the previous Academician Ye Guichen. This man’s status at Heavenly Position Academy must be incredibly high.
Yan Cangtian looked at Ling Feng intently for a moment, waved his hand at him, and said solemnly, "Go on, go take the entrance test. If you run into any trouble at Heavenly Position Academy, just drop my name, Yan Cangtian. I’ll have your back!"
"Uh..." Ling Feng bowed to Yan Cangtian, "Thank you for your kindness, senior. I shall take my leave now."
With that, Ling Feng turned and walked away. This Yan Cangtian, although his strength seemed terrifying, was truly baffling in his behavior. He must be an "Old Monster"!
Quickly, Ling Feng reached Ouyang Jing’s side, helped him up, and the two hastily left the place.
"Ling Feng, Ling Feng..." Yan Cangtian watched Ling Feng’s receding figure, then looked at his own palm and cursed, "Damn, my cultivation disappeared at the critical moment! No hurry, no hurry, you’ll end up in the palm of my hand sooner or later."
With that, Yan Cangtian also turned around and strolled off, clearly in a good mood.
The Vice Principal and Ye Guichen looked at each other, both relieved.
"Thank goodness Elder Yan had no power just now, or that boy would’ve been in trouble," the Vice Principal wiped the cold sweat from his forehead and turned to Ye Guichen, saying in a grave tone, "Academician Ye, remind that kid to keep his distance from Yan Cangtian."
"I understand. We can’t let a good seedling like him be spoiled by Old Madman Yan."
A genius with a Saint Level True Qi Talent, if he were to die at the hands of Yan Cangtian, it would indeed be a tragedy.
"Yes." The Vice Principal nodded slightly, "I’ll also have a talk with Elder Yan and suggest that he find other disciples for his experiments."
The Vice Principal smiled wryly. Although Yan Cangtian didn’t mean to harm those who tested his Elixirs, the success rate of his refined Elixirs was so small that, beyond the few days of suffering after taking them, there were cases where someone lost all their cultivation.
Or their meridians became blocked, or what used to be an Innate Spiritual Body turned into a Mortal Body...
In short, his Elixirs were a mishmash of effects, with hardly any good ones.
He certainly didn’t want Ling Feng to also fall victim to Yan Cangtian and become an ordinary mediocrity—that would be a tremendous loss for Heavenly Position Academy!