"Senior Pill Devil! Please stop joking with me!"
Feng Wuhen felt like he wanted to die. If it weren't for the need to ensure the successful refinement of the Divine-Will Nine-Transformations Pill, he would never have brought Ling Feng to these two old monsters.
"Huh? Can't talk about your wife? Then that little girl must be your granddaughter-in-law, right? She's quite pretty too! I wonder if your grandson would lend her to me! Hehe..."
Pill Devil grabbed his palm-leaf fan, squinted his beady eyes, and stared at Tuoba Yan.
"Sorry, but I'm not Supreme Elder Feng's grandson. As for Miss Tuoba here, while she's not my wife, she's also not someone who can be casually borrowed!"
Ling Feng frowned. What kind of senior expert is this? His mouth is downright filthy!
Tuoba Yan bit her delicate lip, surprised that Ling Feng dared to stand up for her in front of human emperor-level experts.
"Kid, don't act recklessly!" He Yuanzhi turned to Ling Feng and whispered, "These two seniors are just eccentric. They don't mean any harm."
"Oh ho! We've got an interesting kid here!"
Sword Maniac and Pill Devil's eyelids twitched, and they suddenly seemed to perk up, both of them instantly darting to Ling Feng's side.
Sword Maniac, with his one remaining arm, slapped Ling Feng's back a few times and then laughed heartily. "Good bones! Perfect for learning blacksmithing with me!"
"Stupid blacksmith! Are you blind? This kid has an abnormal fire affinity. Clearly, he's suited to learn alchemy with me!"
"Stupid alchemist, you don't know anything!"
"You're the one who doesn't know anything! You don't know dog crap!"
"Kid, learn blacksmithing with me!"
"Kid, learn alchemy with me!"
In the blink of an eye, Ling Feng was being pulled in two directions by these two old monsters, one tugging him to the left and the other to the right, almost tearing him apart.
Ling Feng shook them off fiercely and frowned. "I'm not here to learn anything! I'm here to refine pills!"
Sword Maniac and Pill Devil, knowing they couldn't keep arguing without tearing Ling Feng apart, finally stopped their bickering.
"Boring!" Pill Devil snorted and sat back down, leisurely fanning himself.
"Disappointing!" Sword Maniac picked up his heavy hammer and resumed pounding on the iron.
These two were truly bizarre, like a pair of old madmen.
"Senior, about borrowing the Flame Valley Xuanling Cauldron..."
Feng Wuhen, seeing that Pill Devil had calmed down, tried again to borrow the cauldron.
"Hmph!" Pill Devil didn't even lift his eyelids. "If you won't lend your wife, why should I lend my cauldron? Shoo shoo!"
"Senior, this young friend Ling Feng doesn't know the rules and has offended you. Please don't take it to heart."
Feng Wuhen sighed. He had known Pill Devil for decades and knew the man had a strange temper, often spouting nonsense. However, he wasn't a truly malicious person, and his earlier words were just playful banter.
"You know the rules?" Pill Devil shot Feng Wuhen a glare, then turned his gaze to Ling Feng. "Kid, you said you're here to refine pills?"
"Correct!" Ling Feng stood tall, neither submissive nor overbearing.
"My rule is that the Flame Valley Xuanling Cauldron doesn't refine low-grade pills!" Pill Devil said with a look of displeasure. "Go back. What kind of good pills can a greenhorn like you refine? Don't dirty my precious cauldron!"
Ling Feng's eyelids twitched. So this was the reason the old man was being difficult and unwilling to lend the Flame Valley Xuanling Cauldron.
"And you, you're not a young man anymore. How can you be so careless? Using the Flame Valley Xuanling Cauldron for a junior to practice? Don't you think you deserve a beating? If it were me, I'd have you buried in a latrine for at least ten years!"
Pill Devil unleashed a torrent of scolding, berating Feng Wuhen until he was drenched in verbal abuse. Yet, Feng Wuhen didn't dare to utter a word in response. He could only sigh and prepare to leave with Ling Feng.
Just as Feng Wuhen was feeling disheartened, Ling Feng stepped forward and said calmly, "If the Divine-Will Nine-Transformations Pill is considered garbage, I wonder what kind of non-garbage pills Senior can refine?"
Pill Devil's eyelids twitched, and he sprang up from his chair, leaning on an iron cane as he stomped over to Ling Feng.
"Kid, say that again!"
"I never repeat myself. If Senior's ears are working, you should have heard me clearly." Ling Feng stood with his hands behind his back. He knew full well that with such old monsters, the more respectful you were, the more they looked down on you.
Their personalities were somewhat similar to Yan Cangtian's, though they were even more unorthodox.
"Oh ho! You dare speak to me like that!" Pill Devil stared at Ling Feng, a terrifying aura pressing down on him.
Ling Feng directly unleashed his sword force, meeting Pill Devil's aura head-on without backing down.
After a moment, Pill Devil burst into laughter. "Interesting, truly interesting! Kid, you suit my taste!"
Pill Devil circled Ling Feng with his iron cane. "So you're saying you can refine the Divine-Will Nine-Transformations Pill?"
"Although the Divine-Will Nine-Transformations Pill is useless to me now, it's still a pill that can help someone break through to the human emperor level. It's not low-grade, and it's an ancient pill formula, so it's worthy of my Flame Valley Xuanling Cauldron. But you? Can you really refine it?"
Pill Devil held up three fingers, then thought better of it and reluctantly added, "Even with my skills and the Flame Valley Xuanling Cauldron, I only have a fifty percent chance of refining the Divine-Will Nine-Transformations Pill! What's your success rate, kid?"
Ling Feng touched the bridge of his nose and said lightly, "I wouldn't say it's a specific rate. Modestly speaking, about an eighty percent chance."
Pill Devil's iron cane slammed into the ground as he stopped in his tracks, glaring at Ling Feng. "Kid, aren't you afraid of choking on your own words? Eighty percent? Who are you trying to fool?"
Pill Devil felt his old face burning. Even his claim of fifty percent was a boast. Without the Flame Valley Xuanling Cauldron, he wouldn't even have a thirty percent chance!
"Whether it succeeds or not, we'll know once we try." Ling Feng pursed his lips. "Coincidentally, I'd also like to see just how miraculous the legendary cauldron Senior speaks of truly is."
"Hehe!" Pill Devil stared at Ling Feng coldly. "After all that talk, you still just want to use my Flame Valley Xuanling Cauldron?"
"What, Senior? Are you afraid I'll refine the Divine-Will Nine-Transformations Pill and embarrass you?"
Ling Feng raised an eyebrow, a slight curve forming at the corner of his mouth.
"I... you... you little brat, you... you!"
Pill Devil was so angry he was at a loss for words.
Feng Wuhen and He Yuanzhi exchanged a glance. This was the first time they had seen the old monster Pill Devil so thoroughly enraged by someone else.