Transmigration: The Peerless Immortal Husband

This time, Cuiyan Valley not only wanted to find the alchemist praised by Hu Valley Master for their exceptional alchemy skills, but they also hoped to take the opportunity to recruit some disciples.

However, Cuiyan Valley had always been strict in its disciple selection process. The primary requirement for the spiritual root was that it must be the Wood-Fire root. Wood roots were suitable for cultivating spiritual herbs, while the Wood-Fire roots were particularly well-suited for becoming alchemists. This requirement immediately disqualified a large number of cultivators. Some who were hoping for a chance, upon hearing this, walked away disappointed.

The two cultivators in charge of recruiting disciples were both Hu Valley Master’s personal disciples—his eldest disciple, Sang Shuo, and his second disciple, Wan Siqing. There were also some elders from Cuiyan Valley assisting in the process. All the disciples in the valley wore robes with a symbol of a cauldron, representing Cuiyan Valley’s emblem.

Wan Siqing, who was extremely beautiful, looked down at the cultivators below who were scrambling to participate in the tests. She smiled and asked her senior brother, “Do you think we’ll really be getting a new junior disciple this time?”

Hu Ting, who was passionate about alchemy and disliked handling mundane affairs, spent very little time managing the disciples. Since he accepted these two personal disciples, he had no intention of taking on more unless someone particularly exceptional caught his attention. As a result, Sang Shuo and Wan Siqing held a relatively high position in Cuiyan Valley, even higher than that of Hu Ting’s own grandson. After all, it was well-known that the position of the young valley master wouldn’t go to Hu Weicai, given his poor aptitude. Even with his grandfather’s help, it was questionable whether he could even establish a foundation.

But now, someone had been publicly acknowledged by their master for their exceptional alchemy skills, and Hu Ting had even stated that he would consider accepting them as a personal disciple if their age was suitable. This made Wan Siqing feel a slight sense of threat. Their master, Hu Ting, was the type of person who was very laid-back and liked to follow his own whims. If he liked someone, he would put great effort into nurturing and teaching them. But if he thought someone had average talent, he might casually hand them over to someone else to train and only occasionally check on their progress.

Originally, Hu Weicai, this little junior disciple, had already occupied a lot of their master’s attention. If another junior disciple, who was recognized for their alchemy skills, were to join, Wan Siqing’s position, which was already secondary to that of her senior brother, would surely be further diminished.

Sang Shuo’s gaze flickered for a moment. “The person still hasn’t shown up. Either they are too arrogant, thinking they don’t need to care about Cuiyan Valley or our master, or they are simply too old and don’t have the face to come before our master. This little junior disciple is too inconsiderate, making our master go out of his way to search for him, yet this junior still hasn’t even shown his face.”

Wan Siqing smiled. “Let’s not talk about the little junior disciple for now. As for the alchemist’s skills, our master has praised them greatly. Not only is the blending of various spiritual herbs’ medicinal properties perfectly done, but the impurities are minimal as well. The quality is even better than that of other top-grade pills. After all these years of learning alchemy from our master, I really wish I could meet such a talented alchemist.”

Sang Shuo, however, didn’t seem pleased and snorted coldly.

He was known as the number one person under the Valley Master in Cuiyan Valley. From the moment he entered the valley, he showed exceptional talent in alchemy, and it was expected that he would one day become the second Hu Valley Master. Now, as a cultivator at the ninth level of Qi Refining, he was already on the verge of becoming an eighth-grade alchemist. Among all the alchemists under the Foundation Establishment stage in the Tianlin Continent, who could compare to him?

Now, hearing his master praise that person, such praise had never been directed at him. Sang Shuo felt a sense of jealousy rise within him. The person hadn’t even appeared yet, and he felt that this individual was just a name with no substance. His master was likely exaggerating.

Wan Siqing subtly curled her lips in a smile when Sang Shuo wasn’t looking. She had long noticed that her senior brother was displeased by their master’s praise for that person.

They looked down from their elevated position, observing the cultivators below, who gazed up at them with longing. Even those who didn’t know their identities had heard about them after arriving. Simply being personal disciples of Hu Valley Master was enough to make them the object of envy. Not to mention, the eldest disciple was already capable of refining eighth-grade pills, while these other cultivators hadn’t even reached Foundation Establishment yet. Such talent undoubtedly matched the status of the eldest disciple of Hu Valley Master.

After Gu Yao arrived, he also overheard others praising and admiring Sang Shuo and Wan Siqing. However, the two of them were clearly different in demeanor. One was extremely haughty and looked down on the cultivators below who had come to sign up for the test, while the other wore a carefree smile, as if watching a group of people perform. Overall, Gu Yao had an average impression of Hu Valley Master’s two disciples.

If it weren’t for knowing Gu Yao’s talent in alchemy, Tian Feirong might have been as envious, jealous, and resentful as the other cultivators. But now, he had the leisure to comment on the two disciples. Without mentioning anything else, the female disciple was extraordinarily beautiful, causing many male cultivators to be left dumbfounded. She seemed to thoroughly enjoy the attention, and in just a short while after stepping out, several male disciples from the valley had gathered around her, occasionally saying things that made her laugh.

Chi Changye crossed his arms and watched coldly. He glanced at the chubby youth, Wei Shao. Didn’t he envy them?

Gu Yao immediately perked up his ears, noticing that Wei Shao’s expression was different from the others. There was no envy or jealousy, but instead, a hint of apprehension. Gu Yao knew Brother Ye very well; unless something was wrong, he usually wouldn’t actively engage in conversation with Wei Shao.

Wei Shao immediately became alert and took two steps back. Even Tian Feirong, who was usually careless, noticed something was off. He nudged Wei Shao and asked, “What’s wrong with you? Do you have a grudge with those two? Anyway, I don’t think Teacher Fang likes Cuiyan Valley or Hu Valley Master either. It’s no big deal if you don’t like them.”

Upon hearing this, Wei Shao could no longer maintain his previous expression. He looked extremely conflicted and, in the end, he resignedly muttered, “Yeah, I don’t like them. If my cultivation was higher, I would’ve already taught them a lesson. What are they even worth?”

Tian Feirong was startled and quickly dragged Wei Shao out of the crowd, wiping the cold sweat off his brow. Luckily, no one had been paying attention to them just then, or they would have been chased by another faction.

“You actually said that? You really want to get yourself killed. First, you offend Beixing Sect, and now you want to offend Cuiyan Valley? I thought I was bold enough, but I didn’t expect you to be this reckless. Little fatty, I admire you,” Tian Feirong said. But after this, should he keep his distance from Wei Shao to avoid getting dragged into trouble? He seriously considered this possibility.

Wei Shao was in a bad mood and retorted, “If you’re so timid, stay away from me.”

“Wait a minute, Little Fatty, who are you directing that anger at?” The more Wei Shao told him to stay away, the more Tian Feirong didn’t want to. He leaned in, put his arm around Wei Shao’s shoulder, and the two of them bickered as they walked farther and farther away from Cuiyan Valley.

Gu Yao followed behind the two and turned to glance back at the direction of Cuiyan Valley. Suddenly, he realized something and lowered his voice, speaking in disbelief: “Brother Ye, you don’t suspect that Little Fatty is… that Young Master, do you?”

Although Little Fatty’s appearance didn’t match the portrait of Hu Weicai they had seen, there were plenty of ways to change one’s appearance in this world. When he thought about the situation in Beixing Sect earlier, he became even more suspicious.

Chi Changye tilted his head and glanced at Gu Yao, smiling. “It’s not impossible. From what I see, this grandson of the Valley Master doesn’t seem to be living a pleasant life in Cuiyan Valley.”

If the rumors were true, Little Fatty couldn’t have been hiding all this time. From their contact so far, Little Fatty’s character didn’t seem too bad. However, his luck wasn’t great—he had been wrongly accused of stealing pills because of Gu Yao’s pill-selling business.

Gu Yao rubbed his chin, looking at Little Fatty’s back. “I can probably imagine his situation in Cuiyan Valley. Hu Valley Master should be very protective of his grandson, but sometimes this kind of protection doesn’t necessarily bring shelter. Sigh… especially when his grandson has poor talent and isn’t suited for alchemy.”

Gu Yao could deeply relate to being mistreated because of poor talent. If his original body had better talent, even though his father didn’t like him and his stepmother despised him, his family and the head of the Gu family would have probably trained him well due to his innate abilities. The family would have valued the Gu family’s future, and no other members or even servants would have dared to bully him.

But he didn’t know if Hu Valley Master was a meticulous person. Perhaps not—otherwise, there wouldn’t have been the issue of the Young Master running away from the valley.

Chi Changye knew that Gu Yao was thinking about his own past experiences, so he reached out and ruffled Gu Yao’s head.

Gu Yao looked up and smiled. He had gained many years of experience and now had potions and mental power to rely on. He wasn’t the “waste” others spoke of, so he didn’t harbor such emotions. However, for those with poor talent, being born in this world where the strong prey on the weak was indeed a sad reality.

Once he gained enough strength in the future, maybe he could try to promote his transformation potions, at least to benefit some cultivators.

Hmm, it’s settled then! Gu Yao silently encouraged himself in his mind.

Little Fatty had nowhere else to go, so in the end, he followed Tian Feirong back to the inn where the Tian family was staying. Eldest Master Tian saw that his younger brother made a friend so quickly and felt both speechless and relieved. Although Little Fatty had poor talent, it was still good that they could look out for each other once they entered the Tianfu Academy together.

If the Tianfu Academy consisted of students with similar talents, Eldest Master Tian thought that his younger brother’s situation wouldn’t be too bad there. At least he wouldn’t face discouragement.

Following this lead, Senior Brother Zhou easily learned about the backgrounds of Gu Yao and the others, except that he couldn’t find out much about Little Fatty.

The Tian family’s guards weren’t particularly tight-lipped, so Senior Brother Zhou easily learned about Gu Yao and Chi Changye’s situation from them. When he returned and shared this information, he felt as if he had struck gold.

“I heard that on their way here, Chi Changye single-handedly killed a horned rhinoceros with a single sword strike, the rhinoceros having strength at the seventh or eighth level of Qi Refining. The sword aura was extremely sharp, and the Tian family guards were in awe of him.”

“Gu Yao is from a family in their hometown. He was cast out of the family, which is known for its alchemy, but the Tian family guards say that Gu Yao’s alchemy is far superior to that of his family. Look, I even paid a high price to buy a recovery pill from them.” Senior Brother Zhou took out the pill he had bought at a high price, proudly presenting it to Senior Brother Jiang.

“As for Chi Changye, I heard that he was found by the Gu family outside the town. When they first found him, he was covered in injuries and was mistaken for an ordinary person. No one knew he was a cultivator, let alone a very powerful sword cultivator. He and Gu Yao have always been inseparable.”