Chapter 22 – I want you to be my disciple!

“Brother rough guy, where are you bringing me?”

In a desolate area outside of town, a man and a woman were alone together. Even the proud and fearless Bingqian started to feel a bit nervous.

After the man in the straw hat bought the furnace, Bingqian followed him to his destination.

Just when Bingqian was about to move forward and stop him by pulling his sleeves, Ye Zifeng suddenly turned around causing Bingqian to almost run into him.

“Big brother rough guy…… If you’re gonna turn around, at least warn me first…..I almost ran into you” Bingqian rubbed her nose and pouted.

Ye Zifeng smiled, “Who cares. With your temper, it’s not like you’re gonna kill me or anything….”

“My temper? What are you trying to assume? You think that since I look so nice that I won’t hurt you? If I want to kill you, not even ten of you can stop me.” A strong expression appeared in her eyes.

Ye Zifeng laughed, “Okay. Okay. It was my bad.”

He paused for a bit and looked around, “Well since we’re here already, let’s talk about the three conditions.”

Bingqing nodded, “Let’s hear it. As long as they’re not too excessive, I will agree to them.

Ye Zifeng looked at her, “The first condition has the reason why I came to this desolate place outside the city. I want to hide this furnace out here. So that means that every time you want to refine pills, you have to come here to do so. Also, you can’t bring anyone else here. When you come, you have to make sure that there is no one following you.

Bingqian thought about then and then nodded, “This shouldn’t be a problem. I don’t need anyone’s help when refining pills so no one will come with me. As for people following me…. I’ll be careful.”

Ye Zifeng nodded. He was satisfied with her answer.

“The second condition is that we will take turns refining pills. I’ll use the furnace for one day, and you can use it the next day. Then the day after will be my turn again.”

Bingqian looked at Ye Zifeng with an astonished face. Other people would kill to refine pills with her or even to just watch her refine pills. However this guy actually want to refine pills on alternate days!

“You really don’t want to refine pills with me? There’s a lot of things that I have to do so I’m quite busy these days. I’m looking to take in a disciple to help me with my work. How about you…….”

“Not interested!” Ye Zifeng replied without even hesitating.

Bingqian got angry and groaned, “I’m trying to help you with good intentions. It’s fine that you don’t want my help but you don’t have to be so rude about it.”

Ye Zifeng calmed down and replied, “If I say that I don’t need you to teach me then I don’t need you to teach me. Don’t talk about this anymore. I don’t need your help.”

In his past life, a regular huang tier alchemist like Bingqian wasn’t even worth shit in his eyes. And she wants to become his master? The day that Ye Zifeng falls to such state will be the day when pigs fly.

“Okay fine. I got it. I’m fine with the second condition. We’ll take turns using the furnace on alternate days.”

Ye Zifeng nodded, “Okay. Then for the third condition, I want you to keep my identity a secret. No matter what happens, you will not expose my identity. You will not tell anyone that I am an alchemist. Also you will not hinder any of my plans in the future. This will the a secret between the two of us.”

After hearing this, Bingqian stared blankly at the man in front of her. When she returned to her senses, she happily said, “So you’re saying that you’ll tell me who you are?”

Ye Zifeng bitterly laughed. His biggest weakness was a woman’s tears. On his way here, he’s been regretting that he allowed Bingqian to come with him. However, he thought about it and felt that Bingqian would somehow find out about his identity sooner or later, so he might as well tell her now and make her keep it a secret.

“You have to promise me that you’ll keep my secret.”

Bingqian smiled, “Don’t worry about it. I’m a person who sticks by my words. If I promise you something, I’ll definitely uphold it. Even if you are a wanted criminal, I won’t turn you in.”

“Okay. You said so. I just hope that you’ll remember this.”

Ye Zifeng nodded and slowly took his bamboo hat off.

Because Ye Zifeng’s face was deathly white due to his illness, he was easily recognizable. Bingqian recognized who he was right away.

“No way! You’re that guy who was at the treasury!” Bingqian was shocked. She couldn’t believe what she was seeing.

“Wait…. then….I’m basically your senior sister. How dare you talk to me like this. Do you want me to teach you a lesson the next time you go to the treasury?” Her became angry immediately.

Suddenly, she remembered that she called him “Big Brother” a few times and that she cried in front of him. Her face turned red from the embarrassment and she wanted to bury herself in a hole.

Ye Zifeng smiled, “Senior sister, I said that you can’t hinder any of my future plans in the third condidtion. Don’t go around breaking promises now.”

“I….” Bingqian bit her lips. If she were to do anything, that means that everything she promised before was worth nothing. As a loyal person, she would not do something like this.

Ye Zifeng smiled, “In the martial spirit continent, the weak obeys the strong. Today, with your peak qi refining stage cultivation, you can be my senior sister. But when I surpass you, you’ll become my junior sister. So right now, I don’t mind that you use your senior sister tone with me. However, that’ll change later on…”

Ye Zifeng spoke in a very imposing manner. It made Bingqian gulp and swallow her words.

After pausing for a bit, Bingqian angrily looked at Ye Zifeng, “ Who would’ve thought that someone with such low level of cultivation like you can be so arrogant. What’s your name?” She realized that she didn’t know Ye Zifeng’s name and asked.

And why would Ye Zifeng tell her his name? He laughed and replied, “Didn’t I tell you before? I’m a rough person. You can just call me brother rough guy.”

“Hmph. I didn’t want to know anyways.”

Bingqian turned around and reluctantly said, “Don’t think that I’ll be calling you big brother anymore. I’m clearly your senior sister so why should I call you big brother? Even if you want me to, wait until the day you surpass me. Then we can talk about it.”

Bingqian can see that Ye Zifeng wasn’t even at the fifth stage of qi refining. He didn’t even have half of her cultivation. If he didn’t have good resources, then no matter how hard he trained, he would never catch up to her in his lifetime.

Ye Zifeng didn’t care what Bingqian called him. As long as she kept his secret, he diidn’t care about what she did.

“Okay. Let’s not waste anymore time. I bought my ingredients with me today so I’ll use the furnace first. You can go back now.” Ye Zifeng saw that it was getting late and wanted to get started as soon as possible.

“You really don’t want any pointers?” Bingqian suspiciously looked at him

Ye Zifeng shook his head, “No need. You can go back. It’ll be your turn tomorrow….”

Bingqian felt that Ye Zifeng was all bark and no bite. She felt bad for him and wanted to do something for him. In her heart however, she still wanted to take him in as her disciple.

She suddenly giggled, “….Little brother rough guy… Actually, I think that you have potential in the way of alchemy. If you mingle with this sister, I can guaranteed that you’ll reach huang tier very soon. By then, you will become an influential figure in Leizhou City.

Ye Zifeng was speechless. He told her not to talk about this matter anymore. He didn’t hesitate and rejected her immediately.

“You really don’t want to consider it? I, Bingqian, had never accepted a disciple before. If you agree, you’ll be my one and only disciple.” She refused to give up and persistently asked.

“No need!”

　　……

It took Ye Zifeng half a day before he was able to convinced her to leave. He would have never thought that this woman so was hard to deal with.

“Finally. There’s no one bothering me anymore. Now I can finally concentrate and refine this Thunder Rhino horn.” Ye Zifeng was very excited.

Not only can the Thunder Rhino horn strengthen his lightning abilities, it can also help strengthen his frail and weak body.

He quickly set up the furnace and then went to gather some firewoods. After gathering the firewoods, he slowly heated the furnace up.

Hiding his abilities from her was not the only reason that he chased Bingqian away. He wasn’t going to let himself be distracted by this beautiful woman and slow down his cultivation. Although getting a beautiful woman was one of his goal, it wasn’t his end goal.

He took a deep breath and allowed himself to calm down. Next, he added the ingredients he got from the treasury and some supplementary ingredients into the furnace. Each and every ingredient was separated into perfect portions which allowed them to mix together perfectly. Sparks flew everywhere and a white mist appeared. This was something that a great alchemist could do.

After half an hour…. Ye Zifeng finally added the first Thunder Rhino horn into the furnace. Along with it, he also sent some of his own qi into the furnace. At the same time, a blue serene light could be seen spiraling around the furnace.

Ye Zifeng cheerfully smiled. The first batch was completed!