Qian Jin watched Situ Lei’s performance with keen interest, his eyes drifting past the door to the outside. For this man to arrive with such perfect timing, and to dare push the door open uninvited, suggested he likely had backing.

Who could it be? Outside stood the First Great Elder, Pan Hongxuan. Without his consent, there was no way Situ Lei could have opened that door, right?

Did he doubt it? Qian Jin smiled. Indeed, at his age, suddenly arriving in a completely unfamiliar place and telling a group of seasoned dignitaries, men who had seen countless grand spectacles, that he had studied a little bit of esoteric potioncraft would surely get him branded a madman or a charlatan.

This man must have been deliberately sent in by Pan Hongxuan to test him.

A mysterious potion capable of unlocking the Nine-Headed Serpent bloodline power—it would certainly carry more credibility if it came from a silver-haired elder rather than a young man under twenty.

“You are under twenty years old…” Situ Lei circled Qian Jin repeatedly. “Even if you started memorizing the complexities of esoteric potioncraft from birth, you’ve only had less than twenty years! Esoteric potioncraft is as vast as the Ancient Desolate Sands Sea…”

Qian Jin looked weakly at Situ Lei, but his gaze remained fixed beyond the doorway. It seemed Great Elder Pan Hongxuan intended to seek help from this elder expert in esoteric potioncraft, hoping to squeeze out the identity of the supposed true creator of these elixirs.

“Your analogy is not quite accurate,” Qian Jin replied, clasping his hands behind his back, accepting Situ Lei’s scrutinizing gaze. “Esoteric potioncraft is as boundless as the stars.”

Situ Lei’s eyes, initially filled with dissatisfaction, suddenly froze. A strange illusion flickered in his vision, as if the person speaking before him wasn't a young man under twenty, but rather the mentor who had guided him into esoteric potioncraft all those years ago, descending from the stars to instruct him anew.

How could this be? Situ Lei violently shook his head, clearing the phantom from his sight, and scrutinized Qian Jin again. “Since you know the grandeur of esoteric potioncraft, why pretend…” Qian Jin noticed Pan Hongji refrain from interrupting Situ Lei and let out a soft sigh. Although this Patriarch possessed the All-Seeing Eye capable of discerning his true strength, along with a magnanimous heart and demeanor, and perhaps even believed the truth of his claims, the ingrained experience accumulated over the years compelled him to maintain a reflexive skepticism.

It seemed necessary to offer proof. Qian Jin glanced at Pan Hongji. He had previously mentioned the terms of their transaction involved meeting the potion’s creator. While this wasn't truly a manufactured potion, nor one that was ‘created’ in the conventional sense, he couldn't reveal the truth. The only recourse was to demonstrate that he genuinely possessed some knowledge of esoteric potioncraft.

Esoteric potioncraft differed from standard alchemy; sometimes, even an apprentice could concoct a mysterious potion that a Grandmaster of the art could not. As Oulala once put it, luck was crucial in esoteric potioncraft! Every time one brewed, there needed to be the unwavering conviction of a blind tiger crashing into a dead goat!

If he could just prove he knew a little bit, he could convince this questioning Situ Lei.

“Mr. Situ Lei, I am not impersonating anyone.” Qian Jin mimicked Situ Lei’s manner of appraisal, circling him rapidly, sniffing the air forcefully. “Mr. Situ Lei, before you arrived, you must have just handled thirty-six ingredients for a mysterious potion. Three of these materials account for seventy percent of the ratio: the Blackberry Flame Bud, Black Dragon Grass, and the Ferocious Cactus. As for the thirty-sixth ingredient, the one with the lowest proportion among the thirty-six, it is the saliva of a Gale Demon Wolf, with a quantity equivalent to only half a hair’s breadth in length.”

Silence! In that instant, the hall fell into a quiet so profound that the sound of a single hair dropping would have been audible! Baidu dominates the world’s text releases, fisherman manually transcribed.

Pan Hongji watched Situ Lei’s reaction, which was akin to being struck by petrification magic, and knew instantly that Qian Jin had been entirely correct this time!

Situ Lei stared blankly at Qian Jin, his capacity for thought utterly annihilated in that moment.

Hit! Every single point was correct! Before receiving the message from Pan Hongxuan, Situ Lei had indeed been attempting to formulate a mysterious potion, and the materials he used were exactly as Qian Jin described, without the slightest error.

“You…” Situ Lei’s throat felt as if it were choked with a peeled, boiled egg, leaving him speechless for a long moment. “You… you truly understand?”

“I don’t understand,” Qian Jin shook his head repeatedly. What a joke! To claim understanding in esoteric potioncraft? If Oulala ever heard that, it would spell serious trouble! In the entire Endless World, perhaps only Uncle Blake could suppress Teacher Oulala.

“I’ve only learned a tiny bit,” Qian Jin pinched the outer third of his pinky fingernail. “Just this much, and I might even be exaggerating.”

Situ Lei stared at Qian Jin, stunned. Was this humility? Or…? “No!” Situ Lei took a deep breath. “I still have some doubts! Unless you come to my potion laboratory and brew a mysterious potion for me on the spot, only then will I believe your words are true.”

“I’m not going!” Qian Jin firmly shook his head again, conveying an attitude that suggested he wouldn't budge even if a knife were at his throat.

Situ Lei chuckled. “It seems you merely stumbled upon knowledge of these materials by coincidence.”

“Am I supposed to walk into your laboratory to seek death?” Qian Jin rolled his eyes. “It’s a good thing you arrived quickly; otherwise, you would soon be returning to the embrace of the stars.”

“Returning to the embrace of the stars?”

Situ Lei and Pan Hongji both paused, their faces etched with confusion.

Qian Jin shrugged. “You intended to brew the Level One Spirit Burning Potion, didn’t you?”

Situ Lei’s gray eyes flickered with surprise and bewilderment; he hadn't expected the other party to even know about the Spirit Burning Potion.

“Then you shouldn’t have added Black Dragon Grass, and certainly not in such a large dose,” Qian Jin looked up at the sky. “Judging by the scent of the herbs on you, it should be about ready now.”

“Ready for what?” Situ Lei frowned. “It still needs three more days of simmering to be successfully brewed…” Support the tall building, click to subscribe and vote.

“Successful?” Qian Jin curled his lip. “In one minute at most, that pot of mysterious potion of yours is going to explode. If this building weren't made of metal, the force of that blast would be enough to completely flatten an ordinary house.”

“Nonsense!” Situ Lei’s tawny facial skin flushed slightly from agitation. “I… I…”

BOOM!

A deafening roar interrupted Situ Lei’s words. A massive column of fire shot dozens of meters into the sky, and fragments of debris from the house roof soared upwards alongside the flames.

The sound of his word, "Nonsense," still hung in the air when the tremendous explosion struck Situ Lei’s face like the most direct and resounding slap.

Situ Lei’s recently flushed old face instantly turned deathly pale. The anger that had been swelling in his eyes instantly morphed into rigidity and blankness. This… this… this prediction was too precise, wasn’t it?

Pan Hongji stared at Qian Jin in a daze. While he didn't understand esoteric potioncraft, the ability to make such an exact forecast—and one derived merely from smelling the residual scent of potion materials on another person—suggested that the power of this mysterious alchemy far surpassed Situ Lei’s own.

Qian Jin felt a slight prickle of guilt under their scrutinizing gazes. If he were truly forced to concoct esoteric potions now, he wasn’t sure he’d fare better than this elder; he might even lose significantly. However, the foundational knowledge drilled into him by Oulala over the years had made his basics in esoteric potioncraft exceptionally solid.

Oulala had once said that if one discounted all other factors in esoteric potioncraft and only judged the basic skills, he could barely qualify as an Esoteric Potion Grandmaster—a skill level she deemed trash tier.

An Esoteric Potion Grandmaster is trash? Qian Jin recalled Oulala’s words, and the brief sense that he might be quite capable was instantly extinguished.

If an Esoteric Potion Grandmaster is trash, what am I? Less than trash! It’s just that I haven’t encountered the top-tier Grandmasters of the True Strategy Dynasty. Otherwise… Still, Qian Jin scratched his head. The True Strategy Dynasty must have Esoteric Potion Grandmasters and Grandmasters, right? Although he hadn’t heard of them, they probably existed?

“Esteemed Patriarch…” Situ Lei’s imposing aura sank to an unprecedented low; his entire expression was one of extreme dejection. “This Mr. Qian Jin must be a highly authoritative scholar in esoteric potioncraft.”

Pan Hongji nodded gently. Situ Lei was notoriously arrogant regarding esoteric potioncraft; he never deferred even to Mr. Sluobate, whom the Pan family considered the foremost expert. Yet, today he had conceded defeat so quickly.

“Patriarch,” a strong, resonant voice called again from outside the door. Even without turning around, Qian Jin knew another potion master had arrived, separated only by the distance of the courtyard.

“Oh? Mr. Sluobate, you have arrived?” Pan Hongji looked at the potion master Sluobate, who was deliberately dyeing his hair, eyebrows, and beard black, and was built three times wider than Situ Lei. “Are you also here to prove that Qian Jin is a fraud?” Baidu updates fastest for Triumphant Storm, everyone come join.

“That is correct!” Sluobate, having received permission from Pan Hongji with a look, strode toward the hall while casting a disdainful glance at Situ Lei. “That explosion just now, that was your handiwork, wasn’t it? Good thing you arrived quickly, otherwise… Humph, humph…”

Qian Jin ignored Sluobate and turned his eyes toward Pan Hongji. “Patriarch, your estate must have more than one team capable of clearing out houses, right?”

Pan Hongji looked at Qian Jin doubtfully and nodded. “What do you mean?”

“That’s good,” Qian Jin nodded repeatedly, appearing quite reassured. “It seems this Mr. Sluobate enjoys tackling high difficulties. Before he arrived, he must have been attempting to formulate that legendary Youth Potion—the one that supposedly turns an old man’s hair black, removes wrinkles, and restores true youth.”

ps: I’ve been meaning to promote two new books for friends recently.

Some family matters arose a few days ago, and I was extremely busy every time I went to upload, always forgetting.

Ni Cangtian’s new book, God of Slaughter—a new book from an author whose previous three books broke ten thousand subscribers.

Zhang Junbao’s Love Master—currently the strongest author writing contemporary urban novels on Qidian.

Yesterday, I read some lyrics for Triumphant Storm written by a friend. Although the rhymes aren't perfectly metered, I really liked the flavor, so I’m putting it in the supplementary material as well.