Chapter 1533 — Give Him an Inch and He Will Take a Mile: "Yes, Palace Master!" Wei Zhao Nodded. "Palace Master, Please Give Me a Fire Spirit Sacred Fruit. I Will Surely Help You Find a Third-Grade Alchemist Within Two Years!"

"Why should I believe you?" the Ice Palace Master asked faintly. "You are a rogue cultivator with no clan or sect to back you. What reason do I have to believe you can bring me a third-grade alchemist within two years?"

"A rogue cultivator is not necessarily lesser than any clan or sect! Zhang Naipao and Feng Nitian both came forth from the ancient level, yet did they not both fall by my hand?" Speaking of this, Wei Zhao drew himself up with some pride and said, "I wonder if the Ice Palace Master has ever heard this saying: a hero need not fear a humble birth, for with high ambition even the heavens must bow! Though I, Wei Zhao, am but a rogue cultivator, how do you know I will never found a clan or establish a sect of my own one day?"

"Good!" At Wei Zhao's words the Ice Palace Master said nothing, but Elder Qing could not help slapping the table and crying out in praise. "Well said! A hero is not judged by his birth! A rogue cultivator, at your age, already the foremost man below the Earth level. When you say you will one day found a clan or establish a sect, I believe you!"

"Empty boasts are easy for anyone to make. Why should I believe you?" The Ice Palace Master was not so sentimental as Elder Qing. She only glanced at Wei Zhao and asked with the same cool detachment, "Have you ever met an alchemist? Do you know any alchemist? Where will you go within two years to find me an alchemist?"

"This..." Wei Zhao could not help giving a bitter smile. Faced with the Ice Palace Master's questions, he truly found them hard to answer! He did not know how to explain himself. Was he to tell her that he meant to cultivate himself into an alchemist?

Yet to give no answer, or to fob her off with excuses, would never get him past the Ice Palace Master. Wei Zhao could see it clearly. Though she was not old in years, she was exceedingly shrewd, and any tale he made up offhand to deceive her stood no chance at all.

"In truth, I am now studying alchemy, and two years from now I will surely become an alchemist of the third grade or higher!" After a moment of reflection, Wei Zhao decided to speak the honest truth, for only that could convince the Ice Palace Master!

"You? Studying alchemy?" The Ice Palace Master stared with widened eyes, as if she had heard the funniest joke under heaven, and even upon her ever-icy face there now appeared a trace of astonishment! For Wei Zhao's answer truly left her at a loss for words!

The Ice Palace Master did not know how to describe the man before her. Was it excessive arrogance, or excessive confidence? Or was he simply trying to fool her outright?

"Yes!" Wei Zhao nodded with solemn gravity.

"Are you toying with me?" Hearing Wei Zhao's firm reply, the Ice Palace Master could not help knitting her brows. The man before her truly left her at a loss for words. "Ambition is a fine thing, but confidence carried too far is mere conceit."

"Do you think that before alchemists became alchemists, they were not ordinary cultivators?" Wei Zhao asked in return.

"It is not that I look down on you, but your words are truly hard for me to believe," the Ice Palace Master said lightly. "There are far too many who wish to become alchemists, yet those who truly succeed are few indeed!"

Wei Zhao stretched out his hand, and a ball of fire-element Dan fire appeared above his right palm. At times fact speaks louder than argument, and only by showing his own skill could Wei Zhao win her trust. "What do you think now?"

"Dan fire? You have actually condensed substantive Dan fire?" Elder Qing was at once astonished. Though not everyone who condensed Dan fire could become an alchemist, and many gave up halfway, yet every alchemist began with the condensing of Dan fire.

The Ice Palace Master lifted an eyebrow, clearly somewhat surprised as well, though her expression did not change much. "Condensing Dan fire is but the first step to becoming an alchemist. Yet an alchemist needs talent. To condense Dan fire does not guarantee one will become an alchemist. Far too many alchemists give up halfway!"

The Ice Palace Master's words struck straight at Wei Zhao's vital point! Little as Wei Zhao wished to admit it, he had to admit she was formidable. Young as she was, the insight of a Sky-level master was indeed a different thing altogether.

Wei Zhao could now be said to have just crossed the threshold of an alchemist, yet he remained stuck where the control of flame was concerned. If he made no progress, he would end up just like those halfway failures the Ice Palace Master spoke of!

If he could not raise the temperature of his Dan fire, he was no better than useless scrap. The Dan fire in his hand would be nothing but a toy, of no use at all in refining pills.

"I will work hard." That was all Wei Zhao could say.

"I will trust you this once and give you one Fire Spirit Sacred Fruit. Within two years, if you become an alchemist of the third grade or higher, you shall be a permanent ally of my Ice Palace. Otherwise you shall be its enemy. Think for yourself what becomes of those who deceive the Ice Palace." When the Ice Palace Master spoke of trusting Wei Zhao this once, it was only to give Elder Qing face. At any rate she still could not believe Wei Zhao could become a third-grade alchemist within two years!

Even if he were a genius in alchemy and had studied it since childhood, it would still take more than ten years to become a third-grade alchemist. How could a man who had only just touched upon alchemy turn into a third-grade alchemist within two years?

If alchemists were so easy to cultivate, the profession would long since have become common as dirt! In the Xuan Dan Sect, even the Young Sect Master, now already twenty years old, is still only a Yellow-level second-grade alchemist and has yet to break through to the third grade. Even in such a house of alchemists, none can raise his rank so swiftly, let alone Wei Zhao, a mere rogue cultivator!

Thus the Ice Palace Master did not believe at all that Wei Zhao could become an alchemist above the third grade. In saying what she did, she was only saving face for the Ice Palace, and in truth only giving Elder Qing face.

"Could you give me two...?" Wei Zhao asked weakly.

"Huh?" The Ice Palace Master thought she had misheard and cried out in surprise! Though she usually put on a stern front, when all was said she was only a girl in her teens. She simply could not imagine how any man could be so thick-skinned. She had agreed to give him one Fire Spirit Sacred Fruit only for Elder Qing's sake, and only after a great struggle, yet he had the gall to ask for two?

"What is wrong?" Wei Zhao also felt his request was somewhat excessive, but he had to try. Since he had come all this way, he could not save only Feng Xiaoxiao. His future mother-in-law was still waiting to be cured!

"What do you think a Fire Spirit Sacred Fruit is? Something sold on every street like dragon fruit?" The Ice Palace Master could at last no longer hold back her displeasure. "Giving you one is already generous. How many more do you want?"

For the fastest updates, please read without pop-up windows.