"Sigh, young friend Jiang Chen — who would have thought that Heaven itself had been refining you. Just when I had nearly convinced myself that no one from the human territories would ever come to challenge the trials again, you not only showed up, but brought me such tremendous joy. This must be the will of the Heavens. Now, I can say with certainty — if the Glazed Pagoda is ever to have a successor, you, Jiang Chen, are without question the most favorable choice, and the most suitable one."
The Elder of Pills and Talismans had always been exceptionally picky, possessing his own unique and distinctive style.
And yet, for him to praise Jiang Chen so effusively — it showed that Jiang Chen had thoroughly won him over.
Of course, Jiang Chen wasn't really surprised. With the depth of his alchemical knowledge, even a grandmaster of the Elder of Pills and Talismans's caliber would find that what Jiang Chen had to offer was something worthy of genuine respect.
"Young friend, it's virtually certain — you must be a divine being reincarnated. Moreover, in your previous life, you were surely an invincible grandmaster of the Dao of Alchemy. The kind that comes along only once in ten thousand years."
The Elder's voice was brimming with emotion.
Jiang Chen actually felt a touch embarrassed by the praise and smiled modestly. "Senior, your Dao name contains the words 'pills and talismans.' Apart from alchemy, your attainments in the Dao of Talismans must be extraordinary as well. When I first entered the Fifth Palace, I found myself in a quiet void, and later the void runes appeared. Those must have been your handiwork as well?"
"You know about void runes?" The Elder of Pills and Talismans was greatly astonished.
"I know a thing or two. I've done a little study into them," Jiang Chen said with a smile. "Fortunately, my luck held, and I managed to find my way out without getting trapped."
The Elder of Pills and Talismans let out a long sigh. "To find an exit from within the encirclement of void runes — that is genuinely no easy feat. 'A little study' hardly does it justice. Unless you were a true specialist in this field, an ordinary person would have a very hard time finding any clues at all. More importantly, most people wouldn't even recognize them as void runes. If you tried to face void runes with the mindset of breaking through a formation, you'd humiliate yourself for certain. You — you're not simple. Absolutely not simple!"
The Elder's tone was filled with affirmation toward Jiang Chen.
"Indeed your handiwork, Senior."
"Handiwork is too generous a word — merely something produced by my hand. If I had truly deployed the void runes at full power, laced with killing intent at every turn, you would not have gotten out so easily. Those particular void runes were designed only for entrapment, with no lethal force behind them. In general, an unremarkable challenger who stumbled in might get trapped, but wouldn't lose his life over it. I do maintain a certain degree of propriety."
Jiang Chen nodded. "Yes, I didn't sense any killing intent at all."
"Very well, let's return to the matter at hand. You have passed my trial. The rewards, of course, must still be given. I imagine that with your status and talent, you already have plenty of fine things on you. Perhaps the gifts I prepared for you might not even catch your eye."
"Not at all, not at all," Jiang Chen said hastily.
"Heh heh, there's no need for modesty. Originally, I had prepared two gifts. One was the 'Comprehensive Treatise on the Dao of Alchemy,' which I spent a great deal of effort compiling over the course of my life, along with certain methods and techniques for crafting void runes. But it seems now that neither would be of much use to you."
"That's not the case at all. Alchemy is a field where one must learn from others' strengths to compensate for one's own weaknesses. Mutual exchange remains extremely valuable. As for void runes — I can't even craft the simplest ones. The only reason I managed to escape was thanks to my own eye for detail, but determination played an equally important role."
"Heh heh, thank goodness you don't know how to craft void runes. Otherwise, I would have felt somewhat awkward. The gifts I prepared for you — you really ought to find them worthwhile, you know?"
In truth, Jiang Chen understood perfectly well that void runes were a supremely sophisticated discipline. Being able to craft void runes was far more convenient than setting up formations.
Moreover, in certain respects, the offensive power of void runes actually surpassed that of formations.
On top of that, void runes possessed an element of sudden, unexpected strike that fundamentally subverted the logic of formations. If deployed in a location rich with spiritual energy, one could harness the natural spiritual force of heaven and earth to gather power and instantly produce numerous void runes, catching opponents completely off guard.
Truthfully, Jiang Chen genuinely admired the art of void runes.