Three Eternal Life Pills?
Palace Master Dan Chi stared at what Jiang Chen had produced, completely stunned.
"Jiang Chen, you refined all of these yourself?"
Jiang Chen didn't deny it, smiling as he said: "At this Myriad Phenomena Grand Ceremony, I'm afraid Celestial Master Tian Ming will come asking for Eternal Life Pills again. We can't keep running up that tab forever."
Palace Master Dan Chi's expression was complicated as he looked at Jiang Chen, letting out a long sigh. "The capable are limitless in what they can achieve! Jiang Chen, Dan Qian Palace is truly fortunate to have you. Thinking about it carefully, since I took office I've had great ambitions and have accomplished some things — but in the grand scheme of things, these few decades have had only a negligible impact on the bigger picture. If I had to name the single most important thing I've done since becoming Palace Master, it would be bringing you from Treasure Tree Sect to Dan Qian Palace."
By now, Dan Chi had to admit that everything he had done for Dan Qian Palace had indeed allowed the palace to make considerable progress in martial cultivation, narrowing the gap with other fourth-rank sects.
However, a sect's fortune could not be changed by merely a few decades of diligent governance.
And the current situation in the Myriad Phenomena Domain was growing more precarious by the day — there was simply no more time for Dan Chi to realize his ideals and ambitions.
This was the thing that frustrated him the most right now.
He had ambition, vision, and aspirations.
But — The turbulent times refused to give him enough time to achieve any of it.
Everything he had done, when set against the upheaval of the grand situation, was like a stone tossed into a lake — it sent up a ripple or two, but once it sank, there was silence. It had never stirred up any great waves.
And thinking about it now, the only thing Dan Qian Palace could truly take comfort in was that it had uncovered a batch of young talents.
Jiang Chen, for one. Mu Gaoqi for another.
Shen Qinghong and Jun Mobai — never mind that they had already broken through to the Saint realm. Dan Chi was not particularly optimistic about them.
Their cultivation levels were not only incomparable to what he himself had achieved at their age, but even compared to the same generation of geniuses across the Myriad Phenomena Domain, the gap was enormous.
At the age Shen Qinghong and the others were now, Dan Chi had been on the verge of breaking through to the Earth Saint realm, and had already been nominated as a candidate for the next Palace Master.
Most of Dan Chi's peers in the Myriad Phenomena Domain were still muddling about in mid-level positions within their respective sects — very few had even reached the rank of Elder.
And Dan Chi had already been presiding over Dan Qian Palace for decades.
By any measure — whether comparing vertically across time or horizontally across contemporaries — Shen Qinghong and Jun Mobai breaking through to the Saint realm only after turning thirty was nothing to brag about.
The Earth Saint realm was one threshold; the Heaven Saint realm was another.
Even with Dan Chi's monstrous talent, he had lingered in the Human Saint realm for over a decade. As for the Heaven Saint realm, it was only through a series of fortunate coincidences that Dan Chi had managed his breakthrough in the past two years.
Old Shun's guidance. The benefits brought by earth-grade spiritual medicine.
Neither factor could be missing.
Without even one of them, Dan Chi's breakthrough to the Heaven Saint realm would likely have required another five to ten years of waiting.
So the achievements of Shen Qinghong and Jun Mobai did not make Dan Chi overly optimistic.
Jiang Chen and Mu Gaoqi were a different matter entirely.
Jiang Chen in particular — when he had first entered Dan Qian Palace, he was only at the first level of the Origin Realm. In a mere three years, he had leapt forward an entire major stage and was now at the first level of the Saint realm.
This speed of improvement was something Dan Chi himself could never have matched in his day.
If it were merely a matter of freakish cultivation speed, that would be one thing. What was even more extraordinary was that Jiang Chen possessed heaven-defying ability to challenge opponents far above his own level.
Back when Jiang Chen was at the Earth Origin Realm, he could leave a ninth-level Origin Realm opponent completely helpless. And even at the Earth Origin Realm, when Jiang Chen faced Wang Han — a first-level Saint realm opponent — he had handled the fight with ease.
Although Jiang Chen had never mentioned how he had shaken off Elder Chen's pursuit, Dan Chi could figure it out with his eyes closed: that Earth Saint realm Elder Chen must have been killed by Jiang Chen as well.
A talent this young, capable of taking down an Earth Saint realm Elder — the potential of this boy was staggering.
As for a freakish creature like Cao Jin, Dan Chi didn't even dare think too deeply about it.
He was now certain that the terrifying heavenly phenomenon he had witnessed at Treasure Tree Sect years ago must have occurred when Jiang Chen broke through to the Origin Realm.
Otherwise, a mere alliance of sixteen small kingdoms could never have produced such an awe-inspiring celestial phenomenon out of nowhere.
Dan Chi was now fully convinced that Jiang Chen was a genius born under some kind of heaven-bestowed fortune — the kind of fortune that not even Dan Qian Palace could contain, and perhaps not even the Nine Sun Heavenly Sect could suppress.
Now, Dan Chi no longer viewed Jiang Chen simply as a disciple of Dan Qian Palace. He saw him as a prodigy with the potential to reshape the balance of power across the Divine Abyss Continent.
Of course, Dan Chi kept this to himself — he hadn't breathed a word of it to even the person closest to him in the sect.
Heaven's secrets must not be revealed.
No matter what, the stronger Jiang Chen became, the greater Dan Qian Palace's chances of drawing on his power in the future. Wherever Jiang Chen ended up, as long as he existed, Dan Qian Palace's legacy would never be extinguished.
So Palace Master Dan Chi was now utterly resolute: even if it meant dissolving Dan Qian Palace entirely, it didn't matter. As long as Jiang Chen was still around, Dan Qian Palace's fortune would never scatter.