Zhan Chen entered the living room of his mother with a smile. His gaze fell upon an anxious looking Ruyan with uneasiness in her eyes. Although she was doing her best to hide her emotion, it could not escape the sharp eyes of Zhan Chen.
"Mother, I want to tell you something. I hope you can agree to my request", Zhan Chen looked towards his mother.
"Little Chen, What is it? Do you need anything?", Li Qingzhao smiled at Zhan Chen.
"Mother, I want to make Ruyan my first woman. I hope you can allow me to do so", Zhan Chen said with a straight face.
"What?", Li Qingzhao blurted out after being stunned for a moment.
"What are you saying little Chen...?", her words stopped in middle after her gaze fell upon the blushing Shen Ruyan.
"Ruyan, don't tell me.....!", Li Qingzhao spoke with a surprised voice.
"Big sis, I am sorry", Ruyan spoke with her head lowered.
"No need to say sorry. Ruyan, look at me. Do you really like Chen-er?", Li Qingzhao looked at Shen Ruyan. Shen Ruyan nodded her head shyly. She had never felt so ashamed before.
"Can you tell me what happened?", Li Qingzhao asked Ruyan. Ruyan's cheek reddened as Li Qingzhao looked at her.
"Chen-er, return to your room first. I want to speak with her alone", Li Qingzhao spoke to Zhan Chen. Zhan Chen nodded his head and returned to his room.
"Now, can you tell me what happened?", Li Qingzhao asked after Zhan Chen left. Shen Ruyan nodded her head and informed her about how Zhan Chen asked her to become his woman.
"Big sis, I don't know why but I think I like Zhan Chen. Moreover, I will agree to him only after if he can treat me. I have enough of those hypocrites who are planning to give me away as a concubine. I want to live my life at my own will", Shen Ruyan spoke.
"Big sis, do you think me as shameless now? After all I am still six years older than him", Shen Ruyan looked at Li Qingzhao with emotion in her eyes.
"Ruyan, what are you talking about? You are both beautiful and smart. Chen-er will be lucky if he can marry you", Li Qingzhao replied with a soothing voice.
Shen Ruyan could not find any hint of rejection from Li Qingzhao's words. She felt relaxed after hearing the reply from her. She opened up to Li Qingzhao more and spoke to her about her planning.
Li Qingzhao felt weird but she still understood the reason why Shen Ruyan was wanting to keep everything secret from others eyes.
---------
'Spirit bamboo shoot'
'Verdant Orchid flower'
'Azure life grass'
'Blue Feather herb', Zhan Chen wrote down a list of spirit medicines while sitting leisurely on his bed.
After some time, Shen Ruyan came to his room to bade him farewell. Due to her sensitive identity, she couldn't stop longer in the Zhan family estate. Otherwise people would doubt that there was a relationship between Firecloud treasure pavilion and Zhan family. It would bring unnecessary trouble to Zhan family.
"Check if all these spirit medicines are available in the Firecloud treasure pavilion?", Zhan Chen handed over Shen Ruyan a list. Shen Ruyan took the list from his hand and checked upon the name of the ingredients.
"All of these are ordinary level three spirit medicines. Are you sure that these can clear my problem?", Shen Ruyan asked Zhan Chen.
Zhan Chen nodded his head as he had no doubt about his own prowcess. "You just have to send a set of these ingredients with an alchemy grandmaster. Instruct him to fully cooperate with me. I will visit you after preparing the Meridian strengthening pill", Zhan Chen spoke to Shen Ruyan.
A hint of surprise appeared in the eyes of Shen Ruyan as she heard the words of Zhan Chen. "We will do as you say. I will send grandmaster Wang to come assist you in preparing the pill", she spoke to Zhan Chen.
Zhan Chen nodded his head and sent her outside his place. The old woman from earlier was waiting for her there. Both of their eyes met and Zhan Chen could see the inexplicable emotion from her eyes.
-----------
It didn't take long for Shen Ruyan to dispatch an alchemy grandmaster who was working for her Firecloud treasure pavilion.
"Young master, grandmaster Wang is waiting for you in the guest house", Little Tao came inside his room and informed him.
"Oh, tell him to come to my place. We will prepare the pill here", Zhan Chen said with a smile.
"Young master, what are you saying? We should go and pay our respect to him instead. Currently, eldest madam is talking with him in the guest house", little Tao said with an exasperated tone. According to her, his young master was being disrespectful towards an alchemy grandmaster.
"Little Tao, no need to think much. Send someone to bring my message to him", Zhan Chen spoke calmly. He knew Red cloud kingdom was situated in a very remote location. So, an alchemy grandmaster was a peak existence here. He could understand why his family was giving such importance to the alchemy grandmaster but he didn't care.
Little Tao looked at Zhan Chen with a worried face but she still went out to inform the grand master. She could see the conference in his young master's eyes. So, she still decided to inform the grandmaster herself.
After sometime, Zhan Chen noticed a lean old man coming towards his place with his two aunts. He checked the old man's cultivation with his soul consciousness and a frown appeared on his head.
"So, this old man is only a peak stage True essence realm cultivator. I wonder if he can handle things properly", Zhan Chen thought to himself.
"Greetings, grand master. I hope you don't mind the fact that I have called you here", Zhan Chen smiled at the lean old man.
Grandmaster Wang observed Zhan Chen and he could only see confidence and calmness in Zhan Chen's face.
"Young master Chen don't have to worry about such trifles. I am Wang Chong, an alchemist of Firecloud treasure pavilion. You can instruct me whatever you need", the lean old man smiled amiably at Zhan Chen.
Zhan Chen's two aunts were initially worried about angering an alchemy grandmaster but after seeing his interaction with Zhan Chen, they felt relieved.
"Ok, then we are leaving grandmaster. You can ask the maids anything you want", the eldest aunt of Zhan Chen spoke to grandmaster Wang.
"No need to worry, madam. I will ask if need arises", grandmaster Wang replied with a smile.
"Show me the ingredients. I need to check them first", Zhan Chen spoke to Grandmaster Wang.
Grandmaster Wang nodded and asked his two assistants to take out the ingredients for Zhan Chen.
Zhan Chen nodded his head after seeing the ingredients. "Why has she sent so much?", he murmured after seeing the amount of spirit medicines.
He quickly sorted the ingredients without even looking at them. His action was smooth and there was not a slight bit of clumsiness in his action. Surprised look appeared in the face of Grandmaster Wang and his two assistants after seeing the speed of Zhan Chen.
"Bring out the pill furnace now. We will extract the medicinal essence", Zhan Chen spoke calmly.
The assistants of grandmaster Wang brought out three exquisite looking furnaces but Zhan Chen felt disappointed after seeing them.
"Only spirit grade pill cauldrons! But it is still better than nothing", Zhan Chen murmured Inside his mind. His gaze fell upon grandmaster Wang who brought out a slightly plain looking pill furnace. "Oh! Profound grade pill furnace. A grandmaster can not work without it", Zhan Chen thought inside his mind.
"Well! Let's divide the spirit medicines between us. It will be much faster", Zhan Chen spoke.
"Young master, can you extract the medicinal essence by yourself?", grandmaster Wang looked sceptically at Zhan Chen.
Extracting the essence of a spirit medicine needed expertise and only an experienced alchemy master could extract the essence of a grade three spirit medicine.
"No need to worry about it. Let's divide the spirit medicines", Zhan Chen spoke with a light smile on his face.