Amidst laughter and talk, the enemy's fleet was reduced to ashes.

"Have you heard? They're fighting!"

"They're fighting again!"

"The flames of war are rekindled!"

Halfway up Dan Peak, twelve disciples who have just passed the practical alchemy exam this year and obtained the Water and Fire Alchemy are walking together towards the forbidden area at the summit of Dan Peak.

They chat idly as they walk.

"There's internal strife in the Boundless Sword Sect; the alchemists and the sword practitioners are fighting," a well-informed male disciple boasts loudly. "Sword cultivators have always been arrogant, with their heads held high and faces full of disdain, thinking they're second only to heaven. They've long disliked the outsider alchemists. It was only a matter of time before they started fighting."

"How can alchemists possibly defeat sword cultivators?" a female disciple asks, puzzled.

"Of course, there are sword cultivators helping them..." someone explains, "Sword cultivators need pills too, and eventually they'll seek out alchemists. Over time, quite a few sword cultivators are bound to be bribed by the alchemists."

Someone else raises a question: "There's something I don't understand. I heard the alchemists in the Boundless Sword Sect were originally from Zhican Valley, which was destroyed by our Dao Sword Sect. They weren't originally part of the Boundless Sword Sect, so why would they go there to be mistreated?"

"Maybe they needed protection and feared being completely wiped out by us."

"Under a fallen nest, how can any eggs remain intact? Zhican Valley was destroyed, and those alchemists lost their support. If they don't go to the Boundless Sword Sect, where else can they go?"

"Why not come to our Dan Peak? They were defeated by us, so they should be absorbed into Dan Peak... to watch over the furnace, serve as medicine boys, and serve tea and water. Haha!"

"Bah! You wish. If there are any good-looking alchemists, I'd want to try them first."

The conversation gradually goes off track.

And just then...

"Buzz!"

"Buzz!"

"Buzz!"

Suddenly, alarm bells ring in the sky above Dao Sword Sect!

These Dan Peak disciples have just reached the summit, standing before the forbidden area's mist, looking back to see disciples from Sword Peak flying out with their swords, and members from Qi Peak riding clouds and mist, like a disturbed beehive releasing a swarm. They're all heading towards the Master Peak.

"What's going on?" someone exclaims.

"Gathering forces!" someone replies.

"Gathering forces?"

A thoughtful person steps out from the group, speaking in a deep voice, "There's internal strife in the Boundless Sword Sect; we should seize the opportunity to strike while the iron is hot!"

"Is Dao Sword Sect going to join the battle?" someone realizes and asks, "Why haven't we received any notice to gather at Dan Peak?!"

"What could you do?" someone retorts irritably, "What fighting power do you have?"

"I... I'm at least a cultivator! Foundation Establishment stage! A Foundation Establishment cultivator is still a cultivator!"

"Foundation Establishment early stage? Can't even refine a Qi Recovery Pill?" Watching the sword cultivators from Sword Peak and the qi cultivators from Qi Peak soar into the sky and land gracefully, like celestial beings, the Dan Peak disciples stare enviously.

"Why bother with alchemy?!" someone sighs.

Isn't flying with a sword cool? Isn't smashing people with magical treasures satisfying?

The crowd falls silent, with no one refuting for a moment.

After a while, everyone has landed on the Master Peak, and the sky is clear of people flying back and forth. Only then do the Dan Peak disciples lower their heads, feeling lost. The crowd rustles quietly, but no one speaks. They turn silently and head into the mist of the forbidden area.

The disciples of Dan Peak, as alchemists, don't they understand the importance of alchemy? Don't they recognize the esteemed status of alchemists?

Of course they do.

But it's like that saying, everyone knows the healer is important, yet who doesn't want to be the warrior charging ahead with dazzling moves?

Watching others battle against the heavens and the earth, while they can only stand behind, the mindset of young disciples new to the path of alchemy is somewhat complex.

They passed through the misty corridor, arriving at the lawn, and suddenly saw the head lady standing there with her left hand on her hip and her right hand pointing a sword at the Dan Peak King, fiercely scolding: "Why are you going to join the commotion? The battlefield is ever-changing, chaotic and uncertain, perilous and cruel, and you could lose your life in the blink of an eye! Do you really think you have nine lives? It's one thing for you to go, but you want to take Li An with you?!"

The disciples smelled the excitement and, with great tacit understanding, stopped and turned their gaze to see a little boy of eight or nine years old standing obediently next to the squatting Dan Peak King, hands behind his back, head bowed.

They all recognized him as the little demon of Dan Peak.

Except in front of the head lady, he's a mischievous fellow who fears neither heaven nor earth and would even pull the beard of the King of Hell.

The Dan Peak King tilted his large head back, squinting his eyes, and chuckled ingratiatingly: "Aren't you confident in my abilities? I promise absolute safety!"

"When have you ever not promised?!" Li Shiyin thrust her sword forward, pointing at Chasing the Wind's forehead, "When have you not come back beaten half to death?"

"Putting aside injuries, just tell me if we won or not!" Chasing the Wind replied, "Boys, getting hurt is nothing!"

"Injuries? This time it's a battlefield! It's different!"

"Dad already agreed, let me go see." Chasing the Wind tried to reason, "Such an exciting battle, our Dan Peak should have some sense of involvement! After all, we're part of the Dao Sword Sect."

"Involvement? It's all that guy's scheme, isn't that enough involvement?" Li Shiyin tapped Chasing the Wind's large head with the spine of her sword, "I said no, and that's final! I'm the one who decides this!"

Chasing the Wind lowered his voice: "We have to inspect the results..."

"He's right over there!" Li Shiyin said, "What do you need to meddle for?"

"Sigh, it's different!"

"What's different? You're just playful!" Li Shiyin scolded the two mischievous ones and suddenly noticed a row of disciples watching the show at the edge of the formation mist. She raised her sword and shouted, "What are you looking at? Get to class!"

"So fierce!"

The group of disciples was startled, quickly lowering their heads, and hurriedly crossed the lawn, then the small bridge over the river, arriving outside the research building.

They looked up and saw the head standing outside the research building, gazing into the distance. The usually gentle and kind head had a complex and unfathomable expression in his eyes, lost in thought.

Seeing them arrive, the head withdrew his gaze, chuckled softly, and his eyes became gentle again.

"Here?" the head asked them.

The disciples saluted: "Head!"

"Let's start the class!" The head turned and walked into the research building, "Today we will study acupuncture points."

"Yes." The disciples replied and followed the head inside.

Before they even entered the research building, they suddenly heard the loud whooshing sounds from the sky. Turning around, they saw countless cultivators. Some were flying on swords, others riding clouds, and some were on magical artifacts, all heading uniformly towards a distant place.

War, solemnity, blood boiling with excitement!

The group of disciples couldn't help but feel their hearts race, watching their fellow sect members depart with longing gazes.

Only after everyone had left did they collect themselves and head into the research building.

They climbed the stairs but hadn't yet entered the classroom when they heard commotion behind them.

From across the river, the head lady shouted angrily, "Come back here!"

They quickly turned to look, only to see a giant tiger breaking through the sky. On the tiger's head stood a cocky young boy with arms akimbo, while behind them, the head lady wielded a shimmering weapon, chasing after them.

Some quick-witted individuals immediately grasped the key point, their expressions subtly changing, as they stepped forward to salute the head and said, "Head, they must have gone together to the Boundless Sword Sect battlefield..."

"Let them go!" The head shook his head with a smile, "It's an old trick. They just love to use it repeatedly without any changes."

The head turned back to watch the retreating light, and the group of disciples clearly saw the indulgent smile on his face, inexplicably feeling like they had been fed a mouthful of dog food.

Is this the tacit understanding of an old married couple?

Only then did they realize that the head lady had been scolding the Dan Peak king for not taking her along.

They recalled the sect legend that the head lady was a fiery-tempered woman in her youth, quick to challenge others on the Debate Platform. Her Mu Ran Sword had overwhelmed countless prodigies.

...It seems the head lady isn't that old?

They muttered to themselves as they followed the head into the classroom that had been converted from a pharmacy.

Su Zi said, with a feather fan and silk robe, in the midst of laughter, the masts and oars turned to ashes and smoke.

The current scene was Qin Ran giving a lecture on the podium, while a battle to annihilate a sect, orchestrated by him, was fiercely unfolding a thousand miles away.