Yuan Shu spotted a familiar face in the crowd.
It was Mo Shoudan, who had repeatedly picked on her back in the medicinal herb garden. At this moment, he was pointing at an ancient recipe inside a spiritual energy defense barrier, lecturing someone.
"What 'grass' character in Golden Snow Grass? Do you think restoring an ancient recipe is as simple as you say? Wouldn't everyone be able to restore it then?"
"I have just deduced it. Only by using the Three-Spirit Restoration Technique can this ancient recipe be restored!"
His tone was forceful and his expression arrogant, allowing no room for others to interrupt.
Seeing the person opposite him opening his mouth to argue, Mo Shoudan shouted him down.
"Enough! Spouting so much nonsense won't change the facts. Take out the recipe and restore it exactly as I said!"
Elder Hai, who had been shouted down, flushed red with embarrassment. Thinking of the consequences if the restoration failed, he still bit the bullet and stepped forward to advise him.
"Elder Mo, this ancient recipe was not easy to obtain. If it is destroyed due to a flawed restoration approach, neither you nor I can bear the responsibility!"
Mo Shoudan frowned, his expression instantly darkening. His tone carried a hidden warning, "Are you questioning my restoration skills? Don't forget that you are merely a level-five alchemist, while I am an Alchemy Master!"
Elder Hai's expression shifted slightly. His lips trembled, but he didn't dare to speak again.
Just as Mo Shoudan said, his alchemy skills were indeed inferior. In the Crimson Sun Hall, he had always been suppressed by him.
If Mo Shoudan insisted on restoring it his way, there was nothing he could do.
It was just a pity for that ancient recipe.
Seeing that he was no longer speaking, Mo Shoudan coldly snorted and ordered someone to open the recipe's defensive barrier.
Supported by spiritual energy, the thin, fragile recipe slowly landed on the gold velvet cloth covering the table.
Just as Mo Shoudan raised his hand, preparing to release spiritual energy to repair the recipe, a clear and cold female voice suddenly rang out.
"If you restore this recipe like that, it will be completely ruined!"
The voice was neither loud nor soft, but everyone present heard it crystal clear.
Mo Shoudan's expression changed immediately as he looked over with a cold face. "Who is it?"
The crowd parted, revealing Yuan Shu's figure.
"It's you!"
Mo Shoudan recognized Yuan Shu at a glance. Back in the medicinal herb garden, Yuan Shu had crossed him several times, causing him to lose a lot of face.
To think she would dare to spout such nonsense while he was restoring an ancient recipe!
"A wet-behind-the-ears little brat dares to question me? Don't think you're so great just because you know a little bit about medicinal herbs and medical theory!"
"Is this ancient recipe something you have any right to comment on?"
Mo Shoudan was entirely unpolite. In his eyes, if the Peak Master hadn't been blind, she wouldn't even be fit to be a disciple of Medicine Cloud Peak, let alone a Guest Elder!
Yuan Shu stopped Yao Qianci, who wanted to step forward from the crowd to stand up for her, signaling that she would handle it herself, and stepped out of the crowd.
"The Three-Spirit Restoration Technique is only effective on ancient recipes that are less than three-tenths damaged."
"But the one in front of you is already more than four-tenths damaged. If you really restore it using this method, it will be destroyed!"
As soon as Yuan Shu finished speaking, discussions immediately broke out around them.
"The Three-Spirit Restoration Technique involves pouring three streams of spiritual energy into the recipe to repair it step by step according to the remaining spiritual energy veins. It is only suitable for recipes with less than three-tenths damage. The recipe in front of us is severely damaged; it can't be repaired like this, right?"
"Indeed, I didn't even think of that just now. We almost ruined everything!"
"Never mind you, didn't Master Mo also fail to realize this? And he's an Alchemy Master!"
Along with the chatter came the varied gazes of the observing elders and deacons.
Mo Shoudan's expression stiffened. He carefully examined the pill recipe, his eyes widening slightly.
He had been careless just now, making a judgment based on experience after only a casual glance. Now, looking closely, the extent of the damage indeed far exceeded three-tenths!
"Then we'll use the Four-Directional Gleaning Art..."
"That won't work either. The remaining part of the recipe is too severely damaged to withstand the Four-Directional Gleaning Art."
Mo Shoudan had barely finished speaking when Yuan Shu interrupted him, angering him so much that his face darkened again. The beard around his lips twitched several times as he glared at her furiously.
"How long have you even been at Medicine Cloud Peak, to dare contradict a senior's words like this? Do you have any sense of etiquette and hierarchy?"
"Hmm? Etiquette and hierarchy?" Yuan Shu raised an eyebrow and chuckled lightly. "If I remember correctly, I am now a Guest Elder of Medicine Cloud Peak, right?"
"If we go by rank, I seem to be one rank higher than you, an Alchemy Master. What right do you have to talk to me about etiquette and hierarchy?"
"You!" Mo Shoudan was infuriated once more.
Yet, he couldn't refute these words.
Yuan Shu was a Guest Elder of Medicine Cloud Peak, a status second only to the Peak Master.
And he was merely a senior Alchemy Master in the Crimson Sun Hall.
In terms of status, he was indeed inferior to Yuan Shu!
But he couldn't swallow this anger. This was already the second time Yuan Shu had disrespected him in front of so many people!
Mo Shoudan gnashed his teeth in hatred, barely suppressing the urge to strike and injure her. He sneered coldly, "So what if you are a Guest Elder?"
"Which of us elders and deacons didn't rise up relying on our own skills? Unlike some people, who knows what shady tricks they used to luckily become a Guest Elder!"
These words were just short of directly accusing Yuan Shu of pulling strings behind the scenes.
Yuan Shu smiled, her up-and-down gaze looking at him like he was a leaping clown. "Elder Mo, your look of incompetent rage and having nowhere to complain is quite amusing. Do you want to consider switching to body cultivation?"
"What do you mean?" Mo Shoudan was baffled.
Yuan Shu burst into laughter. "Switch to body cultivation to strengthen your heart's endurance, otherwise I'm afraid you might just anger yourself to death one day."
"You!"
Mo Shoudan was truly about to die of anger. His eyes rolled back repeatedly, frightening the nearby medicine boys into rushing forward to rub his chest and help him catch his breath.
Only after continuous cries of "Elder, Elder!" was he finally brought back to his senses.
The entire Crimson Sun Hall was dead silent. The crowd looked at Mo Shoudan, then at Yuan Shu, exchanging glances.
Yuan Shu ignored the half-dead Mo Shoudan, walked up to the velvet cloth with the ancient recipe, glanced at it, and chuckled softly.
"Restoring such a simple ancient recipe, making it seem like no one else knows how to do it!"
"You're saying you know how?" Mo Shoudan, as if catching Yuan Shu's weakness, immediately pressed her.
"I do," Yuan Shu answered as a matter of course.
"Good, very good! If you can restore this pill recipe right in front of us today, I will acknowledge your status as a Guest Elder!"
Mo Shoudan laughed out of extreme anger, staring coldly at Yuan Shu.
But Yuan Shu shook her head. "That won't do."
Mo Shoudan paused, a mocking smile immediately appearing on his face. "So you admit you don't have the skill?"
"No, that's not it." Yuan Shu shook her head again. "What I mean is, I am already a Guest Elder of Medicine Cloud Peak. Whether you acknowledge it or not changes nothing."
"Since you are so unconvinced, how about we make a bet? If I lose, I will voluntarily hand over the Guest Elder token and request to leave the mountain."
Hearing this, the expressions of everyone present changed slightly, and they looked at each other in dismay.
No one expected Yuan Shu to propose such a bet.
A Guest Elder of Medicine Cloud Peak was a highly coveted position. Never mind the status and reputation behind this identity, even the monthly sect supplies were a considerable income.
Was she really willing to give all that up so easily?
Mo Shoudan's eyes indeed lit up; he had long disliked Yuan Shu.
"This... you said it yourself!"
