After a round of noisy banter, the two jokers finally returned to normal.
Suddenly, Old Doug put on a mysterious air and said, "There's news coming from Greenmount Courtyard."
"Oh?"
Old Hugh perked up immediately, since Greenmount Courtyard was the dao-field of Ancestor Martin, one of the three reclusive Ancestral Immortals in Snowgoose City.
"You really don't know?"
Old Doug said, keeping them in suspense.
"Cut the crap, just spill it!" Old Hugh urged.
Old Doug grinned slyly. "Play three games of chess with me and I'll tell you!"
Old Hugh's face changed instantly. "Forget it, I don't want to know anymore!"
"Two games!"
Old Doug haggled.
"One game, tops!" Old Hugh said.
"Deal!"
Old Doug agreed without hesitation.
"Hurry up, what's the news?" Old Hugh pressed, and Ian Song perked up his ears too.
"Ancestor Martin from Greenmount Courtyard is recruiting two alchemy apprentices!" Old Doug announced mysteriously.
"Hiss!" Old Doug sucked in a breath. "If anyone can become his alchemy apprentice, that's a one-step-into-heaven chance!"
"No kidding! Too bad I can't refine pills, otherwise I'd give it a shot!"
Old Doug said, looking genuinely disappointed.
"Damn it, I can't refine pills either!" Old Hugh grumbled, using a curse picked up from Ian Song's Earthly style.
The three reclusive Ancestral Immortals in Snowgoose City are Ancestor Martin, Ancestor Cyrus, and Ancestor Grimm.
Ancestor Martin lives in Greenmount Courtyard and is a top-tier pill refiner—his alchemy is considered the very best in the Immortal Realm.
Ancestor Cyrus lives in Whitewater Courtyard and is obsessed with formations. The area around his residence is filled with all kinds of powerful arrays. He once declared that anyone who could break through the outer formations and enter Whitewater Courtyard would be accepted as his disciple.
Ancestor Grimm lives in Blackmount Courtyard and is an artifact-refining master. Inside Blackmount Courtyard, discarded and failed Immortal Artifacts have piled up into literal mountains.
All three are said to be above ninth-layer Ancestral Immortal, standing at the very top of the Immortal Realm. Most remarkably, none of them belong to any power—they reached these heights as unaffiliated rogue cultivators.
Suddenly, Old Hugh turned to Ian Song. "Hey, Ian, can you refine pills? If you can, you should go try—if you become Ancestor Martin's alchemy apprentice at Greenmount Courtyard, you'll shoot straight to the top!"
Old Doug nodded in agreement. "Exactly! It's a huge opportunity—if you know alchemy, don't miss it!"
Ian Song hesitated. "I'm an ascended Immortal—would that be a problem?"
To be honest, he was pretty tempted. Having an Ancestral Immortal as a backer would be a huge advantage.
"Haha!"
Old Hugh chuckled. "You're overthinking it. In most places, the native Immortal clans look down on ascenders, but in Snowgoose City that doesn't happen. Do you know why?"
"Is it because of Ancestor Martin?" Ian Song asked.
Old Hugh replied mysteriously, "It's not just him—all three Ancestral Immortals have no prejudice against ascenders. I heard a rumor that all three studied under the same master, and their master was an ascended Immortal!"
"No way—there was someone that powerful among ascended Immortals?"
As far as he knew, the Saint Alliance had three Ancestral Immortals, but none of them were especially strong—the highest was only sixth-layer Ancestral Immortal.
Other than that, he'd never heard of any ascended Immortal reaching the Ancestral Immortal realm.
Old Doug said, "Of course there were! But that was ages ago. Back then, ascended Immortals and native Immortals fought a great war. There were many powerful ascenders then, including some above tenth-layer Ancestral Immortal. But after that war, most of the ascended experts died, and ascenders have been in decline ever since. Now, the whole Langya Immortal Realm is ruled by native Immortals, and the Saint Alliance—the only ascender faction—can barely survive in the wilds!"
"In that case, maybe I should give it a shot!" Ian Song said.
"By the way, I heard you can sign up at Greenmount Courtyard today. You should hurry over and register!" Old Doug reminded him.
"Thanks, Old Doug, Old Hugh—I'm off!" Ian Song said, taking his leave.
Ian Song cupped his fists to the two and left the teahouse, heading for Greenmount Courtyard.
Normally, Greenmount Courtyard is covered by restrictive formations, but today, because Ancestor Martin is recruiting alchemy apprentices, the formations were opened and people could easily approach.
Are you here to apply as an alchemy apprentice?
The guard at the gate looked at Ian Song and asked.
Yes!
Ian Song nodded.
The guard registered Ian Song, handed him a numbered token, and let him in.
There were people guiding him along the way.
Ian Song arrived smoothly outside a pill room.
At this moment, more than a thousand people were standing outside the pill room.
But no one dared to act rashly, so the crowd was extremely quiet.
After half an hour, fifty people came out of the pill room, some looking happy, most looking disappointed.
Then, a black-robed elder came out of the pill room and called out, "A-series numbers 301 to 350, come in!"
Another fifty people followed the black-robed elder into the pill room.
An hour later.
Fifty people came out, some happy, some disappointed.
Those smiling probably passed the initial assessment; those disappointed were likely eliminated.
Then, the black-robed elder appeared again and called another fifty people into the pill room for the test.
Ian Song's token was B-series number 409. At this point, the A-series was only up to numbers 351 to 400. He still had over a thousand people ahead of him and would need to wait more than twenty hours.
He wasn't in a rush and waited patiently.
Finally, it was his turn along with forty-nine others. Because more people kept hearing about Ancestor Martin recruiting apprentices, the crowd outside the pill room only grew. Even after more than a thousand people had left, there were still over two thousand waiting.
"Follow me!"
The black-robed elder led Ian Song and the other forty-nine into the pill room, then pointed to fifty pill chambers inside. "You can choose any chamber. Each of you has ingredients for one batch of pills. If you can successfully refine a top-grade Immortal Pill within one hour, you'll pass the initial assessment!"
Hearing these rules, many people's expressions changed. Top-grade Immortal Pills aren't easy to refine—otherwise they wouldn't be so rare on the market. And with only one hour, it's even harder.
But for Ian Song, refining a top-grade pill was the easiest thing in the world.
He casually picked a pill chamber and entered. Sure enough, several types of Immortal Medicines were laid out on a wooden table.
With just a glance, he could tell these ingredients were for refining a healing-type Immortal Pill.