By releasing the Red Tiger Heavenly Fire so close to Qin Yan, the flames' pressure pushed him five feet away from her.
His skin had slight burns and his clothes were emiting smoke as he didn't even defend himself against the burst of the release.
Still unbalanced and dizzy. In his heart he knew Wu Chen would stop her if she went too far and so he just waited, a mistake he would regret.
"Senior sister Liu Yanfei don't worry yourself too much, I have healing pills so you can go for it" cheered Wu Chen eager to see the how powerful the heavenly flames were.
At the second he heard Wu Chen's cheers, Qin Yan's hopes shattered with his head heavy he looked up to stare at Liu Yanfei, her gaze was unyielding and sharp as a blade, her expression sent a freightning chill into Qin Yan's body, he could feel fear slithering into the heart and then it happened.
"Red Tiger Heavenly Fire merge Snake Palm technique!!!" shouted Liu Yanfei.
This was the benefits to having heavenly flames as supposed to one's own spiritual fire, the ability to merge the fire in to any technique to enhance it beyond its own strength.
With Qin Yan not defending himself Wu Chen knew if he got hit with such a technique he would suffer greatly even with healing pills present, the combination of the 167th ranked heavenly flame with the Liu clan's Snake Palm technique, a move at the Sky Tier level.
Although the Snake Palm technique was weakened in the hands of Liu Yanfei because of her cultivation level, the heavenly flames gave it enough enhancement for it to be comparable to the real Sky Tier Snake Palm technique.
Qin Yan knew he could not possibly handle a Sky Tier technique even if he blocked.
With his unbalanced walk he approached Liu Yanfei "Fei'Fei that's enough iam sorry" said Qin Yan with sincerity displayed in his tone.
With Qin Yan calling her how he used to when they were children, memories of those times entered her mind, allowing her temper to go down a little, with her anger taken out she could only let out the remaining pain through tears.
With his breathing irregular and his face bruised, Qin Yan pulled Liu Yanfei to his chest and hugged her over the shoulders whispering to her "I am sorry for everything"as his voice whimpered with pain, Liu Yanfei broke down hearing those words but they were healing, her heart was again allowing light to rein, she felt the embrace under Qin Yan's tight hug.
'Well that just great, now I won't see anything. I thought at least Qin Yan would take out his heavenly flames to at least defend himself' pondered a disappointed Wu Chen.
With her heart settled and mind clear,she thanked Wu Chen, "Lord Wu this disciple would like to thank you for showing mercy today and for allowing me to..." She mummured as she was embarrassed to say what she did out loud.
"No need for that Senior sister Liu Yanfei, you can call me Pill King Wu since we are all fellow alchemists. Also you can return to the refining area, Qin Yan will be fine alone just tell senior sister Ye Xun is beautiful for me" said Wu Chen with a humble tone as if he was afraid of the Snake Palm.
After Liu Yanfei got away from sight, Qin Yan had complaints he wanted heard "Lord Wu this is going too far, I could have died right now, you even encouraged her to beat me up more, what if she had used that move on me? no pills can cure death" shouted an angry Qin Yan.
"Ohh? well it seems you bought the the Poison Tounge pill for nothing" said Wu Chen carefully waiting to see Qin Yan's reaction.
Qin Yan's eyes jolted wide like had been poked with a sword, "Lord Wu how do you know?"he asked starring at Wu Chen as if he were a ghost.
The Poison Tounge is a level 7 pill, refined with toxic middle quality spiritual plants or plants with potent extreme Yang-energy, it is used to forcefully increase one's cultivation but it unsettles one mind making them act unnatural when under extreme stress, it also clogs meridians with poisonous impurities that will slow accumulate in the heart as time goes.
"I'm a Pill King! Qin Yan, how would I not know" said Wu Chen who proceeded to tell him about the dangers of the pill and the future issues he is going to have.
Hearing this Qin Yan could not bear to take the news, he pleaded with Wu Chen to help him and explained he only consumed the pill so he can enter the inner pavillion and stop authentic inner disciple Hao Tian from marrying Ye Xun.
"Your problem is not as easy as taking a pill brother Qin, let me consider it first. Right now take this and make as many flags as you can, have them with our pavilion's colours and if I'm impressed I'll see what we can do about your Poison Tounge pill, right now I'll go pass the barrier, I need to meet the pavilion master" said Wu Chen eager to see the inner pavillion.
After he parted with Qin Yan he passed the barrier and was immediately hit by the fresh smell of high-quality plants, a refreshing fragrance that clears the nostrils, even the air was purer and had more qi lingering to it.
Reaching the top of the hill Wu Chen saw the halls and the mountain peaks surrounding the inner pavillion, the small river ponds in the distance and the overall vegetation were a pleasing sight.
After taking in the beautiful landscape, Wu Chen headed down the hill, there he met two guards at the main entrance who gave him directions to the pavilion master's hall.
Upon entering the courtyard of the inner pavilion Wu Chen got hit with a scent of sweet rice, it was very rich and potent, it's aroma reminded him of his home back in the mountains.
Unlike the outer pavilion, the inner pavillion's workstations were filled with inner disciples refining pills, some were gathered in large groups exchanging pointers while some were going about their way.
But a few happened to recognise Wu Chen and they paid their respects, others saw this and like a domino effect, everyone followed suit, "disciples pay respect to the Pill King Wu" saluting a group in unison.
Wu Chen simply nodded as he continued to walk towards the pavilion master's hall.
As he was nodding every step of the way getting greeted by anyone who knew him.
He finally arrived at the hall, it was large indeed, the doors alone were very tall and it had multiple floors going up.
Just as he was about to enter he met the Pavilion Master in his usual white and gold-lined attire with a brown gourd of wine swinging from his waist, he then invited Wu Chen to his refinement room in the 4th floor that had a table and general things to host guests.
Upon them sitting down he then brought out his favourite tea to share with Wu Chen.
"Pill King Wu you finally woke up, that's good, this old man was starting to get impatient waiting for you, now that you are here we should get straight to business.Pill King Wu I personally find you suspicious, why would a Pill King want to join my pavillion?" asked Pavilion Master Wang, stirring his tea with an intense look aimed at Wu Chen.
With a calm and polite tone Wu Chen responded, "The path of alchemy knows no end, i go to wherever the Heavenly Dao points while expanding my horizons, surely as a Pill King yourself you can understand that studying the heavens is an everlasting endeavour, no? But the fact remains we can only place our cauldrons where we are invited and only plant herbs where we are permitted"
'damn it, seems I underestimated how cunning young men can be, not only can I not ask further now he is even threatening me with leaving. No he must stay, not only did my pavillion lose the life of an elder a few days ago but if those two bastards get him then my pavillion will lose the slight advantage it had in the city' pavilion master Wang reflected.
With a playful and humble tone pavilion master Wang replied "Pill King Wu no need to be like this, seeing as you are sincerely keen on joining my pavillion I can only welcome you in.But as things stand now under pavilion rules, you are too overqualified to be an elder you can only be a great elder like Pill King Huang Feng but the problem is under the same rules you are also too young to become an elder so you can not become a great elder"
Wu Chen looked worried, was there really nothing for him, the Pavillion Master was not done though he continued "the best option is for you to become an authentic inner disciple" he said this as he took a sip of his tea to hide his deceitful smile.
Wu Chen was not impressed he retorted " surely you jest Pill King Wang, me? An authentic inner disciple, who will I even study under?"
"I am only joking Pill King Wu, the best and only option is for you to become the 44th Successor of our Gold Pill Pavilion but this will not sit well with the inner pavillion especially the authentic inner disciples and their elders, will you be able to tolerate the doubts and prejudice?" Asked the Pavilion Master.
After Wu Chen agreed he asked the Pavilion Master to the explain to him how things work in the inner pavillion.
after sorting his thoughts the Pavilion Master replied " our inner pavillion has a total of eight mountain peaks, seven of the eight are assigned to elders and each elder can only accept one authentic disciple, the other aspects you will know in your successor ceremony today"
"Successor ceremony ?" Asked the surprised Wu Chen.
"Yes why do you think I have been waiting for you, there's lot to do but for now let's go get you dressed in the proper attire" said Pavilion Master Wang as he stood up to lead Wu Chen to get changed "Young Pavilion Master Wu please follow me" chuckling as he drank from his gourd.