42: Chapter 42 Xiao Yan and Yao Chen Alternative Version

Just like that, Ling Yuan easily won over the little girl Cao Ying.

Cao Can pulled Cao Ying over and instructed her in a solemn tone: "Ying'er, after you return to the Ling Clan with the Young Clan Leader, you must be obedient, cultivate diligently, and study alchemy. You cannot be willful anymore. Do not let down the Young Clan Leader's efforts to nurture you or the expectations of our Cao Clan."

Cao Ying nodded vigorously. Although she was still a bit childish, she knew this was a major event and replied in a low voice: "Father, I understand."

Subsequently, Cao Can turned to Ling Yuan, bowed deeply, and said with a sincere tone: "Young Clan Leader Ling, I entrust my daughter to you. In the future, please expend your efforts to take good care of her and instruct her. If she does anything wrong, please feel free to discipline her."

Ling Yuan waved his hand: "Clan Leader Cao, rest assured. Since I have decided to nurture her, I will not be perfunctory. I will properly teach her cultivation and alchemy."

Ling Yuan's attitude toward nurturing was that if someone could be nurtured, he would do so with all his might—take Qing Lin, Xiao Yi Xian, and Medusa for example. As for those who could not be nurtured, like the younger generation of the Ling Clan with mediocre talent, he would not even bother with them.

In fact, before coming, Ling Yuan had originally intended to recruit both Cao Ying and Dan Chen into the Ling Clan. Both were geniuses with outstanding alchemy talent, and nurturing them together would make them assets to the Ling Clan in the future.

But while chatting with Cao Can just now, he learned that Dan Chen was even younger than Cao Ying; she was only eight years old!

She had just started cultivating not long ago, so recruiting her would be too much trouble.

Moreover, Cao Can also mentioned that Dan Chen's health was not good; she was sickly and much weaker than other children of the same age.

He wanted the people he nurtured to cultivate the Burning Technique, but this cultivation method itself carried inherent dangers and required Heavenly Flames for support. Given Dan Chen's physical condition, if she were to cultivate the Burning Technique, she might one day be unable to withstand the scorching of the Heavenly Flames and perish.

Even if she didn't cultivate the Flame Mantra, she would struggle to withstand a bolt of Pill Lightning. It was better to forget about Dan Chen.

By the time she grew up, the Ling Clan wouldn't even need her. Instead of wasting energy, it was better to concentrate resources and fully nurture Cao Ying alone; it would be more effective and secure.

Once the matter was settled, Ling Yuan did not delay and brought Cao Ying back to the Ling Clan.

This was Cao Ying's first time leaving the Cao Clan and her first time entering the Spirit Realm. Looking at the dense Heaven and Earth energy, the peculiar spiritual herbs and medicines, and the magnificent architecture of the Ling Clan's mansion, she looked like someone who had never seen the world, glancing around from time to time.

However, she was indeed quite bold, and she asked many questions. Ling Yuan occasionally gave her simple answers.

As he walked, he calculated in his heart: Since he had decided to let Cao Ying cultivate the Burning Technique, he needed someone proficient in both alchemy and the Burning Technique to instruct her. Wasn't Yao Chen the most suitable candidate? Wasn't this just a substitute version of Xiao Yan and Yao Chen?

Thinking of this, Ling Yuan stopped his footsteps and said to the ring in his hand: "Yao Chen, come out. I have a task for you."

As soon as he finished speaking, a translucent soul phantom drifted out from the ring; it was none other than Yao Chen.

Yao Chen bowed to Ling Yuan: "Young Clan Leader, what are your instructions?"

Since refining the soul origin provided by Ling Yuan, Yao Chen's soul had recovered quite a bit. His phantom was much more solid than before, and his aura was also much more stable.

He only needed a few more medicinal materials to repair his soul, and it was likely that it wouldn't take long for him to return to the peak state of his soul.

Ling Yuan pointed to Cao Ying beside him and said: "This is Cao Ying. Her alchemy talent is quite good. I want her to cultivate the Burning Technique. Since you are idle anyway, you will be responsible for guiding her in alchemy from now on, and by the way, help her familiarize herself with the cultivation methods of the Burning Technique."

Cao Ying's alchemy talent was certainly powerful, but a good teacher was also indispensable. Yao Chen might not have better alchemy techniques than Elder Chen, but his ability to instruct was definitely superior. Ling Yuan was very confident in having him guide Cao Ying.

Yao Chen looked at Cao Ying and gently probed with his soul power. Feeling the purity of her soul strength, a glimmer of approval flashed in his eyes: "What a powerful soul!"

Ling Yuan introduced her to Cao Ying: "This is Venerable Yao. He once won the championship of the Alchemist Convention. In the future, if you have any questions regarding alchemy, you can ask him for guidance."

Cao Ying had not heard of Yao Chen. After all, Yao Chen winning the Alchemist Convention championship was something that happened many years ago; as a twelve-year-old girl, she naturally would not know.

But she also understood how impressive an Alchemist Convention champion was. Even her father, Cao Can, had failed to achieve such an honor despite giving his all. The Venerable Yao before her was definitely a formidable figure.

She hurriedly bowed to Yao Chen: "Greetings, Venerable Yao. Please provide me with your guidance in the future."

In order to ensure Yao Chen would teach with all his heart, Ling Yuan said in a joking tone: "Yao Chen, I will find three types of Heavenly Flames for her, and when the time comes, I will have her resurrect you. You must not hold anything back."

Only when it involved his own interests would he be truly committed. Having lived for so many years, how could Yao Chen not understand the meaning behind Ling Yuan's words? He hurriedly promised that he would teach her everything he knew.

If the instruction was successful, he, Yao Chen, could be resurrected. If not, then he would have no way to be resurrected.

Ling Yuan nodded with satisfaction. He did not have Yao Chen follow Cao Ying all the time, as he felt it was a bit awkward.

Instead, he let Yao Chen stay in the Ling Clan's Alchemy Hall to focus on recovering his soul in his spare time. If Cao Ying had any questions she didn't understand, she could go to the Alchemy Hall to seek his advice.

Besides that, the Ling Clan also had over a dozen Grade 8 Alchemists. Cao Ying could also seek advice from them; by learning and practicing more, she would progress faster. Of course, she could also ask other Alchemists.

Having over a dozen Grade 8 Alchemists from the Ling Clan guide Cao Ying was definitely better than Xuan Kongzi from the Pill Tower.

After helping Cao Ying arrange everything, Ling Yuan finally took out the Burning Technique and gave it to her.

"The cultivation method you are currently practicing should be of the Earth Tier High Rank, right?"

Cao Ying nodded: "Replying to the Young Clan Leader, yes, I am cultivating our Cao Clan's Earth Tier High Rank cultivation method."

"This cultivation method is only of the Yellow Tier Low Rank, but it is very special. It can continuously upgrade by refining Heavenly Flames and can eventually reach the Heaven Tier High Rank, or even surpass the Heaven Tier."

Ling Yuan let Cao Ying choose for herself whether she wanted to switch to this cultivation method. If she chose to switch, he would nurture Cao Ying well and let her become a Dou Di. If she didn't switch, then Ling Yuan would change to another person.

Holding the Burning Technique, a look of hesitation appeared on Cao Ying's face.

The reasons for her hesitation were, first, the rank of the Burning Technique was too low, only Yellow Tier Low Rank, which was much worse than the Earth Tier High Rank cultivation method she was currently practicing; second, she had no confidence in her heart. The Burning Technique required refining Heavenly Flames to upgrade, and Heavenly Flames were extremely rare; she had no confidence that she could find enough Heavenly Flames.

Fortunately, Ling Yuan did not make things difficult for this little girl and said he would try his best to help her find Heavenly Flames.

As he spoke, he waved his hand, and two flames of different colors appeared out of thin air. One was light cyan, the Green Lotus Core Flame; the other was light blue, the Sea Heart Flame.

Cao Ying looked at the two Heavenly Flames before her, and her eyes lit up instantly. The hesitation on her face was swept away, and she was full of excitement.

She had been obsessed with alchemy since she was young and had long yearned to see Heavenly Flames. Normally, it was difficult to see even one, so how could she not be excited when two appeared all at once?

Cao Ying said with a determined face: "Okay, I choose to switch to the Burning Technique!"