The Central Continent was the biggest continent on planet Daiyu. It was also known as the Xingyun Dynasty, governed by the Xingyun imperial family, one of the two imperial families on the planet, besides the Tang Dynasty on the Tang Continent
Out of all the other continents, it was considered the most powerful and prosperous.
From the emperor and his ministers, down to the commoners in the 8 states, everyone was happily living their lives.
This situation where peace reigns throughout the empire, was due to the emperor's strict laws on corruption and violence. He was a man of benevolence who believe that the empire should place the protection of its citizens above all else, because, without them, there would be no empire to speak of.
To demonstrate this fact, he made a clear contrast between the cultivation world and the mortal world.
The large Sage level sects and clans had gotten a warning that if their conflicts or struggle over cultivation resources ever get the common people involved, then they would have to pay a heavy price.
The emperor himself was a Saint realm expert and not just an ordinary one, he was at the very peak of the Saint realm.
Under his command were his three generals, who were also Saint realm experts at the early stage. This lineup made it so that one word from the emperor could bring catastrophe to the sects and clans, making them afraid and wouldn't dare to go against his order.
The only exception where the cultivation world came in contact with the mortal world was when the sects held their disciple selection ceremony.
They would go into the mortal world and choose children who had developed Spirit roots to enter their sects. The emperor did not prevent this because for a sect to grow, a new generation of talented disciples was needed.
In fact, his second son was a core disciple of a Sage Sect called the Solitary Sword Sect and was considered to be extremely talented, being that he was only sixteen.
For most Sage Sects, a disciple would need to be at the Core Formation realm to qualify for a core disciple position, so, one can see the second prince's talents.
In contrast to him was his older brother the crown prince, who was at the late stage of the Foundation Building realm. But, even so, no one would look down on him for having a lower cultivation level than his little brother. Because, when he was born, it was discovered that he possessed one of the Legendary Physiques, the Nine Sun Extreme Yang Physique.
Due to his physique having a fire attribute, he had decided to become an alchemist.
And an alchemist was someone who studies the Dao of alchemy, by learning the different spiritual herbs, and concocted medicinal pills using pill formulas.
Alchemists could be separated into Grades 1 to 9.
A Grade 1 alchemist could only concoct grade 1 pills that only affect Qi Gathering stage cultivators, while a Grade 2 alchemist could produce grade 1, and grade 2 pills that can affect Foundation Building stage cultivators. There were some geniuses that could concoct grade 2 pills while still be in the Qi Gathering stage, but they were rare.
Alchemy masters have always been sought after. It was to the point where some sects and clans would go as far as to exhaust a countless number of resources to train their alchemy disciples, but, only a few could actually achieve something.
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The number of people who had reached the 1st Grade was plenty, but going up the ranks they become fewer and fewer. The highest level of alchemy masters on planet Daiyu was the 5th Grade, and they could be counted on one hand.
The reason why practicing alchemy was so difficult, to begin with, was because, in addition to studying thousands of different spiritual herbs and their properties, while also memorizing hundreds of pill formulas, alchemists must also focus on cultivating their Spiritual Qi as well.
For example, if a Grade 1 alchemist wanted to concoct a grade 2 pill, they would have to be in the Foundation Building realm, if not then their Qi Gathering stage Spiritual Qi would run out before they could concoct the pill.
For most Qi practitioners, cultivating Spiritual Qi was already difficult, to begin with. And learning alchemy on top of that would only slow down their cultivation progress, so they consider it a waste of time learning it. At most, they would study the basics and that's it.
This year the crown prince was nineteen years old, and it was said that if he had focused on cultivation alone instead of diverting his attention to alchemy, he would have surpassed his younger brother's cultivation a long time ago.
When the crown prince had decided to become an alchemist, the emperor was very supportive of his son's decision.
He had taken the liberty to hire several renowned alchemy masters, to teach his son about alchemy. He even gifted his son a top-quality pill furnace used by Grade 4 alchemists and sent out an order to build a large courtyard that took up a third of the palace. Inside the courtyard, was an alchemy lab that had the best facilities and tools used by top-level alchemists.
The emperor had wanted his son to have the best of everything as he pursued his goal.
However, once the crown prince had actually started practicing alchemy, the emperor had immediately regretted his decision.
"Booooom….!!"
A loud explosion echoed from the imperial palace, situated in the country's capital.
Two palace guards that were guarding the palace gates turned their heads to look in the direction of the explosion. One of them sigh and said, "Is the crown prince really concocting pills? That's the sixtieth explosion today and it's still noon."
The other guard that was to his side shook his head said, "Your wrong, that's not the sixtieth, it's the sixty second." The guard who was corrected turned his head and looked at his compatriot with a bitter smile on his face as he said, "My bad, it looks like my ears are starting to fail me."
On the south wing of the palace, a miniature mushroom cloud could be seen rising into the air from a building.
At the building's entrance, a teenager with bright red hair wearing golden imperial robes could be seen coming out of the smoke.
After struggling out of the entrance, he coughed a few times before saying.
"Ah, it was a bust again."
Letting out a heavy sigh, he shook his head in disappointment.
"Crown prince, young master Li Fang is here to visit you."
A middle-aged man wearing a butler's attire said while approaching the teenager.
"Junior brother Fang has come to visit me?" The teenager said in a perplexed tone.
"I wonder why he decided to visit me, fine let him in."
The butler received the order and headed back to the courtyard's entrance.
After a while, another teenager could be seen strolling through the courtyard towards the smoky building.
He wore a black robe, along with white inner garments.
As he walked through the courtyard, he gave off the feeling of being one with heaven and earth, as if he and the heavens were in total balance. Even the pace of his steps was balance and equal, sounding as if someone was playing a piano key rhythmically. Each beat sounding alike with the same interval between them.
"Haha, Junior brother Fang what's with the sudden visit?"
The crown prince at the building's entrance had his hands behind his back while a smile spread across his lips.
If it wasn't for the black smudges on his face and clothes, he would've looked a bit more charming. Some of the black spots had even gotten on his teeth making his smile a bit weird.