Chapter 1 The Beginning

In a small alley in the east of the city, there was a mutton soup restaurant.

The restaurant wasn't big, and the location was out of the way, but business was always good.

At mealtimes, gourmets came in an endless stream to sample the mutton soup.

The owner of this mutton soup restaurant would start slaughtering sheep in the backyard before dawn every day, ensuring that the mutton soup and meat served to customers were fresh.

After the lamb bones were chopped, they were blanched slightly to remove impurities, and then they could be put into a large pot to simmer the soup.

The soup needed to simmer for a full two hours, and the owner had an ancestral secret recipe that could remove any trace of muttony smell from the soup, leaving only its freshness and deliciousness.

A bowl of mutton soup was served, with lamb offal added, gently simmered, and then sprinkled with chopped green onions and coriander, and a few drops of sesame oil were drizzled on top.

The taste would make diners smack their lips as they drank, saying, "Tsk, this taste is amazing."

Good wine needs no bush, and good soup needs no advertising.

On the second floor of the mutton soup restaurant, two old men were sitting by the window.

It was morning, not yet lunchtime, and these two old men, greedy for the freshly cooked and delicious mutton soup, had arrived early and were sipping the soup in small sips.

The skinny old man in the Taoist robe took a sip of the mutton soup, put down the bowl, and looked at the opposite side with a smile:

"What do you think? I told you this mutton soup is delicious."

The gray-robed old man opposite him didn't speak, and just drank his soup.

"I'm talking to you, is it good or not, Little Dan Dan?"

"Little Ji Ji."

"Can you stop calling me Little Ji Ji? How old am I? I'm embarrassed when you call me that."

"Then don't call me Little Dan Dan either."

"I really didn't expect that you, a dignified Xuandan Elder, one of the Four Great Heavenly Pill Masters of the Tiandan Pavilion, would personally come to this small Qishan Prefecture to deliver medicinal pills for auction. Tsk tsk tsk, it's really rare."

Hearing this, the gray-robed old man put the bowl down heavily:

"Wasn't it you, old thing, who heard that medicinal pills were going to be auctioned in Qishan Prefecture and insisted on dragging me over? Otherwise, with my status, how could I come to this small place?

I could have refined so many furnaces of medicinal pills in that time!"

"Hey, why don't you appreciate my good intentions? I'm kindly inviting you to drink mutton soup, don't be ungrateful."

"Cut it out, I don't believe that you, a dignified Mingji Elder, one of the Four Great Protectors of the Tianji Pavilion, would drag me, a Heavenly Pill Master, all the way across half of the Leifeng Continent to drink mutton soup!

If this gets out, anyone who hears it would laugh their heads off."

Xuandan Elder looked down at the half bowl of mutton soup that had spilled because he had slammed the bowl down so hard, feeling a little sorry, and asked the waiter in the shop for another bowl.

"Actually... a few years ago, I took in a worldly disciple in this Lanning Kingdom. His aptitude for cultivation isn't bad, but it's not too good either, but he has a unique talent for deducing heavenly secrets.

This mutton soup restaurant is where my disciple brought me to drink, and I can't forget the taste after just one sip.

I was bored, so I wanted to see that disciple."

Mingji Elder gave a contemptuous look to the Xuandan Elder, who was both looking down on the mutton soup and drinking it with relish.

"Tell me the truth, you and I have known each other for hundreds of years, why bother lying to me?

With your lazy nature, is it possible that you would make a special trip so far for a disciple you casually took in?"

"Do you still remember... that prophecy?"

"Cough... cough..."

Mingji Elder's words directly caused the Heavenly Pill Master who was drinking mutton soup to choke.

"Are you saying... that future predicted by your Tianji Pavilion's old pavilion master a thousand years ago? That the Leifeng Realm is going to suffer a devastating calamity?"

"Yes, calculating the time, it's almost been a thousand years, and that calamity is not far away."

"Then what does that have to do with you coming here?"

"The old pavilion master... saw an extraterrestrial star falling on the Leifeng Continent more than two months ago.

He used the power of the Tianji Pagoda to peep into the heavenly secrets, and finally, a few days ago, he calculated that the extraterrestrial star is the person destined to face the calamity."

"The person destined to face the calamity... Are you saying that this person destined to face the calamity is in this Lanning Kingdom? In this Qishan Prefecture?"

"Yes, but I'm here not to enlighten him, to tell him about the calamity. Everything has its own heavenly secrets, and heavenly secrets cannot be revealed. If I tell him, I'm afraid it will change his path.

I'm here just to get acquainted with that young friend and build a good relationship.

You and I have known each other for a long time, and no relationship in the world can compare to ours, so I dragged you here, so that your Tiandan Pavilion can also build a good relationship, which can protect your Tiandan Pavilion's inheritance in the future."

"Then what have you been doing in this city for the past two days? Hurry up and take me to find him."

"No need to look, that person will come to find us."

"Oh? When?"

"Now."

"Now?"

Xuandan Elder was stunned when he heard this, and looked out the window, only to see four people walking towards them not far from the alley.

Of these four people, one was wearing a Taoist robe and looked wretched; one was dressed in white, handsome and dashing; one was gaudy and ugly; and the last was a woman, dressed in black, with a cold expression.

"What do you see?"

"That white-clothed youth and that ugly youth have the aura of the Heavenly Dao on them. Not the kind of obscure heavenly secrets that your Tianji Pavilion talks about, but the aura of genuine Heavenly Dao power."

Xuandan Elder frowned slightly, but the joy in his eyes couldn't be concealed.

"Are you tempted? That white-clothed youth is of the lightning attribute, and the person destined to face the calamity should be him.

But he is not suitable for refining pills, but that ugly youth is of the wood attribute, and is naturally suitable for the Dao of pills.

In addition to the Heavenly Dao on his body, if this child is cultivated well, your Tiandan Pavilion's Heavenly Dao Wansheng Pill, which has never been refined since the pavilion was founded, may have hope of being successfully refined."

"This child is more important in my eyes than the person destined to face the calamity. I must take him away."

"What do you think, I insisted on dragging you to this Qishan Prefecture, wasn't I right?

You old boy, you owe me a big favor this time, hahaha..."

…………

"Heavenly Calculator, are you sure, absolutely sure, that you want to bring us to drink this broken mutton soup?"

Wan Lei looked at Heavenly Calculator suspiciously.

I haven't eaten anything delicious before, why would I care about a bowl of your mutton soup?

"You don't understand, although you were born into nobility and have eaten all kinds of delicacies, you don't know that there are also peerless delicacies in the folk.

Back then, I brought my master here to drink mutton soup, and my master agreed to accept me as a disciple..."

Before Heavenly Calculator could finish speaking, he was attracted by the laughter coming from the second floor of the mutton soup restaurant.

He looked up and his face lit up with joy.

"Master! Master! Why are you here too? You came to Qishan Prefecture, why didn't you tell your disciple?"

"Is there a need to tell you? As a teacher, I just need to sit in this mutton soup restaurant, and I can guarantee that I can fish you out."