The scholar in white stood gracefully and walked with broad steps.
His clothes were spotlessly white, free from any dust, and the sleeves fluttered gently in the wind.
However...
As soon as they met, Ryan immediately labeled the other person as arrogant and self-righteous in his heart.
The first impression this person left on Ryan was definitely not good.
Accompanied by more than ten inner and outer disciples, the scholar in white came to stand in front of Ryan.
He looked Ryan up and down, seeming rather aggressive: "Don't deny it. I've seen your portrait."
"I'm Aston Lowell. I joined Xuanji Cave Heaven a year ago."
"Now, I'm a true disciple of the Artifact Refining Hall on Lava Mountain!"
He had a tall and straight figure, and there was an air of pride in his steps. Between his eyebrows, there was a sharpness and disdain, as if all troubles were insignificant and not worthy of his attention.
Aston Lowell's voice was solemn and magnetic, carrying a sense of unquestionable authority.
However...
This temperament, a mixture of confidence and conceit, made people feel a bit uncomfortable.
After introducing himself, without waiting for Ryan's response, Aston Lowell continued on his own: "My master praised you to the skies, as if you were an immortal descending to the mortal world."
"I specially came here today, and I feel that you're just ordinary, without many aspects that are different from those of ordinary people."
"I don't know what kind of bewitching soup you fed the elders to make them so infatuated with you."
"As the saying goes, 'Meeting someone in person is not as good as hearing about them.' I'm afraid it's referring to you, the so-called [The Only True Disciple of Drunken Immortal Peak]."
Between the lines, there was a faint hostility.
Even the dullest person could clearly sense this hostility.
Hearing this, the corners of Ryan's mouth curled up slightly, showing a mocking look.
He said with certainty: "You're jealous of me."
"Is it because there are many true disciples in the Artifact Refining Hall and you're just an insignificant one among them, while I'm the only true disciple of the Wine Sword Lineage?"
"Or is it because when the elders of the Artifact Refining Hall were teaching you spells, they praised me?"
The Artifact Refining Hall was different from Drunken Immortal Peak. Although both were branches under Xuanji Cave Heaven, in terms of resources and the number of disciples, it exceeded Drunken Immortal Peak by more than ten times!
After all...
Not to mention Xuanji Cave Heaven, even in the entire cultivation world.
People who embarked on the path of cultivation could do without spirit wine, but they couldn't do without taking pills and using magic tools.
Spirit wine was something that only cultivators with ample resources and spare money were qualified to enjoy and was not an indispensable part.
Aston Lowell snorted coldly: "Jealous?"
"Do I need to be jealous of someone like you?"
Ryan didn't comment.
He deliberately said that to stir up the other person's emotions and make the other person angry.
Anger made people lose their rationality and made it easier for them to show their flaws!
As soon as Aston Lowell introduced himself, Ryan had connected all the currently known information together.
——During this period of time, he had lived at the foot of Drunken Immortal Peak, living together with outer and registered disciples, and also learned a lot about the recent situation of Xuanji Cave Heaven.
Ryan knew that last year, Xuanji Cave Heaven had only selected a genius disciple through the Preaching Hall. That person started as an inner disciple as soon as he entered the sect.
About half a year ago, that genius, relying on his own talent and efforts, was promoted to a true disciple of the Artifact Refining Hall.
Obviously, that genius was the young man in white in front of him, Aston Lowell!
Ryan could also understand the source of the other person's hostility.
Now, he was like the tool person commonly used by parents - the child of someone else's family.
In order to prevent the younger generation of the Bai family from becoming too arrogant and conceited and to stimulate the fighting spirit and cultivation enthusiasm of the disciples under his sect...
It was reasonable for the elders of each lineage to occasionally use him as an example and say something like "Although your talent is not as good as Ryan's, but blah blah"!
Without in-depth understanding, just by looking at him, Ryan already understood in his heart.
The young man in white in front of him was surrounded by people like the stars surrounding the moon. He was accompanied by a group of inner and outer disciples and came to Drunken Immortal Peak with an aggressive look.
Obviously, he was unconvinced and had come here deliberately to provoke Ryan.
Ryan and Aston Lowell stared at each other, not giving an inch.
After their gazes collided for a moment, Ryan sighed: "What a pity..."
This person was just an ordinary genius after all, not a [Person Endowed with Great Fortune] recognized by the supernatural power of causality like Fenrir Howe.
Otherwise, he wouldn't even need to find an excuse. He could completely take advantage of the other person's hostility and go with the flow to form an enmity with him!
Once a bad karma was formed, wouldn't his basic debt repayment efficiency increase by a large margin again?
Aston Lowell frowned slightly: "A pity? What's a pity?"
"I'm currently at a higher cultivation realm than you, and my strength is also stronger than yours!"
"Do you even know what you're talking about?"
Speaking of this, his tone showed a bit of sarcasm: "The world is changing, and people's hearts are not as good as before."
"People like you are living better than those of us with real talent..."
The truth was that the elders of the Artifact Refining Hall were too kind to Ryan, which made him jealous.
Originally, he was the most favored and youngest junior brother in the Artifact Refining Hall!
Ryan suddenly appeared out of nowhere. He was an outsider, but he could get the praise of his master...
Why?
Every time he thought of his master's comments on Ryan, Aston Lowell's psychological balance was disrupted.
The emotion of jealousy spread like weeds and kept growing.
He wanted to overshadow Ryan's limelight!
Aston Lowell gritted his teeth, and his voice seemed to squeeze out from between his teeth: "I heard that my master even promised to refine a top-notch magic tool for you for free and tailor it to you?"
He himself didn't even have this treatment for the magic tools refined by his master!
"Yes." Ryan had a playful smile on his lips and nodded slightly, without denying it.
After answering, he stopped looking at Aston Lowell himself and instead looked up and down at his followers.
Among his many followers, the two leaders had the purple-gold identity tokens of inner disciples hanging from their waists.
One of them was burly, with a handsome face like a crown jade. He looked like a guard, wearing iron armor and a wolf fur cloak on his shoulders.
He had steady steps and sharp eyes like an eagle, always on guard against the movements around him, as if no disturbance could escape his perception.
This inner disciple guard said in a deep voice, playing the role of a loyal supporter: "Since our young master says you're a fraud, then you must be!"
With just one sentence, his loyalty was fully displayed.
Obviously, this inner disciple would always follow Aston Lowell's lead no matter what he did.
The other one was elegant, holding a folding fan, looking like a scholar.
He was dressed luxuriously, and every move he made showed a strong scholarly air. He seemed to be good at devising strategies.
The scholar covered his face with the folding fan, rolled his eyes, and said: "We can't say that..."
"The elders have sharp eyes and can see everything clearly."
"True Person of Turbid Wine is also famous for her unparalleled combat power and superb swordsmanship."
"I heard that she once used her cultivation at the [Transcendent Dust Realm] to slay a powerful being at the [Dharma Image Realm] in reverse."
"Only in this way did she firmly take the position of the peak master of Drunken Immortal Peak and dissolve the crisis of the decline of the Wine Sword Lineage caused by the death of True Person of Clear Wine."
"The disciple she selected must have his unique features!"
The conversation between the two true disciples was not something that outer disciples were qualified to participate in.
Only these two inner disciples could say a few words.
Aston Lowell was quite satisfied with the remarks of the two inner disciples.
These two people had always followed him with this kind of routine.
One played the bad cop, and the other played the good cop.
With the help of these two people, he could handle many troublesome things properly.
Ryan, however, had a calm and composed attitude: "Slander, excessive praise, what do they have to do with me?"
"He who suspects must prove it."
Ryan used a calm tone to say words that were extremely irritating: "I don't need to prove anything to a [jealous person] like you."
Hearing this, Aston Lowell's veins bulged on his forehead and his breathing became rapid.
He firmly believed that Ryan had used some undetectable means, cheated in the test, and blinded the detection of the Preaching Stele. He was a despicable person.
And he, Aston Lowell, was the truly talented and brilliant genius!
As early as half a year ago, he had already reached the second level of Spirit Nurturing.
Give him a few more months, and he was fully confident that he would break into the third level of Spirit Nurturing!
Even...
Aston Lowell didn't even need any extra resources or adventures.
Even if he secluded himself in cultivation every day and didn't go out, he was confident that he would reach the tenth level of Spirit Nurturing and impact the Transcendent Dust Realm before he was forty-five years old!
What qualifications did a person like Ryan, who took shortcuts and cheated, have to be compared with him?
Aston Lowell stared at Ryan and, finally, was so angry that he lost his head and said firmly: "Let's make a bet!"
"Half a year!"
"Counting from the day you joined Xuanji Cave Heaven, within half a year, if you reach the second level of Spirit Nurturing..."
"The [Blazing Flame Muscle-Casting Pill] bestowed on me by my master will be yours!"
"If you can't do it..."