Monarch of Time

''My lord, alchemist master Lu has arrived.''

''Quickly invite him in.'' Shun Fang said in slight anxiousness.

Although he had learned the majority of what happened to Shun Long when he went to the Blue Forest, and despite the fact that his body had no obvious signs of any injury, Shun Fang and Shun An couldn't help but worry with fear for any internal injuries inside their son's body, so having Master Lu examine Shun Long was extremely urgent to them.

When the doors of the main hall opened again Shun Fang and Shun An stood up while Shun Long remained in a sitting position on the bed in the center of the room. This wasn't because he wanted to intentionally act rude, but that Shun Fang had instructed him that until alchemist Lu had verified that his body is truly healthy and uninjured, he is not to move from his position.

Shun Long could feel the concern his parents were showing him, so he couldn't go against their wishes right now.

A white robed young man in his late twenties walked inside the hall.

This was alchemist Lu a genius of the Sky Fortune Kingdom and the best alchemist in the entire Blue Forest-city, while being only 28 years old.

''Greetings alchemist Lu'' said Shun Fang while cupping his fists.

''Greetings formation master Shun'' said Lu Wen as he bowed slightly to Shun Fang while also cupping his fists.

Alchemist Lu's full name was Lu Wen and he was known to be a slightly arrogant but extremely talented alchemist. At the young age of 28 he was already a certified rank 2 bronze alchemist. After all people needed alchemists to help them concoct pills either for their cultivation or to treat injuries, so Lu Wen knowing that people needed his skills, and were always acting respectful around him satisfied his vanity and slightly fueled his ego. However even though Lu Wen was a slightly arrogant person and considered himself to be standing above the others being a rank 2 bronze alchemist, he didn't try to put on any airs in front of Shun Fang, as Shun Fang's status as a formation master didn't lose out in front of his status as an alchemist, moreover Shun Fang was a peak rank 3 bronze grade formation master which even made his status higher than Lu Wen's own.

Alchemists and Formation masters truly were 2 of the most lucrative and highly sought occupations in the continent, so people of these occupations considered themselves to be standing above the rest.

However alchemists and formation masters also needed each other. Alchemists sold pills, that enhanced people's cultivation and could help them treat their injuries, deal with poison etc. whereas formation masters could create formations around the alchemists rooms to isolate noise so they don't get distracted during the refinement process, or create defensive formations that could help them protect their homes, but most importantly, they created the cauldrons that alchemists used and engraved they formations inside them that assisted the alchemists with the concoction of their pills. Formation masters also often helped the alchemists with the maintenance of their cauldrons. After all it was common for alchemists to fail in their concoctions with their cauldrons occasionally blowing up and harming the formations inside them, so if the alchemists didn't take good care of their cauldrons and the formations inside ended up fading, the cauldron would eventually end up as a useless mass of iron.

''Formation master Shun, I heard from your guards that something happened to young master Shun, please allow me check his condition'' Lu Wen went straight to the point as soon as they finished their greetings.

Shun Fang was happy that Lu Wen got straight to the point of his visit as he also didn't like useless talk and said ''Please alchemist Lu'' as gestured for Lu Wen to move towards the center of the hall where the bed that Shun Long was sitting on was placed at.

Lu Wen saw the weird appearance of young master Shun's and was taken aback.

Shun Long hadn't had any time to change his clothes, as Shun Fang had dragged him to the main hall as soon as they returned in the estate. Then his Shun An had also entered the hall and they bombarded him with a barrage of questions. By the time he had finished explaining what had happened alchemist Lu had already arrived so it was too late to change clothes now.

Lu Wen's sharp eyes could easily tell that Shun Long's clothes were destroyed by some kind sharp weapon, most likely by a sword, but what he couldn't wrap his head around was this:

''How is this kid's body fine if he was attacked by sharp swords or sabers when the entire Blue Forest-city knows that he can't even cultivate?''

What Lu Wen didn't know was that Shun Long's parents also had the same question but before they could ask their son, the guards had already announced his arrival.

Lu Wen examined Shun Long's body thoroughly but found no abnormalities.

It had to be known that alchemists excelled in using their spiritual strength, and that the most important requirement to become an alchemist was to have a good amount of spiritual strength along with a strong affinity for fire, wheras formation masters could use both their qi combined with their spiritual strength while the most important requirements for them were a decent amount of spiritual strength along with a strong affinity to control the earth. However although it may seem as formation masters and alchemists both needed a good amount of spiritual strength as a prerequisite, in reality alchemists needed more than 5 times the amount of spiritual strength that formation masters did. That was because alchemists could use, only their spiritual strength when they refined pills and they couldn't borrow any form of external help like their qi, the same way that formation masters could, so the amount of spiritual strength an alchemist had was paramount to them.

Although Lu Wen was only a bronze rank grade 2 alchemist, his spiritual strength was a good 3-4 times higher than Shun Fang and he could directly use it to examine Shun Long's body from the inside.

The moment Lu Wen started examining Shun Long's body using his spiritual strength his jaw involuntarily opened wide.

As soon as he finished the examination of Shun Long's body Lu Wen couldn't help but blurt out

''Are you certain that your son is a cripple?''