Chapter 94.2: Competition Pt. 2
A new pill? A new recipe had not appeared in Haotian Realm for hundreds of years! Was he bragging?
“This, is it true?” After a long time, Fairy Kushui finally found her voice. Her voice was hoarse, her expression was excited yet apprehensive, agitated yet expectant, and looked a bit comical.
“Why would I lie to you?” Jing Yue looked at her stoically. “If you don’t believe me, you can find someone to try it out.”
Fairy Kushui was really a bit moved and asked, “What is the effect of this pill?”
“To remove cultivation, only effective for Qi Refining cultivators.”
Fairy Kushui, “…”
Jing Yue added, “I can give you this pill, or I can sell you the recipe. Sect Leader Kushui, why don’t we talk about it in detail after the competition?”
“Yes, sure!” Now, Fairy Kushui felt that Jing Yue looked pleasing to the eye from every angle. Intimidating him? It didn’t exist.
Not to mention her, but even the other elders of Tianshui Palace also looked happy, and the older ones even smiled like a blooming flower. They were truly fond of alchemy. In front of a new pill recipe that had not appeared for hundreds of years, so what if the immortal gates were at odds with each other? Besides, Mini Frostcloud Sect didn’t stand in the way of Tianshui Palace.
Moreover, now they already know that Jing Yue was indeed proficient in alchemy, but Mini Frostcloud Sect had chosen to make a name for itself with talismans. It was clear that Jing Yue didn’t intend to compete with Tianshui Palace for profits, so why should they rush to the forefront?
Tianshui Palace’s group of silly lotuses suddenly emerged from the clouds and saw the light. Once they saw through it, they looked at Jing Yue with only love and appreciation of a fellow genius.
Jing Yue keenly perceived their subtle changes and his heart went mwahahah…
The two parties were in harmony. Fairy Kushui couldn’t keep her hands off the pill and asked, “What grade is this pill?” Since there was no similar pill to compare, she couldn’t judge.
Jing Yue, “Premium-grade, of course.”
Fairy Kushui raised her head abruptly and saw a half-smile on Jing Yue’s face, making her momentarily unable to distinguish the truth of the other party's words.
In fact, she didn’t quite believe it. The premium-grade pill was not easy to get, and even she had only refined two of them. But for some reason, another voice in her heart told her that what Jing Yue said was true
“Sect Leader Kushui, can I have the furnace back?”
Before Fairy Kushui returned to her senses, she subconsciously responded. Jing Yue grabbed one leg of the furnace and returned to the original position.
What was he doing? The crowd was curious, only to see Jing Yue put another herb into the furnace, controlled the fire, and performed the hand seals.
Daoist Tian Luo had ended his meditation when Jing Yue displayed his prowess. Now, he nudged Qin Yanzhi and said, “What’s the sect leader doing?”
Qin Yanzhi was as concise as always. “Refining pills.”
On the side, Wu Changzi pursed his lips when he heard that. Refining pills? What could be done with the insufficient remaining materials? He should be trying to utilize the furnace more, right? The more the furnace was used, the easier it was to refine pills.
Most people shared the same thought. Although they were shocked at Jing Yue's ability, since the other party had completed the pill for the semi-finals, they no longer paid any attention to him.
Six to ten hours later, some people completed their pill-making process one after another and requested for the furnaces to be opened. Unfortunately, most of them were of low and medium grade, only a few high-grade. Besides, with Jing Yue’s excellent performance just now, even if Zhang Liancheng and Xu Fenglan both made four high-grade pills, it didn’t arouse much discussion.
Xu Fenglan was quite disappointed and felt quite bad for the Qi Gathering Pill that she had drawn. In the past, it was amazing if she could even get two high-grade pills in one furnace, but she didn’t expect to get so lucky today and got four high-grade pills. Unfortunately, the limelight had been robbed by Jing Yue.
But then again, compared to the birth of a new pill recipe, a high-grade pill was really not worth mentioning. She tried to find comfort in her despondence. At least she had surpassed herself, right?
Two days passed in a flash. When the morning glow filled the sky, Fairy Kushui announced the end of the session again.
Regardless of whether the refining was successful, the furnace must be opened at this time. Fairy Kushui walked up to Jing Yue again and smiled at him in a friendly manner. Just as she was about to walk past him, Jing Yue said, “Sect Leader Kushui, why don’t you open the furnace?”
Fairy Kushui was stunned. “What do you mean?”
Jing Yue, “There are pills in the furnace.”
Are you kidding me?! Fairy Kushui roared inwardly, but after sizing him up, Jing Yue didn’t seem like he was joking.
Fairy Kushui opened the pill furnace skeptically, stretched out her hand, and really fished out a pill. At that moment, she felt weak all over.
“Silencing Pill?” Someone in the crowd recognized this venomous pill, which resulted in people not making a sound for ten days. Although it was the inferior of all inferior pills, this…
“He really only used one material!”
Although the silencing pill was not highly sought-after, refining it also required three materials. He only used one to refine it? How was that possible?
Fairy Kushui stared at the pill in her hand so hard that she almost went cock-eyed. After a while, she hesitantly asked, “Is this a premium-grade silencing pill?”
Jing Yue, “Of course.”
The crowd clamored again. Many people were shocked while looking at the mean woman. What did this woman just say? So, Jing Yue really made a pill with only one material? And it was premium-grade?
After being scrutinized by all sorts of gazes, the mean woman almost collapsed. She believed that Jing Yue did this on purpose. As a sect leader, the other party was too spiteful, right?
Jing Yue wasn’t one to hold grudges, but he couldn’t leave even after making the first pill, and it was boring to wait heedlessly. Since he could make a pill from the remaining materials, he simply went ahead.
Besides, he was here purely to show off in front of others, making use of the pill-making competition to make a name for Mini Frostcloud Sect. The more limelight he could steal, the better. Pretending to be low-keyed would defeat the purpose.
“If Sect Leader Kushui has any doubts, you can ask someone to try it out. Anyway, the silencing pill won’t cause much damage. Even a premium-grade pill will take a month to recover at most.” Jing Yue looked around, pointed to the mean woman, and said, “How about this fellow Daoist? She talks quite a lot.”
Mean woman, “…”
Fairy Kushui, “…”
Onlookers, “…”
Qin Yanzhi: ^ ^
The mean woman immediately bit her lower lip. Her eyes went red and she looked aggrieved. Fairy Kushui didn’t like her pettiness but she couldn’t really ask someone to test the pills, so she said, “I believe in Sect Leader Jing, of course.”
Jing Yue, “This is a premium-grade pill. Are you sure you don’t want to try it?”
The corners of the Fairy Kushui's mouth twitched, “There’s really no need.”
At the end of the semi-finals, Jing Yue naturally passed with flying colors. Fairy Kushui invited him to a gathering to exchange pointers on the art of alchemy. Since Jing Yue had nothing to do anyway, he led the disciples of the sect to ‘socialize’.
At the same time, the mean woman ran back to her dormitory in tears. Although she didn’t take the silencing pill in the end, she had been humiliated in public. She was so ashamed that she wanted to die! She never expected Jing Yue to be so narrow-minded and vindictive. Thinking of the strange looks from her fellow disciples along the way, she really wanted to bury herself in the ground! Before that, she wanted to shred Jing Yue into pieces!
However, she noticed the change of attitude in the sect leader and several elders. If Jing Yue really became the guest of the Tianshui Palace, her days in the future…
Thinking of this, she couldn't help being utterly devastated and started wailing.
After Jing Yue had a cordial and friendly conversation with the senior members of Tianshui Palace, he returned to the guest house with a large number of spirit stones in his pocket. Daoist Tian Luo said sourly, “I can't believe that you actually know how to make pills.”
Jing Yue, "Didn't you see it yesterday?"
Daoist Tian Luo's eyes flickered. Yesterday, he thought Jing Yue was just lucky.
Seeing him like this, Jing Yue smiled and said, “Do you think I’m very powerful and want to join the sect and formally acknowledge me as the sect leader?”
Qin Yanzhi also had a smile on his face, totally a different person from when he was watching the competition. “Of course my brother is powerful.”
Blue phoenix, nestled on Jing Yue's shoulder, nodded vigorously.Daoist Tian Luo, “…”
When Jing Yue saw Daoist Tian Luo's speechless look, he couldn't help but laugh. After he had laughed enough, he casually asked, “Yanzhi, do you want to learn alchemy from me?”
Qin Yanzhi shook his head without hesitation.
Jing Yue, “Why not?”
Qin Yanzhi, “Didn’t you always tell me? One sword breaks ten thousand laws. Alchemy is only one of the ten thousand laws, so why should I practice anything else?”
Jing Yue was momentarily startled before he patted Qin Yanzhi’s shoulder in admiration. “As expected of Sword Inscription…” Halfway through, he jammed on the brakes and changed his words abruptly, “…my brother.”
Qin Yanzhi didn’t notice Jing Yue’s slip of the tongue. His entire attention was focused on the warmth on his shoulder and his thoughts ran wild for a while.
On the day of the finals, there were only twelve participants left. Among these twelve, only one person could get the precious golden lotus pill.
It was heard that the gambling den had opened a handicap. Although Jing Yue made a huge splash during the prelims and semi-finals, the pills he refined in the first set were low-grade and made it seem as if the level of his skills were unstable. Thus, he was ranked in third place. The first two were naturally Xu Fenglan and Zhang Liancheng.
When Qin Yanzhi heard about this, he deliberately dragged Jing Yue to the gambling den to place a bet before the competition. As for the stakes… in any case, it was enough to make the gambling den lose their pants.
At this time, Wu Changzi was analyzing the situation on the stage to Daoist Tian Luo. Yes, he stood next to Daoist Tian Luo again today. In just a few days, they had boarded the small boat of friendship together.
The finals was to make a pill that the contestants were best at. The medicinal materials were prepared by the participants themselves. Hence, everyone offered their prized treasures and displayed their full abilities.
Seeing Zhang Liancheng put several herbs into the furnace, Wu Changzi immediately said, “The Cicada Grass and Golden Wheel Flower are supposed to be mutually exclusive, but if you add the Tiger Blood Vine, you can neutralize the medicinal properties. However, the dosage must be very precise, otherwise, it will blow up the furnace. These herbs are the main materials for refining the Marrow Pill. There are rumors that he has refined this pill to perfection and can produce at least one premium-grade pill every time.”
“Premium-grade? Didn't he refine it yesterday?” Song Xiaobao was puzzled.
Wu Changzi showed an expression of superiority. “Yesterday's pill is only a mortal-grade pill. This Marrow Pill is a Xuan-grade pill. The medicinal materials alone cost more than seven to eight thousand spirit stones. How is it the same?”
Seeing the look of surprise on the disciples of Mini Frostcloud Sect, Wu Changzi added, “Although the Marrow Pull is rare, there are still some for sale in some large medical halls. However, I heard that the pill prepared by Xu Fenglan today is one that Tianshui Palace has never disclosed to the public.”
Daoist Tian Luo, "Could it be another new pill recipe?"
Wu Changzi, “It's not a new recipe, just one of the Tianshui Palace’s exclusive legacies. It can be seen that the Tianshui Palace has really put in a lot of effort to groom Xu Fenglan.”
Daoist Tian Luo disdained. “No matter how exclusive the legacy is, it’s not as good as a new recipe.”
He thought that Tianshui Palace must be feeling very bitter now. With Jing Yue's new pill recipe yesterday, how far could Xu Fenglan go?
Daoist Tian Luo turned his gaze to his sect leader and saw that he was still using the standard pill furnace, and most of the herbs were common. At least, he knew most of them.
Many people were also staring at Jing Yue, but this time, no one made any mocking remarks. Firstly, they didn’t know when the disciples of Mini Frostcloud Sect would appear out of nowhere. Secondly, after several swollen faces, everyone had learned a good lesson.
Jing Yue concentrated on refining his pill. The more Fairy Kushui watched, the more alarmed she became. She secretly exchanged glances with several elders, lowered her voice, and said, “This technique of his is not the one I’m thinking of, right?”
Another said, “I also feel like it, but how can he know the exclusive legacy of our Tianshui Palace?”
Fairy Kushui was silent for a moment. “Since he knows a pill recipe we've never seen before, it’s not impossible for him to study the recipe for the golden lotus pill. Let’s wait and see.”
It turned out that they suspected that what Jing Yue wanted to refine was the top prize Tianshui Palace had prepared for the pill-making competition—the golden lotus pill.
As Tianshui Palace had never announced the recipe, the onlookers couldn’t tell what Jing Yue was going to make. Many people suspected that it was another new kind of pill, so they kept their eyes wide open, not wanting to miss anything at all.
Time passed slowly. After a day, Fairy Kushui discovered that the pills Jing Yue was refining were subtly different from the Golden Lotus Pill, with several more steps in the handling of the herbs. She secretly breathed a sigh of relief and became curious instead.
Suddenly, green grass grew near Zhang Liancheng's furnace, spreading slowly in all directions. The shadow of a great sun rose from behind him, spreading a golden light on the grass.
Someone in the crowd exclaimed, “It’s the Marrow Pill! It’s a pill that replenishes vitality. This is a sign that the pill is about to take form!”
“Has he succeeded?”
“Not yet, but if nothing goes wrong, there will be a premium-grade pill in this furnace.”
Only a premium-grade pill of Xuan-grade and above would produce a pill vision, but how could it be so easy to produce a premium pill? In the past competitions, it was difficult to find even one premium pill, but this time, there were two? If the Erasure Pill that Jing Yue refined yesterday was included, that was more!
“Sure enough, there’s a breath of vitality. This Zhang Liancheng does have a knack for it.”
The crowd got more excited as everyone started talking at once.
The finals lasted for three days, but for the practitioners who loved alchemy, it was only a flash. On the last day, a loud noise suddenly came from the stage!
Amid the black smoke, Zhang Liancheng looked lifeless. He never expected that his furnace would explode just as the pill was about to take form.
Wu Changzi sighed and said, “If he only went for a high-grade pill, perhaps he would have already succeeded. The premium pill requires all aspects to be in full compliance with the laws of heaven and nature. Zhang Liancheng is still a little lacking in his state of mind. It’s a pity.”
After he said that, another strange vision appeared.
The phantom of a golden tiger jumped out from mid-air and fought with a silver dragon, and Xu Fenglan was the one who inspired this vision.
“It’s the Taixu Dragon Tiger Pill!” Wu Changzi recognized it and sighed. “I didn’t expect that Tianshui Palace would bring out this pill as well.”
Daoist Tian Luo was stunned, “Is this the pill that doubles the spiritual energy within 12 hours after taking it?”
Wu Changzi, “Exactly. Taixu Dragon Tiger Pill has not appeared in the world for a long time. I only know that Tianshui Palace has the recipe for this pill, but because of the scarcity of the materials, they never sold this pill to the public.”
Taixu Dragon Tiger Pill was also a Xuan-grade pill, and few people had seen it before, which immediately drew a burst of applause. Fairy Kushui had a light smile on her face, thinking that it was finally their turn to make a splash.
If this pill was successful, there must be a premium-grade pill. Even she had never refined a premium-grade Taixu Dragon Tiger Pill, which showed that Xu Fenglan's talent was high.
She looked at Jing Yue again, wondering what kind of pill the other party was making. Was it also Xuan-grade? Why was there no vision?
When the sun had set on the horizon, most of them had finished refining their pills. However, due to the excessive consumption of spiritual energy, they closed their eyes to rest their minds, while there was still no movement from Jing Yue.
Another night passed. Jing Yue was the only one left among the twelve participants who had not succeeded, and everyone was a little disappointed.
Fairy Kushui raised her eyes to look at the sun and was about to announce that the time was up when she heard a crisp sound as if the porcelain had cracked. She followed the sound and saw that Jing Yue’s furnace had broken.
Someone mumbled, “Did his furnace explode?”
“No way. How could an exploding furnace make so little noise?”
The crowd looked at each other but no one could tell.
At this time, a rich pill fragrance swept through the audience, making everyone’s souls tremble. Wu Changzi's eyes narrowed slightly. Before anyone could react, he immediately crossed his legs and went into meditation.
The surrounding people noticed his actions. After careful observation, they felt a slight expansion at the spiritual dais. With a jolt of the heart, they also sat down with him.
More and more people entered the meditative state. Fairy Kushui was bewildered. What was going on? What happened?
Not only her, but most of the people in the field were at a loss. Even if they followed suit and sat down, they couldn't enter the state at all.
Suddenly, Fairy Kushui shuddered. She had figured it out! The people who entered the meditative state were Foundation Establishment cultivators! An incredulous thought welled up in her mind. Instantly, her heart raced and her body went numb!
In a flash, she stood in front of Jing Yue. “Is this pill…”