Chapter 216: Hong Ni Spirit Water

Li Luo's words caused a stir among the many Refinement Masters, and gaze after gaze turned to him in astonishment; they felt that this Young House Master's improvement in refinement arts was as casual as drinking water...

Just the other day he was only Second Rank, and today he's already Third Rank?

One must know that these people had also spent several years of cultivation before reaching Third Rank, but Li Luo? It seemed like only half a year or so, right?

Is his talent for cultivating refinement arts really that high?

"The Young House Master is truly a genius at cultivating refinement arts."

Even Tang Yun couldn't help but sigh, though he didn't appear overly shocked—after all, geniuses truly cannot be measured by common sense. Before Third Rank, a Refinement Master only deals with the basics, so if one's talent is sufficient, the improvement is indeed very fast.

"However, the Young House Master has just advanced to Third Rank, so he probably isn't very practiced at refining Third Rank Spirit Waters and Strange Lights. Are you sure this assessment is still necessary?" Tang Yun asked.

Tang Yun was now a Fourth Rank Refinement Master, only a step away from Fifth Rank. Although Li Luo had now reached Third Rank, there was still a gap between them in refining experience and ability.

So even though Li Luo had shown crushing advantages in the first two assessments, Tang Yun wasn't too worried about this third one.

Under identical material conditions, he himself held the advantage in both experience and ability, so for Li Luo to win wouldn't be that easy.

Facing Tang Yun's inquiry, Li Luo smiled and said, "Since the assessment was already set beforehand, how could we cancel it? You don't need to feel any pressure—just give it your all."

Tang Yun looked at Li Luo with his gentle smile, his heart a tangle of emotions. The Young House Master was truly a magnanimous person—such breadth of spirit was truly admirable.

"It's about time, let's get started." Li Luo swept his gaze across the surroundings, then smiled.

Then a large crowd surged toward the previous assessment grounds. Two refining chambers stood on either side of the spacious open area, with identical materials neatly stacked inside each.

After the previous two assessments, everyone was already familiar with this, so Li Luo and Tang Yun didn't say much more, each entering a refining chamber covered by transparent crystal glass.

Jiang Qing'e, Cai Wei, and Yan Yan Lingqing stood together, their distinct beauties drawing many stolen glances.

Jiang Qing'e's golden eyes swept almost imperceptibly across the surroundings. She had a feeling that today, the gazes watching the Xiyang House headquarters seemed to be more numerous than usual.

"Yan Lingqing, although the Young House Master has reached Third Rank Refinement Master, compared to that Tang Yun, he should still be a bit lacking, right?" Cai Wei asked Yan Yan Lingqing, the professional, in a low voice.

Yan Yan Lingqing crossed her arms over her chest and said, "Actually, normally speaking, even if Li Luo has talent in refinement arts, he shouldn't be able to match a seasoned Fourth Rank Refinement Master in the purifying power of Spirit Waters and Strange Lights..."

"In fact, not to mention purifying power, I suspect that when Li Luo refines Third Rank Spirit Waters and Strange Lights later, he'll probably fail quite a few times."

"If it weren't Li Luo going up, I'd almost feel this assessment wasn't really necessary."

Yan Yan Lingqing spoke quite frankly, because from her professional perspective, Li Luo's current behavior was that of a newly advanced Third Rank Refinement Master challenging a seasoned Fourth Rank Refinement Master.

This was different from the previous two assessments. After all, Li Luo was already extremely familiar with First and Second Rank Spirit Waters and Strange Lights, but this Third Rank one not only had a complexity that had multiplied several times over, but more critically, Li Luo wasn't all that familiar with it.

This would inevitably lead to some unavoidable mistakes during his refining.

Hearing this, Cai Wei couldn't help but knit her willow-leaf brows and said worriedly, "Then in this assessment, doesn't the Young House Master basically have no chance of winning?"

Yan Yan Lingqing tilted her head slightly, and a smile actually surfaced on her cool, clear features: "I said it earlier too—all those points I made are predicated on... if the one going up isn't Li Luo."

"That guy, I really can't see through him."

Her gaze glanced at Li Luo's tall, slender figure inside the refining chamber, and the corners of her lips curved into a rather meaningful smile. On the surface, this refining contest between the two did look extremely fair—identical materials, and neither could use Mi Fa source water.

But... because Li Luo had once helped Yan Yan Lingqing refine Spirit Waters and Strange Lights, Yan Yan Lingqing was probably the only person who could vaguely guess the source of Li Luo's Mi Fa source water.

These branch Refinement Masters all thought their Young House Master had a heart as vast as the sea, fair and just, but none of them could have imagined that beneath that handsome face lurked a smile as cunning as a fox's.

They were truly being played, and still sighing over the Young House Master's magnanimity and upright character.

But Yan Yan Lingqing wasn't so rigid as to think there was anything wrong with Li Luo playing such tricks, because this was originally a contest of open rivalry and hidden schemes.

While Cai Wei and Yan Yan Lingqing were talking, the refining in the arena had already begun.

The Spirit Waters and Strange Lights being refined by both sides was a Third Rank spirit water called "Hong Ni Spirit Water," a two-star formula developed by Xiyang House. Its grade wasn't particularly high, but it was just right for the two sides to use in their contest.

As the branch president of Xiyang House, Tang Yun was naturally no stranger to this "Hong Ni Spirit Water," so his refining was extremely practiced. One could see materials being wrapped in water phase power in his hands, then quickly crushed, the water phase power fusing with the materials, refining again and again to dissolve the impurities contained within.

That fluid, masterful refining technique drew nods of approval from many.

To become a branch president, Tang Yun's own ability was indeed not to be underestimated. It seemed like it wouldn't be long before he could touch the threshold of Fifth Rank Refinement Master.

And a Fifth Rank Refinement Master, even placed anywhere in the Great Xia, could be considered a high-level talent.

Some gazes turned toward the refining chamber on the opposite side, and worry surfaced in the eyes of the headquarters' Refinement Masters.

Because they saw that compared to Tang Yun's fluid, masterful refining, Li Luo's refining technique appeared much more clumsy. He even made mistakes from time to time on some materials, causing his refining progress to lag far behind Tang Yun's.

Everyone understood this was because Li Luo had only just advanced to Third Rank, so he was still somewhat unfamiliar with refining Third Rank Spirit Waters and Strange Lights. This was unavoidable—after all, no matter how great a genius, when first encountering a Spirit Waters and Strange Lights they weren't yet familiar with, mistakes were inevitable.

And Li Luo had already performed quite well here. Although he occasionally made mistakes in material refining, he was after all slowly completing it.

Time slipped away quietly under everyone's tense gazes.

And while the final assessment was underway in a tense atmosphere inside Xiyang House headquarters.

In an elegant room of a restaurant facing the street, outside the headquarters.

Manager Pei Hao sat at leisure, with Pang Pang Qianchi seated across from him. However, the latter looked somewhat anxious, his gaze occasionally drifting toward Xiyang House headquarters in the distance, but due to the distance, he couldn't see what was happening inside.

"Manager Pei Hao, aren't you worried?" Pang Pang Qianchi asked, unable to hold back, as he looked at Pei Hao sitting as calmly as if fishing from a steady perch.

Pei Hao smiled faintly, picked up the teapot and poured himself a cup of tea, then his gaze looked toward Xiyang House headquarters in the distance, a cold, dark light flashing through his eyes.

"The good show is about to begin."

"I wonder if this big gift of mine—can Li Luo actually handle it?"