Chapter 381

382. Chapter 381: Heaven-Defying

"Truly, geniuses are emerging in droves. I never expected someone could actually improve the formula for the Ice-Fire Polar Pill. If he can successfully refine it, his score will likely be the highest in the entire arena."

Long Xiaoyao looked at Qin Dan with a surprised gaze, his expression turning slightly solemn.

Suddenly noticing that Feng Jiu, off to the side, was also making a move, he immediately cast his gaze over. Compared to Qin Dan, this talent surnamed Feng was the one he truly needed to watch out for.

He saw Feng Jiu gently beckon behind him, and a large amount of spirit herbs flew out from his storage ring, quickly flying toward him.

However, all the spirit herbs flying through the air were enveloped in a kind of gray mist, making it impossible for people to see the varieties of the herbs, let alone know what kind of pill he was preparing to refine.

Feng Tiancheng frowned slightly. Although he couldn't see what was inside the gray mist, seeing that the herbs were taken from the Third Grade spirit herb section, it was undoubtedly a Third Grade pill he was preparing to refine.

The difficulty of refining a Fourth Grade pill would undoubtedly be greater than a Third Grade one, and the score obtained would be higher as well. Naturally, he hoped Feng Jiu would refine the Fourth Grade pill, which had a greater chance of winning.

"Is he disdaining to use a Fourth Grade pill to bully others, or is he intentionally hiding his skills?" Feng Tiancheng frowned slightly, unable to stop himself from wondering inwardly.

At this moment, Long Xuan was also watching this Feng Jiu without blinking. Although Feng Jiu intended to keep the pill formula secret by wrapping the spirit herbs in mysterious gray mist, it still couldn't deceive his Heavenly Mechanism Eye.

This was a type of pill he had never seen before. At first, he couldn't judge the pill's function from the materials alone; Feng Jiu seemed to have pulled out many spirit herbs unrelated to the pill formula and burned those unrelated herbs inside the alchemy furnace.

But his small actions could deceive others, yet they couldn't deceive Long Xuan's penetrating vision. Through the remaining spirit herbs, Long Xuan deduced the pill's function based on pharmacology, slowly calculating it out.

First, the refining difficulty of this pill was extremely high; it required nine people using nine different spirit fires to refine it. If the coordination was even slightly off, all previous efforts would be wasted.

Feng Jiu was doing the work of nine people alone; the difficulty was imaginable. If this pill were refined by one person alone, the difficulty would definitely not be as simple as adding nine ones together; the difficulty would likely exceed that of the Ice-Fire Polar Pill.

And the pill's effect seemed to be suppression—suppressing everything within the body, including terrifying things like the Heavenly Fire and Heavenly Water inside the body.

"This pill is of great use to me." Long Xuan's gaze sharpened. Thinking of the Heavenly Water in the Thunder Swamp that he hadn't yet subdued, he immediately memorized the pill formula for this pill.

Although the others couldn't see the pill's function, it was enough to see its difficulty.

Upon seeing nine different spirit fires emerge beneath Feng Jiu's alchemy furnace, everyone's faces were filled with shock, and they shifted their gazes toward this side one after another.

Whether it be spirit fire or Heavenly Fire, it is best for a person to have only one within their body.

Once spirit fires or Heavenly Fires meet, they will devour each other; the more stored in the body, the more dangerous it is.

It was already difficult enough to suppress nine types of spirit fires in the body simultaneously without them conflicting, let alone controlling nine different spirit fires to refine a pill at the same time?

Not to mention how difficult it is to use one mind for nine tasks, just making nine different spirit fires meet while remaining in a stable state was already as difficult as ascending to heaven.

Seeing Feng Jiu actually using nine different spirit fires to refine a pill, a sound of gasping in shock immediately echoed throughout the arena.

"Hehe! Impressive! Impressive! Controlling nine spirit fires to refine a pill simultaneously—the difficulty has already far exceeded refining the Ice-Fire Polar Pill."

"I think the highest score in this round of the competition belongs to this mysterious genius of my Feng Clan. Hahaha..."

Feng Tiancheng laughed wildly, looking at Long Xiaoyao with a triumphant gaze.

Long Xiaoyao had no mind to pay him any attention. His gaze was fixed tightly on Feng Jiu in the square, his eyes solemn to the extreme; the more he looked, the heavier his heart became.

No matter how one looked at this person's alchemy technique, it didn't look like something a Third Grade Alchemist could achieve.

Although this person was refining a Third Grade spirit pill, from his alchemy technique, Long Xiaoyao couldn't help but see him as a Fourth Grade Alchemist.

As soon as this thought emerged, his heart tightened, and he sighed inwardly that things were looking bad.

If this person really was a Fourth Grade Alchemist, then the Long Clan was destined to lose this gamble.

No matter how high a Third Grade Alchemist's alchemy level is, how could they possibly win against a Fourth Grade Alchemist?

He took a deep breath, his mood heavy; he no longer had the heart to converse with Feng Tiancheng.

At this moment, in the square, Long Xuan finally stopped paying attention to Feng Jiu. Since all the formidable rivals had already begun refining pills, and he also knew what these strong opponents were preparing to refine, he now felt completely confident in his heart.

He thought for a moment and finally decided to use the Big Cauldron Pill Refining Technique to refine Spirit Gathering Pills.

When he was on the Big Solitary Island, he had tried using the Big Cauldron Pill Refining Technique to refine high-grade Realm-Breaking Pills and discovered that the number of portions that could be stacked was limited, and the efficiency was not high when used.

The Big Cauldron Pill Refining method was not suitable for refining extremely heaven-defying pills; only when refining those low-grade pills could one crazily stack portions, even stacking up to ten thousand portions.

Long Xuan also wanted to use the Big Cauldron Pill Refining Technique to refine Ice-Fire Polar Pills or King-Breaking Pills, but the situation didn't allow it. At this moment, he could only challenge the Spirit Gathering Pill, the most difficult among First Grade pills.

Anyway, the scoring standard for this competition was based entirely on difficulty, not pill grade. As long as the First Grade pill you refined was difficult enough, you could get the highest score in the arena.

He didn't believe that if he refined one hundred thousand Spirit Gathering Pills in one furnace, he wouldn't get the highest score in the arena.

Long Xuan took a deep breath, adjusted his breathing, and beckoned with his fingers toward the distance. Immediately, a large amount of spirit herbs flew toward him from afar.

After all, he was a favorite for the championship who had received a perfect score in the first round of eliminations. Now that he had made a move, he immediately attracted the gaze of everyone in the arena.

But upon seeing that what flew into the air were pieces of First Grade spirit herbs, everyone frowned deeply, and a sound of whispering echoed through the crowd.

"What's going on? Why are they all First Grade spirit herbs? Although First Grade spirit herbs are sometimes used when refining Third Grade spirit herbs to balance the medicinal power, there's no need to use so many, is there?"

"There are no Third Grade or Second Grade spirit herbs among the herbs flying toward him. He seems to really intend to refine First Grade pills. What on earth is he doing? No matter how difficult a First Grade pill is, how difficult can it get?"

"It seems they are all materials for Spirit Gathering Pills flying into the air. He wouldn't be wanting to refine Spirit Gathering Pills, would he?"

"The Spirit Gathering Pill is a Realm-Breaking Pill for Spirit Gathering Stage Gu Cultivators. The refining difficulty is indeed high; it is the most difficult among First Grade pills, and even Second Grade Alchemists find it hard to refine. But this level of difficulty is completely insufficient here, right?"

The crowd was in complete chaos, the sound of discussion growing louder and louder, and all the spectators showed expressions of confusion and bewilderment.

Long Xiaoyao frowned as he looked at him, showing a look of confusion. However, not long after, his expression suddenly stiffened, and he muttered somewhat uncharacteristically: "Wrong! Wrong! The quantity of these spirit herbs is wrong! What on earth is he trying to do?"

"Could he be wanting to throw ten thousand portions of Spirit Gathering Pill materials into one alchemy furnace and refine one hundred thousand Spirit Gathering Pills in one go?"

Long Xiaoyao's pupils suddenly shrank, as if he had been frightened. He stood up from his seat instantly and exclaimed: "What a crazy idea! This method is simply unheard of. Is this kid trying to defy the heavens?"

"How is it possible? How could this matter be accomplished? From ancient times until now, no one has ever refined pills like this!" Feng Tiancheng was terrified, his eyes full of disbelief, and he also stood up from his seat instantly.

The group of judges behind the two were also shocked by this scene and stood up one after another, their gazes dull, their expressions as shocked as could be.

At this time, all the spectators in the arena had already realized that the situation was not right, because the quantity of spirit herbs flying into the air was simply too large—it could be described as covering the sky and earth. The overwhelming spirit herbs blocked the sky and crazily flew into a silver alchemy furnace.

Even more storage rings flew over directly, flying above this silver alchemy furnace, crazily pouring the massive amount of spirit herbs from the rings into the furnace.

And as more and more spirit herbs flew in, that silver alchemy furnace also began to grow larger and larger, larger and larger.

Gradually, a huge alchemy furnace loomed over the heads of all the contestants. Many contestants only felt the sky suddenly darken, so they subconsciously raised their heads to look upward.

Upon seeing the ridiculously large alchemy furnace above their heads, and the sky full of spirit herbs crazily pouring into this alchemy furnace, they slowly opened their mouths wide.

Suddenly, the alchemy furnace in front of them emitted a muffled sound. Being distracted, a furnace of high-quality spirit pills was completely ruined.

At this time, if the crowd still couldn't see what Long Xuan was preparing to do, then they were truly stupid.

The crowd, which had just been full of noise, was now instantly silent.

Everyone stared at that huge alchemy furnace, dumbfounded, their mouths wide open, their hearts shocked to the extreme.

Someone was actually stacking ten thousand portions of Spirit Gathering Pill materials together to refine pills simultaneously. This person was simply crazy. There was no such way to refine pills; refining pills like this would cause the furnace to explode.

With ten thousand portions of materials stacked together, once the furnace exploded, how immense would the power be?

Thinking of this, the onlookers at this moment all turned pale, their eyes filled with horror. After coming to their senses, they ran crazily toward the outside.

The onlookers began to flee on a large scale. However, at this time, the area around the square was packed with people. The chaos caused by the large-scale crowd fleeing crazily was imaginable. The competition venue was instantly in chaos; no one knew how many people were knocked down, and the sound of cursing was everywhere.

"Damn it! This lunatic!"

"Run quickly! He's crazy!"

Many contestants in the square also turned pale upon seeing this scene. They stopped refining pills one after another and ran crazily off the stage, fearing that if they ran too slowly, they would be blown to death.

Although this alchemy competition was very important, how could it be more important than their lives?

Long Xuan's move successfully scared away a considerable number of alchemists. Only the bold alchemists remained in place, gritting their teeth and holding on.

Long Yuyao turned her head to look at him and cursed, "Lunatic!"

But she still didn't get up and flee, gritting her teeth and continuing to refine the pill in her hand.

There was only one chance to refine pills in this round of the competition; how could she run just because she wanted to?

"Damn it! Is he crazy? Who taught him to refine pills like this!"

"Damn it! There's no such way to refine pills. If you want to die, don't take me with you!"

Feng Shuang and Wang Wu were also startled upon seeing the huge alchemy furnace in the sky, and then they cursed loudly one after another.

Once such a large alchemy furnace exploded, it could truly blow them to death! How could they not be afraid? If there was any mistake...

The two of them showed ugly expressions together.

But at this time, they really didn't dare to run. The result of this competition was related to the clan luck of their own families; how could they abandon a furnace of pills and run? At this time, they could only grit their teeth and hold on, praying that he wouldn't make any mistakes.

Qin Dan stared blankly at the huge alchemy furnace in the sky, the corners of his mouth twitching, and he said in shock:

"Stacking ten thousand portions of spirit herbs together to refine pills, refining once can produce hundreds of thousands of pills in one furnace. What a creative idea! Why didn't I think of it!"

"This is the first time I've heard that pills can be refined like this. You have truly opened my eyes!"

"Interesting! Interesting! Truly too interesting! I will refine pills like this in the future too!" Qin Dan shouted excitedly.

Feng Jiu also raised his head to look at that unbelievable scene, slowly showing a solemn expression. He turned his head to look at him and said in a deep voice: "Stacking ten thousand portions of spirit herbs—truly bold, what a crazy idea! This is the first time I've seen someone dare to refine pills like this!"

"At this time, the spirit herbs contained in your alchemy furnace are at least in the millions. With so many spirit herbs, even if one plant has a mistake, it could cause a chain reaction leading to a furnace explosion. Refining pills like this, you are almost certain to fail. Aren't you afraid of being blown to death!"

With his strength, naturally, he wouldn't be afraid of the explosion caused by the alchemy furnace.

It was just that he had now discovered that with this kid refining pills like this, the refining difficulty was far, far higher than his Nine-Flame Domineering Body Pill. Was he being a bit too arrogant by refining a Third Grade pill because he didn't want to bully others?

Once this kid could truly defy the heavens and refine the pills, his score would undoubtedly be higher than his own.

Long Xuan didn't answer his words, focusing entirely on refining the Spirit Gathering Pills. With this method of refining pills, even he didn't dare to have the slightest bit of distraction.

As one plant after another of spirit herbs flew into the alchemy furnace, the moment the spirit herbs flew into the furnace, they were instantly melted into spirit liquid by the high temperature inside.

Under the control of countless split souls, his time for refining spirit herbs was simply rapid.

These were all First Grade spirit herbs; for him, a Third Grade Alchemist, refining First Grade spirit herbs was not easy at all.

Don't look at the millions of spirit herbs in the alchemy furnace; his speed in refining Spirit Gathering Pills was not slow. The time required to refine pills using the Big Cauldron Pill Refining Technique was about the same as refining pills under normal circumstances; saving time was precisely the characteristic of the Big Cauldron Pill Refining Technique.

And how slow could the speed of refining First Grade pills be? Not long after, Long Xuan caught up from behind, surpassing all the alchemists, and was the first to successfully refine the pills.

Under the control of his countless split souls, the massive amount of spirit liquid in the alchemy furnace began to condense into one pill after another.

Not long after, the pills in the alchemy furnace were already dense, each pill round and full—a full one hundred thousand of them!

Refining one hundred thousand pills in one furnace was simply terrifying.

It was precisely at this time, perhaps because Long Xuan's actions were truly too heaven-defying, that the sky was suddenly covered by dark clouds, and the ground also began to have strong winds, blowing so hard that everyone couldn't open their eyes. The pills he refined actually brought about an anomaly, leaving everyone dumbfounded.

But the dark clouds ultimately didn't bring down a thunder tribulation, which made Long Xuan let out a long sigh of relief.

"Rise for me!"

Long Xuan suddenly shouted loudly and slapped the alchemy furnace heavily.

"Bang!"

The huge alchemy furnace lid was lifted, and the one hundred thousand pills inside were shaken into the sky.

For a time, the sky was dense with pills everywhere, as if it were raining pills.

Countless people looked at the sky with fiery gazes, their breathing rapid. With so many Spirit Gathering Pills, how many Essence Refining Stage Gu Cultivators would this create?

Everyone felt their scalps tingle for a while, and they were completely unable to remain calm...

This kid was truly going to defy the heavens... (End of chapter)