Chapter 288: What If It's True?

"What did you say?" The moment Kong Ming finished speaking, Yao Lao froze in place, his face full of disbelief, and he asked with a tone of shock: "Say that to me clearly one more time?"

Kong Ming smiled helplessly, and so, he recounted that unbelievable story he had just told, word for word, exactly as it happened.

After finishing, he asked with a hint of teasing, attempting to lighten the mood: "Yao Lao, look, do you still intend to kick me out of here now?"

Yao Lao widened his eyes, staring fixedly at Kong Ming. The two of them stared at each other for a long time; it was as if a tense atmosphere permeated the air.

After a good while, Yao Lao slowly narrowed his eyes and said with a tone full of suspicion: "Kid, you wouldn't happen to be bored and full, running over here specifically to make fun of this old bag of bones, would you? This kind of joke is not to be made!"

Kong Ming truly did not know whether to laugh or cry. He pondered to himself, even if Yao Lao had the leisure for such things on a normal day, as an important figure in the Association, he was busy with affairs every day—where would he find the time to play such a joke?

"Yao Lao, although I did not witness the entire process with my own eyes, I have absolute faith in Qi Heng's character and his way of doing things."

"I am certain that he must have confirmed it repeatedly and verified it carefully before cautiously reporting this matter to me."

Immediately following this, Kong Ming relayed in detail and with order what the two people, Qi Heng, had said over the phone.

"All of them are Top-grade Blood Qi Pills?"

Hearing this, Yao Lao's face was instantly covered in a look of suspicion, and he couldn't help but confirm again: "Are you sure they didn't see it wrong? Don't you dare try to fool me with this kind of thing!"

One must know that even within the Awakened Association, for those precious Prescriptions, the difficulty of refining a batch where every single Pill is Top Grade is extremely high.

Unless one's luck were to explode, such a probability is truly minuscule; even if one were to refine a hundred or a thousand batches, I fear it is unlikely such a situation would occur.

"Yao Lao, when I heard this news, my reaction was exactly the same as yours; the first thing I did was suspect whether they had seen it wrong," Kong Ming nodded and continued, "But then, the few things Qi Heng and the others said afterwards truly shocked me."

"What things?"

Yao Lao asked subconsciously; his curiosity had been completely piqued.

Immediately, he frowned and said with slight annoyance: "You kid, if you're going to tell it, tell it all in one go. Don't dawdle here and deliberately keep this old man in suspense."

Kong Ming gave an awkward, dry laugh and said: "To ensure this wasn't a coincidence, Qi Heng and the others had that young man named Lu Yu refine two more batches of Pills. Yao Lao, take a guess, what was the result?"

"What was it?"

Yao Lao couldn't help but become nervous, his gaze fixed tightly on Kong Ming, his eyes full of anticipation.

"The two batches of Blood Qi Pills refined afterwards were still all Top Grade."

Kong Ming spoke word by word, with extreme clarity.

"!"

Yao Lao's pupils shrank violently, and his breathing became rapid in an instant.

If it were only once, it could barely be explained as a coincidence.

But to successfully refine a batch of all Top-grade Blood Qi Pills three times in a row, that could absolutely not be explained by coincidental factors.

Other than explaining it by saying Lu Yu possesses strength beyond that of an ordinary person, one truly cannot find any other more reasonable justification.

But this matter sounds far too outrageous; can it be believed?

One must know that at the Association Headquarters, including Yao Lao himself, there have been five Alchemists in total who have attempted to improve the Blood Qi Pill Prescription within the Association.

Some of them achieved some results, raising the probability of Top-grade Blood Qi Pills appearing at the Consummation Realm from the original ten percent to about thirty percent. But wanting to improve it any further is simply harder than ascending to heaven.

Nearly two years have passed, and everyone has remained stagnant on this issue, with no progress at all.

Having no other choice, the others had to temporarily set aside their research on Blood Qi Pills and put more energy into the refining of True Qi Pills.

After all, in this day and age, high-end combat power is the key that determines everything.

Although Martial Artists at the Pulse Refining Realm and below are also important, by comparison, their priority is slightly lower.

Thus, the heavy responsibility of improving the Blood Qi Pill Prescription naturally fell upon Yao Lao alone.

Over these past few months, Yao Lao has flipped through a vast number of books and conducted hundreds, if not thousands, of attempts, yet every single one ended in failure.

Yet at this very moment, Kong Ming suddenly ran over to tell him that in a small city outside, a young man had actually improved the Prescription, and the probability of the improved Prescription refining Top-grade Blood Qi Pills had actually reached one hundred percent.

Whoever it was, I fear it would be very hard to believe, let alone the always-rigorous Yao Lao.

"Kong Ming,"

Yao Lao opened his mouth and said: "Are those two people you sent out truly reliable?"

"Absolutely reliable."

Kong Ming hurriedly nodded.

There are fewer than ten True Essence Realm Martial Artists in the Headquarters; although he wouldn't dare say he knows every single one like the back of his hand, he is generally clear about their backgrounds.

"I still cannot believe it."

Yao Lao shook his head.

"Just speaking of cultivating this Alchemy to the Consummation Realm is enough to block ninety percent of people at the door, let alone a high-difficulty task like improving a Prescription; if one out of ten people can succeed, that is already a stroke of great luck."

A task even he himself cannot accomplish, a wet-behind-the-ears kid can do it?

The key is that the probability of Top-grade Blood Qi Pills appearing can actually reach one hundred percent; even the entire Awakened Association does not have this ability.

Kong Ming understood Yao Lao's mindset at this moment very well, and he could also understand why Yao Lao was so suspicious.

However, whether considering it from a public or private perspective, he sincerely hoped this matter was true.

Once the quantity of Top-grade Blood Qi Pills can satisfy the supply to other cities, then the probability of Pulse Refining Realm Martial Artists appearing within the Association in the future could increase by at least twenty percent!

Do not look down on this mere twenty percent; among these people, even if only one True Essence Realm Martial Artist ends up appearing, that would be a massive profit for the Association.

Because True Essence Realm Martial Artists possess the strength to contend with B-Class Awakened; if the Association President were to reach this Realm, the strength would be even more unimaginable!

"Yao Lao, why don't we take a step back and think: what if, and I am only saying what if, this matter is true?"

Kong Ming said with a smile: "Don't you know Qi Heng and the others' character? They are worthy of our trust. Since they said so, it means this matter is nine times out of ten true."

Of course, for a young man from Yongan City to achieve such a feat is indeed something that makes one feel it is incredible.