Chapter 149: All Depends on Being Bold

A large number of cultivators sat on the ground all around the plaza, and there were people everywhere on the rooftops as well.

All around, streaks of Escape Light whistled in; they were all Yuqing Hall Disciples who had received the news and come to watch the excitement.

Among them were many old men with white beards, each looking like an immortal with a refined air, but they were blocked outside by the already-activated restrictions above the Alchemy Hall and could only stand suspended in the air to watch from afar.

Han Qing lit the furnace fire, and after waiting for the Spirit Fire to burn steadily, he used his Divine Sense to guide the first Spirit Medicine into it.

The onlookers stirred slightly once more, but soon returned to calm.

Hundreds of eyes were fixed on the two people in the arena.

Yet Xu Chen remained motionless, still looking at the pill formula, occasionally opening his eyes to fiddle a few times with the mess of Spirit Medicines placed before him; this naturally caused another slight stir, but there was more mockery than anything else.

Soon, the time of one incense stick passed, and Han Qing began to refine the second Spirit Medicine.

Xu Chen was still looking at the pill formula, and the space in front of him was empty; he had not even taken out his Pill Furnace yet.

Another incense stick of time passed, and Han Qing began to refine the third Spirit Medicine.

Xu Chen remained unmoved, his expression quite solemn as he held the Jade Slip against his brow.

Although the scene was quiet, the atmosphere had become unusually relaxed.

All the Yuqing Hall Disciples breathed a sigh of relief, and even the row of Alchemy Hall Elders and deacons acting as impartial supervisors began to show smiles on their faces.

Inside the great hall, Biyunzi's Divine Sense was like a torch, penetrating the entire scene, and a hint of relief and a smile slowly appeared on his ruddy face.

It was not that he looked down on Xu Chen, but that he truly looked down on this wet-behind-the-ears little cultivator from another sect.

Although there was the verbal decree of Baiyun Zhenjun, he was, after all, the Alchemy Hall Elder, and this was nearly his private territory. He and Baiyunzi could be considered fellow disciples; Baiyunzi had undergone Spirit Transformation thirty years ago to become a great cultivator, and his own strength was not weak, having reached the Dan Courtyard Realm Great Perfection. Now, aside from their different statuses, he had not yet reached the point of being subservient to Baiyun Zhenjun; after all, the Danyuan Realm was already the peak of strength in the Immortal World, and every cultivator had their own pride.

By means of such a competition, winning back six bottles of Taiyuan Soul-Entering Pill and earning back face for Yuqing Hall—this was bound to be a matter that brought honor to the Alchemy Hall, so why not do it?

As for whether Xu Chen would help Baiyun Zhenjun refine pills afterward, that was no longer his business. Being able to secure six bottles of pills for Yuqing Hall at once, even other Elders could not blame him.

The scene was very quiet, and one could occasionally hear a cough, but the atmosphere was quite lively, with many cultivators secretly communicating via Divine Sense Transmission.

Xu Chen did not care at all about the changes in the outside world.

He was currently using his experience in artifact refining, focusing all his attention on repeatedly simulating the refining of the Seven Spirit Pill formula in his mind, while simultaneously breaking it down and reorganizing it according to the medicinal properties and the Five Elements.

Not until Han Qing began to refine the seventh Spirit Medicine, with a full hour having passed, did Xu Chen finally have a relatively clear decomposition of the Seven Spirit Pill formula in his mind. Feeling that there were basically no problems, he then took out his Pill Furnace.

With a loud clang, a huge bronze-colored Pill Furnace slammed onto the ground, shaking Han Qing, who was nearby and concentrating on refining his pill, so hard that his Spirit Fire almost went out of control.

"Shameless!" voices rose one after another from the crowd of onlookers.

Xu Chen, neither sad nor happy, threw three Spirit Stones into the furnace chamber and placed both hands on the Yuan Qi channel to begin inputting Yuan Qi.

Soon, as the Spirit Fire was ignited, the various arrays inside the Pill Furnace began to flash with colorful light.

About half an incense stick later, Xu Chen guided with his Divine Sense, and three Spirit Medicines fell into the Pill Furnace at once.

"Wow, is this guy crazy!" A violent stir immediately broke out at the scene.

Han Qing could not help but turn his head to glance at Xu Chen, but immediately, the aged and deep voice of Biyunzi rang in his ears: "What are you looking at? Focus on refining the pill!"

Thus, Han Qing had to forcibly control his mind to look after his Pill Furnace, though his mood was in a mess, filled with both excitement and surprise, as well as some trepidation.

For a top-grade Second-Grade Spirit Pill, the Spirit Medicines used were naturally top-tier Second-Tier Spirit Materials, and among them were even a few Spirit Medicines that only needed enough age to reach the Third-Tier.

With the strength of a True Essence Realm cultivator, generally speaking, one could only refine one medicine at a time. Of course, those in the True Essence Late Stage with powerful Divine Sense could refine two or three at once.

But because top-tier Second-Tier Spirit Medicines were relatively rare and highly valuable, in the Alchemy Hall, except for the Second Elder, almost all the disciples and grand-disciples in the True Essence Realm could only honestly refine them one by one. If anyone tried to show off by refining several at once, they would inevitably be scolded bloody by being berated from head to toe.

This was not a question of strength, but a question of attitude.

As long as Han Qing followed the pill formula under the secret guidance and instructions of the Second Elder, and refined the Spirit Medicines strictly according to the formula, he would basically win this gambling match. The subsequent steps of Pill Refining, Pill Dividing, and Pill Nourishing were not very difficult and were not much different from other Second-Grade Spirit Pills.

But Xu Chen, seemingly to catch up with his progress, was actually refining three Spirit Medicines at once. Although Han Qing thought he could do it too, the chance of making a mistake in his haste was very high. There were only three sets of medicinal materials in total, and among them were several that were very difficult to refine. Speeding up regardless of the consequences doubled the chance of a failed refining.

With over forty types of medicine in total, just the complete refining alone would take at least a day and a night. It required an extremely powerful Soul and Yuan Qi to hold out until the end; stability was the most important thing.

Therefore, Han Qing was very worried that this guy Xu Chen would blow up his furnace and implicate him.

As the Spirit Medicines entered the furnace, Xu Chen instantly became single-minded, his entire focus sinking into the Pill Furnace.

These three Spirit Medicines were a combination he had carefully selected for their relatively mild medicinal properties; they required similar furnace temperatures, and the arrays used for refining did not conflict, so he could control them without consuming too much extra Divine Sense and Yuan Qi.

He believed that his stable Soul and powerful Divine Sense could handle this situation.

The main thing was that this was his first time encountering such a complex high-level pill, and he had no experience to draw upon; it was all based on being bold. If he did not combine them for refining in this way, he had no possibility of catching up to Han Qing's progress.

Since it was a gambling competition, he naturally had to have a bit of a gambler's mentality.

The three Spirit Medicines rolled gently in the light and shadow of the array, and the Spirit Fire released a temperature that made his Soul palpitate, roasting the Spirit Medicines within the array.

As the refining progressed, the three Spirit Medicines began to slowly disintegrate from the outside in. Most of them were burned to ash by the Spirit Fire, drifting down to the bottom of the furnace, while the remaining essence and Spirit Qi became clearer. Gradually, a medicinal fragrance began to waft out from the furnace's smoke vents through the pill vapor.

Seeing that Xu Chen's refining seemed to have begun successfully, the onlookers began to stir again, and many showed expressions of disbelief.

Yun Xi grabbed Lan You's arm tightly and whispered in her ear: "Scared me to death, I didn't expect him to actually not ruin the refining!"

A hint of relief also appeared on Lan You's cold face.

She felt that her own palms were sweating from nervousness.

Trust was trust, but a top-grade Second-Grade Spirit Pill was different from the First-Grade Soul-Entering Pills refined previously, which were effortless to refine.

For these dense forty-plus types of Spirit Medicines, any one of them required the Divine Sense strength of the True Essence Mid Stage to refine. If the Soul was not strong enough, one would ruin the refining with the slightest carelessness.

"Look, Senior Brother Han is on the eighth medicine."

At this moment, Han Qing had already finished refining the seventh medicine and had added the eighth.

Meanwhile, Xu Chen's three medicines had just begun to emit a medicinal fragrance, and it would take at least another incense stick of time before they were completely refined.

Although Xu Chen was focused, he was still very clear about the movements in the outside world, but he was not in a hurry.

Pill refining was a job that consumed an extreme amount of time and energy; one could not be in a hurry at all. Starting smoothly did not mean that the rest would be smooth. As more and more medicines were refined and more arrays were activated inside, the requirements for Divine Sense and Yuan Qi became higher, requiring not just quantity, but also precision.

Han Qing's True Essence Late Stage strength was several orders of magnitude worse than Yi Zhen's. Xu Chen believed that the last ten or so Spirit Medicines would be the greatest test for Han Qing.

He believed that even the Third Elder would not find it easy to successfully refine the Seven Spirit Pill.

Han Qing, a young cultivator who had only been cultivating for a little over ten years, was under even greater pressure.

Soon, an incense stick of time passed, and the three Spirit Medicines in the Pill Furnace had been refined one after another. Xu Chen guided with his Divine Sense, and the three masses of Spirit Medicine were pulled by the array to the area above the Pill Furnace and confined by the array. Then, three more Spirit Medicines appeared out of thin air in the Pill Furnace, a new array was activated, and they began to be refined under the scorching heat of the Spirit Fire.

At this moment, the number of cultivators watching had reached nearly a thousand; regardless of whether they were inner or outer sect Disciples, almost everyone still at the mountain gate had come, surrounding the square in front of the Alchemy Hall so tightly that not even water could trickle through.

Seeing Xu Chen make his move for the second time with another three Spirit Medicines, the onlookers erupted into another violent commotion, though this time everyone's mood was much more solemn, and the sounds of ridicule had lessened significantly.

Time passed incessantly, and in the blink of an eye, another quarter of an hour went by; Han Qing had already begun refining the ninth Spirit Medicine, but Xu Chen had only refined one-third of these three medicinal ingredients.

Although the combination method Xu Chen had meticulously chosen did indeed accelerate the refining speed, and his Divine Sense and Yuan Qi could support it, the difficulty of refining three medicines at once was not simply three times greater, but exponentially so; the requirements for Divine Sense and the consumption of Yuan Qi also increased in the same proportional ratio, and the time consumed was far longer than refining a single medicine.

The first time he refined three medicines simultaneously, it took over the time of one incense stick, and for this second refining, Xu Chen estimated it would take two incense sticks' worth of time.

Furthermore, as time went on, the time required to refine each type of medicine would also gradually grow longer, depending on the Spirit Medicine.

It was the same for Han Qing; the time taken to refine the tenth medicine had also significantly lengthened, taking a full one and a half incense sticks' worth of time to complete.

And at this moment, Xu Chen had only just passed the halfway point.

Watching Han Qing toss in the tenth Spirit Medicine while Xu Chen had yet to make any move, the mood of the onlookers eased up slightly, and they began to whisper to each other through Divine Sense Transmission.

(End of this chapter)