Chapter 151: Overtaking

Time slipped by until it was the dead of night.

"How much longer is this going to take? I'm sleepy!" Yun Xi yawned, burying her head in Lan You's shoulder and beginning to doze off.

Ling Shuang, Yu Qingxuan, Yang Ying, and Xiao Mingyue—the four beautiful fairies who had come to accompany, eat, play, and watch the pill refining in accordance with the Elder Council's orders—did not feel the slightest bit of fatigue or drowsiness, yet they all felt somewhat bored; they all sat with half-closed eyes, practicing their cultivation, occasionally opening their eyes to check on the progress of the two refining pills.

Time passed in a flash, and by the time Yun Xi was suddenly startled awake by exclamations and clamor, the sky had already begun to turn white.

"What, is the competition over?" Yun Xi rubbed her eyes and looked up in surprise.

"Still early!" Lan You's voice was slightly cold.

Yun Xi let out an "oh" and looked at Han Qing and Xu Chen, her eyes suddenly lighting up as she said with a face full of pleasant surprise, "Wow, Daoist Friend Xu has actually overtaken Senior Brother Han!"

At this moment, there were still five Spirit Medicines left in front of Xu Chen, while there were actually six Spirit Medicines left in front of Han Qing.

The exclamations and clamor from just a moment ago were the stir caused among the onlookers by Xu Chen's overtaking.

In other words, after a night of chasing, Xu Chen had finally caught up and overtaken him around daybreak.

However, at this time, the state of both men looked less calm and composed than yesterday; although their auras were still stable, it was obvious they were both extremely exhausted.

Han Qing's face was pale, and the Daoist robe on his back was soaked with sweat, sticking to his body.

Xu Chen looked slightly better, but beads of sweat were still streaming down his face incessantly.

With pill refining having reached this point, neither of them had the heart for competition anymore; instead, they were putting their all into focusing their entire minds on refining the Spirit Medicines.

Because as more and more Spirit Medicines were refined within the Pill Furnace, the Array had almost been activated to its limit; every movement had to be cautious and meticulous, their Divine Sense had to be divided into dozens of strands for precise control, and they also had to continuously input vast amounts of vital energy to maintain the stability of the Spirit Fire, leaving almost no energy to pay attention to the movements outside.

And the last few Spirit Medicines were also the most precious and difficult-to-refine varieties, requiring immense patience and time; the energy, vital energy, and time consumed also grew exponentially.

At present, refining one medicine took nearly half an hour.

This meant that to finish refining all the remaining medicines, it would take at least another two to three hours.

Although they had been keeping watch for a full day and night, except for Yun Xi, almost all the observing cultivators were fully focused and had not shifted their gaze for even a moment, all staring intently at the two Pill Furnaces with rolling pill vapor, their hearts agitated and uneasy.

The rich medicinal fragrance permeated the entire plaza, and under the stimulation of this fragrance, everyone's Soul felt clear and invigorated to an extreme degree.

Xu Chen was the same; through the medicinal fragrance, he could deeply feel the miraculous nature of the Seven Spirit Pill, making him increasingly interested in this peculiar type of pill.

Even if he lost this competition, he would definitely consider it a gain.

The pill formula alone was worth the price of admission, giving him a joy of returning fully loaded.

Half an hour passed in a flash, the gray-white sky grew brighter, and red morning clouds had already appeared in the east.

Xu Chen suddenly hooked his Divine Sense, and another Spirit Medicine was tossed into the Pill Furnace.

"Whoosh~"

The hundreds of onlookers were instantly thrown into another violent stir.

Xu Chen's pill refining speed remained methodical; he had actually overtaken him by two Spirit Medicines.

Han Qing's face grew paler, and his body couldn't help but tremble slightly.

And what this instability of mind brought was the Spirit Fire losing control again, but another thick strand of Divine Sense and vital energy suddenly appeared, helping him suppress the furnace fire; after the restless Pill Furnace clattered and swayed a few times, it quickly returned to calm.

Xu Chen was completely speechless.

This was already the third time Biyunzi had stepped in to help Han Qing.

However, at this moment, he didn't even have the slightest mood for mockery or sarcasm.

Because he, too, dared not be distracted in the slightest.

The only thing that still gave him a bit of comfort was that although Biyunzi was old and shameless, he hadn't attacked him or interfered with his pill refining process, which could be considered the last bit of respect he retained for Biyunzi.

Above the steps, a row of old Daoists had their faces twitching slightly, their heads buried even lower.

Inside the great hall, Biyunzi was as motionless as a statue in a shrine, feeling neither shame nor joy; he had long since been disappointed in Han Qing.

Judging by the current situation, Han Qing had already lost this pill refining competition long ago.

But in order not to lose too ugly, as long as this batch of pills was ultimately refined, it could still preserve a sliver of face for the Alchemy Hall.

Although he had once thought about interfering with Xu Chen, he ultimately held back.

Although Yi Zhen had left, it did not mean that the other top-ranked Core Disciples among the onlookers would pretend to be completely mute.

Furthermore, from the beginning of the competition, several Divine Senses of Elders in the Danyuan Realm had been cast upon the Alchemy Hall, constantly monitoring the progress of the competition.

If he tore off his mask and did such a thing, angering Xu Chen into giving up helping the Yuqing Hall refine pills, the final blame would inevitably be firmly pinned on him, and his status as Second Elder would absolutely be unable to withstand the wrath of Baiyun Zhenjun.

The sun rose, then slowly climbed into mid-air.

Xu Chen finally finished refining the last Spirit Medicine, while Han Qing still had two Spirit Medicines left.

However, even so, this competition did not mean Xu Chen was guaranteed to lead to a final victory.

The subsequent Pill Refining, Pill Dividing, and Pill Nourishing, while much easier, still required two more days; the test was not yet over.

Therefore, Xu Chen took a deep breath, flipped his hand to take out a five-inch-tall green Jade Bottle, and poured a drop of emerald-green liquid into his mouth.

As the Spirit Liquid entered his mouth, it instantly transformed into rolling vital energy that flowed directly into his dantian, quickly restoring nearly thirty percent of his nearly exhausted vital energy.

Xu Chen's actions did not surprise too many people.

Because before this, Han Qing had already swallowed two drops of Spirit Liquid one after another.

And the fact that Xu Chen had persisted for a full day and night before starting to consume it showed that the gap in vital energy between the two was quite huge.

Although Spirit Liquid was precious, it was still quite common in the Yuqing Hall; Personal Disciples and Core Disciples could receive some every month.

However, there were also sharp-eyed people who noticed that this bottle of Spirit Liquid seemed to be a product of the Yuqing Hall.

Yun Xi poked Lan You lightly and asked in a low voice, "Senior Sister Lan, did you give him this Spirit Liquid?"

Lan You blushed instantly, but she didn't lie; instead, she gave a soft "mm."

The four female cultivators beside them naturally heard the conversation between the two, and each of their expressions became even more peculiar, exchanging glances secretly, appearing surprised.

Spirit Liquid was produced from the essence of Spirit Veins deep within Spirit Stone mines; the quantity was very small, and it took several days to form a single drop. The Yuqing Hall currently had two Spirit Stone mines, and the Spirit Liquid produced each month was only one jin. With the twenty Core Disciples as the priority, the remaining Personal Disciples could also receive some; beyond that, one needed great merit to exchange for it.

Although the few of them had decent aptitude and were all Personal Disciples under several Elders of the Danyuan Realm, they could not compare to Lan You and had not yet entered the ranks of Core Disciples; therefore, the allocation of Spirit Liquid they received was naturally pitifully small, perhaps only one or two taels a year.

Not only did Lan You let Xu Chen stay in her Dao Courtyard, but she also gave such precious qi-replenishing Spirit Medicine to Xu Chen, which showed that the relationship between the two had long since ceased to be that of ordinary Daoist Friends.

Because of this, the flames of gossip naturally began to burn fiercely among these few female Disciples, and their curiosity about Xu Chen grew ever greater.

How could a mere little cultivator in the Kaiyuan Realm possess such powerful Soul and an unimaginably deep reserve of Yuan Qi? This was completely contrary to reason.

The four of them rarely went out and spent almost the entire year cultivating within the sect gates; even when they went down the mountain for experience, they only operated in the regular areas near Yuqing Hall. They had naturally heard quite a lot about the incidents at Black Wind Ridge, but they had never been there themselves. Although they had heard some rumors about Xu Chen, none of them had experienced life and death alongside him like Lan You had, and therefore, they naturally did not know why Xu Chen was so different from the rest.

Xu Chen's Pill Furnace began to vibrate, faintly emitting the sound of wind and thunder.

After the Combining Pill Array was activated, accompanied by a vortex of Yuan Qi that began to spin rapidly at the bottom of the Pill Furnace, one Spirit Medicine after another that had already been refined began to be cast into the vortex under the guidance of his Divine Sense. Under the roasting of the Spirit Fire, they slowly converged into a patch of multicolored spiritual light, and an even richer medicinal fragrance began to emanate from the Pill Furnace.

Han Qing's emotions became increasingly anxious, sweat dripping from his forehead; after hurriedly completing the refining of one Spirit Medicine, he quickly cast another into the Pill Furnace.

Ever since Xu Chen caught up to his progress, his emotions had begun to spiral out of control.

And after Xu Chen surpassed his progress, he was almost unable to steady his mind at all. If it weren't for Elder Biyunzi constantly intervening to suppress the situation, he would have already ruined countless Spirit Medicines in this batch of pills; let alone three sets of medicinal materials, even five or six sets would likely be impossible to continue with at this point.

"Steady your mind, do not be impatient; do not seek to win, but seek to complete the work!"

In Han Qing's ears came the voice of Biyunzi, devoid of joy or sorrow.

Regarding this most outstanding fourth-generation Disciple in the Alchemy Hall, Biyunzi was already completely speechless.

If not for this competition, Han Qing's performance would still be quite commendable.

But in the midst of the competition, his weakness of an unstable Dao heart was revealed without doubt.

At this moment, Biyunzi also knew that he could not force Han Qing, and he did not even dare to use a tone of reprimand. Once Han Qing's emotions completely spiraled out of control, ruining this batch of pills would be secondary; this contest, initiated by the Alchemy Hall itself, would be lost completely, with no chance left to salvage any face.

(End of this chapter)