Chapter 50: I Say the Incense-Burning Tower is All Trash

Even Bai Jingtian was caught off guard by this declaration of war, having never imagined that the half-paralyzed Tianxing Sword Sect would possess such audacity.

His original intent was to make Shen Tang admit they would continue selling medicinal herbs, thereby provoking the dissatisfaction and vigilance of the various powers in Xiazhou. After all, the pressure exerted by a mere Liu Qingcang doing this was completely different from that of the Tianxing Sword Sect, which possessed two fourth-grade experts; who knew if they would later violently annex or forcibly seize the market, leaving everyone unable to survive?

If the Tianxing Sword Sect declared they would no longer grow herbs, he could still unite other powers to force their hand, casually offering a plot of land to Shen Tang in exchange for the herb mountain; such herb mountains with earth-fire warmth were quite special and hard to find, and that was precisely what they had always wanted.

Yet the Tianxing Sword Sect indeed declared they would not sell herbs, but instead sell pills, and what they sold was the Rongxue Guiyuan Pill, which was extremely vital to their own Incense-Burning Tower!

Bai Jingtian could not help but slap the table: "This brat is pushing too far!"

"Hmm?" Lu Xingzhou said leisurely, "What's the matter? If we grow herbs and compete with our Xiazhou neighbors, you don't call it bullying, but competing with you is pushing too far? Did the Great Qian laws stipulate that only your Incense-Burning Tower may refine pills with similar effects?"

Bai Jingtian took a deep breath to calm his emotions, then sneered, "A young man who has just gained empty fame has already become arrogant. Can anyone replicate the medicinal effects of our Incense-Burning Tower's Rongxue Guiyuan Pill? What empty boasting!"

Lu Xingzhou waved his hand: "A'nuo, distribute one of our Guiyuan Pills to all the neighbors here as a return gift for everyone's participation in the grand ceremony."

The various powers in Xiazhou were all visibly moved.

A sixth-grade pill is extremely valuable; distributing a round like this truly costs a fortune, and the small amount of gift money received could never make up for it. Is Lu Xingzhou so wasteful that Shen Tang doesn't manage him?

He stole a glance at Shen Tang, who had returned to her smiling expression, propping her head with one hand on the armrest while watching Lu Xingzhou perform.

Lu Xingzhou had said this was advertising money, and this money had to be spent.

Then let it be spent.

A'nuo finally had a legitimate chance to break free from Sheng Yuanyao's grasp; she reached into her ring, pulled out a small jade box, and opened it to reveal it was densely packed with pills.

A'nuo glanced at Sheng Yuanyao, then reluctantly handed her one. Immediately afterward, she skipped cheerfully around the square to distribute them, giving them only to the heads of the various Xiazhou powers and Chen Jinnian of the Pill Department, not even glancing at the Incense-Burning Tower or the Dongjiang Gang before bypassing them.

After all, their main business was with the people of Xiazhou; those outside could wait. Once the situation in Xiazhou was opened up, news would naturally spread outward.

Although it seemed like a large crowd, that was because each sect, guild, family, and various power sent attendees accompanied by servants and guards, so it looked very numerous overall, but in reality, there were only dozens of powers, meaning the actual advertising cost wasn't that high.

Holding the pills in their hands, the heads of every power showed expressions of shock; Chen Jinnian even bulged his eyes, his beard trembling.

They were all knowledgeable cultivators; without needing to consume them, they could roughly sense the efficacy contained within the pills.

These were indeed extremely similar in effect to the Incense-Burning Tower's Rongxue Guiyuan Pill, effectively soothing chaotic qi and blood, suppressing internal injuries, and simultaneously restoring true qi.

Although they all belonged to continuous treatment and recovery effects and were not considered too high-end, the value of such things was already self-evident.

More crucially, the quality of these dozens of pills was all supreme grade! Whereas the Rongxue Guiyuan Pills sold by the Incense-Burning Tower were mostly good quality, with only a few excellent ones held back for bidding wars, and supreme grades were frequently declared "non-sale items."

Compared to tossing out dozens of supreme-grade pills like this, who the hell would still care about your good-quality ones!

Chen Jinnian could not understand why every pill Lu Xingzhou refined was supreme grade; refining seventh-grade pills this way was one thing, but sixth-grade as well? He couldn't do it! Why don't you, the Head of the Xiazhou Pill Department, come and do it?

Seeing the shocked expressions of the crowd, Bai Jingtian's heart skipped a beat, and his sneering expression of enjoying the show vanished.

He never imagined that Lu Xingzhou would actually be able to produce pills similar to the Rongxue Guiyuan Pill, and all of them supreme grade! This was a heavy blow to the Incense-Burning Tower!

They certainly could not fail to produce supreme grades; it's just that high-grade pill masters went off to refine high-grade pills, and pill masters matching that level refining corresponding-grade pills indeed could not consistently produce supreme grades; it wasn't that they were hiding supreme grades to artificially inflate their status.

If Lu Xingzhou caused such a shock, what would happen in the future? Would high-grade pill masters have to be responsible for refining low-grade pills? This would be chaos...

He was somewhat flustered, his mind racing, and he found a pretext: "Do all of you truly believe that so many supreme-grade sixth-grade pills were produced by this single seventh-grade pill master? I suspect there is a hidden expert behind him assisting, who may not be a regular of the Tianxing Sword Sect. Raising your status like this now, I fear that in the future you will require all of you to bid at auctions..."

Lu Xingzhou laughed helplessly: "If it were truly like that, it wouldn't concern you anyway; even if you auctioned off a few dozen pills, what impact could that have on your Incense-Burning Tower? What are you afraid of?"

Bai Jingtian swept his sleeve and said, "I am merely reminding everyone present!"

"Your reminder was quite good; it also reminded me that what we intend to refine is not merely the Rongxue Guiyuan Pill; in the future, we will continue to launch the Qingling Pill, Huxin Pill, Tongshen Pill, and so on. This Rongxue Guiyuan Pill is just a preliminary display; please look forward to what comes next."

The crowd erupted in uproar, and Bai Jingtian stood with his mouth agape: "Do you intend to completely replicate my Incense-Burning Tower with the mere power of a seventh-grade pill master?"

"Is the Incense-Burning Tower very impressive?" Lu Xingzhou sneered coldly: "I say the Incense-Burning Tower is a fraud, and its fourth-grade pill masters are nothing but earth chickens and clay dogs; what will you do about it?"

Provoked, Bai Jingtian could no longer maintain his decorum; he slammed the table and rose: "Truly empty boasting!"

"Whether it is empty boasting, we shall see by trying." Lu Xingzhou said calmly: "Today, the heroes of Xiazhou are all present; with City Lord Sheng and Head Chen supervising, let us refine the Rongxue Guiyuan Pill together for everyone to judge, which will also add some entertainment to my sect's grand ceremony. Old man, what do you think?"

Sheng Yuanyao and Chen Jinnian looked at Lu Xingzhou as if he were a madman.

Even if you can produce supreme grades with this pill, a normal sixth-grade pill master indeed cannot do it, but Bai Jingtian is fourth-grade; for him to achieve this would be effortless! Moreover, he can basically refine multiple pills simultaneously; on the surface, he would surely crush you completely; how dare you seek humiliation?

Even the people of the Tianxing Sword Sect stared dumbfounded at their own Guest Elder; the Head of the Sword Sharpness Hall, Jin Mingxiu, secretly transmitted a voice to Shen Tang: "Sect Master, are you just letting him cause such trouble?"

Shen Tang still propped her head, lazily watching the chaotic scene, and smiled charmingly: "Why not let him? He is not a blind man; his seemingly strange actions have their reasons; just watch."

Jin Mingxiu: "You... they said the Sect Master was bewitched by a man, and I didn't believe it; now it seems... sigh."

Over there, Bai Jingtian laughed in anger: "Very well, let this junior learn the principle that there is always someone better beyond the sky, so he will not be so arrogant in the future."

"Then fine." Lu Xingzhou snapped his fingers: "Bring the furnace!"

Two pill furnaces floated shakily from the hall behind, landing on the high platform with a "clang."

Lu Xingzhou smiled: "They are not good furnaces; they are merely seventh-grade goods. Old man, since you are a guest from afar, choose one first; later, do not say things like the venue is poor or the furnace is unfamiliar..."

Bai Jingtian's cultivation did not reach "Divine Sense," so he merely glanced roughly and felt the two furnaces made no difference. He figured that in such a public setting, Lu Xingzhou would not dare to tamper with the furnaces, so he casually chose one: "A mere sixth-grade pill does not yet require me to demand a good furnace."

Lu Xingzhou waved his hand, and the other furnace flew to his side: "I will refine one portion; how many portions will you refine, Old Man? Have them fetch the medicinal herbs."

Bai Jingtian reasoned that if they both refined only one portion, even producing supreme grades would not suppress Lu Xingzhou, so he said: "Five portions."

Lu Xingzhou's eyes held some mockery; a fourth-grade pill master refining sixth-grade pills yet daring to refine only five simultaneously at once—this fourth-grade status was truly enough to deceive the world and steal a reputation. If he, Lu Xingzhou, crossed two grades to refine lower-level pills, refining fewer than nine simultaneously at once would be an insult to his own time.

But he still said aloud: "Old man is indeed confident. Then shall we begin?"

"Wait." Bai Jingtian sneered: "I am not here to play house with a junior like you; there must be a wager."

Lu Xingzhou smiled: "What does the Old Man propose?"

Bai Jingtian said: "If you lose, you must shout three times before the heroes of Xiazhou: 'Lu Xingzhou is ignorant and arrogant; for the rest of my life, I dare not provoke the Incense-Burning Tower again.'"

Lu Xingzhou responded indifferently: "Then correspondingly, if the Old Man loses, you must admit before everyone that the Incense-Burning Tower is a fraud."

Bai Jingtian snorted coldly and did not answer.

"Then I shall take the Old Man's silence as agreement." Lu Xingzhou snapped his fingers, and A'nuo ran over to hand the medicinal herbs to each of them.

The two separately selected herbs and placed them into the furnaces.

Pill refining often takes a long time and is extremely tedious, but at this moment, the entire hall held its breath, and not a single person felt impatient.

This was a newcomer challenging an old master... just like a seventh-grade cultivator challenging a fourth-grade one. Although Bai Jingtian had not entered the Hero Rankings, this spanned a full three grades; it was not a contest between equals at all!

Everyone wanted to know: how did Lu Xingzhou dare!

After an unknown duration, Lu Xingzhou's furnace lid began to tremble first, and a pill spun as it floated up to the furnace opening.

He was refining only one, so finishing first was normal. Everyone craned their necks to look; a Sixth-Rank Pill differed from those lower-grade ones, and no one was familiar with them. From such a distance, no one could distinguish its quality.

Lu Xingzhou pointed casually, and the pill flew into A Nuo's hand: "Go show it to everyone."

A Nuo held the pill in both hands, scampered into the arena, and held up his hand to display it to each person one by one.

"Indeed, it is still a Supreme Grade Pill." Chen Jinnian sighed: "The suspicion Mr. Bai previously voiced about a high expert assisting can be dismissed; Lu Xingzhou indeed possesses this level of skill himself."

Shen Tang looked at Lu Xingzhou with a half-smile; in truth, regardless of what Mr. Bai Jingtian produced, Lu Xingzhou's advertising effect had already taken hold.

Judging by the eyes shining with greed on the faces of those Xiazhou people in the arena, as long as the Tianxing Sword Sect's pricing isn't too outrageous, this business is bound to sell out explosively.

As for Bai Jingtian...

His furnace lid had also begun to tremble, and everyone instinctively held their breath and looked up.

Xiazhou's overall level was low; the scene of a Sixth-Rank Pill, with five Supreme Grade pills emerging from a single furnace simultaneously, was a rare spectacle for the people of Xiazhou, and everyone was full of anticipation.

The furnace shook more and more violently, and Bai Jingtian's originally confident expression gradually changed.

For some reason, the herbs seemed to have emotions; they became increasingly unwilling to fuse into a pill, each acting up as if throwing a tantrum. He exhausted his spirit and mind to harmonize them, yet it had almost no effect, and he could suppress them less and less.

The shaking of this furnace was not the shaking of a pill forming; it was...

A furnace explosion!

"Bang!" Amidst the gaze of ten thousand, a loud explosion roared from within the furnace, and the five portions of medicinal materials instantly turned into waste slag.

The entire arena erupted in an uproar, and Bai Jingtian's face swelled to the color of pig liver.

(End of this chapter)