by Translator: BornToBe; Author: Ordinary Magician (平凡魔术师); Licensed From: 17k
When Huo Wufang landed, he didn’t say a word. He held his butt and rolled on the ground. He was in so much pain that he couldn’t even scream.
The tower administrator kicked Huo Wufang below his waist. Long Chen’s eyes narrowed slightly. This tower administrator was truly skilled. That kick of his had severed Huo Wufang’s pain nerves.
The instant he was freed from his pain, Huo Wufang stood up. Although he was filled with fury, he didn’t dare release it. He bowed and said, “Greetings, tower administrator.”
The death of the two alchemists shook everyone. They obediently stood there, not daring to say a word.
The tower administrator’s face was as black as the bottom of a pan. Killing intent soared out of him as his icy gaze swept over everyone.
Their hearts trembled. They were afraid that he might go crazy and directly kill them.
“You disgraceful fools! Do you think this is a place for you to fight?!” the tower administrator roared furiously. He was a grand Sea Expansion expert, but his whole body was trembling. Even his voice was hoarse. It could be seen what level of fury he had reached.
“Do any of you even care about face?! You’re alchemists! How can you scuffle like hooligans?! Grow up! Even if you had to fight, why did you do it in front of the Seven Treasure Jewel Tower and right before the opening round?! Were you trying to show off your fighting skills to the tens of thousands of people who came just to watch? Should I sell tickets for this show?!”
The mass of alchemists outside nodded. He was right, such an incredible scene should have cost money to watch. No matter how expensive the ticket would be, they would pay.
“The opening round is canceled for today! We’ll change it to tomorrow. Other than that, everyone hand over your photographic jades!” shouted the tower administrator.
A mass of experts immediately surrounded the spectators. One by one, they investigated them. If they allowed those photographic jades to circulate, the Pill Tower would become the cultivation world’s laughingstock.
“You people, get in here!” ordered the tower administrator, bringing them into the Seven Treasure Jewel Tower. Then the doors shut. When the outsiders were no longer present, he continued to furiously roar, “Speak, what happened here?!”
“Reporting to tower administrator, it was Huo Wufang who brought his people to provoke us. Furthermore, he even had one of his subordinates curse us, making us lose face. It was only because of that humiliation that I attacked. Disciple is young and impetuous, causing him to go too far. Please give me your punishment,” said Fang Chang respectfully.
His words had been very well said. First, he said it was Huo Wufang who had provoked him. He was the victim. But he still admitted his mistake.
“What nonsense! You were the one who attacked first!” raged Huo Wufang.
“Screw Chai Liehuo, damn Fang Chang. Pill Yang Prefecture’s sole master is Huo Wufang. Hmph, Huo Wufang, you are actually so malicious as to make such a senseless phrase to humiliate us. Tower administrator, I can’t accept such humiliation. Tell me, if a person stood right in front of us and cursed us right in the nose, would we even be men if we just endured?” said Chai Liehuo.
The tower administrator’s furious expression twitched upon hearing this phrase. That was from wanting to laugh but suppressing it. He had no choice. If he laughed, there would be no way for him to handle this matter. At the same time, he cursed inside. Just who had come up with such a thing?
“Don’t slander others! I never told him such a thing!” said Huo Wufang.
“But he said it and everyone heard it clearly. He’s someone from your camp, so if you didn’t teach it to him, why would he say it?” sneered Long Chen.
“You…!”
“That’s enough!” shouted the tower administrator. “I don’t care which one of you was right or wrong, nor do I care what reasons you have. To fight in front of the Seven Treasure Jewel Tower is an insult to the Pill Tower. Right now, the opening round is coming up, so I won’t punish you. But I’ve remembered every single one of you. Once the competition is over, I’ll slowly settle this debt with all of you. Now scram. Remember, you better be more obedient tomorrow, or else… not even your families will be able to protect you, understand?”
“Understood!”
How could they not understand? Two alchemists had already been turned to ashes by him.
Once they returned, Fang Chang and Chai Liehuo directly arranged a feast to celebrate their victory today.
“That was too refreshing! Brothers, you really are heroic! I can see just how dependable and cohesive you all are!” Fang Chang raised his cup to them.
“It’s brother Long that was mighty. With one kick, he sent Huo Wufang flying into the sky. Seeing his twisted expression… that was too fucking refreshing!” laughed Chai Liehuo.
“Cheers to victory!”
“Cheers!”
It went without saying that this victory today had raised everyone’s morale. It had also united everyone even more. They drank all the way into the night before resting.
The next day, Long Chen and the others were full of energy. Humming a nameless tune, they walked toward the arena for the opening round.
Chapter 660 Unexpected
It was the same location as last time. But now there were even more spectators. They were squeezed so tightly together that not even a drop of water could get through them.
“What do you think, will they fight again today?”
“I hope so! I heard they were incredibly wonderful yesterday. Just hearing the story from you was satisfying. I got up in the middle of the night just to get a good spot today.”
“Who doesn’t hope for that? I heard that some of the female alchemists’ chests even got exposed. Today, I want to open my eyes to the world. I’ve seen countless women, but this would be my first time seeing the body of a female alchemist. I pray for the heavens’ blessing. Let the battle be even more intense than yesterday.”
When Long Chen heard these people’s words, he almost passed out. As expected, there really were all kinds of people. That battle yesterday had already become famous.
Luckily, the tower administrator had been smart and gathered all the photographic jades. Otherwise, the Pill Tower’s name would truly resound throughout the four seas.
However, some women in the group now began to act unnaturally.
“Wow, they’ve really come out! Look, that blue-robed girl. Yesterday, she was completely exposed. Her chest was so big that even two hands wouldn’t be enough to hold them!” A man suddenly cried out excitedly, using his hands to express what he was saying.
That woman’s expression immediately became ugly.
“Oh, Huo Wufang also came out. What happened to that girl with the violet gold phoenix pin?”
“I see her. What about her?”
“Yesterday, her clothes were completely blown apart. But only later did I realize she was a woman.”
“What do you mean?
“Her chest is so small that I didn’t even notice.”
Following that person’s words, many gazes landed on that woman. As he said, it really was a flat plain.
As more and more people arrived, the hostility in the air grew denser.
“Huo Wufang, how is your butt today?” Fang Chang took the initiative.
“Hmph, don’t get so pleased with yourself. We still have a long future in front of us to see who the final winner is,” snorted Huo Wufang.
“Fuck your mom! And you said that you didn’t come up with that!” Fang Chang immediately became enraged.
“Hmph, does saying something like that have any meaning now? Don’t bicker like your mother. If you have the ability, prove yourself on the stage. At that time, we’ll see just whose subordinates make it to the finals, and just whose family will have the championship.” After the last battle, everyone had dropped their pretenses. Huo Wufang was too lazy to quibble anymore.
The fact that he no longer argued caused Fa
ng Chang and Chai Liehuo to be even more sure that he had been the one to come up with that slogan and that he was just intentionally trying to anger them.
Suddenly, the large gate in front of them opened and a group of people slowly entered the arena. These were all registrants who hadn’t managed to get in the good graces of the three families. There were actually over seven hundred of them.
They were very sullen. Yesterday, after passing the various tests, they had finally arrived in front of this door. But the door had refused to open. It was only later that someone came to tell them that the opening round had been changed to the next day.
Now they finally came out, but no one had a favorable opinion of them. The elites had already been pulled out of them. Furthermore, most of these people weren’t participating in the Pill Emperor Competition to get the final prizes.
This competition only occurred once a century. Furthermore, you had to be under a hundred years old and have Spiritual Strength that had reached the Earth class. The requirements were extremely stringent.
This was practically a sacred competition to alchemists, and just managing to participate in it was a great honor.
As long as they appeared on the competition’s stage, that would raise their reputation and status. Many people had come just for that.
As for the finals, they were well aware of their own skills. The majority of them had just come to join in on the fun, as well as to gain some experience.
“Silence!”
The tower administrator appeared and a cold shout from him cut off the clamor.
“We’ll begin by distributing number plates. Once you obtain your number, go find your spot.”
Many disciples in Pill Tower robes now walked out, all of them carrying square tiles with numbers on them.
These number plates were all random. They matched the numbers on the one thousand stages before them.
Long Chen was given his number. After that, he found his stage and sat. This thirty-meter square refining stage was extremely expansive.
“In accordance with the rules of the opening round, you can choose your own medicinal pills. There are no requirements, and failure doesn’t matter. Just familiarize yourself with this environment to prepare yourselves for the preliminaries. You have six hours!” The tower administrator’s voice rang throughout the entire arena.
“Let the opening round begin!”
All the competing alchemists hastily took out their pill furnaces and medicinal ingredients, organizing them on the refining stage.
The first thing they had to do was get used to the exact size of the refining stage. The arrangement of medicinal ingredients was extremely important. They had to have a plan for how many medicinal ingredients they could put in order. That was to avoid making an error during the sequence of refining.
The higher the tier of the medicinal pill, the more stringent would the refining process be. Some medicinal ingredients needed to be put aside and left to cool for a long time after being refined into powders. There were also some powders that were extremely volatile and began to dissipate into the air after being refined, so those medicinal ingredients were refined last, which would keep the quality of the refined pill higher.
High tier pills had extremely complicated pill formulas. Any detail could affect the odds of a successful refinement. So although there would be no one eliminated this time, everyone still treated it extremely seriously.
These people were all Pill Emperors. They all chose to refine fifth tier pills. Because the difficulty of that was rather high, they couldn’t mess around. Although this wasn’t a true competition, a failure would still be humiliating.
“Hm? What is that little fellow doing? What kind of broken pill furnace is that?”
Suddenly, an uproar came from the crowd as people’s gazes landed on Long Chen’s stage. Other people’s refining stages were filled with medicinal ingredients. There were at least over seventy kinds of medicinal ingredients on each of the stages, and some people even had over a hundred.
But Long Chen’s stage only had seven medicinal ingredients, and they were extremely low tier ones.
“Damn, no way! Isn’t that a second tier pill furnace? And it has a nick in it? Is he really that poor?”
Seeing Long Chen’s pill furnace, everyone’s eyes almost popped out. What was he doing?
A second tier pill furnace could only refine second tier medicinal pills. Then looking at the medicinal ingredients he had laid around him… was he really planning on only refining a second tier pill?
“Long San, what are you doing? Why don’t you refine a fifth tier pill? And what is that chamberpot for?” asked Chai Liehuo. He was on a stage beside Long Chen.
“I… I only have these medicinal ingredients… And this pill furnace is my only one,” said Long Chen helplessly.
He had to act like a poor alchemist raised by a Pill Master. He naturally couldn’t use his main pill furnace, as that had been Huo Wufang’s.
Chai Liehuo almost coughed up blood. If he didn’t have a pill furnace, why hadn’t he said so earlier? He could have easily gotten him one. Bringing out a trash chamberpot like this was too embarrassing.
“Don’t make a racket!”
The tower administrator suddenly shouted and Chai Liehuo could only shut his mouth.
Suddenly, countless flames began to soar from people’s hands. They had already taken out their Pill Flames. All kinds of colorful and magnificent beast flames appeared.
“Ranked thirty-one on the beast flame rankings, the Blue Heart Flame!”
“Ranked twenty-nine on the beast flame rankings, the Scarlet Blaze Flame!”
…
Startled cries rang out from the crowd. These beast flames were all ranked in the top hundred of the beast flame rankings. These people were truly being shown a whole new world.
“Junior master Fang and junior master Chai’s beast flames are the same. It’s the Blazing Python Scale Flame, fourth on the beast flame rankings!!”
“Heavens, isn’t junior master Huo’s flame the first rank beast flame, the Earth Dragon Golden Blaze?”
There was a golden flame in Huo Wufang’s hand that caused the crowd to shout in shock. Even Chai Liehuo and Fang Chang were filled with shock.
They hadn’t expected Huo Wufang to have obtained the first rank beast flame. The Huo family had once more spent a huge sum on him.
That Earth Dragon Golden Blaze had come from a Xiantian Magical Beast known as the Earth Dragon. This kind of Magical Beast came from ancient times, and it had almost gone extinct.
It was said that the Earth Dragon possessed a trace of a true dragon’s bloodline. Although its body was more like a lizard and seemed to have nothing to do with a dragon, just that trace of a dragon’s bloodline was enough to make it an overlord amongst Magical Beasts. It was said that a matured Earth Dragon was something even a Sea Expansion expert would have to flee from.
“Hehe, looks like I win this one.” Huo Wufang smiled arrogantly. He glanced at Chai Liehuo and Fang Chang, his provocation obvious.
The two of them merely snorted but their expressions became a bit ugly. Huo Wufang had taken the advantage in terms of Pill Flames.
“Hahaha!”
Suddenly, mocking laughter rang out as everyone looked at Long Chen. There was a light yellow flame in Long Chen’s hand. That was no beast flame but just an ordinary Pill Flame.
It was something he had condensed from his spiritual yuan. Long Chen wasn’t a true flame cultivator, and he had no core flame runes. He could only condense this simple Pill Flame.
“Has there been some mistake? How did such trash make it into this competition? Did someone sneak him in through the back door?” sneered someone.
“Idiot, if you don’t know, then don’t speak. He’s only eighteen, but his Spiritual Strength has reached the first tier Heaven class. It’s just that… just that… he comes from a poor origin. What right do you have to laugh at him?” Someone recognized Long Chen and
defended him.
Chai Liehuo and Fang Chang were extremely vexed upon seeing Long Chen take out this trash pill furnace and trash Pill Flame. Why hadn’t he said any of this earlier?
Suddenly, Long Chen smiled slightly. Extending a hand, all of his medicinal ingredients flew into his pill furnace at the same time, and his Pill Flame entered the bottom of the furnace. His soul energy circulated, and his Pill Flame explosively grew.
Chapter 661 Continuous Slaps in the Face
“What? Has there been some kind of mistake? Is he refining pills or making stew?”
“Does he even know how to refine pills? He doesn’t even understand he has to purify the ingredients first. Isn’t he just messing around?”
“Hey, little fellow, you should add some more water and salt, or the flavor won’t be so good!”
The spectators immediately began to make a ruckus. They were extremely dissatisfied that someone like Long Chen could make his way into this competition.
The tower administrator ignored their shouts. The only thing against the rules was for people inside the arena to disturb their competitors.
The shouts from the spectators were also a kind of test for alchemists. It had to be known that alchemists would always refine pills in a private room. They wouldn’t allow anyone to disturb them.
But now that countless people were watching and shouting, it made refining pills that much more difficult. If you were unable to calm your heart, the odds of a failure would be extremely high.
This competition sought this kind of tempering experience. Other than having talent, an alchemist also had to have a calm heart. Only such a person could walk further on the pill path.
If your heart became chaotic just because of someone’s random shouting, there was no way you could have any major accomplishments.
In the face of the insults and ridicules coming from all around, Long Chen’s expression was still calm. His Spiritual Strength circulated and his flame rapidly rose.
“This… this is…”
“Is this real life?”
