by Translator: BornToBe; Author: Ordinary Magician (平凡魔术师); Licensed From: 17k
“Fang Chang, do you know? Yesterday, I did it five times with Zhenzhen. Zhenzhen practically soared into the heavens,” said Chai Liehuo arrogantly. Whenever men mentioned this topic, they always felt so confident.
“That’s nothing. I did it seven times yesterday, and Shuihua worships me to death. She said I’m the most amazing man in the world.” Fang Chang naturally wouldn’t show weakness. Who knew whether or not he was telling the truth, but he was plenty confident.
Suddenly seeing Long Chen walk over, Fang Chang called out, “Third master, how many times did you do it last night?”
Long Chen knew the two of them were teasing him intentionally. “Once.”
“Really, just once? How embarrassing.” As expected, the two of them immediately laughed.
Long Chen sat and sighed. Staring into the distance, he helplessly said, “I know. We only did it once. But when the sky brightened, she begged me to take a break.”
“...”
The two of them were silent for a long while before Fang Chang finally patted Long Chen on the shoulder. “Third master, your show-off abilities truly are unrivaled. The two of us need to continue learning.”
Long Chen said, “Let’s stop talking nonsense. There isn’t much time until the finals. I’m going into seclusion to practice my alchemy.”
“You’re going into seclusion again? You really are a monster.”
“I have no choice. Although my Spiritual Strength is powerful, my foundation isn’t even half as good as you two. I’m lacking alchemy experience. So I have a great deal of room for improvement. Even if it’s right before the competition, I have to increase my skills. Each little bit is a greater chance that I can defeat Huo Wufang. I don’t have time to waste.”
Fang Chang and Chai Liehuo felt a deep veneration for him. Refining pills was an extremely boring, extremely bitter process. You had to stay completely focused the entire time and be filled with trepidation as you waited to see if you succeeded or not.
Fang Chang and Chai Liehuo had also gone into seclusion for a few days, practicing their alchemy until they wanted to puke. Seeing how devoted Long Chen was to alchemy, they couldn’t help but lament. Perhaps if they had Long Chen’s work ethic, the two of them wouldn’t be that much weaker than Huo Wufang.
“Can you give me a private room, preferably a bigger one? I want to go into seclusion with Hua Biluo. After all, I don’t want him to snatch my woman away again. And as for the other reason, hehe, when I’m tired from refining… you understand,“ laughed Long Chen.
“Of course, we understand. We’re men. Hehe, Long San, this creativity of yours really is good. I think I’ll try it next time too. When I get tired of refining, I can also relax.” Fang Chang smiled mischievously.
Chai Liehuo also nodded, a worshipful expression on his face. “Yes, I definitely have to try that too. If it works, maybe we’ll go down in history as innovators. Yes, yes, I’m going to go into seclusion and try it right now.”
As a result, Long Chen obtained an extremely spacious room for himself. The thing that made Long Chen smile bitterly was that there was a huge, gorgeous bed in the room.
“Those two big bros really put in a lot of effort,” sighed Long Chen.
“What is this bed for?” Hua Biluo couldn’t help questioning this luxurious bed. It was her first time seeing a seclusion room with such a bed.
Long Chen hastily spouted some nonsense to conceal the matter. He then began to refine pills.
The first pill was very simple. It was just drawing out the energy contained within the Heavenly Dao Fruit and condensing it into a pill. He gave it to Hua Biluo, and she quickly entered a meditative state.
Long Chen then took out over a hundred precious medicinal ingredients. These were for the Enlightenment Palace Pill. He had gathered them all once Huo Wufang had given him the last one.
However, too many things had popped up during this time, and he hadn’t had any time to refine. Now he finally had the chance and couldn’t help getting excited.
With each star of the Nine Star Hegemon Body Art he condensed, his combat strength would undergo heaven-toppling changes. For example, when he had condensed the third star, the divine ring had actually been able to resist the Cry of the Heavenly Daos.
It was unknown what would happen once he condensed the fourth star. Long Chen carefully began to refine the ingredients.
A blue flame soared in Long Chen’s hand. Its power caused him to be pleasantly surprised. “Huo Long, you got even stronger!”
A blue flame dragon flew out of Long Chen’s hand. It was three feet long, looking like a tiny serpent. It coiled around Long Chen’s arm intimately.
Long Chen saw that Huo Long had become an even denser shade of blue compared to before. Its power had also greatly increased.
Most importantly, its control over its own strength had risen a great deal. It wasn’t as berserk as before.
“Nice! With your help, I’ll be able to refine several times faster.” Long Chen laughed. The stronger Huo Long became, the more beneficial it would be to him. He quickly refined the ingredients into powders.
Huo Long was truly amazing now. Each ingredient was refined in just a few breaths’ time. Furthermore, it was also much easier for Long Chen to control the flame now.
Slowly adding the powders into the pill furnace, Long Chen paid constant attention to the merger. The Enlightenment Palace Pill was something that didn’t exist in the outside world. The outside world had no pill formula for it, and so there was also no tier for it.
Although the ingredients required for it were all sixth tier ingredients, its difficulty was extremely high. Even amongst sixth tier pills, it would be counted as an extremely difficult one.
Those that could refine sixth tier pills were known as Pill Ancestors. They were people on the level of Huo Changsheng, Fang Mingyuan, and Chai Gaoyang. They were people who had refined pills for a lifetime. Only then did they earn such an appellation.
Because alchemists focused on cultivating their core flame, their cultivation bases didn’t advance quickly. So once alchemists reached the Xiantian realm, their cultivation bases would advance slower.
Bang!
“Ah!” Long Chen sighed. Looking at the ashes in the pill furnace, he felt helpless.
The Enlightenment Palace Pill’s formula that had appeared in his head did not go into detail. It was different from the previous FengFu Pill, Alioth Pill, and Life Fate Pill. Therefore, he had to study how to refine it properly on his own.
“It seems the Pill Sovereign memories are actually lacking a great deal.” Long Chen felt helpless. He still had no idea why only such a small portion of the Pill Sovereign memories would be in his mind.
“Pill Sovereign… you can forget the rest of your memories, but don’t forget the pill formulas for the Nine Star Hegemon Body Art…”
Long Chen said his prayers. Without a true Dantian, and his Spirit Root, Spirit Blood, and Spirit Bone having been taken, then if he also didn’t have the Nine Star Hegemon Body Art, he’d have long since reincarnated.
“Again.” Long Chen clenched his teeth. In any case, he had as many medicinal ingredients as he needed.
BANG!
Again, a pile of ashes appeared in his pill furnace.
Long Chen took out a piece of paper and wrote, “The Seven Star Grass cannot be directly merged with the Mythic Reap Fruit.”
This was Long Chen’s first time refining such a difficult pill. He had to rely on himself. He knew of the taboos between the ingredients, but once three or more were merged, the medicinal properties became muddled.
Long Chen tested it over and over, writing down his conclusions. He needed to pile up his experience first before merging the powders.
His page was already filled with countless pieces of data from his countless failures. But he knew that each failure brought him one step closer to success. Failure eliminated one faulty process. The more he failed, the closer he got to the right process.
Long Chen had only just sighed when a rumbling noise came from the distant Hua Biluo.
“She’s finished?” Long Chen was startled. She had actually finished so quickly.
Just as Long Chen was awoken from his research, a line of red words appeared on his wall: the finals are about to start.
Chapter 687 Let the Finals Begin
In front of the Seven Treasure Jewel Tower, Long Chen was still a bit befuddled. How had time passed so quickly? There had still been several days, but they had passed in an instant.
He had only just figured out the correct merger process for the Enlightenment Palace Pill, and he hadn’t even had a chance to refine it when he was pulled into the finals.
It was still the same arena, but the feeling was different. It felt much more expansive, as the thousand stages had been mostly taken away. Only eighty-nine remained.
There was still a sea of people outside. Because it was the finals, even more people had come. Even martial artists had come to gain experience.
“Hey, what are you pushing for?! Are you blind!?” A white-robed man cursed at a man from the Corrupt path.
Currently, Pill Yang City was filled with countless experts. They had all come to watch the fun, and there were members from both the Righteous and Corrupt paths.
“Do you want to die?!” raged the Corrupt man. If it wasn’t forbidden to fight here, he would have already killed this idiot.
“You’re the one who wants to die! Do you want to try touching a hair on my head? Tch.” The white-robed man spat on the ground and sneered disdainfully.
“You… just wait! Don’t let me see you on the battlefield!” raged the Corrupt man. He found a different place to watch from.
“AHH!”
Suddenly, a woman’s sharp cry rang out in the crowd. Everyone turned to see it had come from a Corrupt woman with a drawing of a fiend’s head on her chest.
But on that sinister fiend image were two large handprints. Those handprints were extremely clear.
“Bastard, you dare touch me?! I’ll kill you!” The Corrupt woman’s fury soared, and her sword came out of its sheath. She glared at the man in front of her.
That man had a wronged expression. “You can’t blame me! There are too many people and it’s too crowded. I was pushed in the chaos, and I just grabbed whatever I could. Speaking of which, I really have to thank you. If it weren’t for your large chest, I really would have fallen! Thank you, truly thank you!”
That man hastily bowed, but he still had a lecherous expression on his face. Furthermore, his hands were gesturing as if he were reliving that feeling.
“You… your Righteous path really is a bunch of idiots! All you know how to do is play your stupid plots! Just wait, one day I’ll kill you all!” she raged. But she couldn’t attack here.
She left, rousing a burst of heckling from the Righteous path. At the same time, many flirtatious calls rang out.
Suddenly, one man was sent flying by a slap in the face. Everyone hastily turned to see a large man cursing at him. "You little fucker, are you blind?! Can you not see that I’m a man? What are you touching my butt for?!”
Long Chen was standing on his stage, looking at the chaotic crowd. He couldn’t help shaking his head. The Righteous path really only knew how to play these stupid games. All day, all they did was talk, but when it came to fighting the Corrupt path, they all turned into weaklings.
“Long San, first place is mine.”
The competition hadn’t started yet, but everyone had arrived at their positions. Huo Wufang was talking to Long Chen.
Long Chen glanced at him and said, “First place from the bottom? I don’t have any interest in that, so you can take it. Speaking of which, that girl Biluo really is not bad. Thank you very much. Do you see her cheering for me over there?”
Huo Wufang followed his gaze and did see Hua Biluo. She was smiling in the crowd. In truth, she wasn’t doing anything, but in Huo Wufang’s eyes, she had come to cheer for Long Chen.
“That slut! Sooner or later, I’ll make you all live a life worse than death!”
“When it comes to sluttiness, can anyone in the world compare to you? You know, yesterday I watched the photographic jade of Long Chen breaking all your bones in the Jiuli secret realm. I really have to admire you! How did you endure all that pain without making a sound? What kind of feeling was that?” asked Long Chen curiously.
Hearing this, Huo Wufang immediately felt a chill in his bones. That pain that Long Chen had given him was forever ingrained in his soul.
As for how he hadn’t made a sound back then, that was because he hadn’t been able to. That level of pain was something that made a person unable to make a sound.
“Long San, you are looking to die!”
“You’re right here, so why would I be looking for more shit[1]? Your words don’t have any logic.”
Huo Wufang took a deep breath. He felt like his lungs were about to burst. When it came to playing the game of tongues, Huo Wufang could not be compared to Long Chen. From just a few words, he was about to go berserk.
“The Tower Ancestor has arrived!”
Suddenly, a shout rang out. The crowd split apart as a group of people walked in.
The person at the front was the Tower Ancestor. Behind him was the tower administrator. Other than the two of them, there were also more than ten elders.
Each of those elders had deep wrinkles, their faces almost looking like tree bark. If a mosquito landed on their face, then once they smiled, that mosquito would probably suffocate.
Long Chen had heard from Fang Chang that other than the Tower Ancestor, other proctors from Pill Valley had come for this competition. These proctors were similar to patrolmen. They were old alchemists who had retired, and most likely didn’t have much lifespan left. Unable to refine pills anymore, they were sent out to do whatever they wanted until they died.
But these old fellows had followed the Pill Dao their whole lives. Even if they had grown old, their vision was still sharp. If they had come to proctor the competition, then no one could cheat.
The Tower Ancestor and the others stood at the top stage. The entire crowd had gone silent the instant they had arrived, the atmosphere immediately becoming tense. The Tower Ancestor looked over the crowd and nodded.
“The Pill Emperor Competition occurs but once a century. Its goal is to select the finest talent for Pill Valley. In all the previous times, the top ten would all be given the opportunity to continue their studies at Pill Valley.
“But this year is different. That’s because in the past few years, Pill Valley has entered a flourishing period, and many geniuses are rising. This time, only the top five will have the qualifications to join Pill Valley. As for the prizes for first, second, and third place, they’re distributed the same as always. As for what the prizes are? Hehe, to tell the truth, even I don’t know.”
An exquisite golden case appeared in his hand. He placed it on the table before him and said, “The prizes for the top three are right here.” He opened the case, revealing three spatial rings. One was golden, one was silver, and one was bronze.
“I can tell you that the treasures inside these three spatial rings even cause me to be moved. So everyone, do your best!”
After the Tower Ancestor finished speaking, he looked at the tower administrator. The tower administrator pressed a button beside him.
“The pill you’ll be refining today is this.”
Long Chen hastily looked down on his platform and saw a line of words appear.
“Overflowing Sea Expanding Pill.”
Long Chen’s heart shook. It was actually a sixth tier pill. This was something to be consumed by someone in the Sea Expansion realm.
The Sea Expansion realm’s goal was to increase the size of the qi sea, the bigger the better. But a
person’s ability was limited. Once you reached the Sea Expansion realm, your qi sea would reach a kind of limit, and it would become impossible to further increase its size through your own power.
But this Overflowing Sea Expanding Pill could use medicinal energy to once more expand the qi sea. A Sea Expansion expert could consume nine of them in their lifetime.
These nine times corresponded to once with every Heavenstage. Each time they advanced, they could borrow the medicinal energy to expand their qi sea.
“This… this is impossible!” Some of the competitors were completely dumbfounded. They were only at the Xiantian realm, but they wanted them to refine a sixth tier pill? That was too much. Normally, only Sea Expansion alchemists could refine sixth tier pills.
Most importantly, refining a sixth tier pill was extremely difficult and had harsh requirements toward a person’s Spiritual Strength and flame energy. This was something they couldn’t possibly achieve.
Even the spectators were stunned. To have Pill Emperors refine sixth tier pills, were they intentionally making it difficult for them?
Long Chen stealthily looked around. Fang Chang and Chai Liehuo both had helpless expressions.
The only woman amongst them, Duan Tianqiao, appeared quite calm. That was a bit unexpected to Long Chen.
As for Huo Wufang, he icily looked over the others. When he saw Long San looking at him, he extended a hand, but then seeming to have thought of something, he quickly pulled it back.
“Hahaha.” This action of Huo Wufang’s caused laughter amongst the crowd. They recalled how Long San and Huo Wufang had fought silently before.
Obviously, Huo Wufang had thought of provoking Long San, and then having thought of what had happened last time, he had immediately stopped.
“As Pill Emperors, having you refine sixth tier pills truly is difficult. But don’t forget, this is a competition amongst yourselves. We aren’t requiring you to refine it to any level. As long as you can condense the pill, you’ll have a chance of getting first place, even if you refine a garbage pill,” said the Tower Ancestor.
His words caused a wave of relief to spread amongst the competitors. That was very true. The thought going through their minds was: if I can’t refine it, the others can’t either.
