Chapter 984: Shocking the audience

Everyone shifted their focus to Le Xichen’s way of performing alchemy in just a few moments. More specifically, everyone took a closer look at Le Xichen’s flame. It looked strange with a black and white line running through it like a black and white silk strand through a yellow fabric.

Once Ning Cheng took a look at this flame, he understood that Le Xichen’s flame had likewise evolved into a spirit flame. However, this flame didn’t seem to be as high ranked as his Nameless flame. It couldn’t even be compared to the Celestial River Flame.

A few moments later, Le Xichen carefully placed one spirit herb after another into his pill furnace once it grew hot enough. In the beginning, people could still follow and see some of his hand movements. But in just a few moments, every motion of Le Xichen’s hand started to carry a hint of dao rhythm. Even those who didn’t know how to make pills could tell that Le Xichen’s refining technique had reached an innately natural level. At the very least, it surpassed the style displayed by Dou Jiangshi, the one who took the first spot.

Ning Cheng couldn’t help but secretly admire what he saw. After all, it showed how City Lord’s Mansion benefited from controlling the Illusionary Fruit Orchard. It brought their alchemists enough dao fruits for practice.

As long as they had enough Dao Essence Dao Fruits to practice with, Le Xichen could even become a Dao Essence Pill Sage. Yet, even in that case, Le Xichen had reached the threshold of becoming a Dao Essence Pill Sage.

No wonder he didn’t bother to participate in the Illusionary Fruit Orchard. Besides, Ning Cheng had not seen or heard of any Dao Essence Dao Fruit coming out of the Illusionary Fruit Orchard. It also showed that Le Xichen didn’t care much about dao fruits under the Dao Essence level. Of course, there was one other reason; that is, Le Jiesheng didn’t want to look too ugly by sending in his clansmen.

After all, every time the Illusionary Fruit Orchard opened, the City Lord’s Mansion would always be the biggest winner. Even though it got backstabbed by Ning Cheng this time, Le Jiesheng still managed to obtain nearly a hundred dao fruits from Dou Jiangshi. If Le Xichen had participated in the Illusionary Fruit Orchard, Le Jiesheng would have made many influential people irate.

……

“So strong…..” The dark-faced man sitting beside Percy in the Alchemy Listening Section stared at Le Xichen’s alchemic movements and exclaimed rather loudly. Even his eyes glowed brightly.

He then turned his gaze to Percy and asked in an incomparably low tone, “Percy, how do you think Ning Cheng’s Dao of Alchemy compares to that of Le Xichen?”

Percy hesitated a bit before replying, “I’m not sure. Le Xichen never participated in the Illusionary Fruit Orchard. I didn’t even know about his alchemic attainments before today…….”

The man with the dark face and slender eyes already understood what Percy meant. Percy, most likely, felt in his heart that Ning Cheng was inferior to Le Xichen; he just didn’t put it out in words. Moreover, with this level of attainment in the Dao of Alchemy, Le Xichen proved that he was the best out of everyone and probably just below Sichen Qiutian.

The dark-faced man with slender eyes didn’t ask Percy again. Instead, he transmitted a message to the skeletal man beside him. “Ancestor Kang, with Le Xichen’s alchemy skills, he should be able to make the pills we want with a higher chance of success. I had some dealings with the Le Clan in the past, so I believe I can ask him to do it.”

The skeletal man only nodded but didn’t say anything.

……

Even if Le Xichen wanted to be low-key, his attainments in the Dao of Alchemy caused many people’s eyes to flicker. Some even felt their hearts stir with many racing thoughts.

Looks like the Illusionary Fruit Orchard has been controlled by the Le Clan for far too long.Winds and water will always turn. It’s time for someone else to take control of the Illusionary Fruit Orchard.

Feeling a few spiritual consciousnesses reaching his side, Le Jiesheng couldn’t help but feel helpless. Plus, it also made him angrier with Ning Cheng. If it wasn’t for Ning Cheng, Le Xichen would have followed his wishes, kept a low profile, and remained an ‘ordinary’ Dao Transformation Pill Sage. Although it would still arouse the jealousy of others, it wouldn’t have been as bad as it is now.

……

Time slowly passed, and the crowd had gotten so captivated by Le Xichen’s alchemy that they completely forgot about the passage of time.

One hour, half a day, just when the day was about to end, Le Xichen’s gestures suddenly went from traceable to traceless. One after another, mysterious symbols generated by the now-traceless motions seeped into the furnace.

Before the pill even finished, the fragrant aroma had already started to diffuse into the air. Moreover, the scent grew more substantial and aromatic with each passing moment. It indicated that the Supreme Essence Arterial Pulse Pills forming inside were top-grade Dao Transformation Dao Pills, at the very least. Even an idiot could tell the difference at this point.

“Incredible, this kind of pill fragrance indicates that the Supreme Essence Arterial Pulse Pill is not only about to coalesce into a pill, but also form into a top-grade pill.”

“Pill Sage Le should have deliberately held himself back before, right? I’m afraid he should be close to the Dao Essence Pill Sage-level, right?”

“That goes without saying. If there were enough Dao Essence Dao Fruits, I reckon Pill Sage Le would have become a Dao Essence Pill Sage long ago…..”

As Le Xichen’s Supreme Essence Arterial Pulse Pill was about to form, alchemists immersed in his alchemic dao rhythms sobered up and let out some exclamations.  This place included most of the best alchemists found in Grand Essence Realm. So even if they couldn’t refine the Supreme Essence Arterial Pulse Pill themselves, it didn’t affect their vision.

Even Sheng Huotian sighed internally when he saw Le Xichen’s refining techniques and alchemic dao rhythm. Ning Cheng definitely had a strong refining technique, but it might not be as strong as Le Xichen. From his perspective, the only hope for Ning Cheng was to refine an equivalent ranked pill in less time than Le Xichen.

Unfortunately, this Alchemic Discourse had nothing to do with the time it took to refine a pill but instead with the grade of the finished pills and the difficulty in refining the pills. Only when the two people’s pills were the same would refining time be considered.

“Ding-Ding-Ding-Ding….”

While the crowd still contemplated the mysteries within the pill fragrance and Le Xichen’s refining technique, streaks of white shadows suddenly shot out of Le Xichen’s pill furnace. These shadows then fell onto a jade plate prepared by Le Xichen, with a clear tinkling sound, like pearls falling down.

Twelve milky white pills now lay scattered on the jade plate. The faint dao rhythms matched the unique fragrance of the Supreme Essence Arterial Pulse Pills, giving them an unearthly beauty.

The pills had not been fed into jade bottles, so everyone could see the twelve Supreme Essence Arterial Pulse Pills on the jade tray. Seven top-grade, five high-grade, and no medium or inferior-grade pills.

“Good pills!” Even Sichen Qiutian couldn’t help but praise it. Even he couldn’t refine such a high-grade batch of Supreme Essence Arterial Pulse Pills when he was at Le Xichen’s level.

With these words from Sichen Qiutian, the Alchemy Discourse’s public square immediately erupted as if someone threw water into a pot of boiling oil. The twelve Supreme Essence Arterial Pulse Pills had fully won over the hearts of everyone in the audience.

Le Xichen then carefully put a few pill preservation restrictions on the jade tray and placed it in front of everyone. He then looked at Ning Cheng and slowly said, “Alchemist Ning, I have finished refining my pills. I hope you can show us your alchemy techniques that don’t use any pill arts.”

Le Xichen also felt very satisfied with the results. In fact, he thought that he had outdone himself with this batch of pills. Even if he got another chance to refine a furnace of these pills, he wasn’t confident enough to refine such a near-perfect batch.

One had to know, he wasn’t a person who would willingly give up without a fierce fight. The more pressure he was under, the more he could bring out his abilities. As for what he said to Ning Cheng, it wasn’t because he underestimated Ning Cheng. After all, Ning Cheng could produce the Dao Transformation Pill Sage’s qualification token. It meant that he naturally couldn’t dismiss Ning Cheng’s attainments in alchemy.

Le Xichen also knew that apart from his natural sensitivity to the Dao of Alchemy, being born in the Le Clan was also a factor that couldn’t be ignored. Without a clan or a major force that could take out all kinds of dao fruits for him to practice, he couldn’t have reached this point even if he had spent tens of thousands of years pursuing alchemy. He understood it more clearly than others that he could not underestimate Ning Cheng, a rogue cultivator. For this reason, he even respected and admired Ning Cheng for becoming a Dao Transformation Pill Sage despite a lack of background.

Ning Cheng cupped his fists to Le Xichen and spoke up in a deep voice, “Alchemist Le indeed is an expert in the Dao of Alchemy. This Ning Cheng can’t help but admire it.”

Le Xichen’s skills had similarly earned Ning Cheng’s respect. As for the fact that Le Xichen had many dao fruits to practice with, he treated it as a secondary matter. Without a deep understanding of the Dao of Alchemy, no amount of dao fruits could produce an alchemic master like Le Xichen.

The sounds of eager chatter gradually died down, and all eyes fell on Ning Cheng. With such a massive success of Le Xichen’s pills, everyone wanted to know if Ning Cheng’s Dao of Alchemy was as great as his mouth. Or was Ning Cheng merely a vain fellow who could only speak, not do?

Ning Cheng took a deep breath and dropped his gaze on Percy, who he had long since noticed along with the two men beside him. One of them, the man with a dark face and slender eyes, felt like the void personified. Most likely, this person was a Dao Fusion powerhouse.

As for the other man, he looked like a skeleton and quite sick. Ning Cheng couldn’t tell if the man who was as thin as a skeleton was the one who was poisoned, but he guessed that he should be.

Since these two people had come here with Perc, they most likely wanted to look at this proficiency in the Dao of Alchemy. But at the same time, they also wanted to see if there were other powerful alchemists.

“Brother Percy, I would like to ask you for the ingredients for the pills I will make here today. As for anything else, just follow what we discussed before.” Ning Cheng said to Percy while standing on the stage.

Ning Cheng believed that Percy could understand what he meant. This way, he could fulfil Percy’s request and use the Renewing Heaven Ripple Bone Pill to defeat Le Xichen.

Before he participated in the Illusionary Fruit Orchard, Ning Cheng would have really not dared to say this. But now, even if Le Xichen refined the Supreme Essence Arterial Pulse Pills, Ning Cheng felt sure to defeat him with it.

To refine this dao pill, he spent ten days in seclusion at the rest inn, refining dao pills with various dao fruits every day. Even Sheng Houtian didn’t know about Ning Cheng’s current attainments in the Dao of Alchemy. In fact, Ning Cheng’s current level in alchemy had advanced by at least two grades since the assessment.

Percy felt overjoyed and hurriedly stood up and said, “Of course, you can, we’ll bring the ingredients ……”

“Wait….” The dark-faced man with long slender eyes sitting beside Percy spoke out and interrupted Percy’s words.

While Percy had still not recovered from his surprise, he spoke to Ning Cheng. “Alchemist Ning, the materials Percy spoke to you about are on their way and should arrive soon at Heaven Essence Sacred City. When they arrive, I will have to trouble Alchemist Ning.”

Percy’s expressions instantly soured. Every ingredient for the Renewing Heaven Ripple Bone Pill was on the sect master. Yet, he actually said that they were on their way. Was this not a sign that he didn’t want to take out the materials for Ning Cheng to compete? Percy instantly understood that the sect master wanted Le Xichen to refine the pills, so he resorted to a delaying tactic to reject Ning Cheng.

He immediately glanced at the Void Star Sect’s old ancestor. Unfortunately, even though the ancestor opened his mouth, he didn’t say anything in the end.

Ning Cheng sneered; how could he not understand what this dark-faced, slender eyed man meant? Seeing that Le Xichen seemed to be more accomplished than him, this fellow wanted to let Le Xichen refine the pills. In other words, this was tantamount to unilaterally breaking the contract. Ning Cheng wouldn’t feel any anger at such a development any other time. But at this moment, when it was a matter of winning or losing this challenge, for the Void Star Sect to pull such a reversal on him made him feel very upset.

This senior, I’m already at my best state. If you can’t take out the alchemy materials, I’m afraid I wouldn’t be confident enough to refine them later.” Ning Cheng spoke with cupped fists.

However, the other party clearly understood the meaning behind those words. If you want me to refine the Renewing Heaven Ripple Bone Pill, then produce the materials now; otherwise, don’t come looking for me later. Not even willing to help me with this favour, and you want me to help you refine the Renewing Heaven Ripple Bone Pill?

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