by Translator: BornToBe; Author: Ordinary Magician (平凡魔术师); Licensed From: 17k
BOOM BOOM BOOM!!!
The pill furnace was continuously emitting explosive sounds and sweat poured down Long Chen’s face. The medicinal pill within the furnace was acting like a struggling wild bull.
Long Chen used his Spiritual Strength to seal it, but the amount of Spiritual Strength being used was completely shocking.
Crap, I’m almost out of Spiritual Strength!
Long Chen suddenly felt a burst of fatigue. He shouted out, madly sending his Spiritual Strength out.
BOOM!
The entire martial arena shook along with the pill furnace. Long Chen closed and tightly pressed down on the furnace’s lid.
Only when the pill furnace became still did Long Chen finally relax. His whole body was drenched in sweat. The amount of energy he had used just now had been too great.
Slowly opening the lid, the pill fragrance floated out. Looking at the medicinal pill within the furnace, Long Chen’s expression suddenly changed.
[1] As he did in a previous chapter, here he turns her name Baichi into ‘idiot’. The pronunciation of the ‘chi’ is first tone when he says idiot and second tone in her real name.
Chapter 39 Obtaining the Beast Flame
Seeing Long Chen’s expression change so suddenly, Chu Yao’s heart sank. Shi Feng, Fatty Yu, and the others were also scared.
The cost of him losing was far too great. It was something hard to take even in death. But Xia Changfeng coldly smiled inside when he saw Long Chen’s expression.
“Haha, Long Chen, what are you waiting for? Why aren’t you coming over to kowtow yet?” Xia Baichi sneered at Long Chen, seeming extremely pleased with herself.
Being able to humiliate Long Chen was practically better than being promoted to Pill Adept for her! Her body couldn’t help starting to shiver in anticipation.
Long Chen’s face was extremely grave as he slowly took out a medicinal pill from the pill furnace. He regretfully said, “I wanted to be low-key, but the heavens wouldn’t let me.”
Only now did everyone see that Long Chen actually did have a round medicinal pill in his hand. They cursed at him for acting so dejected.
“That scoundrel.” Chu Yao was both surprised and delighted. She really had been scared witless for a moment back then.
“Heavens, I think I really might die. If It continues like this, then my heart won’t be able to take it.” Fatty Yu collapsed to the ground helplessly.
Only at this time did people realize that Long Chen had put on an act. This was especially true for Xia Baichi who felt as if she had been given a slap on the face.
“Long Chen, you dare to play me?” raged Xia Baichi.
“It’s just taking people for a little spin, so why are you so serious?” Long Chen said randomly.
“Hmph, Long Chen, even if you did refine the Blood Condensing Pill, you’ll still lose. That pill you refined is just low grade, while mine is middle grade.”
Xia Baichi raised her hand, showing off the pill line. All the nearby people could see it extremely clearly.
“Sister Baichi, you really are talented. You can already refine a middle grade second tier medicinal pill at such a young age. It really does make people admire you,” exclaimed the crown prince Chu Yang.
A Pill Adept this young was rarely seen, maybe seen only once every few decades. Such talent could definitely go far on the pill path.
Seeing her ridiculing face, Long Chen indifferently said, “Who won and who lost isn’t something decided by you.”
“Are you trying to quibble? My medicinal pill has a pill line, and yours doesn’t. Are you unable to see such an obvious difference?” sneered Xia Baichi.
“You’re absolutely right that yours is a middle grade medicinal pill. But the pill in my hand is also middle grade.” Long Chen raised the pill in his hand.
For Long Chen to put it like this shocked everyone. But after carefully examining it, it seemed as if the pill in his hand was absolutely ordinary. Although it was plump and round, there were no pill lines.
“Middle grade medicinal pill? Hmph, how come I can’t tell?” sneered Xia Baichi.
“I really do sympathize with you. So young, but your eyes are so blind. Who said that middle grade medicinal pills had to have pill lines?” sighed Long Chen.
Wei Cang’s expression changed slightly at that. Shock appeared in his eyes, and he stared fixedly at the medicinal pill in Long Chen’s hand.
Just now, he had felt that the pill was a bit strange. From what Long Chen said, he then thought of what he had done before forming the pill and immediately became a bit bewildered.
“Bring out the pill appraisal device!” Following grandmaster Yun Qi’s instructions, a Pill Apprentice respectfully brought over a large apparatus.
It looked like a table and had a notch at the center for placing the medicinal pill. It had the best accuracy for appraising a medicinal pill’s grade.
“Sixty percent essence; miss Baichi’s medicinal pill meets the demands for a middle grade medicinal pill.” The Pill Apprentice read out the device’s reading.
If the essence constituted fifty percent of the pill, then it would count as low grade. Sixty percent would make it middle grade. Xia Baichi’s Blood Condensing Pill had just barely made the grade.
“Long Chen, I truly want to know just what’s so special about your ‘middle grade’ medicinal pill.” Xia Baichi took back her pill and sneered at Long Chen.
She didn’t believe that Long Chen’s medicinal pill had truly reached the middle grade. Since there weren’t any pill lines, who was he even trying to trick? This was just a final struggle.
“Then, have a good look.”
Long Chen laughed and handed his medicinal pill to the Pill Apprentice. Any medicinal pills that were just refined would have a thin pill membrane covering it for six hours that could not be faked.
“Sixty-three percent essence; mister Long Chen’s medicinal pill meets the demands for a middle grade medicinal pill.” The Pill Apprentice read out the new reading.
“What?!”
Xia Baichi was stupefied to the point that even the pill in her hand dropped to the ground, her head completely blank; she had lost?
It wasn’t just her; everyone else was also shocked, especially Wei Cang. Reading the number on the device, his face turned completely ashen.
Everything that had happened during the refining had been observed by him, so it was definitely no fake. Long Chen had actually refined a middle grade pill without any pill lines.
Usually, the medicinal grade of the pill was determined during the refining process. That was why Wei Cang had given Xia Baichi those three-hundred-year-old Blood Spirit Fruits. It could be said that she had been set in an invincible position.
Otherwise, he wouldn’t have acted so grandly and used the Flame Leopard’s beast flame as a prize. But now Xia Baichi had lost.
“No way, you despicable bastard. Long Chen, you definitely gave us a fake. You bought off the appraiser! I’ll kill you!”
Xia Baichi suddenly shouted accusations and charged at him like a madwoman. Long Chen loathed to deal with her; as long as she came over, he would send her flying with a single kick.
“Baichi, stop. Don’t make a scene.” Wei Cang grabbed her and sternly warned her. He understood that their scheme today had ended in a complete and unexpected failure.
If he reneged on his words in front of this many people, he really would have no more face. So he had no choice but to stop her.
Bai Xiachi struggled wildly in Wei Cang’s grasp. She shouted, “You old lecher, what did you say yesterday when you played with me on the bed? Didn’t you say the Flame Leopard’s beast flame would definitely belong to me? Give it to me!”
She mournfully shouted, her voice echoing throughout the plaza such that every single person heard it. Quite a few people shook their heads.
This Wei Cang truly was trash despite his grandmaster status. Before, it was just a rumor about his lecherousness. But now with Xia Bai
chi’s words, there were none who didn’t look down on him.
Wei Cang turned purple with rage and slapped Xia Baichi dizzy. “Baichi has become too upset and started to babble nonsense. Take her down.”
After Xia Baichi was brought down, the entire plaza was silent. Long Chen glanced at Wei Cang and reached out his hand. “Hand it over.”
Wei Cang’s face was extremely unsightly, and his heart was bleeding. This Flame Leopard beast flame was extremely precious, and he really had prepared to leave it for Xia Baichi.
But he hadn’t expected that his attempt to get an advantage over Yun Qi would end up making him suffer a huge loss. Instead of making Yun Qi lose face, he ended up losing his own precious treasure. But in front of this many people, he truly didn’t have the face to renege.
“Take it.”
Long Chen took the bottle. Inside, he saw a pulsing ball of flame and couldn’t restrain himself from exclaiming in joy.
“Haha, thanks.” This was the first time Long Chen felt that this old man was not bad.
“Can you tell me how you did this?” Wei Cang was unwilling inside; this time he had truly suffered a loss.
Long Chen hesitated for a moment, but seeing grandmaster Yun Qi also send him an encouraging gaze, he smiled, “Due to my respect for your age, I’ll tell you: this is a secret art for refining pills. I saw it in Ke Gu’s recording’s which included this technique. When the pill is about to form, make a small opening and use one portion of Spiritual Strength to lock in the medicinal nature and another portion to expel the impurities. This allows you to purify it twice. Now, do you understand?”
“Ke Gu’s recordings? Could you mean the Pill King Ke Gu?” Wei Cang was startled.
“I don’t know. In any case, I saw it in a book. Find it for yourself.” Long Chen shook his head. He wasn’t telling the whole truth.
In order to not draw any suspicions, he had gone through many of the techniques recorded within the guild. Within them, there was truly the technique he had described, but Long Chen’s technique wasn’t exactly the same.
That technique had said to make just one opening, but Long Chen had made two openings. One opening was used to expel impurities, while the other was used to absorb heaven and earth’s spiritual energy. Otherwise, the spiritual qi within the cauldron would be insufficient for the pill to condense.
If only one opening was used, then the spiritual qi would only go out and not in. No matter how powerful your Spiritual Strength was, you would never be able to form the pill in the end and would end up with a pile of medicinal ashes.
Long Chen walked towards grandmaster Yun Qi and bowed. Yun Qi nodded; Long Chen’s display today had completely surpassed his expectations.
At the same time, he admired Long Chen’s courage that allowed him to dare to gamble despite such risks. Now that Long Chen had a beast flame, his Pill Flame would become at least ten times stronger once he refined it.
With a powerful Pill Flame as support and supplemented with his powerful Spiritual Strength, Long Chen’s alchemy path would be completely flat and easy for him to tread upon.
Long Chen walked to Chu Yao. Looking at her charming face, he almost couldn’t help but sink himself into her bosom.
Their display today had broken through any previous barriers between them, and their two hearts were much closer.
“I will definitely accomplish what I promised you. Believe me,” said Long Chen quietly.
Chu Yao cutely nodded. Seeing his determination, she was filled with warmth and felt as if she was no longer alone.
Long Chen bowed slightly to the Empress Dowager before walking down the martial arena and returned to his own spot. He attracted everyone’s gaze as he walked.
The women especially had shining eyes. Long Chen’s display was coarse and wild. Moreover, he actually cursed right in front of grandmaster Wei Cang. This was both fresh and stimulating to them.
Then atop the refining stage, he had displayed that easy and calm refining technique of his. He had been completely unrestrained and had managed to counterattack beautifully at the last moment.
Such a person was someone they had never met before. He was completely novel. When Long Chen walked past them, many of the daring ones even tried to entice him.
Once he sat down, fatty Yu and the others all burst with excitement.
“Brother Long, you really are too strong!”
“Haha, now that I’ve obtained a beast flame, I guarantee that I will let you guys ascend to the Blood Condensation realm.” Seeing their concern for him, Long Chen’s heart was moved.
Although he had been atop the stage, he had seen everything occurring below the stage. So, all their emotions for him were something he had seen.
Fatty Yu and the others didn’t have high cultivation bases. The stronger Long Chen became, the more assistance he would be able to offer them.
When Long Chen had been down, these people had always stayed with him. This feeling was very precious to Long Chen.
Just as they were talking, a burst of cheers suddenly rang out, and Long Chen and the others were roused. Shi Feng laughed:
“The real party has started!”
Chapter 40 Huang Chang's Challenge
Long Chen raised his head to look and saw a powerful youth standing atop the center of the martial arena. He was cupping his fist in all directions.
Long Chen didn’t recognize this young man. But as soon as he had stepped on the stage, the crowd had cheered. It seemed he was somewhat famous in the capital.
At this time, Long Chen noticed that, even outside the plaza, there were countless people. Back before the lanterns were lit, there had been an area reserved only for the nobility, but now it was open to everyone.
There were no restrictions on status for the battle over the number one junior warrior. Looking at where the Empress Dowager was watching the battles, he noticed that there were now many more people over there as well. Amongst them was the Savage Marquis.
Those people tended to be on the older side, but their bodies were still surging with strength. They were Blood Condensation cultivators and a faint murderous aura came from their bodies. They were clearly true experts.
Long Chen was sizing those people up when another burst of cheering rang out. A man jumped up tens of meters and lightly landed on the martial arena, his figure appearing extremely at ease and confident.
“So it’s Feng Yang!” Shi Feng was somewhat amazed when he saw that person.
“What, do you know him?” asked Long Chen.
“Yup, he’s the same age as me. He joined the army two years ago. At that time, he was just at the third Heavenstage of Qi Condensation, but now he’s at the eighth Heavenstage.”
To jump five minor realms in just a short two years truly was shocking to people.
“It’s not surprising. After joining the army, he must have gone through several missions and survived many life and death situations. This kind of speed is normal under those circumstances.” Long Chen nodded. “This Feng Yang is really not bad. Although his cultivation base isn’t high, that trace of murderous aura on his body isn’t something these people who grew up coddled can handle.”
While Long Chen and Shi Feng were talking, Feng Yang had already taken action and it truly was just as Long Chen said it would be.
Although the person who had come up ahead of him looked strong and had a similar cultivation base with Feng Yang, his true combat ability was a far cry from Feng Yang’s, and he was defeated in less than ten exchanges.
“On the martial path, just having a higher cultivation base doesn’t mean you have a higher combat ability. Sometimes, just an unstoppable, imposing manner will make the opponent lose confidence and become afraid of you. This will lead to their battle strength going down. That’s why, the further you walk along the martial path, the more you require a strong martial heart. That will allow you to overcome your obstacles and be undaunted by setbacks.” Long Chen patted Shi Feng’s shoulder.
/> “I know. I can die, but I cannot surrender.” Shi Feng nodded.
Long Chen smiled. Shi Feng’s talent was limited, and his cultivation path would be rough. But if he kept a steadfast heart, he really might be able to pull off a miracle one day.
Feng Yang consecutively beat three strong opponents before he finally ended up being exhausted. In the end, he was sent flying by someone and had no choice but to concede.
“I’m going up now.”
“Oh, this early? Are you able to handle it?” Long Chen was a bit flabbergasted.
“I consider this contest a kind of training for myself. The results aren’t important. Instead, I need to firm my martial heart,” smiled Shi Feng.
“Nice, brother Shi. We’ll all be rooting for you from here!” Fatty Yu was especially excited, and the rest of them all wanted to see Shi Feng win.
“You got this!” Long Chen patted his shoulders.
“Shi Feng has come to ask for advice!” Following Shi Feng’s shout, it was like thunder had clapped through the plaza, and the entire crowd emitted a huge cheer. Obviously, Shi Feng was pretty famous within the younger generation of the capital.
Fatty Yu and the others’ yells were drowned out by a flood of cheering. It was so loud that they couldn’t even hear their own voices. They looked at each other in dismay and awkwardness.
Shi Feng’s face was dark and reserved. As he stood atop the stage, he gave people a sensation of being a large mountain that no man could shake.
He was fighting a ninth Heavenstage Qi Condensation expert, but when that person saw Shi Feng, he immediately turned into a statue.
“Come at me; I’ll only use the power of the ninth Heavenstage of Qi Condensation.” Shi Feng smiled slightly.
That person naturally couldn’t help but to become angry at that provocation. Everyone was watching them, which put him on the spot.
“Hmph, who asked for your help?!” That person stamped on the ground and a punch came smashing towards Shi Feng. But Shi Feng didn’t even deign to look at it.