Word Count: 2,541 Words
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Quite a few of the Yao Clan's alchemist disciples and elders, those capable of refining peak tier 8 pills and even beginning to challenge tier 9, were left completely dumbfounded.
They were not only stunned by the spectacle of four Mysterious Pill Gurus fighting over the world's energy, but also by the realization that Xiao Yan had anticipated this very outcome from the start.
Four people fighting among themselves would ultimately only result in the fish dying and the net tearing!
So before the net tore, Xiao Yan had quietly eaten his fill first!
"Good heavens. Who says alchemists only need talent? Without brains, you'd still get played for a fool."
"This guy actually predicted what Elder Wanhuo and the other two would do!"
Everyone who grasped the purpose behind Xiao Yan's choice of the simplest Mysterious Pill felt their minds shudder.
"Huh? Why are all four of them fighting over the world's energy? Is that really how alchemy works?" a novice alchemist asked in confusion.
"A Tier 9 Treasure Pill can already defy the heavens and change fate. A Tier 9 Mysterious Pill, however, must seize the power of heaven itself. That's why tier 9 pills are also called Heaven Pills."
"All four of them are seizing the world's energy, which proves they really are all refining Tier 9 Mysterious Pills."
At the seat of honor, Yao Dan watched the phenomenon unfolding across the sky, his expression turning somewhat peculiar. With his insight, how could he fail to see that all four were locked in fierce competition? He could not speak with complete certainty about the others, but he at least knew Elder Wanhuo inside and out. The latter's alchemy was certainly not weak, yet his chances of successfully refining a Tier 9 Mysterious Pill probably would not exceed twenty percent.
Moreover, refining a Tier 9 Mysterious Pill required absorbing an astonishing quantity of the world's energy. Although the natural energy within ten thousand miles of Yao Mountain was extremely dense, it clearly could not support the formation of four Tier 9 Mysterious Pills. By Yao Dan's estimate, even if every last trace of energy within that range were absorbed, producing a single Tier 9 Mysterious Pill would still prove difficult, let alone four at once.
'If Tier 9 Mysterious Pills were so easy to refine, they would never be so rare.' Yao Dan shook his head slowly, then turned his gaze toward Xiao Yan. If pressed to name who was most likely to succeed this time, it really might be that clever little fox.
High in the distant sky, energy roared and howled before condensing into four enormous spiritual tornadoes. One end of each storm connected to its owner's Heavenly Flame cauldron, while the other devoured the dense natural energy like a vast fishing net cast wide, desperately snatching the energy of the world for itself.
The spectators around the square suddenly felt the Dou Qi within their bodies straining to break free under the four contestants' near-reckless devouring. Alarm flooded their hearts and people hastily retreated, terrified that the Dou Qi they had painstakingly cultivated would be dragged away by those four storms overhead. A loss like that would be truly unbearable.
The four had no intention of stopping. This heaven-rending, earth-shattering struggle raged on for nearly three full days. No one could say how much energy had been torn from the world in that time. All they could feel was that the natural energy drifting through the surrounding air had grown far thinner. Even the medicinal herbs around the square had begun to yellow and wither, their vitality forcibly drawn out.
Since none of the four had reached the Emperor State soul realm, and all four possessed Heavenly Flames, the gap between them in this contest was not actually very large.
A Tier 9 Mysterious Pill was already considered a man-made divine object. The energy required for its formation was so terrifying that even many Dou Saints would be shocked. Ancient records stated that wherever a Tier 9 Mysterious Pill appeared in antiquity, the land for a thousand miles around would be left barren, every scrap of energy in that region swallowed into the pill.
The Yao Clan naturally felt heartache at the sight of their herbs withering, but there was nothing to be done. Several elders seized brief openings to set protective seals over the more precious medicinal fields on Yao Mountain. Otherwise, once the refinement ended, Yao Mountain itself might truly become a desolate wasteland.
This seemingly endless devouring continued for five full days. Only at noon on the fifth day did the howling sky fall abruptly quiet. When everyone looked up, the four giant tornadoes had already silently dissipated.
Four enormous medicinal cauldrons, each several hundred feet tall, hovered in the sky. Astonishing energy fluctuations seeped from within, yet those fluctuations were still nowhere near the level of a Tier 9 Mysterious Pill. They had not even reached the level of a Tier 9 Treasure Pill.
"The natural energy within a thousand miles has been completely exhausted." Yao Dan reached out and clenched his hand as though grasping at empty air, then shook his head helplessly. The energy in the atmosphere had thinned to a frightening degree. For Yao Mountain to recover its former richness would take months, perhaps even years.
"There's not enough natural energy left... does that mean the refinement has failed?"
Many Yao Clan elders found themselves caught between laughter and tears. The embryonic pills inside the four cauldrons were only half-formed, yet the natural energy within ten thousand miles had already been drained dry. There simply was not enough left to sustain them.
A perfected Heavenly State soul could at most allow one to command the natural energy within a ten-thousand-mile range. Of course, if one's soul advanced into the legendary Emperor State, that would be an entirely different matter. At that level, anywhere one's spiritual perception could reach, the world's energy could be seized and bent to one's will. It was said that in ancient times, a peerless expert who had stepped into the Emperor State once commanded the natural energy across nearly half the Central Plains with a single thought. Merely imagining such power was enough to make one's scalp tingle.
"Wait, look at Xiao Yan!"
Xiao Yan slowly opened his eyes and glanced at Hun Huzi. The man stared back with unmistakable unwillingness etched across his face.
He then looked toward Old Man Shen Nong and Elder Wanhuo. Both wore similarly helpless expressions, clearly at a complete loss.
A faint smile curved the corners of Xiao Yan's lips. He flipped his hand, and a transparent crystal appeared in his palm.
These were the leftover crystals from when he had entered the Heavenly Tomb. Mao Wu had collected the crystals produced by the Ancient Devouring Insects and taken most of them, leaving the remainder behind. Xiao Yan had always intended to use this batch for alchemy.
The Ancient Devouring Insects could devour energy storms and condense them into crystals, each one rich with the world's energy.
The ghostly white Bone Chilling Flame enveloped the crystal with a soft hiss. The crystallized essence melted at a speed visible to the naked eye, and a strand of natural energy drifted into the Refining Sky Ancient Formation.
Crystal after crystal followed, each dissolving into streams of the world's energy that poured into the formation.
These crystals alone were naturally not enough to meet the full requirements of a Tier 9 Mysterious Pill. But one should not forget that Xiao Yan had monopolized the natural energy within a ten-thousand-mile radius for two full days before the others caught up. The rest had split the supply among four people for five days, while Xiao Yan had been absorbing for seven days total, two of which had belonged entirely to him!
The natural energy he had absorbed by himself exceeded what Hun Huzi and the other two had gathered combined!
On top of that, the Tier 9 Mysterious Pill he had chosen was the simplest of the four, a healing-type pill that required the least energy. After seven days of absorption, he had already met ninety percent of the pill's needs. He only had to make up the final ten percent!
As crystal after crystal melted away, an unmistakable pill fluctuation began radiating from the cauldron within Xiao Yan's formation.
"What the hell?!"
"This..."
"No way. Xiao Yan actually succeeded? He stole the win just like that?!"
Even Human Medicine, Yao Tian, and the rest wore peculiar expressions. In every previous Medicinal Ceremony, the champion had always been beyond dispute, the victor determined purely by the strongest display of alchemy.
But this time, the championship felt a little... controversial.
Refining a Tier 9 Mysterious Pill was enough to place Xiao Yan at the very peak of alchemy on the Dou Qi Continent, and given his age, it was entirely possible that he might one day refine a Tier 9 Golden Pill.
But at least today, Xiao Yan's victory over Yao Wanhuo, Old Man Shen Nong, and Hun Huzi was not because their alchemy had failed or because the pills they were refining fell short of his. It was because they simply could not finish refining them. And the only reason Xiao Yan could was that his 'luck' had been better.
Yao Wanhuo gave a bitter smile and shook his head, murmuring, "This old man never imagined his Mysterious Pill would fail for a reason like this. I have to admit, that boy truly does have a bit of cleverness."
He looked at the pill within his Nine Serene Wind Flame. Setting aside whether he could have ultimately refined it to completion, the reality right now was plain: it lacked far too much natural energy. There was simply not enough to sustain it.
Beside him, Old Man Shen Nong stroked his beard and narrowed his eyes slightly, watching Xiao Yan with quiet interest.
"Perhaps what he possesses is more than just a little cleverness. If he had never successfully refined a Tier 9 Mysterious Pill before, there is no way he could know exactly how much natural energy such a pill requires."
That reminder made Yao Wanhuo's heart jolt. He stared at Xiao Yan, shock and sudden understanding flooding his gaze.
Precision!
What Xiao Yan had calculated was not merely that the three of them would all choose to refine Tier 9 Mysterious Pills. More importantly, he had accurately calculated how much natural energy he himself could obtain, and exactly how much a Tier 9 Mysterious Pill required!
Xiao Yan's refinement had not failed. The energy his pill needed had been sufficient all along. That meant the moment he chose this particular Mysterious Pill, he had already been fully confident. He had known precisely how much energy he needed and how far in advance he had to finish refining his ingredients in order to seize the initiative!
That was absolutely not something a Treasure Pill Guru could calculate, nor someone like Yao Wanhuo, whose success rate with Mysterious Pills did not even exceed twenty percent.
By now, Yao Dan, Hun Huzi, and the others had also begun to notice the clues.
"He has most likely refined a Tier 9 Mysterious Pill successfully before. Xiao Yan's alchemy may have already reached the level of a true Mysterious Pill Guru, not merely a Treasure Pill Guru."
Old Man Shen Nong's words left Yao Wanhuo's scalp completely numb, the realization exploding through his mind. Xiao Yan had not been guessing blindly. He had calculated the exact amount of natural energy his Tier 9 Mysterious Pill required, and that alone proved he had acted with absolute confidence. He had not relied on luck or on reading others' psychology. What mattered most was that he had the certainty to back it all up.
And that certainty existed only because he truly had the ability to support it!
As the saying went, experts saw the craft while outsiders only saw the spectacle. Even geniuses like Yao Tian and Human Medicine still believed Xiao Yan had merely been a little clever, that he had managed to scheme his way into this outcome.
What they failed to understand was that the reason they could not foresee this step was simple: they had never successfully refined a Tier 9 Mysterious Pill themselves. They knew nothing of the true requirements involved!
Of course, one could not deny that Xiao Yan truly was clever. Old Man Shen Nong and Hun Huzi had both successfully refined Tier 9 Mysterious Pills before, yet neither of them had thought of this.
"Ah, I really am getting old. I can't keep up with the younger generation anymore." Old Man Shen Nong was nothing if not straightforward, directly admitting he was no match for Xiao Yan.
Yao Wanhuo could at least tell himself he lacked certain knowledge because he had never successfully refined a Mysterious Pill. That was mere ignorance. But Old Man Shen Nong? He had simply been crushed by Xiao Yan in sheer wit.
"It looks like he's taking the championship this time." Elder Wanhuo shook his head with a bitter smile.
"Heh, not necessarily..." The moment those words left Elder Wanhuo's mouth, a strange smile surfaced on Hun Huzi's face in the distance. His hand seals shifted abruptly, and his palm slammed hard against the Heavenly Flame medicinal cauldron before him.
Two pillars of black flame erupted at once, shooting toward the Heavenly Flame cauldrons of Yao Wanhuo and Old Man Shen Nong before transforming into a pair of wildly spinning black holes above them. A terrifying devouring force poured forth, and in an instant, the vast energy the two had spent days accumulating turned into streaks of light that were forcibly swallowed into those black holes.
"Hun Huzi, you dare!"
Both men's expressions darkened almost instantly. Neither had expected Hun Huzi to be so brazen as to set his sights directly on them.
Old Man Shen Nong and Elder Wanhuo roared in fury. The Life Spirit Flame and the Nine Serene Wind Flame surged out together and slammed toward the black holes. Yet rather than shattering, the black holes only spun faster. As the devouring force swelled, they even consumed portions of the two Heavenly Flames themselves.
When even that failed to stop them, both men's faces turned truly ugly. The Life Spirit Flame ranked high on the Heavenly Flame Ranking, but its fame rested primarily on its supportive abilities. In a direct clash, it could never rival the Nihility Devouring Flame. As for the Nine Serene Wind Flame, it ranked only tenth. The gap between it and even a Seed Flame of the Nihility Devouring Flame was simply too vast to bridge.
"Hehe, you think you can block my Nihility Devouring Flame's Seed Flame with those Heavenly Flames of yours? An idiot's daydream!"
Hun Huzi laughed loudly, then glanced inside his own medicinal cauldron. The energy was still not enough. His hands formed a new seal, and his gaze slid toward Xiao Yan. A ruthless glint surfaced in his eyes.
He was, after all, a member of the Hun Clan. Back then, even the head of the Pill Tower had been murdered through his underhanded schemes.