Desolate Devouring Art

Chapter 70 - Phenomenon

Liu Wuxie’s performance the previous day had outshone those of Ji Yang and Qin Letian, as he had risen from being an underdog to surpassing them. However, his performance today was disappointing, and there were murmurs of mockery from the crowd.

Liu Wuxie ignored the mockery and placed down the last herb, a faint smile playing at the corner of his lips. The sapling had absorbed all the wood essence from the herbs, and their quality had improved after receiving a stream of wood essence back from the sapling. This meant the quality of his herbs far surpassed everyone present. However, he didn’t reveal this fact, as he was still trying to figure out the pattern and see if he could apply it to pills.

When Liu Wuxie approached his cauldron, he lit the fire but didn’t immediately add any herbs. Instead, he used the fire to heat every corner of the cauldron.

“What is he trying to do? Is he planning to heat the entire cauldron first?” Many people from the observation area had no idea what Liu Wuxie was doing because they didn’t know much about alchemy. Even the thirty-five pavilion masters were confused and scornful because this was the first time they had seen someone heating the cauldron without adding herbs.

“Anyone can tell at first glance that he’s a beginner and might not have refined pills before. So he’s determined to lose the second round,” Nangong Qi said confidently, insisting that this was Liu Wuxie’s first time refining pills. After all, only a novice would do something like what Liu Wuxie was doing.

“What Pavilion Master Nangong said makes sense. Herbs are fragile, and it’s best to put them in before the temperature rises. If the temperature in the cauldron is too high, the herbs will be destroyed. At that time, it would be impossible even to purify the herbs or refine pills.” Yun Lan agreed with Nangong Qi, and many pavilion masters nodded at his words. That was the common sense in alchemy. There were many alchemists here, and there was no lack of famous alchemists among them.

When the cauldron was about to reach the right temperature, Liu Wuxie threw the first herb into the cauldron. As smoke came out from the cauldron, the herb was destroyed like they’d said.

After four hours had passed, most participants finished refining their pills. Ji Yang was the first to finish, producing ten white pills that emitted a dense aroma, drawing much attention.

“Third-grade Energy Consolidating Pills and each pill is mellow. It looks like Ji Yang will be taking first place in the second round,” Ke Wen exclaimed. Ji Yang’s skills as an alchemist surpassed not only Ke Wen’s but also many of the pavilion masters’.

As mentioned earlier, the quality of pills could be differentiated into forming, plump, mellow, and rune. Achieving mellow was already the highest possible achievement because a pill with a rune had not appeared in the Great Yan Dynasty and only existed in legend.

After Che Jiayun had verified the method revealed by Liu Wuxie, it had greatly improved the quality of Energy Condensing Pills. But the Energy Condensing Pill was only a first-grade pill. The higher the grade, the harder it was to refine them. So a first-grade pill naturally couldn’t be compared to a third-grade pill.

Qin Letian finished after Ji Yang and refined ten white pills. He also refined the Energy Consolidating Pill like Ji Yang.

“It’s a pity that Qin Letian has a pill that didn’t reach mellow!” Che Jiajun sighed.

Qin Letian also produced ten pills, and only nine reached mellow. Nevertheless, it was an achievement that many envied.

Zuo Hong, Gu Yongshuang, and others followed behind Qin Letian. Some only refined nine pills, while some only managed to refine eight pills, and their pills were of various qualities. Gu Yongshuang refined eight pills, five of which reached mellow while the others were plump.

Most two-star alchemists refined the Breeze Wind Pill because the Energy Consolidating Pill was way beyond their ability. Aside from a few who failed their first cauldron, the second round had practically ended, and Liu Wuxie was the only one who had started refining not long ago.

Thus, everyone’s attention fell on Liu Wuxie because he had just started.

“He’s just messing around. His refining technique is simply an insult to all the alchemists present!” Heng Zheng said sarcastically with disdain, drawing many people’s acknowledgement with his words.

“When this round ends, we should revoke his qualification. He’s only embarrassing the Treasure Pill Pavilion. Why is someone like him here? Did he think anyone could make up for the numbers in this competition?” Mo Shidao concurred, intending to join forces and strip Liu Wuxie of his qualifications.

“In my view, Bi Gongyu must have crammed him with information about herbs at the last minute. That’s why he scored so well yesterday, but now that we’ve reached the practical round, he’s revealed his true colors,” Yun Lan sneered, aiming his criticism at Bi Gongyu. The two had already fallen out, so Yun Lan saw no need to hold back against Bi Gongyu.

“Cut it out. There is still time, and we’ll see for ourselves soon.” Wang Hong interrupted. They did not need to quarrel here when the time was almost up.

Even those who failed their first cauldron were almost done, but there still wasn’t any aroma from Liu Wuxie’s cauldron. So many people felt that he was just wasting everyone’s time.

“What is he doing? Is he going to throw all the hundred herbs into the cauldron?” Many pavilion masters discussed this among themselves. Although the participants were allowed to mix and match a hundred herbs as they wished, most of them only used half of the herbs, and there hadn’t been anyone who used up all the herbs.

“See? How can you possibly refine pills using all the hundred herbs? Many of these herbs have conflicting properties, and we should put a stop to this. If we let him continue, it’ll just be a waste of everyone’s time,” Yun Lan spoke up, and no one challenged him. In fact, many people nodded in agreement, having verified that combining a hundred herbs would make it impossible to refine any pills. It was already a miracle that Liu Wuxie’s cauldron hadn’t exploded.

Ridicule and mockery could be heard from the crowd, making Bi Gongyu frown. He also had no idea what Liu Wuxie was doing, and he began to wonder if pills could be refined with the hundred herbs combined.

After all the herbs had been added to the cauldron, Liu Wuxie finally began forming seals and injecting strange runes into it. A bizarre scene unfolded as the fire seemed to come alive, dancing around the cauldron and taking on various shapes.

At times, it would resemble a tiger charging at the cauldron, while at other times, it would take on the form of a peacock enveloping the entire vessel in its colorful plumage. As Liu Wuxie’s hands moved in intricate patterns, everyone watched in amazement, having never seen such a refining method before.

“This is strange. His movements seem fluid and practiced, as if he has refined pills countless times before,” Ke Wen exclaimed, disbelief evident in his eyes.

Liu Wuxie moved gracefully around the cauldron, performing the Seven Dipper Steps and making intricate gestures with his hands as he poured a staggering amount of wood essence into the vessel. As the sapling injected a massive surge of wood essence into the cauldron, there was a crisp popping sound, as if the pills were jumping inside.

“Quick, look!” Che Jiajun staggered as he pointed to the sky. As everyone’s attention was on Liu Wuxie, they didn’t notice the sky above him.

“A natural phenomenon, dense and cloudy!” Master Mao stood up from his seat, looking like a madman, as he dashed ten steps away from Liu Wuxie. In his frenzy, he even yanked out a handful of his own beard, but he was too stunned to feel any pain.

“How is this possible...can the legend be true? Does this mean that spiritual pills are about to be born?!” Sang Yan trembled in excitement as the phenomenon before him surpassed his comprehension.

The phenomenon Ji Yang and Qin Letian created when they were refining pills was misty and scattered, looking like a cloud of mist hovering above the cauldron. On the contrary, the phenomenon that Liu Wuxie had created was thick and ever-changing. At first, it resembled a layer of clouds, but then it suddenly transformed into a tree rooted in the clouds. No one could make sense of what was happening.

“Look, there are more changes!”

The dense cloud turned into a tiger, releasing a deafening roar at the sky. The roar made many people with low cultivation fall in fright because they couldn’t withstand the pressure the tiger was giving off.

Suddenly, a rich aroma wafted from the cauldron, overpowering all other scents in the venue. The fragrance was thick and invigorating, quickly intoxicating many of those present.

“It’s too fragrant!” Che Jiajun took a deep breath as though all the pores on his body had opened up to absorb the aroma greedily. Even without him knowing, his cultivation had improved.

This scene caught Yun Lan and his allies by surprise. After all, they were mocking Liu Wuxie for not knowing how to refine pills earlier, and this scene was a resounding slap to their faces.

“This can’t be real! He’s only eighteen, so how can he possibly refine pills?!” Nangong Qi comforted himself. This was the same as forging a spiritual weapon, but refining spiritual pills was a thousandfold tougher than forging spiritual weapons.

Pills typically had no life force, which was what made spiritual pills so valuable and difficult to refine, with only a select few grandmasters capable of producing them.

“That’s right. This can’t be real!” Yun Lan nodded frantically. He refused to believe that trash like Liu Wuxie could refine pills, let alone combine a hundred herbs.

Everyone had different expressions. Some had anticipation because it was already impressive for Liu Wuxie to create such a phenomenon regardless if it was real. Everyone anxiously awaited the results as there wasn’t much time left.

Only Liu Wuxie knew why signs of spiritual pills would appear. This was related to the mysterious sapling in his dantian. The sapling must contain spirituality, and it transformed the pills. After all, he couldn't refine spiritual pills at his current level and could only achieve mellow pills at best.

Only pills imbued with runes could contain spiritual essence. If he only managed to produce mellow pills, he would merely be on par with Ji Yang and would not be able to defeat him.

“The pills are going to condense!”

As the flames became smaller, Liu Wuxie began to condense the pills. This was the last step in the refining process before opening the cauldron. The impacting sound from the cauldron struck everyone’s nerves, and they could hear that there was more than one pill.

“Hmph, what does it matter if he can refine pills? Can pills made by combining a hundred herbs even be safe to consume? They might be poisonous!” Yun Lan refused to give up, clenching his fists and gritting his teeth in frustration. The murderous intent in his eyes grew even stronger.

Xiao Mingyi and his group huddled together, a sense of foreboding filling their chests. As they looked at each other, they could see the concern etched on each other’s faces.