Chapter 569: Extreme Pill Formation

Chapter 569: Chapter 567: Extreme Pill Formation

The six Red Leaf Pills sent a shockwave through the crowd. As far as they could tell, even someone at Long Bin’s peak skill level couldn’t possibly fuse six Red Leaf Pills in a single attempt.

Red Leaf Pills were very low-grade, but fusing six of them was no less difficult than refining a Fifth Grade Elixir—and a particularly challenging one at that.

As the six Red Leaf Pills dropped into the Tripod Furnace, Lin Xuan felt it begin to seethe in his hands. A surging wave of energy flooded the vessel, filling it to the brim until it felt as if it might explode at any second.

He estimated, however, that it wouldn’t explode; it was completely within his control. The energy consumption, on the other hand, was astonishing.

Lin Xuan’s forehead was already beaded with sweat. Fusing so many at once required immense firepower to control, and he had already expended a great deal of Elemental Power in the previous round. His current consumption was anything but low.

However, this was no issue for him. With a slight circulation of his Elemental Power, the sweat on his body evaporated instantly.

He wasn’t the only one struggling with the high energy cost. Long Bin and Long Fan were in no better shape. Both were drenched in sweat, their hands beginning to tremble as they struggled to control their Tripod Furnaces.

They had already begun fusing their fifth Red Leaf Pill. The difficulty was considerable, and the energy drain was certainly high, but they should have no major problems getting through this stage.

But compared to Lin Xuan, they were in a completely different league. In the eyes of the spectators, the difficulty of their respective tasks was worlds apart. This was especially true for the final condensation step; with so many pills, Lin Xuan’s process would be exponentially harder!

But the competition was judged on results, not on the difficulty of the attempt. If Lin Xuan failed, it wouldn’t matter how dazzling or arduous his process was—it would all be for naught.

This was simply the path Lin Xuan had chosen. It wasn’t for show, nor was it to be flashy; it was to create a superior pill. He would never make the process ostentatious just to grandstand. He was genuinely using the optimal method to fuse the elixirs.

Time flew by. The time it took for an incense stick to burn—an entire day—passed in what felt like the blink of an eye. For Cultivators, a day truly was little more than an instant.

“Condense!”

Long Bin let out a low roar and slapped his Tripod Furnace. The liquid inside rapidly solidified and shot out, forming a Red Leaf Pill the size of a date. This pill, a fusion of five, was incredibly concentrated. Its quality was high, and its effects were drastically enhanced!

Success!

Long Bin was the first to successfully form an elixir from five fused Red Leaf Pills. As he clenched the concentrated pill in his hand, he couldn’t help but burst into laughter.

“I did it! I finally did it!”

His face was filled with elation. Though Lin Xuan’s attempt had rattled him, he had still succeeded in his own refinement, which meant his skill had taken a significant leap forward.

“Condense!”

Long Fan followed suit, quickly condensing his elixir. He too had successfully fused five Red Leaf Pills, and the quality and effect were comparable to Long Bin’s. It seemed the two were neck and neck, their skill levels nearly identical.

At this point, less than a few dozen disciples remained on Dragon Cauldron Plaza, still engaged in alchemy. Many had stopped after fusing around four pills, not daring to go further.

Their control wasn’t as formidable as Long Bin’s group, so four pills was their absolute limit. Some had even stopped at three; not everyone possessed such powerful abilities.

The majority of those who could fuse four pills had stopped, choosing not to attempt a fifth. The risk was simply too great. A few had failed and were starting over, but at least no one’s furnace had exploded. A furnace explosion would have been a true disgrace.

With Long Bin and Long Fan now finished, all eyes in the plaza turned to the most riveting spectacle of all: Lin Xuan.

He controlled the Phoenix Fire, his movements as steady as a mountain, continuing the fusion. He appeared to be tempering the mixture, drawing out even more impurities and refining it further.

Long Yuxuan shook his head. ‘If he fails now, he’ll be a laughingstock. With his skill, he could have easily fused five pills without any issues. Lin Xuan was already in the lead; he only needed to match them to secure victory.’ He still felt Lin Xuan had been too arrogant. ‘His speed is falling behind Long Bin’s group, and the risk he’s taking is immense.’

‘If Lin Xuan fails now, there’s simply not enough time for him to start over.’

Many of the Elders couldn’t understand it, and neither could Long Xingyun. Lin Xuan had been in the lead the entire time. Why take such a risk?

“If you’re going to do something, you do it to the absolute best of your ability. That’s just who he is…” Long Yuwei said with a faint smile, and as she gazed at Lin Xuan, the silhouette of another person seemed to surface in her mind’s eye.

Long Yuxuan felt a lump form in his throat. An indescribable, bitter feeling washed over him.

Just as everyone assumed Lin Xuan was about to fail, a cold glint flashed in his eyes. He slapped the Tripod Furnace, sending it spinning like a top. The liquid inside began to swirl along with it. To the crowd’s astonishment, the liquid was already starting to condense into a pill.

The very instant it began to solidify, Lin Xuan slapped the Pill Furnace again. The lid flew open, and a gleaming elixir shot into the air, hanging there conspicuously. However, it looked unstable, as if it were about to disperse. A red light flickered around it, and it seemed ready to explode at any moment—it clearly hadn’t fully condensed and was still in a semi-liquid state!

“Haha, he’s failing! The elixir isn’t even fully solidified and he ejected it? Is he trying to get himself killed?”

“He dared to toss it out before it was fully formed? This is hilarious! It’s definitely going to disintegrate in a second!”

“What an idiot. Wasting all that time, only to produce a failed elixir!”

…

Long Bin and his group just smirked, looking at Lin Xuan as if he were an idiot. ‘If you don’t have the skill,’ they thought, ‘you shouldn’t bite off more than you can chew.’

As the crowd jeered, a sudden WHOOSH erupted. A jet of blue flame surged from his body, instantly replacing the Phoenix Fire he had been using.

“The Yulan Sacred Fire!”

Lin Xuan waved his hand, unleashing a blast of frigid air that instantly solidified the floating elixir, encasing it in a thick layer of frost!

In the blink of an eye, the elixir was frozen solid. It then descended from the air, landing gently in his palm.

“Break!”

While the crowd stared, dumbfounded, Lin Xuan flicked a finger. The outer layer of frost shattered and fell away, revealing a perfect Red Leaf Pill—a far cry from the unstable elixir that had looked ready to disintegrate just moments before.

This had been Lin Xuan’s plan all along: eject the elixir just before it fully formed and use the Yulan Sacred Fire to flash-freeze it into shape. For him, there was no difficulty. The condensation was completed with incredible ease, succeeding in an instant.

The entire plaza was dumbstruck. It wasn’t just Lin Xuan’s miraculous technique; it was the sight of the Yulan Sacred Fire! The most difficult part of the process, the final condensation, had been completed in an instant under the rapid freezing of the Sacred Fire. The crowd’s jeers died on their lips, the words caught in their throats.

In that moment, it was as if everyone’s expressions had frozen solid along with it.