Chapter 523: The Contest (Advance)
Chapter 523: The Contest (Advance)
...
The qilin was furious.
After countless reincarnations, it hadn't been this angry in a long time.
It was actually being looked down upon and mocked by a mere human girl.
"A monster that knows alchemy? Hahahaha!"
"Ancestor, I'm dying of laughter!"
"Ancestor, look at it! Does it even look like it can refine pills? Hahaha!"
The little girl kept laughing.
The qilin was the first to lose its composure.It stood up and roared: "Shut up!!!"
"What's wrong with a beast refining pills? This lord is an auspicious beast, can't I refine pills?" The qilin bellowed angrily: "Looking down on me, are you? This pill formula comes from beyond this realm, transcending this very world! If I hadn't achieved the unity of three corpses, I couldn't have brought back either the formula or its corresponding materials!"
"Yes, yes, yes." Dan Bai covered her mouth to suppress giggles: "You're the best, your formula is the greatest, hahaha!"
The qilin: "..."
It took a deep breath, flames nearly shooting from its eyes.
But as a benevolent auspicious beast, it ultimately suppressed its raging fury.
Don't get angry, don't get angry.
At its venerable age, why bother with a little brat?
"Hmph, words are meaningless. Let's see real skill!"
The qilin produced the pill formula and materials.
It was a sheet of rice paper glowing with faint golden light. As it spread on the ground, countless golden characters like tadpoles swam through the air above the paper, eventually forming a complete formula.
This miraculous sight left Dan Bai utterly dumbfounded.
Seeing this, the qilin curled its lips smugly. "Hmph, this lord obtained this formula from another world. Neither the formula nor its materials have been tainted by the miasma of reincarnation, making them incredibly precious. But refining this pill is extremely difficult, for a little girl like you..."
Dan Bai paid no attention to the qilin, completely absorbed in studying the rice paper.
The moment she saw the formula, she became entranced, immediately taking out her portable alchemy furnace.
"Hey! I wasn't finished speaking!"
The qilin rolled its eyes in frustration.
Does this girl have no manners at all?
Shouldn't one listen respectfully when an elder speaks?
"Enough nonsense!" Dan Bai said sternly, turning convention upside down: "What are you standing around for? Purple Mist Grass roots, Green Spirit Mushroom, Flame Blossom, White Jade Stamen, Black Spirit Ginseng... are these materials prepared? Bring them out now!"
The qilin remained silent for two seconds before irritably sorting and pushing the materials toward Dan Bai.
"You'd better have some real skill! Otherwise, you'll learn the price of disrespecting this lord!"
Dan Bai still ignored the qilin, starting to process the spiritual herbs on her own.
Finding itself ignored, the qilin could only suppress its anger and waddle its chubby rear to the side, methodically preparing for alchemy.
"The extraterrestrial pill formula and techniques this lord has mastered are based on Nine Revolutions refinement, using material essence as the guide... Who could match such sublime alchemy?"
It gloated internally while taking out five spiritual medicines from its storage pouch. Their forms differed greatly from ordinary spiritual medicines, seemingly condensed into essences by some power.
Dan Bai curiously glanced at the qilin's side.
Feeling her gaze, the qilin immediately perked up, lifting its chin with a smug snort: "Never seen this before? This is Essence Extraction! Separating the medicinal essence beforehand, taking only the purest spiritual energy part. It skips the purification step during alchemy, going straight to the condensation phase!"
"Oh~" Dan Bai drew out the syllable sarcastically, smiling faintly: "I see. Then I'll use the Nine Orifices Spirit Gathering method passed down from my mother." With that, she deftly arranged the processed herbs on a jade slab.
"What Nine Orifices Spirit Gathering method?" The qilin was baffled.
Was there any alchemy technique in this world it didn't know about?
Could this brat be making it up?
Ridiculous!
It stole another glance at Chen Huaian's side.
Finding Chen Huaian sitting before an alchemy furnace without moving, appearing utterly clueless, it felt even more contemptuous.
That girl was laughable.
But this one here was absolutely preposterous!!!
...
Chen Huaian sat quietly to the side, his gaze shifting between their materials without uttering a word. Seemingly ignorant, he was actually contemplating something carefully.
The alchemy officially began.
The qilin levitated its four hooves, conjuring a golden light that formed a furnace shape, then sequentially adding the extracted essences. Chanting loudly on purpose, it declared: "Behold this lord's Nine Revolutions Mystic Origin Fire Control Art! Hehe!"
Five-colored flames immediately ignited within the furnace, constantly transforming into dragon and phoenix shapes, extraordinarily miraculous.
Dan Bai's alchemy appeared much simpler—the most basic method from the Taihua Alchemy Sutra.
Her fingers formed seals as she pointed at her brow, releasing a strand of soul power that enveloped the herbs.
The five medicines immediately emitted their respective glows.
Dan Bai pointed again, her lips moving slightly as if reciting an incantation, though not as ostentatiously as the qilin.
The herbs in her furnace slowly floated, impurities peeling off like dust.
Chen Huaian observed clearly: Dan Bai employed the Soul-Guided Herb Control method, directly using spiritual sense to guide medicinal properties—the orthodox alchemy technique of the cultivation world. The qilin, however, took a different approach with its otherworldly method of preprocessing materials, focusing on material transformation.
Both methods had their pros and cons.
But... they seemed considerably inferior to what he knew.
Was he being too humble?
Seeing Dan Bai's skillful technique, the qilin frowned.
It accelerated its pace, thundering: "Mystic Origin Nine Revolutions, Third Revolution, Essence Fusion!"
Five-colored lights intertwined within its furnace, forming a rotating sphere of light. Proudly raising its head, the qilin boasted: "Extraterrestrial alchemy emphasizes speed. Ordinary alchemists need a full day to complete this pill—this lord needs only half an hour!"
Yet Dan Bai remained focused on her refinement, calm as still water.
Her fingers traced complex patterns in the air as threads of spiritual sense meticulously adjusted the fire, perfecting every detail.
Remarkably, the surrounding spiritual energy actively flowed toward her furnace, accelerating the herb fusion.
Despite the qilin's noise, she remained completely undisturbed.
Half an hour later, the qilin's furnace suddenly blazed brilliantly.
With a swipe of its front paw, the golden furnace opened, revealing three glossy, translucent pills slowly rising, each exuding rich spiritual energy.
As for quality...
The qilin felt quite pleased.
But to Chen Huaian, these pills barely qualified between low and medium grade.
"Hehe!" The qilin flicked its tail smugly. "See that!? This is efficiency!"
Turning to look at the girl, it was shocked to find her nearly as fast!
Dan Bai's furnace slowly opened, revealing seven jade-like Spirit Gathering Pills floating out.
Each bore intricate natural patterns, breathtakingly beautiful.
Though attractive, such patterns indicated impurities, yet compared to the qilin's pills, Dan Bai's were clearly superior.
The qilin's eyes widened: "This... this is medium grade!?"
Dan Bai smiled faintly: "Senior Beast's speed is indeed impressive, but my sect values slow work yielding fine results. Though slightly more time-consuming, the quality surpasses yours!"
The qilin's expression darkened.
Slightly more time-consuming? Wasn't it about the same?
Same time but better quality.
What comparison was there?
However...
The girl's skill didn't mean her inheritor was capable.
If it couldn't regain face from the girl, it would get it from Chen Huaian—same difference.
The Dragon Soul inheritor was probably still stuck at the herb purification stage, right?
With this thought, the qilin looked toward Chen Huaian.
Only to find him sitting cross-legged with slightly closed eyes, hands on his furnace, ordinary-colored flames burning below—clearly having started refining at some unknown time.
The qilin approached Chen Huaian, about to speak.
Hum—! Ripples suddenly spread out.
The furnace trembled, instantly erupting with golden light that distorted space. Violet qi surged from the furnace, forming nine dragon silhouettes circling above.
Worldly energy poured in like reversing rivers from all directions. Mysterious dao patterns emerged on the furnace, spreading in circles like nebulae rotating beneath Chen Huaian's feet.
"All Things Share One Origin, Three Pure Ones from One Breath!"
Without Chen Huaian opening his mouth.
A profound voice exploded in the qilin and Dan Bai's ears like thunder.
Crack—!
The moment Chen Huaian opened his eyes.
The tightly sealed furnace also cracked open slightly.
...
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