Chapter 38

**Bang**

Xia Baichi's hand trembled, and the flames surged. The Blood Coagulation Fruit could not withstand the sudden change in the flames and was instantly reduced to ashes.

For a moment, everyone in the room had an extremely odd expression, looking at each other, unable to say a word.

"Long Chen"

A shrill voice pierced everyone's eardrums, like a vengeful ghost, making people's hair stand on end.

The voice came from Xia Baichi's mouth. At this moment, Xia Baichi's face was twisted with a fierce expression, staring intently at Long Chen.

Just now, she was about to find the critical point of the Blood Coagulation Fruit, to determine the best temperature for purifying it.

But she was startled by Long Chen, and the flames surged. By the time she tried to control them, it was too late. An extremely precious Blood Coagulation Fruit, which was three hundred years old, was gone, making her heart bleed.

"Cough, cough, sorry, I have a habit of clearing my throat before refining pills. To avoid startling you, I shouted a couple of times to let you know I was about to start refining pills. I'm really sorry," Long Chen said with a look of apology.

It was intentional, absolutely intentional. Even a blind person could see that. Xia Baichi's eyes were almost spitting fire.

But she had no way to deal with Long Chen. There were no rules prohibiting the other party from making noise, so she had to swallow her frustration.

"Calm down"

Wei Cang's cold voice made Xia Baichi slowly suppress her anger. If she didn't calm down, her chances of failure would be even greater.

"I am calm, no need to worry about me," Long Chen replied coldly.

"Miss Idiot, why don't you continue refining? Next time, I'll try to be quieter. What do you think?"

Xia Baichi ignored Long Chen, her face ashen. She took out two pieces of cloth from her ring and tightly plugged her ears, so she wouldn't be startled by Long Chen again.

What left Long Chen speechless was that Xia Baichi took out another Blood Coagulation Fruit, indicating she had a spare, which made Long Chen somewhat depressed.

However, now that she was prepared, the same trick wouldn't work. He could only accept his bad luck.

"Whoosh"

Long Chen extended his palm, and a yellow flame rose. What made Wei Cang's pupils constrict was that Long Chen's flame was almost as strong as Xia Baichi's.

Seeing Long Chen's pill fire, Master Yun Qi was slightly surprised. Long Chen's pill fire was much stronger than the last time he refined pills.

"Haha, I told you, Brother Long is definitely fine. Look, there's fire in Brother Long's hand," Yu Pang said proudly.

Shi Feng and the others, seeing Long Chen's pill fire for the first time, felt more reassured. This proved that Long Chen was indeed a Pill Apprentice.

However, Long Chen's pill fire surprised many people. Although they guessed that Long Chen might be a Pill Apprentice, seeing the real pill fire still left them stunned.

In just two months, a Pill Apprentice had been created out of nowhere? Everyone looked at Master Yun Qi, who was sitting calmly on the stage, filled with awe.

Master Yun Qi, however, smiled bitterly in his heart. Only he knew that Long Chen's alchemy skills were not taught by him. It seemed that Long Chen had many secrets.

Chu Yao watched as Long Chen focused on gathering his pill fire. Once the pill fire stabilized, he began to warm the furnace, moving calmly and composedly, which made Chu Yao's originally tense mood much more relaxed.

Seeing that Xia Baichi had already started to purify the Blood Coagulation Fruit steadily, Long Chen had the idea of giving her another "greeting," but he thought it was unlikely to succeed and would only invite ridicule, so he gave up and began to purify the Blood Coagulation Fruit himself.

Long Chen's Blood Coagulation Fruit was only the size of a longan, much smaller than the three-hundred-year-old fruit, which was the size of an infant's fist.

Not only was the size much smaller, but the essence inside was also much less. In a sense, Long Chen was already at a disadvantage from the start, making this a completely unfair competition.

Now, Long Chen could only try to remove as many impurities as possible from the Blood Coagulation Fruit to improve the quality of the pill. He had already started at a disadvantage and could only make up for it in other ways.

"Whoosh"

Suddenly, the flames surged, and Long Chen's pill fire covered the entire pill furnace. The terrifying flames made everyone around feel a wave of heat.

"Such powerful soul power"

Even Wei Cang was moved. Long Chen used his soul power as fuel to support the pill fire and also divided part of his soul power to protect the essence inside the Blood Coagulation Fruit from being lost. This was a truly crazy approach.

However, after being moved, a cold smile appeared on Wei Cang's lips. Soul power was indeed powerful, but how could a fifty-year-old Blood Coagulation Fruit compare to a hundred-year-old one, let alone a three-hundred-year-old one?

With such a large consumption of soul power in the early stages, by the time the pill was formed, there wouldn't be enough soul power to lock it in, which would be a dead end. In Wei Cang's eyes, this was clearly the behavior of an amateur.

Among those present, only Master Yun Qi was not surprised by Long Chen's technique. He couldn't help but sigh, such a luxurious approach was only something Long Chen could afford.

"Whoosh"

Long Chen took out a pile of red powder from the pill furnace, finding that the powder was bright red with few spots, and he couldn't help but breathe a sigh of relief.

Those spots were impurities. With his current fire power, it was impossible to completely purify it, but this was already the limit.

Looking up at Xia Baichi, he saw that with her ears plugged, she was oblivious to the outside world, working very efficiently. A pile of red powder was already placed beside her.

That was the powder of the Blood Coagulation Fruit. What made Long Chen's pupils constrict was that a three-hundred-year-old Blood Coagulation Fruit was indeed different. The powder was much brighter and had fewer impurities than Long Chen's.

Long Chen couldn't help but frown. He regretted not being able to use many of his advanced alchemy techniques, as if Wei Cang, that bastard, noticed anything suspicious, he would surely come after him.

Let's take it one step at a time. If it doesn't work, I'll have to go all out. I absolutely cannot lose.

He refined each herb into powder one by one. By the time he calculated, half an hour had passed. Looking at Xia Baichi, she had already sealed the furnace and started refining the pill.

After sealing the furnace, the basic shape was already set. Apart from the final step of gathering the pill, there was little chance of anything going wrong.

"Long Chen, time is almost up. I'm looking forward to you kissing my feet," Xia Baichi, who had taken out her earplugs, said coldly to Long Chen.

Now that she had sealed the furnace, she only needed to maintain the pill fire. To get back at Long Chen for earlier, she started to distract him.

"Please shut up. The foot odor you're spewing will affect the air quality," Long Chen said calmly.

"You..."

Xia Baichi, enraged, felt her pill fire waver. She quickly gathered her focus and didn't dare to speak again, plugging her ears once more.

She realized that in terms of verbal sparring, even ten thousand of her couldn't match Long Chen. She now focused all her energy on the pill, looking forward to the moment when Long Chen would be humiliated.

A moment later, Long Chen also began to seal the furnace. The two of them each drove their pill fires to accelerate the formation of the pill.

**Bang**

Fifteen minutes later, Xia Baichi's pill furnace emitted a vibration, and the previously quiet scene suddenly became lively.

Even if they hadn't seen pill refining, they had heard that when a pill was formed, the pill furnace would show signs of movement. This was clearly a sign that the pill was about to be formed.

As the furnace continued to vibrate, the sound grew louder and the vibrations more intense. Xia Baichi let out a cold shout, placing her hands on the furnace, and soul power surged in.

**Boom**

After a loud noise, the furnace became quiet, and Xia Baichi couldn't suppress her excitement.

With her rich experience in pill refining, she was ninety percent sure she had succeeded, but she still felt a bit anxious.

Slowly, she reached out and lifted the furnace lid. A rich pill fragrance wafted out, instantly spreading throughout the area.

"What a rich fragrance"

Everyone couldn't help but exclaim. Wei Cang's face showed a hint of satisfaction. Without even looking, he knew that Xia Baichi had succeeded based on the fragrance alone.

"Ha ha ha ha..."

Xia Baichi held a round pill in her hand, her face filled with enthusiasm, and she let out a loud laugh. However, due to her excitement, her voice was hoarse and unpleasant.

"Who stepped on your neck?" Long Chen glanced at Xia Baichi and asked with concern.

Although he knew Long Chen's words were full of sarcasm, Xia Baichi didn't care. She looked at Long Chen coldly and said, "Boy, I'm waiting for the moment when you kiss my feet, ha ha..."

Long Chen shook his head slightly, not speaking, but he was inwardly shocked. This crazy woman had incredible luck, actually refining a mid-grade Blood Coagulation Pill. No wonder she was laughing like a madwoman.

Long Chen saw a faint pill pattern on the pill, though very pale, it was indeed a pill pattern.

For someone of Xia Baichi's strength, the probability of refining such a mid-grade pill was less than one percent.

Is heaven favoring fools? Long Chen couldn't help but curse inwardly. If this continued, he might really lose. No, he had to think of a way.

**Bang**

At this moment, Long Chen's pill furnace also emitted a vibration, indicating that his pill was about to be formed, the most critical moment had arrived.

"No, I must act now"

Long Chen took a deep breath. In front of everyone's stunned eyes, he slapped the furnace lid, slightly lifting it open.

"What?"

Master Yun Qi was shocked. This was the critical moment for the pill to form, and the furnace lid must not be opened, or the medicinal properties would be lost.

Even Wei Cang was surprised. Long Chen's action clearly went against the common knowledge of pill refining, but Long Chen's serious expression didn't seem like he was giving up.

As the lid was lifted, Long Chen's soul power surged, tightly locking the medicinal properties inside the furnace.

**Boom, boom, boom**

The furnace kept shaking, and sweat appeared on Long Chen's face. The pill inside the furnace seemed like a struggling wild bull.

Long Chen used his soul power to lock it down, but the consumption of soul power was terrifying.

Oh no, my soul power is almost gone.

Long Chen suddenly felt exhausted, and with a loud shout, soul power surged out.

**Boom**

The furnace emitted a loud noise, and the entire platform shook. Long Chen tightly pressed the lid back on, holding it firmly.

Only when the furnace completely quieted down did Long Chen breathe a sigh of relief, drenched in sweat. The consumption had been too great.

Slowly lifting the lid, a pill fragrance wafted out. Looking at the pill lying in the furnace, Long Chen's expression changed.