Chapter 100

"What is 'One Yang Like a Pearl'?"

"What is the Yang family?"

The words of the old man with clear and thin voice fell on the ears of the bewildered trial disciples, leaving them completely in the dark, thinking that the young man in the blue robe was merely playing with fire in a more elaborate way.

However, these few words struck the ears of the fellow alchemists from Apricot Grove Manor like a bolt from the blue.

"Which Yang family?"

"Could it be the 'Ghost Doctor' Yang family, the only family in the entire Airwheel Snowfield that owns three cities, yet prevents Apricot Grove Manor from setting foot in them?"

"It's actually them!"

At this, the faces of all the alchemists from Apricot Grove Manor turned somewhat grim. Apricot Grove Manor had always been peaceful and never sought to be the best; if there was any competition, it was only in the field of medicine.

In this field, if Apricot Grove Manor were to claim second place in the entire Airwheel Snowfield, no one would dare to claim first.

But there are always exceptions.

In the northern border of the Airwheel Snowfield, there is a secluded place where the people live along the mountains and rivers, building three small cities that are connected to form a strange shape, named 'Solitary Crane City.'

'Solitary Crane City' is far from the world, self-sufficient, and outsiders find it extremely difficult to enter. It is known that it is ruled by a family called the 'Ghost Doctors,' and the family heads of this 'Ghost Doctor' family have always been surnamed Yang.

Apricot Grove Manor once wanted to exchange medical techniques with the Ghost Doctor family but was refused by the current head of the Ghost Doctor family. Later, several disciples wanted to set up clinics in the three small cities under the Yang family's rule, but they found no one seeking treatment.

After several months, they could not bear to stay and left in disgrace.

It was only after inquiring that they learned the people there had, for thousands of years, only accepted treatment from the Yang family and did not even know of Apricot Grove Manor. Even if they did know, they mostly held a distrustful attitude.

Such a situation was rare in the entire Airwheel Snowfield.

Apricot Grove Manor had been practicing medicine and saving lives for thousands of years, with the aim of benefiting the world, not being high and mighty. Over the centuries, countless lives had been saved.

The merit thus established was immeasurable. Even a small, isolated village would have received the blessings of Apricot Grove Manor.

Now, there were three cities that completely did not know what Apricot Grove Manor was, and no matter what methods were used, they could not change their belief in the Ghost Doctors.

This was a blow to Apricot Grove Manor, and it could be said that this was the only failure in its thousand-year history, and it was a failure in the field of medicine, where it was most renowned.

Feeling that they had not been defeated by medical skills but by the underhanded tactics of the Ghost Doctors, the disciples of Apricot Grove Manor were naturally not convinced.

Thus, they returned to Apricot Grove Manor, gathered several famous national masters of the time, and went to Solitary Crane City to set up a challenge, forcing the Ghost Doctors to respond.

Among these people was even a Dan Dao expert who had already reached the third rank of the Purple Furnace, making their group quite formidable.

However... for over ten days, no one from the Ghost Doctor family responded to the challenge. Just when everyone thought the Ghost Doctors were nothing and were afraid to fight, a little girl wearing a bronze mask suddenly appeared, claiming to be a third-generation disciple of the Yang family, and accepted the challenge.

The crowd looked down on her, but since a member of the Yang family had finally appeared, they did not want to let her go. They decided to humiliate the little girl to force the big shots of the Yang family to come out, so they sent someone to fight her casually, but the result was completely different. This person was easily defeated.

Subsequently, eighteen people from Apricot Grove Manor took turns to challenge her, but all were defeated by this little girl wearing a bronze mask. This included the third-rank Purple Furnace expert, who was highly regarded by everyone. The eighteen people were utterly defeated and finally acknowledged the name 'Ghost Doctor.'

It was during this time that the 'One Yang Like a Pearl' technique was first revealed to the public, gaining widespread fame. The name of the Ghost Doctor family began to be known.

After that, the disciples of Apricot Grove Manor did not dare to easily step into 'Solitary Crane City.' The eighteen national masters of Apricot Grove Manor, who were defeated by a little girl whose name they did not even know, was not a glorious matter, so no one publicized it, and few people knew about it.

The higher-ups of Apricot Grove Manor did not send anyone to challenge the medical skills of the Ghost Doctor family again, and the matter was thus dropped.

In the following hundred years, the name of the Ghost Doctor family gradually faded again, but within Apricot Grove Manor, the reputation of this name was well-known to all.

After all, though that defeat did not necessarily mean that the medical skills of Apricot Grove Manor were inferior to those of the Ghost Doctors, it was still a humiliation they could not forget.

Now, the 'One Yang Like a Pearl' technique was revealed again, and in conjunction with the mysterious Ghost Doctor Yang family, and seeing the young man in the blue robe before them, the faces of all the alchemists from Apricot Grove Manor naturally did not look good.

"The 'One Yang Like a Pearl' technique requires the use of extremely soft internal strength to condense all the flames into a single point, achieving a state where the flames can be controlled at will, like a pearl. It can be said to require extremely high fire control skills."

"If this young man is really a disciple of the Yang family, then his purpose in coming to Apricot Grove Manor to study is not simple..."

Some people's faces turned dark, but ultimately, no one said anything. At this point, there was no concrete evidence, and it could not be said that 'One Yang Like a Pearl' was definitely a single transmission of the Yang family, though it had not been seen before, it was not without precedent in ancient texts.

Most importantly, no one said that the disciples of the Ghost Doctor family could not participate in the Apricot Grove Manor assessment. On the contrary, if they were from that family, they must be a genius with extraordinary talent in alchemy and fire control, a rare talent that Apricot Grove Manor might not be willing to let go of.

Similarly, the Ghost Doctor family had always lived in seclusion and never interacted with outsiders. If Apricot Grove Manor wanted to understand this family, this suddenly appearing young man in the blue robe would be the best lead.

Everyone's faces became uncertain, but no one spoke again, all watching the young man in the blue robe as he refined the elixir with a serious expression.

On the field, after the young man in the blue robe began refining the elixir, his entire mind was immersed in the alchemy cauldron before him, completely ignoring everything happening outside.

His ten fingers moved as lightly and quickly as if threading through flowers, picking herbs from the tray in front of him and throwing them into the cauldron, where they turned into powder and quickly merged into the red, pearl-like flame.

"Snake Crane Grass, Dark Moon Orchid, Heart Chilling Plum, Yin Heart Root..."

He threw the herbs without any hesitation, as if he had a clear plan in mind, so fast that it was hard to follow, yet his movements were graceful and fluid, giving a very pleasing feeling.

It was as if he was not refining an elixir but playing a very beautiful piece of music, full of a unique rhythm.

Many of the trial disciples who had stopped their hands in the hall were now looking at this scene with amazement, their eyes filled with fascination, even feeling that his hands had a magical power that could easily draw people into a dream.

"This..."

Even the second-rank high-level alchemist with two small golden cauldrons embroidered on his chest could not help but show a hint of surprise in his eyes: "Like a lotus emerging from clear water, naturally beautiful without any artificial decoration. This young man has extraordinary talent and extremely high alchemy skills, already reaching the realm of 'natural perfection.' His future is boundless. Even if he is a disciple of the Yang family, I cannot let him go!"

In just a moment, without seeing the result, he had already made up his mind. One of the seven slots was already taken.

"Hmph!"

At this moment, an untimely cold snort sounded, startling everyone in the hall. Following the sound, they saw the purple-robed young man standing in the center of the hall, his face arrogant, clearly dissatisfied with the young man in the blue robe stealing his thunder.

Seeing everyone looking at him, he smiled coldly: "What's so great about the 'One Yang Like a Pearl' technique? I, Zhuo, am not necessarily inferior to him!"

With these words, he no longer stood by, suddenly reaching out and slapping the alchemy copper cauldron beside him, causing a loud "thud" that shook the entire hall, his posture and momentum extremely fierce.

Such a loud noise immediately drew the attention of everyone, even those who had not noticed him before.

Even because of this loud noise, the people who were still struggling to persist, their minds momentarily distracted, their cauldrons before them immediately made "puff puff..." sounds, emitting several black smoke, and all their elixir refining failed!

Everyone glared at the purple-robed young man, even the dozen alchemists from Apricot Grove Manor on both sides of the hall showed a hint of displeasure, clearly dissatisfied with the purple-robed young man.

But the next moment, everyone could not help but exclaim in unison: "What is this?"

In front of the purple-robed young man, the large bronze cauldron, due to his heavy slap, suddenly released a surge of extremely fierce silver elemental energy.

The next moment, dozens of flames surged up from within his cauldron, like waves rolling up, rushing high into the sky.

"These flames..."

A sallow, emaciated old man was the first to notice something was wrong, pointing to a red flame rising from the left side of the cauldron: "Look, what shape is that?"

"Hmm?"

Everyone followed the emaciated old man's finger and saw that the red flame, as it surged up and flew out of the cauldron, suddenly split.

It was continuously stretched, and its head slowly split, forming a head shape. Then, its chest slowly extended forward, forming four sharp claws. Finally, its tail began to mutate, and more surprisingly, two strange horns appeared on its head, and two strands of flame flew out, forming two long, slanted whiskers...

"This is... antlered head, lion mane, carp whiskers, snake body, eagle claws, and a double-horned head... Could this be a dragon?"

At this moment, someone else exclaimed: "Quick, look!"

Following this exclamation, four even more intense flames shot up from the purple-robed young man's cauldron in four directions, and they instantly underwent a huge transformation.

From a distance, they looked like five huge fire dragons soaring through the sky.

The five fire dragons continuously circled around the cauldron in front of the purple-robed young man, like dragons circling a pearl, burning the cauldron red. The patterns on the cauldron seemed to come to life, and a magnificent purple aura began to form inside, creating a strange phenomenon.

"Five dragons burning the cauldron, this is five dragons burning the cauldron!"

Finally, someone exclaimed in shock, unable to hide the horror in their voice. Even the leading purple-robed alchemist elder could not help but be momentarily stunned, his eyes showing a hint of surprise. (To be continued. Please search for Piaotian Literature for better and faster updates!)

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