Chapter 40 of 100

Chapter 40

18 min read4,597 words

Shen Xiang was going to compete in alchemy with the Dan King of Nanwu Kingdom. This made the dozen or so alchemists gape in astonishment. Although Shen Lu Zong knew that Shen Xiang was very talented in alchemy, he was still too inexperienced to challenge the Dan King.

However, the prize Shen Xiang offered was indeed very tempting. In the secular world, where spiritual energy was scarce, leading to a scarcity of spiritual medicines, no alchemist could resist the allure of such rare spiritual medicines.

Meng Bo threw his head back and laughed loudly, "Haha... Since that's the case, this old man will accompany you. If I lose, I'll give you my Xuan Yang Alchemy Furnace!"

The Xuan Yang Alchemy Furnace! It was a famous alchemy furnace, said to have been found by Meng Bo, made from the precious Xuan Yang Stone, and with other mysterious qualities inside. This was also the reason why Meng Bo had achieved great success in alchemy.

The alchemists all looked at the fiery red alchemy furnace Meng Bo took out with envy. The alchemy furnace was small and exquisite, looking as if it had been sculpted from a red gemstone, with many intricate patterns on the outside. At a glance, it was clear that it was not something that could be refined by people in the secular world.

"If we were to compete in the grade of the pills, I would surely lose. For the sake of fairness, let's only compete in the highest-grade pill I can refine, the Gang Qi Pill!" Shen Xiang said. Only in this way did he have a chance of winning, and this was also the highest-grade pill he could refine at the moment.

The Gang Qi Pill was very helpful for those at the Sixth Level of the Mortal Martial Realm. The Seventh Level of the Mortal Martial Realm was the "True Gang Realm," where one could convert true qi into "gang." After taking the Gang Qi Pill, it could help those at the Sixth Level of the Mortal Martial Realm become familiar with gang qi, and those at the Seventh Level could strengthen their true qi, making the conversion to gang faster and more efficient.

"No problem, shall we start now?" Meng Bo readily agreed. In his eyes, no matter how talented Shen Xiang was, he was still just a kid, and there was no way he could win. If the quality of the pills he refined was not as good as Shen Xiang's, he would lose with no regrets.

"Let's start now. Each of us is responsible for our own ingredients. If you don't have them, we can wait until you get them before we start the competition." Shen Xiang said. In the past month, he had been constantly learning to refine other pills, and he had refined several batches of Gang Qi Pills. After a few initial failures, he had mastered the key points and had not failed since.

"I definitely have the ingredients, so let's start now! There are so many alchemists here to judge, I believe the final result will be very fair!" Meng Bo said. He was actually a bit excited. He had always been very jealous of Shen Xiang for having the Golden Spirit Fruit, and he had only agreed to come here to cause trouble because he owed a favor to the Medicine Family.

What surprised Meng Bo was that Shen Xiang, a young and competitive kid, had proposed such a lopsided competition. Of course, he would not miss such an opportunity.

Shen Lu Zong and the dozen or so alchemists were all very excited because they would get to see the Dan King refine pills, which was a rare opportunity!

Most of the methods for refining pills were similar, but the process of handling the ingredients was different. Some ingredients had very special properties and required great caution when handled, otherwise the refinement would fail, and in severe cases, the furnace would explode. Once a failure occurred, the ingredients would be lost. For low-grade pills, it was not a big deal, but for high-grade pills, a failure could cause an alchemist to be heartbroken for a long time.

Now, both Shen Xiang and Meng Bo began the "fire entry" to warm up the furnace, generating heat inside and controlling the temperature, followed by adding the ingredients.

The ingredients needed for the Gang Qi Pill were relatively expensive but still available on the market. The main ingredients were "Yuan Ling Mud," "Earth Gang Grass Root," "Xuan Ling Ginseng," and "Yellow Fire Leaf," along with some auxiliary ingredients, mainly ginseng, lingzhi, fo-ti, and Earth Spirit Grass, all over fifty years old.

The difficulty in refining the Gang Qi Pill lay in handling the "Yuan Ling Mud" and "Earth Gang Grass Root." Yuan Ling Mud was a mud containing spiritual energy. Because it appeared in very special places, this mud could absorb spiritual energy on its own, then refine it, producing a type of spiritual energy similar to gang. Yuan Ling Mud was very difficult to burn into powder and required extremely high-quality flames.

The Earth Gang Grass Root was a spiritual grass that grew within the Yuan Ling Mud. The roots were deeply embedded in the Yuan Ling Mud, and after being nurtured, they produced "Earth Gang." However, these roots were very easy to burn to nothing, and the unique gang qi was also very easy to volatilize, so it required spiritual awareness to control the flames and protect them.

Shen Xiang had failed a few times initially because of these two difficulties, but after mastering the subtle key points, he could easily refine the "Gang Qi Pill." Now, Shen Xiang was calmly using the flames to refine the ingredients into "medicine powder" and "medicine spiritual energy." Only by thoroughly refining them could the impurities be removed, otherwise, it would affect the quality of the pill. Shen Xiang was very strict with himself in this regard, so the pills he refined were always of high quality.

Shen Lu Zong and the alchemists could feel the temperature around them changing slightly at all times, and the alchemy furnaces occasionally emitted some black smoke, which was the impurities from the ingredients being released. What left them speechless was that Meng Bo was sweating profusely, his brows furrowed.

In stark contrast to Shen Xiang's calm demeanor!

It was clear that Meng Bo had not refined this type of Gang Qi Pill for a while. Once he became rusty, he would forget the subtle feeling of controlling the flames and find it difficult to grasp the heating properties of the spiritual ingredients.

Suddenly, Meng Bo's ruby-like alchemy furnace began to vibrate slightly, emitting a colorful aura of spiritual energy! Meng Bo had made a mistake, and a Dan King had made a mistake while refining a mid-grade mortal pill. This left the alchemists very disappointed and secretly despising this Dan King.

"Uncle, give him a set of Gang Qi Pill ingredients. If he refines it again, he can still catch up!" Shen Xiang opened his eyes and said calmly.

This left Meng Bo stunned, a hint of shame flashing in his eyes. He saw Shen Xiang smile at him and said, "When you were refining the pill earlier, it was because the ingredients were insufficient, leading to a misjudgment and failure. The competition should be fair, and this is because of your inadequate preparation."

Meng Bo nodded slightly. He knew that Shen Xiang was giving him a way out. After all, he was a famous alchemist, and making such a mistake would make him lose face. This made him secretly grateful.

At this moment, he realized that Shen Xiang was not as arrogant as rumored. In terms of character and depth, he was far superior to the Yao Tianhua he had guided.

Shen Lu Zong quickly brought the ingredients, and Meng Bo began refining the pill again. This time, he calmed down and no longer underestimated Shen Xiang, treating him as an opponent of equal strength!

Time passed slowly, and although it was quiet, Shen Lu Zong and the other alchemists knew that the two alchemy furnaces were undergoing very complex processes.

After an hour and a half, it was finally time to condense the pills. Shen Xiang was far ahead, taking out some green liquid and dripping it into the mouth of the alchemy furnace. This liquid was a dilution of dragon saliva and water. Adding some during the condensation process would improve the quality of the pill, a method Su Meirao had told him.

Shen Xiang opened his eyes and exhaled slightly, while Meng Bo wiped the sweat from his forehead at this moment, having also completed the process.

---