Medical Sage

The Alchemy Room was square, its length, width, and height each estimated to be between ten and fifteen meters. At its center stood an Alchemy Furnace roughly two men tall, wreathed in flames bursting from the ground below. It emitted a constant rumbling noise and occupied a large area within the room, immediately drawing the eye.

To the vast majority of alchemists, a suitable Alchemy Furnace was an absolutely indispensable tool, as precious as life itself.

Take Yuee Jinglou, for example. He possessed a top-tier Mid-Grade Magical Artifact, the ’Roaring Waves Furnace.’ It was both his personal Alchemy Furnace and his most formidable weapon. Its fame was widespread on Canglan Island and throughout the surrounding thousand-mile radius, ranking it among the very best.

”Alright, let’s not waste any more time,” Yuee Jinglou said. ”This Alchemy Room only has one furnace, so I’ll go first. The standard yield from one set of Yunmai Pill alchemy materials is three to five pills. As for the pill grade, it should have at least two patterns, right? Let’s do this: since this is an alchemy competition, I won’t take advantage of you, especially since this is your first time working with Yunmai Pills...”

Yuee Jinglou paused for a moment before continuing, ”For this batch of Yunmai Pills, if I fail the refinement, produce fewer than four pills, or if the pills are below a two-pattern grade, I lose. As for you, you only need to refine a single complete pill. How does that sound?”

According to the orthodox classification of pill grades in the Cultivation World, a pill’s quality was typically divided into ten levels, from one to ten patterns. A one-pattern pill was the most common, barely considered a complete pill, while a two-pattern pill was slightly more presentable and less rudimentary.

As for higher grades, pills with four or more patterns were collectively known as Silver Pattern Pills. Refining these pills was considerably difficult. Typically, only veteran alchemists steeped in the Alchemy Dao for many years had a fifty-fifty chance of success. Consequently, the price of Silver Pattern Pills was usually much higher than their counterparts with fewer than four patterns, similar to the distinction between domestic and imported brand-name goods on Earth.

Beyond Silver Pattern Pills, if a pill’s quality reached the legendary level of seven patterns or more, that heaven-defying quality of pill would be called a Golden Patterned Pill. They were treasured and rare to the extreme. The difficulty in refining them could not be described as merely ’challenging.’ In short, ordinary alchemists would never even entertain the possibility of creating one—it was simply too unrealistic. Even those renowned Alchemy Masters of the Ancient Country probably had few, if any, experiences refining Golden Patterned Pills in their entire lives.

As for the mythical ten-pattern pill, which was said to be even beyond the Golden Patterned Pill, it was simply flawless perfection. Ordinary alchemists couldn’t dream of refining one; some might live their entire lives without ever even hearing of such a thing.

”Whatever,” Chen Fei said, completely unfazed by the rules Yuee Jinglou proposed.

He, after all, possessed the ultimate Alchemy Dao legacy from a great master of the Cultivation World. If not for the limitations of his cultivation level, he could probably refine even King Level pills as easily as candy. Under such circumstances, did he really need to care about rules or pill quality? Wasn’t it just a matter of winning with his eyes closed?

”Hmph!”

Seeing Chen Fei maintain such a brazen and arrogant attitude even at this stage, Yuee Jinglou couldn’t help but let out a heavy, cold snort. However, he didn’t waste any more words. He turned, requested a set of Yunmai Pill alchemy materials from Lin Ye, the shopkeeper, and immediately began the refinement.

BOOM!

RUMBLE, RUMBLE…

Beneath the towering Alchemy Furnace, the Earth Core Fire roared to life, its deafening crackle unleashing scorching waves of heat in all directions. With a single flick of his hand, Yuee Jinglou tossed all the Yunmai Pill alchemy materials into the furnace, causing a flash of brilliant light.

When he truly began the alchemy process, his movements appeared both dignified and Divine Holy. The blazing fire danced and flowed between his fingertips as he separated impurities from the alchemy materials. His every action was as smooth as flowing water, as if the process was etched into his very bones, stunning many of the onlookers. It was their first time witnessing Master Yuee at work, and his rhythm was truly masterful.

”Heavens, Master Yuee is incredible!”

”That’s just as fluid as flowing water!”

”Even other Second Level Superior Alchemists would surely stumble a bit refining Yunmai Pills, but Master Yuee… could it be that he’s about to become a Third-Level Alchemist?”

”A Third-Level Alchemist? It’s entirely possible. If Master Yuee really becomes a Third-Level Alchemist, Twin Rain Tower is bound to grow even stronger!”

”True. The Liu Family of Jinbao Pavilion may have a Third-Level Alchemist ancestor, but he’s not even on Canglan Island right now. I think he went to Azure Dragon Ravine…”

”Shh! Quiet down, don’t disturb Master Yuee’s alchemy.”

”Look at that kid’s face… I bet he’s so scared he wouldn’t dare ’brandish his broadsword before Guan Gong’ now, right? Haha, what a fool for overestimating himself. Did he really think he was qualified to compete with Master Yuee in alchemy? Who does he think he is!?”

Exclamations of shock and awe emanated from outside the open door of the Alchemy Room. Nearly everyone was captivated by Master Yuee’s fluid alchemy technique. This Master Yuee, they thought, was probably on the verge of becoming a Low Grade Third-Level Alchemist.

Amidst the uproar, a voice sounded from within Chen Fei’s Sea of Consciousness as Zhen Jingkong spoke with amusement, ”So, what do you think of his alchemy skills?”

”His alchemy skills?” Chen Fei paused, glanced at Master Yuee who was smoothly refining the Yunmai Pills, and replied indifferently, ”Compared to ordinary alchemists, I suppose he’s passable. But by my standards, his level is somewhat unranked.”

”Unranked?”

Hearing this, it was Zhen Jingkong’s turn to be stunned within the Sea of Consciousness. He hadn’t expected Chen Fei’s tone to be quite so arrogant. After a long moment, he slowly asked, ”This Yunmai Pill, what quality can you refine? How many patterns? Three or four?”

”Three or four patterns?” A peculiar light flickered in Chen Fei’s dark, crystal-clear eyes. He shook his head with a mysterious smile and said, ”Let me keep you in suspense for now. You’ll see soon enough.”

”Keep me in suspense… alright then.” Though Zhen Jingkong felt a bit exasperated by the response, he could only shake his head helplessly inside the Sea of Consciousness. This kid really is something else… When did he learn to be like this?

BOOM!

RUMBLE, RUMBLE, RUMBLE…

At that moment, Yuee Jinglou seemed to have finished purifying all the Yunmai Pill alchemy materials. The Pill Furnace, engulfed in the blazing Earth Core Fire, emitted a strange sound as flames surged skyward.

Yuee Jinglou took a shallow breath, his gaze turning focused and solemn. With a flick of his wrist, the flames twirling around his fingertips spun fiercely and shot toward the Alchemy Furnace, fusing the essence of all the materials within.

BOOM!

The flames roared even louder, erupting with a deafening rumble around the two-man-tall Alchemy Furnace. Yuee Jinglou’s flame-wreathed fingertips danced like radiant fireflies, moving with fluid grace as he continuously sent streams of spiritual light into the blazing furnace.

After about half an hour, faint wisps of a soul-stirring fragrance began to emerge from the Alchemy Furnace, wafting out in all directions.

”Wow! It’s the pill fragrance! Are the pills forming?”

”As expected of Master Yuee, this is just incredible! A Second Level Superior Pill like the Yunmai Pill is no challenge for him.”

”Yes, it seems Master Yuee is truly about to be promoted to a Low Grade Third-Level Alchemist! There’s no other way he could be this skilled.”

”The Lin Family of Twin Rain Tower is in for a stroke of great fortune! Not even the two Island Masters would dare to casually offend a Low Grade Third-Level Alchemist, especially since Master Yuee is also a Qi Refining Ninth Layer, Cave Master Level expert in his own right.”

The clamor and shock from outside the Alchemy Room’s door grew even louder. The crowd was utterly in awe, their voices filled with envy and admiration. A Second Level Superior Alchemist capable of refining Second Level Superior Pills was on a completely different plane from them—the difference was as vast as that between heaven and earth.

Because of this, many of the glances that fell upon Chen Fei were once again filled with mockery and cold disdain. This kid, so arrogant and ignorant of his own limitations just a moment ago, surely sees how things stand now, doesn’t he? To think he actually dared to challenge Master Yuee in alchemy—he truly didn’t know his place! Utterly senseless.

In response, Chen Fei remained expressionless, feeling no desire to even acknowledge them. Some things just have to be proven with facts.

”Open!”

A short while later, Yuee Jinglou reached out and tapped the roaring Alchemy Furnace. The flames and temperature immediately began to subside, a clear sign that he believed the refinement was complete and the pills were ready.

Sure enough, when the Alchemy Furnace was opened, four perfectly round pills lay quietly within, bathed in the faint glow of the dying embers. They exuded a delicate, alluring fragrance that was impossible to ignore.

”Congratulations, Master Yuee, on your successful refinement!” the shopkeeper immediately exclaimed, cupping his hands with a look of deep respect. He could clearly see that Master Yuee’s alchemy skills had become even more formidable than before.

If that were the case, and Master Yuee truly broke through to become a Low Grade Third-Level Alchemist one day, then their Lin Family of Twin Rain Tower would also rise with the tide, taking a great step forward in its scale and development.

At this thought, shopkeeper Lin Ye’s face flushed with even greater excitement, as if he could already see a more prosperous and glorious future for his family.