Sovereign of the Three Realms

Even the onlookers believed that Taiyuan Lodge was the definite victor after seeing Pill King Rong refining such a high quality pill in just two hours, much less Wang Teng. Even House Wei were staring at Jiang Chen with very serious expressions.

Jiang Chen himself looked completely calm. He stood up indifferently, chose the most excellent pill from his batch and presented it respectfully to the judges.

“My lords, this pill is called the Triphase Pill. It emphasizes the cycle of three elements where earth grows wood, wood feeds fire and fire reduces all to earth. It is also a pursuit to achieve quasi-earth rank pill quality using saint rank spirit herbs. Please review it!” Jiang Chen wasn’t afraid that these judges would lack in knowledge. He just wasn’t sure if they would recognize the Triphase Pill. A brief introduction like this would at least tell them why this pill was amazing and where its key element lay.

Indeed, a change stole across everyone’s faces, including Pill King Yu. The onlookers were even more surprised by his words. Even Wang Teng felt his heart spasm. He subconsciously thought that Jiang Chen was just shooting off his mouth. A pursuit to achieve quasi-earth rank pill quality using saint rank spirit herbs? This boast is way over the top!

True saint rank came after saint rank, and earth rank was even more advanced than true saint rank! Was he claiming that he had skipped two levels and refined an earth rank pill using saint rank spirit herbs? This was absolutely bullshitting. He hadn’t even thought through his words before opening his mouth, had he!? But Wang Teng was the young lord of clan. As such, he wasn’t in the best position to publicly question the validity of Jiang Chen’s claims, even if he was highly skeptical.

However, the Tong father and son had no such qualms. They were here to act as the Majestic Clan’s frontline troops from the beginning. Naturally, they wouldn’t back off from the chance to sing of their opponent’s downfall. House lord Tong Xianwei sneered, “That’s a big boast to shoot off, kid. Even the best pill king might not dare claim that they could refine an earth rank pill using saint rank herbs. Do you think the judges are three year olds who’ll fall for your pathetic lies?”

Tong Kun also yelled loudly, “How dare a self-taught bastard like you behave so atrociously in the pill industry of Veluriyam Capital? Do you think so lowly of Veluriyam Capital’s pill industry?”

The father and son duo was going all out for the Majestic Clan. However, Jiang Chen couldn’t be bothered to quarrel with them at all. He ignored the pair completely as he maintained the faint smile on his face. He continued to wear a smile that was neither obsequious nor supercilious as he awaited the nine judges’ review. As long as these judges weren’t blind or biased, his Triphase Pill would absolutely defeat his opponent’s Jade Marrow Pill. If his opponent’s pill had been a Jade Marrow Goldpill, then perhaps there might have been an actual competition. But it was just a Jade Marrow Pill. In Jiang Chen’s mind, it was completely incomparable to his Triphase Pill.

Pill King Yu felt a bit of astonishment too when he considered Jiang Chen’s claims. But when he set his eyes on the Triphase Pill, a strange light immediately appeared inside them. He couldn’t help but pick up the pill, hold it in his palm and carefully sense its quality. A pill king could differentiate the level and rank of a pill with a single look. This was particularly true for high rank pill kings. Their eyes were better than any precise instruments, and they could distinguish any pill’s rank with a single glance. Even if they failed to get a good look at the pill, a careful feel would still reveal its quality without too much error. What was good was good, and what was bad was bad. There was no faking when it came to pills.

The more Pill King Zhen examined the pill, the more his admiration grew. He asked, “Did you say that this pill is called the Triphase Pill? The cycle of the three elements?”

“Yes,” Jiang Chen smiled and answered.

“Good, very good!” Pill King Zhen slapped the table once and exclaimed in amazement, “This is practically the work of the gods! What an amazing pill. I am thoroughly impressed by the usage of materials, the skill in refining, and the pill quality of this Triphase Pill. If I may ask, what is your name, my friend?”

Jiang Chen answered, “My name is Zhen Shi.”

Zhen Shi? It was obvious that none of the nine judges had heard of this name before as they exchanged puzzled glances. But Pill King Yu knew that it was impolite to dig into one’s roots, and so restrained his curiosity forcefully to praise, “My friend—I’m over a thousand years old, so I do hope I’m not going overboard by calling you a friend—this is the first time I’ve seen your Triphase Pill. If I may ask, does your refining practices hail from the Deviant Pill Faction?”

The rest of the judges stared at Jiang Chen closely. They very much wanted to hear Jiang Chen’s answer.

Jiang Chen knew that it wasn’t something he had to hide. Therefore, he nodded, “It is as you say, the handiwork of the Deviant Pil Faction. The Deviant Pill Faction pursues the goal of creating high quality pills with low cost materials. They pursue the method that stands out from the masses.”

“What an amazing goal that is!” Pill King Zhen smiled as he clapped once loudly. Then, he turned to the other judges and asked, “What do you think about this pill, everyone?”

The pill king who was a die hard fan of the Deviant Pill Faction hurriedly said, “This pill is absolutely at quasi-earth rank. In my opinion, this pill will be useful even for an emperor realm cultivator. Its rank is even a tad higher than the Jade Marrow Goldpill!”

“That is true. Even the Jade Marrow Goldpill seems a tad inferior compared to this pill, much less the Jade Marrow Pill.” Another Deviant Pill Faction fan echoed in agreement.

Pill King Zhao, the judge who opposed the Deviant Pill Faction, wasn’t sure what to say even though he wanted to criticize the Triphase Pill’s quality. He just couldn’t go against his conscience and claim that it was inferior to the Jade Marrow Pill. The gap was so obvious that he would be lying to himself to claim that the Triphase Pill was inferior to the Jade Marrow Pill. His bias would then be criticized by the public too. Therefore, he could only smile wryly and say nothing. The rest of the judges had none of Pill King Zhao’s bias, so naturally they wouldn’t lie to themselves and claim that the Triphase Pill was inferior to the Jade Marrow Pill. The judges discussed amongst each other for a long moment. In the end, they all nodded at Pill King Zhen. They obviously thought that the Triphase Pill absolutely qualified as a quasi-earth rank pill. In fact, even if it was an entire rank lower, the pill would still be an upper level true saint rank pill. It beat the Jade Marrow Pill without question.

Everyone on Wang Teng’s side could see from the friendly interaction between Pill King Yu and House Wei’s pill king that the former admired the pill king very much.

For a while, everyone on Taiyuan Lodge’s side was dumbfounded. How could this be? The ingredients that kid chose had been incredibly mediocre, so how did the situation turn on its head all of a sudden? Even Pill King Yu was praising him non-stop. Were they actually going to lose this round?

Wang Teng’s face instantly darkened. He found the sudden turn of events a little unacceptable. It’d come out of nowhere! If Taiyuan Lodge lost this round, then the second stage of the pill king battle was lost. Both sides would be at a draw. As a result, the competition would enter the third stage. Although Wang Teng still thought that his side was certain of victory, it was hard to say if another shift in the situation like this would appear again.

For a long moment, Wang Teng’s expression was extremely ugly. He looked at his own pill king with an obvious question in his eyes. The pill king smiled wryly and sighed, “Young clan lord, the situation doesn’t look good. This round was really bizarre. Even if I were to attend the battle myself, I can only do as well as Pill King Rong. This pill king of House Wei is a little strange…”

Wang Teng grew even more displeased. He hadn’t thought to bring the strongest pill king in the family with him on this trip. He never thought that the outcome of this battle would deviate so far from his expectations. Although the results hadn’t been announced yet, the situation was obviously very disadvantageous to him. As expected, the judges quickly came to a decision and announced, “The Triphase Pill refined by Taiyuan Tower’s Pill King Zhen is of incredible quality and is skillfully made. It is also a rare, outstanding work of the Deviant Pill Faction, and we are very impressed by it. We unanimously agree that the Triphase Pill is a quasi-earth rank pill!”

Quasi-earth rank!

The weight behind these three words was palpable when they came out of Pill King Yu’s mouth. Pin drop silence reigned. It was obvious that everyone was stunned by this revelation. Their entertaining expressions of surprise were all frozen on their faces, like a statue. Taiyuan Tower’s Pill King Zhen had refined a quasi-earth rank pill?

Why did this sound so utterly ridiculous? It was in stark contrast with their expectations. A long moment later, Taiyuan Tower was the first to recover from their shock and break out into loud cheers. It was obvious from the happy tears flowing down their cheeks that they were besides themselves. This unexpected victory and pleasant surprise was something no one at Taiyuan Tower had foreseen. When Pill King Rong’s pill was judged to be at mid true saint rank, almost everyone at Taiyuan Tower had been plunged into deep despair. In their opinion, the maximum anyone could do with such limited materials in just two hours’ time was precisely that. However, Jiang Chen had literally forced his way out of an impossible situation through pure skill and seized victory for himself!

The tens of thousands of onlookers actually became infected by Taiyuan Tower’s emotions and began to applaud. For a while, the entire place was filled with thunderous claps. Wang Teng’s handsome face distorted. It was obvious that this unexpected blow greatly affected his emotions. He found it difficult to swallow the outcome.

Although the tens of thousands of people likely hadn’t applauded to attack the Majestic Clan, there was no doubt that it represented at least a part of their true feelings. These fence sitters might not necessarily like Taiyuan Lodge more than Taiyuan Tower! It didn’t matter if they were applauding because they sympathized with the weak, or if they were impressed by the exciting pill battle before them. These claps were still slaps to his and Taiyuan Lodge’s face all the same!

When the applause slowly subsided, Pill King Yu added, “Taiyuan Tower has won two rounds in a row in the second stage and are therefore the victors of the second stage. The score is now 1:1. It seems that a third stage is unavoidable!”

Young master Ji San was also stunned and extraordinarily pleased by Jiang Chen’s exciting performance. This Pill King Zhen was practically a genius bestowed from heaven! He felt especially vindicated to see Wang Teng’s distorted expression. He smiled and said leisurely, “This second stage has been far more exciting than the first stage. During the first stage, Taiyuan Lodge borrowed outside help and the Longevity Pill of unidentified origin to win the match. But during the second stage, Pill King Zhen won through true skill and knowledge! I personally think that Pill King Zhen will take the third stage in one fell swoop! Don’t you think so, everyone?”

Young master Ji San’s voice was extremely moving. All forces loyal to the Coiling Dragon Clan roared loudly with agreement. As for the fence sitters, they obviously weren’t afraid to fan the flames further and joined in the commotion. For a moment, the Majestic Clan actually became the side that lacked support!