Chapter 0024

Chapter 24: A Pill Making Contest, Who Will Shame Themselves?

Zhou Tong said calmly: “Are you done? Then we should not delay. We will start refining pills.”

Tang Qi sneered, the smile fading from his face: “What an act. You forced a seventh grade pill before and suffered backlash. You have been a cripple for a long time. What right do you have to act tough in front of me?”

The people around them first stiffened, then looked at Zhou Tong with teasing eyes. Someone snorted: “He, refine a seventh grade pill? He should look in a mirror.” Another said: “This is what it means to overestimate yourself. He thinks his talent touches the sky, but he is just a waste.” A third added: “Looks like Immortal Maiden Mo did the right thing. Better to toss a man like this early, or he will bring disaster later.”

Zhou Tong neither flinched nor fumed. He sat cross legged and took out his cauldron. The task board happened to list the Bodhi Pill, which fit his plan. A single seventh grade pill was worth twenty thousand merit points. If he refined every pill on the board, he could pay off his debt and still have enough to buy several Heavenly Dao inscription stones. It was the best of both worlds.

He dropped the ingredients into the cauldron and lit the Divine Fire; everything moved in neat order. The crowd fell silent. That was the rule during pill making.

But someone still tried to break the rule. Chen Ling’er walked up and spoke from above him: “Stop pretending for pride’s sake. If your Dao wound flares up, no one can save you.”

Zhou Tong stayed silent, as if he had not heard.

Chen Ling’er flushed with anger and reached out; she snapped: “I am talking to you. What is that attitude?” She stretched for his shoulder.

There was a sharp crack. The little demoness drew her sword sheath and slapped Chen Ling’er across the face, then said coldly: “Come closer again and I will kill you.”

“Ah!” Chen Ling’er cried out, eyes full of pain and fury. She glared and shouted: “You are all harming him!”

A follower muttered to her: “Senior sister, we have nothing to say to trash like them. Since he wants to humiliate himself, I will help him do it.”

Tang Qi’s lips curled up. He realized this was a perfect chance to trample Zhou Tong. [If we refine at the same time and he fails while I succeed, my fame will shoot to the top.] With that thought, he excitedly produced his own cauldron and began to refine.

The scene drew a crowd at once. The former genius and the current genius stood toe to toe. What sparks would fly?

Some scoffed: “No need to watch. One has real skill, the other only poses. The result is already set.”

As if to prove it, half an hour later a rich pill fragrance wafted from Tang Qi’s cauldron. An alchemy grandmaster leaned in, sniffed, and nodded: “Strong and pure pill qi. A sixth grade Reversion Pill, and a high quality one.”

The onlookers erupted. “As expected of an all around prodigy. A few days ago he was only a fifth grade alchemist, and now he broke through so fast. I am ashamed by the gap.”

“It is done.” Tang Qi’s eyes shone as he slapped the lid. A crimson pill shot out. People praised him at once: “Pure color and dense qi. It is indeed a top grade Reversion Pill.”

At that moment the sky grew dark. Heavy clouds pressed down until the air felt sealed. Pill alchemists cried out: “Heaven, that is a pill cloud. A sixth grade pill causing a vision means the quality is near seventh grade.”

Everyone stared in awe and looked at Tang Qi with deep respect. Flattery rolled in: “Young Master Tang is a peerless Heaven’s Chosen.” At the same time, many belittled Zhou Tong: “A waste wants to compare with Young Master Tang? He should keep dreaming.”

Tang Qi waved a hand and chuckled: “Do not disturb him. If he fails, he might blame it on us.” He stared at Zhou Tong without blinking. Chen Ling’er stood by, shaking her head as if bitterly disappointed.

A moment later, Zhou Tong opened his eyes and said lightly: “It is finished.”

A man rushed up and snapped: “Finished with what? There is not even a ripple of pill qi. Do not tell me you refined a seventh grade pill.”

Zhou Tong answered: “A seventh grade Bodhi Pill.”

People looked at each other, then burst out laughing. One cackled: “Did I hear that right? Seventh grade pills can draw heavenly thunder and ground fire. Should we get ready so we do not get struck?”

Another chimed in: “It better happen.”

Zhou Tong smiled at the loudest mocker, his expression vivid: “Then let lightning kill me.”

The man ran outside with open arms like he wanted to hug the sky, and he shouted: “If lightning does not strike me, then you crawl between my legs.”

Laughter exploded again. “We will see,” someone said.

Zhou Tong smiled and slowly opened the alchemy cauldron.