Chapter 684: Begin The Refinement
The demonic beast clan’s strongest Beast King!
A master on the God Ranking List!
Huang Xiaolong was astonished.
For someone to be called ‘old monster’ by the Ascending Moon Old Man, it was obvious that this Ancestor Mountaingoat’s age was on the higher end, no worse than Ancestors of super forces. This Ancestor Mountaingoat probably held a higher seniority over those Ancestor level characters, for they were just like the current Alchemist Grandmaster Association Chief, Chen Ye. In front of the Ascending Moon Old Man, those people were merely juniors, far from worthy of being called ‘old monster’.
Huang Xiaolong’s expression grew somber.
This time’s Alchemist Grandmaster Competition actually lured out an old monster of this level. However, recalling that one of the rewards for the first place winner was a rank six godhead, it made sense.
A rank six godhead!
Even to the Ascending Moon Old Man, it was extremely tempting.
At this point, Ancestor Mountaingoat turned to look at Huang Xiaolong, a flame flickering in the depth of his eyes. Huang Xiaolong’s soul suddenly quivered, making him dizzy.
The Ascending Moon Old Man coldly harrumphed, instantly clearing Huang Xiaolong’s head. Cold sweat trickled down Huang Xiaolong’s back after realizing what happened.
“This Ancestor Mountaingoat cultivates a technique called Grand Soul Engulfment Purgatory Technique,” the Ascending Moon Old Man said. His gaze was like piercing daggers glaring at Ancestor Mountaingoat.
Ancestor Mountaingoat smiled sweetly instead, asking, “Ascending Moon, looks like your injuries have healed.”
The Ascending Moon Old Man sneered, “Enough to kill you.” A few months ago, in the scuffle for the Buddha śarīra, Ancestor Mountaingoat was one of the five people who attacked him. Other than Ancestor Mountaingoat, the other four people were also old monsters whose names were on the God Ranking List.
Ancestor Mountaingoat turned his attention on Huang Xiaolong instead, “Little boy, it seems like that Buddha śarīra was refined by you.”
Huang Xiaolong was aloof and silent, not giving an answer.
The Ascending Moon Old Man no longer bothered with the other party. Leading Huang Xiaolong and Chen Ye, he walked towards the front of the square.
Ancestor Mountaingoat’s gaze fell on Huang Xiaolong’s back, a cold sinister light glimmering in his eyes, only he himself knew what he was thinking. That Buddha śarīra was an item that he strongly desired for a long time, yet it was actually refined by a trifling kid, how could he be willing? In fact, the reason why he decided to participate in this alchemy competition was not purely for that rank six godhead.
Upon reaching the front of the square, the Ascending Moon Old Man went up to the host stage together with Chen Ye and Lin Pinghai. Whereas Huang Xiaolong, as one of the participants, remained standing below the stage.
The square was large enough to accommodate more than ten thousand people.
However, despite the lucrative prizes offered by the Alchemist Grandmaster Association this time, not many people registered for the competition. In past competitions, only about five to six thousand people actually took part.
After all, as tempting as the prizes were, winning depended on one’s capabilities. In general, those who registered for the competition had the skills of a high level Alchemist Grandmaster. Only a handful of people on the level of an Alchemist Master would participate.
This time around, the number of participants had actually doubled to twelve thousand. Even with twelve thousand people in the square, it still didn't feel crowded. In addition to that, the square perimeter was packed with various family disciples and masters waiting to watch the competition.
The square was a babel of noises, every corner had groups of people discussing who would be the final winner of this term’s Alchemist Grandmaster Competition and receive the title of Pill King.
“Friends participating in the competition, please stand according to the number allocated to you!” On the host stage, Lin Pinghai stepped forward, instructing in a sonorous voice. This term’s Alchemist Grandmaster Competition was supervised by Lin Pinghai.
When Huang Xiaolong and the other participants registered for the competition, the Alchemist Grandmaster Association issued a number plate for each of them, thus at Lin Pinghai’s instructions, all participants moved to their own places on the square.
After a brief shuffling around, the square once again quieted down.
Seeing that all the participants had found their places, Lin Pinghai spoke, “I’ll first talk about the rules. Just like in the past, the competition is divided into two stages, the preliminary and final round.” Lin Pinghai then proceeded to explain the rules of both the preliminary and final round of the competition.
In the preliminary round, the Alchemist Grandmaster Association would provide all participants with a standard furnace and the participants were required to refine a high rank divine grade spirit pellet, the Potent Physic Pill. Other than the standard furnace, the Alchemist Grandmaster Association also prepared similar quality of herb ingredients needed by each participant. To pass the preliminary stage, they were required to refine the Potent Physique Pill within three hours.
When the participants heard the preliminary stage rules, many of them paled.
Refining this high rank divine pellet called Potent Physique Pill was not difficult, however, with the time limit placed at three hours, the chances of success were greatly reduced!
Moreover, all participants noticed that the furnaces provided by the Alchemist Grandmaster Association were the lowest grade, sold by peddlers on streets. Not only that, the ingredients provided were just as… ordinary.
Using ordinary furnace and herb ingredients to refine a high rank divine grade Potent Physique Pill in three hours!
Not even a high level Alchemist Grandmaster dared to guarantee their success!
After Lin Pinghai finished announcing the rules of the competition’s preliminary and final rounds, the furnace and ingredients had already been placed in front of all the participants.
“Begin!” Lin Pinghai shouted.
The instant Lin Pinghai’s voice fell, on the square below, flames danced as the participants each made their move.
Three hours! Time was of the essence. For a majority of the participants every second was crucial.
On the host stage, the Ascending Moon Old Man’s eyebrow rose watching Ancestor Mountaingoat and several other participants. This time, other than Ancestor Mountaingoat, there were quite a few old monsters coming out of seclusion.
If these old monsters suddenly threw a tantrum, it would really be troublesome.
Most of the super forces’ Ancestors didn't and wouldn't dare to start a ruckus in the Royal Pill City, but these old monsters were a different matter. Every single one of these old monsters was haughty and ruthless. Little more than ten or twenty thousand years ago, the mere mention of their names would make anyone go pale, they were existences synonymous to archfiends.
However, the Ascending Moon Old Man couldn't prohibit them from participating in the competition.
On the square below, Huang Xiaolong remained standing, adjusting his breathing and calming himself.
In a sense, alchemy was similar to cultivation, a calm state of mind was extremely crucial.
“That’s… the Sequent Starburst Technique?!”
All of a sudden, loud noises resounded from the square perimeter. Huang Xiaolong turned to look and saw that numerous balls of light resembling stars were floating around Xiang Mingzhi’s body. In between his hand movements, these star-like spheres of light exploded in the air one after another, causing light particles to flow around him, forming a ring that sucked all the herbs into the center.
The Sequent Starburst Technique was a high grade alchemy refining technique originating from an ancient alchemy sect, not weaker than Huang Xiaolong’s Transfiguring Hand of the Dragon. In fact, the Sequent Starburst Technique was ranked slightly higher, thus it wasn’t strange for the crowd to show such a big reaction.
“Thousand Army Hand?!” Another loud exclamation rang out. As the Vermillion Bird Institute Principal’s personal disciple He Feifan’s hands moved, the airflow around him howled, as if there was an army of a million soldiers on horses rushing forward in attack.
The Thousand Army Hand was another profound technique.
Ancestor Mountaingoat’s technique was slightly odd, using only one hand. The fingers on his right hand fluttered in the air, as if he was playing the zither. With every pluck of his fingers, herbs continuously flew up.
Huang Xiaolong’s eyes gleamed as he took note of everything happening on the square. Then, his hands moved as he began the refinement!