Lost?
Chen Xiang was extremely depressed, the alchemical furnace turned out to be even worse than he had imagined. Particularly regarding its heat resistance, not long after he poured in the fire, more cracks started to appear on the already extremely fragile furnace. If the flames were not hot enough, he would be unable to incinerate the herbs, but if things continued the way they did, the alchemical furnace might be burned into powder before the herbs would!
"I must stabilize this somehow!" Chen Xiang placed his other hand on top of the alchemical furnace and released his Universal True Qi, before forming a shield using with his divine sense, closely wrapping and restraining the whole furnace in it so that the alchemical furnace would no longer continued to its doom. Simultaneously, he started absorbing the heat from the surface of the alchemical furnace, reducing the overall pressure and strain on the alchemical furnace.
Refining the Hundred Beasts Dan was nothing difficult for Chen Xiang, the hard part was to keep the alchemical furnace intact throughout the process!
Chen Xiang heaved a sigh of relief as new cracks stopped appearing on the alchemical furnace. However, his progress was getting slower and slower, even though all the other alchemists had a serious and concentrated expression on their faces, their alchemical furnaces were many times better than Chen Xiang’s. At least they had yet to encounter the nearly fatal problem he was facing.
Time trickled away bit by bit. From time to time, Chen Xiang's damaged furnace would shake and rattle dangerously. In the blink, an hour had passed with no accidents. At this time, the alchemist from the Danxiang Taoyuan had finally succeeded in refining.
Soon, one after the other, the remaining alchemists finished refining out the Hundred Beasts Dan. Among the twenty participants, only Chen Xiang had not finished refining. After all, the alchemical furnace he was using was worst among the worst. The fact he could persist until now without the alchemical furnace shattering into a million pieces was already pretty good.
All these alchemists gloatingly looked at the profusely sweating Chen Xiang. In the last two rounds, Chen Xiang had taken all the limelight. Seeing the current struggling appearance from Chen Xiang, they were secretly overjoyed.
Suddenly, Chen Xiang's alchemical furnace fiercely began to shake. He fiercely opened his eyes before a loud 'BOOM' rang throughout the square. Everyone present could only see smoke blasting open in front of Chen Xiang, which was accompanied by a burst of fiery light. This spectacle was soon followed by an overflowing rich herbal fragrance.
The entire audience fell into deadly silence, they all blankly stared at the zoned out Chen Xiang. In their hearts, they all felt sorry for Chen Xiang. Nobody here was oblivious to Chen Xiang's alchemical talent, however, just because a bit of bad luck he had lost!
Yun Xiaodao heavily pinched the thick meaty arm of Zhu Rong, yet he didn’t react at all. His mouth was completely open, the scene of furnace exploding was looping over and over inside his head.
Wu Qianqian tightly nibbled her lips, looking at still tranced Chen Xiang, she felt her heart throb in pain, while her eyes turned moist.
Wu Kaiming and Gu Dongchen burst into sigh. Chen Xiang had lost his alchemical furnace, he was destined to lose.
Seeing the current appearance of Chen Xiang from high above the tower, Liu Menger lightly nibbled her lips, then slightly heaved a sigh. Her heart secretly throbbed in pain.
Hua Xiangyue lightly sighed and said, "I overestimated him.. I hope he can get through this."
Just as Mrs. Li was about to announce the results of the round, Chen Xiang loudly shouted, "Hold on!"
Everyone was shocked, what was Chen Xiang going to do? His alchemical furnace had already blasted into pieces. With the scattering of its ashes, he had already fallen into an abyss of failure and simply had no way to climb out.
"Young master Chen... you..." Mrs. Li also felt sorry for Chen Xiang, she was still in a bit of shock. She had no idea what Chen Xiang was going to do.
Chen Xiang clenched his fists and looked up at the sky. Even though the blast only lasted for an instant, in that instant a lot of things had flashed through his mind, which was why he was temporarily in a trance.
"It seems I have been too dependent on the Brilliant Flame Dragon Furnace, but this doesn't mean if I didn't have the Brilliant Flame Dragon Furnace, I can’t do anything. The way of alchemy is vast, this failure has given me an opportunity to transcend my limits, in this round, I have to challenge my own limits!"
Chen Xiang looked at the hot sun, and thought to himself. He clenched his fists very tightly. In this instant, his face was brimming with confidence, full of fighting spirit.
Looking at his complexion, many people in the audience were surprised. He had suffered such a blow, yet he was able to recover so fast. He was indeed better than the others.
"Mrs. Li, there is still some time left over, moreover, I still have one last opportunity!" Chen Xiang said with an indifferent look. This calm look and statement gave a scare to everyone.
Mrs. Li had already been shocked by the imposing manned emanating from Chen Xiang, the same was true for the other alchemists present on the stage.
"Yes, but you... you don't have the alchemical furnace!" Mrs. Li said, which was what everyone else also wanted to say!
Chen Xiang didn't have an alchemical furnace anymore, how was he going to continue?
Chen Xiang indifferently smiled and said, "Who says an alchemical furnace is necessary to refine dan?"
Yes, technically there was no rule that stated an alchemical furnace was necessary for alchemy, but if someone was not going to use an alchemical furnace, how was a dan going to be refined out?
"Mrs. Li, quickly give me the herbs, time is running out!" Chen Xiang seemed completely serious.
The audience burst into clamor, Chen Xiang was actually going to perform alchemy without the alchemical furnace, moreover, he was going to refine the Hundred Beasts Dan, a Low-Grade Profound Level Dan.
"This brat is crazy, how could a dan be refined without using an alchemical furnace?"
"Yes, I've never heard of refining dan without using an alchemical furnace/"
"He must have lost his mind from shock."
"Well, no matter how he struggles, he is doomed to lose here!"
"..."
Everyone was talking about Chen Xiang’s reaction and not one comment was even a little bit optimistic, everyone believed there was no hope for Chen Xiang.
But those who had been familiar with Chen Xiang all knew, the calmer Chen Xiang was, the more frightening he was. Yun Xiaodao and Zhu Rong had already witnessed such things first hand! They suddenly became excited, even though they didn't know how Chen Xiang planned to do this, they knew Chen Xiang had not given up yet. As long as he hadn't given up, he was still in the competition.
"Xiangyue, can you think of any method he plans to use?" Looking at Chen Xiang brimming with confidence, Liu Menger was secretly overjoyed.
Hua Xiangyue shook her head, with her charing eyebrows knit together, "I have no idea, if it was me, under the same circumstances, I could barely make do. However, it would require a long time before I would be able to refine out a Low-Grade Profound Level Dan, moreover, some other things are also needed for support."
Chen Xiang's confident appearance seemed to state he could win, but all those experienced and knowledgeable Deans and Tycoons simply could not think of any method Chen Xiang could pass this round, let alone win!
Chen Xiang hastily took the herbs required for the Hundred Beasts Dan from the hands of Mrs. Li and quickly sorted them out. He only had less than an hour remaining, even if he had the alchemical furnace, he would still need around an hour to finish refining the dan. At this point everyone's gaze was transfixed on Chen Xiang, they all believed Chen Xiang was struggling in vain.
"Little rascal, how are you intending to do this?" Su Meiyao also could not guess what was Chen Xiang planning to do. She could be regarded as Chen Xiang's teacher in alchemy, yet she was sure she had never taught Chen Xiang anything by which he could refine dans without using a furnace.
Chen Xiang was still processing the herbs with an extremely serious look on his face, as if he still had an alchemical furnace. However, everyone knew his ragged alchemical furnace had already been turned into pieces, and was littered across the stage.
Many people came to appreciate his dedication, but everyone still believed, no matter what, Chen Xiang was simply struggling in vain.
After the herbs were processed, Chen Xiang faintly smiled, and answered Su Meiyao's question, "There is a furnace in my heart!"