Mu Qianjue saw that Chen Liu was so furious his face turned green, and said with a light laugh, “Can’t you just focus on refining your pills? Why do you have to act like the strongest king here? Do you refine pills with your mouth? If you have the time, you’d be better off studying how to light the fire.”
“You! You!…” Chen Liu was so angry he nearly fainted.
“Chen Liu, focus on your pill refining. Don’t let the other side lead you by the nose.” Baili Kesheng’s voice pulled Chen Liu’s rationality back.
“Yes.” A flicker of fear flashed through Chen Liu’s eyes as he replied respectfully, “Master Baili, my strange fire won’t work anymore.”
Baili Kesheng first looked toward Yun Hai and asked, “Lord Yun Hai, this junior from Haoling Province can’t ignite his flame. If I help him start the fire, that doesn’t count as cheating, right?”
Yun Hai didn’t even lift his eyelids. “It doesn’t count. As long as you don’t refine pills for him, it’s not cheating. You can even teach him hand by hand.”
Yun Hai’s last sentence was full of sarcasm.
Baili Kesheng didn’t care at all. He raised his slender hand and ignited his strange fire. “Chen Liu, start refining. Keep track of your time.”
The process of a pill refiner crafting pills is extremely long.
The higher the grade of the pill, the longer it takes.
A third-grade pill, refined properly, takes at least three days. If something goes wrong, it might take four or five days…
Chen Liu understood the hidden meaning in Baili Kesheng’s words. He sorted the spiritual plants into categories and began washing them.
The process of washing spiritual plants is extremely particular. You must ensure the plants remain intact and also prevent the spiritual energy within them from leaking out…
The water used to wash spiritual plants is also particular—the best is spiritual spring water.
Spiritual spring water has no impurities and can preserve the spiritual energy within the plants during washing.
Chen Liu washed the spiritual plants with complete focus, afraid that any mistake would affect their medicinal properties.
Baili Kesheng also released his Heaven and Earth Crimson Flame.
Baili Kesheng didn’t deliberately use his strange fire to extinguish the Purple Extremity Crimson Flame Stone, but the stone still went out.
This was an innate suppression of levels. The Purple Extremity Crimson Flame Stone was ultimately not a strange fire and couldn’t withstand the pressure of a higher-grade strange fire.
Fang Cheng saw the flame at the bottom of the pill furnace go out, and with a blank expression, he put away the Purple Extremity Crimson Flame Stone and returned it to Mu Qianjue.
“Brother Mu, thank you for your kindness. I might have to admit defeat. I can’t think of a pill stronger than the Spirit-Melting Pill.” Fang Cheng had searched through all the spiritual plants and pill recipes in his spatial storage and decided to stop wasting time.
Mu Qianjue put away the Purple Extremity Crimson Flame Stone and said lightly, “Brother Fang, flip over the pill recipe that Third Senior Sister gave you, then open the storage pouch that Little Junior Sister gave you. Everything will turn around.”
Fang Cheng took out the pill recipe Qin Hanyan had given him and flipped it over. “Brother Mu, it’s completely blank.”
Mu Qianjue raised his jade fan, his lips moved slightly, and a gust of wind blew past, brushing over the pill recipe.
A flash of white light appeared.
The back of the pill recipe revealed a full page of black characters.
Fang Cheng stared at the words and saw that it was actually the recipe for a supreme-grade Spirit-Melting Pill.
Fang Cheng was overjoyed. He looked at Mu Qianjue and said in a trembling voice, “Brother Mu, this… what’s going on?”
“Open Little Junior Sister’s storage pouch,” Mu Qianjue said with a smile.
Fang Cheng opened the storage pouch Feng Qingran had given him with great anticipation. When he saw the five storage pouches inside, he was stunned.
Could it be that Miss Feng was worried he wouldn’t have enough storage pouches?
Fang Cheng took out one storage pouch and opened it. Inside were the spiritual plants for refining the Spirit-Melting Pill!
Fang Cheng asked in shock, “Brother Mu, did Miss Qin and Miss Feng know about this all along?”
Mu Qianjue smiled with noble elegance. “None of that matters. We’re already behind them. Hurry up and familiarize yourself with the pill recipe, then start refining.”
Fang Cheng nodded like a chicken pecking at rice. He held the pill recipe like a precious treasure, full of excitement and fighting spirit.
With Miss Qin’s supreme-grade pill recipe and Miss Feng’s spiritual plants, he could definitely win the competition!
Mu Qianjue saw that Fang Cheng had gotten into the zone. He stood up from the lounge chair and said to Yun Hai, “Lord Yun Hai, our Qingyun Province has decided to switch to refining the Spirit-Melting Pill.”
Yun Hai didn’t open his eyes. He said coldly, “Approved.”
“Thank you, Lord Yun Hai.” Mu Qianjue thanked him respectfully.
But before Mu Qianjue could sit down, one of the judges objected, “Lord Yun Hai, this doesn’t follow the rules. They’ve already lit their pill furnaces. How can they switch pills?”
“What do you two masters want, then?” Yun Hai asked coldly.
Yun Hai nearly stood up and said: Could you two be any more obvious about your favoritism?
The two judges exchanged a glance. One of the elders said, “Lord Yun Hai, the contestant from Qingyun Province is suspected of following the trend. If he really wants to refine the Spirit-Melting Pill, we need to increase the difficulty.”
“What difficulty?” Yun Hai asked indifferently.
“Qingyun Province’s total score must be at least ten points higher than Haoling Province’s for Qingyun Province to win,” the elder said, stroking his beard.
“Heh! You two really have gone senile. Fine! Have it your way.” Yun Hai couldn’t be bothered to argue with them. After relaying their meaning to Mu Qianjue, he said nothing more.
It wasn’t that Yun Hai didn’t want to help Qingyun Province.
It was that after returning yesterday, Baili Yuanmo had warned him not to meddle in the pill refining competition anymore, especially not to show favoritism toward Qingyun Province.
Qingyun Province was already difficult to control. If they were allowed to show off in the Spirit Combat Tournament, it would be disadvantageous to the Baili family.
So today’s judges had all been replaced. He had become a figurehead who only announced the rules.
