Refining the Mountains and Rivers

Chapter 331 – Testing the Pill

On the upper floor of a tall building, the fragrance of tea overflowed.

Yun Yilan revealed a look of praise. “Miss White is truly worthy of being the Great Desolate Lake’s young master. At such a young age she was actually able to refine an upper fifth-grade Sky Soaring Pill. It seems the lineage of the White Clan has a successor.”

The corners of Ming Siyuan’s lips lifted in joy. He never thought that this brat Fengfeng would be able to display such an astonishing performance. If she was able to refine an upper fifth-grade Sky Soaring Pill, it wasn’t a joke to say that she could look down upon all her fellow contemporaries with disdain. He glanced at Yuan Tiangang from the corner of his eyes and said, “Exalted Yun’s praise is misplaced. The young master is only relying on luck to succeed today, and she also borrowed the help of external forces to enhance the rank of the pill. It isn’t her own strength by any means.”

Yuan Tiangang faintly smiled. “Miss White is so young and yet has such a splendid performance. Even I am surprised. Revered Ming must feel very proud.”

“The juniors from Cleansing Temple aren’t too bad either.”

“Haha, there is no need to hide it, but I do have some confidence in Jiutian.” Yuan Tiangang stated with gusto.

Ming Siyuan frowned inwardly. Even after knowing about the rank of the Sky Soaring Pill, Yuan Tiangong was still able to keep his calm. Could it be that Zhao Jiutian had somehow managed to refine an even better pill?

If it were anyone else, Ming Siyuan wouldn’t worry too much. But since it was Cleansing Temple…they had a tense relationship, and he couldn’t help but acknowledge that Cleansing Temple did indeed possess the background and strength to contend with the Great Desolate Lake.

Ming Siyuan didn’t comment further. A trace of caution appeared in his eyes, as well as a bit of disappointment. This was because he knew that the ones participating in the final assessment were only White Fengfeng and Zhao Jiutian’s pills. As for that Ning Qin who might be a powerful existence, he wasn’t anywhere to be seen. He sighed. Perhaps he had guessed mistakenly from the very beginning. This fellow daoist Baoyu might have left at the very start and didn’t even participate in the competition.

Then, as Ming Siyuan thought about the bet between White Fengfeng and Zhao Jiutian, his complexion thoroughly darkened.

Yuan Tiangang had a relaxed expression. A high-grade Child and Mother Yinyang Pill was one of the peak existences within all fifth-grade pills.

So what if it was a Sky Soaring Pill?

This was a bet that the Great Desolate Lake was going to lose without a doubt!

The two Blue Sea realm super powerhouses shined and collided in the void. Although there was no substantive strength within their eyes, the invisible clashing auras almost made the air turn solid.

Yun Yilan smiled, an interested expression on his face, as if he didn’t sense the confrontation in their eyes. Whether it was the Great Desolate Lake or Cleansing Temple, they were both colossal powers of the Southshine Nation. When it came to their various conflicts, the officials were willing to turn a blind eye for the most part.

Lord Exalted Yun’s eyes fell onto the distant jade peak, locking onto a spot in the corner. This was a common and almost obscure ranking: The Inn, Ning Qin, No. 9537, ranking 376.

To fall below 300, this ranking was actually unexpected. Yun Yilan couldn’t figure out why someone with such a mediocre performance was able to obtain that pill furnace’s approval.

The Sky Soaring Pill was in the ‘explosive strength’ category of pill. In a short period of time, it helped a cultivator forcefully obtain the strength to touch upon the power of the rules and erupt with a potent strength.

This was somewhat similar to the Divine Blood Pill that Qin Yu had refined before. It could just barely be considered a simplified, much-weakened version of the Divine Blood Pill.

In order to ensure fairness, the one that would be testing the pill wasn’t a cultivator, but a monster beast that had lost all sense of rationality and intelligence after being stimulated by medicine.

Now, on the platform, a pitch black cage appeared. The steel bars were as thick as arms and had numerous array runes cut into them. A 10 foot long wild boar was imprisoned inside. Two tusks jutted out from between its lips and its small crimson eyes surged with violence and cruelty.

Suddenly, the runes on the cage dimmed down and the wild boar obtained freedom. It roared out angrily, its giant body smashing into the sides of the cage.

Bang –

Bang –

With deep rings like strikes of thunder, even the ground shook. Three cultivators stood around the cage, each one holding a silver white metal column in their hands.

As the wild boar thrashed around, the metal columns erupted with light. The light rapidly condensed in the air, forming rows of characters.

3673 horses.

3744 horses.

3651 horses.

3703 horses.

Hum –

The cages runes lit once more and the wild boar was imprisoned. An official walked in front of the cage. He didn’t use much strength and easily opened the mouth of the wild boar, tossing the Sky Soaring Pill within.

The imprisoned wild boar’s eyes suddenly popped open. Small blood vessels constantly exploded on the surface of its eyes. Then, the runes extinguished themselves once more and that imprisoning strength disappeared. The wild boar seemed to have gone crazy as it mindlessly struck the cage.

In the explosions, the cage that was originally fixed onto the ground began to shake. Countless runes lit up and surged on the steel bars that were as thick as arms. Even so, they weren’t able to counterbalance the strength. With light sounds, cracks appeared on the ground like a growing spider web.

Light from the metal columns once more.

12436 horses.

13421 horses.

11987 horses.

12744 horses.

Countless cultivators widened their eyes, shock evident in their gazes. After swallowing the Sky Soaring Pill, this wild boar monster beast’s strength had risen by nearly four times over!

On the high platform, the ten alchemy grandmasters all revealed looks of acclaim and praise. They started to speak with each other in hushed whispers. There was almost no disagreement amongst them as they drew their conclusion.

On the jade peak, the originally rainbow-hued ‘Wuyuan’ name started to dim down. It fell down to second place from the peak of the mountain top.

The one that took his place was the Great Desolate Lake’s White Fengfeng, No. 3216.

There was a low cry as countless cultivators looked on with envy. Even so, no one expressed any disbelief towards this. Even that bitter-hearted fellow daoist Wuyuan had no choice but to admit that the grade of this Sky Soaring Pill was indeed above his Fire Path Pill.

The runes on the cage shined once more. However, the thrashing wild boar wasn’t willing to be imprisoned again. It wildly struggled in its shackles and the array formation was temporarily unable to suppress it.

The official who fed the Sky Soaring Pill to the monster beast arrived in front of the cage. Then, without any expression, he stuck its head with his palm. That vicious and cruel monster beast wasn’t even able to cry out once before it was directly killed, blood spewing out from its head.

This sight caused many cultivators to unconsciously shrink back, awe and dread in their eyes. This common-looking and heartless uncle actually possessed at least a peak Divine Soul realm combat strength. Indeed, the officials belonged to the official sects and families also had the most powerhouses. Any one of them could give someone a fright.

“Next, we will be carrying out the appraisal for Cleansing Temple’s Zhao Jiutian. What fellow daoist Zhao refined is an upper fifth-grade Child and Mother Yinyang Pill!” As the official announced this, the entire field of spectators burst into shouts.

The Child and Mother Yinyang Pill. With the Child Pill as the lead and the Mother Pill as the main, in terms of difficulty, this could be called the most difficult of all fifth-grade pills to refine. This was because it was the same as refining two fifth-grade pills.

Moreover, the effects of the Child and Mother Yinyang Pill…countless cultivators widened their eyes, keeping their gazes locked onto the platform.

This time, what was rolled onto the platform were two cages. It was the exact same as before, except what was caged within were two powerfully built apes!

The initial test was the same as with the Sky Soaring Pill. The imprisonments were released first in order to test the combat strength of the two apes.

3703 horses.

3644 horses.

3732 horses.

3687 horses.

It seemed that the officials had carefully chosen these two apes. Their overall combat strength was similar to that of the wild boar monster beast.

Following that was when the truly thrilling and frightening scene occurred.

That heartless official who slapped the wild boar to death strolled back up. He separately fed the Child and Mother Yinyang Pill to the two apes. The moment the imprisonment was undone, everyone in the audience knew that the ape roaring out in pain and agony was the one who swallowed the Child Pill.

A light layer of frost first appeared all over the ape’s body. It rapidly thickened, turning into a thick layer of ice that covered the entire ape. Because the ape fiercely struggled, the ice layer constantly broke apart and fell to the ground. But as more and more time passed, more and more ice formed until eventually the ape was entirely frozen within.

The ice layer became increasingly thick, but it was also incomparably clear. One could see the ice-bound ape within. It was unable to move in the slightest and pain shined in its eyes. Yet, it couldn’t even emit a single sound. Everyone could see the ape’s body withering away at a slow speed, as if an invisible mouth had stabbed a straw into its body and was slowly eating away at it.

Then, its strong figure withered to nothing. In the end, all that was left was a giant skeletal figure. Even then, the ape still wasn’t dead. One could see its paper-thin skin and the internal organs slowly wriggling within its desiccated body.

From beginning to end, everything was silent. But, this silence added an incomparably dark and terrifying layer to this scene. Any cultivator that witnessed this felt a cold air rise up from the depths of their heart, as if their heartbeat was going to stop; as if their blood was going to freeze over!

The Child and Mother Yinyang Pill. With the Child Pill as the lead, it seized all the magic power, blood energy, and even the soul force of the being, combining all of that strength from yin and yang and then integrating that strength into the body of the being that swallowed the Mother Pill.

Thus, on the other side, in another cage, blazing flames suddenly ignited, as if a burning hot sun were rising. The temperature in the air rose dramatically. Even so, those terrifying flames didn’t harm the ape in the cage at all. Rather, its aura began to rise at an astonishing speed.

Roar –

With a malevolent roar, the imprisoned ape suddenly regained its ability to move. The runes on the cage wildly lit up, shining with a blinding light as their bearing limits were surpassed and they started to disintegrate.

Bang –

The ape smashed into the arm-thick steel bars, causing them to bend. The sharp sound caused one’s ears to ache and the ground that had been restored suddenly shattered.

On the metal columns, the erupting light rapidly formed characters.

17329 horses.

18733 horses.

19414 horses.

17532 horses.

18073 horses.

The entire cage was already thoroughly twisted. One could hear the grating sound of bending metal.

Bang –

The metal cage broke apart. The twisted steel bars carried with them a great destructive power as they shot out in all directions. The three cultivators that held onto the metal columns instantly paled. Although they had late Nascent Soul realm cultivations, their bodies were as frail as paper against these twisted shooting metal bars.

“Humph!”

The heartless official appeared as he flash-stepped into sight. He lifted his hand and space twisted, instantly causing everything to fall into a deathly silence. The flame-covered ape that rushed out of the cage, the twisted metal bars that shout out in all directions, the crushed stones that flew up from the ground…everything seemed to come to a standstill.

The heartless official had no expression. He flicked away the random debris that was in his way, and then arrived in front of the ape. Ignoring the dreadful flames, he pointed a finger at its forehead.

Puff –

A strength blew out its brains, causing a mass of red and white to fly out. The crazy ape’s blood red eyes finally began to dim as the tide of power faded away.

Shualala –

The crushed stones and twisted steel bars fell down. The great ape bent backwards and slumped to the ground.

Because of this sudden change in events, the entire competition field fell deathly silent.

…

Yun Yilan had a face full of praise. “This Child and Mother Yinyang Pill has reached the peak of high-grade. Only by touching upon the shadow of the top grade is it able to have such shocking medicinal efficacy. Cleansing Temple is truly a place where outstanding talent pours forth.”

Yuan Tiangang laughed, “Revered Yuan is too kind. This junior Jiutian still needs to be tempered some more, but when it comes to alchemy, he does have some decent skill. After I return, I will definitely need to propose to the Temple Master to appoint Jiutian as a young temple master of my Cleansing Temple, and even open the Inheritance Stone for him.”

Yun Yilan nodded. “With such talent, he does deserve generous rewards. The title of young temple master can be said to be well deserved.”

Then, Yuan Tiangang changed the topic. “Revered Yun, before the competition began, Jiutian made a bet with Miss White. While this is a private matter between two juniors, Miss White is still the young master of the Great Desolate Lake and Jiutian will also soon become the young temple master of my Cleansing Temple. If so, then this bet concerns the face of both sides involved. I will have to ask Revered Ming to not be offended.” His smile widened, “I guarantee that when Miss White comes to my Cleansing Temple in the future, she will receive the deepest and grandest hospitality possible. She will not feel wronged at all.”

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