Although using a flame to draw an image in the air without any support was not an extremely difficult task, the difficulty was in forming a spell diagram and furthermore have the spell diagram to show its effects and most of all using the flame to construct a water attributed spell diagram. Even the people there still hadn’t realized how he had done that.
Yang Chen very clearly understood that nobody, including Elder Wu, would be able to understand that mystery. Naturally he would also not educate them; this was something they could only begin to ponder over after reaching the spiritual world.
The opponent was at the YuanYing stage, normal methods wouldn’t have been able to suppress these people at the top, so naturally Yang Chen needed to use something unusual. Using a flame to produce a spell was not very complicated and Yang Chen was currently fully able to do that, therefore he had directly used this method.
Apparently the results were pretty good, at least when these five people looked at him now, it was as if they were looking at a monster, so Yang Chen’s goal was already accomplished. He had gotten hold of the Real Sun Fire and moreover his words had gained value during the refining process of the Heaven Seizing Pill.
If everything had gone normally, even if these people had accepted Yang Chen, they still wouldn’t have looked at him favourably, they would have allowed him to enter and considered him as a dispensable servant for supporting them at most, to give face to Elder Wu. But after this performance, nobody would be able to give him any orders regarding controlling the fire.
Suddenly the blue colored spirit gathering spell between his hands dispersed and it turned into a trace of extremely thin flame again. One end was connected to Yang Chen’s right hand, while the other was free in the air. The spirit gathering spell also lost its effectiveness and the spirit power it had gathered suddenly exploded on Yang Chen’s side, emitting a blue light.
Yang Chen shook his right hand and the trace of the flame wound around it and shook with it, then it swiftly dispersed from a chaotic ball and turned into an absolutely nimble rope. Soon afterwards, Yang Chen’s right hand faintly turned few times and the flame within his hands began to twist around Yang Chen’s hands like a whip. Soon after that, Yang Chen slowly collected the lump of flame that had coiled around him back into his body and raised his head to look at everyone.
This kind of performance, treating fire like a real object, once again managed to get everyone’s attention. But compared to the earlier stunning performance of producing a spell from the flame, this is was relatively easier by much. The pill concocting masters at the scene could barely accomplished it, relying on their strength of the YuanYing stage, but if their cultivation was made equal to Yang Chen, it would also extinguish their hopes of being able to do it.
“Senior He LianYun, I have already finished, I invite Senior to start!”
With a smile, Yang Chen did an inviting gesture towards He LianYun and afterward he stepped aside from the middle position and walked to Elder Wu’s side. This He LianYun was quite narrow minded, because Yang Chen had no other way of stopping him, sitting next to Elder Wu was the most secure and safe way.
He LianYun’s complexion had turned gloomy, at this moment, they were already unable to tell his mood. After stopping at the middle of the place, he sank into deep thought. The few people looking at him from the side, all had regret within their gaze. A YuanYing stage pill concocting expert was cornered by a qi layer youngster, they really didn’t know what to say about this.
Along with Yang Chen’s performance, his image within the eyes of these people had also changed greatly, at least within their subconscious mind, their address for him had already changed from ‘qi layer youngster’ to ‘qi layer junior’.
Especially Deng Yi and Zhu Peng couldn’t help but feel some sympathy for He LianYun at this moment. But apart from feeling sympathy, they also had some lingering fear, if at that time, they had also jumped out in support of He LianYun’s proposal, then maybe Yang Chen would have also challenged them, then certainly at this moment they would also have to suffer from incessant embarrassment like He LianYun.
But nobody had said anything at that time, seizing Yang Chen’s Geocentric Flame was He LianYun’s own idea. At that time, his words certainly hadn’t given the slightest amount of face to the host, Elder Wu, so naturally Elder Wu would also not come to save him, particularly since Elder Wu was acting as the arbiter.
Everyone’s gazes were fixed on He LianYun, but from the beginning he was only standing, as if rooted to his position, without making any movements or saying anything. It seemed as if he was deeply pondering about something. Nevertheless everyone knew what he was pondering about, actually, once Yang Chen’s spell had worked, everyone had thought about, if they were in Yang Chen’s place, could they also achieve this and if they could, how?
Surely He LianYun was also thinking about how to do it, so nobody disturbed him. But this process should not take too long, otherwise all of them may have to wait for tens or hundreds of years for He LianYun to find a way. Yang Chen would not allow him to do this. Elder Wu, who was acting as the arbiter would also not favour him. If he wanted to blame someone, then He LianYun could only blame himself.
Finally, after a long moment, He LianYun walked to the center, extended his hands like Yang Chen and a thread of flame appeared in his hands, beginning to form an image. But compared to Yang Chen, he actually seemed somewhat out of practice with this thread of flame, after all this was his first time. Before this he had never thought that flame could be controlled to do this.
Luckily he was at the YuanYing stage, so under the control of his formidable spirit power, he was barely able to accomplish this with the flame. The spell diagram was different from Yang Chen’s, nevertheless it was also a low levelled water attributed spell formation that he knew. In any case, everyone here knew that he tried to imitate Yang Chen. The only chance he had at victory was to activate this spell formation in any way he could.
Regardless of anything, he was a YuanYing stage expert and also a high level pill concocting master, so he just could not just admit defeat without trying, this was indeed He LianYun’s style. He believed that, even if it happened by a fluke, as long as he was able to complete the spell diagram, he would also be able to easily activate, it like Yang Chen had done.
Unfortunately, things don’t always turn out like expected. Without really knowing the properties of the five phases, without really understanding the spell formation and without practicing his control over fire to the peak, he basically could not accomplish Yang Chen’s feat. No matter how good He LianYun’s luck was, he would still not be able to produce a miracle.
Under numerous stares, He LianYun’s spell diagram was formed many times, but regardless of how much he tried, from the beginning to the end, the spell formation never activated. Even after trying several times, when the spell formation still did not work, He LianYun’s expression finally turned ashen.
Lost. A majestic YuanYing stage expert, a third grade pill concocting master, had unexpectedly lost to a junior at the qi layer, how could the proud and arrogant He LianYun bear this? He, who was standing at the top not so long ago, how could he be humiliated in such a way?
Although he was extremely furious, he did not dare to show even a trace of it. In front of Elder Wu he did not dare to raise the issue of breaching the contract. He LianYun had began to repent. Why had he jumped out with that sort of attitude at that time? Now that it was too late, he would have to improvise.
Perhaps, refining the Heaven Seizing Pill with an all out effort was the best opportunity for him. As long as he was able to make Elder Wu happy, maybe he would be able to exchange the wager for some other things at that time. Only when one loses something, does one realizes its preciousness. As long as he was not stripped of his Real Sun Fire, He LianYun was willing to agree to any condition.
“I lose!”
In front of Elder Wu, He LianYun did not think about getting off lightly, he could only admit his defeat, dispiritedly hanging his head. This time, he had taken the initiative and admitted defeat. This was much better than being rudely judged by other people and at least he could get a favourable impression from Elder Wu.
Showing resistance? He had discarded this idea as soon as it had flashed within his mind. What a joke, with just a single hand, Elder Wu could exterminate a YuanYing stage expert like him several times over.
When all was said and done, He LianYun was still a person who valued his life and was afraid of dying. Even if Real Sun Fire was very precious and important within the cultivation world, when compared with his life, He LianYun would still be willing to part with it. As long as he could concoct pills, he would always be able to find an opportunity to exchange them for flames. As for Yang Chen, after Elder Wu ascends, who would be able to protect him? Until this moment, he was thinking about how to handle Yang Chen, maybe he would still be able to snatch back the Real Sun Fire. But all of this was only possible if he remained alive.
“The Real Sun Fire is mine now!”
A smile appeared on Yang Chen’s face.
“For now, let it be a deposit inside of you!”
He LianYun’s admission of defeat also allowed Yang Chen to see He LianYun’s true nature. He was a coward who treated his life as extremely precious, from which Yang Chen could conclude that He LianYun would definitely not be willing to part with his life for the Real Sun Fire or do something which would end in perishing together with a qi layer cultivator. As long as He LianYun tried to do anything to him during the time of refining the Real Sun Fire, he would not be escape from Elder Wu’s hands. With this guarantee, Yang Chen could feel relieved and take part in the refining without any fear.
As for what happened afterwards, that was a matter for the future. He LianYun without the Real Sun Fire against Yang Chen who had absorbed the Real Sun Fire, even if there was a large gap between their realms, he was convinced that He LianYun would not dare to attack him within the territory of the Pure Yang Palace. In any case, after Yang Chen returned from the Immortal Falling Well, he would surely be able to pay his respects to his master in the Pure Yang Palace. At that time the Pure Yang Palace would certainly defend a talented pill concocting master like him to the death.
After this minor incident, nobody dared to look at Yang Chen with contempt any longer. Currently everyone who had been gathered by Elder Wu had already arrived, following was the long and tedious process of preparation.
Elder Wu had already prepared all ingredients, now everything was ready and all they needed was an east wind1. Unfortunately, the pill recipe which Elder Wu had, was passed down from a senior who had refined the Heaven Seizing Pill, to the later generation and had moved from person to person before reaching him. This meant that the pill recipe was not complete, only the list of ingredients used and the earliest stages of the refining method were recorded, but no word about the final stage was mentioned. Everything would require all of them to discuss and test things out. The reason why he had gathered three pill concocting masters was precisely because of this.
The ingredients were plentiful, up to the point that it could shock ninety five percent of all cultivators in this world. It seemed that apart from Elder Wu, this Da Cheng stage expert, other people were simply not able to gather this many ingredients. Just the first stage of refining already required several years, even if it was divided among three pill concocting masters, it would still take three to four years.
The Heaven Seizing Pill was completely different from other ordinary pills. It seemed to Yang Chen that this Heaven Seizing Pill was basically a combination of ten top grade pills, moreover it still required a powerful demonic beast’s spirit as the pill spirit, only then could it be refined.
Just this requirement preceded over the other top grade pills, that was already sufficient to test these pill concocting masters, not to mention that the final stage was the fusion of the pill spirit with the elixirs produced during the process. For ordinary pill concocting masters, that simply was an unimaginable affair.
Several kinds of elixirs of all five attributes, rousing and restraining one another and wanting to fuse together. This was an extremely troublesome affair for these YuanYing stage pill concocting masters. This authority was the privilege for which Yang Chen had fought with He LianYun over.
The ingredients were sorted according to their properties, simply stockpiling them occupied an entire storeroom with the size of two wide halls, but this still didn’t include the huge dead bodies of those demonic beasts. For just a first grade refining of these ingredients, it would require half a year’s time.
Currently, the work of purifying the ingredients had entirely been handed over to Yang Chen. His Geocentric Flame was the most suitable flame for refining ingredients, and moreover Yang Chen’s performance had made all of them acknowledge that his control over fire was splendid. If he was not most suited for purifying the ingredients, then who was?
As long as the most basic ingredients could be upgraded, it would greatly increase the chances of success in the final stage, nobody could deny this fact. So all of these people were very courteous to him.
Everyone was staying in Elder Wu’s villa. When those pill concocting experts were discussing with Elder Wu about how to execute the last step, Yang Chen had begun the work of purifying the ingredients.
This time, Yang Chen wasn’t empty handed like before, instead he was using the Profound Spirit Furnace. Once he took out the Profound Spirit Furnace, it immediately stunned all of them. Naturally, they were not astonished by the grade of the Profound Spirit Furnace, but rather at the fact that the Profound Spirit Furnace was a magic treasure. Although the name of the Profound Spirit Furnace would someday shake the Heavenly Court, it was currently only a low levelled pill concocting furnace and was still far from the condition which could make YuanYing experts lust after it.
Yang Chen was only at the peak qi layer, yet he could use and refine a magic weapon and that also without any difficulty, that was the thing that really amazed these experts. But despite being amazed, they did not say anything. In this world cultivation geniuses were a dime a dozen, too many to count, so this was a common occurrence.
After purifying the medicines, he carefully placed them into the most suitable vessels for each of them and afterwards extremely carefully arranged them, one after another, within the plaza. From the beginning, Zhu Peng, Deng Yi and He LianYun would all frequently visit to check the progress of his refining. But every time they visited, all of them only nodded without speaking.
After Yang Chen purified the ingredients, all of the impurities were completely expelled and only the purest part of the ingredients remained. Even the three YuanYing experts couldn’t help but admire him. Even if they were substituted to do the work, they could not guarantee that they would do it better then Yang Chen. It was even possible that they couldn’t compare to Yang Chen.
When He LianYun looked at Yang Chen, he had no peculiarity in his gaze, even in discussions he was making an all out effort, so that nobody could see any dissatisfaction from him. But every time he looked at these purified ingredients, a trace of viciousness would flash through his expression, but nobody noticed it.
Within half a year’s time, Yang Chen had refined all of the ingredients that needed refining, as for the rest of the materials they had to be refined on the spot for use, like the high grade blue-green zoysia. All of those were left, waiting to be purified at the final stage. The three YuanYing stage pill concocting masters had finally come up with ten methods after a discussion over thousands of types of proposals, and if needed, they could also be changed according to the situation.
Now that everything was in place and ready, they could only wait for the refining to begin.
Idiom, meaning that something crucial is still lacking.