Chapter 134: Exquisite Flame Control
As part of the process, the pills had to be tested. The Alchemist Guild had made thorough preparations for this event—each refining platform contained hidden mechanisms for pill quality evaluation. Unsurprisingly, Xiao Yan's pill came out far superior to the rest.
This result came as no surprise to Xiao Yuan, Yao Lao, or Hai Bodong.
While Xiao Yan's three years of refining experience couldn't match Liu Ling or the little princess's decade-long foundations, his innate talent, his master's level, and especially the Heavenly Flame he used for refining placed him leagues ahead.
Naturally, this meant faster pill formation and better quality.
But this performance left the rest of the audience stunned.
Just the use of a Heavenly Flame was enough to shock many. And his calm, smooth, and practiced refining process left even seasoned experts murmuring with admiration.
Even Fa Ma was visibly surprised. Heavenly Flames were not something a normal person could acquire. He had just recently received news that Gu He had assembled a team to search for one in the Tagor Desert—and still came up empty-handed. Yet the green flame Xiao Yan wielded clearly was one. This alone implied immense talent, great fortune, and mysterious backing.
Just then, Fa Ma's expression subtly changed. He made a thoughtful "hm" sound and looked across the massive plaza, his gaze settling on a remote corner. There, a figure wrapped entirely in a gray robe was quietly inserting a pill into the testing mechanism.
"What is it?" Jia Xingtian noticed Fa Ma's reaction and asked.
"That person…" Fa Ma narrowed his eyes, fingers tapping the railing. "That guy seems… quite strong."
"Oh?" Hai Bodong and Jia Xingtian both turned their gazes to the gray-robed figure, frowning. "I don't see anything strange."
"You're not alchemists, so you can't sense it—but from my perception, this man's soul strength far surpasses Liu Ling, Yue'er, even Xiao Yan. Among everyone in the plaza, his soul force is the strongest. When Gu He participated years ago, even he didn't have this kind of power."
Fa Ma frowned deeper as he continued observing. Moments later, a radiant green light shot from the stone platform before the gray-robed man, nearly matching Xiao Yan's result in brightness.
The sudden surge of light immediately drew the attention of the entire plaza. When they saw it came from an unknown alchemist hiding in a corner, shock rippled across the crowd.
Xiao Yan and the others turned to look. The emerald glow was nearly on par with his, just slightly above Liu Ling and the little princess.
"Teacher, something's off about this guy."
On the stands, Xiao Yuan narrowed his eyes and spoke inwardly.
"Mm. Judging by his soul fluctuations, he's not young—at least over forty. He probably used some trick to bypass the tournament's age screening. His soul power is indeed strong, at the level of a fourth-tier alchemist. You and Xiao Yan are both still a bit behind him."
Yao Lao chuckled in response.
But clearly, he wasn't concerned. He had absolute faith in his disciple.
With one glance, he could tell this man was a fraud who had entered the tournament under false pretenses to claim the championship using overwhelming strength. But the reason didn't matter—because the title would go to Xiao Yan.
"Hehe, I bet President Fa Ma and the others are the ones getting nervous right now."
Xiao Yuan smiled as if watching a play. Knowing Xiao Yan's strength, he wasn't worried. As for this impostor from the Chu Yun Empire pretending to be a teenage alchemist? To Xiao Yuan, he was just a clown.
Meanwhile, Ya Fei—who understood nothing about alchemy—had grown bored and was now asleep on Xiao Yuan's shoulder.
Glancing toward Fa Ma, Xiao Yuan noticed a flurry of activity in their area—likely scrambling to uncover this mysterious participant's identity.
He wondered how Xiao Yi Xian was doing now, back in the Chu Yun Empire, after they parted ways in the Magical Beast Mountain Range…
His mind drifted from memory to memory—until Hai Bodong spoke and snapped him back to the present.
"What are you daydreaming about, kid?"
Hai Bodong glanced at Ya Fei, who had just opened her eyes, and asked with a sigh.
Xiao Yuan smiled. "Eh, nothing much. Did you need something, Elder Hai?"
"Heh, good timing. Something interesting just came up. I want to test you a bit."
Hai Bodong smirked and pointed toward the gray-robed man. "Fa Ma suspects that guy's hiding something. But we can't see his face under that hat. So, I want you to secretly freeze his hat to powder with a chill stream. Think you can do that?"
Despite the polite tone, it was clearly a command.
Xiao Yuan shrugged. "Freezing airflow? I could… but it's risky. I've got a better idea."
That surprised not only Hai Bodong, but also caught the attention of Fa Ma and Jia Xingtian, who were still observing.
What was this kid planning?
Xiao Yuan said nothing. He quietly released a thread of wind-attributed Dou Qi mixed with a bit of Heavenly Flame. It drifted on the breeze and snuck into the man's cauldron unnoticed.
Moments later, the wind Qi turned to wood Qi, catalyzing the Heavenly Flame and causing it to burst upward and ignite the man's robe.
Boom!
Though the gray-robed man reacted quickly, the intense heat still burned his clothes into shreds—and the conical hat was reduced to ash.
Without Xiao Yuan's support, the Heavenly Flame quickly dissipated. To outsiders, it looked like the man had snuffed it out himself.
"Hmm? What a refined display of flame control!"
Fa Ma couldn't help but praise. His tone toward Xiao Yuan now carried even more respect.
"Haha, it was nothing."
Xiao Yuan bowed with a smile—but inside, he was thrilled.
The maneuver had given him a novel sensation.
Once he reached Dou Wang and his five Qi Centers could circulate freely, he'd be able to switch attributes mid-fight. That would be a formidable trump card.
The five elements represented nearly every attribute in the world. From the perspective of elemental countering, Xiao Yuan would be unbeatable from the start.
Meanwhile, the commotion in the arena drew gasps—now that the man's disguise was gone, everyone could see he looked like a teenager, seemingly younger than Xiao Yan!
Xiao Yuan nearly laughed out loud when he saw the boy glare at Xiao Yan with icy blue eyes.
Pfft!
Xiao Yuan quickly covered his mouth.
This guy had detected the Heavenly Flame—but didn't know Xiao Yuan also had one, so he suspected Xiao Yan instead.
Then, he looked toward the VIP section and mouthed a sentence that Fa Ma and the others clearly understood:
"I will win this tournament!"
"Tch, no way that kid's seventeen. If he is, I'll eat this railing," Hai Bodong snorted.
"Yeah, no obvious signs of disguise, but his age definitely doesn't match his appearance. And let's be real—you don't need makeup to look young. Some strange herbs and pills can do the trick."
Jia Xingtian added, glancing at Fa Ma.
"There are rare pills that can alter a person's appearance, yes. But they're extremely difficult to refine. Still, if someone actually obtained one, we'd have no way of knowing unless he admitted his age himself…"
Fa Ma nodded, troubled.
Xiao Yuan found this oddly amusing. He suddenly appreciated the Soul Hall's soul manipulation techniques—after all, while a pill could change appearance, it couldn't disguise someone's soul.
As these thoughts floated in Xiao Yuan's mind, Fa Ma and Jia Xingtian grew more helpless. At this point, all they could do was hope their own champions could pull through.
Hai Bodong, on the other hand, was smiling confidently. Knowing Xiao Yan's "true strength," he wasn't the least bit worried.
For a sixth-tier alchemist like Xiao Yan, dealing with a fourth-tier fraudster? That was child's play.
Soon after, the tournament resumed—the second round began.
This time, the task was to refine a third-tier pill: Windwalking Pill.
Effect: temporarily heightens the user's sensitivity to wind-elemental energy, increasing movement speed.
To most, it had some value. To Xiao Yuan? Useless.
So he had little interest in the pill itself—but closely observed the refining techniques of Xiao Yan and the others.
From a technical standpoint, Xiao Yan's approach was clearly the most refined. Though Yao Lao had been exiled from the Medicine Clan, his methods still stemmed from their elite traditions. Later, he'd also inherited skills from the Little Pill Tower. On the continent, this was among the very best.
Still, every alchemist had their quirks—and Xiao Yan was no exception.
Compared to Yao Lao, there were still subtle differences in their styles.
The little princess and Liu Ling had also trained under top-tier Jia Ma Empire alchemists. Their techniques were skilled, even more practiced than Xiao Yan's in some ways.
But the gray-robed man was interesting. His methods were slightly rougher—but his execution was extremely smooth. That alone exposed him. There was no way a seventeen-year-old could reach that level of ease—even if he'd started in the womb.
Especially in the Chu Yun Empire, where poison masters ran rampant. There was no soil for training alchemists of this caliber.
Still, watching their techniques offered great insights for Xiao Yuan.
As the saying goes: "In a group of three, one is your teacher."
His current talents weren't yet ideal for alchemy. Every attempt felt impossibly hard.
If not for Yao Lao's reputation and knowledge, Xiao Yuan might have quit long ago.
Every failed attempt burned herbs—burned money.
While he had Mittel Clan backing now, as someone who knew poverty, Xiao Yuan still winced at the waste.
Scanning the ingredients below, he noticed Xiao Yan frowning but continuing with the process.
The recipe called for nine ingredients, but one of them didn't belong.
Windwalking Pill's purpose was speed.
Yet among the ingredients was "Thick Earth Ganoderma," a herb that enhanced defense and slowed Dou Qi circulation—completely contrary to the goal.
Xiao Yan had too little real experience to notice the inconsistency.
But Xiao Yuan spotted it instantly. Thanks to memories from his past life, he had knowledge of pharmaceuticals. When learning alchemy, he'd compared formulas from both worlds—and found that medicinal principles remained strikingly similar.
This logical foundation made it easy for him to recognize:
This recipe was flawed.
(END CHAPTER)
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