The Extreme Alchemist of the Mighty Cauldron

The Second Cauldron pill refiner’s examination had already covered two parts, the pill formula assessment and the herbs assessment, both of which Fang Lin and Li Chong had passed.

Of course, in these two assessments, Fang Lin had thoroughly triumphed, leaving Li Chong far behind in their scores.

Fang Lin’s results in the two tests were flawless, devoid of any mishaps.

Including his results from the One Cauldron pill refiner examination, Li Chong had been trampled over by Fang Lin three times in a row.

After losing three times, had it been someone else, they probably would have given up the fight out of despair and never dare to compete with Fang Lin again.

But Li Chong still had a stubborn determination to defeat Fang Lin in the last part of the examination.

Seeing Li Chong, who was regarded as the prodigy of alchemy Tao in the Li Family, it was clear that he indeed had some commendable strengths.

Ouyang Jing glanced at Fang Lin, who was napping in the corner, and chuckled wryly in his mind. His younger senior brother was a peculiar one. The most important part of the examination was about to start, yet Fang Lin was nonchalantly resting, an attitude Ouyang Jing admired but could not replicate.

An elder from the Li Family stood by Li Chong, continuously casting his gaze towards Fang Lin. He was contemplating how to eliminate the latter.

Elder Su was also carefully observing Fang Lin, but he was more interested in Fang Lin’s Shaking Three Mountains.

If Fang Lin were just an ordinary man, Elder Su wouldn’t have been able to refrain from obtaining the Shaking Three Mountains from him.

However, Fang Lin was, after all, a member of the Purple Mist Sect and had shown extraordinary talent in alchemy Tao. Thus, Elder Su wouldn’t resort to robbery; instead, he would figure out another solution.

By the end of two hours, members of the Pill Alliance brought two ancient and heavy pill furnaces to the site and prepared a large quantity of herbs required for concocting the Bone Renewal Pill.

The Bone Renewal Pill was a second-tier medicine and highly in demand. After all, martial artists could not avoid getting injured, and bone injuries were particularly hard to heal.

And precisely for its excellent curative effects on bone injuries, the Bone Renewal Pill was extremely popular among martial artists.

Using the Bone Renewal Pill as the final topic for the Second Cauldron pill refiner’s examination was reasonable and well justified.

During the initial competitions between the Ten-thousand Medicine Sect and the Pill Sect, the Bone Renewal Pill was the subject of the second round.

Two hours soon passed. Fang Lin rose from the corner, stretching his lethargic body, looking as though he had just woken up.

Li Chong, on the other hand, regained his normal expression. Even though his eyes occasionally betrayed flashes of resentment, his overall mental state had considerably improved.

Pill refining required two crucial elements: steady hands and a calm mind.

Li Chong’s mind had been far from peaceful an hour ago. If he had been asked to refine pills then, it would have greatly hampered his performance.

That’s why Elder Su had given them a two hours rest, not only to recover their physical strengths but also to help them stabilize their mental states.

Naturally, if you weren’t capable of calming down, there was nothing anyone else could do-

A pill refiner who couldn’t even adjust his emotions before pill refining, what kind of pill could he make?

Li Chong eyed Fang Lin as Fang Lin looked back at him, though Fang Lin’s gaze seemed more casual and indifferent.

A wave of emotion stirred within Li Chong as his previous failures came rushing back to him.

Realizing that his mental balance was slightly disturbed, Li Chong quickly stopped looking at Fang Lin and silently adjusted his state of mind.

The elderly member of the Li Family, standing behind Li Chong, whispered amongst themselves, “Go all out in this competition, Fang Lin won’t make it back to the Purple Mist Sect alive.”

Upon hearing this, Li Chong simply nodded in agreement.

“Brother Fang, it’s the last and the most crucial part. You’ve got to pull through!” Ouyang Jing said excitedly to Fang Lin.

Fang Lin gave a slight smile, “Don’t worry.”

With the pill furnaces and herbs readily prepared, Fang Lin and Li Chong both stood before their respective furnaces, waiting for Elder Sul s commencement signal.

Li Chong took several deep breaths, focusing on the pill furnace in front of him, making him seem more relaxed and carefree.

Fang Lin cast a single glance at his furnace before turning away, looking as if he didn’t give a second thought to it.

Seeing them both ready, Elder Su announced, “The third round of the examination is to concoct six Bone Renewal Pills of at least a medium grade within six hours.”

As soon as Elder Su finished speaking, Li Chong immediately got to work.

Without sorting his herbs first, he flicked his finger, summoning the Soul Commanding Pill Flame, and a fierce fire suddenly burst beneath his pill furnace.

Watching this spectacle unfold, everyone present, save for Fang Lin, was taken aback.

“What is Li Chong trying to do? Why did he start the fire first?” Ouyang Jing mused, furrowing his brows.

Not just him, the other Pill Alliance stewards present were also puzzled.

Elder Su’s gaze hardened slightly as he watched Li Chong, seemingly anticipating something, his eyes filling with a tinge of expectation.

Fang Lin, on the other hand, observed Li Chong with interest but made no move to start himself.

With a serious expression, Li Chong took several deep breaths. Seeing that the furnace was already heated, he slapped his furnace abruptly.

Bang!

The furnace lid flew up high, and Li Chong’s hands fluttered like a butterfly, instantly summoning several streams of Soul Commanding Pill Flame into the pill furnace.

As the furnace lid dropped back into place, a fierce Soul Commanding Pill Flame was now burning both inside and outside the furnace.

Witnessing this scene, Ouyang Jing and the stewards of the Pill Alliance suddenly understood what was happening, their faces filled with astonishment.

Elder Su rarely uttered a word of praise, revealing his implicit acknowledgment of Li Chong’s unusual move.

This was the first time Li Chong had received such praise since he arrived.

Fang Lin’s eyes gleamed, he thought to himself, “Li Chong truly has a couple of tricks up his sleeve – the Internal and External Fire Alchemy Skill. It’s been a while since I last saw it.”

At this moment, what Li Chong was employing was the Internal and External Fire Alchemy Skill, an extremely rare and difficult-to-master advanced alchemy technique.

Li Chong met these criteria and this technique was something that the Li Family had managed to acquire with much difficulty. Currently, only two or three people in the entire Li family had mastered it.

Li Chong was one of them.

Moreover, Li Chong was the most proficient in the Li Family in employing the Internal and External Fire Alchemy Skill.

Originally, Li Chong did not intend to reveal his mastering of this alchemy technique. Fearing being overshadowed by Fang Lin yet again if he continued to hold back, Li Chong decided to use the Internal and External Fire Alchemy Skill right at the outset. Using his Soul Commanding Pill Flame and this technique, he hoped to best Fang Lin in this final examination and redress his previous humiliations.

The Internal and External Fire – the external fire warming up and the internal fire burning fiercely, collaboratively expedite pill formation, enabling the concocted pills to be of excellent quality.

However, the Internal and External Fire Alchemy Skill was difficult to execute. For Li Chong, it demanded a significant toll. After employing it once, he could basically not touch the pill furnace for ten days..