Danwu Refining Spirit

Chapter 180 A Challenge from the Holy Pill Pavilion

Chapter 180 A Challenge from the Holy Pill Pavilion

The City of Refining the Heart has a long history, dating back thousands of years. In such an environment, various powerful forces have long since divided up the profits of each industry. Now that a master alchemist has suddenly appeared in the city, it will naturally affect the vested interests of many people.

In the Tianyun Continent, martial arts were the highest virtue, and other professions served to support them, such as alchemy, formation, talisman, and weapon crafting. Generally speaking, the emergence of a new alchemy master was welcomed by everyone, as the emergence of these specialized talents could provide necessary support for martial artists to improve their cultivation.

However, the premise is that a master of alchemy must be affiliated with a certain power. Only a master of alchemy who is supported by a powerful power can obtain a continuous supply of manpower, material resources, and financial resources, thereby constantly refining various elixirs and continuously improving his alchemy skills.

Any alchemy master is an extremely valuable resource and will be highly valued by various forces. However, if an alchemy master wants to remain free and refuses to join any force, there is only one outcome: being ruthlessly blacklisted.

This is the situation Xiao Chong is facing now. According to past practice, a lone alchemist like him, from a very low background, would definitely choose to join a powerful force if he wanted to thrive in Lianxin City, even if it meant becoming a teacher at Qingfeng Academy like Master Xu.

But Master Xiao was different from any other alchemy master before him. Not only did he refuse to join any faction, he also went to great lengths to refine and sell his own pills, becoming incredibly popular and unrestrained.

If this happened to an ordinary person, they would have been collectively suppressed by various covetous forces and devoured without a trace. But Master Xiao, the great alchemist, had managed to establish connections with the City Lord's Mansion and had a close relationship with the City Lord's niece, which made everyone hate him to the core, yet none dared to make a move.

There is only one way to go: the major powers should unite and send their strongest representative to challenge Master Xiao.

If someone can defeat Xiao Chong in the art of alchemy, or even utterly crush him and leave him devastated, then their status as an alchemist will be exposed, and even if the pills they refine are truly effective, they will struggle to find a market. In this way, the pill business in Lianxin City will return to normal, with everyone sharing the profits.

In order to achieve the goal of this unreliable person, the major forces conspired and joined forces. After layers of selection, they finally put forward a master among masters, the outstanding alchemist of Lianxin City and the chief alchemist of Shengdan Pavilion, Nangong Lihuo, as their representative to challenge Master Xiao.

Although everyone knows the dirty secrets hidden behind this challenge, on the surface it is an academic exchange and skill competition between two alchemists, and no one can find fault with it. Even someone as noble as the Lord of Refining Heart City cannot forcibly interfere.

Moreover, such a challenge cannot be refused; doing so would not only be despicable but, more importantly, would damage one's reputation. A tarnished reputation means that any elixirs refined will naturally not be sought after.

Xiao Chong is currently on the rise, and he would never refuse to do something that would lower his status.

Although I disdain doing things like flaunting myself and showing off, if you insist on putting yourselves in this situation, don't blame me for not giving you face. Therefore, Xiao Chong readily agreed to this challenge.

The challenge was chosen to take place at the Sacred Pill Pavilion, the largest pill merchant in Refining Heart City. Not only did it sell pills, but the Sacred Pill Pavilion also produced some of the best pills in the entire city. It could be said that the Sacred Pill Pavilion housed more than half of the most skilled alchemists in Refining Heart City.

There's another reason for choosing the Sacred Pill Pavilion. It has the best pill-making furnaces, the rarest pill-making materials, and the most advanced refining fire.

As the initiator of this challenge, the Holy Pill Pavilion is obligated to provide the challenged party with all the external conditions necessary for refining pills free of charge. Only in this way can the challenge be considered relatively fair, and only then can the winner leave no room for criticism.

There were five people responsible for judging the results of this challenge. Apart from Sheng Chunshui, the Lord of Lianxin City who was specially invited because of his noble status, the other four were all the most famous and respected alchemy masters in Lianxin City.

Among them, naturally, there was Master Xu, Xiao Chong's teacher. The other three were Master Feng, the chief alchemist of the Holy Pill Pavilion, Master Dan Xuzi, a representative of other forces, and a professor of alchemy from Tianxin Academy, the highest academy in Lianxin City.

This professor was even more famous, and had a nickname in the alchemy community of Lianxin City: "Alchemy Maniac". Apart from the dean of Tianxin Academy, everyone respectfully called him "Master Alchemy Maniac", and outsiders had no idea of ​​his real name.

It is said that when he was young, Mr. Danchi had a fortuitous opportunity to refine a divine pill that could raise the cultivation level of martial artists below the Warrior Realm by an entire major realm.

It is well known that some high-quality elixirs can enhance a martial artist's cultivation level. However, this enhancement is limited; it cannot cross realms and can only increase within the same realm.

Therefore, that divine pill was named the "Creation Pill," meaning it could seize the creation of heaven and earth. Although Mr. Danchi never refined another pill that could rival the power of creation after that, his position in the Dao of Alchemy was established and became unshakeable.

Today is the day Xiao Chong will accept the challenge from Nangong Lihuo, the chief alchemist of the Sacred Pill Pavilion. The five alchemy judges gathered early in the Sacred Pill Pavilion's alchemy room. Also invited were the leaders of various forces in Refining Heart City, all of whom were people of high status.

Nangong Lihuo arrived even earlier. As early as the afternoon before, he stayed by a huge alchemy furnace that he rarely used.

After checking the alchemy furnace and all the materials needed for alchemy again and again, he sat upright in front of the furnace, keeping his eyes closed and his mind focused, waiting until now.

Before refining pills, one must clear one's mind of distractions, calm one's spirit, and nourish one's essence; there can be no mistakes, so he cannot afford to be careless. Especially recently, Nangong Lihuo has noticed that his pill-refining skills seem to have improved again, and perhaps under the pressure of challenges, he will achieve another breakthrough.

As the agreed time for the competition approached, Nangong Lihuo opened his eyes, only to find that the person he was challenging had not arrived at all.

"Where is Xiao Chong? Could it be that he lost confidence and ran away at the last minute?"

"It's hard to say. A mere kid who's achieved a little success dares to call himself a master of alchemy. He's utterly ignorant! Does he think being a master is so easy?"

Apart from a few judges who remained silent due to their calm demeanor cultivated through alchemy, the others were restless and began to discuss amongst themselves.

Especially the leaders of the major powers, driven by their own interests, constantly made sarcastic remarks.