122: Chapter 122 Nangong Ziyi, Ye Qingxian: Big Breasts, No Brains!

Holy Pill City Main Square.

Nine ten-thousand-foot-high Alchemy platforms were arranged in a fan shape, with over a hundred people standing densely on each platform.

The preliminary round was divided into nine groups held simultaneously, with the top ten from each group advancing.

Ye Qingxian and Nangong Ziyi were assigned to Group Seven.

There were one hundred and twenty-seven people in this group.

The two stood at the edge of the Alchemy platform, flanked by broad-shouldered male Alchemists. Each possessed a non-weak aura, with the lowest being at the Cave Heaven Realm.

Nangong Ziyi scanned the surroundings and raised an eyebrow.

Ye Qingxian stood on her tiptoes, trying to find her Revered Master's figure.

“Stop looking, your Revered Master is over there.”

Nangong Ziyi tilted her chin up.

Lu Chen was leaning against a pillar, lifting a wine gourd to his lips and drinking.

Ji Ziyue stood behind him, holding a plate of sliced spirit fruits.

Ye Qingxian waved her hand toward the area below the platform.

Lu Chen either didn't see it or did see it but was too lazy to respond.

“Hey, you two.”

A voice came from the right.

A young male cultivator wearing a brocade robe walked over, tapping a fan against his palm, his eyes scanning back and forth between Ye Qingxian and Nangong Ziyi.

He was followed by two servants, and the spiritual light from his storage ring was faintly leaking out, as if he were afraid others wouldn't know he carried good items.

“Which Sect are you from?”

The brocade-robed male cultivator was named Zhao Yuanlang, a member of a branch of the Zhao Family in Holy Pill City, at the Late Stage of the Dragon Transformation Realm, barely considered the face of a second-tier power in the Zhongtian Domain.

Ye Qingxian glanced at him.

“What does that have to do with you?”

Zhao Yuanlang's fan stopped. His servant, Zhao Qi, sneered:

“Young Revered Master Zhao is kindly reminding you that the preliminary round involves refining Five-Rank pills. You two little girls look like you wouldn't even recognize a Pill Furnace; you should leave early and not waste a spot.”

Nangong Ziyi didn't even lift her eyelids.

Zhao Yuanlang's gaze lingered on Nangong Ziyi's neckline and waistline for a few moments, and the corner of his mouth curled up.

“You two ladies have decent looks, but the Alchemy Convention is a competition of the Dao of Alchemy, not of faces.”

He shook his fan, his voice neither loud nor soft, but seven or eight people nearby heard him.

“Every year there are a few big-breasted and brainless vases who come to join the fun, only to end up unable to even light their furnaces.”

A few low laughs came from the surroundings.

Ye Qingxian's face darkened.

Nangong Ziyi, however, smiled. She tilted her head and looked at Zhao Yuanlang, the smile in her peach blossom eyes cold enough to freeze ice.

“What is your name?”

“Zhao Family, Zhao Yuanlang.”

“Fine, I’ve remembered it.”

Nangong Ziyi withdrew her gaze and stopped looking at him.

Zhao Yuanlang curled his lip and turned back to his Alchemy station.

Clang—

On the high platform, the Alchemy Tower Elder hosting the convention, Qin Cangsong, struck an ancient bell.

“The preliminary round begins! The topic: Five-Rank Heavenly Yuan Spirit Gathering Pill! Time limit: two hours!”

One hundred and twenty-seven Pill Furnace lids opened simultaneously.

Spiritual fires rose, medicinal fragrances permeated the air, and the entire Alchemy platform was enveloped in a layer of ethereal mist.

Zhao Yuanlang was the first to ignite his fire. A ball of orange-red mortal fire surged from his palm and was injected into the bottom of the Pill Furnace.

The flame wasn't weak.

The surrounding Alchemists also began to activate their respective fire seeds, and waves of heat immediately rolled across the platform.

Nangong Ziyi stood in place, not in a hurry to start.

She raised her right hand and spread her five fingers.

At her palm, a ball of dark blue flame rose silently.

The flame wasn't large, about the size of a fist, but its color was deep, and its edges shimmered with a faint silver halo.

The temperature, however, soared in an instant.

Heavenly Yin Fire God Flame.

This was the natal exotic fire that came with the Awakening of the Heavenly Yin Fire God Physique. It was capable of growth and had devoured the heaven-and-earth exotic fire Lu Chen had given her previously, making it a top-tier fire seed in the entire Central Province.

As soon as the dark blue flame appeared, the temperature within a three-zhang radius spiked abruptly.

The first to suffer was Zhao Yuanlang.

His Pill Furnace was closest to Nangong Ziyi, less than two zhang away.

The temperature field of the Heavenly Yin Fire God Flame directly overwhelmed his fire, and the temperature inside his furnace instantly spiraled out of control.

Bang!

The lid of Zhao Yuanlang's Pill Furnace was blown off by a wave of heat, and scalding medicinal liquid sprayed out, splashing all over his face.

“Ah!”

Zhao Yuanlang clutched his face and stumbled back three steps, several black holes burned into the front of his brocade robe.

Immediately after, the furnace exploded.

Then came the chain reaction.

The temperature field of the Heavenly Yin Fire God Flame spread outward with Nangong Ziyi as the center, causing all Alchemists within a ten-zhang radius to lose control of their heat.

Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang!

Seven Pill Furnaces exploded in succession, medicinal dregs splattered, and smoke filled the air.

The entire Group Seven Alchemy platform was in chaos.

“Exotic fire! That's an exotic fire!”

“What kind of fire seed is that? It's dark blue!”

“Who on earth is she? What Loose Cultivator could possess such a fire?”

Exclamations of surprise rose one after another.

Nangong Ziyi was oblivious. She restrained the Heavenly Yin Fire God Flame by thirty percent, shrinking the temperature field to within one zhang, and began to add Materials into the furnace.

Her movements were as smooth as flowing water, but her technique was extremely unusual.

She didn't add the primary herbs first; instead, she added the auxiliary herbs first.

This was the method Lu Chen had taught on the flying boat: the Reverse Order Loading Method. By using the properties of the auxiliary herbs to lay the foundation first and adding the primary herbs later, the efficiency of medicinal power Fusion would increase by thirty percent.

A heterodox path? No, this was Great Emperor-level Alchemy experience rewarded by the System. No one else in the entire Human Realm would teach it this way.

On the other side, Ye Qingxian also moved.

She did not summon any spiritual fire.

Instead, she took out a palm-sized small cauldron from her storage ring.

It was simple, damaged, its body mottled, and the patterns on the lid were mostly worn away.

It looked like scrap metal picked up from a junk pile.

But the moment Ye Qingxian injected spiritual energy into the cauldron's body—

Buzz!

A low-pitched chime from the cauldron resonated throughout the entire Alchemy platform.

The remaining ancient runes on the cauldron suddenly lit up, golden light shining through the mottled cracks, and a ball of crimson-gold flame spontaneously formed inside the cauldron.

Without needing the Alchemist to drive it, the heavenly emperor cauldron ignited and regulated the temperature on its own.

Yu Yao's lips moved slightly:

“The heavenly emperor cauldron, the heritage of the Ancient Ye Family. Although it's an imitation, it comes with a sliver of detached Emperor Fire.”

On the Alchemy platform, Ye Qingxian threw the medicinal ingredients into the heavenly emperor cauldron all at once.

The cauldron spirit automatically sorted them, regulated the heat, and fused the medicinal power.

All Ye Qingxian had to do was follow the order and rhythm her Revered Master had taught her, injecting spiritual energy at key points to catalyze the process.

Fifteen minutes passed.

A crisp hum came from Nangong Ziyi's Pill Furnace, and medicinal fragrance wafted out.

She lifted the furnace lid, and a Medicinal Pill, dark blue throughout with silver patterns flowing on its surface, floated out.

Five-Rank Heavenly Yuan Spirit Gathering Pill.

Extreme grade, with nine pill veins; one more would have reached the threshold of the Six-Rank.

Another seven or eight minutes passed.

The lid of Ye Qingxian's heavenly emperor cauldron popped open automatically, and a crimson-gold pillar of light shot into the sky.

A golden Medicinal Pill floated above the cauldron's mouth, its fragrance so rich that it could be smelled across the entire Alchemy platform.

The entire venue fell silent. The other one hundred and twenty-seven Alchemists were still frantically controlling their fires and adding herbs, some having only just completed the first round of Fusion.

Yet these two girls, who had been mocked as “big-breasted and brainless,” had already refined extreme-grade pills.

Zhao Yuanlang stood by the wreckage of his exploded Pill Furnace, his face covered in medicinal dregs and half of his brocade robe burned away, frozen in place.

His servant, Zhao Qi, tugged at his sleeve: “Young Revered Master, we...”

Zhao Yuanlang said nothing. He put down his fan, turned around, and walked away, his pace getting faster and faster.

On the high platform, Qin Cangsong and several judges whispered for a moment before announcing.

“In Group Seven, Nangong Ziyi and Ye Qingxian's preliminary results far exceed the standard. They are exceptionally promoted and will advance directly to the semi-finals!”

The crowd below erupted. Lu Chen, leaning against the pillar, merely nodded.

“Not bad.” His voice was very soft, and only Ji Ziyue behind him heard it.

“They have a bit of the style of Yunxiao's Xiaoyao Peak now.”

Ji Ziyue handed him a grape.

“Isn't it because of you, Senior Emperor Yun, and your good training!”

“Not at all! I just casually taught them a few tricks.”

Ji Ziyue's Phoenix eyes curved slightly.

---

The semi-finals didn't begin until the afternoon.

Qin Cangsong stood on the high platform, his voice carrying throughout the venue: “Bring your own Materials and refine a Five-Rank Medicinal Pill!!”

A Grade Five Heaven Pill.

This was already a Domain that ordinary Geniuses could not touch.

Among the forty advancing contestants, the faces of more than half of them changed.

Nangong Ziyi and Ye Qingxian looked at each other.

Nangong Ziyi was the first to move. The Heavenly Yin Fire God Flame rose once more, but this time she did not restrain it. The dark blue flame spread across the bottom of the furnace, and its silver halo expanded to the entire furnace wall.

Ye Qingxian also summoned the heavenly emperor cauldron again.

The cauldron spirit sensed the aura of the Five-Rank Materials, and the brightness of the ancient runes on the cauldron's body increased by a level, the crimson-gold fire turning into a deep gold.

The two simultaneously added herbs, stoked the fire, and condensed the pills.

Their techniques were identical: the Reverse Order Loading Method, with auxiliary herbs laying the foundation and primary herbs added later.

This was what Lu Chen had taught them personally. A Great Emperor's Alchemy technique was a dimensional strike in a competition of this level.

Three hours of the six-hour time limit passed.

Most of the contestants were still struggling with the violent medicinal properties of the Five-Rank ingredients, their furnace fires flickering and their foreheads drenched in cold sweat.

The first chime of a pill came from Nangong Ziyi's furnace.

Immediately after, Ye Qingxian's heavenly emperor cauldron also began to vibrate.

Two pillars of light shot into the sky almost simultaneously.

One was dark blue, the other crimson-gold.

The light pillars pierced through the Formation dome above the Alchemy platform and shot straight into the ninth heaven.

Above Holy Pill City, the clouds were stirred, and Spiritual Qi surged like a tide, gathering atop the two pillars of light.

A Heavenly Phenomenon.

The Formation of a Grade Five Heaven Pill had triggered a resonance with heaven and earth.

On the high platform, all twelve members of the judging panel stood up.

Yu Yao held her teacup, her gaze passing over the two soaring light pillars to land on the black-robed youth leaning against a pillar and yawning below the platform.

The corner of her mouth curved slightly.

“The Reverse Order Loading Method... in the entire Human Realm, only one person has ever used this technique.”

She put down her teacup, and her voice transmission precisely entered Lu Chen's ear.

“You’ve taught them well!”

“But if you don't step in soon, your two Fairy disciples are going to be struck by lightning in a moment!”