126: Chapter 126 The System Forces Me to Show Off! I am the Great Emperor of Hedong!

In his mind, that crisp loli voice rang out.

[Ding! Detected that the host's disciple has exploded their cauldron at the Alchemy Convention, completely losing the face of the host as a Transmigrator Great Emperor!]

[Issuing Show-Off Mission—If the disciple can't do it, the Revered Master must step in! Please take action personally, host, and refine a Divine Pill in public to shock the entire audience and reclaim the Great Emperor's prestige!]

Lu Chen's face darkened.

[Mission Reward: One twelve-grade creation azure lotus to help the host's cultivation progress further; Lifespan +2 years.]

[Failure Penalty: Disciple Ye Qingxian's Alchemy talent will be permanently reset to zero.]

[Additional Penalty: The host must stand on the spot with hands raised high and wave them wildly while shouting, "Everyone, look at me! My name is Lu Niubi, and I am freaking awesome!" This must continue for fifteen minutes, otherwise, your 'little brother' will shorten by 5cm.]

Lu Chen's face completely froze.

He turned his head and glanced at Ye Qingxian on his shoulder.

The girl had just finished crying, her small face still stained with tear marks. She was hugging his neck, obediently resting her chin on top of his head.

Talent reset to zero... His disciple was only fourteen or fifteen years old, exactly the age when one's foundation is being raised and talent is being set.

If her talent was reset to zero, it wouldn't just be a matter of whether a cauldron exploded or not; she would never be able to touch a Pill Furnace again for the rest of her life.

As for the second penalty...

Lu Chen imagined the scene of himself, a Great Emperor, waving his hands wildly in front of so many people while shouting "My name is Lu Niubi."

No, that was even scarier than Ascension to go mine ore.

"System," Lu Chen's voice was extremely low, squeezed out from between his teeth.

"Do you have some kind of social exhibitionist disorder? You just can't stand it if I don't show off, can you?"

Lu Chen closed his eyes.

"...Fine."

He reached out and lifted Ye Qingxian off his shoulder, placed her on the ground, and patted her head.

"Revered Master is going up to the stage for a moment."

Ye Qingxian was stunned, her big eyes blinking twice.

"Revered Master, what are you going to do?"

"To teach you what Alchemy really is."

After Lu Chen finished speaking, he turned around.

Nangong Ziyi was standing in front of him holding a purple-gold token, blocking his path, her peach-blossom eyes full of expectation for praise.

Lu Chen extended a finger, tapped her forehead, and pushed her aside.

"Wait here."

Nangong Ziyi covered her forehead, watching blankly as Lu Chen's back passed through the crowd and appeared on the main Alchemy high stage.

Ji Ziyue, holding a fruit plate, saw her phoenix eyes shift slightly.

Ye Qingxian stood dazed on the spot, clutching the heavenly emperor cauldron.

The main Alchemy high stage.

Alchemy Tower Elder Qin Cangsong had just finished announcing Nangong Ziyi as the winner and was preparing to announce the end of the assembly.

A black-robed figure stepped onto the stone stairs.

Hair tied with a wooden hairpin, a wine gourd hanging at his waist, loose black robes, and a lazy stride.

Lu Chen walked onto the ninth level of the high stage and stood right in the center.

The gazes of the entire audience instantly converged on him.

A buzzing sound of discussion rose up like a tide.

"It's the man who crushed the pill lightning!"

"What is he doing going up on stage? The competition is already over!"

"He couldn't possibly be planning to perform Alchemy, could he? Is this a joke?"

"You can't have your cake and eat it too. His cultivation talent is already that terrifying; could he also be a hidden Alchemy Grandmaster? What a joke!"

Lu Chen turned a deaf ear to them.

He stood in the center of the high stage and spoke.

His voice wasn't loud, but bolstered by the Great Emperor Law, it clearly reached every corner of Holy Pill City.

"Everyone, my disciple just exploded her cauldron and made a fool of herself."

He paused.

"As her Revered Master, I must teach her what true Alchemy is."

The crowd below erupted.

"Revered Master? That girl who exploded her cauldron is his disciple?"

"He says he's going to perform Alchemy on the spot to teach his disciple? What kind of big talk is that?"

"Elder Qin of the Alchemy Tower is right there. To say such things in front of an emperor grade Alchemist, you're either a madman or..."

No one dared to finish the second half of the sentence.

Because everyone still remembered that this man had just casually crushed the pill lightning and forced the Heavenly Tribulation to retreat with a single word: "Disperse."

On the high stage judges' seats, Qin Cangsong laughed.

"This kid still loves to show off so much; he doesn't have the restrained sharpness of an Alchemist at all!"

"Back when he took first place in the grand competition, those matches were just as showy. I remember he even had a little princess from some Imperial Dynasty following him!"

Lu Chen had already moved, but he didn't take out a Pill Furnace.

He didn't pull out any Magic Treasure.

He simply raised his right hand, fingers splayed, palm facing up.

Whoosh—

A cluster of flames rose silently from his palm.

It was crimson—no, scarlet-gold—wait, the color was constantly changing.

From scarlet-gold to deep purple, from deep purple to pure white, and then from pure white it turned into a color that words could not describe.

That was something that transcended the exotic fires of heaven and earth.

His natal Emperor Fire, the Nanming Li Fire.

But what truly took the audience's breath away wasn't the fire.

It was the scene that followed.

Lu Chen's fingers closed and then opened again.

Above his palm and within the Void Realm over his head, the Nanming Li Fire began to expand, rotate, and reorganize.

The flames left his palm and suspended in mid-air.

As if an invisible pair of hands were kneading clay, the Emperor Fire was massaged and stretched, slowly condensing into a shape.

The furnace walls, the furnace legs, the furnace lid.

A void fire furnace, formed entirely from condensed Nanming Li Fire, materialized out of nothingness three feet above Lu Chen's head under everyone's watchful eyes.

The furnace was nine feet tall, standing on three legs, and dense patterns of Laws spontaneously emerged on the furnace body.

Those were not manually carved pill veins, but the natural manifestation of the Laws of Heaven and Earth under the will of a Great Emperor.

No Pill Furnace—using fire as a furnace.

Using the Laws of Heaven and Earth as the cauldron walls and the Origin True Fire as the guide: Void Alchemy.

On the judges' seats, there was a loud 'crack'.

The teacup in Yu Yao's hand shattered, shards and tea splashing all over her hand, but she was completely oblivious.

This former Holy Mistress of the Jade Lake, who had lived for tens of thousands of years and was widely experienced, a fifth-level Quasi-Emperor and emperor grade Alchemist, suddenly stood up from her chair.

The chair slid back three feet.

"Using the Laws of Heaven and Earth as the furnace, and the Origin True Fire as the guide..."

"Is this the Void Alchemy technique that far exceeds the Great Emperor level? Cauldronless Alchemy!"

Qin Cangsong turned his head, his face full of shock. "Void Alchemy? Wasn't that rumored to have been lost long ago!"

"Cauldronless Alchemy."

Yu Yao's voice was dry, her hands gripping the chair's armrests.

"The pinnacle of the Dao of Alchemy: using fire as the cauldron."

"Rumor has it that in ancient times, only peerless Alchemists at or above the Great Emperor Realm who had completely comprehended the Laws of Heaven and Earth and the Origin of the Dao of Alchemy could achieve Void Alchemy without relying on external objects."

"This technique has been lost for untold tens of thousands of years!"

Her gaze pierced through the light of the fire furnace, staring intently at Lu Chen.

A hundred years ago, this bastard was just a little thief in the Saint Realm who stole undergarments.

A hundred years later, he stood on the Alchemy stage, using a method she could never hope to reach in her entire life to casually manifest a void fire furnace.

The entire venue was silent.

The over one thousand Alchemists remaining on the nine Alchemy stages were all frozen in place.

Nangong Ziyi's peach-blossom eyes were wide and round; she considered herself exceptionally talented, with her Heavenly Yin Fire God Physique being unrivaled among her peers.

But the scene before her told her that everything she took pride in hadn't even scratched the surface compared to Lu Chen.

Ye Qingxian was completely dumbfounded, still holding the heavenly emperor cauldron.

On the high stage, Lu Chen stood beneath the void fire furnace.

Emperor Pressure was released silently.

It wasn't a murderous Emperor Pressure used for combat, but simply the natural leakage of a Great Emperor's aura.

From the lowest Blood-Moving Realm Cultivators in the square to the highest Quasi-Emperor level judges, everyone felt a shudder coming from their biological instincts.

Lu Chen's voice spread lazily throughout the venue.

"By luck, I just happened to learn it."

"Alchemy is also something I just practiced casually when I felt inspired."

On the high stage, Yu Yao slowly sat back down.

Her gaze fell upon the black-robed youth, whose features were highlighted by the flickering light of the Emperor Fire.

Inside the void fire furnace, the Nanming Li Fire began to rotate.

Lu Chen raised his hand; he was starting his show-off Alchemy, and at this moment, he was the Great Emperor of Hedong!