197: What's the approach in Chapter 197? I don't understand.

Shen Qing signaled to the Junior Brother behind him to open the wooden box, inside which ten Spirit Medicine were neatly arranged, divided into two portions of five each.

"Five Elements Spirit Medicine: Gold-Silver Grass, Scarlet Flame Stamen, Azure Water Lotus, Green Origin Leaf, and Thick Earth Root, all are two-hundred-year-old second-tier spiritual herbs of comparable quality," Shen Qing introduced them one by one. "Junior Brother, you may inspect them."

Su Cheng walked forward, his Divine Sense sweeping over the ten Spirit Medicine.

He reached out to touch each one, his Creation Spiritual Power circulating within his body on its own, and the age, vitality, and completeness of the spiritual nature of every Spirit Medicine all entered his perception.

There was basically no difference in the quality of the two portions of Spirit Medicine; Shen Qing had selected the materials very fairly.

"No problem."

Shen Qing nodded and raised his hand to point to the other side of the square.

Two Pill Furnace were placed side by side there, their bodies a copper-yellow color, and the Array Inscriptions on the furnace walls slowly circulated within the spiritual light; they were supreme grade Magical Artifact Pill Furnace, sponsored by his Revered Master, Elder Zhao.

"The rules are simple," Shen Qing's voice raised a few notches so that everyone around could hear clearly. "You and I will each take one portion of the Five Elements Spirit Medicine, purify them first, and then fuse the five types of medicinal liquid into one.

The final judgment criteria will be the purity and the Fusion rate. If the five-element medicinal liquids can remain stable after Fusion without collapsing, it is considered qualified; the one with the higher Fusion rate and higher purity wins."

"That works," Su Cheng said, taking his portion of the Spirit Medicine.

The noise on the square gradually quieted down, and everyone's attention was focused on the two people in the arena.

Su Cheng could feel several Divine Sense from high above watching from afar; although the Golden Core Elder had not appeared, they were clearly paying attention to this competition.

Elder Zhao Zhengyang and Elder Fang from Xuanguang Peak, Su Cheng's Revered Master, Elder Qingmu, and probably Elder Lu Yuan from Wanhua Peak as well—these people would not personally enter the arena to interfere in the Disciple's competition, but the coverage range of their Divine Sense was enough to take in every move on the square.

Su Cheng sat cross-legged in front of the Pill Furnace.

He took out the five Spirit Medicine one by one and arranged them in front of his knees in the order of Metal, Wood, Water, Fire, and Earth.

The spiritual fluctuations of each Spirit Medicine were so clear in his perception that every detail was revealed: the Gold-Silver Grass was cold and sharp, the Scarlet Flame Stamen was dry and hot, the Azure Water Lotus was moist and flowing, the Green Origin Leaf was enduring and gentle, and the Thick Earth Root was steady and reserved.

Five types of Spirit Medicine, five completely different "personalities."

To purify all of their essences and then fuse them into one—this is easy to say in one sentence, but doing it is one of the operations in the Dao of alchemy that most tests comprehensive skill.

Opposite him, Shen Qing had already taken the lead in channeling his spiritual power, and a layer of light blue water mist floated in his palm.

The moment his Water Spirit Body was activated, the water vapor in the surrounding air was obviously drawn over, forming a faint ring of water mist around him.

A burst of low exclamations erupted among the watching Disciple.

Su Cheng didn't pay attention to the movement opposite him; he rubbed his fingers, and a faint cyan glow of spiritual power appeared in his palm.

Then, he tossed the first Spirit Medicine into the furnace.

Gold-Silver Grass, belongs to Metal in the Five Elements, cold and sharp by nature.

The cyan spiritual power was injected into the Pill Furnace, the Array Inscriptions on the furnace walls were activated, and the temperature began to climb.

Ordinary Wood-type spiritual power would encounter severe attribute rejection when purifying Metal-attribute Spirit Medicine; Metal overcomes Wood, which is the basic law of the Five Elements.

Under normal operation, Wood-type spiritual power needs to take a big detour, first converting a small amount of Earth-type spiritual power to act as a buffer (Earth produces Metal), and then using this buffer to soothe the sharp medicinal nature of the Gold-Silver Grass.

But Su Cheng's Qi of Creation didn't follow that routine.

The cyan spiritual power seeped into every meridian and vein of the Gold-Silver Grass without encountering any resistance.

The medicinal nature of the Gold-Silver Grass was surprisingly docile in front of the Qi of Creation; its sharp edges were wrapped in an invisible thin film—it was sharp, yes, but it didn't hurt anyone.

It didn't even take an incense stick's time; the Gold-Silver Grass turned into a mass of silvery-white, pure medicinal liquid, floating quietly in the center of the furnace.

Su Cheng glanced at Shen Qing beside him.

Shen Qing was also processing the Gold-Silver Grass; his Water-type spiritual power soaked the Gold-Silver Grass entirely in a layer of water film, using the relationship of mutual generation to soothe the medicinal nature. His technique was skillful and smooth, but his speed was much slower than Su Cheng's.

Su Cheng withdrew his gaze and continued to process the second one.

Scarlet Flame Stamen, belongs to Fire in the Five Elements, dry and hot, radiating outward.

This was the most "unfriendly" type of Spirit Medicine for him. While Fire overcomes Metal, Wood generates Fire; the Scarlet Flame Stamen, upon contact with Wood-type spiritual power, would not only not repel it, but would frantically absorb the spiritual power to strengthen its own Fire nature, leading to a runaway medicinal effect.

But the Qi of Creation is not ordinary Wood-type spiritual power.

Su Cheng reduced the total amount of spiritual power injected into the furnace by 30%, and at the same time, fine-tuned the frequency, allowing the Qi of Creation to seep into the Scarlet Flame Stamen in an extremely slow, pulse-like manner, almost like a breathing rhythm.

The Scarlet Flame Stamen did indeed tremble twice at first, the flame factors within its medicinal nature eager to absorb this strand of spiritual power.

But the "food" that the Qi of Creation gave it was simply too little, so little that each mouthful was only enough for it to lick its lips without getting full. Over time, the violent nature of the Scarlet Flame Stamen was instead worn away by this faint, intermittent feeding method, and it gradually calmed down.

Once the medicinal nature of the Scarlet Flame Stamen was completely tamed, Su Cheng poured in a sufficient amount of the Qi of Creation in one go, turning it into a mass of bright red, pure medicinal liquid.

A few hushed exclamations came from the crowd of onlookers.

"He is using Wood-type spiritual power to purify Fire-attribute Spirit Medicine? And he didn't blow up the furnace?"

"Look at his spiritual power frequency; it's completely different from the normal channeling rhythm. It's jerky..."

"What kind of style is that? I don't understand it."

Su Cheng turned a deaf ear to them; the third, the Azure Water Lotus, the fourth, the Green Origin Leaf, and the fifth, the Thick Earth Root, were put into the furnace in order.

The Azure Water Lotus and the Green Origin Leaf were effortless for him; the mutual generation chain of Water producing Wood and Wood producing Fire was all smooth sailing in front of the Qi of Creation.

The Thick Earth Root took a little more effort; Earth overcomes Water, and Wood overcomes Earth. The two-fold conflicting relationship made the medicinal nature of the Thick Earth Root particularly stubborn, but Su Cheng got it done in an extra half-stick of incense's time.

Five types of medicinal liquid—silvery-white, bright red, azure blue, emerald green, and earthy yellow—five masses of pure medicinal liquid of different colors occupied their own corners in the furnace, not interfering with each other.

Purification complete.

Su Cheng looked up and scanned, and over on Shen Qing's side, he had already processed the fourth one. His progress was slightly slower than his, but his technique was extremely steady; the advantages of the Water Spirit Body were vividly displayed on the Azure Water Lotus and the Thick Earth Root.

Water-type spiritual power purified Water-attribute Spirit Medicine with almost zero loss, and for Earth-attribute Spirit Medicine, it also had the ingenious path of Earth overcoming Water and pushing back to Metal.

However, with the Scarlet Flame Stamen, Shen Qing clearly suffered a bit.

As the saying goes, water and fire are incompatible; his Water-type spiritual power was burned away layer after layer, and in the end, he had to increase the density of his water mist ring to a near-solid state to suppress the medicinal nature of the Scarlet Flame Stamen.

In the purification stage, Su Cheng did not deliberately pursue an overwhelming speed advantage.

He was faster than Shen Qing, but not to an outrageous degree—about 20% faster; in the eyes of the onlookers, this gap showed skill rather than being too bizarre.

The key was quality; the concentration of the medicinal fragrance escaping from the furnace could roughly determine the purity.

The medicinal fragrance emitted by the five masses of medicinal liquid on Su Cheng's side was thick and pure, without a trace of impurity;

Shen Qing's side was just as good, especially the Azure Water Lotus and the azure blue medicinal liquid; the medicinal fragrance was so crisp and refreshing that it invigorated the spirit.

This contest, when viewed by the crowd on the periphery, only made them realize that such an operation was superb and masterful.

As for what kind of unfathomable true mastery was hidden in the heat control and the flow of spiritual power under these two people's hands, they were completely confused and unable to see through it.

But in the intersection of the several Golden Core Divine Sense hidden high in the clouds, they had long since turned the secrets of the two inside out.