55: Chapter 55 Rule Changes and Ge Yuan's Provocation

The distant and majestic bell chime seemed to possess the power to penetrate mountains and rocks.

Even Liu Yuan, who was hiding in an abandoned mine cave hundreds of miles away, could hear the faint echoes.

Meanwhile, in Shiyuan Valley, Lin Chen, who was keeping watch alone in the empty cave, heard the bell at almost the same moment.

He was sitting cross-legged on a jade bed, regulating the meager spiritual energy left in his body, trying to dispel the increasingly heavy, dead numbness in his left arm.

As the bell rang, he suddenly opened his eyes.

He was no stranger to this sound; it was the "Wen Dao Bell" of the Liuyun Market Alchemist Association.

It was never rung unless for major events.

His heart sank, and a premonition surfaced in his mind.

Sure enough, before he could think further, the other remaining talisman paper in his robe, used for receiving messages, suddenly emitted a burst of urgent heat.

Lin Chen did not hesitate at all, immediately taking it out and channeling a trace of spiritual energy from his fingertips.

The talisman turned into a stream of light and submerged into his brow. Qin Ruowei's voice, laced with gravity and anxiety, exploded in his mind once again.

"Brother Lin, the news is confirmed! The Alchemist Association just posted an official announcement. You guessed right, the rules for the third round have really changed!"

Qin Ruowei spoke quickly, clearly relaying the information at the first opportunity: "The announcement says that to 'encourage innovation and break conventions,' for the third round's elective challenge, the Association will temporarily provide an 'Unknown Spirit Medicine.' Alchemists are required to identify its medicinal properties within a time limit and 'rationally incorporate' it during the refining process. The final score will be judged based on the quality of the original Medicinal Pill and the degree of utilization of the new Spirit Medicine. The announcement also specifically emphasizes that the provided Spirit Medicine is 'guaranteed to be non-toxic.'"

Hearing the four words "guaranteed to be non-toxic," a cold sneer curled the corners of Lin Chen's mouth.

To an old poison master like Hermit Duxin, would Gu count as poison?

Perhaps, in his definition, it was just a special kind of "living material."

"The market is already in an uproar," Qin Ruowei's voice continued. "Most Loose Cultivator Alchemists are cursing, saying this is completely unfair! Isn't it obvious that this is giving a back door to those well-informed Disciples of major Sects? Who knows what obscure, niche things the Association will pull out from some hidden corner!"

"The more important news is that I spent a large sum to bribe a Utility Disciple in the Association who is responsible for document organization. He personally said that this rule change was forcibly pushed by Steward Yan Song of the Medicine King Pavilion, in collaboration with two Association Elders who have close ties with the Ge Family. Moreover, the several candidate 'Unknown Spirit Medicine' items provided for the third round, while nominally provided by the Association, are actually 'kindly sponsored' by the Ge Family!"

"Also, that Utility Disciple saw that in the last half month, Ge Yuan, accompanied by Steward Yan Song, secretly entered the Association's deep warehouse of rare Spirit Medicine at least three times. This is simply leaking the answers to Ge Yuan in advance!"

The intelligence ended abruptly here, and the talisman's energy was completely exhausted.

In the secret chamber, there was a deathly silence.

Lin Chen slowly closed his eyes. The fingertips of his intact right hand were rapidly rubbing against the stone ring on his thumb, faster and faster, his knuckles turning pale from the force.

The news from Qin Ruowei was like a heavy hammer, shattering his last bit of hope.

This was not a conspiracy; it was an overt scheme.

It was a legitimate path to victory paved for Ge Yuan by the Ge Family using the rules.

They didn't even bother to hide it; they simply wanted to crush all competitors with this absolute disparity in resources and information.

Ge Yuan only needed to pretend to "identify" the Spirit Medicine he already knew by heart on stage, then smoothly fuse it with the Pill Formula he had practiced countless times, and he would be able to win the championship in one fell swoop and amaze everyone.

And Su Qingyao, along with all the other unsuspecting Alchemists, would become stepping stones for Ge Yuan's ascent. They might even suffer a furnace explosion due to improper handling under the gaze of the crowd, making a fool of themselves and damaging their Dao Heart.

A chilling intent to kill uncontrollably rose from the deepest part of Lin Chen's heart.

But he forcibly suppressed this violent emotion.

Anger wouldn't solve any problems; it would only make an already terrible situation worse.

He had to go out.

He needed to personally feel the atmosphere of the market, verify some conjectures, and more importantly, he needed to purchase some potentially useful items for Su Qingyao's preparations.

Half an hour later, Liuyun Market.

A sallow-faced, slightly plump middle-aged Loose Cultivator walked into the largest tea house in the center of the market.

His cultivation base was not high, only around the sixth level of Qi Refining, and his aura was mixed and impure. His left arm was hung in front of his chest with a gray cloth strap, looking like he was injured and hadn't recovered his Origin Qi. Mixed in with the crowd of Cultivators, he was completely inconspicuous.

This was Lin Chen after disguising himself.

He deliberately hunched his back, found a seat in the most remote corner, and ordered a pot of the cheapest coarse tea.

His ears, however, were like radar, capturing every sound around him.

Inside the tea house, groups of two or three Cultivators were almost all discussing the newly announced rules for the Alchemy Grand Meeting.

"Have you heard? The third round is going to test identifying new Spirit Medicine. How is this even playable?"

"Heh, isn't it obvious? The Spirit Medicine that we Loose Cultivators have seen in our entire lives doesn't add up to the variety in the herb gardens of those major Sect Disciples. This rule is tailor-made for Ge Yuan of the Ge Family!"

"Shh, keep your voice down! Don't you see the people from the Medicine King Pavilion are here too?"

Lin Chen's gaze followed the person's line of sight and swept over without leaving a trace.

He saw that in the best seat in the middle of the tea house, a group of people were surrounding a young man in brocade robes like stars surrounding the moon.

Who else could that young man be but Ge Yuan?

At this moment, Ge Yuan was beaming with joy and high spirits.

He held a cup of Spirit tea, his voice not too loud or too soft, but just right for half the tea house to hear clearly.

"Fellow Daoists, you are exaggerating. The Association's move is also for the sake of taking our Southern Region's Alchemy Dao to the next level. Stagnating and only knowing how to cling to a few ancestral Pill Formulas, how can one produce a true Great Master? Only by daring to innovate and being brave enough to encounter the unknown is the true path of the Alchemy Dao!"

A follower beside him immediately flattered him in agreement: "Senior Brother Ge is right! Only a Genius of Senior Brother Ge's caliber has such insight and courage! Unlike some people who only know how to blame heaven and others, and are jealous of the virtuous and capable!"

Beside Ge Yuan, Steward Yan Song of the Medicine King Pavilion sat upright, a nonchalant, insincere smile on his face. His gaze swept over the crowd from time to time, enjoying the fearful or jealous looks of the crowd, as if he were the true Dominator behind this change.

Ge Yuan spoke eloquently for a while, seeming to feel it wasn't enough.

His gaze roamed around the tea house, as if looking for something.

Suddenly, his gaze locked onto the sallow-faced middle-aged man in the corner who was drinking coarse tea alone with his arm in a sling.

Perhaps it was pure vanity at work, or perhaps it was a subtle, imperceptible hint from Steward Yan Song beside him.

Ge Yuan actually stood up with his tea cup, and surrounded by his followers, slowly walked to Lin Chen's table.

The noise in the entire tea house eerily quieted down at this moment, and everyone's gaze focused here.

Ge Yuan looked down at Lin Chen condescendingly.

"This Fellow Daoist, you look very unfamiliar." He skimmed the foam with the tea cup lid, speaking slowly and deliberately, "Judging by your injury, you must be a Loose Cultivator here to participate in the Alchemy Grand Meeting, right?"

Lin Chen didn't look up, just poured himself a cup of tea. The tea was turbid and emitted a cheap, astringent smell.

Seeing that he didn't answer, the smile at the corners of Ge Yuan's mouth deepened: "A word of advice: if you have no foundation and haven't seen the world, you'd better withdraw early. Lest when the 'new Spirit Medicine' is issued by the Association in the third round, you can't even name it, refine it haphazardly, and produce some nonsensical waste pills, making yourself a laughingstock in front of all the fellow Cultivators of the Southern Region."

"Hahaha..." The followers behind him immediately burst into a roar of laughter.

Steward Yan Song also walked over slowly, standing to the side with his hands folded in his sleeves, watching with a smile. However, deep in his eyes, there was a glimmer of scrutiny, as if he wanted to see something from Lin Chen's reaction.

Amidst the laughter of the whole room, Lin Chen finally slowly raised his head.

His eyes, which had been deliberately disguised to look somewhat turbid, looked quietly at Ge Yuan.

In that gaze, there was no expected anger, no humiliation, and no cowardice from being humiliated in public.

It was a pure calmness, as calm as an unfathomable ancient well, without a single ripple.

He just looked at Ge Yuan like that, then said indifferently, his voice hoarse and flat: "The Alchemy Dao depends on one's own ability. At the Grand Meeting, there will be a fair judgment."

After speaking, he took out a few spirit sands from his robe and placed them gently on the table, as payment for the tea.

Then, he stood up, hunched his back, and under everyone's gaze, walked out of the tea house, limping and without looking back.

He left all of Ge Yuan's prepared subsequent mockery and humiliation behind him.

This cold reaction, which completely defied logic, left Ge Yuan with a belly full of prepared words stuck in his throat, unable to get them out.

He felt as if the punch he had put all his strength into had hit a mass of weightless cotton, making him feel so stifled that his face instantly darkened.

"Unappreciative thing!" a follower cursed in a low voice.

Steward Yan Song, however, did not laugh.

He stared fixedly at Lin Chen's departing back, his brows slightly furrowed.

For some reason, he always felt that the limping figure with the left arm in a sling, and that calm temperament which was extremely inconsistent with his external cultivation, seemed to have been seen somewhere before.

But no matter how he recalled, his mind was blank.

"Just a reckless piece of trash, Steward Yan need not care." Ge Yuan suppressed the unhappiness in his heart, snorted coldly, and turned back to his seat.

Meanwhile, Lin Chen, who had already walked out of the tea house and merged into the crowd, felt the calmness in his eyes instantly replaced by cold determination.

On his left arm hanging in front of his chest, the grain-sized black protrusion on his shoulder blade seemed to feel its master's killing intent, emitting a faint, cold chill.

Returning to the secret chamber in Shiyuan Valley, Lin Chen didn't even have time to catch his breath before immediately taking out the last one-way communication talisman. He concisely conveyed the confirmation of the new rules, the Ge Family's overt scheme, and his encounter at the tea house to Liu Yuan in the mine cave.

After sending the message, he leaned against the cold stone wall, and a sense of fatigue surged like a tide.

The new problem, like a great mountain, pressed heavily on his heart.

Although Su Qingyao's Alchemy talent was high, she was, after all, a Loose Cultivator from the Eastern Region, and her lack of experience was her greatest shortcoming.

Letting her deal with a niche Spirit Medicine that Ge Yuan had already thoroughly studied was tantamount to letting her fight a tiger armed to the teeth with her bare hands.

Moreover, her Origin was severely damaged and her Divine Soul was injured; let alone engaging in high-intensity pharmacological study, even the most basic meditation and Qi regulation were still very difficult for her.

Time was slipping away, second by second.

The opponent's blade was already at her throat.

An hour later, Liu Yuan's reply finally arrived.

The light of the talisman submerged into his brow, but what it brought was not a solution, but a more crazy and dangerous proposal.

"Family Head, this old one has a strategy that might snatch victory from the jaws of danger." Liu Yuan's voice carried unprecedented gravity. "Since the Ge Family is good at using Gu poison, the 'Unknown Spirit Medicine' they provide is highly likely related to Gu cultivation or its parasitic environment. Conventional pharmacology will likely be difficult to deal with. Why don't we go in reverse?"

"Inside Liu Ming's body, there is still a complete 'parasitic network'; we also have samples of the Gu corpse in our hands. The essence of Gu can also be regarded as a special kind of 'living material'! If we can understand its sinister, parasitic, and controllable characteristics, we might be able to create unexpected restraint or Fusion reactions with certain Pill Formulas. If we can let the girl Qingyao study the characteristics of this object before the Grand Meeting, once the Spirit Medicine the Ge Family brings out is indeed related to this, we can win by surprise!"

"It's just..." Liu Yuan's voice paused, full of hesitation. "This method is too dangerous. Studying Gu poison requires a great deal of mental energy. The girl Qingyao's Divine Soul is already injured; if she is not careful, it may trigger old wounds, or even... worsen her injuries, doing more harm than good. This matter still needs the Family Head's decision, or wait until the girl Qingyao wakes up and let her decide for herself."

Lin Chen held the communication talisman that had turned to ash, motionless for a long time.

He subconsciously looked at his numb left arm, his fingertips touching the cold, hard black protrusion on his shoulder blade; that was the trace of the living poison being Seal-ed.

He thought again of Su Qingyao's pale face as she lay comatose on the stone bed, having overdrawn her Origin to save him.

Liu Yuan's proposal was a high-stakes gamble.

If they won the gamble, Su Qingyao could not only resolve the crisis but also take this opportunity to ruthlessly trample the Ge Family's face underfoot.

If they lost, Su Qingyao's path of the Dao might be cast with an irreparable shadow.

Should he let her continue to rest, give up on this game that had already been manipulated, and plan for the future?

Or should he agree to Liu Yuan's risky proposal and use her own body and Divine Soul to gamble for that glimmer of survival?

In the secret chamber, the lamp light flickered, stretching his lonely figure very, very long.

Lin Chen slowly stood up, walked to the door of the secret chamber, and looked in the direction of Liuyun Market.

The night was deep, but he seemed to be able to see the bright lights and the bustling crowd there.

His eyes, from the initial struggle and hesitation, gradually became firm and cold, and finally turned into an unfathomable darkness.

He could not wait any longer.

Being on the receiving end of attacks will never bring victory.

Since the opponent has already drawn the battlefield, the only thing he can do is to overturn the chessboard, or, play the game in a way that the opponent completely does not expect.