60: Chapter 60 The Formation of Ice Flame Pills and the Hidden Poisonous Scheme

As the voice fell, it was like a drop of cold water hitting a pot of boiling oil; the entire venue instantly erupted in chaos.

Providing one's own Pill Formula and Materials not only tests an alchemist's refining skills but also their foundation and courage.

The weak seek stability and will choose the most familiar Medicinal Pill to ensure a baseline result; the truly strong, however, view this as a stage to showcase their skills, bringing out their hidden trump cards.

"I choose the Qingyuan Qi-Enhancement Pill."

Ge Yuan's voice was the first to ring out, filled with unquestionable confidence.

He didn't even bother to retrieve a Pill Formula Jade Slip, simply plucking a few lush, verdant Spiritual Plants from his Storage Pouch with ease; that level of familiarity, etched into his very bones, could not be faked.

Alchemists on the viewing platform whispered among themselves: "Yellow Rank High Grade, Qingyuan Qi-Enhancement Pill! The Ge Family's exclusive Medicinal Pill; although it only aids in Cultivate, its mild medicinal properties and high success rate make it extremely popular in Liuyun Market. Ge Yuan has been refining this pill since childhood; he could do it with his eyes closed. He is playing it safe."

"Safe? No, he intends to use his absolute proficiency to crush the entire field in terms of speed and quality!"

Everyone's gaze subconsciously converged on the cold, aloof figure on the other side.

Su Qingyao ignored the commotion around her.

She simply lowered her eyes quietly, her long, slender eyelashes casting a faint shadow upon her eyelids.

She did not immediately take out her Materials, but instead, with great care, retrieved a Jade Slip with an ancient hue from her bosom.

The Jade Slip was not made of any precious material, but merely common bluestone, with edges even slightly worn—clearly the result of being handled and studied for years.

When she submerged her Divine Sense into the Jade Slip and looked up again, a flame of near-stubborn determination burned within her cold, clear eyes.

She slowly raised her hand, her voice not loud, yet clearly reaching the ears of every judge: "This Junior chooses to refine the 'Ice Heart Meridian-Protecting Pill'."

As soon as these words were spoken, the entire venue fell into a deathly silence, followed by an uproar even more intense than before.

"Ice Heart Meridian-Protecting Pill? Did I hear that correctly? Isn't that the Medicinal Pill recorded on the Incomplete Manual? The main ingredients are demanding, requiring the simultaneous use of ice and fire in the same furnace; the difficulty of refining it approaches a Profound Rank Low Grade!"

"She's mad! This woman is absolutely mad! So what if she led the first two rounds? In this third round, if the Pill Furnace explodes, all her previous efforts will be for naught!"

Even on the judges' podium, several veteran alchemists who had remained calm as Mount Tai revealed expressions of shock, whispering to one another.

Master Chiyang's pupils, which contained a spark of fire, constricted sharply. He stared fixedly at Su Qingyao, his voice carrying a note of solemn confirmation: "This Pill Formula has long been lost, and the conditions for refining it are extremely difficult. Are you certain?"

"This Junior is untalented, but by combining it with the properties of my own Alchemy fire, I have made slight improvements to the Pill Formula over the past few months. I dare to give it a try." Su Qingyao bowed slightly, neither humble nor arrogant.

Her gaze crossed the crowd and met Lin Chen's from afar below the viewing platform.

Lin Chen did not speak; he simply lowered his right hand, which had been stroking his stone ring, and gave a nearly imperceptible nod toward her.

This subtle gesture was like a calming pill, causing Su Qingyao to take a deep breath; the Qi around her, which had been slightly chaotic due to nervousness, instantly settled.

"Good! Only with such courage can one be worthy of being an alchemist of our generation!" Master Chiyang laughed instead of getting angry, waving his hand grandly, "The time limit is three incense sticks. Begin the furnace!"

"Boom!"

The Earth Fire of hundreds of Pill Furnaces was ignited simultaneously, and the temperature in the square climbed once again.

Ge Yuan moved almost the instant the order was given.

His techniques were dazzlingly fast. A replica of the Green Lotus Earth Fire hovered at the mouth of the furnace, its cyan light pouring down like a waterfall, causing the entire black iron Pill Furnace to glow with a flowing cyan light.

He sorted the Spiritual Plants and tossed them into the furnace with millisecond precision. His movements were fluid and natural, full of a Grandmaster's demeanor, drawing rounds of cheers from the viewing platform.

By comparison, Su Qingyao's movements were half a beat slower.

She held her breath, her fingertips unconsciously pressing against her lips until a faint white mark appeared.

She did not rush to ignite the fire; instead, she carefully embedded the fist-sized Ice Crystal Flame into a specially reserved groove at the base of the Pill Furnace.

"Hum—"

As she injected her pure wood-attribute Qi, a cluster of nearly transparent, deep blue cold flame ignited silently.

A bizarre scene unfolded: the temperature inside the Pill Furnace did not rise but instead dropped to freezing point, and a thin layer of white frost condensed on the furnace walls.

Immediately afterward, she extended her other hand to trigger two auxiliary fires: Earth Fire and Stone Fire.

Heat waves on the outside, cold Qi on the inside.

Two completely different temperatures formed a delicate balance on the thin furnace walls; inside the furnace, it was as if an icy world, independent of the scorching heat, had been created.

"This is... the Internal-Cold, External-Heat refining method?" an old man on the judges' podium exclaimed in shock. "Using extreme cold to lock the fundamental medicinal properties of the Spiritual Plants, and then using external heat for refinement and extraction... This... the requirements for Divine Sense control are too demanding!"

Su Qingyao turned a deaf ear to this. Her entire focus was immersed within the Pill Furnace.

As each cold-attribute Spiritual Plant was tossed into the furnace, the moment it touched the deep blue cold flame, it did not instantly char as in ordinary Alchemy; instead, it was as if frozen in amber, with its medicinal properties perfectly preserved.

Subsequently, the external heat permeated through the furnace walls, like the warm spring sun melting snow, stripping the essence of the medicinal liquid from the "ice seal," thread by thread.

The entire process was like walking on thin ice—beautiful, yet extremely perilous.

Fine beads of sweat seeped from her smooth forehead, sliding down her cheeks and dampening her collar.

Yet her gaze was terrifyingly focused, and her fingertips, controlling the Qi, maintained a rhythm so stable that there was not the slightest tremor; she was like a peerless dancer dancing on the tip of a blade.

Time passed, and the first incense stick burned out.

On Ge Yuan's side, he had already reached the final step before "Pill Formation." A brilliant cyan light surged within his Pill Furnace, and a rich, fragrant scent began to seep out in wisps.

He glanced at Su Qingyao, who was still slowly and methodically extracting the medicinal liquid in the corner, and a cruel sneer curled the corner of his mouth.

Now is the time!

His left hand, hidden beneath his wide sleeve, quietly activated a dark yellow Talisman that he had been holding between his fingertips.

There was no flash of fire, no sound—only an extremely concealed, manic-feeling fire-attribute Qi fluctuation, like an invisible viper, silently darting toward Su Qingyao's Pill Furnace.

"Manic Fire Talisman"! A sinister method specifically used to trigger an instant imbalance of firepower within an opponent's Pill Furnace!

This fluctuation was extremely faint; masked by the massive heat waves of hundreds of Pill Furnaces in the square, even Master Chiyang of the Golden Core Stage could hardly detect it at first.

Ge Yuan stared fixedly at Su Qingyao; he could almost foresee that Pill Furnace exploding after the ice and fire became unbalanced, and the miserable sight of that woman being blown to pieces.

However, the explosion he anticipated did not occur.

The moment that manic fire-attribute fluctuation touched the outer wall of Su Qingyao's Pill Furnace, it was sensed by that layer of restrained, deep blue cold flame.

The extreme cold property of the Ice Crystal Flame had a natural buffering and insulating effect against such external fire-attribute interference.

"Hm?" Su Qingyao's brows furrowed slightly; she sensed that trace of abnormal heat within the furnace.

Although this external force was weak, it was enough to break the balance she had worked so hard to maintain.

If it were any other ordinary alchemist, they would surely be in a panic, and a furnace explosion would only be a matter of time.

But Su Qingyao did not.

In that critical moment, instead of trying to suppress it, she made a counter-intuitive response.

Her teeth bit lightly on the tip of her tongue, forcing herself to rally her spirit. Her fingertips trembled with Qi, and she skillfully "guided" the manic heat fluctuation, tracing a perfect arc along the inner wall of the Pill Furnace.

Borrowing force to strike!

This sudden, extra "heat" was used by her as a catalyst, slamming fiercely into the medicinal liquid that had already been extracted and was waiting for Fusion!

"Sizzle—"

The medicinal liquid boiled violently, and then, under the rapid cooling of the cold flame, it began to condense and take shape at an astonishing speed!

"Pfft!"

On the other side, Ge Yuan did not wait to see his opponent's furnace explode, but because he was distracted by controlling the Talisman and failed to sense the expected feedback of Qi, his mind flickered for an instant.

Just that momentary lapse caused the fire within his Pill Furnace to experience a barely perceptible stagnation.

Although he immediately adjusted, one of the three Qingyuan Qi-Enhancement Pills that were about to form had already quietly developed a slightly uneven, fine cloud pattern on its surface.

"Damn it!" Ge Yuan cursed inwardly, cold sweat breaking out on his forehead. He quickly steadied his mind, exerting all his effort to complete the final collection of the pills.

"Clang—"

The third incense stick burned out; time was up.

"Open the furnaces!" Master Chiyang's resonant voice echoed throughout the venue.

Ge Yuan slammed his palm against the furnace lid, and three rays of cyan light shot into the sky, which he steadily caught in his hand.

Three Qingyuan Qi-Enhancement Pills, each round and plump, all of High Grade.

He suppressed the unease in his heart and presented the Medicinal Pill with an arrogant expression.

Just at this moment, in another corner of the square, Su Qingyao also slowly lifted her furnace lid.

There was no sky-piercing glow, no astonishing phenomena.

The moment the furnace lid was lifted, a crisp, sweet fragrance—like the air after a snowstorm clears—instantly overwhelmed all the other medicinal scents in the venue and quietly permeated the air.

The scent drifted into their nostrils, causing the restlessness in everyone's hearts to be cleared away.

Everyone looked over in unison.

There at the bottom of the Pill Furnace lay two Medicinal Pill, the size of dragon eyes and entirely ice-blue.

The surface of the Medicinal Pill was as smooth as a mirror, and inside, it seemed as if countless snowflake-shaped Pill patterns were slowly falling and rotating—a beauty that was breathtaking.

"Yellow Rank Peak Grade, Ice Heart Meridian-Protecting Pill! It actually succeeded!"

"Heavens, look at those Pill patterns; the quality must have reached the legendary 'perfect' level!"

The entire venue was in an uproar.

Master Chiyang walked quickly down from the judges' podium and came personally to Su Qingyao.

He carefully held up one Medicinal Pill, his Divine Sense submerging into it; the expression on his face shifted from surprise to shock, and finally to an indescribable ecstasy.

"Good! Good! Good!" He said "good" three times. "Refined with the Ice Crystal Flame, the medicinal properties are even purer and milder than those recorded in ancient Pill Formula texts. Not only can it protect the Meridians, but it even has miraculous effects on the Heart Demon of a Peak Qi Refinement Stage Cultivator attempting to reach Foundation Establishment!"

He turned, his gaze sweeping over Ge Yuan's three Medicinal Pill, and paused on the one with the flaw, shaking his head slightly.

Finally, he announced loudly: "In the third round, Ge Yuan produced three Medicinal Pill, High Grade. Su Qingyao produced two Medicinal Pill, Peak Grade! Considering the Medicinal Pill's efficacy, the difficulty of refining, and the quality of the pills... Su Qingyao wins this round!"

With the total scores of the two rounds added together, Su Qingyao's name appeared prominently at the top of the leaderboard!

This result was like a loud slap, fiercely striking the faces of Ge Yuan and Steward Yan Song behind the viewing platform.

Just as the entire venue was seething with excitement over this shocking reversal, Su Qingyao's body swayed imperceptibly; her pretty face, already slightly pale from exhaustion, was now as white as a sheet of paper.

Over-concentration, depletion of Qi, and the backlash from forcibly guiding that interfering heat at the last moment left her Meridians feeling as if they had been repeatedly seared by ice and fire, sending waves of dull pain.

She forced herself to stand, bowing deeply to the judges' podium, then turned and walked down the high platform step by step.

Every step felt like treading on the tip of a blade.

A figure had long been waiting below the platform. Lin Chen extended his strong arm and caught her.

Gentle Qi flowed from his palm into her body, alleviating the stinging pain in her Meridians.

Su Qingyao leaned almost her entire weight against him, whispering: "I'm fine, just need to rest."

But Lin Chen could clearly feel that her fingertips, hidden in her sleeves, were ice-cold and trembling uncontrollably.

His gaze passed over Su Qingyao's shoulder and looked toward the viewing platform in the distance.

Steward Yan Song stood in the shadows, his expression already so gloomy that water could practically drip from it.

He did not look at Ge Yuan beside him, but instead gave a nearly imperceptible nod toward the deeper shadows beside him.

At the edge of the crowd, Hermit Duxin, who had been lurking like a viper, turned silently the moment he received the signal and merged into the dispersing crowd.

He did not cast another glance toward the Lin Family's shed area, but instead twisted and turned, arriving at a secluded courtyard on the outskirts of the assembly that had been arranged long ago.

Inside the courtyard, a man dressed in servant attire, with an ordinary face and numb eyes, was waiting quietly.

Hermit Duxin retrieved a nail-sized paper packet from his bosom and handed it over, his voice hoarse and cold: "Mix this into the drinking water supply delivered to the Lin Family shed area today at the Shen hour. No need for much, just a pinch will do."

He paused, a cruel smile spreading across his lips: "This poison is called 'pulse-corroding powder', colorless and odorless. Upon initial consumption, there will be no abnormalities. Three days later, once they exert their full Qi, they will suffer sudden, heart-piercing pain, their Meridians feeling as if bitten by ten thousand ants, gradually withering away. By then, they will only think it was due to overexertion during today's Alchemy competition or a recurrence of old injuries; no one will be able to find any clues."

The servant took the paper packet numbly, said nothing, and turned to walk outside.

Hermit Duxin watched his figure disappear at the alley entrance, cold light flickering in his eyes.

Losing the competition on the stage, no matter.

Off the stage, it is time to see life and death.

Lin Chen supported Su Qingyao, walking through the noisy crowd toward the Lin Family's small shed area.

Master Chiyang's Divine Sense pressure had dissipated, and the surrounding air had become turbid and noisy once again.

He could feel countless gazes—some curious, some jealous, some cold—projecting from all directions, prickling his back like thorns.