Chapter 1909, The Heavens Must be Jealous
Just like this, Zuo De had the demeanour of an expert. And coupled with the fluent movements and the grasp of the timing of the fire, as well as his knowledge of Alchemy, he had instantly conquered all the Alchemists present, dazzling everyone. They all hoped to have these images and scenes last forever, never to end.
Even though it was very loud and noisy around him, these noises failed to enter Zuo De’s ears.
He had entered a state of selflessness. Just by this point alone, it was quite evident that he had not become Origin King Grade Alchemist by a fluke. He indeed had what it takes.
Even the nearby Yang Kai could not help but marvel at the sight of this scene.
Martial Dao was just the same as Alchemic Dao. Only when one put all their energy into it could they achieve something. A person who tried to pursue two things and aimed high could never go too far.
Yang Kai didn’t waste any more time, seeing that Zuo De had already started. He took a deep breath and adjusted his state of mind. In an instant, Yang Kai’s face turned serious as his pupils constricted.
It seemed that there was only the pill furnace and the herbs in his eyes, and nothing else.
Yang Kai had also entered the selflessness state in an instant.
The opponent was a veteran Origin King Grade Alchemist. Naturally, he couldn’t be half-assed about it.
Ai Ou’s immediately lit up at the sight of this. He asked Zong Ao in a low voice, pleasantly surprised, “Grandmaster Zong, I think the air around Brother Yang is not worse than Zuo De’s. He wouldn’t happen to really be an Alchemist?”
Zong Ao smiled and whispered back, “Yang Kai is an Alchemist. This old man can guarantee this. Well, this old man has seen him refine the pills with his own eyes, and not just once. He had also refined a pill with Pill Clouds!”
“What!?” Ai Ou was taken aback. “He is so good? Grandmaster Zong, you aren’t lying to me, are you?”
“How can this Zong do that? Are you kidding me?” Zong Ao’s eyes turned dull as if he was recalling something. “When that pill was being refined, this Zong had been watching from the sidelines and had gained a lot. But…”
“But what!?”
“But the level of that pill wasn’t that high. It gave birth to Pill Clouds by some fluke of chance and coincidence.” Zong Ao said, going straight to the point, “The pill he is going to be refining today is the Soul Source Restoration Pill. It’s an Origin King Grade pill. As for whether he can refine it or not, this Zong can’t say with certainty. But his Alchemy technique and talent in Alchemic Dao is absolutely second to none. President, look… uh…”
As Zong Ao was speaking, he saw Yang Kai throw the material given to Yang Kai by Ai Ou continuously into the Purple Origin Furnace.
Unlike Grandmaster Zuo De’s fluent and skilful movements, Yang Kai was throwing herbs in a rather fast manner. He had thrown all of them almost in one go and closed the Purple Origin Furnace’s lid right away, without any fancy movements.
Even people who didn’t understand Alchemy would find it disturbing.
Xue Yue immediately grew worried.
Ai Ou was jaw-slacked as well. He looked completely speechless but he still asked Zong Ao, just in case, “Grandmaster Zong… is there a point why Yang Kai is doing like this?”
“I don’t know either.” Zong Ao looked a little puzzled.
No Alchemist threw all the herbs into the pill furnace at once. Every pill needed its ingredients to be put in a specific order to refine. And then there was the timing to put it in. Whenever a herb was put into the pill furnace, the Alchemist had to expend his mind and energy to control the heat in the pill furnace and merge the medicinal liquid with appropriate methods.
This was a gradual process and the process had to be slow and meticulous.
Only by doing this, could the Alchemist refine a good pill.
“He would ruin the herbs by doing this.” Zong Ao was growing anxious. “Every herb responds to different temperatures differently. When he is going to draw the power of Earth Fire, he will be in a difficult situation.”
[Even though the power of Earth Fire can be controlled, it definitely isn’t as easy and flexible as the Saint Qi controlled by the cultivator himself. Didn’t you see Grandmaster Zuo De constantly control the Spirit Array, change the size of the Earth Fire? Because of this, herbs are needed to be put in, one by one. It isn’t a hotpot. How can you throw it all at once?]
“Did he give up because he knows he couldn’t beat Zuo De?” Ai Ou thought of a possibility.
Yang Kai proposed to compete with Zuo De to refine the Soul Source Restoration Pill in order to save Gu Bi Hu. As long as Zuo De agreed to this competition, Gu Bi Hu had hopes of waking up. Yang Kai’s victory or defeat was another matter.
“He isn’t this reckless! Just keep watching!” Xue Yue bit her thin lips gently, her pretty eyes glued at Yang Kai. Her palms had become all sweaty.
To everyone’s dismay, Yang Kai still didn’t turn on the Spirit Array to draw the power of Earth Fire after putting all the herbs. Instead, he closed his eyes and sat still in a cross-legged position, forming mysterious seals with his hands.
This wasn’t hidden from Zhan Yuan, who had been observing Yang Kai’s movements. He couldn’t help but laugh at the sight of this. “I thought that he still had an inch of skill, but it turns out that he doesn’t even know the most basic common sense of Alchemy. He actually threw all the herbs into the pill furnace, hahaha!”
When the Alchemists by his side heard this, they looked at Yang Kai and shook their heads. Someone immediately said, “What a waste of so many good herbs! It’s really hateful!”
In the eyes of Alchemists, every good herb must be put to good use.
Naturally, Yang Kai’s wastefulness drew their ire and dissatisfaction.
Alchemists, who were originally sympathizing with Yang Kai, were filled with resentment when this scene fell into their eyes.
But right then, a scorching heatwave surged from Yang Kai’s side. This scorching heatwave gave everyone a strange feeling. It seemed to be ever-changing, gentle yet violent. It was hard to see through it clearly.
This feeling gave the impression that flames of different temperatures were gathered at one place but they didn’t conflict nor did they merge with each other. It was very weird.
“Where is this scorching heat coming from?”
“That’s weird! He is neither drawing the Earth Fire nor is he circulating Saint Qi. Where is this power coming from?”
Many Alchemists looked at Yang Kai suspiciously. They were a little puzzled.
“Conflagrated Knowledge Sea!” Zhan Yuan was puzzled at first but suddenly, he seemed to have realized something. He couldn’t help but blurt in surprise, staring at Yang Kai with a fanatical and covetous gaze.
“What!? So it is the Conflagrated Knowledge Sea!?”
“He has a Conflagrated Knowledge Sea!?”
Each Alchemist’s mouth was agape; their mouth was open so wide that an egg could be stuffed into their mouths. They all fixed their gazes at Yang Kai, one after another. Every Alchemist looked extremely excited.
The Conflagrated Knowledge Sea provided the most unique advantage to Alchemists and Artifact Refiners. Alchemists and Artifact Refiners with Conflagrated Knowledge Sea could achieve twice the result with half the effort when refining pills or artifacts.
This was common sense that everyone agreed with.
But how many people in this world had Conflagrated Knowledge Sea? And how many of these people had the aptitude for Alchemy and Artifact Refining? In those five hundred or so Alchemists, none of them possessed a Conflagrated Knowledge Sea, including Zuo De.
But Yang Kai had it!
Even the extremely calm Zuo De, who had entered a complete selfless state, couldn’t help but raise his head and glanced at Yang Kai, looking at him with surprise.
But soon, he withdrew his gazes and stopped paying attention to Yang Kai.
Because he knew that one had to focus on Alchemy with undivided attention. Observing others would only mess with one’s mind. [So what if he has a Conflagrated Knowledge Sea? This old man has over a thousand years of experience in Alchemic Dao! Not many people have a Conflagrated Knowledge Sea in the entire Star Field, and none of those that have it is an Origin King Grade Alchemist.]
[And this old man is!] Zuo De was filled with disdain.
“Damn it!” Zhan Yuan ground his teeth and cursed. He looked pretty annoyed, thinking that an excellent Alchemist like him didn’t have Conflagrated Knowledge Sea, but Yang Kai had it.
And coupled with the Origin King Grade Alchemy furnace before, Zhan Yuan suddenly felt that the Heavens must be jealous of his talents, and they were too unjust!
[If an Origin Grade Alchemist like me had the Conflagrated Knowledge Sea, I would definitely be able to reach the height of Honoured Teacher in the future. No, no, no… I would definitely surpass the Honoured Teacher and have unprecedented success.]
Only now did Zhan Yuan understand why Yang Kai had acted so bizarrely before.
[He actually has the Conflagrated Knowledge Sea, and it seems that his control over the Conflagrated Knowledge Sea has reached a high degree of proficiency. With this advantage, he can throw all the herbs into the pill furnace without any major problems. As long as he could divide his own Conflagrated Knowledge Sea well, he can control the heat of the melting point of each herb!]
[Would this be difficult for a Second-Order Origin King master?] Zhan Yuan gave it a thought and realized that it would be a piece of cake for Yang Kai.
Sure enough, after Yang Kai stimulated his Conflagrated Knowledge Sea, Ai Ou seemed to have realized something. The worry on his face was immediately gone and a smile appeared on his face instead.
With the assistance of his Conflagrated Knowledge Sea, Yang Kai didn’t need to draw the power of Earth Fire.
He could feel that Yang Kai’s Divine Sense was divided into countless strands. The intensity of every strand was different. The divided Conflagrated Knowledge Sea poured into the pill furnace and wrapped the herbs he had put in before starting to refine them into medicinal liquid.
The medicinal liquid refined by Conflagrated Knowledge Sea was more pure and thorough than the one refined by Earth-Fire!
Ai Ou even felt that Yang Kai’s Divine Sense in the Purple Origin Furnace was constantly changing as all kinds of complex Spirit Arrays appeared and disappeared inside the pill furnace. The speed was insanely fast. And during this, Yang Kai’s hand seals were also constantly changing.
His movements weren’t that fast, and nor were they eye-catching but those hand seals were extremely mysterious as if they didn’t belong to this world.
Meanwhile, Zong Ao’s mind was completely immersed in Yang Kai’s world.
He was different from Ai Ou.
Ai Ou was a layman who was simply enjoying the show. He could only see the general picture but Zong Ao was an Origin Grade High-Rank Alchemist. He could spy upon the profundity of the Alchemic Way from the changes in Yang Kai’s Conflagrated Knowledge Sea, the rise and fall of the Spirit Arrays in the pill furnace, and Yang Kai’s various hand seals.
He was immersed in his thoughts. The glow in his eyes started to change. He seemed to be swimming in the endless ocean of the Alchemic Dao, ignoring everything else.
The more he pondered, the more he gained. Yang Kai’s mastery of timing and heat, or even the single change in Yang Kai’s hand seal, would often touch the doubts in his heart, prompting him to find answers.