Chapter 283: Goofing Off (2/2)

“The other path, is much harder, and that is to create a new medicinal pill, to make something out of nothing…. Both of these two paths can lead onward, toward the highest pinnacle. However, it is clear that, the road of a Violet Furnace Lord… lies along the second path!” Determination filled her eyes. She was an apprentice of Grandmaster Pill Demon, so in order to become a Violet Furnace Lord, she had to prove herself.

Ye Feimu obviously felt the same way. He stared at the boulder, and as he did, a bright light shone in his eyes, along with a proud, unyielding look.

“If I’m going to concoct something,” he thought, “I will concoct a pill no other person has ever seen, a pill which contains my very self! I will show that I have the will of a Violet Furnace Lord!”

At almost the same time, resolve showed on the faces of Chu Yuyan and Ye Feimu as they chose the second of the two paths.

As for the others, most picked the easy path, although some attempted to concoct original creations. Each one made their decision based on their own Dao of alchemy.

Meng Hao looked at the boulder thoughtfully, sighing as he rubbed the bridge of his nose. He had recently traveled for four days nonstop, had engaged in a battle of will with the black pill furnace, and was now completely exhausted. He looked at the requirements listed on the boulder, and realized that traversing the path of medicinal pill creation would definitely make him more tired.

He began to murmur to himself: “Concocting an existing pill is definitely better than coming up with something new. Creating a new medicinal pill requires good fortune, alchemic enlightenment, and meticulous concentration, otherwise the quality will be inferior…. Yeah, this is the best decision. My analysis is definitely correct. I will not let my quality drop.” The more he thought about it, the more it made sense to him. His mind at ease, he began to concoct medicinal pills. He lifted his right hand and pressed down onto the boulder; immediately it rippled like water. The medicinal plants which floated in his mind, slowly began to appear in front of him.

“A medicinal pill for the Qi Condensation stage. I’ll make the simplest one, a Qi Condensation Pill.” He flicked his sleeve, and an illusory pill furnace emerged from the boulder, into which he fed bunch after bunch of medicinal plants. After another moment’s thought, he began to concoct.

Not too much time passed before Chu Yuyan’s eyes opened and she waved her beautiful hand. A pill furnace appeared and her eyes glittered brightly as she began to concoct.

After enough time passed for an incense stick to burn, Ye Feimu opened his eyes. Filled with self confidence, he began to concoct.

The observers outside on Eastern Emergence Mountain were watching intently as everything happened; their eyes passed back and forth among the ten screens, including Meng Hao, the tenth person.

Of course, the focus was Ye Feimu and Chu Yuyan, who had performed spectacularly in the first region. And of course many were paying attention to Meng Hao, who had attracted such attention with his own performance there.

However, Meng Hao was taking the easy path to pill cultivation. Currently, he was concocting a Qi Condensation Pill; he wasn’t the only one, in total, seven were doing so.

The audience could see the instructions on the boulder, and thus began discussing things in low tones. It was relatively easy to determine what this part of the test was about.

“It turns out Fang Mu is concocting a Qi Condensation Pill…. It seems like he’s falling further and further behind Chu Yuyan and Ye Feimu in this second region.”

“I heard about Furnace Lord Ye Feimu a long time ago. His skill in the Dao of alchemy is at the pinnacle. Based on the look of it, he’s not just concocting some ordinarily medicinal pill. Could he be working on an original creation?”

Lin Hailong gave a slight smile as he turned to An Zaihai and said, “Chu Yuyan is most likely also creating an original medicinal pill…. Simply having the confidence to do that is worthy of praise.”

An Zaihai gave a slight nod. His expression was calm as he glanced at the ten screens. When he saw Meng Hao, and took note of what he was concocting, he felt slightly amused. In his opinion, Meng Hao understood that an original creation would allow him to pass this critical juncture, but had decided instead to save time and effort.

Time passed, and in the blink of an eye, three days had gone by. Meng Hao had produced a Qi Condensation pill of eighty percent medicinal strength, as well as a Foundation Establishment Day of similar quality. Now he was working on a pill for the Core Formation stage, a Spiritualization Pill.

Before, Meng Hao would have had a difficult time concocting such a pill, considering his Cultivation base. However, now that he had ten Dao Pillars, and was of the great circle of Foundation Establishment, concocting a simple, common Spiritualization Pill required a bit of effort, but wasn’t very difficult.

In fact, he was both concocting and resting at the same time. Having been in Violet East Mountain for several days now, he had now recovered quite a bit of energy. He was no longer exhausted, and his pill concocting went a bit faster than before.

However, the moment his Spiritualization Pill emerged was also the exact moment when Chu Yuyan’s original Qi Condensation stage medicinal pill came out. When it did, brilliant light swirled up from her pill; at a single glance, it was obvious this was no ordinary pill. It immediately attracted quite a bit of notice on the outside world.

At the same time, Ye Feimu’s original medicinal pill emerged. A four-colored glow enveloped it, a bit brighter than the glow from Chu Yuyan’s pill. A sudden gasp of astonishment could be heard from the spectators.

As for Meng Hao, however, he produced nothing extraordinary whatsoever. Like most of the others, he had chosen to concoct familiar pills. Furthermore, from his attitude, it seemed as if he were goofing off. It was completely different from the conscientiousness of Chu Yuyan and Ye Feimu.

In fact the clear cut difference between them… made Meng Hao seem even more unremarkable.

Only one person on Eastern Emergence Mountain was different. Grandmaster Pill Demon. When he casually glanced at the screen depicting Meng Hao, an imperceptible shadow of a smile appeared on his face.

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This chapter was sponsored by Lukas Arnold, Nightrunners, Valera McDaniel, David Bottlender, and Mitchell Dowling