Chapter 556 - Intimidation (1/2)
The creases on the forehead of the elderly man in green only grew deeper as he sniffed at the contents in the jade vial. Then his expression shifted, and so did the gorgeous young lady in short skirt and Lord Black Sand when they realized it. Everyone in the hall peered curiously, their faces changing too as buzzing and murmurs began running through the hall.
Beset with doubt and disbelief, the teal-robed elder tipped over the vial and a round little pill – glowing palely with a gloss of opal-white with hardly any flaws – rolled out and fell on his palm and a rich, aromatic smell of herbs filled the entire chamber, its scent soothing and invigorating.
More furtive whispers began buzzing all around. Most might know little to nothing about concocting pills and elixirs, but it was apparent even to a layman that Xiao Chen’s handiwork had better quality than the teal-robed elder’s.
The teal-robed elder could hardly suppress his indignation anymore as his hands trembled. Xiao Chen’s pill might only be a Tier-2 elixir, yet its quality was top-notch. The Pill of Massing Vigor that he produced however was a Tier-5 concoction with potent effects and heavy side-effects too whilst Xiao Chen’s Tier-2 pill had only negligible or zero aftereffects.
Producing pills and concoctions of different grades depended greatly on one’s skill and level of cultivation; the higher-tiered one was, the greater the tier of the pills one could produce. Yet there were also a plethora of factors which could affect the quality of a produced concoction – choice of ingredients and one’s skill and talent among them.
The teal-robed elder knew full well, that he would never be able to replicate the quality Xiao Chen put into this Tier-2 pill. Whether he knew the full list of ingredients needed for this concoction or not, he lacked the sharp and strong Divine Sense needed to properly produce a pill of such quality.
With a thin smile on his face, Xiao Chen asked, “So, Senior? What say you of this?”
Frowning, Lord Black Sand gave the teal-robed elder a sharp, piercing look as the latter fumbled to calm himself, before finally managing to put up a stern countenance. “Where did you find this?”
Xiao Chen leaned back into his chair comfortably and muttered coolly, “As a matter of fact, I made it myself.”
“You made it?!” the teal-robed elder’s voice rose but a few decibels, clearly doubting what he heard. Even as the Annihilation Times loomed near, the standing of Elixir Masters in the Violet Manor remained very strong, especially those highly-ranked, whose crafts and skills hardly confined only to potion-brewing. Could it be that this young man, a young man only in his early twenties, be a highly-ranked Elixir Master?
Yet, Xiao Chen could never be viewed as an Elixir Master in the strictest sense. It was common for practitioners of the arcane arts to wield a certain degree of knowledge in concocting or brewing elixirs but that did not make them qualified Elixir Masters. To be one, one had to study a specialized field of medicine and Xiao Chen knew nothing about healing at all.
The teal-robed elder’s gaze turned keener and his voice deeper. “There are words that one such as you should never say, young friend. You’d better be able to back up what you just say, or you might not walk out of here alive…”
His tone was enough to make cold sweat break out on the backs of Yang Qing and his friends, yet Xiao Chen looked calm and composed enough. His casual and lackadaisical gaze turned as sharp as a blade as he hissed quietly, “If you’d like a test…”
The atmosphere congealed into a tense silence. The teal-robed elder was undoubtedly an Elixir Saint specialized in brewing elixirs, Xiao Chen was sure, but unlike Liu Liancheng, who was also an Elixir Saint himself, his healing skills paled abysmally.
Elixir Masters came in two breeds: masters of brewing elixirs and masters of healing. The former usually wielded higher levels of magical cultivation whilst the latter, despite their incredible and unfathomable talent in saving lives and restoring health, could hardly swing a sword as well as a child. Nevertheless, Elixir Masters skilled in healing were often regarded as “thwarters of Death”, for they could even reserve the direst state of a man’s sickness. Yet, Elixir Masters skilled in brewing elixirs were not without their own brand of terror, for they were skilled enough to concoct poison that could easily kill people without shedding not even a drop of blood.
And since ages ago, the divide between both schools of medicine had only grown wider with the contest for standing and prestige between either faction raged on. The Masters exclusive in elixir-brewing have only the deepest loathing for Masters uniquely skilled in healing and similarly, the latter belittled the former for being ignorant and incompetent.
“Bring in the cauldron!” Lord Black Sand growled.
“No need!” Xiao Chen barked, “No Elixir Master travels without bringing his own cauldron.” He flailed his sleeve and produced his Wonder Wood Cauldron. The teal-robed elder gawked at the sight of the little purplish cauldron, unable to take his eyes off it.
Xiao Chen waved a hand, magically summoning the Pill of Massing Vigor to him. With a burst of True Energy, he broke down the pill into dust that hovered in midair, shocking everyone with his ability to instantly dissolve and anatomize pills!
The teal-robed elderly Elixir Saint’s gaze changed completely. A pill that he had worked for one full day and night to brew had just been easily broken down to its barest in just a single blink of an eye. Just how strong was his Divine Sense?! Right from that very moment, the Elixir Saint had no more reason to doubt the words of the young man before him.
A faint smile lined across Xiao Chen’s face as he magically directed the levitating contents of the pill into the Wonder Wood Cauldron. His other hand came up and pointed at the Cauldron, shooting three little spurts of greenish flames, and more voices cried out, “The True Fire of Samadhi!”
All three little flames formed three layers of conflagration that engulfed the Wonder Wood Cauldron, the sight of which filled the teal-robed elderly Elixir Saint with amazement, for he could not properly conjure the True Fire of Samadhi.
After a half-hour, the soft scent of medicinal herbs wafted from inside the Cauldron. Knowing that the pill was ready, Xiao Chen waved a hand, dispelling the magic of his True Fire of Samadhi and the Cauldron’s lid popped open with a thicker aroma flooding the room. A white little pill floated into the air, rising from inside the Cauldron. It remained the same Pill of Massing Vigor, glowing with a faint white luster, but without its former flaws.
“Th-This…” the expression on the face of the teal-robed Elixir Saint had utterly shifted. With just a half-hour, his Pill of Massing Vigor had been further refined to a higher tier. What incredible skills in brewing elixirs this young man wielded and what impossibly-powerful spiritual senses he possessed?
Even Lord Black Sand could no longer rein in his apprehensiveness and curiosity. He took the pill into his hand and studied it closely himself amidst the surprised and amazed looks around him. Yet the teal-robed elderly Elixir Saint was the only one person in this chamber who fully comprehended the wondrous skills Xiao Chen possessed in elixir-making – a testament to the young man’s prowess and talent which could easily eclipse his own rank and stature.