Chapter 419: Qi Gathering Pill
Jiang Li’s method caught everyone completely off guard.
Knocking someone unconscious—what kind of tactic is that? Aren’t you an alchemist? Where are the pills you’re supposed to be making?
Are you an alchemist or a body cultivator?
Jiang Li answered seriously, “Actually, I took a Strength Pill and a Rapid Pill. That’s how I unexpectedly knocked them out.”
Nearby, Sword Sovereign pressed two fingers together, using them like a sword to slice through the female cultivator’s internal yin and yang energies. When she woke up, she would discover that she could freely control her Yang-Exuberant Body.
Everyone was speechless. Though they weren’t sure how much of what Jiang Li said was true, the fact remained—he had indeed put the female cultivator to sleep.
The Sixth Prince of the Great Sui Dynasty and a group of senior elders discussed and decided to respect the facts: “The winner of the first round is Jin Li.”
“The second round tests the utilization rate and efficiency of medicinal ingredients. Here are ten thousand raw materials for Qi Gathering Pills. Whoever can refine the most Qi Gathering Pills in the shortest time is the winner.”
The Qi Gathering Pill was basically a must-learn pill for every alchemist, even a prodigy like Su Wei was no exception.
Among the people present, any alchemist knew how to refine Qi Gathering Pills.
Though everyone could make them, the quantity and quality differed vastly—especially since their opponents were all grandmaster alchemists and time was limited.
Slow alchemists would lose badly.
“Qi Gathering Pill, simple.” The Sect Master of the Spirit Herb Sect laughed wildly as he regained a foothold in the second round. With a wave of his large hand, the ten thousand raw materials were separated and wrapped in spiritual energy.
His casual display of spiritual energy control and spiritual sense astonished everyone watching.
The Spirit Herb Sect Sect Master concentrated on alchemy, snapping his ten fingers to release countless small fireballs that burned the raw materials, separating impurities as the medicinal properties liquefied, filling the air with a fragrant aroma.
“Refining in midair, and simultaneously making ten thousand pills! No wonder he can compete with Su Wei for the top spot in the alchemy world!”
The Crimson Sun Cauldron refused to fall behind, lifting its lid and expanding infinitely to swallow all the raw materials into the pill furnace. It slowly rotated, its transparent body allowing glimpses of the transformations inside.
“The Crimson Sun Cauldron has even fused the great power of heaven and earth into the pills. Anyone who takes one has a slight chance of gaining enlightenment from heaven and earth. This is an unspeakable great opportunity for Qi Refining stage cultivators!”
Some voiced doubts, “But isn’t that chance too slim?”
“There are ten thousand Qi Gathering Pills. If you eat them all, it’s certain you’ll gain enlightenment!”
“You make a good point.”
“Hey, what is that recluse Chen Jian doing?” Someone noticed Sword Sovereign’s unusual actions.
Alchemy was about extracting medicinal properties from raw materials and combining them into pills.
Generally, alchemists used pill furnaces to extract these properties. The more skilled could refine pills midair, without using furnaces.
But no one had ever seen Sword Sovereign do this: slicing the materials with his sword into invisible particles, forcing out the medicinal properties.
Sword Sovereign swung his sword, thrusting as if striking a thousand times at once, dazzling onlookers who couldn’t tell which were his real movements and which were afterimages.
His sword intent was superb, eliminating impurities and separating medicinal properties.
“Is he a sword cultivator?”
“No way would a sword cultivator come to an alchemy competition. In my opinion, he’s a spirit chef.”
“This Chen Jian must be a spirit chef sent to stir things up. Look at his swordsmanship—full of killing intent, like those big-faced, thick-necked spirit chefs wielding butcher knives.”
“See? Now his killing intent is even stronger!”
“But I feel like he’s staring at you.”
“That’s definitely an illusion.”
Faced with a mountain of raw materials, Jiang Li was a little headache. Putting someone to sleep was easy, but making pills was a different matter.
He thought for a moment and came up with an idea.
“I’m done!”
“I’m done too!”
“Done.”
At the same time, several alchemists declared they had completed their tasks.
“The Spirit Herb Sect Sect Master was the first to call out. Let’s see his results.”
Above the Spirit Herb Sect Sect Master’s head, Qi Gathering Pills spun, forming various shapes as he flaunted his results.
“Ten thousand Qi Gathering Pills, perfect pill color, with three concentric pill patterns—these are the highest quality Qi Gathering Pills! Sect Master Huang did not waste a single bit; his completion rate is one hundred percent!”
“Next is the Crimson Sun Cauldron.”
The furnace mouth of the Crimson Sun Cauldron opened, also flying out ten thousand pills.
“These Qi Gathering Pills are the same as Sect Master Huang’s… Wait, these pills all contain a trace of enlightenment from heaven and earth, breaking the quality limit of Qi Gathering Pills!”
“Wait, there are other pills mixed in here. Brother Crimson Sun, what is this?”
The Crimson Sun Cauldron was proud: “These are Stomach Strengthening and Digestion Pills. Whoever eats all ten thousand pills will definitely gain enlightenment, but eating that many in a row is too difficult, so I used impurities to refine a few Stomach Strengthening and Digestion Pills to help digestion.”
“Brother Crimson Sun is very thoughtful.”
“Let’s see how many Su Wei refined, whether it’s as many as Sect Master Huang’s.”
Su Wei glanced at the Spirit Herb Sect Sect Master indifferently and said, “There are ten thousand one hundred Qi Gathering Pills here.”
The Spirit Herb Sect Sect Master was furious, accusing Su Wei of cheating: “Nonsense! Where did you get the extra one hundred pills from?”
Su Wei sneered softly, mocking the Sect Master’s incompetence.
“Medicinal properties also exist in impurities. Since the Crimson Sun Cauldron could refine a few Stomach Strengthening and Digestion Pills from impurities, I could also refine an extra one hundred Qi Gathering Pills using the impurities’ medicinal properties.”
“Incompetent yourself, yet you think others are too.”
“How many Qi Gathering Pills did recluse Chen Jian refine?”
“I only refined one thousand, but my Qi Gathering Pills are high quality,” Sword Sovereign said.
“High quality? What do you mean?”
Sword Sovereign took one of his own Qi Gathering Pills and placed it among the pile refined by the Spirit Herb Sect Sect Master. Sword energy surged from Sword Sovereign’s pill, cutting the Sect Master’s pills into powder.
“My Qi Gathering Pills contain sword energy, so they could also be called Qi Sword Pills.”
“No, this is basically a sword pellet.”
“These are Qi Sword Pills.”
“Are these meant for Qi Refining stage cultivators?”
“These are Qi Sword Pills.”
“…”
The Sixth Prince stopped arguing about the pill’s name with Sword Sovereign. The elders of the alchemy world would decide the winner. He was just the host, responsible for creating atmosphere and networking with alchemists.
“Now let’s see how many pills Jin Li, who traveled with Chen Jian, refined. Jin Li cultivator, where are your pills?” The Sixth Prince was puzzled. The pile of raw materials in front of Jiang Li hadn’t been touched. Had he given up on the competition?
Before Jiang Li could answer, a figure came running from afar—it was an official from the Flying Cloud Trading Company.
The official handed Jiang Li a storage ring: “These are twenty thousand Qi Gathering Pills urgently ordered by a client, all inside the storage ring.”
Jiang Li handed the storage ring to the bewildered Sixth Prince.
“Twenty thousand Qi Gathering Pills.”
The Sixth Prince looked at Jiang Li strangely: “But this round is to see who can refine the most Qi Gathering Pills in the shortest time.”
“Exactly. I hired others to refine them in the shortest time.”