"Heh, these days everyone thinks they can become an alchemist!"
"Even apprentices have cauldrons attuned to themselves, and even after refining countless heavenly and earthly spirit plants to nurture their craft, they still might not become true alchemists."
"You don't even have a cauldron, yet you dare claim you can refine a Xuanyuan Pill!"
The elder surnamed Jia sneered without mercy.
This time, even Lin Chuanqing found it hard to say anything in defense.
Up to this point, he had begun questioning whether he had placed too much faith in Li Guanqi's words.
Thinking back, it truly did seem somewhat ridiculous.
An alchemist...
One needed an exceptionally profound understanding and comprehension of the Alchemic Dao, forging their own path within it just to cross the threshold.
A mere herbalist, even with some talent, meant little.
How could a herbalist who had never once touched pill refinement ever become an alchemist?
And in a small city like theirs, no less...
Just as Lin Chuanqing lost interest and wished to end this farce, Lin Wujiu suddenly stood up and spoke.
"I seem to have an introductory cauldron here. See if it will do."
Lin Wujiu rummaged through his storage ring and finally produced an enormous, pitch-black cauldron.
The cauldron was as large as an iron cooking pot used in a mortal village.
Supported on three legs beneath its soot-dark body, it bore two handles and a fire aperture roughly the size of a bowl rim.
At the sight of it, the old man scoffed, "A simple thing indeed—it has no amplification or spirit-gathering effects whatsoever. If he can refine pills with that, this old man will eat the entire cauldron!!"
Li Guanqi frowned deeply. From the very beginning, this old man had been gratingly noisy.
Looking down on everyone with the arrogance of a superior, his words were dripping with undisguised contempt, as though Qi Mobai's actions were those of a clown provoking his noble station.
Lin Chuanqing frowned slightly, a flicker of displeasure passing through his eyes as his gaze swept over the elder.
Seeing this, Li Guanqi sent Lin Chuanqing a voice transmission: "Senior Lin, if Qi Mobai can refine the Xuanyuan Pill..."
Lin Chuanqing glanced at Li Guanqi, his transmission carrying an ill temper. "Don't worry. If he can refine the Xuanyuan Pill, I'll make sure he chews this cauldron to powder before getting the hell out! Who does he think he is, putting on airs here!"
Qi Mobai took a deep look at the old man beside him, whose expression remained haughty.
Then Qi Mobai shifted all his attention to the cauldron before him.
This was likely the lowest grade of cauldron in existence, devoid of any auxiliary formations.
Everything would rely entirely on the cultivator's own divine sense to control the flame and monitor the extraction and refinement of the medicinal essence.
Though crude, the special material it was forged from meant it was far from cheap.
Qi Mobai stroked the cauldron, his divine sense gently unfurling to learn every detail about it.
His gaze was as gentle as if looking upon a beloved maiden.
Then, under everyone's watchful eyes, Qi Mobai slowly sat down cross-legged before the cauldron.
He unfurled the scroll for the Xuanyuan Pill and found that the formula was no different from the one he had purchased, which put his mind at ease.
Opening his storage ring, he brought out a dense array of spirit herbs and sorted through them with remarkable speed.
Seeing this, Jia Daoshang's brow furrowed slightly.
*What swift identification.*
A cold sneer touched the corner of his mouth.
*So what if he sorts them quickly? The Xuanyuan Pill requires two hundred and thirty-six immortal herbs in all, and eighty percent of them must be refined separately. For someone who has never even touched alchemy, even controlling the flame will prove difficult.*
Lin Chuanqing's face darkened as he shot the old man a chilly glare and barked, "If you keep yammering, get the hell out of Yuxu City!!"
Jia Daoshang clamped his mouth shut at once, though defiance still lingered in his eyes.
Qi Mobai opened his eyes slightly, his expression taut with nervousness.
A thought struck Li Guanqi. Flitting to the side of the hall, he tore down a white gauze curtain hanging beside the window!
*Rippp!!*
With a flick of his hand, he draped the curtain in a circle around Qi Mobai.
To the confusion of the onlookers, Qi Mobai's entire posture relaxed in an instant.
He looked toward Li Guanqi with deep gratitude and nodded firmly.
Li Guanqi merely smiled in return.
The gauze was translucent, letting light and silhouettes through, yet it eased Qi Mobai's anxiety immensely.
Immediately after, a majestic, scorching blaze plunged into the cauldron!
*Bang! Roar!!*
Under Qi Mobai's control, the flame's temperature surged wildly.
By this point, Jia Daoshang could hardly sit still.
The heat of this fire was far more powerful than his own flame of immortal primal energy!!
The old man's turbid eyes fixed intently on the fire within the cauldron, a faint glimmer of greed flashing in their depths.
Li Guanqi narrowed his eyes at him, and Jia Daoshang hastily concealed his emotion.
In just a brief moment, the cauldron before Qi Mobai turned from black to fiery red.
The flame's temperature lowered slightly, stabilizing at a constant level as the cauldron settled into a hue of mingled black and crimson.
*Clang!!*
Striking open the lid, Qi Mobai cast immortal herbs into the cauldron one after another.
His movements were somewhat stiff and erratic. Jia Daoshang sneered and was about to speak, but Lin Chuanqing's glare forced the words back down his throat.
Leaning back against his chair from his previously forward-tilted posture, the elder curled his lip, shook his head, and sipped his tea.
As herb after herb was fed into the cauldron, Qi Mobai kept his eyes closed, meticulously manipulating the flame to extract the medicinal essence.
A short while later, fine beads of sweat surfaced on Qi Mobai's forehead, and his face turned pale.
The hand casting in the immortal herbs hovered midair, the firelight flickering softly against his face.
*Rumble—!!!*
Dust and smoke erupted across the floor. The cauldron's lid was blasted into the ceiling and clattered back down onto the rim.
Plumes of black smoke drifted from within, and all the extracted medicinal essence vanished into nothing in an instant.
Everyone in the hall changed color, not even Li Guanqi excluded.
The cauldron had exploded...
"Hahahahahaha! Just as I said! A delusional junior, daring to choose the Xuanyuan Pill right off the bat!"
"Even this old man only has a seventy-percent success rate refining the Xuanyuan Pill! Let alone an unranked herbalist like you!"
A surge of anger rose within Li Guanqi. Clenching his fists, he sorely wanted to punch this insufferable old man into the distance.
Lin Chuanqing narrowed his eyes, his gaze flickering without a word.
Lin Wujiu was the same, believing that someone chosen by Li Guanqi's eye had to amount to more than this!
Sure enough, beyond the white gauze, Qi Mobai seemed not to hear the voices around him at all. Reaching out, he pinched a bit of cauldron ash and brought it to his nose.
Then, without a single word, he began warming the cauldron with his flame once more. His pace was even faster this time, driving up the cauldron's temperature in the blink of an eye.
Immortal herbs fluttered in his hands, cast steadily into the cauldron. His movements flowed like drifting clouds and flowing water—where was there any trace of stiffness left?
His calm demeanor made it look as routine as eating or drinking.
Li Guanqi acutely sensed that Qi Mobai's divine sense had split into hundreds of strands distributed throughout the cauldron's interior!!!
Each strand was independently manipulating a cluster of flame, every cluster differing in size and temperature.
Enfolded within each cluster was a droplet of medicinal essence, from which thin wisps of black smoke steadily drifted away.
A smile crept across Li Guanqi's lips. Turning toward the sour-faced old man, he chuckled softly.
"Remember to chew the lid into fine pieces later!"
Jia Daoshang's face darkened, shifting through several expressions before he let out a cold snort.
"Hmph. Whether he succeeds remains to be seen. Young man, boast too loudly and you'll bite your own tongue."
Li Guanqi looked toward the silhouette behind the white gauze and replied softly, "Then let us wait and see."
Chapter 1590