Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation
Kang Lu’s face turned ghastly pale at once upon learning about Lu Jiuhe’s refinement failure. Stunned, he looked as if he had lost his soul.
The crowd was extremely astonished as well. Lu Jiuhe was a high-grade disciple. How could he fail when he was just refining the unorthodox Blood-clotting Pill? Even if the Blood-clotting Pill was refined in the hands of a medium-grade disciple, the success rate was at least above 80%, so how could Lu Jiuhe have failed?
Elder Zhou turned around and took a glance at Fang Lin to see him smiling. He had already figured out the situation quite well in his heart.
The Three Mountain Shakes did not just rock his own cauldron but also the other person’s cauldron as well. Fang Lin is actually rather cunning! Elder Zhou smirked to himself.
In the distance, Meng Wuyou and Mu Yan were very relieved to see the result. At the same time, they found themselves impressed by Fang Lin’s performance this time. Both the Three Mountain Shakes and the Smoky Dragon were extremely rare occurrences, yet both phenomenons had happened to Fang Lin. All these underlined that he was a special individual that stood out from the crowd.
“The boy is always capable of startling others,” Meng Wuyou scoffed.
Mu Yan smiled and said, “I believe that Fang Lin is going to attract even more attention now that he’s used the Three Mountain Shakes technique. I wonder what’s on the first elder’s mind now.”
Meng Wuyou’s smile faded gradually. “The first elder is a man with profound ideology, but there’s one thing about him that we can be certain of—he will never allow Fang Lin to threaten that person’s status.”
Mu Yan nodded but did not comment on that.
On the other side, Zhao Dengming and Wu Zhen stood gazing at one another. They found that it was hard for them to accept this outcome.
“I didn’t expect Fang Lin to be capable of hiding his talents. He’s actually skilled in the Three Mountain Shakes technique that was lost to the world ages ago. Our plan has failed this time,” Wu Zhen complained with a long face.
Zhao Dengming was frowning deeply. A layer of glum shrouded his face as he said, “We are well aware of Fang Lin’s family background. He comes from a small clan, but he’s skilled in ancient alchemy techniques such as the Three Mountain Shakes. I think that we should look deeper into this matter.”
Wu Zhen nodded. While the disciples were astonished by Fang Lin’s performance, the elders like them would investigate this matter. The outcome of the match between Fang Lin and Lu Jiuhe came second when it came to Fang Lin’s capability of practicing the alchemy technique, the Three Mountain Shakes. Such a discovery was enough to carry a huge weight.
There were way too many ancient alchemy techniques lost to the world since ages ago. The alchemists of today could only read about these ancient techniques from the remnants of torn ancient books and recordings.
Today, Fang Lin had performed one of the ancient alchemy techniques known as the Three Mountain Shakes. Even though he was currently just a trivial character in the sect, it elevated his greatness to a level that was much higher than an elder now that everyone knew about his proficiency in practicing the ancient alchemy technique.
“Even if he’s skilled in the Three Mountain Shakes technique, there’s no room for him to be the first elder anyhow,” sneered Zhao Dengming.
Wu Zhen nodded. Albeit the Three Mountain Shakes being shocking, the alchemy sect’s first elder was still the true master of the alchemy sect, and Fang Lin’s existence threatened his status to a certain extent.
On the alchemy altar, Lu Jiuhe regained consciousness. The very moment he awakened, he looked into his cauldron in a stupor. He had almost fainted once again when he saw the pitch-black residue left at the bottom of the cauldron.
“How did this happen?” Lu Jiuhe wanted to weep but his eyes were dry. It felt like his entire world had collapsed. He refused to believe everything that had happened before his eyes. In fact, he even gave himself a tight slap just to check if he was caught in a nightmare. After being caught in a daze for a long while, he had no choice but to accept the reality of his failed refinement.
Elder Zhou reminded, “Lu Jiuhe, you should give Fang Lin the Century Lingzhi according to the agreement earlier.”
Upon listening to the order, the people looked at Lu Jiuhe in sympathy as they thought, ‘You’ve truly placed yourself at an utter disadvantage this time. Besides making a fool of yourself and embarrassing yourself, you’re also giving away your precious Century Lingzhi for nothing. Poor Lu Jiuhe! He has taken a really bad fall this time, one that’s way worse than the transgressions that he has gone through in his entire life.’
Lu Jiuhe’s face was filled with sorrow, rage and injustice. He felt even more recalcitrant. He was fully confident in his alchemy skills, so how could he have failed when he was only refining the elementary Blood-clotting Pill?
Suddenly, Lu Jiuhe reacted when he remembered how his cauldron had suddenly shaken in a ghastly manner during the final juncture of the refinement process. He was convinced that the failure of his refinement process was related to the shaking at the end.
“Could this be the result of Fang Lin’s doing?” Lu Jiuhe glared at Fang Lin in hatred while the latter did not pay attention to him at all.
“Lu Jiuhe, did you hear me?” Elder Zhou asked in a displeased tone when he noticed that Lu Jiuhe did not have the intention to retrieve the Century Lingzhi.
Upon listening to Elder Zhou’s reminder, Lu Jiuhe’s heart was filled with extreme reluctance. However, he could only take out the Century Lingzhi obediently and pass it to Elder Zhou while his heart felt like it was breaking into a thousand pieces.
Elder Zhou examined the item in his hand for a while to ensure that the Century Lingzhi was not a fake. Then, he turned around and passed it to Fang Lin.
The enmity in Lu Jiuhe’s heart grew tremendously as he watched the Century Lingzhi being passed into Fang Lin’s hand. He immediately stored his Green Stone Cauldron before he turned around and left. He refused to stay in this place where he was defaced and disgraced completely. Furthermore, he did not want to stay and listen to the others making fun of him. Most importantly, he refused to bear witness to Fang Lin storing the Century Lingzhi in his pouch.
Lu Jiuhe left in a hurry. No one noticed his absence because everyone’s gaze was fixed upon Fang Lin. This very moment belonged to the victor.
In the crowd, a martial arts disciple spoke cheerfully, “Fang Lin looks like he has real capabilities. I think we can seek his help to refine elixirs for us in the future.”
“Even though this boy looks like he is asking for a beating, his alchemy skills are genuinely quite impressive. We should befriend him,” said the other martial arts disciple while nodding in agreement.
Kang Lu and his troop left the place in dejection as well. Fang Lin had won, sending all their plans spiraling into the drain.
In the great hall of the alchemy sect, Gu Daofeng stood behind the metal console table with his hands clasped behind his back. He stood straight regally like a pine tree without moving.
“Fang Lin won. Moreover, he used the ancient alchemy technique known as the Three Mountain Shakes,” a youth reported to him in the great hall.
“The Three Mountain Shakes?” Gu Daofeng spun around, his elegant face tainted with a tinge of astonishment.
The youth replied with a smile, “You’re surprised too, huh? I was even more surprised than you are when I saw it with my own eyes.”
Gu Daofeng appeared to be immersed in deep thought. He spoke after a long while, “Send the alchemy pavilion to retrieve the Three Mountain Shakes technique.”
The youth nodded. Soon afterward, he left the great hall.
The competition at the alchemy altar had already ended. However, the repercussions of the event lasted for days. Other than the alchemy sect, many people from the martial arts sect were talking about Fang Lin.
At first, Fang Lin was still planning on how to make a name for himself in the martial arts sect. The alchemy match happened just in time to spread his reputation.
The martial arts sect disciples came to befriend Fang Lin on the second day after the alchemy match. Naturally, he welcomed them with open arms. Moreover, he generously presented each of the visiting martial arts sect disciples with a Blood-clotting Pill.
Within a day, the nine Blood-clotting Pills refined during the alchemy match were all distributed as gifts. Even though he felt slightly broken-hearted to do so, the sacrifice was necessary. At least, the martial arts sect disciples that took his pills would put in a good word for him in the martial arts sect.