Free Web NovelChapter 336: Debate [5]
Number Three, C-rank, Fang Hao, against Number Three, D-rank, Willow Follow Wind! Choose your own Pill Formula, time limit is six hours, the winner advances!
As Pill Star Child’s voice fell, the entire Debate stage and even the spectator stands were instantly ignited.
This was undoubtedly the most anticipated battle of this year’s Debate—the pride of Medicine King Valley against the dark horse Loose Cultivator who had emerged from nowhere.
The two had long-standing grievances, and now, meeting on this narrow path in the final round, it was destined to be a clash of fire and earth!
Willow Follow Wind stood tall and upright, his luxurious Medicine King Valley Core Disciple attire accentuating his extraordinary bearing.
He glanced at Fang Hao with contempt, then pinched a seal with both hands.
A brilliant beam of spiritual light shot up from his storage ring, transforming into a giant Pill Furnace, a zhang tall and glowing with flowing colors, which landed with a boom on the number three pill station.
The Pill Furnace had an ancient design, with nine lifelike Dragons carved into the body, their mouths wide open as if about to spew raging flames.
On the lid was embedded a fist-sized crimson gem, emitting scorching and pure fire Qi fluctuations.
"Nine-Revolutions Soul-Burning Furnace!" someone in the audience exclaimed in shock.
"This is one of the treasures of Medicine King Valley. It is said to have been a Pill Furnace used by a Soul Transformation Old Ancestor, containing a wisp of True Dragon fire! Willow Follow Wind actually brought it here!"
"With this furnace’s help, Willow Follow Wind’s pill success rate and the quality of his Medicinal Pill will increase by at least thirty percent! How is this even a fair fight?"
Hearing the exclamations around him, the look of triumph on Willow Follow Wind’s face grew even more intense.
He looked at Fang Hao provocatively: "Fang Hao, bring out your broken furnace. Let this Young Master see what kind of decent belongings a Loose Cultivator like you can have."
Everyone’s gaze focused on Fang Hao.
Fang Hao stood where he was, his expression calm, seemingly deep in thought.
He had originally intended to use the geothermal Pill Furnace provided here, but since Willow Follow Wind had brought out the "Nine-Revolutions Soul-Burning Furnace," if he still used an ordinary Pill Furnace, he would lose three points in terms of hardware alone.
Moreover, the "nine-revolutions soul-splitting pill" he intended to refine was extremely dangerous, requiring high stability and spirituality from the Pill Furnace.
An ordinary Pill Furnace simply could not withstand that overbearing Soul poison and the power of Soul-splitting.
"It seems I cannot hide it anymore..." Fang Hao sighed inwardly.
For the sake of the nascent soul pill formula and to win this destined difficult duel, he had to bring out his trump card.
He slowly closed his eyes and looked into his Dantian.
A Chaos vortex slowly rotated. Deep within the vortex, a simple, unadorned, Chaos-colored, three-legged, two-eared miniature cauldron was floating quietly, emitting a faint, ancient aura that seemed to come from the beginning of heaven and earth.
This was one of Fang Hao’s biggest secrets—the chaos pill cauldron!
This cauldron had always been nurtured in his Dantian, cultivated alongside his own life. It contained a small world within, not only possessing a Spirit Medicine garden but also having various indescribably miraculous functions.
However, this cauldron was of great importance, and he had never dared to use it lightly for fear of attracting covetous eyes.
But today, he could not care about that anymore!
Fang Hao suddenly opened his eyes, a flash of Chaos color passing through them.
He pointed his fingers like a sword towards his Dantian and shouted in a low voice: "Cauldron, come!"
In an instant, an indescribably ancient, vast, and heavy aura erupted from Fang Hao as the center!
The geothermal fire of the entire Debate stage paused, as if showing submission to some supreme existence!
In the eyes of everyone who was horrified, an ancient cauldron about five feet tall, Chaos-colored throughout, with an extremely simple design yet containing endless Dao rhymes, appeared out of thin air on the pill station in front of Fang Hao.
The cauldron’s body had no ornate decorations, only some naturally formed, blurry patterns that looked like the trajectories of the Dao. Yet, one look at it made one’s heart tremble, as if facing the ultimate truths of heaven and earth!
"This... what kind of cauldron is this?!"
"Such a terrifying aura! My Pill Furnace... is trembling!"
"Heavens, who exactly is this Fang Hao? This cauldron... is definitely no ordinary Magic Treasure!"
The entire Debate stage fell into an unprecedented silence.
Even Pill Star Child, who had always been calm and composed, stood up abruptly at this moment, staring intently at the chaos pill cauldron, his eyes filled with disbelief.
He had lived for nearly a thousand years and had seen countless rare treasures, but he had never seen such a miraculous Pill Furnace!
The aura emitted by this cauldron made even him, a Cultivator at the Great Perfection of the Late Nascent Soul Stage, feel a palpitation of the heart!
The triumphant smile on Willow Follow Wind’s face froze instantly.
His Nine-Revolutions Soul-Burning Furnace, of which he was so proud, was like a firefly before the bright moon in front of that inconspicuous ancient Chaos cauldron.
Its originally brilliant spiritual light now seemed dull, and the nine Coiling Dragons on the furnace body were trembling, as if they had encountered a natural enemy!
"No... impossible!" Willow Follow Wind shrieked, his face turning pale, "You bumpkin, how could you possibly have such a treasure?!"
Fang Hao couldn’t be bothered to pay him any mind.
He reached out and stroked the warm, smooth body of the chaos pill cauldron, a feeling of Bloodline connection surging into his heart.
This cauldron was his greatest reliance on the path of alchemy!
"Willow Follow Wind," Fang Hao raised his head and looked at the other party with a calm gaze. His voice was not loud, but it clearly spread throughout the entire venue, "No matter how good the furnace is, it depends on who is using it. Today, I will let you witness what true alchemy is."
"You!" Willow Follow Wind was trembling with rage, the killing intent in his eyes surging, "Arrogant! Even if you have a strange treasure, so what? The alchemy competition ultimately depends on alchemy techniques! This Young Master will definitely make you suffer a crushing defeat today!"
"Both sides, take your positions. Timing... start!" Pill Star Child suppressed the shock in his heart and announced the start of the match.
He knew that today’s duel would surely be recorded in the annals of the Myriad Laws Immortal City Debate!
Willow Follow Wind gritted his teeth, forcing himself to calm down, and carefully put the rare Spirit Medicine he had prepared into the Nine-Revolutions Soul-Burning Furnace.
What he wanted to refine was the secret fourth-order Peak Medicinal Pill of Medicine King Valley—the "nine-revolutions soul-returning pill"!
This pill was said to have the effect of bringing the dead back to life, capable of repairing a Cultivator’s damaged Divine Soul and Dao foundation. It was invaluable, and the difficulty of refining it was at the pinnacle.
He was confident that with the quality and efficacy of this pill, it would be enough to crush any Medicinal Pill Fang Hao refined!
However, as soon as he ignited the furnace fire, he found that the geothermal fire of the Nine-Revolutions Soul-Burning Furnace was somewhat out of control, as if suppressed by the aura of Fang Hao’s chaos pill cauldron, with the firepower fluctuating between strong and weak.
He had to expend more mental energy to stabilize the heat, and fine beads of sweat quickly seeped out on his forehead.
On the other hand, Fang Hao was calm and composed.
He did not use geothermal fire, but with a thought, the chaos pill cauldron generated its own Chaos fire!
This fire was formless and qualityless, yet contained the terrifying power to refine all things. What was even more wonderful was that this fire was completely under his control, as responsive as his own arm.
Following the Pill Formula given by Su Xuan, he put those highly toxic Spirit Medicine one by one into the cauldron.
The Chaos fire gently wrapped around the Spirit Medicine, precisely removing Impurities and extracting the essence. The whole process was smooth, without the slightest obstruction.
He could even split a wisp of Divine Sense to enter the small world inside the cauldron, observing the growth of several key auxiliary Spirit Medicine in the Spirit Medicine garden, in case of need.
Time passed minute by minute.
On Willow Follow Wind’s side, the furnace fire was sometimes strong and sometimes weak. His face was livid; clearly, the refining process was not going smoothly.
As for Fang Hao’s side, the chaos pill cauldron always emitted a peaceful and profound aura. The medicine liquid in the cauldron churned, its color gradually turning into a deep dark purple that seemed to be able to devour light, and a fluctuation that made the Soul tremble faintly emanated from the cauldron.
"That Fang Hao... what kind of pill is he refining? This aura... is so terrifying!"
"I don’t know, but it’s definitely no small matter! Willow Follow Wind’s nine-revolutions soul-returning pill is a holy medicine for saving lives. How does what this Fang Hao is refining feel like... a lethal weapon for killing?"
On the spectator stands, there was much discussion.
Su Xuan did not know when he had also appeared in the crowd. He watched Fang Hao and that chaos pill cauldron from afar, his withered face full of complex expressions.
He found that he had still far underestimated this young man.
Five hours later, Willow Follow Wind was the first to complete the pill condensation.
The lid of the Nine-Revolutions Soul-Burning Furnace opened, and nine Dragon roars resounded through the sky. Nine Medicinal Pill, shining with spiritual light and swirling with pill halos, flew out and were caught by him in a jade bottle.
Although the process was bumpy, it was finally refined, and nine pills were formed, all of High Grade quality. One of them even faintly showed signs of being Top Grade!
"Done!" Willow Follow Wind was overjoyed, holding up the jade bottle and looking proudly at the audience, "nine-revolutions soul-returning pill, nine pills formed, High Grade! Fang Hao, let’s see what you have to compare with me!"
However, just as his voice fell, a sudden change occurred on Fang Hao’s side!
The chaos pill cauldron shook violently. The lid did not open, but on the cauldron’s body, the Chaos-colored patterns suddenly lit up. A phantom pill shadow, seemingly composed of countless runes, shot into the sky, splitting into nine in mid-air, turning into nine light shadows of different colors but equally terrifying auras, entangling and colliding with each other, emitting bursts of sharp screams that tore at the Divine Soul!
"Nine-Revolutions Soul-Splitting, pill formed!"
Fang Hao shouted in a low voice, his face slightly pale, but his eyes were incomparably firm.
He successfully integrated a wisp of his own Divine Soul Origin into the Medicinal Pill, refining this extremely dangerous "nine-revolutions soul-splitting pill"!
The nine pill shadows slowly descended and merged back into the cauldron.
Fang Hao reached out and gestured, and nine Medicinal Pill, dark purple throughout, with countless fine cracks on the surface, and what seemed like Soul light flowing in the cracks, flew into the jade bottle in his hand.
As the Medicinal Pill entered his hand, a strange aura that was ice-cold to the bone yet carried a burning sensation traveled up his arm and rushed straight into his Sea of Consciousness, making him shiver violently.
"This... what kind of pill is this?!" The triumphant smile on Willow Follow Wind’s face completely froze, and in its place was endless horror.
He felt a fatal threat from that Medicinal Pill!
That was definitely not a Medicinal Pill used to save people!
The whole venue was silent.
Pill Star Child took a deep breath, suppressed the stormy waves in his heart, and said in a deep voice: "Both sides have completed their Medicinal Pill. Next... the alchemy battle begins!"
The real duel is only just beginning!
