Desolate Devouring Art

Chapter 200 - Mist Flowers

As each cauldron was opened, a mist flower blossomed in the air, a spectacle that repeated itself with the opening of every cauldron, creating a stunning display of ethereal mist flowers.

These mist flowers, believed not to exist in the real world, were now vividly present before their eyes, captivating everyone and drawing them towards their mesmerizing beauty.

The absence of pill clouds or mist initially led Sang Yan to worry about the potential low quality of the pills. However, his concerns were dispelled when he opened the cauldron to find a mist flower, a phenomenon only known in legends, appearing before them as if they were in a dream.

Master Mao, finally setting aside his pride, rushed over, picked up a pill from the cauldron, and held it up to his nose for a sniff. “Excellent pill!” he exclaimed, his excitement causing him to dance around like a child, despite his advanced age.

“They’re perfectly round and ample; some even bear pill runes on them!” Sheng Lian inspected the pills and praised them. His lips curled into a proud smile, thrilled to be part of such an extraordinary event. He could now boast to his descendants that he once had the honor of collecting pills for a Pill God.

In his heart, Liu Wuxie was akin to a Pill God.

“Twenty-seven pills! There are twenty-seven pills in my cauldron, and not one failed!” Gao Hong was so excited that his hands were trembling. He found it hard to believe that this was all real, and he even slapped himself to see if he was dreaming.

A palm mark was visible on his left cheek, but he didn’t find it embarrassing. On the contrary, he considered it an honor.

The alchemy chamber regained tranquility once all ten cauldrons were opened and the ten mist flowers dissipated. A pile of porcelain bottles was arranged on the table.

“A total of 260 fourth-grade pills.” Sang Yan reported after organizing all the pills obtained from the cauldrons. This meant each cauldron yielded twenty-six pills on average.

Even with a hundred percent success rate, there would only be a maximum of fifteen pills for each cauldron. But Liu Wuxie shattered the record, reaching twenty-six pills, the highest yield for each cauldron.

Gazing at the pills arrayed on the table, Geng Ye was drenched in a cold sweat. The others standing behind him were on the verge of collapsing. Given Liu Wuxie’s current pace and output, he wouldn’t even need a full day to produce 5,000 pills.

Regret flickered in Xiao Li’s eyes. If his status as an alchemist were to be revoked, he would be rendered helpless, unable to refine any more pills in the future. At that point, the Treasure Pill Pavilion would inform the Alchemy Association to revoke their status. Once that happens, they wouldn’t be able to apply for another token.

Even if they were to move to other dynasties, they would need an alchemist token to practice alchemy. Without an alchemist token, purchasing herbs would pose a problem, a situation that Liu Wuxie had personally experienced.

Liu Wuxie didn’t even have time to exchange pleasantries with Mu Yueying and promptly commenced the second round of refining. The pile of herbs on the ground started to dwindle, causing Elder Wen’s hands to tremble. When he had greeted Mu Yueying earlier, he realized he was in hot water upon seeing her icy stare.

As before, Liu Wuxie’s proficiency had improved. He had analyzed using the Ghost Eye multiple times and finally let go of his reservations once he became familiar with it. His true essence seemed limitless as another sphere of spiritual fire floated in the air.

The mysterious tree in his dantian had extended and drawn true essence from the air. Strangely enough, no one else could see the roots. Could it be that only Liu Wuxie was capable of seeing them?

As the Sky Devouring Divine Cauldron began to spin, the earthly flame was consumed, thereby enhancing the spiritual flame. As time passed, the second round commenced. This time, the number of pills reached two hundred and seventy.

Each cauldron yielded twenty-seven pills, filling the table with a heap of porcelain bottles. The Treasure Pill Pavilion would typically sell five thousand pills monthly, but they would only sell a maximum of three hundred fourth-grade pills.

If Liu Wuxie managed to refine five thousand pills in a day, they would have plenty of pills to sell for an entire year.

As the process repeated, porcelain bottles piled up like a mountain, producing over a thousand pills. But only less than one-third of the herbs were used up. The success rate continued to increase because each cauldron produced thirty pills in the fifth batch. The quality of the pills was increasing as well.

“Geng Ye, what are we going to do? If this continues, we’re done for!” Xiao Li’s face was etched with worry. Losing their status as alchemists would render them as good as incapacitated.

“Don’t fret. His true essence won’t sustain him to refine five thousand pills!” Geng Ye’s eyes turned red, his expression manic, resembling a gambler who had lost everything. It had only been two hours, and at this rate, Liu Wuxie would take about half a day to finish refining the pills.

The other three wore frowns, as Geng Ye’s words made sense. True essence was finite, and there was no way Liu Wuxie could continue refining indefinitely. However, as time passed, the growing pile of pills on the table served as a stark rebuttal to their faces, with over three thousand pills already produced.

This time, even Geng Ye couldn’t hold on anymore. His legs began to tremble because Liu Wuxie’s true essence showed no signs of exhaustion. Moreover, his success rate was stuck at thirty pills per cauldron, and that was the limit because Liu Wuxie had already made full use of the herbs.

Increasing the quantity meant that the quality of the pills would decrease. Under the same circumstances, pills with a lower quality would naturally have poorer sales, as most people would prefer those with higher quality.

As the sky gradually darkened, the alchemy chamber was still brightly lit. No one could feel the passing of time and could only hear numbers echoing in their ears.

“Four thousand! Wuxie, do you need to rest?” Half a day had passed, and Sang Yan suggested that Liu Wuxie take a break while they were collecting the pills.

Everyone was already numb from Liu Wuxie’s performance. Four thousand might seem like mere numbers to others, but to them, these numbers were like daggers stabbing into their hearts.

“No, there’s no need. I want to expedite the process as I have other pills I intend to refine,” Liu Wuxie responded, showing no signs of stopping. His goal wasn’t merely to stop at five thousand pills but to reach seven thousand. More importantly, he also aimed to refine fifth-grade pills.

By the time the fifteenth batch concluded, the total number of pills had reached four thousand four hundred. This indicated that Liu Wuxie would reach the five thousand mark in just two more batches.

“Please forgive me, Liu Wuxie! I was wrong. It was Geng Ye who incited me to question you!” Zhang Dejun pleaded, falling to his knees. He sought Liu Wuxie’s forgiveness while the situation was still unfolding.

Zou Tao and Yu Zhong were also trembling. They had contemplated kneeling down several times to beg for forgiveness, but their pride told them that even if they received Liu Wuxie’s forgiveness, they would only live like dogs in the Treasure Pill Pavilion.

“Zhang Dejun, I didn’t see you holding back when you were mocking Master Liu earlier,” Gao Hong pointed out, stepping forward. It was a pitiful sight to see an alchemist on his knees like a dog.

No one uttered a word as they all looked at Liu Wuxie. Zhang Dejun was like a condemned prisoner, awaiting his sentence.

“Continue kneeling if you wish!” Liu Wuxie responded, his emotions remaining steady. Zhang Dejun’s legs were his own, and Liu Wuxie had no right to interfere. Zhang Dejun could kneel for as long as he wanted.

“Liu Wuxie, do you really want to push it this far?!” Zhang Dejun’s eyes turned red, a murderous intent brewing within them. He suddenly lunged forward, his sword aimed at Liu Wuxie’s chest. As long as Liu Wuxie was injured and couldn’t continue refining pills, they would be the ones winning the bet.

Zhang Dejun was in the high levels of the Marrow Cleansing Realm, and he had already given up his dignity by launching a sneak attack against someone in the Spirit Cleansing Realm.

Geng Ye wore a smile, believing that Liu Wuxie would be severely injured, if not killed, facing Zhang Dejun’s attack. As long as Liu Wuxie failed to refine five thousand pills, he would still have to leave the Treasure Pill Pavilion.

No one anticipated that Zhang Dejun would dare to launch a surprise attack under Mu Yueying’s watch. Regardless of whether he could succeed, he would have to face Mu Yueying’s fury. But it was already too late for anyone to intervene because Zhang Dejun was too close to Liu Wuxie, with less than five meters separating them.

Facing the oncoming sword, Liu Wuxie remained calm, looking at Zhang Dejun with a derisive smile.

In the next second, a powerful gust of wind swept out as a large mouth devoured Zhang Dejun. This was the magical artifact, Myriad Beast Cauldron. Mu Yueying released it and easily killed Zhang Dejun with it.

No one looked surprised by it, and Geng Ye’s smile froze, his facial expression becoming grim. He had anticipated Mu Yueying making a move to intervene, but he didn’t expect her to use a magical weapon.

Mu Yueying didn’t hesitate to kill a three-star alchemist for Liu Wuxie’s sake, regardless of the fact that Zhang Dejun’s sword might not have been lethal but merely injurious to Liu Wuxie.

“This is the consequence for anyone who dares to attack him!” Mu Yueying declared, her cold gaze sweeping over everyone present.

Why didn’t Zhang Dejun succeed?! Geng Ye lowered his head with a heavy heart.

Elder Wen suddenly seemed to age significantly, a hint of cloudiness appearing in his eyes. He knew they were doomed to fail, regardless of whether the last two batches could succeed. After all, the fact that Liu Wuxie could refine over four thousand pills in half a day wasn’t just a record-breaking feat, but an unprecedented achievement since the founding of the Great Yan Dynasty.

After Zhang Dejun was dealt with, Liu Wuxie continued refining pills, seemingly unaffected by Zhang Dejun’s actions. Through the fifteen batches, Liu Wuxie had gained ample experience, and his control over the spiritual flame had reached perfection.

When the sixteenth batch was successful, the total number of refined pills exceeded four thousand seven hundred, indicating that Liu Wuxie was just one batch away from reaching five thousand.

But Liu Wuxie’s complexion was still rosy and didn’t look like his true essence had decreased. This made everyone wonder if his true essence was inexhaustible because even someone at the pinnacle of the Marrow Cleansing Realm would die of exhaustion if they refined so many pills nonstop.

Whenever Master Mao refined a cauldron of pills, he would have to rest for an hour to recover his true essence. But Liu Wuxie overturned their understanding, proving to them that someone’s true essence could be so abundant.

“Nine Stars Illumination...Can it be that his true essence is nine times greater than that of ordinary people?”

It was no secret that Liu Wuxie had caused the Nine Stars Illumination, but such a constitution was too rare. Those with such a constitution could be considered a monstrous genius and trash at the same time. The cultivation speed of those with this constitution would be nine times slower compared to ordinary people, but the purity of their true essence was over nine times if they managed to make a breakthrough.

When Liu Wuxie started to refine the seventeenth batch, Geng Ye’s face grew paler as he prayed in his heart for Liu Wuxie to fail.

There were still six hours before an entire day was up, and everyone’s heartstrings were stretched. If Liu Wuxie succeeded with this batch, the entire Treasure Pill Pavilion would undergo a drastic change, and the network formed by Jiang Yue over the years would collapse instantly.