That breeze became bigger and bigger. Some people slowly discovered that its directional flow was gradually changing from chaotic to a type of specific pattern. It had become the same as a whirlpool.
At this moment, the whirlpool was still very weak.
But very quickly, it seemed that there were many strange forces spreading from above the other pill cauldrons. They were quickly sucked into the whirlpool, increasing the whirlpool’s proliferation!
Whoosh, whoosh!
The sound of the wind grew stronger and stronger.
Although the circulation of those forces wasn’t that obvious in the beginning, it had become clear in a very short time. Almost simultaneously, the pill cauldron of a pharmacist on the left suddenly started to shake violently. In the blink of an eye, it loudly exploded — Boom!
That pharmacist beat a hasty retreat. Unfortunately, the medicinal pill that was originally close to being formed in the cauldron had already turned to fine powder. The pill cauldron had been thoroughly ruined.
The pill refining had failed, so he could only leave.
Additionally, a few pharmacists had also found that the insides of their pill cauldrons weren’t in good conditions.
Undoubtedly, the medicinal herbs had formed medicinal balls, and all of them were producing peculiar forces. If another short period of time had passed, they should’ve been able to smoothly condense and form medicinal pills. Yet, it seemed like some external force had suddenly appeared. Unexpectedly, those medicinal balls were expanding and contracting, and the plentiful medicinal powers within the pill cauldrons also faded away at extremely fast speeds…
If this continued, their medicinal pills would be wasted. At that time, let alone forming a pill, perhaps the pill cauldrons would also break. They’d thoroughly lose the qualifications to continue in the pill battles.
Subconsciously, these pharmacists raised their guards.
They were also intelligent people. They were fully aware that their own pills were of no use. They promptly distinguished what the force being extracted was. After that, they rapidly replenished the identical herbs in an attempt to increase the medicinal power and to delay the failure of the medicinal pills. They didn’t believe that the external force would last for too much longer. As such, so long as they endured this period, they could continue on!
As for attacking…
At this moment, they already didn’t have any thoughts of attacking. Being capable of saving their forming pills and smoothly defending was also a type of victory.
Of course, while there were some pharmacists on guard, there were also some who weren’t.
Immediately following this, another three or four pharmacists had their pill cauldrons blow up. The medicinal pills they were refining were also completely destroyed. They lost and withdrew.
As for the windy whirlpool situated above Gu Zuo’s pill cauldron, it had expanded even more. It had already enshrouded the entirety of the space over the pill cauldron!
The unusual scene caused those high-level pharmacists, who’d been paying attention to Gu Zuo all along, to exhale in amazement:
“What, what’s going on?”
“This old man has been refining medicine for over a hundred years, and I’ve never seen such strange phenomena…”
“It’s just a Revitalization Pill. How could such a situation occur? Could it be the effects of those extra medicinal herbs?”
“I don’t know what the cause is, but it makes this old man very curious!”
“This old man also doesn’t know…”
But just at this moment, that resting Grand Elder, whose eyes had been shut the whole time, suddenly opened them.
The place where his vision swept over was also where Gu Zuo was located.
“This old man had once seen a type of medicinal pill in an ancient text. When refining it, everyone else refining pills within several meters will have the qi of the medicinal spirit sucked dry or laid bare, or the pills will be wasted. It’s extremely tyrannical. Merely, that pill’s prescription has long vanished. I never thought I’d get to see it today.”
During the Grand Elder’s speech, the other pharmacists had gone totally silent.
Their ears heard two crucial points. One was qi of the medicinal spirit and the other was that it was seen in an ancient text and the prescription was long gone.
Then, a high-level pharmacist asked: “Excuse me, Grand Senior. What is qi of the medicinal spirit?”
The Grand Elder murmured slightly: “When any pharmacist refines medicine, medicinal power is sorted and condensed into the medicinal pill. During refinement, the essence that is continuously emitted is the qi of the medicinal spirit. The finer the pharmacist’s technique, the more abundant the qi of the medicinal spirit. With this, the qi of the medicinal spirit can purify the medicinal pill. It can also help the pharmacist to reduce the conflict between herbs that have mutually restraining properties. Ultimately, one can obtain a medicinal pill of an even higher product grade.
He continued: “However, if the qi of the medicinal spirit dissipates during the refinement, the medicinal power’s impact will blow up the cauldron or the pharmacist will be unable to continue purifying, turning the pill into a waste pill.”
After listening to this explanation, the other pharmacists all understood.
Following that, when they looked at Gu Zuo again, the radiance in their eyes was somewhat complicated.
Such a young, teenaged pharmacist had somehow obtained the prescription for this medicinal pill, and just so happened to use it at this time. One couldn’t help saying that his luck was extremely good.
Afterwards, so long as he didn’t make any mistakes while refining, he could obtain a rather high grade on the attacking side. And if he could ultimately refine a pretty good Revitalization Pill, he’d have made considerable contributions on the defending side. His performance record would naturally be very good. Perhaps, he’d have a spot on the final rankings.
As for Gu Zuo himself, he was also sensing the effects produced by that Spirit Devouring Pill at this time.
Not to mention anything else, one only needed to talk about the enormous medicinal power Gu Zuo sensed while performing his hand seals. While it wasn’t as powerful as usual, this wasn’t what concerned him. What genuinely shocked him was that the forces brought into the whirlpool were very similar to the medicinal qi he’d been gathering all this time!
Although, compared to that milky-white medicinal qi, it didn’t seem as pure or dense. However, medicinal qi was medicinal qi. No matter how thin, it was still medicinal qi.
Gu Zuo’s heart tensed up. While he refined the pill, he couldn’t help inquiring within his Tianfu Acupoint: System, is the qi of the medicinal spirit actually just unformed medicinal qi?
[Yes, host.]
Gu Zuo: “…”
It was just medicinal qi. Using the qi of the medicinal spirit as a replacement… However, in the beginning, he also hadn’t given it much thought. Now that he thought about it carefully, the formation of the medicinal pill was facilitated by a special force. The more a medicinal pill’s process was perfected, the purer the qi energy it spilled out. Once it reached a fixed amount without even a trace of wear or tear, it would finally form medicinal qi. This was also a matter of course. So, wasn’t medicinal qi just an abbreviation of qi of the medicinal spirit? In fact, it also wasn’t that strange.
Soon, Gu Zuo no longer pondered over this question. He continued to use his hand seals, and gave a passing rueful sigh at the Spirit Devouring Pill’s tyranny.
That’s right. After the aforementioned whirlpool above the pill cauldron got bigger and bigger, low shouts from all around continuously echoed. Many vexed voices, angry voices, and unreconciled voices spread out.
“My pill cauldron!”
“The medicinal herbs are ruined — Completely ruined!”
“Who’s playing tricks?”
“Damn it! What kind of medicinal pill could be so terrifying?!”
“Fuck! It actually failed!”
“Really bad luck…”
Of course, the other pharmacists couldn’t be blamed for their complaints.
Because, let alone the four pharmacists surrounding Gu Zuo, there were some even further away. With at least ten to twenty people within a ten meter range, most of them had their cauldrons explode under the Spirit Devouring Pill’s effects. Not even one out of ten persisted, but the ones who were persisting wouldn’t necessarily be able to hold on for much longer.
After all, Gu Zuo’s Spirit Devouring Pill hadn’t been completely refined yet.
The members of numerous organizations couldn’t help complaining when they saw something amiss.
It was stated that one would attack and defend during the pill battles, but the battles were so desperate and a little over the top…
The two Qingyun Sect people who hadn’t gone onto the field, Qiu Qian and Zhu Hong, were similarly in the middle of watching. Moreover, because the influence of the Sect was enormous, although they weren’t high-level pharmacists, they could also sit in positions near the outer circle of that crowd of high-level pharmacists. They naturally heard the previous statements of the Grand Elder and the other pharmacists.
It could be said that their moods were all over the place — At first, they thought Gu Zuo had gone through the back door and had come over to serve as a stopgap. To their surprise, he had made good achievements again and again. In addition, he had stolen the show during the finals. To the Qingyun Sect, this was naturally a good thing, but for them, they couldn’t help having a trace of jealousy.
However, in the wake of the passage of time, the period for pill refining was approaching its end, and that side’s discussions had started up again.
The focal points of the discussions were still Gu Zuo and that medicinal pill he was refining.
A high-level pharmacist sighed with emotion and said: “This type of medicinal pill actually contains the prescription for the Revitalization Pill. It’s really beyond our expectations. It’s clear that all of our guesses just then were incorrect…”
However, at this moment, the Grand Elder said: “That’s also not necessarily the case. The Revitalization Pill is the Revitalization Pill. That medicinal pill is that medicinal pill. If this old man hasn’t seen wrongly, this should be… One pill supporting another pill. Ah, it’s really an ingenious design!”
T/N: Thanks for the corrections, Charysa.
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