A shiver went through Zhuo Fan as he looked at her, “Y-you, how did you know?”
“How could I not?” Chu Qingcheng smiled and reproached, “Dear! I’m waiting for your honest answer!”
“J-just don’t shout, alright? Edifice Lord Chu, it’s all just a misunderstanding. I really didn’t know this was what you meant at the time…” Zhuo Fan was waving his hands frantically, then caught Vicious Pill King beginning his second refining and was getting nervous, “We will talk about this later. After I kick this old coot out.”
He started to run as soon as he finished speaking.
Chu Qingcheng was startled and was more disappointed than bewildered.
It wasn’t narcissistic of her when she always thought that her character and appearance were outstanding. She saw with her own eyes how 99% of the men who looked at her had dirty thoughts.
And even those exceptions, would at least talk to her like normal human beings. But none went as far as to run away.
Zhuo Fan ran as if a crone was out to get him. She couldn’t help but feel angry, [Why is this brat so different as compared to other men?]
[Others will try to act like gentlemen on such occasions, eloquent and smooth-talk me into doing what they want. Well, I guess those men normally pluck the flowers of hundreds of women already… Meanwhile, this guy is still a virgin…]
Chu Qingcheng’s blushed, admonishing herself, [Just what am I thinking?]
But she had no way of knowing what was truly on Zhuo Fan’s mind. He ran because he once climbed to the Demonic Emperor position. He knew full well that righteousness and women were the biggest dead weights in a man’s pursuit for power.
He wanted to regain his Demon Emperor power, to rise above and beyond. And to do that, he had to cast aside such weights.
Chu Qingcheng didn’t return to the terrace. She stood there, watching the only man who moved her heart running towards his first place spot.
Meanwhile, Zhuo Fan only had a thirst for victory in his eyes.
Tacking a side glance as his returned archenemy, Vicious Pill King, now that he got his anger more or less under control, smiled wickedly, “Brat, why did you even return?”
“To make pills, of course!”
Zhuo Fan sighed inside. [Vicious Pill King is the best in the empire after all. He recovered his calm after just a few breaths.]
Few people were capable of such a feat.
“He-he-he, making pills? More like you came here to bother me. “
“You overestimate me. How could I possibly dare to mess with you?” Zhuo Fan snickered.
Shaking his head, Vicious Pill King was refining his ingredients with one hand while he grinned, “If not to mess around, then what other point is there? With your snail pace speed, there’s no hope you can win.”
“So, that’s why you thought I came to mess around.” Zhuo Fan was quite calm.
Vicious Pill King eyed him with contempt, “Ha-ha-ha, if this was your plan all along, it may not have been half bad. Stopping me from making a 5th grade pill would get that Tao Danniang to finish first. Too bad, you were too conceited and spoke that nonsense about letting anyone who took first get your head. Wouldn’t that also apply to Tao Danniang?”
Startled, the people’s hearts grew nervous.
Indeed, in this competition, only Zhuo Fan couldn’t afford to lose. Once he fell from the top, his head would fall with him.
“Ha-ha-ha, I will enjoy killing you just as if I was the one who won! You think Tao Danniang can stop me?” Vicious Pill King cackled, finally venting and releasing his anger.
Chu Qingcheng frowned in worry for Zhuo Fan with a hint of reproach in her eyes.
[Be as insufferable as you want but within limits. This old guy has leverage and will have your head. Yet, this is just how Qingtian would’ve acted.]
Chu Qingcheng watched on with love and hatred. Was she going to lose her loved one a second time?
Tao Danniang was close to finishing when she heard this. Her hand trembled and the process stopped.
“Old hag, go on then. If you won’t finish, someone else will!”
Zhuo Fan turned from her to Vicious Pill King and his eyes grew colder, “Old coot, I told you. I will never leave this spot and no one can take it from me. Not you, not anyone.”
Zhuo Fan’s hand suddenly ignited into a raging fire and gestured for tens of ingredients to fly inside.
Watching the flame, it was no different from Vicious Pill King’s or the other Profound Heaven experts’ Yuan Qi flame. But after one breath, Zhuo Fan was sweating.
Vicious Pill King laughed even harder, “You little prick, your cultivation is not nearly enough to sustain such a strong flame. You’re looking to die if you keep this up!”
“Humph, narrow-minded old goat, yours truly will show you the difference between us!”
Zhuo Fan shouted and slapped the burning hand.
With a bang, the flame burned twice as strong and consumed all of Zhuo Fan’s Yuan Qi in an instant. At this moment, Zhuo Fan’s eyes flashed and his burning hand made a fist. The fire and the ingredients were all now squeezed inside.
In one blink, the towering flame had vanished into thin air. Only Zhuo Fan held his fist tightly. It was bright red and billowing smoke leaked from between his fingers.
This whole process of putting the ingredients inside the flame and closing his fist took a few short breaths.
Many didn’t even catch him doing it.
Scratching their heads, many looked at each other lost, not understanding what was going on.
Vicious Pill King stared fixed at the fist and laughed, “I was wondering what you’re planning. But it’s the same as before. Isn’t it destroying all ingredients again?”
With ragged breath and ashen-faced, Zhuo Fan collapsed from exhaustion. But his smile turned unprecedentedly wicked. It seemed to convey endless confidence.
“Old coot, I may have done the same, but the result isn’t.”
Taunting Vicious Pill King with his eyes, Zhuo Fan pumped his fist and then opened it, “Everyone, the refining of a 5th-grade pill is now complete!”
Zhuo Fan’s shout resounded throughout the hall and a golden pill gleaming brilliantly spun around in his palm.
The soothing fragrance, the luster, they all confirmed that it was indeed a 5th-grade pill.
In an instant, the audience devolved into chaos. Just what did Grandmaster Song do? How did he suddenly refine a pill?
The top ten alchemists, closest to Zhuo Fan, cried incessantly, “That’s impossible!”
They saw it most clearly. How Zhuo Fan turned a batch of ingredients into a pill in an instant. But this was also why they just couldn’t believe it and couldn’t accept it.
They not only never seen such a godly refining skill, but did not even catch a rumor of it.
Liu Yizhen watched Zhuo Fan in a daze, almost forgetting about his own task. His brain froze. He didn’t understand ancient refining skills, but read records of them. Yet none of them held any reference that might allude to what this heaven-defying skill was.
He made a 5th-grade pill just by closing his fist? [If refining is that easy, what pride would the alchemists of today have?]
[A pill taking two hours to make just took seconds in your fist!]
On the terrace, Long Jiu and the rest were dumbfounded. How was this alchemy? It was clearly pulling something out of thin air!
This refining skill was too goddamned insane! It was no different from swindling!
On the eastern terrace, Huangpu Qingyun and his men were dumbstruck as well.
“T-this brat…” Huangpu Qingyun was so surprised he could barely speak. His men didn’t fare any better
The only eyes not looking at the pill was Zhuo Fan who was holding it.
Swallowing hard, Zhuo Fan waved the pill before the flabbergast Vicious Pill King, “Old coot, ever heard of Universe Palm?”
Vicious Pill King blinked hard and swirled his head. He looked at Zhuo Fan like looking at a freak. He stammered for a long time but all that came out was a garbled mess.
The shocking Universe Palm was unlike any ancient secret skill he used before. This was a heaven-defying ability.
The alchemists seemed to have been in a dream. A refining skill that defined the heavenly laws actually existed in the world!
Snorting, Zhuo Fan said, “Did you see, old coot? This is our difference. The difference between Heaven Toppling Pill and Vicious Pill King is as big as heaven and earth.”
Vicious Pill King watched him dazed, and couldn’t get any word out in rebuke.
Zhuo Fan sneered with a shake of his head and showed the pill to Xiao Ya, “Forgive me, my cultivation isn’t enough and could only refine a high 5th grade pill. A perfect one shouldn’t influence my spot, right?”
The alchemists’ faces twitched, feeling like crying.
[Making a 5th grade pill in a blink is heaven-defying enough, so why in god’s name do you have to make it a high one too? Are you trying to steal our bread?]
Xiao Ya felt dizzy. Zhuo Fan had to call her out a few times before he got a reaction. She rushed to receive the pill and assess it in detail, “Grandmaster Song’s high 5th-grade pill is successful. He keeps the first place and enters the final round to compete for the position of Pill King!”
At her words, Zhuo Fan turned around and spread his arms. He looked at the audience, his cloak billowing, a manner exceedingly arrogant, and shouted, “As long as I stand in this spot, no one can take it!”
“Grandmaster Song~”
The crowd’s passion was ignited and pumped their fist as they called out his name.
The Pill King finals had yet to start, but he had already become a Pill King in their eyes…