Chương 78: The Peerless Pill Venerable (Part 6)

Su Chen felt utterly speechless. He sidestepped Song Wanqing's furious strike with ease.

"Miss, this is our first meeting. Isn't this progressing a little too quickly?" Song Wanqing glared at his face, barely restraining the urge to tear it apart. The alchemy conference was about to begin, and the prompt inviting participants inside sounded at just the right moment. She forced herself to calm down.

"Self-obsessed fool." She was a noble alchemist. How could she stoop to brawling like some crude martial brute? She would defeat Su Chen openly and honorably on the stage of the alchemy conference—and wash away the old humiliation once and for all! Watching Song Wanqing storm off in a huff, Su Chen reflected that women truly were baffling creatures.

"She must be Ghost Valley Pill King's disciple." Su Chen made the educated guess, then followed the crowd inside. The rules of the alchemy conference were straightforward: each participant drew a random pill formula at random, starting from first-grade, then second-grade, third-grade, and so on. It was an elimination format that tested not only control of fire but also adaptability. Every pill had its own unique refinement method, and bad luck alone could eliminate even mediocre alchemists on lower-grade formulas.

To Su Chen, such a conference was a rare opportunity for ordinary alchemists—good fortune might even let them learn new formulas.

"Alchemists really are loaded." The last event this extravagant had been the disciple selection of Profound Origin Sacred Land, where they set out an ancient Profound Origin Stele for participants to comprehend techniques and martial skills from. First-grade… second-grade… third-grade… fourth-grade pills posed no challenge to Su Chen. By the time they reached fifth-grade pills, only nine people remained on the field. Su Chen successfully produced his fifth-grade pill, followed shortly by Song Wanqing.

Most of the others had already been eliminated by furnace explosions, but with Profound Connection Realm powerhouses standing guard, the blasts caused little real disturbance.

"I did it… I actually did it!" A disheveled young man clutched a purple pill in both hands, dancing with joy and laughing wildly.

"I finally refined a fifth-grade pill!" Su Chen recognized him as one of the youths who followed Blazing Embers Pill King—most likely his disciple. By sheer luck, he had now half-stepped into the realm of fifth-grade alchemists. The competition reached its final stage. The remaining three would each refine their signature pill using their most proficient technique. The highest-quality product would claim victory.

Su Chen chose the Heavenly Yang Tyrant Body Pill—a fifth-grade formula personally created by Su Weichang. It was notoriously difficult to refine, and it was precisely this pill that had once cost the old man his victory against Ghost Valley Pill King.

"If I win with this pill, it will settle one of the old man's lingering regrets." With that thought, Su Chen focused entirely on the refinement. If you discover this tale on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the violation. Song Wanqing had the same idea. She began refining the pill that had made her master famous: the All-Heavens Spirit-Condensing Pill! Seeing both of them choose fifth-grade pills, Blazing Embers Pill King's disciple gritted his teeth and reluctantly followed suit.

But luck did not favor him twice. A single misstep soon caused his furnace to explode violently. Fortunately, a Profound Connection Realm expert intervened in time, sparing him from serious injury—or worse. In the end, only Su Chen and Song Wanqing remained. From the platform, Blazing Embers Pill King chuckled.

"These two little ones really do take after you and your junior brother back in the day!" Ghost Valley Pill King gave a helpless smile, though anticipation gleamed in his eyes. Which of the two would come out on top? Three days passed quickly. Song Wanqing successfully completed her All-Heavens Spirit-Condensing Pill. Relief washed over her. The formula's difficulty was immense—even she could not guarantee success every time. Fortunately, this attempt had succeeded, and the quality was quite good.

She glanced sideways at Su Chen and saw that he was still refining. Suddenly, his furnace shot upward and burst apart with a resounding bang.

"He failed?" Song Wanqing stared in shock, a storm of complicated emotions rising in her chest. Disappointment… anger… For far too long, she had been hailed as the foremost genius alchemist of the Dragon Firmament Dynasty. Her talent in the Pill Dao even surpassed that of her master, Ghost Valley Pill King. Su Chen's emergence had made her believe—for the first time—that she might finally meet a true equal. Yet her rival had committed the rookie mistake of a furnace explosion. It left her profoundly disappointed.

A few coughs sounded from within the smoke. Golden rays suddenly burst outward from the haze, bathing the entire arena in brilliant light. Su Chen stepped forward, cradling a golden pill in his palm. Golden veins crisscrossed its surface, radiating an overbearing aura of power. A halo of light enveloped the pill, suspending it perfectly at the center of his hand. Silence fell over the crowd of alchemists like a grave. Even Song Wanqing stood frozen, clutching the pill she had once taken such pride in.

It slipped from her fingers and rolled across the ground unnoticed.

"Pill veins… he actually produced a pill with pill veins!" Pill veins were the stuff of legend among alchemists—the pinnacle of perfection. A single pill bearing them could easily fetch ten times its normal value. But value was secondary. This was an alchemist's supreme honor, a convergence of timing, location, and harmony that few ever achieved. Song Wanqing did not wait for the official verdict. She turned and walked off the stage without looking back. The outcome needed no announcement.

Su Chen claimed first place in the alchemy conference. He was now hailed as the greatest alchemy prodigy the Dragon Firmament Dynasty had ever seen. Endless powers sent envoys offering him positions and resources, all of which he politely declined. At last, a familiar figure approached. Ghost Valley Pill King had come to find him.

"If you don't mind, you may call me Martial Uncle." Ghost Valley Pill King spoke with a warm smile. Su Chen blinked in confusion. Ghost Valley Pill King sighed.

"In truth, your master—the Eight Desolations Pill King—and I are martial brothers. We studied under the same teacher. I was the senior; he was the junior."

"Greetings, Martial Uncle." Seeing the sincerity in Ghost Valley Pill King's eyes and sensing no hidden agenda, Su Chen followed the flow of conversation.

"Martial Uncle Ghost Valley, I would like to know what really happened back then. Why did Master suffer such a drastic reduction in lifespan?" Faced with Su Chen's clear desire for the truth, Ghost Valley Pill King did not conceal anything. The full story came to light. After losing to Ghost Valley Pill King at the alchemy conference years ago, the old man had fallen into obsession. He became fixated on defeating his senior brother, only to be drawn into Prince Cheng's rebellion.

He supplied pills to the prince's cause—until Ghost Valley Pill King intervened and exposed the scheme. Realizing he had been used and already crushed by his earlier defeat, the old man's state of mind shattered completely. He chose to vanish into seclusion. Su Chen: "…" So the old man had been that bold in his youth—joining a rebellion and somehow surviving. Losing a major realm of cultivation was practically a light punishment. Ghost Valley Pill King asked quietly, "How is your master doing these days?"

Su Chen shook his head.

"Master has reached the end of his lifespan. He may rest among the mountains and rivers, or perhaps by the sea." A flicker of sorrow passed through Ghost Valley Pill King's eyes. He murmured softly, "Junior brother… junior brother, why did you have to torment yourself like this?"