Chapter 33: The Great Alchemy Competition (Part 1)

  The venue of the four-party meeting was in the arena, and when Xia Chen arrived on the second day, the stands were already packed with people.

  The largest number is naturally the Zhengyuan Sect, with hundreds of post-heaven disciples. The second is the Donghua Sect, which has more than 40 disciples, and the Yunling Sect and Zhengyi Sect have the least, but also more than 30 people.

  Among them, new disciples accounted for the majority, and various sects also brought out their own, with the intention of training new disciples.

  Xia Chen Zhang gazed at the viewing platform, just thinking of finding Sun Li and other new disciples to sit down together.

  Suddenly, a cold voice sounded behind him: "Hey, are you Xia Chen?"

  Xia Chen turned around, only to see a young man in yellow clothes standing with a cold expression, his two eyebrows like the tip of a pen, his eyes piercing and intimidating.

  Behind the young man in armor were Wang Qiang, Chen Gang and Tie Tou. However, compared to their majestic appearance last night, the three of them now had pale faces, dull expressions, and it was clear at a glance that they were seriously injured.

  "Sung Shixiong, he is Xia Chen. We almost died at his hands the night before last!" Chen Gang stared at Xia Chen with a mixture of anger and fear.

  "How dare you still appear in front of me?" Xia Chen was taken aback for a moment, then coldly sneered, "Have you come to seek death?"

  "Xia Chen, you're quite arrogant." Song Shixiong sneered, "You severely injured my junior brother from the Donghua Sect. Today, I, Song Cheng, won't kill you, but I'll trample your dignity underfoot. If you're afraid, then kowtow to my junior brothers ten times in public and cripple your own cultivation. Only then will I spare you!"

  "You're Song Cheng?" Xia Chen said calmly, "I've heard these three trash talk about you. Since you want to humiliate me so much, why don't we try it out now and see if you can actually step on my head."

  Song Cheng smiled coldly: "Xia Chen, I don't mind your foolishness because you don't know how big the gap is between us! The new disciple alchemy competition is about to begin, if you want to humiliate yourself, come on stage and try it out!"

  "Do you want to compete with me in alchemy?" Xia Chen smiled slightly, "Alright!"

  Song Cheng sneered with a smile: "I know you are Han Dongyu's disciple, and your attainments in alchemy are extraordinary. However, today, you are destined to be humiliated by me."

  Xia Chen didn't say anything either, gave a faint smile, turned around and left.

  He has been refining pills for two months, and he was never interested in these trivial things. Since Song Cheng provoked him, Xia Chen naturally wouldn't dodge either.

  Song Cheng looked at Xia Chen's back and smiled coldly.

  "Song Shixiong, why didn't you teach him a lesson just now? With your cultivation, you could have killed him in an instant." Chen Gang said indignantly.

  "This is the territory of Zhengxuan Sect, all the divine transcendence cultivators are watching, do you want me to teach him a lesson here? Use your brain for once." Song Cheng furrowed his brow and said, "Alchemist Grand Competition, I will naturally make him lose all dignity!"

  Xia Chen's eyes scanned and saw that Han Dongyu was talking to a slightly chubby middle-aged stranger not far away.

  "Master, I'm here." Xia Chen walked over and greeted him calmly.

  Although he knew Han Dongyu had harmed him, Xia Chen had learned to bury everything deep in his heart, without revealing even a hint of abnormality on the surface.

  Han Dongyu said, "You've arrived, now it's time to start the new disciple alchemy competition. You can participate too, I know you're making rapid progress in alchemy, but don't be arrogant, after all, other sects' new disciples also have their own strengths and weaknesses."

  Xia Chen Dao said: "Yes, I'll go down right away."

  Han Dongyu nodded and Xia Chen immediately retreated.

  "Brother Han, is this your disciple?" Only after Xia Chen walked far away did the middle-aged man's face reveal a look of surprise.

  "Yes, what does Brother Huang Guang think of this disciple?" Han Dongyu smiled mysteriously.

  "It's okay, it's okay..." Huang Guang forced a smile.

  But in his heart, he thought: With such a qualification as a disciple, you can actually take him as a disciple. It seems that the Zhengxuan Sect is really short of talents. If this child participates in the alchemy competition, my new disciple from the Zhengyi Sect will definitely make him lose face.

  Xia Chen walked towards the new disciple's viewing platform, suddenly feeling a sense of connection, turned his head to look, and saw that Chen Qiushui was sitting in the front row of the viewing platform. Seeing him, her beautiful face revealed a hint of a smile, slightly nodding.

  Xia Chen also smiled and nodded, with a warm feeling surging in her heart.

  "Xia Chen, you've finally arrived! We were just about to go look for you. The alchemy competition is about to begin." Sun Li and the others said in unison upon seeing Xia Chen's arrival.

  "Better late than never." Xia Chen smiled slightly.

  After a moment, the new disciples of the four major sects all came down to the arena, standing in front of each person was a brand-new tripod furnace half the height of a person, with medicinal materials placed beside it, which were the most basic Yuanqi Dan medicinal materials.

  Standing at the top of the new disciples of Donghua Sect was Song Cheng, with an inexplicable sense of pride on his face.

  At the forefront of Yunling Sect was a young man with an extremely calm demeanor, as if everything in the world didn't matter to him.

  The first one was a young girl, quite beautiful in appearance. When she glanced around, she looked somewhat similar to Li Yuanyao, which made everyone's eyes heat up for a moment.

  These three people stood at the forefront of their respective sects, and they were indeed the leaders of the new disciples of the three sects.

  Xia Chen stood at the forefront of the Zhengyuan Sect, and whether Zhuo Bufan and Li Yuanyao were present or not, he was the leader of the new disciples.

  As for Zhuo Bu Fan and others, they naturally won't be here now. Han Dong Yu took action in person, if they can still appear, that's a miracle.

  Yue Zifeng and Xu Fang were also on the platform, looking at Xia Chen with eyes filled with deep hatred.

  The night before, the two masters' powerful disciples were almost all out, but they didn't even defeat Xia Chen, and instead returned with severe injuries. The anger in their hearts can be imagined.

  "That's Donghua Sect's Song Cheng? I've heard that this person has an extremely high innate talent for alchemy, and his cultivation is even more profound and unfathomable. It seems that the Alchemy Grand Competition will definitely be won by him."

  "That's not necessarily true, Xie Guan of Yunling Sect is also a genius, and he can rival Song Cheng."

  "I still think highly of Qi Zhongyue from the Righteous Path, I heard that this girl has an even stronger innate talent."

  "Who is that new disciple of the Zhengxuan Sect? Why haven't I seen him in these few days, he looks very ordinary, how can he be ranked first? Didn't Zhuo Bufan and Li Yuanyao say they were the genius disciples of the Zhengxuan Sect, where are they?"

  "Xia Chen has also arrived, although he is a ancient yuan saint body, but I don't know if he also has the same talent in alchemy. The leading disciples of other sects are very strong, I hope he won't lose!"

  The disciples on the platform began to discuss among themselves.

  "The alchemy competition has begun, and the time limit is 500 breaths." The judge's disciple loudly announced, inserting five incense sticks beside the arena.

  Many new disciples began to practice alchemy, and before that, they had also received some superficial guidance on alchemy, so there was no awkward situation where they didn't know how to practice alchemy.

  Song Cheng, Xie Guan and Qi Zhongyue did not immediately start refining the elixir, but instead simultaneously picked up a few medicinal herbs to examine them, which was to distinguish their properties.

  Xia Chen did not immediately start refining the elixir, nor did he pick up the medicinal materials. He simply watched calmly as Song Cheng and the other two made their moves.

  Everyone looked at him in surprise, unable to understand what Xia Chen was doing.

  Half a response, one branch of fragrance burned out, one hundred breaths of time passed.

  With a loud bang, a faint explosion sound came from the new disciple's cauldron, accompanied by a burnt smell, and the alchemy had failed.

  It was as if they had been infected, and one after another, the cauldrons of the other new disciples began to explode in succession, all of them failing without exception!

  Even Chen Lie and Sun Li Fangqiu, the best among the new disciples, also gave up after persisting for two incense sticks!

  After the third incense stick went out, only Xia Chen, Song Cheng, Xie Guan and Qi Zhongyue were left in the field.

  But Xia Chen still didn't make a move, and continued to watch the three people refining the elixir.

  Everyone was more and more shocked, even the divine cultivators like Han Dongyu and Zhan Kongchen furrowed their brows, not understanding what Xia Chen meant.

  Song Cheng and others also arrived at the crucial moment of alchemy, with sweat dripping from their foreheads, fully focused on controlling the fire.

  The fourth branch of fragrance extinguished.

  "Seal Dan!" Suddenly, Xie Guan and Qi Zhongyue shouted in unison.

  The two opened the cauldron and a thick fragrance of medicine wafted out, then they took out several shallow green dan pills with spots.

  "It's a Low-Grade Yuanqi Pill! He actually managed to refine a Low-Grade Yuanqi Pill!"

  "Awesome, no later true fire, can actually refine the elixir of the infant product, even some later six heavy above old disciples can not do this point!"

  "These two people's talents are simply too powerful!"

  Everyone gasped in amazement.

  "Seal Dan!" Half a stick of incense later, Song Cheng suddenly let out a loud shout!

  As the dark green glow spread out, a more intense medicinal fragrance wafted out! Song Cheng opened the cauldron and scooped up the dark green Yuanqi Dan in his hand, revealing it to everyone present!

  "My goodness, it's actually a finished Yuan Qi Dan! This is unbelievable!"

  "Such talent is simply monstrous!"

  "It's really an eye-opener, Song Cheng must be the first place in the alchemy competition."

  Xie Guan and Qi Zhong looked at Song Cheng with envy, in fact the three people's alchemy level was only slightly different, but Song Cheng's cultivation was obviously higher than theirs, so he could refine the finished product Yuanqi Dan.

  "Brother Zhao has taken in a good apprentice, it's really enviable." Zhan Kongchen said with a smile to an old man beside him.

  "Haha, Brother Zhao is overpraising me." The monk with the surname Zhao spoke humbly, but his face was full of self-satisfaction.

  At this time, everyone's attention was focused on Xia Chen, and until now, Xia Chen still hadn't made a move, while the fifth incense stick had already burned halfway.

  "What is that new disciple of Zhengyuan Sect doing? He hasn't even started refining dan yet, doesn't he know how to at all?"

  "What's the point of practicing alchemy? Are you trying to show off and gain favor with others? You're really bringing shame to the Zhengxuan Sect!"

  "Xia Chen isn't a disciple of Master Han, is he? Even if he's not the best, at least he's better than those new disciples. I don't understand what he's trying to do. Alas, this time our Zhengxuan Sect's reputation will be completely ruined by him! There are only 50 breaths left, and even if we start refining the elixir now, it'll be too late!"

  Xie Guan and Qi Zhongyue looked surprised, while Song Cheng had a look of disdain. It seemed that Xia Chen was not actually refining the elixir, but just pretending to be crazy.

  Zhan Kongchen and Han Dongyu's faces turned ugly, just as they were about to shout in unison.

  Suddenly, Xia Chen started moving.

  He opened the cauldron lid, and without even looking, he threw the medicine into it. With a wave of his palms, the charcoal fire suddenly blazed up, and with the vigorous true energy stirring, the flames instantly engulfed the half-person-high cauldron, almost forming a fireball.

  This set of movements was as smooth as clouds and flowing water, without any stagnation, and seemed to have a kind of beautiful and pleasant feeling. To say nothing of new disciples, even compared to Song Cheng and the other three, it was not known how many times stronger.

  Everyone was shocked and stunned at once, such alchemy, unprecedented!

  The last wick of incense burned down at a visible rate, and the cauldron quickly turned dark red under the intense flames.

  Boom!

  Just as the incense was about to go out, the cauldron could no longer withstand the intense heat of the fierce flames and suddenly exploded with a loud bang.

  "Ah!" The crowd involuntarily exclaimed in surprise.

  A dark green Yuanqi Dan suddenly shot out from the scattered flames and gently fell into Xia Chen's palm, clearly displayed in front of everyone.

  Fifty breaths!

  It's done!

  ;