Chapter 285: Who is the Strongest?
Meng Hao took a deep breath. Then, he lifted up his right hand, took hold of a flower, and put it into the pill furnace.
Only the Violet Furnace Lords on the mountaintop could get an idea from Meng Hao’s actions what he intended to do. However, all of them had different expressions on their faces. Some were frowning, others seemed lost in thought.
“Fang Mu’s choice is… interesting…. However, he won’t be able to pull off something like that!”
“Even still, that type of thinking in the Dao of alchemy is laudable. It contains some of the frivolity of youth, but considering his skill in the Dao of alchemy, he definitely won’t be able to succeed. I still favor Ye Feimu. That kid’s Dao of alchemy contains persistence. Persistence is a necessity for all of us alchemists.”
The Violet Furnace Lords continued to discuss matters as they watched on.
Only An Zaihai gaped for a moment, before a bright gleam filled his eyes. “He wants to concoct….” An Zaihai’s breathing grew heavier. He did not agree with the others. Without thinking about it, he turned to look at his Master, Pill Demon. Grandmaster Pill Demon sat there cross-legged. A strange light flickered in his eyes, then disappeared.
Time passed, three days. Chu Yuyan had completed her first medicinal pill. When it appeared, 1,111 steps appeared up ahead of her.
For over one thousand steps to appear caused a buzz to rise up among the crowd on the mountain top.
Moments later, Ye Feimu also produced a pill. As soon as it appeared, so did the stone stairs, 2,000 of them. This caused the observing alchemists on the mountaintop to immediately rise to their feet, looks of astonishment on their faces.
What caused even more of a stir was that Ye Feimu looked at the pill with a frown, and then crushed it between his fingers. Immediately, the 2,000 stairs vanished.
It seemed that 2,000 steps… didn’t satisfy him!
In addition to Chu Yuyan, Ye Feimu, and Meng Hao, two others were concocting pills. All had made different choices in their concoctions, and all paled in comparison to Chu Yuyan and Ye Feimu. Each of them concocted three pills respectively, which produced a total of seven hundred stairs each.
They did not dare to crush their medicinal pills, though. No matter how many pills it took, they would cause all of the stairs to appear.
As for the alchemists who had fallen behind, they slowly showed up. After experiencing the difficulty of the second test, they sat there thoughtfully for a bit before beginning to concoct pills.
Of course, none of them produced results as spectacular as Chu Yuyan or Ye Feimu. They took the easy route; this was not in error, however, it did not count as being part of their personal Dao of alchemy.
Enough time passed for an incense stick to burn. Meng Hao was now finished with the first minor pill!
It emerged, a bluish-green medicinal pill, which Meng Hao had concocted using the bluish-green flower from among the nine.
The pill furnace was illusory; the Nine Treasures Pearl Curtain Plant was also illusory. Therefore, the pill that was produced was obviously not real. Despite that, it could be held in hand, and it could be crushed.
This was one of the bizarre, miraculous aspects of the Celestial Land, a magic that could create something from nothing!
Meng Hao looked at the bluish-green medicinal pill in his hand, then lifted his head. Further up, the mountain path began to buzz. Suddenly, out of thin-air appeared… a step.
A single step!
Meng Hao’s face was the same as ever, without the slightest hint of change. Much earlier, he had predicted that this would happen. He looked back down at the Nine Treasures Pearl Curtain Plant’s crimson flower, grabbed it, and began to concoct.
Seeing this caused a buzz to immediately rise up among the audience on the mountaintop. Of course, the Violet Furnace Lords didn’t participate, nor did the Patriarch-level Cultivators from the outside Sects. They only looked on in silent thought. Based on their concentration, their age, and their experiences in life, eccentrics like this wouldn’t easily show what they were thinking.
However, the disciples who had accompanied them had not reached such a level. Seeing what happened instantly caused astonished exclamations and discussions to fill the air.
“Alchemist Fang Mu only created a single stair…! That’s simply too few! Is he really a Furnace Lord?”
“At the very least, the other candidates created a few hundred stairs. Furnace Lord Ye created the most, 2,000, and wasn’t even satisfied with that. But Fang Mu… he doesn’t look even the least bit embarrassed!”
“Maybe he has some special plan….”
Such discussions couldn’t be avoided. Meng Hao’s medicinal pill, and the one stair it had produced, was immediately divisive. Everyone could clearly see what had happened, and it was only natural that people immediately began to make comparisons.
Han Bei frowned. S