Chapter 314: Frowning with Burnt Face, the Furious Old Alchemist

"An exploding furnace?"

By the time everyone reacted, a terrifying wave of air had already begun to ripple outwards from the alchemy room. Though silent, the airwave effortlessly propelled everyone standing by the doorway. As they flew through the air, they could clearly see that beneath the cauldron, the compressed fire seed, whose temperature had suddenly surged from the pill condensation, had completely expanded!

Compressing fire seeds was simple; Xu Xiaoshou had even tried expanding them. At most, they amounted to a "Minor Fireball" technique. However, a fire seed that had been compressed for several minutes, continuously infused with energy, and then elevated in power at the very last moment... Its destructive power was evident from Xu Xiaoshou's practiced fleeing movements.

Its expansion had completely evaporated the surrounding gases, instantly creating a vacuum. Blazing heat swept through, obliterating all elements. After a brief second of emptiness, the atmosphere finally rushed back in, the vacuum dissipated, and a terrifying sound from the alchemy room suddenly ruptured eardrums.

Boom!

A gray mushroom cloud erupted from the pill tower, and the explosion then pressed back towards the center, causing the tower's wall panels to disintegrate into flying debris.

Dead silence.

The street was utterly silent. The people lingering on the street were struck speechless, as if a deity had silenced them all at once.

Those who had frequented the area knew that the pill tower was exceptionally restless today. Every so often, several explosions had occurred, each more powerful than the last. But they never imagined that this final explosion would blow up nearly half of the pill tower's seventh floor!

"Oh my heavens, what's wrong with this pill tower?""Seriously, is someone really attacking the Alchemist Association today? If so, why haven't the Imperial Guards arrived yet...""Is this an exploding furnace...? The grand formation, where's their grand formation?""How could a grand formation withstand such an explosion? The pill tower is a place respected by both the dark and light forces of the continent; why would it need such a powerful grand formation? Who have they angered to suffer such misfortune!""Perhaps they angered someone who walks a morally ambiguous path?"

After a brief silence, the crowd finally erupted into animated discussions. But that wasn't all. After the mushroom cloud, people suddenly heard a rustling, popping sound.

"What's going on? Is someone farting?""Farting? If your old lady farts that loud, it means it's about to thunder and rain!"

Some panicked as they could distinctly feel the surrounding air temperature rapidly rising. However, to the naked eye, everything appeared normal.

Suddenly, someone stared at the pill tower and cried out in alarm."The pill tower... look, is the pill tower disappearing?"

Everyone looked in the direction of the voice and finally realized that the seventh floor's outer walls of the pill tower were rapidly melting away. A spirit alchemist sensed something amiss, swept with their spiritual sense, and instantly panicked."Fire?""The pill tower is on fire?""Holy crap! Can someone tell me what's going on?"

Suddenly, the figure of a ragged old man shot out from the skylight. His face was contorted with bitterness, his hair and eyebrows were largely burnt, but what was most eye-catching was the singed, tender little belly exposed beneath his tattered chest... Yes, the old man's clothes on his chest were completely burned away. His physical body was unharmed, but there was no time to protect his hair and other superficial parts!

"President Shi Ti?"

Everyone on the street was shocked. Was this still "President Shi, the great physician who heals the world, with his immortal-like demeanor"?"Holy crap, I must be blind!""This isn't real, my eyes...""Ugh! Help, someone pinch me awake!"

"Xu... Xiao... Shou..." Shi Ti gritted his teeth, hissing softly. With tears in his eyes, he phantom-lifted his hands, finally peeling off the Blazing Heaven Flame that clung to the outer wall of the pill tower, then painfully rolled it into a ball.

It was too terrifying. There was no other way to deal with these all-consuming flames but to disperse them using the Heavenly Dao, turning them back into their initial spiritual elemental forms. If anyone else were here, without mastering the Great Dao, they would all fall to their knees before this Blazing Heaven Flame! If he hadn't been in the pill tower today... Shi Ti dared not imagine the consequences.

"An exploding furnace... This isn't just an exploding furnace! You're even more terrifying than Old Man Sang!" Before the crowd could fully recover, after turning the tide, he vanished in a flash from the top of the pill tower, presumably to change his clothes.

In a corner of the pill tower. Xu Xiaoshou flipped out of a skylight and re-entered the first floor of the Alchemist Association. But he hesitated."Should I go up...?"

This exceedingly simple question, at this moment, concerned his very life, so Xu Xiaoshou chose to temporarily avoid it. He lowered his eyelids, hid in the shadows, and mentally replayed the explosion."This was an accident!"

Xu Xiaoshou first affirmed the nature of the incident, adamant that its severity should not be escalated; an accident was just an accident, nothing more to say about it. Secondly, this was a regular furnace explosion. Extremely regular! It was just like this when he usually caused furnace explosions. However, after the initial period, Xu Xiaoshou had gained excellent control over the heat, and furnace explosions basically no longer occurred.

"Why did this happen?" Xu Xiaoshou furrowed his brow in thought. The entire alchemy process had been very smooth; the only possible cause for an accident was that he had unexpectedly leveled up 'Cooking Mastery' by two levels midway.

"Was it the heat control...?" Xu Xiaoshou squinted, suddenly realizing the problem. The 'Heat Control' bonus from 'Cooking Mastery' had indeed strengthened him. Although this was mature experience that appeared directly in his mind, Xu Xiaoshou was still unaccustomed to using it for the first time. His upper limit for flame control had been elevated, meaning he could gradually perform stable operations even at extremely high temperatures. However, the intensity of the techniques he used for alchemy earlier was still at his previous level.

This was like an ordinary person holding a large hammer and striking iron with 100% force. There was nothing wrong with this; Xu Xiaoshou usually made pills this way. However, after leveling up 'Cooking Mastery,' his control over flames improved, which was tantamount to that ordinary iron-striking person transforming into an experienced, burly old man. If he still used 100% force to control the fire, he would surely self-immolate!

Thinking of this, Xu Xiaoshou was not alarmed but rather delighted. The pill tower burning down was a minor issue; he had, however, found a way to completely resolve furnace explosions from this experiment. As long as 'Cooking Mastery' improved, 'Heat Control' would also be elevated, and once he could precisely control the Blazing Heaven Flame even at extremely high temperatures... Would the furnace still explode?

"Heh heh, ha ha..." Xu Xiaoshou couldn't help but burst out laughing. As he raised his head, he suddenly noticed something amiss before him: a face with a broken eyebrow, singed hair, and black from soot, belonging to an enraged, exasperated old alchemist. In his hand, raging flames burned brightly...

"President Shi Ti?" Xu Xiaoshou swallowed hard, and after uttering that one phrase, his throat felt parched.

"Startled, Passive Points +1."