Chapter 119: True Refining of Elixir (Part 1)

"I concede!" With that, Alchemist Bai Ming stopped refining pills and bowed deeply.

The Pill Debate had only just begun, and including the time spent on pill refinement, a little over an hour had passed, yet four alchemists had already voluntarily conceded.

This result astonished everyone; even Ouyang Cheng, who stood to the side, trembled all over in disbelief.

He had never been optimistic about Zhang Xuan before, and he never dreamed such a result would occur!

It was simply a complete rout!

No wonder he scored perfectly in the apprentice examination and even identified medicinal herbs that Ouyang Cheng himself had misidentified. This ability was truly formidable!

Wen Xue, standing nearby, was also filled with dread, her delicate body trembling incessantly.

She had actually mocked this person who left alchemists speechless... Was her mind disturbed, or was she simply too audacious?

Fortunately, the other party didn't take offense; otherwise, she probably wouldn't be able to remain in the Alchemist Guild!

"I'll go!" Seeing Bai Ming concede, Du Man, who had previously offered to step up, walked out when no one else spoke.

"Please be merciful!" With a wry smile, Du Man approached the alchemy furnace.

He was refining a Grade-1 Qi-Boosting Pill, which was slightly inferior to the Meridian-Nourishing Pill and the Heart-Calming Pill.

His technique was skilled, and his speed was fast. It didn't take long for him to successfully refine the pills, all of which were of the 'full' grade.

The other party's attitude was friendly, and they had already met yesterday, so Zhang Xuan didn't say much. He merely pointed out a few of the most obvious flaws, and Du Man immediately conceded.

So far, five of the ten alchemists had conceded.

The Pill Debate was now halfway through.

"Continue, who's next?" Zhang Xuan, with his hands clasped behind his back, looked around indifferently, and a hush fell over the crowd.

In other pill debates, the participants would be inwardly terrified, fearing that the other party would pose difficult questions. But this guy was different; the remaining alchemists were all shrinking back, afraid of being called upon. If they hadn't seen it with their own eyes, no one would have believed it.

"I'll go!" After a moment of silence, an old man stood up.

Alchemist Lin Mu!

Alchemist Cheng Jiang had once used the pretext of discussing techniques to secretly learn Lin Mu's unique alchemy method, 'Ice Silk Condensation Hand'.

"Hold on, Alchemist Lin! This time, I want to go with you!" As soon as Lin Mu stood up, a middle-aged man also rose immediately.

Alchemist Jin Chen!

"Together?" Lin Mu frowned.

How could two people refine pills if the goal is for the opponent to point out flaws?

"The fact that he can point out flaws means his eyesight is indeed very good, and he has received an excellent education, very likely with guidance from a famous master. However, I don't believe that someone so young can also have such extensive knowledge! So... instead of refining pills, let's directly ask him questions. Don't let him bluff his way through!" Alchemist Jin Chen scoffed.

"This..." Lin Mu was momentarily stunned.

"That's right, why didn't I think of that?"

"He's not even twenty. Even if he started reading from birth, how many books could he have read? How much content could he have memorized?"

"The true essence of a Pill Debate is to pose alchemy-related questions and have the other party answer them. He must know his knowledge base is insufficient, so he deliberately increased the difficulty by pointing out flaws. While that indeed increased the difficulty, if he truly has a famous master guiding him and received a better education from a young age, then noticing our flaws is nothing remarkable!"

"Yes, famous masters are highly knowledgeable. We are only Grade-1 alchemists, so as a disciple of such a person, his discerning eye would naturally be good. It's understandable that he could spot our mistakes!"

Alchemist Jin Chen's words immediately reignited a flame of excitement in the remaining four people, and they regained their confidence.

The fact that the opponent could point out everyone's flaws just by glancing at their pill refinement only proved his excellent observational skills; it didn't necessarily mean his knowledge reserve was strong.

If that were the case, then simply asking questions might be his weakness, and everyone had been tricked by this guy all along.

"Indeed!" Alchemist Lin Mu also realized this and couldn't help but nod.

No wonder everyone thought this way. Acquiring knowledge requires time and effort, and Zhang Xuan was not even twenty years old. Even if he read every day, how many books could he possibly read?

More importantly, he also had to remember the content from those books!

"You want to ask me questions?" Zhang Xuan smiled faintly, surprised that these people had deliberated for so long only to reach this conclusion. "Alright then, let's begin!"

Having finished reading all the books in the elementary library and the academy's teachers' library, the knowledge in his mind far surpassed that of these alchemists. Even if they questioned him, he had nothing to fear.

"Let's see if you're still this confident when you can't answer in a bit!" Seeing that the other party showed no fear, Alchemist Jin Chen's eyes glinted. "According to the normal Pill Debate procedure, I can ask you three questions. If you can answer all of them, I will concede! But if you fail to answer even one... you lose, and everything you did before will be for nothing!"

The Pill Debate had a complete set of rules. The ten alchemists wouldn't ask questions endlessly; otherwise, the participant would be exhausted to death.

Each questioning alchemist could only ask three questions. If the other party answered all of them correctly, the questioner had to concede. However, if even one question went unanswered, all previous correct answers would be useless!

"Mmm!" Zhang Xuan knew the rules and nodded.

"Alright then, my first question is: When refining Grade-1 Body Tempering Pills, from the same furnace and all reaching the 'full' grade, why do some have excellent effects while others have extremely poor effects? What is the reason for this?" Alchemist Jin Chen began.

Hearing this, the other alchemists all perked up.

The Body Tempering Pill was the most commonly used medicine for cultivators at the Martial Arts Fourth Realm, capable of tempering the physical body and accelerating progress in the Skin-and-Bone Realm.

Precisely because of this, they often refined this pill, but as Alchemist Jin Chen mentioned, inconsistent medicinal effects frequently appeared within the same batch.

From the same batch of pills, some, when consumed, had excellent effects, allowing people to directly break through realms and advance significantly in the Skin-and-Bone Realm, while for others, they had no effect whatsoever.

"Alchemist Jin Chen's question is quite insidious!" Zhang Xuan couldn't help but shake his head. "There is no definitive answer to this question in the entire Tianxuan Kingdom, yet you ask me. How am I supposed to answer?"

"However... if it were anyone else, they might genuinely not know how to explain it, but I do have a way!"

With a slight smile, Zhang Xuan said, "The issue you're referring to was raised thirty-seven years ago by an alchemist named Cheng Ye. At that time, twenty-three alchemists were gathered, and after three days and three nights of joint research, they reached a conclusion! They recorded it in a book called 'Cheng Ye's Treatise on Body Tempering.' If any of you have read it, you should know what his conclusion was!"

"He believed that this difference was related to the cultivator's physique. Some people are naturally suited to using Body Tempering Pills, while others inherently have resistance, just like some people can drink alcohol and others cannot!"

"This theory was largely accepted at the time. However, eighteen years ago, a 3-star alchemist named Zhang Jian raised an objection: if it's due to physique, why do some people find one Body Tempering Pill ineffective, yet another one has a significant effect?"