Chapter Sixty-Six: Successfully Taking Over

Although jade, stone, and wood could all be used as medicinal ingredients, this item called Froststone Core was actually the main ingredient for a fourth-grade elixir. Even Panyang would not use it lightly. Lin Ze, however, picked it up unhurriedly, scraping off about a tenth of an ounce of powder with a small knife. Panyang winced in pain, but before he could stop him, Lin Ze had already sprinkled the stone powder into the cauldron. He couldn’t help but let out a surprised gasp.

He felt a pang of grievance—Elder Lin looked like he was here to save the day, yet his actions were even more reckless than his own.

At that moment, the cauldron began to rumble violently!

Lin Ze closed the lid and turned back, speaking softly, “Increase the heat.”

Panyang hesitated, but instinctively channeled his spiritual energy. The flames beneath the cauldron surged, burning more fiercely than before.

“Not enough, higher still.”

“Oh.” There was nothing imposing in the other’s tone, not even a hint of authority, yet Panyang felt as if he’d become an apprentice tending the cauldron. It was a strange feeling, but he didn’t dare slow his hands, obediently intensifying the fire.

Lin Ze closed his eyes, listening intently to the shifting sounds within the cauldron.

Truth be told, he was nervous as well.

No matter how many times he’d refined pills in the simulator, this was his first time doing it in reality.

Nerves made his hands itch.

It was like when he was a child in his previous life, squatting in an arcade, watching others play video games. When the older kids were dragged away by their parents, Lin Ze would anxiously watch them leave, then excitedly take over the half-finished game.

Beyond his desire to prevent the beauty of Green Mountain’s peak from being destroyed, this was one of the main reasons he stepped forward.

Since it was likely to end in an explosion anyway, he might as well try it himself.

The outcome couldn’t be much worse.

Drawing from the thirty-nine years of rich pill-refining experience he’d absorbed from the simulator’s Daoist, Lin Ze selected a bundle of herbs, precisely timing their addition to the cauldron.

Opposite them, Crane Forest’s Dragonbone Pill was already taking shape.

He looked up.

Since he had no idea what Panyang was concocting, Crane Forest couldn’t judge whether Lin Ze’s selection of ingredients was correct. He could only try to deduce the situation from the wobbling, precarious cauldron.

There seemed to be no improvement.

And that Froststone Core—he himself had only used it a handful of times. Elder Lin, who had read the Longevity Elixir Manual for just a few days, had actually thrown it in so decisively.

Yet, the other’s face was calm and composed, leaving Crane Forest uncertain whether he was acting recklessly or had a hidden confidence.

Day turned into night.

Su Bailu had already taken his two junior brothers around Green Mountain and returned.

The other three elders had also gathered nearby at some point.

The white fox lay languidly at the edge of the cliff, pawing at its cubs and occasionally glancing at Lin Ze.

It doubted that even in pill refinement, this man could intervene successfully.

Regardless of what everyone was thinking, the cauldron, which should have exploded long ago, though trembling continuously, was still miraculously holding on.

For this alone, Panyang felt his efforts weren’t wasted. “Brother Lin, you truly haven’t practiced pill refinement before?”

Lin Ze shook his head, his attention wholly focused on the changes within the cauldron.

Seeing this, Panyang could only marvel. Even if he didn’t know whether the other could refine pills, his understanding of medicinal properties was in no way inferior to his own.

At that moment, Crane Forest clapped his hands together. Four perfectly round, jet-black pills shot from his cauldron, gleaming with a dazzling luster.

Third-grade Dragonbone Pills—success!

He collected the pills into a bottle in front of everyone, without any hint of showing off.

First, as an elder of Pill Peak, refining third-grade pills was a trivial feat.

Second, he didn’t believe the chaotic concoction in Panyang’s cauldron would yield any pills. The outcome of this contest had already been decided.

If nothing unexpected happened…

Crane Forest narrowed his eyes. The cauldron before Lin Ze should be about to explode.

As if confirming his thought, Lin Ze’s cauldron began to tremble with unprecedented violence. The massive lid rattled noisily, startling Panyang into retreating several steps, his elder’s dignity forgotten.

This sight drew laughter from the surrounding elders.

“Old Pan, is this the result of your efforts?”

Even inviting Elder Lin for support—wasn’t this like a lame man asking a blind man for directions?

“Laugh all you want. I’m only a second-grade alchemist. Failure is nothing unusual,” Elder Pan retorted, his face flushed. He turned and said, “Brother Lin, you’ve done your best. Let’s withdraw.”

They wouldn’t be harmed, but there was no need to end up covered in soot.

“Withdraw?” Lin Ze looked back in confusion. By now, a milky white flame coated his palms as he pressed them beneath the cauldron.

An intense heat gathered and did not disperse!

Tongues of fire licked the cauldron as if trying to melt it.

He turned back, a faint smile at the corner of his lips. “Why should we withdraw?”

“Eh?”

Crane Forest watched as wisps of mist drifted from beneath the cauldron lid, surprise growing in his eyes.

As the mist coalesced in the air, even the other elders realized something was amiss.

A massive, muscular wild boar howled and thrashed violently—a full-grown Black-Spined Dragon.

On the other side, a huge serpent as thick as an arm coiled toward the boar, attempting to strangle it. Its blue-violet scales, veined with icy blue, exuded the aura of the Froststone Core.

“White-Flowered Greenback Serpent!” Elder Yang of Miao Fa Mountain cried out.

“Dragon and serpent in fierce contest—victory undecided!”

“The pill’s energy is taking form—this is the sign of a fourth-grade elixir emerging!”

Crane Forest muttered to himself.

He called it a sign, because though the air was thick with demonic energy, there was no scent of the main ingredient needed to suppress it.

With dragon and serpent both ferocious, one would inevitably fall.

This was a would-be fourth-grade… failed pill.

The highest-grade Froststone Core merely empowered the White-Flowered Greenback Serpent to rival the Black-Spined Dragon but could not suppress either.

Even so, he found it hard to believe.

Elder Lin had only recently touched upon the art of alchemy, yet he could discern medicinal strengths and by chance create such a rare phenomenon. This was a rare, eye-opening opportunity. If he devoted himself to study, he would surely achieve great things.

…

With his hands pressed to the cauldron, feeling its wailing tremors, Lin Ze let out a soft sigh.

He had truly done his best.

Even though the Daoist in his simulator had cultivated pill refinement for over thirty years and mastered two third-grade formulas, at best he was a half-fledged third-grade alchemist.

Moreover, the choice of herbs was limited to what Panyang had provided. With such patchwork combinations, relying solely on his own skills, he simply couldn’t bridge the gap.

He looked up at the wild boar and the serpent in the air, a cold light flickering in his eyes.

How noisy.

Remembering how Panyang had earlier suppressed demonic energy with a sword array, Lin Ze rolled up his sleeves, revealing the black flame patterns on his wrist.

Demonic energy? Let the Daoist devour it!