Chapter 68 – A gentleman uses his mouth and not his fists!
When Ye Zifeng agreed, a sound of laughter sounded throughout the room.
“Great. To be so daring… As expected of the winner of the Heavenly Clan Gathering. But it’s too bad. You’re going to lose because you’re too arrogant!”
Song Shiyun didn’t waste his breath anymore and started to become serious. He grabbed the cauldron and moved it towards himself. At the same time, he grabbed the first set of ingredients.
“Oh? You’re gonna put the ingredients in before lighting up the fire? Well this is technically a faster way to concoct pill but only if you have an unlimited amount of ingredients.” Ye Zifeng smiled and engrossed in all of his opponent’s movements.
In the very beginning, Ye Zifeng had pointed out a flaw in Song Shiyun’s movements. If Song Shiyun continued what he was doing, it would be very awkward.
“Hmph. Whatever. I’ll light the fire first. The order of things don’t really matter as long as I can make more pills than you. I’ll show you the difference between the heavens and the earth!”
Song Shiyun laughed and gather the qi from his dantian into his fingers. A red flame suddenly appeared from his fingers and scattered around. It was a very magical sight.
Liu Bingqian was shocked, “No way. Song Shiyun, when did you condense a common tier flame?”
If someone can condense a common tier flame, that means that the said person was basically a quasi-huang tier alchemist. They only need to continue practicing using this flame to become a true huang tier alchemist. When this happens, Song Shiyun will become the second huang tier alchemist in Leizhou City.
Liu Mu looked deeply at Song Shiyun, “Young master Song, it seems like your efforts have borne fruit. Congratulations.”
Song Shiyun proudly replied, “Thanks uncle Liu. Truth to be told, I worked very hard to catch up to Bingqian. I hope that we can concoct pills togethers one day.”
The way he looked at Bingqian clearly showed that he liked her and was very infatuated with her. This was a normal thing. Bingqian was very beautiful and many young master of noble families would try to woo her.
“Very promising….. If you can become Bingqian’s helper and concoct pills with her, then I’ll be very happy!” Liu Mu expression was filled with praise.
The meaning of his words were very clear. He hoped that his daughter would bring Song Shiyun to the alchemy competition instead of that Ye Zifeng.
Liu Ningzi giggled and pulled her sister’s sleeve, “Sister Bingqian, did you hear that. He worked very hard just for you…..”
Liu Bingqian didn’t care about it at all, “He’s saying it to sound polite. Why would he work hard for me? He clearly worked hard for himself. Also, we don’t have any relations, don’t talk drivel.
While saying that, she looked over at Ye Zifeng. However, he wasn’t looking at her at all and was staring at the cauldron. This dealt a big blow to her maiden heart.
Ye Zifeng suddenly and unexpectedly opened his mouth and laughed, “Young master Song, it’s not that I’m calling you out, but you’re losing time by talking so much…..”
Song Shiyun coldly snorted, “I got a whole hour, who cares if I waste a bit of time. I can still win against you anyways.”
He relaxed himself and looked back at the cauldron.
“I won’t say anything but I just want to remind you that your common tier flame is of the yin attribute. If you don’t use it on the cauldron soon, it will continuously burn out the yang energy in your body. Don’t you feel like you’re getting a headache right now?” Ye Zifeng’s mouth curved up into a sly smile.
“This…..” Song Shiyun was startled.
Ye Zifeng was completely right. What shocked him even more was that Ye Zifeng knew what attribute his common tier flame was. Any normal alchemist wouldn’t have been able to tell the difference between yin and yang.
He furrowed his brows and his expression regained its original composure, “Ye Zifeng, it seems like you know the theories of alchemy very well. If you have the abilities, then why don’t you point out all the flaws that I make. If you can do that, then I’ll submit to you. If you can’t, then shut up!”
While saying that he closed his eyes and slowly inserted his common tier flame into the cauldron to heat it up.
Ye Zifeng smiled, “Fine. You’re the one who wants me to point out all your flaws. Don’t regret it. First, your posture and positioning is incorrect. You’re not directly in front of the cauldron and won’t be able to insert your qi at any time…. Also, if you close your eyes, you won’t be able to control your flames. You won’t be able to control the heat intensity and distribution to each ingredient…..”
“You….. You…..”
Song Shiyun opened his eyes and had a ugly expression. He knew that Ye Zifeng was right. He pointed out every single flaw in his movements. Song Shiyun wanted to retort but couldn’t find anything to say.
Ye Zifeng smiled and continued, “Your control over your flame is way too terrible. You can’t even control the heat correctly and insert it into the cauldron. I’m afraid that you’ll be making quite a bit of slag this time around.”
Hearing this, Song Shiyun stared at the cauldron for a while. Other that Liu Bingqian and her teacher, he had never seen someone talk like this in Leizhou City. All of his words made sense.
“Young master Song, don’t just stare at the cauldron. The cauldron is continuously being burned and you might even make a hole in it. Please control your flame correctly.”
Song Shiyun hurriedly nodded and did exactly as Ye Zifeng told him and lowered the output of the flame.
If it wasn’t for the fact that he was in the Liu clan, he would’ve definitely pulled Ye Zifeng aside and begged for some advice.
Liu Mu saw that something was wrong and advised Song Shiyun, “Young master Song, all you need to do is be yourself. Don’t listen to this guy.”
Song Shiyun nodded and inserted his qi into the ingredients. He slowly sent ingredients into the cauldron from the center and started to refine the ingredients right when it entered.
Ye Zifeng started to speak again, “That was wrong too. The cauldron is already at its boiling point so you should not have put the ingredients in from the center. It should have entered the cauldron from the sides. Only after you finish inserting your qi into the ingredients would you move it to the center of the cauldron to be refined. The pill that you refine will have a slight burnt smell and will have some fire attribute due to your mistakes!”
“You’re right! It really is like this!” Song Shiyun couldn’t help but yell out.
“That’s right. Don’t blame the ingredients for being bad. Rich kids like you probably all have okay ingredients. The reason why you guys fail is all because of your concocting methods.”
Ye Zifeng deeply sighed and shook is head at Song Shiyun. His expression looked as if he was an elder feeling resentful towards a younger generation for failing to meet expectations. When Song Shiyun heard this, he didn’t feel any anger at all.
“No…. No way. Is my alchemy skills that bad?”
Song Shiyun’s mouth twitched and his eyes were sticking out. His voice was shaking. Since the beginning, all of his problems and difficulties were easily solved and explained by Ye Zifeng.
Right now, his confidence was slowly and gradually disappearing. He couldn’t win against Ye Zifeng.
The most important thing here is that Ye Zifeng didn’t even do anything yet. All he did was talk!
Ye Zifeng smiled and once again reminded Song Shiyun about his mistakes, “Young master Song, you should be careful with the amount of ingredients that you put in. Your common tier flame was recently condense and is very limited. Its usage can’t even be compared to using firewoods. You’re still not used to it at all.”
Song Shiyun slightly nodded his head unconsciously. Without knowing, his head was filled with sweat already.
“Then…. Then what should I do?”
“Young master Song…..” Liu Mu coughed loudly which caused Song Shiyun to come back to his senses.
“I’m…. I’m sorry uncle Liu. I was a bit too nervous.”
From the beginning, Song Shiyun had been listening to Ye Zifeng talk and didn’t even concoct a single pill yet. This made Liu Mu very nervous.
“Shiyun, concoct the pills quickly. You only have half the amount of time left.”
Song Shiyun gulped. He decided not to listen to Ye Zifeng anymore and concentrate on concocting pills with all his strength. He doesn’t care about the grade of the pill. This was a contest of concoction speed, the quality of the pill didn’t matter.
He was still nervous and threw three sets of ingredients into the furnace.
Ye Zifeng couldn’t help but chuckle, “More haste, less speed. Don’t try to run before you can walk. Did you master ever tell you about this saying? Using two sets of ingredients was the limit for people in the qi refining realm. Even Bingqian can’t use more than two sets of ingredients at a time”
When Ye Zifeng concocted the Thunder Spirit Pill, he used a pill division technique to create three pills. In reality, he only used two sets of ingredients.
Song Shiyun’s confidence hit rock bottom, “Then….. What’s gonna happen?”
“Well since you put three sets of ingredients in, then I am sure that one set of ingredients will turn into slag!” Ye Zifeng coldly laughed out loud.
The sound of laughter caused Song Shiyun to feel numb. Every since he was born, he had been surrounded by praises. He had never been attacked like this before.
“Holy shit…..I….I don’t want to do it anymore…..”