Chapter 22: Please Verify It!
Chen Xiang took out his Thousand Year Blood Spirit Gras and said “This is the Thousand Year Blood Spirit Grass!”
Everyone had long since heard about Chen Xiang owning a Thousand Year Blood Spirit Grass, but now that it was presented in front of everyone, they were still inevitably surprised. After all, this was a world famous rare herb!
“Of course, if I only use this for the bet then maybe the Yao family will look down on me. So I will also add one half of a Hell Spirit Grass!” In Chen Xiang’s hand appeared half a Hell Spirit Grass. Although one half had been eaten by Su Meiyao and Bai Youyou, the remaining half was still very precious.
This time several old men desperately jumped on the stage, while Chen Tianhu and several Chen family elders also went on the stage. After all the Hell Spirit Grass was a legendary spirit herb.
Suddenly the whole field was deadly silent, and everyone could see the black Hell Spirit Grass, but they simply did not believe that so every one of those old men who knew about the Hell Spirit Grass jumped up to verify it. Even the Yao Family Elder came up to see the Hell Spirit Grass.
“Yes, this is a Hell Spirit Grass!” Spirit Dan Hall’s Lord exclaimed loudly, his voice containing indescribable jealousy and envy, while those pair of old eyes frantically looked at the black half of the Hell Spirit Grass in the hands of Chen Xiang.
Authenticated, the field suddenly burst into cries, and everyone was talking about Chen Xiang taking out half of a Hell Spirit Grass and a Thousand Year Blood Spirit Grass as the betting stakes. This bet was very large, and was something that any ordinary family simply could not afford.
“What are you going to bet?” Chen Xiang looked at Yao Tianhua and the Elder.
Yao Tianhua and the Elder’s complexion were not looking good, and anyone who was proficient in alchemy would know that the Hell Spirit Grass was a Profound Level Spirit Herb. Spirit Level Spirit Herbs were already very rare and Profound Level was even more so, so they knew its value.
“Thousand Year Beast Dan, and a 1000 Vein Fruit! What do you think?” the Elder said.
Only after the death of a wild beast who had a lived for more than a thousand years would leave behind a dan which is congealed out from its Yuan essence. This dan is the Thousand Year Beast Dan. If this dan were used in the refinement process, it would provide a large help, the 1000 Vein Fruit was also extremely valuable. It was a Profound Level Spirit Herb and apparently only grew once every one thousand years. Furthermore, on the peel of the fruit there were thousand veins and was a key ingredient in refining a Foundation Building Dan.
The Yao Family’s stakes were equally astonishing, which once again surprised the entire crowd. Whoever won would absolutely reap giant profits!
“Good, agreed!” said Chen Xiang.
“Regarding the rules, in most alchemy competitions, whoever has the fastest speed in refining the best dan will win.The quality of the dan can be judged by everybody present.” the Yao Family Elder said.
Chen Xiang did not have any opinions regarding this matter. Chen Tianhu patted his son’s shoulders to show his encouragement. Chen Xiang and Yao Tianhu took out their respective alchemy furnaces to let some elders examine to avoid any cheating in the competition.
After the examination they all left the high stage and announced the start of the competition. Chen Xiang quickly took out the herbs and placed them inside the alchemy furnace. Yao Tianhua was not able to clearly see what herbs Chen Xiang placed, and in his heart he was somewhat unhappy since he could not tell what dan Chen Xiang was refining.
Nevertheless Yao Tianhua was still confident about his win because with his status of a Yao Family member, he could acquire very high-grade materials. In his opinion, when creating a dan of the same level, absolutely no one could refine a better quality dan than him.
Looking at the glittering golden light from Yao Tianhua’s alchemy furnace, Chen Xiang’s heart was burning with jealousy. His poor alchemy furnace was much more inferior and many people assumed that he would lose just by looking at his furnace.
“Wanting to do alchemy with a furnace like that is simply too much of a joke! It’s even inferior when compared with the tripod furnace that we use for cooking soup in our family.” One teenager laughed. Others soon burst into laughter after hearing the statement.
Only the people with decent alchemy knowledge knew that alchemy was not determined by the furnace, but the individual performing the refinement process. If it was an alchemy grandmaster, even without an alchemy furnace they could perform alchemy and successfully refine dans.
While Chen Xiang was refining the Baptizing Marrow Dan, he was also observing Yao Tianhua as he placed his spirit herbs in the furnace. Just by observing the herbs, he had determined Yao Tianhua was trying to refine a Low Grade Mortal Level Dan called a Spirit Yuan Dan, which provided a boost during cultivation. It could be called the most expensive Low Grade Mortal Level Dan, and its refinement was rather difficult. It was common for many people to refine this dan in alchemy competitions. It was also a test for alchemists to determine how well they grasped the basics of alchemy.
Chen Xiang had already long before practiced refining that dan. However, the cost of refinement was rather high and was only slightly cheaper compared to the Baptizing Marrow Dan. Therefore it did not make much sense for Chen Xiang to refine that dan.
Waiting for the outcome was rather tedious. Everyone was either eating, drinking or chatting while watching the two young alchemists on stage.
In order to successfully refine the Baptizing Marrow Dan, Chen Xiang did not pursue speed but was instead cautiously refining.
It took almost half an hour for Chen Xiang to completely transform all the spirit herbs into herbal powder which soon filled the alchemy furnace with colorful herbal Spirit Qi. Now he only had to fuse together the various herbal Spirit Qis, and then fuse together the completed herbal Spirit Qi with the herbal powder. This was the most crucial and nerve racking process, and if it was not done correctly, it would lead to the entire furnace exploding.
Two hours passed in the blink of an eye. Currently, Chen Xiang had a very serious facial expression and was sweating profusely. On the other hand, Yao Tianhua was much more relaxed and could even be described as idle. He occasionally took glances at Chen Xiang, seeing him in pain was very satisfying for Yao Tianhua. He could easily tell that Chen Xiang was at the most crucial step of refinement, furthermore he might easily make a mistake.
“Done! Five Spirit Yuan Dan!” Yao Tianhua suddenly shouted. This put everyone into a momentary lapse of confusion, meanwhile Chen Xiang had yet to finish. Everyone looked at Chen Xiang, and seeing his serious expression assumed he had encountered some problems in the refining process.
“The Yao Family genius really deserves his reputation! Not only did he refine five Spirit Yuan Dan in two hours, but this is also the best Low-Grade Mortal Level Dan! It seems that Chen Family brat is going to lose.” One person said.
“I heard that refining a Spirit Yuan Dan is not easy, is that Chen family brat also refining the exact same dan? If so, he already lost and is behind in time by a great margin.” Another person said.
Everyone started discussing about Chen Xiang’s apparent loss. After all, Chen Xiang had placed very huge betting stakes.
Yao Tianhua was also waiting for Chen Xiang to finish. He could barely disguise his pleasure as he was certain Chen Xiang would lose and that he would soon win that Thousand Year Blood Spirit Gras along with the Hell Spirit Grass. With these two items, he would certainly become famous throughout the entire Southern Martial Empire.
Chen Xian did not make them wait for too long. He took a long and deep breath before saying. “Well, I’m finally done!”
Hearing Chen Xiang speak, the crowd quieted down, only to hear Yao Tianhua’s ridicule, “So what? You still lost!”
Chen Xiang faintly smiled as he wiped off the sweat on his forehead, saying “I have refined three Baptizing Marrow Dan, please verify it!”
Three Baptizing Marrow Dan! This made the audience transfixed like wooden chickens. This was unbelievable, and everybody suspected they had problems with their hearing. Chen Xiang actually refined a Middle-Grade Mortal Level Baptizing Marrow Dan!? That was far more expensive than the Spirit Yuan Dan!
“It’s not possible! He’s only sixteen years old... it’s impossible for him to refine a Baptizing Marrow Dan!” The Spirit Dan Hall‘s Lord, while strangely crying, rushed onto the high stage. Some other elders also flew onto the stage as well as Chen Tianhu who arrived by Chen Xiang’s side.
“Chen Xiang, now is not the time or place for a joke.” Yao Tianhua could not believe that Chen Xiang had actually successfully refined a Baptizing Marrow Dan, and he wasn’t alone. The majority of people present also could not believe it.
Chen Xiang smiled and indifferently said again, “Please verify it!”