Chapter 1131, Formidable Spiritual Energy

Translator: Silavin

 

Beneath a forest of watchful gazes, Yao Jie had already produced his medicinal herbs. With his cultivation level, there was no need for a set of scales, a single pinch between his fingers was all it took to measure till the finest fraction.

 

Watching Yao Jie’s movements, quite a few onlookers let out admiring sighs.

 

A scale within the heart. It sounds deceptively simple. Yet Alchemy demands a terrifyingly precise tolerance for measurement. Sometimes, even a hair’s excess is enough to cause the whole refinement to collapse, or worse, trigger an explosive furnace failure. To achieve that level of precision requires the accumulated weight of countless lifetimes of experience.

 

As the greatest prodigy among the younger generation of the Medicine Race, Yao Jie undeniably possessed this calibre of skill. Even so, he proceeded with considerable care.

 

By contrast, Qin Yichen, seemingly piqued by Yao Jie’s manner, reached out and grabbed a handful of medicinal herbs in what appeared to be a completely careless fashion, dropping them loosely in front of himself.

 

The gesture was so utterly indifferent it looked as though he had already given up.

 

Witnessing this, more than a few people could not suppress a quiet snort of contempt. Clearly, Qin Yichen had no intention of actually refining any Pill, and was simply here to test his Spiritual Energy against Yao Jie’s.

 

Though he did possess Heaven Grade Spiritual Energy, nobody saw any hope in him.

 

Before long, both men had finished selecting their materials. The clamour surrounding them gradually fell away, and in no more than a moment, the Medicine Market, packed to the edges with spectators, became completely silent.

 

There, upon that small raised platform, Qin Yichen and Yao Jie stood facing one another.

 

*Swoosh!*

 

In the next instant, Yao Jie swept his palm outward. Every ingredient he had selected flew directly into the Three-Legged Black Flame Cauldron before him. Regardless of how many varieties he had chosen, his cultivation was more than sufficient to refine them all simultaneously, with no need to process each one individually.

 

Across from him, Qin Yichen appeared to be following suit in the most imitative fashion imaginable, tipping his own chosen herbs into the small Pill Furnace in front of him.

 

The moment both parties fed their materials in, a vast and surging fluctuation spread outward through the air. Every person present drew a breath and held it. They all understood: the Alchemy Duel had begun.

 

There was little suspense in the outcome, yet the crowd craned their necks eagerly all the same. Would Yao Jie simply crush this presumptuous challenger with the bearing of a man swatting a fly? Or would Qin Yichen, as sharp-tongued as he was, manage to hold on for at least a respectable interval?

 

Within Yao Jie’s eyes, cold light slowly began to gather and flicker. At last, this moment had arrived.

 

*Hum…*

 

In the space before him, ripples appeared that were visible to the naked eye, as a terrifyingly vast wave of Spiritual Energy rolled outward like a crashing tide and came slamming toward Qin Yichen.

 

“That Spiritual Energy, Yao Jie must have broken through to Heaven Grade quite some time ago!”

 

“Look at that posture, he plans to grind that arrogant guy into dust!”

 

“Spiritual Energy that powerful, that condensed, even a Heaven Grade Alchemist could not endure it!”

 

Feeling the immense Spiritual Energy radiating outward from the platform, quite a few faces shifted. The gazes directed at Yao Jie carried unmistakable tRaces of reverence.

 

In no more than two breaths, that vast Spiritual Energy had already engulfed Qin Yichen, crashing down upon him where he stood refining his Pill.

 

*Bang!* Beneath that force, the stone platform under Qin Yichen’s feet cracked apart in a web of fissures, and a wave of dust was hurled upward in a billowing surge.

 

“Is it already over?”

 

“And here I thought he had some real ability. Turns out he was nothing but a fool with a loud mouth.”

 

“What a waste of time…”

 

Watching the great curtain of dust, more than a few eyes passed over a faint shade of disappointment.

 

It was evident that even those who had secretly hoped Qin Yichen might last a little while longer were forced to concede, the Spiritual Energy Yao Jie had displayed was simply too terrifying.

 

“Sir!” In front of that Medicine Shop, Mei Ler’s beautiful eyes filled with thick concern.

 

She was not entirely sure when it had happened, but she had begun to care about Qin Yichen rather more than she expected. In her own estimation, it was probably nothing more than the cooperative relationship between them, and the promise the latter had made.

 

For the Charming Fox Race to earn genuine respect from others through their own efforts alone was extraordinarily difficult.

 

But what Qin Yichen had described, if it succeeded, would win her precisely that, the regard of others.

 

On the other side, Xiang Linzi and others had furrowed brows and darkened expressions.

 

Though Qin Yichen had earlier demonstrated the Spiritual Energy of a Heaven Grade Alchemist, in their hearts, his defining image was still that of a Martial Artist who had crushed Li Shan with sheer overwhelming force.

 

Even if he possessed Heaven Grade Spiritual Energy, his opponent in this Alchemy Duel was Yao Jie, the greatest prodigy among the Medicine Race’s younger generation. Under this crushing Spiritual Energy assault, what Heaven Grade Alchemist could take it?

 

Amid countless shaking heads and sighs of disappointment, the dust stirred up by that near-tangible surge of Spiritual Energy slowly began to settle and dissipate. A hazy silhouette gradually emerged from within.

 

“That kind of Alchemy Duel between Alchemists is genuinely terrifying. It is as though people are being killed without the slightest trace.”

 

“Indeed. He still appears to be holding the same posture as before.”

 

“Spiritual Energy like that must have already crushed down upon his Knowledge Sea. His Soul must have already begun to scatter.”

 

The onlookers murmured to one another as they watched the silhouette within the dust.

 

The Knowledge Sea was, by its very nature, the most vulnerable part of any living being. Even those who have condensed a Spiritual Body, even Heaven Grade Alchemists, their Knowledge Seas remain extraordinarily fragile.

 

Once struck by a powerful Spiritual Energy attack, it risks total collapse. If the attack exceeds the limit it can bear, the victim may die with blood pouring from every orifice. Even in a mild case, the person may lose their wits entirely, leaving behind nothing but a body bereft of consciousness.

 

*Pa! Pa!*

 

And then, while the crowd was still nodding along in commiseration, a rhythmic, measured series of striking sounds emerged from within the dust.

 

That sound sent a tremor through the hearts of those listening, and in the next moment, the eyes fixed upon the silhouette inside the dust shifted from mournful to stunned.

 

“That is…”

 

“He held on? He hasn’t lost yet!?”

 

A ripple of low exclamations swept through the crowd. Gazes turned, carrying a peculiar expression, toward Yao Jie on the opposite side.

 

Sure enough, the playful smirk that had adorned Yao Jie’s face was gone. His expression had become completely dark.

 

As a general rule, whenever someone challenged the Medicine Race to an Alchemy Duel, they were dismantled with the effortless force of uprooting dead grass and pulling out rotting wood. This was, in part, precisely why so few had dared to provoke the Medicine Race in the past several centuries.

 

And now, here, before a crowd of countless witnesses, he had not held back unduly, yet the result he wanted had failed to materialise. That naturally left him with no face to show.

 

“Just a few small petty tricks. But this is as far as it goes!” Yao Jie let out a cold grunt, and placed his palm upon the Three-Legged Black Flame Cauldron.