The True Technique

Lin Cheng's practiced movements were as fluid as those of a battle-hardened master Alchemist.

If they hadn't known his true identity beforehand, they would have assumed some senior Alchemist was playing a prank on them.

This was absolutely nothing like someone who had never studied alchemy!

In that moment, they realized they had acted foolishly.

They didn't understand the youth before them at all.

At some point, that face, still bearing traces of youthful innocence, had begun to radiate an unfathomable and mysterious aura.

"Almost there."

Lin Cheng didn't notice the others' abnormality, completely immersed in his own world.

A focused mind was the basic requirement for an Alchemist.

"The quality of this furnace is mediocre. Although it's lacking, it's barely enough for now."

After carefully reflecting for a moment to ensure he hadn't missed anything, Lin Cheng began the second step of alchemy: fire control.

The main steps of alchemy consisted of three things.

Fire control, refining, and pill formation.

Everything else was merely preparation before the actual refining.

What followed was the real main event.

Because he was hiding his cultivation, Lin Cheng couldn't easily use many of his methods in public, so he had to rely on external forces.

Most alchemy rooms had geothermal fire for refining; for Lin Cheng, who possessed a system, drawing upon this geothermal fire was a breeze.

With a wave of his hand, the geothermal fire rose obediently.

With another sweep of his palm, the flames became swift, gentle, and steady, as docile as a well-behaved child. The elders watched, utterly mesmerized.

"This fire control technique is truly divine!"

"I once had the honor of watching a Yellow-rank Alchemist refine pills in public, yet even he didn't possess such fire control skills. A natural-born genius!"

"Indeed, indeed!"

"When refining pills, the greatest taboo is an unstable flame. A moment of carelessness and the pill is ruined, rendering all previous efforts futile! If I could learn even a fraction of this technique, my success rate would surely increase significantly!"

"Shh! Don't speak, watch closely."

The elders were awestruck, their eyes unblinking, terrified that missing a single moment would be a lifelong regret.

Having adjusted the flame temperature with a casual flick, Lin Cheng began to grab the medicinal herbs required according to the pill recipe.

"Qi-Replenishing Pill: two qian of Pulse-Nurturing Flower, one and a half qian of Purple Heart Grass, Vermilion Fruit..."

He muttered to himself while grabbing the herbs, the measurements precise to the smallest detail. With the system's inheritance, such a trivial task as measuring herbs was naturally no challenge for him.

In no time, the herbs were prepared.

Little did he know, this ordinary scene caused another massive stir in the eyes of the onlookers.

"He's grabbing them by hand without using a scale?"

"Even a Yellow-rank Alchemist wouldn't dare do that. Alchemy requires strict adherence to the recipe—not a fraction more, not a fraction less. Is he really that confident?"

Seeing the elders muttering in a daze, Meng Tangtang couldn't help but ask, "Isn't this the normal procedure?"

Wasn't alchemy supposed to be like this?

Even if grabbing by hand was difficult, as long as one practiced enough and focused, it shouldn't be that exaggerated, right?

To her surprise, the elders shook their heads immediately. Their gazes toward Lin Cheng were filled with admiration as they praised, "Young Sect Master, you are an outsider to this. It's easy to say, but hard to do! To achieve such precision by hand alone is impossible unless one possesses an innately powerful spiritual sense, or is an supreme expert who has even birthed divine sense."

It was that terrifying?

Meng Tangtang was shocked.

She hadn't expected her junior brother to be a genius with such a powerful innate spiritual sense.

As for divine sense, she didn't dare to think about it.

Because that was the hallmark of a Nascent Soul expert.

How old was her junior brother? It was simply impossible!

Carrying this shock in her heart, she hurriedly watched Lin Cheng's movements closely.

She saw that after preparing the herbs, Lin Cheng didn't even look; he tossed them all into the furnace at once. Even though the group was prepared for Lin Cheng to ignore conventional wisdom, their eyelids still twitched violently.

Damn it, was he refining pills or stir-frying vegetables?

How could this look so unreliable!

They thought to themselves that he was still young after all. With so many herbs thrown in at once, the conflicting medicinal properties would likely cause an instant disaster.

Some elders had already begun to shake their heads and sigh, believing this batch of herbs was ruined.

Immediately after, everyone's eyes widened in shock as they discovered that the interior of the pill furnace remained perfectly calm.

The medicinal herbs tossed inside seemed completely unaffected.

In fact, a rich, concentrated medicinal fragrance gradually began to drift out.

Unable to see inside the furnace, the crowd was consumed by such intense curiosity that they were practically clawing at their own hearts, wishing they could jump in and see for themselves.

What on earth was happening?

Unfortunately, no one could provide them with an answer at that moment, so they had no choice but to watch with bated breath.

Before long, they were once again stunned by Lin Cheng's pill-refining techniques.

"That is the long-lost 'Silk-Pulling Hand'! He's using his internal energy to manipulate the herbs from a distance as if he's transformed into thousands of fine threads. The precision is incredible—simply marvelous!"

"And that's the 'Flower-Plucking Finger'!"

"The Yin-Yang Separation Technique!"

"Holy crap, that looks like the legendary Samsara Hand Seal, a divine art of alchemy!"

Gradually, the crowd became dazzled as they watched Lin Cheng effortlessly employ various pill-refining techniques—some they recognized, others they didn't—and combine them with masterful ingenuity.

His movements were entirely natural, exuding an indescribable sense of aesthetic beauty.

Watching Lin Cheng refine pills was nothing short of a pleasure.

"The pill is forming!"

Someone shouted, and the crowd's attention was instantly drawn to the crimson furnace. At the same time, they noticed the medicinal fragrance in the air growing thicker, carrying a scent that was truly refreshing to the spirit.

"Open!"

Lin Cheng suddenly changed his hand seal and let out a sharp shout.

Under the expectant gazes of the crowd, the furnace was slowly opened. Lin Cheng reached out and grabbed, and a pill with a lustrous, translucent glow leaped into his hand.

If one looked closely, the pill was even faintly coiled with mysterious, profound patterns.

"Heavens, it's actually a Pill Pattern!"

An elder suddenly strode forward, rushing right up to Lin Cheng. Ignoring the stunned gazes of those around him, he grabbed Lin Cheng's hand to examine the freshly refined pill in detail.

He looked at it as if it were a peerless treasure.

"What? A Pill Pattern? Quick! Let me see!" Another elder rushed up, staring at the pill in Lin Cheng's hand, nearly drooling.

"You two shameless old men, move aside..."

In the end, the three elders surrounded Lin Cheng, completely disregarding their dignity, their eyes fixed on his palm with obsessive fervor.

At that moment, as if drawn by a magnetic force, everyone—including Meng Tangtang—forgot all about etiquette and social standing. They swarmed forward, and some even began to shove and scuffle to get a better view.

The scene descended into utter chaos.

"What are you doing? What is all this? Get up at once! Look at yourselves—what kind of behavior is this!"

After a long while, one of the elders finally snapped out of his trance. The moment he turned around and saw all those glittering eyes staring back at him, he was startled and immediately began to scold them in a rage.

"Look at you all, so spineless! It's just a Qi-Replenishing Pill of the Pill Pattern grade; what is there to make such a fuss about? Disperse! Disperse now! If you don't scatter, don't blame this elder for charging you with disturbing the order and showing no respect for your superiors!"

Once these words were spoken, they finally had an effect.

Although the crowd felt disdain for the elder's own behavior, they considered the gravity of the situation and reluctantly backed away.

Yet, each of them still craned their necks, staring longingly, leaving the elder with a face full of dark lines.

He didn't truly blame them, though.

Beyond the classifications of Heaven, Earth, Mysterious, Yellow, and Unranked, pills were further divided into several levels based on quality, determined by the amount of impurities they contained.

From lowest to highest, these were: 70% to 60% impurities (Inferior), 50% to 40% impurities (Ordinary), and below 30% impurities (Superior).

And then there was the legendary grade that existed only in rumors throughout the entire Southern Region—the Flawless Quality, also known as the Pill Pattern grade.