Alchemy Prodigy? No, I'm the God of Gamblers!

Alchemy Prodigy? No, I'm the God of Gamblers! Zhao Hao visited three of the grandest merchant buildings in Ten Thousand Immortal City in a row.

Without exception, the moment he said he wanted to buy a "third-tier pill formula," the steward across from him wore an extremely strange expression, as if looking at a fool whose thoughts had flown beyond the heavens.

"Fellow Daoist, third-tier pill formulas are strategic resources supplied to Golden Core patriarchs. You want to buy one?"

The shopkeeper of one pill store did not even raise his head, merely toyed with the spirit-jade beads in his hand and continued speaking.

"Forget the formula—even the finished product only appears occasionally at the auction house's annual auction. Every time, it has to be exchanged for heavenly treasures and earthly gems. That isn't something spirit stones can measure."

The deacon of another merchant association waved his hand even faster, clearly unwilling to listen to Zhao Hao continue.

After hitting walls one after another, Zhao Hao's heart went half cold. It seemed there was no chance of ascending to heaven in a single step.

He had just turned and walked past a street corner when a boiling clamor of voices surged out from a luxurious five-story pavilion not far away.

"It's open, it's open! The odds for the second round are out! Who are you betting on?"

"Need you even think? I'm betting three hundred spirit stones on Fairy Xuan Su. She'll pass with her eyes closed!" a red-faced cultivator roared.

Someone beside him immediately scoffed in contempt, "Are you stupid? Fairy Xuan Su is the chief of Spirit Medicine Pavilion. For a second-tier alchemist, refining a first-tier pill is like reaching into a bag to take something out. Ten Thousand Immortal Gambling House is giving odds of one to one—do you think they'd hand you spirit stones for free?"

"Exactly. Ten Thousand Immortal Gambling House doesn't do money-losing business!"

An immortal gambling house.

Zhao Hao's steps paused, and he raised his head to look at the signboard written in strokes like dragons flying and phoenixes dancing—Ten Thousand Immortal Gambling House.

After a brief murmur of thought, he lifted his leg and stepped inside.

A noisy heat wave mixed with the crisp clatter of spirit stones colliding rushed straight at him.

A late-stage Qi Refining attendant immediately came forward. His gaze swept over Zhao Hao's burly, knotted muscles, then he cupped his hands politely. "Senior, you look unfamiliar. Have you come to try your luck on the Alchemy Grand Assembly?"

"How's it played?" Zhao Hao spoke in a booming voice, his tone carrying a rough edge.

The attendant rubbed his hands together and introduced it with practiced ease. "Ten Thousand Immortal Gambling House is an industry of the City Lord Manor. We open bets for every round of the grand assembly. In this second round, the first match tests first-tier top-grade Foundation Establishment Pills. As long as they pass, it counts as a win. You may choose an alchemist from the list to place your bet on."

As he spoke, he handed over a jade slip. "Once the bet is placed, hands off. We recognize the token, not the person."

Zhao Hao sent his divine sense inside, and lines of names appeared, each accompanied by an image and odds.

[Li Ming, odds 1:1.1]

Note: Produced three high-grade pills in one furnace during the preliminary selection; rose to fame.

[Xuan Su, odds 1:1]

Note: Chief alchemist of Spirit Medicine Pavilion; a favorite to win the championship.

Seeing Xuan Su's devastatingly beautiful face, Zhao Hao recalled the jade token marked with the character "Xuan" in his storage pouch.

So it was her!

He continued scrolling downward, and very soon, his own name appeared prominently on the list.

[Zhao Hao, odds 1:2]

Note: Refined high-grade Inedia Pills in the preliminary selection using a "wok-tossing stir-fry" method. Technique is bizarre. Suspected body cultivator.

Odds of one to two?

Wasn't this spirit stones delivered right to his door?

Zhao Hao tore the storage pouch from his waist and slammed it heavily onto the counter.

"Ten thousand Low-grade Spirit Stones, all on me advancing."

The clamor of the entire hall seemed to have its throat gripped by an invisible hand.

A dozen gazes stabbed over in unison, fixing on the pouch filled with spirit stones on the table.

"Ten thousand? Has he gone mad?"

"I remember now! He's that cook from the preliminary selection who stir-fried pills!"

"Ten thousand stones! He's thrown in his entire fortune down to his underpants, hasn't he? He really doesn't want his life anymore!"

The attendant behind the counter's hand trembled, and he nearly dropped the jade slip onto the floor.

He swallowed with difficulty, swiftly counted the spirit stones with a storage pouch, then offered over a token inlaid with a golden edge in both hands.

Zhao Hao accepted the token, did not even glance around, and turned to walk out of Ten Thousand Immortal Gambling House.

The next day, the second round of the Alchemy Grand Assembly officially began.

On the first floor of Ten Thousand Immortal Pavilion, after the eliminations of the preliminary selection, fewer than three hundred alchemists remained.

The exam question for this match was the first-tier top-grade pill with the lowest success rate and highest difficulty—the Foundation Establishment Pill.

Not a single person able to stand here was weak.

Zhao Hao received the materials and the pill formula jade slip, then chose a spot in the farthest corner. Several zhang to his front-left was Xuan Su, surrounded like the moon by a host of stars; two places to his right was Li Ming, whose expression was gloomy.

Before the lingering sound had faded, every alchemist present had already drawn upon the earthfire with movements like drifting clouds and flowing water, purifying the medicinal liquid.

Only Zhao Hao stood before the pill furnace with that pill formula jade slip in hand, not moving an inch, staring at it for a full quarter of an hour.

The clamor of discussion from the stands drifted down.

"The match has already started and he's only looking at the pill formula now? Is he here to make a joke of himself?"

"Grandstanding! A Foundation Establishment Pill uses more than thirty kinds of spirit herbs and over a hundred changes in flame control. Does he think he's stir-frying Inedia Pills?"

Only when many people's medicinal liquids had already begun to merge did Zhao Hao finally put down the jade slip, then roughly shoved all the spirit herbs into the pill furnace in one go!

Boom!

The earthfire suddenly shot up two feet high, scorching the bottom of the pill furnace red.

Before half a cup of tea had passed, a string of dull explosions rang out from inside the pill furnace. The furnace lid trembled violently, and a thick, burnt stench poured madly out through the pill outlet.

"It's blowing up! It's going to blow!"

"I knew it! This reckless brute is a joke!"

In the stands, the gamblers who had coveted the odds and followed Zhao Hao in placing bets instantly turned deathly pale. Some were so furious they cursed outright.

At the critical moment, Zhao Hao flipped his hand and grabbed a large handful of Low-grade Spirit Stones from his storage bag—well over a hundred pieces. He actually yanked open the furnace lid and threw them straight in!

Pfft!

Among all the alchemists in the arena who were condensing pills, at least a dozen had their minds thrown into disorder by this divine operation, and the muffled thuds of failed pills rang out from their furnaces on the spot.

Who opened the furnace midway through refining pills?

Who used Spirit Stones as medicinal ingredients?

They saw Zhao Hao muttering meaningless syllables under his breath, his palms covered in crimson spiritual power as he slapped the scorching pill furnace in a wild barrage of bang, bang, bang.

To outsiders, he seemed to be trying to suppress the spiritual power running rampant inside the furnace in the crudest way possible.

In reality, his thoughts had long since locked onto the pale golden screen in his vision.

[Main Item: Foundation Establishment Pill (Failed Pill) strengthened to (Low-grade)]

[Materials Consumed: Low-grade Spirit Stone x100, Failed Pill x5]

[Strengthening Success Rate: 100%]

"Confirm!"

A ray of light only he could see flashed and vanished in the depths of the pill furnace.

Pfft—

A muffled, abnormal sound came from inside the pill furnace.

Everyone subconsciously shrank their necks, thinking it had truly exploded this time.

However, the explosion they had imagined did not happen.

"Ah, it's ruined." Quite a few people nearby shook their heads and sighed. That sound was clearly a furnace of charcoal forming.

Zhao Hao looked as if he had expended quite a bit of energy. His face was somewhat pale as he staggered back a step, wearing the appearance of someone still shaken by lingering fear.

With trembling hands, he opened the furnace lid, and a heavy medicinal fragrance immediately spread out.

It was a pill.

Its entire body was earthy yellow, its luster dim, and it was even somewhat less than perfectly round.

But it was indeed a formed Low-grade pill!

The steward in charge of supervision immediately stepped forward. After inspecting it with a magic tool, even his voice sounded a little airy as he announced:

"A L-Low-grade Foundation Establishment Pill, one piece! Passed!"