Before long, the group was led to a massive mountaintop square within the Yao Clan.
At the same time, countless columns of smoke slowly rose into the air, filled with a rich pill fragrance.
In previous years, the various clans had merely gone through the motions. After all, when it came to alchemy, the abilities displayed by the other clans were hardly impressive.
However, because Lei Qi had expressed considerable interest in alchemy, they remained here.
Given their status, they naturally would not be kept at this mere preliminary event.
At the summit of Medicine Mountain, clouds and mist lingered as a strange pill fragrance spread through the air, making one feel refreshed and as though one had entered an immortal realm.
At the peak of Medicine Mountain, vast stretches of medicinal materials gathered like an ocean. Above these seas of herbs floated an enormous square. At its four corners stood four massive cauldrons, each emitting pill fragrance as columns of smoke shot straight into the sky.
Quite a few figures had already gathered across the floating stone platform, and lively conversations continuously rang out, creating an exceptionally bustling atmosphere. Following Mang Tianchi, Lei Qi looked toward the due north side of the stone platform, where rows of stone chairs had been arranged. After finding their seats, Mang Tianchi led Lei Qi over to sit down. Once they were seated, beautiful maidservants fluttered past like butterflies, their nimble hands filling every jade cup on the stone tables.
It had to be said that the Yao Clan's maidservants were all quite pretty.
"Xiao Qi, what do you think? Aren't the girls here more pleasing to the eye than those of our Thunder Clan?" Mang Tianchi asked teasingly when he saw Lei Qi watching the maidservants.
"Mhm." Lei Qi nodded.
"I really don't know what the women of our Thunder Clan are thinking. As expected, the outside world is far more pleasing to the eye," Mang Tianchi muttered again.
"Elder Mang, you've never married all these years. Is there someone you hold dear?" Lei Qi asked.
"Ah, that's all in the past." Mang Tianchi did not elaborate. Yet at the mention of it, the masculine vigor he had displayed earlier faded away.
At this moment, Lei Qi's gaze shifted downward and was soon drawn to a man.
A fifth-grade alchemist with the cultivation of a one-star Dou Wang.
A minor character like that naturally could not have attracted his attention.
Rather, it was the woman beside him. She had long azure hair and exquisite features, yet her expression was as cold as frost, giving her the air of an icy beauty.
A woman like that was undoubtedly even more alluring.
After all, taming an iceberg and making her yield would clearly be far more satisfying.
But Lei Qi knew very well that, for now—or perhaps for the next decade or even longer—he would have no chance. After all, she was a prodigy of the Yao Clan.
"Those two youngsters are siblings. The boy is called Yao Tian, and the girl is called Yao Ling. Both are outstanding among your generation. Oh, and that young man over there is called Yao Xingji. He has quite good talent as well." Seeing Lei Qi looking toward the arena, Mang Tianchi introduced the Yao Clan's younger generation of geniuses.
However, Mang Tianchi felt that neither Yao Tian, Yao Ling, nor even Yao Xingji could be mentioned in the same breath as Lei Qi.
Not yet twenty, only seventeen years old, and before the power of his Dou God Bloodline had even fully begun to exert itself, he had already reached the realm of a two-star Dou Emperor. Such terrifying cultivation speed could absolutely be considered that of a top prodigy even among the Dou God Clans.
After all, even with every kind of resource poured into them, the geniuses of the other clans would already be considered remarkable if they could reach the Dou Wang realm at this age.
Yet if one had reached the Dou Emperor realm, the gap between them was simply heaven and earth!
"If I surpass them in alchemy as well someday, wouldn't that be even more interesting?" Lei Qi said.
"I don't think that's very realistic." Mang Tianchi shook his head.
Within the Yao Clan, Peak Eighth-Grade Alchemists and Nine-Grade Treasure Pills were far from uncommon.
As for the Thunder Clan, it currently possessed only one Peak Rank Eight Alchemist.
In this regard, the other clans were much the same.
Under such circumstances, even if Lei Qi possessed extraordinary talent, there was still an enormous gap between them.
Furthermore, Lei Qi intended to cultivate both lightning and fire. If he added alchemy to that as well, how could he possibly have enough time to learn everything?
One must know that greed leads to poor digestion.
"Heh, we'll talk about that later." Lei Qi naturally was not so idealistic. For now, he was merely saying it.
Still, the Thunder Clan truly needed a ninth-grade alchemist!
Yet ninth-grade alchemists were not so easy to cultivate.
Across the entire Dou Qi Continent, ninth-grade alchemists were exceedingly rare. Every one of them who was not a ninth-grade alchemist from the Yao Clan either had a clan of his own or preferred to roam alone.
The main reason was that the Dou God Clans looked down on those without Dou God Bloodlines and had never considered cultivating anyone with exceptional alchemy talent.
The Soul Clan was the only exception.
Unlike the other clans, which looked down on those without Dou God Bloodlines, the Soul Clan was the exact opposite. Not only had they sent Hun Xuzi, who was skilled in alchemy, to study at the Pill Tower, they had even established the Hall of Souls to recruit experts from across the continent!
What vision.
No matter how the hell he looked at it, Hun Tiandi utterly crushed Gu Yuan, despite both being Peak Nine Star Dou Sheng.
There was even less to say about the other clan leaders.
After all, to a Peak Dou Sheng, anyone below the nine-star realm was an ant.
The Yao Clan juniors' alchemy competition was merely an opening act. To the people who had come here, it amounted to nothing.
What came later in the Medicine Canon was undoubtedly far more eye-catching.
Whether it was a contest between Peak Eighth-Grade Alchemists or a contest between Nine-Grade Treasure Pill Alchemists, those were the truly astonishing spectacles.
However, perhaps because none of the visitors included any truly top-tier alchemists, the one making a move this time was not Elder Wanhuo of the Yao Clan. Instead, it was merely a Treasure Pill Grandmaster.
But even though it was not a Xuan Dan-level spectacle, Lei Qi and the others still feasted their eyes upon it.
By the time they watched the Yao Clan's competition come to an end, a month had already passed.
And Lei Qi had not gained nothing during that month.
At the very least, after observing their alchemy, he was already able to directly refine second-grade medicinal pills!
When news of this spread, not only was Mang Tianchi stunned, but even some of the Yao Clan's experts were the same!
He had never had any alchemy experience, yet after merely observing for a month, he could refine a second-grade medicinal pill. Such terrifying talent was something that few people, even within the Yao Clan, could match.
The most terrifying part was that Lei Qi was not merely extraordinarily gifted in alchemy. His cultivation was just as outstanding!
A two-star Dou Emperor, he could be called a dazzling rising star among his peers!
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