Seeing that Ye Xuan was still hesitating, Ji Fenghe immediately spoke.
"The rules of this contest say the loser must give the winner five hundred low-grade Spirit Stones. If you can win, junior brother, I'll add another five hundred low-grade Spirit Stones."
A thousand Spirit Stones!
Ye Xuan's eyes lit up. Although his master had already given him quite a few Spirit Stones, those were all for cultivation. With these thousand Spirit Stones, he could buy medicinal ingredients to refine poison pills.
"For the glory of Wood Spirit Peak!"
Ye Xuan took the Pill Formula Ji Fenghe handed him, glanced over it, and began refining pills.
His Spirit Root was now improving at tremendous speed, giving him even greater control over Spiritual Qi. Moreover, the cultivation he currently displayed was at the Qi Refining Sixth Layer, making pill refining even more effortless.
Ji Fenghe stayed beside him, rubbing his hands excitedly, as though he could already see Mo Qi losing. From this day forward, Wood Spirit Peak would undoubtedly be the outer sect's foremost peak in pill refining.
As he watched Ye Xuan, Ji Fenghe felt more and more that recommending Ye Xuan to his master had been an incredibly wise decision.
The Bone-Strengthening Pills were soon successfully refined. Without a doubt, this was a batch of flawless pills.
Ji Fenghe excitedly took the pills and pulled Ye Xuan along as he flew out of Wood Spirit Peak.
Wood Moon Peak.
Holding a Bone-Strengthening Pill, Mo Qi sipped his tea while admiring the Bone-Strengthening Pill he had just refined.
He and Ji Fenghe had competed in the outer sect for years, contesting their pill-refining skills countless times, with each winning half the time.
Both wanted to claim the title of number one pill refiner, and neither would yield.
Mo Qi did not care about the five-hundred-Spirit-Stone reward for winning.
Of the pill pavilions on Wood Moon Peak, Mo Qi's master owned the largest. Ordinarily, Mo Qi refined pills with high medicinal efficacy and sold them in the pill pavilion, earning no fewer than several thousand Spirit Stones every month.
"The fortune I spent buying this Outline of Pill Refining wasn't wasted. My pill-refining skills are advancing by leaps and bounds now. I believe it won't be long before I can attempt flawless pills. From now on, the outer sect's number one spot will be mine."
An outer sect disciple had obtained the Outline of Pill Refining in a cave while out gaining experience beyond the sect. Rumored to be the legacy of a Nascent Soul Cultivator, it had cost Mo Qi a fortune to purchase. Sure enough, he had benefited greatly from it, and his pill-refining skills had improved rapidly.
Mo Qi clenched his fists and laughed smugly. This struggle that had lasted years was finally about to draw to a close, and he would be its victor. The thought left him extremely excited.
"From now on, junior sister should think more highly of me, right?"
Mo Qi touched his cheek, torn between hope and apprehension. He had a junior sister whose beauty could topple cities and kingdoms. Back then, she had fallen at first sight for Ji Fenghe, who stood as graceful as a jade tree in the wind. This had displeased Mo Qi immensely, but his looks were ordinary, and he felt somewhat inferior. He could only compete with Ji Fenghe through pill refining.
"Mo Qi! Mo Qi! Get out here!"
Just then, Ji Fenghe's shouts came from outside. Mo Qi sneered and stood.
"There are still several hours before the deadline. Have you come now because you've already refined a Bone-Strengthening Pill with high medicinal efficacy? Or do you want to concede?"
Upon reaching the main hall, Mo Qi saw Ji Fenghe lounging carelessly in a chair and asked with a hint of mockery. Even if Ji Fenghe had already refined a Bone-Strengthening Pill with over ninety-five percent medicinal efficacy, Mo Qi was unafraid.
He had not rested these past two days either. By now, he had refined a Bone-Strengthening Pill with ninety-nine percent medicinal efficacy, leaving him only a hair's breadth from refining a flawless Bone-Strengthening Pill.
"I haven't refined a Bone-Strengthening Pill with higher medicinal efficacy, nor do I intend to concede."
Ji Fenghe leisurely waved his folding fan, looking as though victory was already in his grasp.
"Hmm? Are you trying to wriggle out of it?"
Mo Qi frowned at Ji Fenghe. From what he knew of Ji Fenghe, he should not have been that sort of person. Even when Ji Fenghe had failed to refine pills with higher medicinal efficacy in the past, he had never tried to renege.
"Of course not. This time, you'll be competing against him!"
Ji Fenghe waved his folding fan and pointed at Ye Xuan, who sat opposite him.
Only then did Mo Qi notice Ye Xuan sitting across from Ji Fenghe.
Gasp!
The instant he saw Ye Xuan, Mo Qi sucked in a breath of cold air. Before this, the most handsome person he had ever seen was Ji Fenghe, but upon seeing Ye Xuan today, he realized that Ye Xuan was several times more handsome than Ji Fenghe.
A formidable rival!
Alarm bells rang in Mo Qi's mind, and he looked at Ye Xuan with intense wariness.
Hmm?
Ye Xuan noticed that Mo Qi's gaze was full of hostility and felt rather baffled. Wasn't this their first meeting?
"Ji Fenghe, are you joking with me? You're having a kid at the Qi Refining Sixth Layer compete against me?"
Mo Qi snorted coldly and looked at Ji Fenghe with an unfriendly gaze. To him, Ji Fenghe was humiliating him.
"Of course not. Ye Xuan is my junior brother, a heaven-sent genius. Even my master is full of praise for him. This is a Bone-Strengthening Pill he refined. Take a look."
Ji Fenghe spoke with a self-satisfied bob of his head, then took out a Bone-Strengthening Pill Ye Xuan had refined earlier and tossed it to Mo Qi.
Mo Qi caught the Bone-Strengthening Pill and glanced at Ye Xuan. He did not believe a cultivator at the Qi Refining Sixth Layer could refine a particularly good Bone-Strengthening Pill.
Hmm?
Mo Qi looked at the Bone-Strengthening Pill in his hand, surprise and doubt appearing on his face. Then he gently scraped off some powder with a finger and licked it, his expression turning incredulous.
Crack!
Mo Qi crushed the Bone-Strengthening Pill, took a fragment, and examined it closely. The shock on his face deepened.
"Impossible! This is a flawless pill! How could a cultivator at the Qi Refining Sixth Layer refine a flawless Bone-Strengthening Pill? Could it be that you can't bear to lose, Ji Fenghe, so you stole a pill your master refined and brought it here to pass off as yours?"
Mo Qi composed himself and looked coldly at Ji Fenghe. In all his years of cultivation, he had never heard of anyone refining a flawless pill at the Qi Refining Sixth Layer.
Pill refining was skilled work. The lower one's cultivation, the less Spiritual Qi one had in one's body, and the weaker one's control over Spiritual Qi, the more impurities one's pills would contain. This was universally acknowledged in the pill-refining world.
Yet Ye Xuan, a kid at the Qi Refining Sixth Layer, actually had a stronger grasp of Spiritual Qi and pill refining than they did at the Qi Refinement Peak. No one would believe such a claim.
"Heh, you don't believe it? Junior brother, demonstrate for him."
Ji Fenghe had come prepared. He immediately brought out a Pill Furnace and raised his eyebrows at Ye Xuan.
Mo Qi's skeptical gaze made Ye Xuan very uncomfortable, but remembering that Mo Qi would give him five hundred Spirit Stones, he forgave him. He took the ingredients Ji Fenghe handed him and began refining pills right there in the main hall.
Watching Ye Xuan's practiced movements, Mo Qi stood to one side, filled with surprise and doubt.
Could Ye Xuan really have refined that flawless pill? No, impossible. Master said that no one in the entire outer sect has ever refined a flawless pill before reaching the ninth layer of Qi Refining.
Once the pills were finished, Ji Fenghe took out a Bone-Strengthening Pill. Having complete faith in Ye Xuan, he did not even inspect it before tossing it straight to Mo Qi.
"This... this really is a flawless pill!"
Mo Qi stared incredulously at the Bone-Strengthening Pill in his hand, so shaken by the blow that he was somewhat dazed.
"Hehe, well? Though I, Ji Fenghe, lost, Wood Spirit Peak did not!"