A Sparring Match! Testing His Pill Refining Against Yao Chen

"Senior?"

Yao Chen was filled with doubt. Anyone who could evade his senses was undoubtedly a powerhouse.

Moreover, he was definitely beyond the realm of a Peak Dou Zun.

After all, Yao Chen himself had once been an unrivaled figure in that realm.

That left only one possibility.

A legendary Dou Sheng?

It wasn't as though Yao Chen had never seen a Dou Sheng. He had once been able to enter the Pill Tower's innermost circle, so he was no stranger to the Saint Realm.

But the presence of the man before him gave him an idea.

Was he that mysterious ancestor of the Pill Tower?

Even in all the years Yao Chen had lived, he had never managed to meet him.

He had learned of him from Xuan Yi back then.

By now, she had probably truly taken up the position of Pill Tower Giant.

For no apparent reason, he fell into recollection.

He still remembered what Xuan Yi had told him: the reason the Pill Tower could still stand firm, and even the Hall of Souls dared not underestimate it, was that it had this ancestor.

His origins were the result of a fortuitous chance.

A pill that had gained sentience!

Only because Yao Chen had immersed himself in pill refining for countless years could he barely detect that faint fragrance.

"You seem to know something, kid?"

Mo Xuan was somewhat surprised. This kid was only a Dou Zun, yet he seemed to have quite a few secrets tucked away in his belly!

"Senior, are you from the Pill Tower?"

Yao Chen asked cautiously, sounding him out.

"The Pill Tower? Don't know it."

Mo Xuan shook his head. He had existed for far longer, his life stretching back to the era of the Dou Di. This mere Pill Tower had been established later, so naturally he knew nothing of it.

In Yao Chen's eyes, however, he was deliberately playing games.

"I am Yao Chen, junior. I once won a Pill Gathering, so I can be considered one of the Pill Tower's own."

Yao Chen shamelessly pressed his claim. If he had never left the Pill Tower, he would surely have held a high position by now, and the Hall of Souls would never have come after him.

But there were no ifs!

Hearing Yao Chen's words, Mo Xuan keenly sensed something.

Was there another existence like him in the Pill Tower?

That had to be it. After all, even this kid Yao Chen, the youngster hailed as the continent's number one alchemist, was so certain and held the Pill Tower in such high regard.

The Pill Tower must have a few tricks up its sleeve. Someone in a later generation refining a Ninth-Tier Xuan Pill wasn't impossible to accept.

Only an Emperor Pill was exclusive to a Dou Di!

"Do you know where the Pill Tower Ancestor is, or what his name is?"

Mo Xuan asked directly.

"Huh?"

Yao Chen was dumbfounded. Had he mistaken him for someone else? This is bad, he thought.

But as soon as he remembered that the senior from the Xiao Clan was here, he calmed down.

This senior should be on their side too. Otherwise, Senior Xiao would never have let him stay here.

It seemed that this senior had only shown up after Senior Xiao appeared.

An expert!

His eyes grew fervent, and Yao Chen said respectfully, "I only heard about him from someone in the Pill Tower's inner circle."

"There was once a senior in the Pill Tower whose Dou Qi cultivation and pill-refining skills had both reached their peak. Later, while refining a pill, he had an insight and used his blood to refine it."

"That was how the exceptionally blessed Pill Tower Ancestor came to be."

"A Ninth-grade Pill gained sentience!"

He poured it all out, adding a few guesses of his own. After all, this was one of the Pill Tower's secrets, kept even from Yao Chen, a Pill Gathering champion.

Even so, he had managed to piece together the general course of events from a few clues.

"That one should have long since surpassed the realm of a Ninth-Tier Xuan Pill!"

In the end, Yao Chen added one more remark.

By now, he himself had little difficulty refining Ninth-grade Pills.

But he could only reach the level of a Ninth-Grade Treasure Pill. He still couldn't create a spirit at the level of a Dou Sheng.

That was why Yao Chen had made such a guess!

"Oh?"

Mo Xuan quietly committed it to memory.

The Pill Tower, was it? When he went to the Central Plains, he would surely be able to meet him.

Others of his kind were exceedingly rare, and those at the same level were rarer still.

"You're quite a likable little fellow. You're qualified to know my name!"

"I am Mo Xuan!"

Before a junior like Yao Chen, Mo Xuan naturally had to put on the full airs of a senior.

"My respects, Senior Mo!"

Yao Chen bowed, becoming even more respectful.

No matter what, it was never wrong to be polite to a Dou Sheng senior.

"I came to see you only to spar with you in pill refining, to see what level the alchemists of today have reached."

Mo Xuan stroked his beard, looking utterly inscrutable.

But his words left Yao Chen dumbstruck.

Since when could pills refine pills themselves?

Even if this one was a pill that had seized the fortune of heaven and earth and gained sentience, he was still a pill at his core!

"Forgive this junior's ignorance!"

Yao Chen was utterly devoted to pill refining. Even though he knew his question was ill-timed, he still asked it.

"Pill refining is a great Dao. Naturally, there's no single standard method. Everyone has their own path."

"Of course, it's true that traditional pill refining is easier to learn."

Mo Xuan explained earnestly.

Perhaps his method of pill refining had its limitations, but in the end, it had already allowed him to reach the peak.

Once he could refine himself into an Emperor Pill, he would become a Dou Di.

Pills had to have dreams too!

"Thank you for the lesson, senior."

Yao Chen bowed deeply. This time, he was truly sincere.

"What sort of pill refining would you like to see, senior?"

Suddenly unsure where to begin, Yao Chen asked.

"Just refine some Seventh-Tier Pills as you please!"

Mo Xuan waved a hand. His demands weren't high.

Pills below the seventh tier could be whipped up at will, so there wasn't much use in watching.

Eighth-Tier Pills, on the other hand, took too long to prepare, and Mo Xuan didn't have the patience to wait.

All those years cultivating his temperament in the small world had failed to smooth out his disposition.

"See what pills you can make with these!"

With a casual wave, Mo Xuan produced a large pile of heavenly treasures, all preserved in the finest condition.

This was also a gift, one unique to pills that had gained sentience.

These heavenly treasures were even somewhat more robust than they had been in their original growing environments.

Delight flashed in Yao Chen's eyes. These were rare heavenly treasures!

"A Mind-Calming Pill?"

He ventured the question. Even among Seventh-Tier Pills, it was no simple pill to make. Though only a low-grade seventh-tier pill, its refining process was especially intricate.

Presumably, it would meet the senior's requirements.

"May I let Xiao Yan and the others watch from the side?"

He felt it would be a bit of a waste otherwise. Refining pills alone was somewhat lonely, so he might as well let the other alchemists present learn something too.

"As you please!"

Mo Xuan didn't care if his existence was revealed. The Jia Ma Empire had long since been brought under Xiao Xuan's control, so naturally there was no need to worry about anything else.

"Thank you, senior!"

He gently withdrew the Dou Qi barrier he had set up earlier. When he hadn't known whether the encounter would bring fortune or disaster, he had naturally taken precautions.

If the visitor had truly been an enemy too powerful for even him to resist, giving the others time to escape wouldn't actually have done much good.

But wouldn't it have bought time for Senior Xiao to arrive?

Outside, Xiao Yan and the others all wore grave expressions. Even Venerable Yao had acted as though facing a great enemy; how could they have felt at ease after the mysterious man arrived?

"Come and pay your respects to Senior Mo!"

"He's an old acquaintance of Senior Xiao, so there's no need to worry."

Yao Chen introduced him to everyone.

A Dou Sheng?

The thought flashed through everyone's minds.

That was truly extraordinary!