C77 A Scam Artist!

Lu Mingyan looked at Zhan Tianming with contempt.

Different alchemists had different areas of expertise; Lu Mingyan's was producing high-quality pills. He had once even produced a pill with 90% purity.

He was well aware of the process that gave birth to a high-quality pill.

Never once had he refined a pill that was less than 70% pure.

This ability helped him stand amongst the top 10 alchemists of the younger generation in the entire country.

Top 10!

Not just any cat or dog could be included in this rankings.

"Humph! Prepare for a miserable loss!"

Lu Mingyan scoffed at Zhan Tianming, then took a pen and paper and wrote down a list of ingredients.

Then, he looked at Lin Zongzheng Shangjun with a humble expression and said respectfully, "Uncle, I want to refine a Hundred Flower Jade Dew Pill. I don't have all the herbs on me; I wonder if you can help me prepare them?'

Lin Zongzheng Shangjun laughed and said, "Of course."

Finally, he looked at Zhan Tianming and said, "I'll also prepare the herbs for Nephew Zhang. Of course, those herbs have to be available in my humble abode. Haha!"

Obviously, Zhan Tianming wasn't going to refuse free herbs.

It also saved him a lot of trouble.

Following that, Zhan Tianming also wrote down the list of ingredients for his Hundred Flower Jade Dew Pill.

Soon...

The medicinal herbs arrived.

Zhan Tianming and Lu Mingyan each got three batches of their ingredients.

After all, pill refining was not a process with a 100% success rate.

However, if he used up all three batches of ingredients and still failed to refine a pill, it would only prove that his skills as an alchemist were limited.

In that case, it was better to admit defeat.

This was an unwritten rule in the pill refining world.

Even Lin Zongzheng Shangjun, who was not a pill refiner, knew about it.

Lu Mingyan glanced at Zhan Tianming in disdain and began wholeheartedly inspecting the herbs.

From the looks of it, he really did have the bearing of an alchemist.

On the other hand, Zhan Tianming just casually swept a glance over it.

After all, one glance was enough for the system to appraise all the medicinal ingredients.

Nothing was out of place with the herbs.

And he also had no complaints about the herbs' quality.

Meanwhile...

When Feng Lejiang saw how leisurely Zan Tianming was acting, his heartfelt endless waves of joy and delight.

As long as Zhan Tianming lost, the Cosmic Bag would be his.

He even wished for Zhan Tianming to be more careless.

Feng Wushuang and the others also frowned, thinking that Zhan Tianming's actions were a little too easygoing.

Would he really win like this?

Zhan Tianming did not rush to refine the ingredients into a pill.

After all, he had never seen how pill refining was done in this world.

First, he wanted to see how Lu Mingyan refined it.

Then he would make his move.

If he revealed too much information related to the system, it would only raise suspicion.

Lu Mingyan noticed that Zha Tianming was staring at him. However, he didn't pay Zhan Tianming any mind and continued organizing his ingredients.

After he was done, he flicked his finger.

Swoosh!

A red lump of flame fell into the cauldron.

Immediately, the cauldron floated up.

Then, Lu Mingyan brought out a portion of the medicinal ingredients he had organized. He placed a herb from this portion in the cauldron and covered it with the lid.

Following that, he gently placed a palm near the cauldron.

Swoosh...

Swoosh...

Flames from his Fire Attribute gushed out from his palm and instantly surrounded the cauldron.

The refining had begun.

A moment later, he added another herb.

Then, he continued refining.

Zhan Tianming frowned.

'This how refining is done?'

'Too slow!'

'How can I imitate something so slow and annoying?'

'Forget it.'

Zhan Tianming couldn't be bothered to watching any more of this tortoise race.

This Lu Mingyan was only a second-grade alchemist; despite being a slowpoke, he was considered a genius. This proved that this entire country's alchemy level wasn't that high. So, even if Zhan Tianming ended up attracting a lot of attention, it would be okay. After all, he could simply feed them lies about being a high-level alchemist.

Zhan Tianming stuffed his entire first batch into the cauldron.

Then, a lump of true qi left his palm and entered the cauldron.

However...

'Damn it! Why isn't cauldron reacting? Why isn't my cauldron levitating?!'

'What the hell's happening?'

Zhan Tianming did not understand.

Just now, he had—very clearly—seen Lu Mingyan drop a lump of true qi into the cauldron, and it then started floating in midair.

So, why wasn't his cauldron partaking in such airy activity?

Lin Zongzheng Shangjun and the rest watched Zhan Tianming's actions; their hearts were all filled with astonishment.

'Is this guy a scam artist? Can he do it?'

Never before had they seen an alchemist shove all his herbs at once into the cauldron.

More outrageous was the fact that he couldn't even make his cauldron levitate. Wasn't this like "Chapter-1: How To Look Awesome While Pill Refining?" in Alchemy Academy?

But this...

At this point, everyone was suspecting Zhan Tianming's claims.

No matter how you looked at it, he didn't look like an alchemist.

Feng Wushuang immediately broke out in a cold sweat, worried about Zhan Tianming.

Meanwhile, Zhan Tianming continued pouring true qi into the cauldron; soon, he realized that it just won't float. So, he gave up on that and started a new act. He brought out both his palms and began making hand seals and muttering.

Then...

He suddenly grabbed the cauldron and used his own Fire Attribute to release flames from his palms.

Swoosh!

Swoosh!

The flames instantly engulfed the cauldron.

Meanwhile, Zhan Tianming muttered in his heart, "Pill refining!"

"Ding, dong!"

"Congratulations! Host Zhan Tianming, you've successfully refined a Hundred Flower Jade Dew Pill."

"Success?"

Zhan Tianming was momentarily stunned; soon after, he became happy.

He didn't expect success.

No! It would be more correct to say that he didn't expect success in his very first attempt.

He could not help but look at Lu Mingyan, who was still wholeheartedly concocting the pills.

"Ah, Lu Mingyan, oh Lu Mingyan... Looks like even the heavens are helping me."

"You won't lose unjustly."

Laughing lightly, Zhan Tianming opened the system interface.

Pill: Hundred Flower Jade Dew Pill (Heaven)

Purity: 90%

Zhan Tianming grinned.

'OK!'

It looked like his 15 extra points of luck were proving themselves quite useful.

Although the Hundred Flower Jade Dew Pill was a Heaven Grade pill, Zhan Tianming, an Earth Grade alchemist, could still refine it. However, the same couldn't be said about any other Earth Grade alchemist.

Even for Zhan Tianming...

The success rate of refining a Hundred Flower Jade Dew Pill was only 50%.

However, thanks to those 15 points of luck he got from that pendant, he succeeded in his first attempt.

A minute later...

"Done!"

Zhan Tianming pretended to refine this pill in the cauldron for a minute before retracting the flames and placing it on the table.

"This... You're already done refining the pill?"

Everyone was stunned.

Zhan Tianming's sudden action even affected Lu Mingyan's mental state. It resulted in him losing control and a weak explosion to sound out from within the cauldron.

Boom!

Lu Mingyan's heart thumped.

His first attempt had resulted in failure.

However, Lu Mingyan was not in a hurry to refine the second batch.

"Brother Zhan, are you done concocting the pill?"

"I think you're just playing with all of us?"