Chapter 45 Winning the Championship
"I am not wrong, right?"
"Wow, ten top-grade medicinal pills, can a human being refine this?"
"Didn't he just get distracted? Can anyone tell me why?"
"Are you stupid? Did you see the expressions of those two third-grade alchemists? If you use your brain a little, you will know that they were definitely not distracted just now."
"This is the first time I've seen someone refine ten top-grade pills in one furnace during the apprentice competition..."
"I remember reading in a sect manual that four hundred or five hundred years ago, there was a senior who also refined ten top-grade elixirs in the apprentice competition. I remember that he seemed to have entered a realm, which seemed to be called the realm of heaven and man..."
"Yes, yes, I have an impression of him too. That senior seems to be a fourth-grade alchemist now. He seems to be one of the Nascent Soul ancestors of our sect!"
…
It was the first time for all the disciples to see such a miraculous thing, and they gathered together to discuss it. Among them was a learned man who answered their questions.
Only then did they realize that Li Yu was not in a daze, but had entered a magical state. This state allowed alchemists to perform beyond their level and even refine elixirs that were beyond their current level.
That's how I got those ten top-grade medicinal pills.
Li Yu may not have the ability, but he definitely has luck.
"Ah, Senior Brother Zhao is so pitiful ..."
"As long as he participates in the competition, there will be accidents."
"Something that happens only once every four or five hundred years has happened. He should just accept his fate..."
Inside the formation, Zhao Wuliang stared blankly at the ten top-grade pills. After a long time, he sighed deeply, a look of relief appeared on his face. He clasped his fists towards Li Yu and said, "Congratulations, Junior Brother..."
Li Yu still looked confused and murmured, "Who can tell me what happened just now?"
Zhao Wuliang smiled slightly and explained, "Junior brother, you have just entered a state that alchemists dream of, called the state of heaven and man. You seem to be distracted, but in fact your mind is highly concentrated, but you are not aware of it..."
Li Yu suddenly realized: "Ah, so this is called the realm of heaven and man. I was wondering why I was distracted the first time I refined an elixir and even refined a top-grade elixir. I thought I was gifted..."
He thought to himself, The Realm of Heaven and Man, this is a good name, I will use it as an excuse to cheat in the future.
"What? You entered the realm of heaven and man on your first elixir-making experience?"
Li Yu's words made the two third-rank alchemists completely uneasy. The state of heaven and man is something that can only be encountered by chance, and they have never experienced it once in their entire lives. However, a mere alchemy apprentice has experienced it twice in a short period of time. This is not just luck, perhaps there is some trick...
Li Yu nodded and said, "I refined a top-grade elixir the first time I refined it. If you don't believe me, you can ask Elder Han. He can testify."
A third-rank alchemist asked, "Which Elder Han?"
Li Yu said: "Elder Han Tiancheng from Danding Peak."
The third-rank alchemist walked outside the formation and asked loudly, "Is Han Tiancheng from Danding Peak here?"
His voice, with the blessing of his Jindan stage cultivation, turned into rolling waves, resounding throughout the Lingxu Peak. After a while, a figure quickly flew over from the corner, clasped his fists and said, "Senior, I am here."
The third-grade alchemist looked at him and asked, "Did Li Yu really make a top-grade elixir on his first try?"
Han Tiancheng nodded immediately and said, "Senior, yes, I saw it with my own eyes. I have kept the elixir until now. If you don't believe me, you can go to Danding Peak with me to check it out."
The third-rank alchemist waved his hand and said, "No need."
Everything Li Yu said could be verified, which meant he was not lying. When he returned to Li Yu, the third-grade alchemist had put on a kind smile and asked, "Li Yu, do you have any tricks for your two distractions?"
Li Yu shook his head and said, "I don't know either. When I was refining the elixir, I was distracted for no apparent reason..."
This answer was exactly what the two third-rank alchemists had expected. As an apprentice of alchemy who didn't even know what the realm of heaven and man was, he certainly couldn't explain it. However, there must be a reason why he could enter that realm twice.
The two of them looked at him at the same time. Apart from his good looks, he really didn't have any obvious advantages.
The fact that he was not accepted as a disciple by the sect's strong men shows that his talent for cultivation is not that high. His cultivation level is entirely raised by elixirs. If he does not rely on others for free, he would be no different from an ordinary disciple.
But how could such an ordinary person enter the realm of heaven so many times?
There must be some reason behind being able to enter the realm of heaven and man so many times. The two of them tried their best to discover Li Yu's strengths.
As for his merits, he did have them. In the final round of the alchemy competition, he was not nervous at all and even had the energy to flirt with the female disciples. For hundreds of years, there was no one else like him.
Perhaps, he was favored by heaven because of his casual attitude?
Probably.
The more you want something, the less you get it, and the less you care about something, the easier it is to get it... This is true of everything in the world.
The two third-grade alchemists felt that they seemed to have realized something.
If one could truly comprehend the secret, perhaps one could reach the level of a fourth-grade Grandmaster in this lifetime.
One of them waved his hand to call over a foundation-building elder and said, "I will go back first. The rest of the things here are left to you..."
After saying that, he couldn't wait to leave, intending to go into seclusion to comprehend the secrets of the realm of heaven and man. The other third-grade alchemist obviously thought so too. After looking at Li Yu deeply, he also turned into a stream of light and left.
The two third-rank alchemists left without even the results of the competition being announced.
Just now, several other disciples had already produced pills, but everyone's attention was on Li Yu and not on them.
Their results were no better than those of Zhao Wuliang and Zheng Keqi.
The competition has its own rules. No matter what realm Li Yu has reached, the fact that he has refined ten top-grade pills is obvious to all. A line of words soon appeared at the top of the water curtain inside and outside the formation.
"Li Yu, ten top-grade pills, fifty pill patterns."
In this alchemy apprentice competition, he won the championship with absolute suppression and became the biggest dark horse.
At this moment, the atmosphere inside and outside Lingxu Peak was already boiling.
"He actually won the championship. This kid has something. No, a lot of things!"
"Wow, my Senior Brother Zhao..."
"To reach that magical realm in the last round of the competition, this kid is so lucky!"
"Nonsense, he has bad luck, how can he get the favor of Junior Sister Jiang?"
"Thirty Tongmai Pills, I'm so envious. If I had thirty Tongmai Pills, I could build my foundation..."
…
Several figures were standing on a spirit boat high in the sky.
A middle-aged man asked another person beside him, "Brother Zhao, I heard that Li Yu has not yet become a disciple. Are you interested in taking him as your disciple?"
Every year, the winner of the alchemy apprentice competition is the object of competition among all major alchemists. If they meet someone who has not yet become their disciple, even a third-rank alchemist will compete for him. They are also proud to have trained an outstanding disciple.
The man with three elixir patterns on his chest shook his head upon hearing this and said, "It's a pity that such a good alchemy seedling has such a poor talent for cultivation. He can take shortcuts in the Qi Refining Stage, but with his talent, when will he be able to form an elixir in the Foundation Establishment Stage? How can the sect have so many Tuomai Pills for him?"
The middle-aged man nodded upon hearing this and said, "Yes, if he practices the Five Meridians together, he won't know when he will be able to build his foundation. It is impossible for him to form a golden elixir in this lifetime. In the path of alchemy, he can only reach the second grade at most. Even if he refines the second grade elixir to perfection, it won't have much significance..."
The resources of the sect are limited. The situation is better in the Qi Refining Stage. Some geniuses can quickly build a foundation under the sect’s strong cultivation.
But when it comes to the foundation-building stage, the speed of cultivation will slow down. The elixir that can increase the cultivation of the foundation-building stage has reached the third grade. There are less than fifty people in the sect who can refine third-grade elixirs. In addition, the material limit, the elixir refined each month is very limited, far from enough for the geniuses of the sect to share, let alone for a person with average talent and five spiritual veins...
In the past, as soon as the competition was over, high-level alchemists would go to Lingxu Peak to snatch people.
But this time, facing the champion of the competition who had not yet become a disciple, no one took action.
Obviously, they had already investigated Li Yu and did not think he had much value in training. Even a third-grade alchemist could not be sure of training a disciple who had cultivated five spiritual veins to the Golden Core Stage...
If his cultivation level is not up to the Golden Core Stage, he is at most a second-grade alchemist. There are so many second-grade alchemists in Kunlun, one more or one less won’t make much either.
Standing on the spirit boat, the third-grade alchemist looked at a figure below with flickering eyes.
Although he had no interest in taking Li Yu as his apprentice, he was full of desire to know why Li Yu, an apprentice of alchemy, had entered the realm of heaven and man many times. This might be related to his opportunity to be promoted to a fourth-grade grandmaster.
He even had the idea of searching Li Yu's soul.
However, he quickly suppressed this bold idea. Although a high-level cultivator could obtain the memory of a low-level cultivator by searching their soul, it would cause great damage to the soul of the low-level cultivator. After the soul search, the person whose soul was searched would become stupid at best, or die suddenly at worst. This is Kunlun, not the Demonic Path. The sect would not allow him to do such a thing to its disciples...
Once discovered, even if he is a third-grade alchemist, he will not be able to escape punishment.
In addition, Li Yu's identity was a bit special. If it was any other disciple, he would dare to take the risk, but this person had a close relationship with the new genius, and was the direct disciple of the Xuanzhen Patriarch. He was somewhat apprehensive...
