HSSB633: Too low level, can’t catch his eye
The Dim Darkness Sect contained three halls, the Non-Brightness Hall, the Primordial Darkness Hall and the Obscure Dimness Hall.
It was the Non-Brightness Hall and the Primordial Darkness Hall that were competing right now.
Both parties were Martial Grandmaster experts, one being at the late Essence Spirit stage while the other was at the early Essence Talisman stage.
While there was a gap between their cultivation bases, at this level, one’s attainments in alchemy depended more on their individual skill, their cultivation bases not being a decisive factor.
Some Martial Grandmasters even had higher attainments in alchemy than Martial Saints. This was not all that rare a thing.
At the very least, after Yan Zhaoge had glanced twice at them, he felt that the Essence Spirit Martial Grandmaster of the Non-Brightness Hall might be somewhat more proficient in the area of alchemy.
Not having to personally concoct pills now, the possible effects of the discrepancy in their cultivation bases were therefore completely wiped away.
Projecting and restoring pill formulas was purely in the theoretical domain. While there was the suspicion of them not knowing what they were talking about, Yan Zhaoge could observe things more directly this way.
“Oh, their proficiency isn’t low…” Yan Zhaoge secretly nodded to himself after watching for a moment, “Growing from the low to the high, the World beyond Worlds has also inherited the most legacies from pre-Great Calamity times, or one might say developed the fastest. Its standard is not just a little bit higher than the Eight Extremities World, Floating Life World and Vast Ocean World.”
Ah Hu secretly sent Yan Zhaoge a sound transmission, “Young Master, who do you think will win?”
“The one from the Non-Brightness Hall,” Yan Zhaoge replied casually, “Still, if I were to say, both of them should be considered losers.”
Ah Hu stared, looking rather blankly at Yan Zhaoge.
Looking at that pill formula, Yan Zhaoge said casually, “To them, how can restoring an incomplete pill formula come so easily?”
“If it could be completed within a short period of time, this pill formula would already long since have been restored fully with pills concocted using the suitable ingredients. Why would it still have been used for a competition?”
“The content of their competition is actually only to see who can restore more of those contents within a set period of time. Of course, the precondition to this is that they cannot make a mistake.”
“Although that one of the Primordial Darkness Hall is a little faster now, he has already made a mistake,” Yan Zhaoge said mildly, “The one from the Non-Brightness Hall is fine for now. Still, slow labour in careful work. He is just much too slow.”
Ah Hu scratched his head, “Young Master, do you have the complete pill formula?”
Yan Zhaoge said, “I don’t. Still, after having viewed the contents of the pill formula, it should be a pill known as the Scenic Heart Pill that was rather common in pre-Great Calamity times but has already been discontinued now. I had not thought that I would see a remnant portion of its formula here.”
He was not lying to Ah Hu. Yan Zhaoge indeed didn’t have the formula for the Scenic Heart Pill, the reason for this actually being that the level of this pill was just too low…
Still, Yan Zhaoge’s attainments in the dao of alchemy were just too much higher than everyone here.
With just a mere few glances, Yan Zhaoge already had a rough approximate of what both sides were unable to project and restore within a short amount of time.
After all, aside from artifact forging, what he was most proficient in were alchemy and formations.
Of these, formations had been painstakingly trained on by him afterwards while alchemy had been his forte all along.
Still, he had not been able to display too much of it initially, due to the fact that he had left an impression on others of not being very proficient at alchemy in the days of his youth.
The time when he had helped the Eldest Prince Zhao Yuan to beat down Zhao Hao in the Eastern Tang Kingdom that year was a special case, having been in consideration of the national situation.
Accompanied by his increase in cultivation base, as there were more and more places he went to with his experience growing richer as well, he could naturally grow gradually in the area of alchemy, allowing his true grasp of it to be displayed more and more over the years.
Ah Hu chuckled, egging Yan Zhaoge on, “Young Master, aren’t you intending to show them a thing or two? Letting them know what really is called standard?”
Yan Zhaoge said nonchalantly, “Showing a thing or two would also not be done in front of them. Even them being able to understand what is shown would also be a problem.”
Ah Hu stared, only recovering after a long time whereupon he shot Yan Zhaoge a thumbs up, “Young Master, I really worship you so much!”
Yan Zhaoge composedly and leisurely watched the competition between the two Dim Darkness Sect martial practitioners like a teacher watching two students squabbling.
To him, victory and defeat wasn’t really of any consequence at all in this competition. He was merely observing these two people to project the alchemy standard of the Dim Darkness Sect, therefore doing so for the Royal Reed Sea and the entire World beyond Worlds as well by extension.
Yan Zhaoge was in a leisurely mood, yet Wu Zixiu and Nie Sheng felt pained.
Nie Sheng smiled bitterly as he looked at Wu Zixiu, “Elder Wu, what if he doesn’t go over? Could it be that he isn’t proficient in this?”
Wi Zixiu shook his head, saying confidently, “That can’t be it. His expression is not that of someone who is ignorant of the ways of the art. Instead, he appears full of confidence. Heh, I’m afraid that he might be scorning the level of the Scenic Heart Pill for being too low.”
Nie Sheng frowned, “In not speaking up, is it due to politeness or has he realised our intentions?”
Wu Zixiu pondered for a moment before shaking his head, “He should not have detected it. If he has, either he is being polite or he is completely disdainful of even bothering with it.”
The old man sighed, “From the looks of things, his level might be even higher than what this old man had thought.”
Nie Sheng pondered for a moment, “What if he is unrelated to the Southeastern Exalt, coming from an even more faraway place?”
Wu Zixiu fell silent.
If Yan Zhaoge was unrelated to the Southeastern Exalt and instead hailed from an even more distant place, he would have overstepped his bounds!
If it was merely normal adventuring and nothing cropped up, that would be fine. However, if something cropped up and he had gotten on good terms with their Dim Darkness Sect, the Southeastern Exalt might even be provoked and enraged after the incident.
From how it appeared now, Yan Zhaoge having enmity with the Radiant Light Sect and also just having slain someone of the Grand Xuan Dynasty, it didn’t seem like nothing would happen at all.
Wu Zixiu slowly exhaled, “Not being able to clarify his background, I just cannot rest at ease.”
Nie Sheng looked at Wu Zixiu for a while, “Elder Wu, it cannot be that you are intending to go on in person, right?”
Wu Zixiu said, “That won’t be necessary.”
Saying thus, he summoned someone inside. It was a Non-Brightness Hall Elder who was at the first level of the Martial Saint realm, the early Merging Avatar stage.
Nie Sheng recognised him as Wu Zixiu’s personal disciple, Chen Ke.
Elder Chen Ke possessing Wu Zixiu’s teachings in his martial arts aside, he was also outstanding in the domain of alchemy, being one of the peak figures amongst the Dim Darkness Sect’s Merging Avatar Martial Saints.
After Wu Zixiu had explained things to him, Chen Ke nodded, “Abiding by Master’s instructions.”
The next moment, Chen Ke appeared in the pill concoction hall.
Looking as if he had just arrived there by chance, he exchanged greetings with Yan Zhaoge. The Dim Darkness Sect disciples bowed to him as well, after which he indicated for the match to continue.
Chen Ke began chatting casually with Yan Zhaoge. Yan Zhaoge discovered that his attainments in alchemy were really not bad, being even more brilliant than those two currently competing Martial Grandmasters.
Like this, Yan Zhaoge was not in a hurry to leave as he chatted casually with Chen Ke whilst waiting for the match to end.
The match would not have to be examined and debated over with the other party. Instead, Chen Ke would act as their judge. While Chen Ke was an Elder of the Non-Brightness Hall, the martial practitioners of the Primordial Darkness Hall did not voice any objections to this.
Chen Ke glanced at Yan Zhaoge from the corner of his eye before taking the lead in appraising their work.