Chapter 17

Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio

The crowd watched as Zhou Yun threw ingredients into the alchemy furnace like he was cooking. It did not look like he was refining pills.

His presentation greatly disappointed everyone. Everyone thought that he had already given up trying.

The Grand Elder also snorted coldly. Only then did the people present realize that the Grand Elder had arrived unnoticed at the alchemy room.

“Even the Grand Elder is here!”

“Even the sect’s Grand Elder, who hasn’t shown himself in public for several years, has come. It seems that Zhou Yun has drawn himself quite a crowd.”

“Could it be that the Grand Elder is also here to see Zhou Yun?”

“It should be so. However, Sir Pill’s expression doesn’t look too good.”

Everyone quickly shifted their gazes to the Grand Elder and saw a trace of displeasure on his face.

Everyone revealed an expression of understanding when they saw the Grand Elder’s expression and Zhou Yun’s performance.

Qin Xiu heaved a sigh of relief when he saw Zhou Yun’s performance. A sneer immediately appeared on his face.

Zhou Yun’s confident expression had almost fooled him into believing that the former could really pull it off.

Now, it seemed as though Zhou Yun had given up and didn’t plan to refine pills at all.

Someone commented, “How could Sir Pill be in a good mood after meeting someone like Zhou Yun? It’s one thing for Zhou Yun to not know how to refine pills, but he’s also wasting the ingredients.”

“That’s right. Zhou Yun was a good-for-nothing to begin with, so he probably feels that he has no future in this life. He wanted to do something out of line to make everyone remember him!”

“It’s too late now. Zhou Yun’s technique is completely wrong. How can he refine pills in such a manner?”

“Sigh. It’s fine if he’s a piece of trash, but he’s also troubling the sect leader and Sir Pill. He is such a disgrace to the outer sect.”

“Everyone, let’s stay away from him. From the looks of it, his alchemy furnace might explode. Everyone, step back.”

When he heard the words of the crowd, Ling Qingyun felt a little uneasy. He was still present, yet the disciples were mocking Zhou Yun in front of his face. Indirectly, they were disrespecting his decision to give Zhou Yun a chance to prove himself. Shouldn’t they wait until he had finished before talking about it?

Ling Qingyun was ready to stand up and reprimand the crowd. Just as he was about to do so, he saw the Grand Elder staring at him unblinkingly, a look of displeasure on his face.

The sect leader’s anger was immediately extinguished, and he smiled at the Grand Elder sheepishly.

Then, he shifted his gaze to Su Wanyi and glared at her.

Feeling the sect leader’s gaze, Su Wanyi was confused. She thought, “Why is the sect master glaring at me? I just got here.”

After she went to call the sect leader, the latter immediately flew away. She hurriedly followed behind, but unfortunately, the sect leader was too fast. In the blink of an eye, she had lost sight of him.

When she arrived at the Alchemy Pavilion, she realized that there were only a few people left in the originally crowded alchemy room.

After many inquiries, she found out that the sect leader had brought everyone to Alchemy Room No.1.

When Su Wanyi approached the crowd, she found out from everyone that Zhou Yun did not know how to refine pills.

“Eldest Senior Sister, Zhou Yun actually doesn’t know anything about alchemy. Look at his technique. Does it look like he’s refining pills?”

“That’s right, Zhou Yun is a complete piece of trash. He was not caught in the past, but now, in front of everyone, he can’t pretend anymore and will be exposed!”

Su Wanyi’s heart gradually sank as she listened to their statements. She never imagined that a person she thought so highly of would refine pills in this manner.

The sect leader trusted her so much that he directly brought the person she recommended to Alchemy Room No.1. It turned out that Zhou Yun might know how to refine pills.

Su Wanyi’s face also revealed a trace of anger.

Right then, Qin Xiu no longer held back and directly mocked Zhou Yun loudly.

“Zhou Yun, you piece of trash, don’t waste medicinal ingredients if you can’t refine pills. Don’t you know how hard it is to obtain them nowadays?”

“You’re still trying to show off in this situation. You’re wasting everyone’s time.”

From the looks of it, Zhou Yun would not be able to make a comeback no matter what he did. Qin Xiu was extremely excited when he thought of this.

He kept mocking Zhou Yun.

When Qiao’er heard Qin Xiu’s sarcasm, she was furious. She took out her sword and pointed it at Qin Xiu.

Qin Xiu was about to continue mocking excitedly when a sword suddenly appeared in front of him. The sword looked very small and delicate, like a child’s toy, but it contained a huge amount of spiritual Qi.

Qin Xiu couldn’t help but shiver when he sensed the Qi.

He would not be able to block this sword if it attacked him.

“If you dare to insult Brother Zhou Yun again, I will kill you!”

Qiao’er’s angry voice reached Qin Xiu’s ears.

Qin Xiu’s back broke out in a cold sweat. From Qiao’er’s tone, he was convinced of her conviction to do so.

When the crowd saw this, they quickly stepped back to avoid getting involved.

The fight between two inner sect disciples was not something that outer sect disciples like them could meddle in. Just the aftershock from the inner sect disciples’ attacks was enough to injure them.

Su Wanyi intervened, saying, “Alright, that’s enough. Let’s wait until Zhou Yun finishes first. We’ll only know the result at the end, right?”

When everyone heard her gentle voice, they felt as though a spring breeze had swept over them.

Under Su Wanyi’s persuasion, Qiao’er slowly lowered her sword. After giving Qin Xiu a glare, she turned her eyes to Zhou Yun.

No matter what the others thought, she would always believe in Brother Zhou Yun!

After Qin Xiu narrowly escaped death, his dissatisfaction with Zhou Yun grew even stronger. He even developed a grudge against the latter.

He cursed internally, “Zhou Yun! You’re such a good-for-nothing. Why are you always on Junior Sister Qiao’er’s good side?”

What did Zhou Yun do? Why did Junior Sister Qiao’er trust him so much?

He was a complete piece of trash. Qin Xiu wondered in what way he was inferior to the former.

He couldn’t accept this!

After the brief interlude between the two inner disciples, everyone once again turned their attention to Zhou Yun.

Most people still didn’t have high hopes in him. Some people had already stopped watching and sat down to rest with their eyes closed. It was obvious that they didn’t have any hope for him.

Aside from these people, there were also a few seasoned alchemists who were staring at Zhou Yun.

They had all noticed the same thing.

Why was Zhou Yun still able to continue?

Logically speaking, with his technique, he should have failed long ago. At the very least, the herbs would turn into ashes and the fire in the alchemy furnace would be extinguished. In the worst-case scenario, the alchemy furnace would explode.

Regardless, the process should have ceased by now.

Why was Zhou Yun still able to continue refining pills?

The Grand Elder was also staring at Zhou Yun right now.

He obviously had also noticed this abnormality.

The success of alchemy depended on two factors: the heat control of the furnace and the proportion of herbs used. The norm was to first determine the proportion of herbs to be used and then put in effort on the heat control to ensure the successful refining of the pills.

However, Zhou Yun’s method had not resulted in failure yet. Out of curiosity, he calmed down and waited for the end result.

Finally, under everyone’s gaze, a burst of fire surged out of the alchemy furnace.

Whoosh.

A series of muffled sounds and scorching heat waves were constantly emitted from the alchemy furnace.

Everyone revealed looks of excitement and astonishment when they saw this.

The pills were about to be refined.