Chapter 130 - Crooked Path

A 16-year-old girl stood at that table, still young and unaware of the true world. With so many looking at her, she couldn’t help but blush and fidget. 

“Xiao Lian, you don’t need to be so nervous. Just speak up.” Xiao Ya smiled.

Xiao Lian regained some of her calm by taking a deep breath, but looking at Zhuo Fan’s pill in her hand, she got redder.

Not from shyness, but at how hard it was to describe. She didn’t know what was wrong with her at the time, that she judged this pill to be 1st grade.

She now felt embarrassed when she thought about how she declared her verdict. Despite all that, she had no choice but to proceed, “Young master Song refined an Appetite Pill!”

She then lifted it way up high, letting its fragrance drift about.

However, the crowd was silent, before bursting out in laughter.

“Ha-ha-ha, is that even a pill? He is a cheat after all!”

“That thing is not even a 1st grade pill! They give it to children to help digestion! Is that what you call a pill?”

“I can make a handful of them in less than a minute. I won’t accept it if he wins with this!”

…

The crowd was getting rowdy again. Xiao Lian was scared. Because this was her judgment, she couldn’t avoid punishment.

She turned her hateful glare at Zhuo Fan. Blaming him.

Any random quack on the streets could make this Appetite Pill. Why did she have to speak out for the most basic pill?

She didn’t know, but Iris Overseer knew fully well, “He must’ve used Bewitching Whispers. He used it first on Dandan and now on Xiao Lian, in the 3rd layer of Qi Condensation.”

“Humph, this brat is on a crooked path.” Peony Overseer snorted, “Damn girl, you always have that dopey look on your face. Are you still under his spell?”

“Master, senior aunt undid it for me!” Blushing, Xiao Dandan watched Peony Overseer shyly, then her eyes looked pitiful when she turned to Zhuo Fan, “Actually, I couldn’t be happier if he used it on me again!”

Peony Overseer held her forehead and sighed. What’s so charming about that brat? That got her brash disciple so smitten?

Chu Qingcheng didn’t mind, only sighed, “Bewitching Whispers isn’t important. What matters now is that Song Yu failed to become the winner. The Vicious Pill King will once again condescend us. The only thing that changed is turning cheating into Xiao Lian’s mistake.”

The scene played out as what Chu Qingcheng had said. Xiao Ya gestured for the excited crowd to calm down, “Forgive us, this is a mistake on our disciple’s part. The first place in the first round will…”

“Wait!”

Zhuo Fan waved and eyed her from the side, “Judge, you’re not taking my Appetite Pill for a 1st grade pill?”

“Ha-ha-ha, you call that a pill?” Yan Fu cut Xiao Ya roff before she could reply with his ridicule and made those around him laugh.

Thousands of scornful pairs of eyes bore into Zhuo Fan.

[You dare come to a competition with such a pill? You must’ve been blind!]

Perking the corner of his mouth, Zhuo Fan looked passed the mockery sent his way and spoke matter-of-factly at Yan Fu, “Then please, oh the best alchemist of Pill King Hall, Vicious Pill King’s prized pupil, young master Yan Fu, enlighten me. Just what exactly is the Appetite Pill?”

“Of course it’s…”

Yan Fu suddenly froze. He recalled something but he didn’t get the chance to continue.

Snickering, Zhuo Fan turned to the crowd, finally resting his cold smile on Yan Fu, “What, cat got your tongue? Ha-ha-ha, then let me refresh your memory. There are 12 pill grades, and 1st grade is the lowest. I can just throw the ingredients in the fire and, as long as it’s refined, the least it’ll be is 1st grade!”

The hubbub stopped in a flash, from the sheer shock his words implied. Even the faces of those mocking him froze, yet their eyes were bulging out of their sockets.

[Why didn’t I think of that?]

Because the Appetite Pill was that easy, that simple, even a normal person could make it.

This made the alchemists look past it.

But by definition, the lowest grade a pill could be was 1st grade. As long as the ingredients were refined, it was called a pill. Even the a botten of the barrel pill is considered to be 1st grade.

Speaking of it from this point of view, the Appetite Pill was undeniably a goddamned 1st-grade pill. Although, for everyone else, getting the first place in the Hundred Pill Meeting with such a lame pill was too insulting.

This led to everyone turning to Xiao Ya to hear her verdict.

Xiao Ya fell on pins and needles. Every single one of the participants here gave their all, even with a 1st-grade pill. They all wanted to excel.

Who could have foreseen such a weirdo use the lowest of the lowest pill to compete in the meeting? And to top it all of, he fuckin’ won!

Giving him first place would make the other alchemists feel unfair. So Xiao Ya could only compromise, “Young master Song, your pill may have somewhat fulfilled the bare minimum, but the first pl…”

“Is mine!” Zhuo Fan cut her short.

His haughty attitude led Vicious Pill King to feel newfound rage for him, “You little prick, are you that shameless? You already cleared a spot, so don’t push it! That Appetite Pill may be a 1st grade but it’s the worst there is. It can’t get any lower than this.”

“Isn’t the worst also a 1st grade? The judge clearly stated: refine a 1st grade pill and compete in speed. Each of you are morons. You didn’t listen to the rules and tried to refine a great pill. Who’s to blame for your loss? There’s no way I’m giving up my spot!”

Zhuo Fan’s attitude was beyond arrogant and earned the ire of every alchemist. But they had no words to refute.

They could only stomp in hatred.

[Son of a bitch! Why couldn’t I have found the loophole in the rules? This damn runt used it instead! I could refine an Appetite Pill even faster than him!]

Dismay flowed like a river in the hearts of each of the thousands of alchemists. But who could blame them? The opportunity to win was right there in front of them, but they did not see it.

So, they chose to direct all their anger onto Zhuo Fan. They looked at him as their worst enemy. It was fine if he had used real skill to win, but Zhuo Fan just got the biggest advantage, a cheap trick, to get in front of them. None of them could ever accept it.

All their killing intent seemed to fly right past Zhuo Fan, who found the time to even smile, “Oh my, you know what they say, envy of talent and all that. It seems that yours truly has been pretty outstanding so far.”

The crowd was a powder keg primed and ready to blow.

Xiao Ya shook her head helplessly, “Young master Song, I’ve seen my fair share of shameless people, but you’re the worst by far.”

“He-he-he, what are talking about? This is yours truly’s nature!” Zhuo Fan grinned, “They didn’t consider their own nature while yours truly is the most at peace with myself. I earned first place, prop and all!”

Seeing him tooting his horn, Xiao Ya felt sick and no longer paid attention to this dissolute young master.

The alchemists looked down on him. He had no skill, they thought. He used a crooked path, they thought. He’d be washed up next round, they thought.

Though one man among them looked at him with a stern face.

It was none other than the newly kicked in 5th spot, Liu Yizhen.

He was just like the others at first, mocking Zhuo Fan for saying the end justified his demeaning means. Taking him for an incompetent fool.

But Zhuo Fan leaked the fact the first round wasn’t about speed but one’s mind, a test to their nature. This shocked him and he began to look at Zhuo Fan with different eyes.

Were there even a handful among these thousands of alchemists who caught the test’s real meaning? Yet, this immoral young master saw through it with a glance. Was he perhaps a hidden gem, a grand alchemy genius?

If so, then refining the Appetite Pill may not have been his limit, only complying with the rules.

Liu Yizhen no longer wore a casual expression but one of dead seriousness.

The Tianyu Empire had many talents crop up in recent years. Not only the Vicious Pill King’s prized pupil, Yan Fu, but now this outstanding genius as well.

This would make the Hundred Pill Meeting more intense by the second! [I thought getting third would be alright, but by the looks of things, I might not even make it to the fifth place…]

Grandmaster Liu started sinking into depression.

Refining all his life, he never achieved anything great, and many outstanding youngsters kept overtaking him. It was sad, and regretful…

“Although I do not wish to, I still must declare young master Song as the first place winner of this round!” Not paying attention to the old man’s lament, nor Zhuo Fan’s true strength, Xiao Ya declared with a sigh.

In an instant, everyone hissed.

Zhuo Fan couldn’t care less, grinning at them. To him, they were just a blind fool with no future!

Vicious Pill King snorted, “You had it easy this time, but I will throw you out the next round!”

“Humph, can you?” After a sneer, Zhuo Fan turned around and pointed at the words on his back with pride, “Take a good look, you’re just the Vicious Pill King, while I am Heaven-toppling Pill!”

Vicious Pill King laughed coldly, “You think wearing a dead man’s cloak will help you? Ha-ha-ha, Chu Qingtian was a genius, but couldn’t compare to me in alchemy. Heaven-toppling Pill is just his own egotistical words. Speaking of it, his death at the hands of my antidote is proof of how naive and immature he was.”

“Yan Song, is that formula truly fake?” Tao Danniang couldn’t help but ask.

Yan Song snickered, “Would you be looking like this if it weren’t? He-he-he, that foolish kid didn’t know his limits, stole my formula and ended up killing himself with it, taking down others with him. Getting beaten to death by Drifting Flowers Edifice’s people was his just deserts.”

Tao Danniang clenched her fists, her eyes burning with anger, “I have worked three years on it, only to find out it’s fake.”

Up on the terrace, Chu Qingcheng bit her lip as the killing intent in her eyes grew. It was thanks to the two overseers stopping her that she didn’t charge at Yan Song.

Long Jiu sighed.

He understood Chu Qingcheng’s feelings. Who could stand to watch their most hated enemy that put their little brother to death continue to humiliate him?

Zhuo Fan then said something that left them speechless.

“Yet here I am, standing before you in his cloak!”

His tone was calm and looked at Yan Song with a challenging grin.

Yan Song couldn’t help but clench his fists, his eyes gradually reddening, burning with endless rage…