"Oh?" The grey-clad old man seemed surprised that Bai Ping had vouched for Duan Ling Tian.
The three men looked at Duan Ling Tian, clearly still skeptical. They were already reluctant to accept that Duan Ling Tian was a prominent Celestial Alchemist who was not even 100 years old. Needless to say, they were even more reluctant to believe Duan Ling Tian was able to refine the prominent Celestial Pill, the Overarching Heaven Pill. After all, to refine the Overarching Heaven Pill, not only did the prominent Celestial Alchemist had to be skilled, but even the prominent Celestial Fire that was used had to meet high standards. However, the higher the level of the prominent Celestial Fire, the less skill was needed from the prominent Celestial Alchemist.
The grey-clad old man looked at Duan Ling Tian and bluntly said, "Master Duan, I'm Situ Ming. I'm a prominent Celestial Alchemist and a Revered Elder of the Tai Yi Celestial Sect… Can you show us how you refine the Overarching Heaven Pill? I promise that as long as you're able to refine the pills, I'll willingly acknowledge you as the Chief Celestial Alchemist of the Tai Yi Celestial Sect."
Despite Situ Ming's seemingly polite words, it was filled with barbs. However, Duan Ling Tian was not bothered. He only smiled and asked, "Master Situ, are you speaking for yourself or for the other two masters as well?" As he spoke, he glanced at the green-clad old man and the blue-clad middle-aged man.
The green-clad old man replied immediately, "Master Duan, if you can refine the Overarching Heaven Pill, then, I'll acknowledge you as the Chief Celestial Alchemist of the sect."
"Me too." The blue-robed middle-aged man concurred.
Before the three prominent Celestial Alchemists of the Tai Yi Celestial Sect had arrived, Duan Ling Tian had already learned their names from Bai Ping. The grey-clad old man was Situ Ming, the green-clad old man was Yang Chong, and the blue-clad middle-aged man was Yu Zhong Jing.
"Since the three masters have agreed to it, I won't waste any more time," Duan Ling Tian said.
A cauldron appeared as Duan Ling Tian raised his hand. It was the prominent Celestial Pill Cauldron that Long Fei Yun, the Thirteenth Prince of the Soaring Dragon Celestial Kingdom, had obtained for him.
Since Bai Ping knew Duan Ling Tian was going to refine the pill now, he raised his hand and set up a noise-canceling Formation to protect him from being disturbed.
"Is he really going to refine the Overarching Heaven Pill?"
"Can he even refine the Overarching Heaven Pill?"
"Impossible… How old is he? He's not even 100 years old. Even if he managed to become a prominent Celestial Alchemist before the age of 100, and even if he obtained a superior prominent Celestial Fire, it would still be impossible for him to refine the Overarching Heaven Pill."
The three prominent Celestial Alchemists exchanged a look as they communicated through Voice Transmission. All of them were skeptical of Duan Ling Tian's ability to refine the prominent Celestial Pill, the Overarching Heaven Pill.
"Well, let's just wait and see if he can refine the pills."
"You're right."
"If he really succeeds in refining the Overarching Heaven Pill, even if it's mainly due to his superior prominent Celestial Fire, I'll still acknowledge him as the Chief Celestial Alchemist even if he's not as skilled as me."
Although Duan Ling Tian was surrounded by the noise-canceling Formation set up by Bai Ping, it was invisible to the naked eye. Therefore, the three prominent Celestial Alchemists could clearly see the refining process. Initially, they looked on in contempt as they observed Duan Ling Tian's techniques. They felt it was a misnomer to call him a prominent Celestial Alchemist since Duan Ling Tian did not even use the pill cauldron in the correct manner. However, as soon as Duan Ling Tian summoned his third form Chaos Divine Flame, which everyone thought was a prominent Celestial Fire, the three Celestial Alchemists lost the contemptuous expressions on their faces. They were thoroughly shocked by what they saw.
At this moment, a gray flame danced in Duan Ling Tian's palm. As soon the flame appeared, it leaped into the pill cauldron and began the second step of refining the pills by heating the pill cauldron.
"What kind of Celestial Fire is that?"
"When that Celestial Fire appeared, my Celestial Fire became agitated. It was… It was as though it was trembling in fright!"
"You felt that as well? I thought I was the only one!"
"I really didn't think he'd be able to refine the Overarching Heaven Pill. However, I'm not too certain now."
Outside the noise-canceling Formation, the three men whispered among themselves as they observed Duan Ling Tian refining the Overarching Heaven Pill. They were clearly shocked by the third form Chaos Divine Flame that they thought was a prominent Celestial Fire.
Similarly, Bai Ping was shocked as well. "Master Duan's prominent Celestial Fire is… is so strong?"
The three prominent Celestial Alchemists were prideful men. However, when Bai Ping saw the shocked expressions on their faces when Duan Ling Tian summoned his third form Chaos Divine Flame, his confidence in Duan Ling Tian increased by many folds. Although he had supported Duan Ling Tian earlier due to his trust in Tie Tai He, he was still anxious since he was not familiar with Duan Ling Tian. After seeing the flame that Duan Ling Tian conjured up, he was much calmer now.
Soon after, Duan Ling Tian stopped heating the pill cauldron and began to bring out the necessary ingredients.
"It's over?"
"Heavens! Such a short time has passed!"
"Is this a joke?"
The three prominent Celestial Alchemists were familiar with the average time needed to heat a pill cauldron. Duan Ling Tian's speed was way too fast! They knew the speed to heat up a cauldron was related to the strength of the Celestial Flame, but this speed was too exaggerated even if Duan Ling Tian's prominent Celestial Fire was extraordinary! They were dumbfounded by how fast it took for Duan Ling Tian to heat the pill cauldron.
Situ Ming muttered, "It takes me at least nine hours to heat up the pill cauldron, and yet, it only took him half an hour! This… This is crazy!"
"I'm roughly about the same as you… Half an hour is just too preposterous," Yu Zhong Jingsaid in shock and disbelief.
"Is he playing a trick on us? It would be a waste of the ingredients if the pill cauldron isn't heated properly," Yu Zhong Jing said with a frown.
All Celestial Alchemists knew that pill cauldrons had to be properly heated to guarantee the success of refining pills. It would be impossible to refine pills if there was even the slightest mistake in this crucial step.
"I don't think so… The ingredients to refine the Overarching Heaven Pill are highly valuable. I don't think he would waste it like that. There's a chance that he really succeeded in heating the pill cauldron in half an hour," Yang Chong said despite his doubts.
"Impossible!" Yu Zhong Jing said disapprovingly and vehemently as he shook his head, "Among the three of us, I have the fastest speed in regard to heating pill cauldrons. In the entire Wasteland, only Xiao Yu Chan from the Thousand Spiders Celestial Sect is faster than me. It'd take me about eight and a half hours to heat up my pill cauldron. Even Xiao Yu Chan needs eight hours to successfully heat up his pill cauldron! It's impossible to heat a pill cauldron in just half an hour! Even the most skilled prominent Celestial Alchemist with the most extraordinary prominent Celestial Fire would take at least five hours to heat up the pill cauldron." Yu Zhong Jing did not believe at all that Duan Ling Tian had completed heating up the cauldron in half an hour.
"He has begun to throw the ingredients into the pill cauldron!" Situ Ming said through Voice Transmission, causing Yu Zhong Jing to regain his senses.
"Isn't the way he's feeding the ingredients to the pill cauldron too messy and unrefined?" Yang Chong was utterly baffled by Duan Ling Tian's unsightly techniques.
In any case, the technique of feeding ingredients to the pill cauldrons was not important. In the Devata Realms, there was a total of nine steps in the process of refining Celestial Pills; there was the positioning the cauldron, the heating of the cauldron, retrieving the ingredients, feeding the ingredients to the cauldron, refining the pills, dissolving the pill, gathering spirit, forming the pill, and harvesting the pill. The crucial steps that would determine the outcome of the pill refinement were the cauldron heating, pill refining, pill dissolving, spirit gathering, and pill forming.