Chapter 921, Attacked
What was shocking to the five Grandmasters was not Xia Ning Chang’s great strength.
Although she was already a Third Order Transcendent at such a young age, that was irrelevant to the Grandmasters. They simply assumed she was like Yang Kai, a genius in the Martial Dao.
The key point was that the nature of her body’s strength, it wasn’t of the Flame Attribute or the Yang Attribute.
Whether it was Alchemy or Artifact Refining, one needed to use burning power in order to melt, purify, and then blend the various essences of herbs or minerals in order to refine pills or artifacts. Only by applying such heat could one bring out the true potential of their raw materials.
As such, Alchemist and Artifact Refiners had to cultivate either Fire Attribute or the Yang Attribute Secret Arts, causing the True Qi in their bodies to always be scalding hot.
However, the True Qi sent out by Xia Ning Chang was extremely gentle, with an aura that exuded one close to that of the natural world.
How was this Alchemy? The five Grandmasters were all stumped.
But the next moment, all of them were simultaneously dumbfounded.
The Saint Grade herbs that were wrapped in invisible power gently floated in front of Xia Ning Chang and under her gentle, natural force, began to break down, their medicinal essences congealing together into droplets of incomparable pure medicinal liquid while the remaining dregs were discarded.
Xia Ning Chang’s body remained motionless, only a constant stream of power flowed out from her as her two jade hands formed a number of profound seals that she sent towards the purified herbs.
The Grandmaster’s expression all became solemn, each of them wearing a look of shock as they stared fixedly towards Xia Ning Chang, none of them even blinking for fear they might miss one of her actions.
With the eyesight of the five Grandmasters, they could instantly tell that this little girl in front of them had a deep understanding and possessed profound skills in Alchemy. The way she condensed and processed these drops of medicinal liquids was exquisite, to the point that even they would not have been able to do any better than her.
The efficacy of each herb was perfectly extracted without the slightest waste, and through her incredible methods, all of them were condensed and gradually gathered together.
Drops of medicinal liquid floated like pearls in front of Xia Ning Chang.
Pointing a single jade finger out, Xia Ning Chang pushed the gentle force from her body out once more, taking her finger as a pen and her True Qi as ink to draw a delicate Spirit Array mid-air.
The speed at which she portrayed this Spirit Array was astonishing.
The observing Grandmasters keenly realized that the Spirit Array she was using was nearly identical to the one used by Yang Kai. Clearly, they had been taught by the same Master.
Gradually, the five Grandmasters became enthralled by her performance, none of them even daring to breathe loudly lest they accidentally disturb Xia Ning Chang.
None of them doubted whether Xia Ning Chang could perform Alchemy anymore. The fantastical scene playing out before them was the clearest proof of all.
If it was not someone with profound achievements in Alchemy, it would be impossible for them to understand these Alchemic Spirit Arrays or to so perfectly condense medicinal liquids.
On top of that, Xia Ning Chang’s Alchemy technique contained a kind of fascinating beauty that drew them in, allowing them to forget everything around them, including their own existences as they followed each one of her movements. All five Grandmasters suddenly felt like they had entered into a magical world, one filled with the purest essence of Alchemy.
The path beneath their feet was firm and the view of the horizon was clear.
At this moment, each of them felt as if their souls had been baptized, allowing their hundred years of study in the Alchemic Way to receive a kind of sublimation.
Gradually, the complex Spirit Array took form, its overlapping lines shimmering with light as they gradually drew in the surrounding drops of medicinal liquid, gathering them in its centre.
Right before their eyes, the medicinal liquids began merging with one another, undergoing a special metamorphosis which led the appearance of the embryonic form of a pill.
The five Grandmasters stared at this process with excited faces.
They had immersed themselves in Alchemy for so many years but never once before had they so clearly seen the formation of a pill.
Every pill they had ever refined or seen refined was formed inside a pill furnace, so the process could not be seen by the naked eye. Only after the pill was refined successfully would they be able to see its true appearance…
It wasn’t until this very moment that they all realized that the formation of a pill was so mesmerizing and soul-stirring; it was like watching the birth of a new life as the pill sent out a vigorous energy aura.
The Grandmasters’ hearts pounded as they found themselves unable to speak, all of them stretching their necks out, seemingly wanting to get even the slightest bit closer to more carefully observe.
As the pill slowly began to take shape, the Grandmasters’ poured in their Divine Senses, their tension shooting up as if it was their own child being born.
After a long time, a pill fragrance suddenly began wafting out, filling the nostrils of the Grandmasters, finally allowing all of them to breathe a sigh of relief and relax as they felt a giant weight lift from their hearts.
Xia Ning Chang reached out grabbed the pill in front of her, pinching it between her jade white fingers as she stared at it for a while, a slight frown forming on her brow, seemingly somewhat unsatisfied with this result, placing the pill into a prepared jade bottle a moment later.
At the same time, Yang Kai also finished refining the Saint Pill he was working on, tapping his pill furnace and causing it to fly out and accurately land inside a jade bottle he was holding, sealing it in the next instant.
Two pill fragrances with some subtle differences filled the room, making people feel refreshed.
The room fell so silent one could hear a pin drop, only the heavily pounding hearts of the five Grandmasters resounding.
Xia Ning Chang slowly extricated herself from the world of Alchemy and when she looked up; she saw five pairs of eyes staring at her like starving wolves who had just encountered the finest of prey.
“Several Seniors…” Xia Ning Chang was frightened and quickly turned her eyes towards Yang Kai, silently praying for rescue.
Yang Kai grinned, understanding well the Grandmasters’ shock but still refusing to give them enough time to pull themselves out of their delirium as she called out, “Several Grandmasters, do you now believe this Junior’s words?”
Du Wan glanced over at him and nodded with a forced smile, “Seeing is really believing.”
The five Grandmasters all came back to their senses upon hearing these words, with Chang Bao frowning deeply as he asked in confusion, “But I still can’t figure out how she managed to refine this pill without Flame or Yang Attribute True Qi… Even without mentioning her not using a pill furnace, her True Qi shouldn’t even be suited to Alchemy.”
“I’m also can’t understand. Could it be that one actually doesn’t need burning hot True Qi to perform Alchemy?” He Feng also kept shaking his head. Although watching Xia Ning Chang perform Alchemy even once had brought him a huge harvest, it had simultaneously subverted almost everything he knew about Alchemy, leading him to doubt even his most fundamental knowledge.
Kong Ruo Yu wore a pensive look upon her face and only after a long time did she venture a guess, “Have you ever heard about a special constitution that was born specifically for Alchemy?”
“A special constitution?” Du Wan gasped as he suddenly recalled something, “Do you mean…”
“The Sacred Spirit Medicine Body?” Hong Fang called out in alarm.
“En, the Sacred Spirit Medicine Body!” Kong Ruo Yu eyes lit up as she gazed towards Xia Ning Chang, “This little girl might just possess the Sacred Spirit Medicine Body.”
“If that’s the case, then it can explain why she can perform Alchemy without a pill furnace or burning True Qi,” Du Wan nodded.
As top-level Alchemist, the five Grandmasters had naturally heard about the Sacred Spirit Medicine Body and upon comparing what they knew about this special constitution with Xia Ning Chang’s performance, they grew even more certain about their speculation.
“Little brat, does this Senior Sister of yours have a special constitution?” Chang Bao called out to Yang Kai.
Yang Kai smiled and nodded.
“No wonder! It turns out she possesses the legendary constitution.”
The eyes of the Grandmasters shone even brighter as they now stared at Xia Ning Chang as if they were staring at the greatest treasure of Alchemy, fascination and worship filling their faces.
“You Senior Sister and Junior Brother pair really know how to attack people;” Du Wan smiled bitterly, “This old master now constantly doubts his own competency in Alchemy.”
“En, I also suspect that I’ve been living in vain all these years,” He Feng also wore a depressed look and sighed.
“But if you compare them, this kid really isn’t as fierce as this little girl,” Hong Fang laughed, “Simply judging them based on time spent to refine Saint Pills, it’s clearly this little girl’s win.”
Yang Kai shrugged his shoulders, “What can I say, Senior Sister’s accomplishments in Alchemy have always been better than mine.”
“No, Junior Brother seems to only have been studying Alchemy for a short time, the last time we met he wasn’t even able to refine pills,” Xia Ning Chang quickly waved.
“Alright, you don’t need to go praising each other, let’s continue with the refinements; after all, we need to finish thirty pills today,” Chang Bao couldn’t wait to witness the previous magical scene again and quickly urged.
“En, but let’s say this first, after suffering a blow from you two, we old fogies won’t be refining any pills together so we don’t waste herbs,” He Feng added.
“Good, today’s thirty pills will be handed over to me and Little Senior Sister,” Yang Kai and Xia Ning Chang glanced at each other and smiled before no longer saying anything and immersing themselves in Alchemy.
Time flew by.
The five Grandmasters had all gathered around Xia Ning Chang, focusing their eyes on every detail of her movements, completely throwing Yang Kai to the wayside.
They had already observed Yang Kai Alchemy for quite some time so now that there was Xia Ning Chang here, naturally, they weren’t willing to miss witnessing her methods.
Yang Kai was happy to see this, while Xia Ning Chang was even more excited than him.
Before now, she didn’t have access to many Saint Grade materials to practice with, but now that she was in Nine Heavens Holy Land, she didn’t have to worry about this issue anymore and could instead focus all her attention on her Alchemy.
On top of that, with her Sacred Spirit Medicine Body’s special constitution, performing Alchemy was the fastest method Little Senior Sister possessed to improve her strength.
Xia Ning Chang herself had once said that to her, Alchemy was cultivation, so while to others, refining pills was an exhausting task, it actually had the opposite effect on her.
After bustling about all day, when evening rolled around, and the thirty pills had finally all been refined, Yang Kai felt quite tired, but Xia Ning Chang was still bursting with energy, even looking somewhat regretful that they were already finished.
Xu Hui came soon after, accepted the thirty pills, and delivered them to the Holy Land’s customers who were waiting outside the nine peaks.
These cultivators instantly began praising the Holy Land’s Grandmaster. After ten days of rest, this mysterious Grandmaster had greatly increased the number of pills he refined in a single day.
This made those who were waiting in line for pills extremely happy.
The more pills the Holy Land’s Grandmaster refined per day, the shorter the time they would need to wait for their turn.
At this moment, Yang Kai, Xia Ning Chang, and the five Grandmasters had all returned to their individual rooms and were engaged in meditation and introspection.
On the second day, they repeated the process.
It was not until three days later that the five Grandmasters started performing Alchemy again, putting into practice their recent insights.
Inside the pill room, pill fragrance filled the air as Spirit Grade and Saint Grade pills emerged one after another.