On stage, Jin Huang suddenly pointed at another contestant who was furiously beating on his furnace. "Hey! You!"
The young man looked up, glaring at Jin Huang for interrupting him. This person was, namely, Mo Kuang. "Huh?!"
"Yes, you! Your irreverence is most offensive. Treat that pill furnace with the respect it deserves!"
The surrounding contestants all fell silent, some covering their mouths as their eyes widened.
Mo Kuang looked at his furnace, then back at Jin Huang. "Listen! Don't think that your methods will work for everyone. Alchemy isn't some monotonous and boorish art."
Jin Huang smiled knowingly. "Indeed it isn't. However, I am no simple alchemist, and my advice is far from regular. Listen up, if you have any sense at all!"
Before Mo Kuang could even frown, Jin Huang was already preaching.
"If you insist on taking this violent approach to alchemy, you can't tackle it with this barbarous nature! Save that for cultivating, you brute! I bet your girlfriend secretly hates you- the poor girl. I can only imagine what your lovemaking skills look like!"
Mo Kuang's expression twitched as several people nearby laughed. Even some of the senior alchemists couldn't help but forcefully suppress their smiles. They had all felt some particular kind of way regarding Mo Kuang's methods, but they also knew that alchemy looked a bit different for every young genius.
They simply assumed that Mo Kuang was another of those.
However, beneath the humor, the atmosphere was becoming increasingly tense.
Mo Kuang was offended, yes, but there was no denying that Jin Huang's performance was absurdly good. His refinement efficiency was approaching perfection.
And he was doing it while barely paying attention.
Mo Kuang took a deep breath as the fire in his eyes calmed, and he nodded. "Alright, Jin Huang. I'll humor you."
Jin Huang proceeded to instruct Mo Kuang on how to properly conduct 'violence alchemy,' which the latter progressively found himself becoming more and more intrigued in and impressed by.
Before long, Mo Kuang was incredibly invested, even confirming with Jin Huang before he did every minor thing.
The Herb Sage slowly rose from his seat, his cloudy eyes narrowing. "Interesting..."
Yuan Zhi, however, wasn't smiling anymore.
His gaze remained fixed upon Jin Huang as he frowned, refusing to accept the reailty. It had to be known that Yuan Zhi was, truly, not a thief. He had truly invented the pill formulas he claimed to invent after pouring out tons and tons of time and effort.
To see such a thing happening- especially after hearing Xiao Chen's claims which he knew were false- was proving to be quite difficult to deal with.
At first, he had been amused, then somewhat curious. Now... He was genuinely unsettled.
He was slowly recognizing something in the way the ingredients were being refined, in how the medicinal essence was being separated and the way the spiritual water was being incorporated.
These weren't random techniques. They were consistent, precise and, most importantly-
They resembled the underlying principles of the Spring Nurturing Pill. The very foundation that had allowed him to invent the pill in the first place.
Yuan Zhi's expression was indescribably dark. "Just where did this brat learn that? Could this nonsense about a Pill Grandmaster actually be true?"
Herb Sage shook his head, "That doesn't matter. Right now, you need to figure out a way around this. In the eyes of everyone else, Obsidian's story is only beginning to look more and more plausible."
Yuan Zhi groaned as a troubled look set in on his darkened face.
Meanwhile, Jin Huang was calmly conducting class after class. Before long, even the Pill Fairy, Ao Yueyan, showed interest. This whole time, she had seen him as an actor- a pretentious second-rate alchemist who was paid by Obsidian to aid in a last-ditch struggle.
However, as time passed, she realized that his insights were immeasurably deep. She was taken aback, and even somewhat unwilling to accept that someone seemingly younger than her had even greater accomplishments in alchemy.
"Brother Huang, would you mind if I asked you a question as well, then?" Ao Yueyan called over from her workstation.
Jin Huang smiled and nodded, "Of course, Little Fairy. This Esteemed One will gladly answer any questions you have."
Ao Yueyan's smile went crooked; many of the other contestants shied away from Jin Huang in that moment, not wanting to be too close to him all of a sudden. Mo Kuang gave a sharp laugh and then carried on with his pill concocting, following Jin Huang's advice.
Pill Fairy cleared her throat. "Er... Right..."
"What I wanted to ask is, for a pill like the Spring Nurturing Pill, should one focus more on the preparation of herbs, or the purity of the essences and the spirit water itself? What importance is there in the way the herbs are prepared, beyond ensuring the extraction of essences goes smoothly?"
Hearing her question, Herb Stage shook his head with a sigh, "How could you not grasp it when it's been right in front of your face, Yan'er? You're still too pompous."
Jin Huang shook his head as well as he laughed, "Tsk, tsk, tsk. Come now, Little Fairy. Surely someone as learned as you isn't blind to this?"
Jin Huang reached onto his workstation and picked up an extra herb which was provided in case he failed somewhere in his concoction. "Don't you know, that in each of these herbs... there is more than medicinal essence. There is also... bloodline power!"
Jin Huang's eyes glinted with a brief flash of gold; Ximen Ming's eyes went wide, but he said nothing.
Ao Yueyan's head tilted as she bit her lower lip, "Bloodline power?"
"Of course," Jin Huang gripped the Azureleaf in his hand and squeezed it tightly. "Herbs aren't just random pieces of grass. They have a lineage. Every single pill formula relies on a herb's bloodline power, and on just how much of that power al alchemist can bright out."
"But doesn't my point still stand then? As long as you perfectly extract the essence, there is no need for any special herb prep."
Jin Huang raised a finger. In the other hand, he raised the azureleaf higher. "Watch, Little Fairy."
Jin Huang kept squeezing the herb, then he began the extraction process. Despite doing almost everything the same, the purity of the medicinal essence he extracted could not hold a candle to the first time he had done it.
Ao Yueyan, who had been paying close attention to his method, gasped. Hurriedly, she picked up one of her extra azureleaf herbs and did the same, but this time she tried to recall how Jin Huang had first prepared his.
When she extracted the essence, she realized that the purity of it was far higher than her first time, but still not close to Jin Huang's first attempt.
"How..."
"Hahaha!" Jin Huang clutched his stomach. "That was adorable, Little Fairy. You just forgot one key step!"
Face red, Ao Yueyan shot to her feet and raised a fist, "Stop laughing and just explain already!"
Wiping his eyes, Jin Huang caught his breath and said, "The Azureleaf's bloodline power can be traced back to the Snowflake Carp. It is, almost exclusively, an aquatic plant, with only a handful of variations that grow on land. This particular variation grows in very, very warm waters."
Jin Huang took another Azureleaf and brought it to his nose, inhaling the aroma before exhaling onto it. The minimal moisture in his breath reached the azureleaf, but caused no visible reaction.
"Therefore... if it experiences vaguely similar conditions, it will mistakenly assume it is back in its home environment and let its guard down, thus enabling the alchemist to extract every last bit of its essence."
Trying it again, Jin Huang was able to extract a medicinal essence of perfect purity, matching his first extraction.
"See?" He smiled at her, looking every bit the doting senior.
Ao Yueyan's jaw fell open, and she gazed down at the extra azureleaf on her workstation. "Your master... the Pill Grandmaster. He taught you these things?"
Jin Huang nodded laughingly, "He did. That old fart taught me all sorts of weird stuff."
Ao Yueyan stared intently at him. "Just who is your master?"
Jin Huang froze. For the first time, he seemed to realize that Xiao Chen had never actually given him a name. "...My master?"
"Yes," Ao Yueyan smiled warmly as she inhaled the scent of an azureleaf, then exhaled onto it.
Jin Huang's eyes suddenly became shifty.
The entire gathering was waiting now, having heard the question being asked by the Pill Fairy. Even the mysterious masked girl on stage, who had seemingly been ignoring Jin Huang's antics, looked curious.
Jin Huang thought for several seconds, then he smiled. "As he was my master, I only ever knew him by one name..."
His eyes wandered toward the ingredients, the lie taking shape.
"Old Man Duotian."
Silence.
Xiao Chen's face went completely blank behind his mask. Meng Lan slowly lost her composure, only barely holding onto her willpower to keep herself from freaking out.
Yuan Zhi was utterly shocked. Herb Sage was no better, nor was Ximen Ming. Xia Yuyue, Wang Yijian and Wang Zhen were unwilling to believe they had heard correctly.
Zhao Kun was on his feet in an instant, his trembling finger aimed at Jin Huang as he stammered repeatedly, "D-D-D-Duo... T-T-T-T-ian?!?!"
There was an uproar coming from anyone who was anyone. There was practically no one that didn't have a reaction to that name.
Ao Yueyan gulped, "You said... Old Man... Duotian?"
Jin Huang nodded. "That's right. Old Man Duotian. He was my master."
The crowd erupted.
"Old Man Duotian?!"
"Could it be?! Could it really be?!"
"It must be! Now it all makes sense! Yuan Zhi must have found some kind of inheritance or something!"
"Wait! Just wait! Then, as Old Man Duotian's disciple, just how old must Jin Huang actually be?!"
"That's right! He'd have to be thousands of years old!"
"How can that be?! Didn't the test show that he has no mana whatsoever?"
Jin Huang pretended to focus on his furnace as he measured the people's responses. He had not expected such a reaction.
The audience slowly quieted.
In his mind, Xiao Chen heard Meng Lan's voice.
"Master..."
"Yes, Meng Lan?" Xiao Chen's eyes darted to the right behind his mask.
"Did Uncle Duotian ever mention having another disciple outside of the Monastery?"
Hearing Meng Lan's question, Xiao Chen's masked face lowered as he fell into thought. "No. He never did. None of this makes sense."
When Xiao Chen looked up at Jin Huang, there was something inexplicable in them. Something that had never been there before but looked as though it was far closer to Xiao Chen's truest self than anything else.
"Perhaps... this is tied to what Lord Duotian wanted to tell us before he vanished that day."