The moment the elder delivered the news, Wei Yang's face darkened with fury.
"What?!"
"Haven't they had enough?"
"They challenged us just last month. Why are they here again?"
His expression turned colder.
"Do they not understand the rules? A new challenge cannot be issued until three months have passed!"
Yama already knew some of the background.
Ye Ming had explained it on the way here.
In the Green Heaven Kingdom, one Pill House could formally challenge another. These challenges affected the ranking board.
The Heaven Pill House currently stood at the very bottom of the top five.
Which meant the Pill House challenging them now was most likely ranked sixth.
A figure stepped forward.
It was an elder from the opposing side.
"Li Wei," Wei Yang said sharply. "Why are you here? Have you forgotten the rules set by the Imperial Clan?"
Li Wei gave a smug smile.
"I know the rules very well. I did not come to challenge you elder-to-elder."
He gestured to the youth standing beside him.
"I came for a challenge between disciples."
"Why don't you send one of your disciples out to face mine?"
Wei Yang's eyes narrowed immediately.
"Why would I do that? Since your elders cannot defeat us, you want to try another method?"
As he spoke, his gaze remained fixed on the disciple beside Li Wei.
Something felt wrong.
Wei Yang had never seen this boy before.
That alone was enough to make him cautious.
If he accepted carelessly, the Heaven Pill House might be walking straight into defeat.
Li Wei laughed loudly.
"Hahaha! So the disciples of the Heaven Pill House are actually afraid of a disciple from the sixth-ranked Pill House?"
He turned to the surrounding spectators and shouted shamelessly,
"Why don't you all come study under us instead? At least our disciples have courage!"
The disciples of the Heaven Pill House clenched their fists in anger.
This was humiliating.
Li Wei had always lost in formal elder challenges, yet now he stood there boasting as if he were already the victor.
They wanted Wei Yang to accept the challenge immediately just to shut him up.
But Wei Yang remained silent.
He did not want to take the bait.
On the surface, the disciple looked ordinary.
But Wei Yang's instincts kept warning him that something was off.
Then the disciple beside Li Wei finally spoke.
"Hmph. Elder, did you really bring me here to challenge these people?"
His expression was full of contempt.
"These idiots aren't even worthy of facing me."
The crowd immediately erupted in anger.
How could a disciple from a lower-ranked Pill House be this arrogant?
Li Wei laughed even harder.
"Hahaha! You're right, Nan Gong. They really aren't worthy."
He turned dramatically toward the exit.
"Come, let's go. We'll spread the word that the so-called fifth-ranked Heaven Pill House rejected a challenge from a disciple of the sixth-ranked Leaf Pill House!"
Just as they were about to leave, a voice rang out.
"Wait a minute."
Everyone turned.
It was Yama.
"If it's a challenge you want," he said calmly, "I'll give it to you."
Li Wei stopped walking.
Nan Gong turned around slowly.
Wei Yang nearly choked.
"Brat! What are you doing?" he hissed under his breath.
They were already leaving! Why would you accept without even asking me?
Am I the Patriarch here or not?
Yama remained calm.
"Senior, don't worry. I can handle this."
He lowered his voice slightly.
"This way, you won't have to wait until tomorrow to see whether I can refine a pill. You'll see it now."
Wei Yang's face tightened.
"Brat, are you certain?"
"I know your 'senior' taught you things, but I still haven't seen you refine anything with my own eyes. This is not a small matter. Our prestige is on the line."
Nan Gong snorted.
"Do you even know what alchemy is? You are not worthy to challenge me."
Yama looked at him indifferently.
"We'll see who's worthy."
He tilted his head slightly.
"Why? Are you scared now?"
Then he added with perfect calm,
"So the people of Leaf Pill House are good only at talking?"
"No wonder your Patriarch didn't even bother sending a proper disciple before."
He waved his hand dismissively.
"Forget it. Run back to your Pill House."
For a moment, there was silence.
Then the disciples of the Heaven Pill House burst into laughter.
"Hahaha!"
"That's right!"
"Go back if you're scared!"
It was their turn to mock the visitors.
Nan Gong's face twisted in anger.
"YOU... who said I'm scared?!"
"Fine! Let's compete!"
"I'll show you the difference between heaven and earth!"
Yama smiled faintly.
"That's right. I am heaven, and you are earth."
Nan Gong nearly exploded.
"Then prove it!"
At that moment, Li Wei raised his hand.
"Very well. Both of you will refine the Spirit Cleansing Pill."
Wei Yang's face changed immediately.
"Li Wei! Don't think I don't know what you're trying to do!"
"The Spirit Cleansing Pill is difficult even for a one-star alchemist!"
He clearly wanted to object.
But Yama stepped forward and said calmly,
"Senior, it's fine."
"If we're going to beat them, we should beat them at their own game."
Wei Yang looked at him for a long moment.
In the end, he had no choice but to trust him.
Li Wei smirked.
"Since you've agreed, Nan Gong, begin."
Nan Gong gave Yama one last contemptuous look before stepping forward.
With a flick of his hand, he summoned a shining golden cauldron and neatly laid out the herbs needed for the Spirit Cleansing Pill.
Then he raised his hand and released a flame.
The spectators gasped immediately.
"That's a Fire Spirit!"
"A red Fire Spirit!"
The commotion instantly spread.
The disciples of the Heaven Pill House began to worry.
A Fire Spirit greatly increased the chances of producing a high-quality pill.
Even if Yama could refine the pill successfully, they feared the final quality would be far below Nan Gong's.
Li Wei glanced at Wei Yang and secretly laughed.
Just watch.
Today, I'll drag your Heaven Pill House down and make it our stepping stone.
Wei Yang, however, was not worried about the Fire Spirit itself.
Yama's blue Fire Spirit was even rarer.
What worried him was something else entirely.
Could Yama truly refine a pill?
That was the real question.
Nan Gong worked steadily.
The herbs were prepared, heated, and fused one after another.
Thirty minutes later, he opened the cauldron.
Three pills flew into the air and landed neatly in his hand.
"Elders," Nan Gong said arrogantly, "evaluate them."
Although the elders were unhappy with his attitude, they still stepped forward. Their love for alchemy outweighed their irritation.
After a few moments, one elder shouted,
"It's a third-grade pill!"
The crowd was shaken.
"A third-grade Spirit Cleansing Pill?!"
"Is this guy really only a one-star alchemist?"
Everyone knew how difficult the Spirit Cleansing Pill was. Even achieving a second-grade version was impressive for a one-star alchemist.
But Nan Gong had refined a third-grade pill.
That was monstrous.
Wei Yang's confidence wavered.
He was now truly worried.
At this point, there was no turning back.
All he could do was hope Yama would somehow create a miracle.
Li Wei folded his arms and looked at Yama with smug satisfaction.
"Your turn."
Yama stepped forward calmly.
This time, he decided not to hold back too much.
Even if the people of the Heaven Pill House noticed the cauldron, he could always claim it was another gift from the mysterious senior.
To everyone watching, it looked as though he simply took a cauldron out of a storage ring.
But the moment it appeared, the entire courtyard went quiet.
The cauldron was exquisite.
It shone with a strange spiritual glow and radiated a beauty that Nan Gong's cauldron could not compare to at all.
Everyone was captivated.
Yama noticed something important immediately.
Wei Yang showed no sign of recognizing it.
That meant the Judgment Book was most likely concealing its true identity, just as it concealed other things.
Otherwise, Wei Yang would certainly have reacted.
Ignoring the stares around him, Yama lit the cauldron using ordinary fire.
Li Wei's expression instantly turned contemptuous.
Wei Yang, on the other hand, grew even more nervous.
Why is he using normal fire?
Does this brat really think he can produce a better-grade pill without the blue Fire Spirit?
Yama said nothing.
He took the ingredients provided by one of the elders and began sorting them with astonishing speed.
His hands moved in a blur.
Yet despite the speed, every motion was smooth and precise.
It was almost beautiful to watch.
The elders were stunned.
This was no ordinary refining process.
There was rhythm in it.
An elegance.
An ancient method.
The spectators watched in complete silence.
Ten minutes later, Yama stopped.
The crowd blinked in confusion.
"What... that's it?"
"Did he fail?"
"Or did he just give up?"
Many of the disciples thought he was simply pretending.
But Wei Yang's expression had completely changed.
He knew exactly what he had just witnessed.
It was a movement art used in pill refining.
A lost and ancient method.
To think he would see something like this again in his lifetime...
His heart pounded.
Once again, he connected it to the hidden senior behind Yama.
Li Wei was no longer smiling.
In fact, he was beginning to panic.
He had heard of such ancient refining movement arts before.
Fast.
Elegant.
Almost impossible to learn.
To see it displayed by a boy from the Heaven Pill House made him regret ever coming here.
Then Yama opened the cauldron and withdrew three pills.
"The pills are done."
The first person to rush forward was Li Wei himself.
He snatched one look at the pills and immediately collapsed to the floor.
The surrounding elders hurried over.
One by one, they stared at the pills in disbelief.
Then a shout exploded through the courtyard.
"What am I seeing?!"
"This... this is impossible!"
"It's a fourth-grade pill!"