CHAPTER 1306 EXPERT IN DISGUISE
"You may begin now." Ma Qingyun said to Yuan shortly after Pill Grandmaster Zhao arrived at the scene.
Yuan nodded and immediately summoned his alchemy flame.
'What?!' Pill Grandmaster Zhao nearly stumbled back in surprise at the sight of Yuan's golden flames. Her eyes widened in disbelief and shock. Yet, it wasn't just the golden hue that astonished her the most; it was the exceptional purity of the flames.
'I have never seen such pure alchemy flames before! Does his body not contain any impurities?! That shouldn't be possible for someone his age and that level of cultivation!' A smile appeared on Ma Qingyun's face when she saw Pill Grandmaster Zhao's reaction to Yuan's alchemy flame.
'I knew it was the right call to summon you,' she chuckled inwardly. 'Hm?'
However, Ma Qingyun suddenly frowned when she saw what Yuan was doing in the cauldron.
'This little… I just told him that rushing the melting process will only result in a damaged pill, but he's still doing it!' Ma Qingyun wondered if Pill Grandmaster Zhao's presence had anything to do with it.
After all, anyone would be nervous if they were being watched by the best Alchemist in the Third Heaven. As for Pill Grandmaster Zhao, she wasn't even paying attention to the pill concoction and was solely focused on Yuan's alchemy flames, almost as though she was bewitched by its beauty.
'The purity is perfect, but now that I am looking at it closely, this alchemy flame… it's almost as though it was formed very recently…' Pill Grandmaster Zhao didn't think for a second that Yuan was responsible for forming the alchemy flame and thought that he had gotten extremely lucky with acquiring a newly formed alchemy flame.
Meanwhile, Yuan was completely focused on melting the ingredients. Contrary to Ma Qingyun's thought, he was not pressured by Pill Grandmaster Zhao's presence. In fact, she was no different than the other people in the room.
And while it may seem like he was rushing to melt the ingredients, Yuan was actually taking his time to melt the ingredients.
In the end, instead of taking 10 minutes to melt the ingredients, it took him an incredible 20 minutes to finish—twice as long as before!
He removed the lid afterward, releasing a cloud of dark smoke.
'What? He's already finished?' Pill Grandmaster Zhao was taken aback when he suddenly took away the golden flames.
'There's no way. He's only a beginner, right?'
Yuan retrieved the pill a moment later.
[Flawless Spirit Recovery Pill] [Tier 1] [Purity: 100%]
[Effects: Restores spiritual energy. The effectiveness will significantly decrease for Cultivators above Spirit Master. 50% increased effect.]
[Description: A Spiritual Pill concocted by Player Yuan.] Belonging to .
A smile appeared on Yuan's face when he saw the condition of the pill. It did not have a single crack on it, and the surface was as smooth as a pearl. "L-Let me see that pill!" Ma Qingyun exclaimed and hastily took the pill from Yuan's grasp before he could even respond.
After inspecting the pill, Ma Qingyun swallowed nervously and thought to herself, 'A flawless pill? He concocted a flawless pill in less than half an hour? Even if it's only a Tier 1 pill, this isn't something I can achieve!'
She turned to look at Yuan with a doubtful gaze as she was suspicious of his identity.
'Is he really a beginner? No, there's no way. He's definitely an expert! Now that I think about it, there's no way a beginner would have a named alchemy flame!'
Ma Qingyun became filled with anger when she came to this realization.
'I've been fooled! This fucking bastard! How dare he humiliate me before my Master!'
Right as Ma Qingyun prepared to curse at Yuan in an outburst, Pill Grandmaster Zhao took the pill from Ma Qingyun's grasp without uttering a word and began to inspect it.
A moment later, she looked at Yuan and spoke, "You little brat, are you really a beginner? Did you come here to show off?"
Yuan raised his eyebrows and responded with an innocent expression, "I am a beginner. In fact, I am concocting pills for the first time in my life today."
"F-For the first time…?" Ma Qingyun nearly puked blood after hearing such an outrageous claim.
If one could achieve such god-like results on their first day of practice, everyone would be an Alchemy God after practicing for less than a decade.
"Is that so?"
However, to everyone's surprise, despite Yuan's outrageous claim, Pill Grandmaster Zhao seemed to believe his words.
"What's your name?" she suddenly asked.
"Yuan."
"Then, Yuan, want to become my disciple? I'll mold you into the best alchemist in this world in less than a year— No. I can guarantee you that you will surpass me in half a year."
"Master?!" Ma Qingyun was shocked to the core after hearing such words. "Don't tell me you actually believe in his lies?! There's no way a beginner would be able to concoct a flawless pill on their first day, much less in such a short amount of time!"
Pill Grandmaster Zhao sneered, "Although I may not have seen the concoction process because I was absorbed by his alchemy flames, I saw enough to make a sound judgment. A Pill Master can disguise their skill by purposefully messing up their pills, but they will have an incredibly hard time disguising their behavior and habits."
"While this young man exhibited incredible—even perfect—control over his flames, his application was wholly novice, as if devoid of any prior experience. And despite the flawless result of the pill, his handling of the ingredients and post-treatment of the pill itself was straight trash."
"Most of all… I cannot sense the aura of an expert from him no matter what. If he's actually an expert in disguise, I'll quit being alchemy."
"No way…" Ma Qingyun swallowed nervously.
"Don't worry, I am really a beginner." Yuan suddenly said as he stood up.
"The only reason I even have a cauldron is because I use it for body tempering."
And he continued, "As for your offer, sorry, but I will have to refuse."
Hearing his response, Pill Grandmaster Zhao narrowed her eyes at him which may seem threatening to others, but Yuan didn't get such a feeling at all from her.