The Extreme Alchemist of the Mighty Cauldron
Chapter 1199 - Chapter 1199 1198 Cauldron Qi Attack

Chapter 1199: 1198: Cauldron Qi Attack Chapter 1199: 1198: Cauldron Qi Attack “I must hold steady! Otherwise, I’ll surely lose this competition!” Zhang Hongtian said to himself silently, not letting the disadvantage get him down.

After all, Zhang Hongtian was Tang Country’s most outstanding young prodigy in the Alchemy Tao, and he was quite an experienced hand. This situation wasn’t new to him.

Even though he had been suppressed during the previous exchange and came close to failing his pill refining, he hadn’t actually failed and was still capable of steadying his hand.

At this moment, Zhang Hongtian was doing his utmost to stabilize the fire dragon, aiming to gather the two pills into the Pill Furnace for further refining.

But unexpectedly, Hui Xuzi launched another assault.

The Flame Double Fish roared in, even fiercer than before, seemingly without any worry about affecting his own pills.

Seeing this, Zhang Hongtian’s face turned ugly, he gritted his teeth, and fiercely slapped the Pill Furnace.

Hum~~~

A dull sound emitted, and a wave of invisible force spread out, protecting Zhang Hongtian’s pills.

The Flame Double Fish collided with this invisible force and were immediately repelled, failing to hit their target.

But Zhang Hongtian’s progress was once again hampered, falling even further behind Hui Xuzi.

“How despicable!”

“He’s already so far ahead, yet he still attacks to harass!”

“People of the Seven Seas are indeed shameless!”

“I hope Zhang Hongtian can hold on, it’s not completely hopeless.”

…

Many Pill Refiners glared at Hui Xuzi, some even cursing aloud, denouncing Hui Xuzi as despicable and shameless.

But in fact, they also understood that such actions weren’t really considered despicable or shameless, but rather common occurrences during pill refining contests.

However, Zhang Hongtian was already behind Hui Xuzi, and with Hui Xuzi’s harassment, it seemed a bit too much.

Moreover, since Hui Xuzi was from the Seven Seas, he naturally faced rejection and loathing from the people of the Nine Countries.

Sweat beaded on Zhang Hongtian’s forehead, his progress once more affected, and he couldn’t possibly be unfazed, but after all, he was the current genius of Alchemy Tao, highly skilled, and his mindset was not so easily disturbed.

At this moment, Zhang Hongtian steadied his mind, focused all his energy on pill refining, and planned to use an Ancient Alchemy Skill to speed up the refining process so that, at the very least, he wouldn’t fall too far behind Hui Xuzi.

But just then, Hui Xuzi tapped his Pill Furnace, and suddenly, a blue torrent came howling towards him.

“Not good!” Zhang Hongtian exclaimed in alarm, immediately slapping the Pill Furnace, attempting to defend with the Soul Commanding Pill Fire.

“Can you block it?” Hui Xuzi sneered, a hint of disdain in his eyes.

Boom~~

The blue torrent rushed forth, and although Zhang Hongtian tried to block it with the Soul Commanding Pill Fire, he couldn’t completely stop it. The Pill Cauldron was struck, greatly affecting the pills within.

And Hui Xuzi’s Pill Cauldron in front of him seemed as if it had lost all its power, becoming dim and starting to show cracks.

This scene shocked everyone, especially the more experienced Pill Refiners, who were each left wide-eyed and speechless.

“He, he, he can use Cauldron Qi?”

“Impossible! How can Cauldron Qi be mobilized?”

“There must be something fishy going on here.”

“Look at Hui Xuzi’s Pill Furnace, it truly looks like its Cauldron Qi is completely depleted.”

“This guy is truly ruthless.”

****

A Pill Cauldron has its Cauldron Qi, contained within it, especially those ancient cauldrons, which have been tempered through the years, bear even more astonishingly rich Cauldron Qi.

Pill Refiners are aware of the existence of Cauldron Qi, but very few can actually control it, unless they are born with an exceptional talent for Pill Refining, having a natural affinity with the furnace, enabling them to resonate with the Cauldron Qi. Otherwise, ordinary Pill Refiners, even though they’re aware of Cauldron Qi’s existence, are essentially unable to utilize it.

Furthermore, Cauldron Qi is not something that can be used carelessly; it is akin to the lifeforce of a Pill Cauldron, just as Inner Strength is to a Martial Artist – once exhausted, the Martial Artist becomes useless.

Once the Cauldron Qi is depleted, it’s very difficult to regenerate, so generally speaking, a Pill Furnace that has run out of Cauldron Qi is pretty much deemed useless.

As for the Nine Cauldron Skypassing Spell that Fang Lin cultivated, it involves absorbing the Cauldron Qi from a Pill Cauldron to enhance oneself, an excessively domineering method, as each session of cultivation and absorption would render an excellent Pill Furnace useless.

To disrupt Zhang Hongtian’s Pill Refining process, Hui Xuzi did not hesitate to exhaust all of the Cauldron Qi from his own Pill Furnace, such an approach is indeed rather fierce.

At least within the Pill Alliance, no one normally resorts to such methods during usual Pill Refining competitions.

Hui Xuzi glanced at his Pill Furnace, which had run out of oil and was burnt out, showing not the slightest concern. He wrapped the pills with the Flame Double Fish, not needing the furnace at all, and continued the Pill Refining directly in this manner.

As for Zhang Hongtian, the situation was quite dire.

Of the two Pills, one was already damaged and could not be refined into a Pill.

Zhang Hongtian’s demeanor was gloomy as he could only manage a wry smile; he had definitely lost – with only one Pill left, there was no way he could beat Hui Xuzi.

Hui Xuzi’s two pills were already close to taking shape, and even if the quality was average, he still completely outmatched Zhang Hongtian in quantity.

“To attack me using Cauldron Qi, indeed a clever move, I, Zhang Hongtian, am naturally inferior.” Zhang Hongtian thought to himself.

The time of three sticks of incense passed quickly, and the morale of the people from the Nine Countries was low, being thoroughly demoralized, as they all knew that they had essentially lost the competition.

At Hui Xuzi’s spot, the scent of pills filled the air, with plumes of white smoke rising from the flames, obviously indicating the successful refinement of the Jade Heart Pill.

Over at Zhang Hongtian’s side, there was also the fragrance of pills, but it was nowhere near as rich as at Hui Xuzi’s.

“Alas, we’ve lost.”

“To be defeated in the very first round, could it be the end of the Pill Alliance?”

“If not for those barbarians from the Seven Seas using despicable methods, how could Zhang Hongtian have lost?”

“No matter what, we’ve still lost.”

*****

As the three sticks of incense burnt out, Hui Xuzi and Zhang Hongtian both stepped down from the array platform, their expressions making the outcome of the competition very clear.

Hui Xuzi looked somewhat proud, with a trace of smugness, while Zhang Hongtian’s face was filled with bitterness and his expression somber.

The two presented the pills they had refined for Elder Tianjun and Taoist Chongyun to compare and judge.

“Alas,” Elder Tianjun sighed inwardly upon seeing the pills refined by Zhang Hongtian.

“Elder, may the result be announced now? Or shall I announce it for you?” Taoist Chongyun asked Elder Tianjun with a smile.

Elder Tianjun shook his head and said to everyone, “For the first round of the competition, the Taoist Sect of the Seven Seas is victorious.”

As these words were pronounced, although many people present had already braced themselves mentally, some still hoped for a miracle.

Unfortunately, no miracle occurred; for this first round, the Pill Alliance had indeed lost.