Chapter 2170 — The Rookie Genius?
The Blossom Guardian · Page 1 of 2
Moreover, though Wei Zhao knew Right-Pan Hu was eavesdropping outside the door, he did not care. By now he had more or less torn ties with many of the hidden families. The fact that he was an alchemist could hardly serve as a talisman for him, and in any case he had already fleeced Right-Pan Hu for all he was worth—whether over the contest or that earlier medicine cauldron, Wei Zhao had come out well ahead. Even if Right-Pan Hu learned that Wei Zhao was no alchemist, all he could do was regret it bitterly; there was no way he could do anything to Wei Zhao.
"Oh? So the other mental cultivation methods and oral formulas can be used to condense pill fire?" Chief Bai's hopes were instantly rekindled at Wei Zhao's words. "Condense a pill fire and show me!"
"All right!" Wei Zhao nodded, and obediently condensed a sphere of first-grade fire-attribute pill fire in his palm, presenting it before Chief Bai.
"Yellow-rank first-grade fire-attribute pill fire—very good,Faint Light of Old DreamsZhao's hand closely, Chief Bai praised in astonishment, "Excellent indeed. Such a pure, stable first-grade pill fire could almost match mine at my peak! Try altering the fire's force and temperature and see what happens."
"That I can't do..." Wei Zhao smiled wryly and began to raise the fire's force—but the moment he tried, the pill fire simply went out, without the slightest warning.
"It died out?" Chief Bai frowned. "Have you tried this before?"
"Yes, I've tried again and again. Whether I change the fire's force or its temperature, the slightest alteration—no matter how small—and the pill fire goes out!" Wei Zhao said with a bitter smile.
"Oh? This is the first time I've encountered such a case. Let me think..." Chief Bai stared at Wei Zhao in great amazement, then closed his eyes and pondered Wei Zhao's situation carefully...
Meanwhile, at the door of Chief Bai's office, Right-Pan Hu was grinding his teeth in fury, slapping his thigh and stamping his feet, cursing under his breath: That bastard Wei Zhao—he can't refine pills at all, and he's ruined me! Had I known he couldn't, why would I have raised the stakes of the alchemy contest to refining third-grade pills?
Under the original rules, Right-Pan Hu would have been the winner. But the hidden Right-Pan family had feared Wei Zhao, afraid he would win again, and so had overreached and only made things worse—a thought that left Right-Pan Hu consumed with regret!
And when Right-Pan Hu heard that Wei Zhao could not even control a first-grade pill fire, the look on his face was a sight to behold. Only now did he realize he had fallen into a deep pit and been thoroughly played by Wei Zhao!
Wei Zhao was no alchemist at all—merely an ordinary cultivator who could condense pill fire. Being able to condense pill fire did not make one an alchemist; after all, pill fire was not so easy to control. But Right-Pan Hu had let his first impressions rule him: at Old Master Tang's birthday banquet he had seen Wei Zhao control pill fire, and at the hidden-family summit Wei Zhao had turned up his nose at second-grade pills. All of this had led Right-Pan Hu to assume, as a matter of course, that Wei Zhao was an alchemist!
But who would have thought Wei Zhao was a fraud? He could not refine pills at all—he had been bluffing the whole time!
"I still can't work it out..." After a long while, Chief Bai opened his eyes and shook his head. "If I had to name a problem, I could only say that the cultivation method you practice may conflict with alchemy—or else that your body lacks fire and wood attributes and you have no talent for alchemy. Beyond that, I truly cannot think of any other possibility!"