Rise from a Poor Family: My Martial Arts Counterattack

Chapter 505 What is he going to do?
The Alchemy Pavilion.

The entire pavilion houses alchemy furnaces that the Li family collected from various places or commissioned craftsmen to create at great expense.

When Lin Chen arrived at the building with Li Qin, there were already quite a few people standing in front of it.

"That person is Yuan Shengyao."

Li Qin sent a telepathic message to Lin Chen, whose gaze also fell on a middle-aged man not far away.

Beside the middle-aged man were several young men, and many others stood in the open space in front of the building. These were all members of the Li family who had come to watch the battle after hearing the news.

As an alchemist, one can sometimes observe the alchemy process of alchemists who are better than oneself, and by observing their alchemy techniques, one can also gain insights.

"Master Yuan, that is Xiao Yan."

At this moment, Li Kai was also sending a telepathic message to Yuan Shengyao. Yuan Shengyao looked at Lin Chen and snorted: "Someone who appeared out of nowhere, Brother Li, if it weren't for your kind invitation, I would never have accepted this kind of competition."

"Thank you for your consideration, Master Yuan."

Li Kai forced a smile, but inwardly he was cursing. Calling someone "Master Yuan" really makes him think he's a master.

He had previously informed Yuan Shengyao of the elder's decision, but Yuan Shengyao refused, saying he would not fight with an unknown person. Only after he took out some of his treasured medicinal herbs did Yuan Shengyao agree.

In Li Kai's view, the loss of these medicinal herbs was entirely due to Li Qin and Xiao Yan. Therefore, Li Kai looked at Lin Chen who was walking towards him with unfriendly eyes.

"Your cousin seems to be very hostile towards me."

Lin Chen transmitted his voice to Li Qin, who explained, "Originally, he only wanted to take your spot away, but after the elders set the date for the competition, he probably went to great lengths to get Yuan Shengyao to agree to participate, so he is somewhat dissatisfied. Brother Xiao, you don't need to worry about it."

Li Qin did not hide anything from Lin Chen about her argument with Li Kai, including the process of the elders setting up the competition. She told Lin Chen everything in detail.

Whether or not to participate in the competition is up to Lin Chen himself.

If Lin Chen is unwilling, then let's give up.

However, Li Kai cannot act so casually. If the matter reaches the elders and Yuan Shengyao does not participate, then Li Kai's previous actions will be seen by the elders as disregarding the family's interests and suppressing his opponent, which is a major taboo in the family.

"I don't really care, I just want to see how good Yuan Shengyao's face is."

Lin Chen smiled slightly, not caring, but Yuan Shengyao seemed to care, his contempt almost undisguised.

As a master of innate strength, he is not the kind of person without cunning. He usually does not show his joy or sorrow so openly. There is only one situation: when facing someone close to him or someone he disdains.

The former refers to family members, so there's no need to hide emotions; the latter refers to people you feel are of equal status or position, so there's no need to care about their feelings or reactions.

Li Qin smiled upon hearing this, sensing the confidence in Xiao Yan's words.

Although she didn't know the exact level of Xiao Yan's alchemy skills, after spending several days with him, she could tell that he wasn't the arrogant type.

A person who is not arrogant, yet dares to bet against himself to be in the top ten, must have his own confidence in his alchemy skills.

Even at the very least, he should be better than Yuan Shengyao, who was in the top 500 last year.

Unless Lin Chen is completely unaware of the fierce competition in each weapon-refining competition, especially the alchemy competition, he wouldn't make such a boast.

……

Meanwhile, the Li family members who had come to watch began to whisper among themselves.

"Is he Xiao Yan? I've never heard of him before."

"Apart from a few alchemists with the potential to reach the master level, there's no way anyone else could hear about alchemists below the master level. Even Yuan Shengyao is someone I've never heard of before."

"Although this is the first time we've heard the name Yuan Shengyao, according to Li Kai, he was ranked in the top 500 in the alchemy competition of the previous grand final."

"Top 500? Isn't it only the top 100 who get ranked in the final competition?"

A young alchemist from the Li family looked puzzled. When did the final competition have a ranking of the top 500?

"Ahem, the top 100 were selected by the Thousand Machines Sect, and the top 500 were ranked privately by everyone based on the performance of the eliminated alchemists." The older member of the Li family answered in a low voice, but no matter how low his voice was, how could Yuan Shengyao, a Xiantian expert, not hear it?

At that moment, Yuan Shengyao's face darkened even more.

"Now that everyone's here, let's begin."

Yuan Shengyao ignored Lin Chen who was approaching and said directly, "There's no need to go inside to refine it. Just refine it here. I heard you have innate fire, so choose to refine the Profound Soul Pill. Let's see who can refine more Profound Soul Pills within three hours."

Many members of the Li family present were shocked upon hearing Yuan Shengyao's proposed method of combat.

Alchemists with innate fire not only have a higher chance of successfully refining pills, but they are also faster than other alchemists. Yuan Shengyao's method of combat completely gave Xiao Yan the advantage.

"I think Yuan Shengyao should have won this competition. His alchemy skills are definitely very high."

"Oh, why do you think so?"

"If your opponent possessed innate fire, would you propose such a fighting method?"

"will not."

"That makes sense. Only those with enough self-confidence dare to choose this kind of competition." Listening to the man's analysis, many members of the Li family showed their approval. Thinking about it carefully, it really made sense.

Now it all depends on whether Xiao Yan dares to agree.

No, it's that Xiao Yan will definitely agree, since he has a significant advantage in this competition.

"can."

Lin Chen looked at Yuan Shengyao meaningfully. When Yuan Shengyao mentioned refining the Xuanpo Pill, although his facial expression did not change, his soul fluctuated slightly. This was thanks to his research on spiritual perception during this period, which allowed him to sense the soul fluctuations caused by the emotions of those around him.

Knowing full well that he possesses innate fire, Yuan Shengyao still proposed a contest that would be advantageous to him. Coupled with the fluctuations in his divine soul, there is only one answer: Yuan Shengyao is extremely skilled at refining the Xuanpo Pill.

Alchemists are divided into star levels, and the star level determines the upper limit of the grade of pills that an alchemist can refine.

However, besides these, alchemists are also divided into skilled and unskilled. Apart from a few types of pills that everyone can refine, some pills are refined less often, and the skill level is not as high as that of another alchemist. Therefore, among alchemists of the same star level, there will be differences in efficiency.

The Xuanpo Pill is a pill used by innate martial artists to enhance their spiritual power. It is not a particularly rare pill, but it is not a mainstream pill either. The mainstream pill used by innate martial artists to enhance their spiritual power is the Xuanhun Pill.

The Mysterious Soul Pill has only 70% of the efficacy of the Mysterious Soul Pill. The reason why the Mysterious Soul Pill is the mainstream in the martial arts world is that the cost of the Mysterious Soul Pill is only half that of the Mysterious Soul Pill. Only those who are rich and have no shortage of money will choose to take the Mysterious Soul Pill.

However, Lin Chen didn't care. Perhaps Yuan Shengyao had refined Xuanpo Pills so many times that he had developed his own feel for it.

It all comes down to practice makes perfect!
However, his own innate fire, obtained through the Azure Dawn True Flame, was far superior to that of Yuan Shengyao.

After both parties confirmed the pills to be refined, a member of the Li family responsible for managing the medicinal materials soon delivered the ingredients for the Xuanpo Pill.

"Start the furnace!"

With a soft shout, Yuan Shengyao's storage box shone brightly, and a pill furnace as tall as a person appeared on the ground.

"The alchemy competition begins the moment the lid of the alchemy furnace is opened. Aren't you going to take out your alchemy furnace yet?"

Yuan Shengyao frowned and asked with a stern face when he saw Lin Chen standing calmly to the side.

"I know the rules, of course. Please do as you please."

Upon hearing Lin Chen's reply, Yuan Shengyao's eyes flashed with anger. He sensed Lin Chen's contempt for him, as if Lin Chen believed that even if he brought out the alchemy furnace later, he could still defeat him.

"Let them be arrogant. We'll see if they can still laugh when the results come out."

Yuan Shengyao opened the alchemy furnace and threw the medicinal materials needed for ten Xuanpo Pills into it. Three years ago, an important person found him and asked him to be in charge of refining Xuanpo Pills. He spent half a year refining a total of 10,000 Xuanpo Pills.

He was a master at refining the Profound Soul Pill. While most alchemists of his level could only attempt to refine five pills at a time, he could refine ten at once, and in less than a quarter of an hour.

Yuan Shengyao was confident in his ability to refine the Xuanpo Pill. He believed that, in the entire Yan Dynasty, he was definitely one of the best below the master level.

Start the furnace, wash the medicine, light the fire...

After Yuan Shengyao finished his series of actions, Lin Chen remained motionless to the side, instead observing Yuan Shengyao with great interest, as if he were just an observer rather than a participant.

This scene left the Li family members looking at each other in bewilderment.

At this moment, the Li family elders, whose divine senses were focused on this area, were also exchanging ideas.

"Why isn't Xiao Yan making a move?"

"Fourth brother, even for you, how long would it take to refine a batch of Profound Soul Pills?"

"It takes half an hour to refine one batch, but I can refine fifty pills in one batch."

The Li family has three alchemy masters, but the other two are the family's retainers and only have a cooperative relationship with the family. Only this fourth elder is the Li family's own alchemy master.

"Interesting. This Xiao Yan has really piqued my interest. If he can defeat Yuan Shengyao, he might bring a good result to the Li family this time."

The Fourth Elder's words caused the other elders of the Li family to exchange glances. Whether Xiao Yan was truly confident or just putting on an act would become clear after the competition.

……

A quarter of an hour, two quarters of an hour...

Seeing that Lin Chen hadn't made a move, Li Qin looked puzzled and asked him several times via telepathy, but the response she always received was "No rush."

Lin Chen was indeed in no hurry. As for Yuan Shengyao, he had even stopped looking at Lin Chen. Since they had started refining pills, they should devote themselves to it wholeheartedly.

Until, a faint fragrance wafted out...

Yuan Shengyao's face finally broke into a smile. At this point, the pill was complete, and all that was left was to wait for the pill's heat to dissipate.

At this moment, Yuan Shengyao turned his gaze to Lin Chen. When he saw that Lin Chen was still crossing his arms, he was about to make a sarcastic remark, but he stopped himself from speaking, because Lin Chen finally took action.

"What is he going to do?"

The moment Lin Chen made his move, everyone present was stunned.

(End of this chapter)