Rise from a Poor Family: My Martial Arts Counterattack

Chapter 511 Lin Chen: So it turns out I'm not the only one with Lao Liu.

boom!
Boom boom!

Boom boom boom!
After the middle-aged man released his innate fire, several more innate fires appeared beneath the alchemy furnaces in the square.

Of the 100 contestants, 80% possess innate fire.

This scene shocked many martial artists who were watching the alchemy competition for the first time.

Lin Chen, who was also on the field, was somewhat surprised. Although Li Qin had told him that there was an 80% chance that the person possessed innate fire, this was something he hadn't expected.

"No, some alchemists' innate fire is rather strange."

Lin Chen, through his divine sense, discovered that the innate fire released by some alchemists appeared somewhat dull and lacked the unique spirituality of innate fire.

"These alchemists did not truly refine the innate fire; they merely subdued it."

A few breaths later, Lin Chen had his answer.

After all, refining innate fire is risky, while subduing innate fire is much simpler.

After observing the people around him, Lin Chen also began to concentrate on refining pills.

Just as Lin Chen began selecting medicinal herbs, Jiang Yaoyan, who was in the front row, raised her hand. Soon, a referee came over. When the referee heard Jiang Yaoyan's words, she looked surprised, but she nodded in the end.

"What is he doing?"

Everyone started to take action, but Jiang Yaoyan remained standing still, a scene that puzzled many onlookers.

With the release of the top 100 list yesterday, various forces have investigated the origins of these 100 alchemists, and some gambling dens have even opened betting odds. Among them, the most popular candidate is Jiang Yaoyan, the young master of Medicine King Valley.

After a hundred breaths, everyone knew what Jiang Yaoyan was going to do.

Disciples of the Thousand Machines Sect carried two alchemy furnaces into the arena and placed them in front of Jiang Yaoyan.

Upon seeing the three alchemy furnaces in front of Jiang Yaoyan, an uproar erupted in the audience. The contestants who were originally focused on alchemy were also disturbed by the noise and looked in the direction of Jiang Yaoyan.

"Three alchemy furnaces, could it be what I'm thinking?"

"To refine three batches of pills at the same time, and they are all four-star pills... Could it be that Jiang Yaoyan's pill refining skills have reached the master level?"

"It shouldn't be. The master level requires not only alchemy skills but also a strong soul. Jiang Yaoyan's realm is only at the third level of the innate realm, so his soul probably hasn't reached the requirements of the master level."

Regardless of what others say, Jiang Yaoyan was indeed manipulating the medicinal herbs into the three pill furnaces. Flames slowly rose, and the three furnaces began refining pills simultaneously.

Jiang Chen glanced at Jiang Yaoyan, his eyes narrowing slightly. At the same time, Jiang Yaoyan's gaze also turned towards him, a confident smile playing on his lips.

This is a provocation against oneself!

Jiang Chen withdrew his gaze. His master had already told him that Jiang Yaoyan's alchemy skills were definitely no less than his own. What he needed to do was to steadily enter the third round and not compete with Jiang Yaoyan in the first two rounds.

Seeing Jiang Chen withdraw his gaze and begin refining pills on his own, Jiang Yaoyan's lips curled into a mocking smile. What a coward! He remained unmoved in the face of her provocation. And he still dared to compete with her for first place?

"This guy... he's really arrogant."

Looking at the three alchemy furnaces in front of Jiang Yaoyan, Lin Chen sighed inwardly. He thought that he could do the same if he were in Jiang Yaoyan's shoes, but there was no need for it.

His principle is: it's okay to show off when there are benefits, but there's no need to do so when there are no benefits.

……

After a brief commotion caused by Jiang Yaoyan simultaneously starting three furnaces to refine, the viewing platform gradually quieted down.

Alchemy is an extremely tedious and boring process, especially for non-alchemists who are just bystanders; there's not much to appreciate about it.

Inside the door to see the door, the layman to watch the fun.

Right now, there's clearly nothing exciting to see.

Fortunately, everyone was mentally prepared and wouldn't be unable to wait for more than a few hours. Most of those who were able to enter the Heavenly Craft Pavilion to watch the battle were innate martial artists, and the few young people below the innate level were all accompanied by their family or sect elders, and their composure was not bad either.

An hour and a half later, the aroma of medicine began to waft through the square.

Two hours later, the lid of the alchemy furnace in front of Jiang Chen was opened, and the first batch of pills was successfully refined.

Twelve purple pills slowly rose from the furnace and finally landed on a tray beside it.

After refining the first batch of pills, Jiang Chen looked at Jiang Yaoyan. At this moment, Jiang Yaoyan's expression was solemn, and his hand seals kept changing. As his hand seals changed, the flames under the three cauldrons also kept changing.

Seeing this, Jiang Chen breathed a slight sigh of relief. Jiang Yaoyan's actions at this moment indicated that the pill was not yet fully formed, only halfway done, and he was not too far behind.

Ordinary alchemists use their divine sense only to sense the condition of the pills during the refining process and decide whether the heat should be too high or too low based on the condition of the pills. But at their level, their divine sense is not only used to observe the condition of the pills, but they can also integrate their divine sense into the medicinal liquid to accelerate the formation of the liquid. This is why they can refine pills faster than others.

It's not just about the precise control of the heat, but also about using divine sense to make the elixir condense into a pill more quickly.

However, this requires extremely high spiritual power. Jiang Yaoyan was refining three batches of pills at the same time, and they were three different types of pills. This required his spiritual power to be divided into three parts, which placed extremely high demands on his own soul and the control of his spiritual power.

The strength of one's soul is the most basic requirement, but having enough soul strength does not mean that one can achieve it. One also needs a technique to control one's soul and thoughts. In this respect, he and Jiang Yaoyan are on the same starting line.

The Thousand Machines Sect has such top-tier cultivation techniques, and so does the Medicine King Valley.

"That's pretty fast!"

When Lin Chen saw that Jiang Chen had successfully refined the first batch of pills, his eyes narrowed slightly. He had only completed two-thirds of the process, so it seemed he needed to speed things up. He couldn't afford to hide his skills and fail to make it into the top ten, or he would suffer a huge loss.

Half an hour after Jiang Chen finished refining the first batch of pills, a second contestant also finished refining his first batch of pills, and soon... the third, fourth, fifth... also appeared.

From the second to the tenth, the difference is within half an hour.

"From this perspective, Jiang Yaoyan and Jiang Chen should be in a league of their own, while the others are in the second tier. This means that the first and second place in this alchemy competition will be decided between Jiang Yaoyan and Jiang Chen. It's just a matter of who will be first and who will be second. The third place is more suspenseful."

The onlookers, seeing the completion of the first batch of pills, also offered their own judgments.

"Master Xiao... Master Xiao is actually the tenth."

On the Li family's side, Li Qin saw Lin Chen finish refining the first batch of pills tenth, and her beautiful eyes showed surprise. Yin Yue, on the other hand, was not surprised at all. She knew better than anyone that Lin Chen had controlled the speed, otherwise he could have done it even faster.

"Perhaps... a top ten finish is really possible."

The Fourth Elder, Li Hong, also had a glint in his old eyes. If Xiao Yan could enter the top ten with the first batch of pills, as long as he maintained this speed with the next two batches, he really had a chance to break into the top ten.

……

Two hours later!
Jiang Chen finished refining the second batch of pills, glanced at Jiang Yaoyan again, and continued to refine the third batch.

This time, however, the others took a full hour to finish refining their second batch.

The gap has begun to widen.

The moment the second contestant who had refined two batches appeared, Jiang Yaoyan, who was at the very front, finally stopped making hand seals and a smile appeared on his face.

next moment……

boom!
boom!
boom!
The lids of the three alchemy furnaces in front of him rose into the air at the same time, and everyone on the viewing platform turned their attention to Jiang Yaoyan.

The three alchemy furnaces are activated simultaneously; success or failure is inevitable.

Many powerful individuals, eager to know the outcome immediately, sent their divine senses toward the alchemy furnace in front of Jiang Yaoyan. However, their divine senses were blocked by an invisible energy as they reached the sky above the plaza.

Above the plaza, there is an array that prevents divine senses from entering.

The Thousand Machines Sect made this arrangement to prevent anyone from using their divine sense to destroy the pills in the contestants' alchemy furnaces.

The array on the plaza can even block the divine sense of a sixth-level innate realm expert, unless a myriad-phenomenon realm expert takes action. However, this is the Thousand Machines Sect, which has a myriad-phenomenon realm expert in charge. The arrival of any myriad-phenomenon realm expert would not be able to be concealed from the myriad-phenomenon realm experts of the Thousand Machines Sect.

One breath, two breaths, three breaths...

Whether intentionally or for some other reason, the pills in the three cauldrons in front of Jiang Yaoyan rose very slowly, taking a full twenty breaths before any pills were revealed.

"One, two... thirty-six... there are actually forty pills. Not only did Jiang Yaoyan successfully refine three batches of pills at the same time, but the number of pills he produced was also higher than that of others."

hiss!
Upon seeing the quantity of pills, a deafening gasp erupted from the crowd.

The Qianji Sect normally provides twelve medicinal herbs per batch, but Jiang Yaoyan refined four more, meaning that none of these herbs were lost in Jiang Yaoyan's hands.

The loss of medicinal potency from medicinal herbs is unavoidable for most alchemists. Skilled alchemists can minimize the loss of medicinal potency. This is generally not a big deal for low-grade pills, but for high-grade pills, each additional pill can mean an extra few thousand Flame Coins or even more in value.

Of course, the higher the grade of the elixir, the more difficult it is to ensure that its medicinal power is not lost.

"We must not underestimate the people of the world."

Lin Chen, who had just finished refining the second batch of pills, looked at Jiang Yaoyan's straight back and sighed inwardly. Even though his spiritual power far surpassed that of his opponent, it would probably not be so easy for him to win first place in the third round.

In the stands, most people's attention was still on Jiang Yaoyan. He produced three batches of pills at once, and the number of pills was also leading. This year's pill refining competition will surely become the most influential in recent decades and will be talked about with great interest.

However, some people still pay attention to other alchemists. These people are mostly relatives and friends of the alchemists in the audience, or those with vested interests.

"Xiao Yan has also completed the second batch of pills, ranking seventh, which is even faster than the previous batch."

The Li family members were extremely excited. While Jiang Yaoyan's performance was indeed astonishing, it had nothing to do with the Li family. On the contrary, Xiao Yan's performance was so outstanding that it was something they hadn't expected. Li Hong stroked his beard and smiled. By now, Xiao Yan's chances of entering the top ten were already very high.

For the third batch of pills, Lin Chen sped up the process a bit, while also spreading his divine sense to keep an eye on the others. However, when his divine sense covered the fifth row of pill furnaces, his eyes narrowed again.

Something is wrong!
There were actually twenty Jade Dew Pills inside the alchemy furnace, and they were almost fully formed.

With twenty Jade Dew Pills, plus the number of pills from the previous two batches, there are now forty-four pills, exceeding Jiang Yaoyan's total.

A few breaths later, Lin Chen's expression turned strange. Of the twenty Jade Dew Pills that had originally formed in the furnace, six shattered and turned into medicinal mud at the bottom of the furnace, but the alchemist's expression remained unchanged.

The alchemist knows the condition of the pills in the furnace best. He can sense even the slightest cracks, let alone a broken pill. But this person showed no sign of panic. There was only one reason: the pill breaking was within his expectations.

Good guy!
There's a sixth brother hiding here.

Lin Chen noted the person's location, then scanned the entire area again with his divine sense to confirm that there was no other person like the sixth brother before he breathed a sigh of relief.

If there are a few more sixth-place finishers like this, the pressure in the third round will be quite significant.

……

……

Half an hour later, the third batch of pills in front of Jiang Chen was completed, and the sixteen Jade Dew Pills shone brightly in the sunlight.

Both used forty pills, but took more than half an hour longer than Jiang Yaoyan. According to the rules of the second round, their ranking was below Jiang Yaoyan's.

Seeing that Jiang Chen had also refined forty pills, Jiang Yaoyan's expression remained unchanged. He hadn't really gone all out in this round, and now that Jiang Chen's result was the only one he could take seriously, there was nothing left to see.

Jiang Yaoyan stepped out of the plaza passage. The referees present looked at the old man sitting in the chair at the front when they saw Jiang Yaoyan leave first. After the old man nodded slightly, they did not stop him and watched Jiang Yaoyan's figure disappear into the passage on the side.

Jiang Yaoyan left the arena, but Jiang Chen did not. As a disciple of the Thousand Machines Sect, and since the competition was organized by the Thousand Machines Sect, he still had to pay attention to his image.

More than an hour later, the third person finally succeeded in refining it, followed by the fourth, the fifth...

After Lin Chen successfully refined the fifth pill, he followed suit and opened his furnace. Inside the furnace were thirteen pills, only one less than the sixth one.

"Stable!"

The moment Lin Chen opened the furnace, the Li family members in the audience clenched their fists and cheered excitedly. He was the fifth to open the furnace, with a total of thirty-seven pills. This result was definitely enough to enter the top ten.

Of the three types of pills, the first two do not have many incompatible ingredients, so the medicinal power is not lost much, and everyone usually takes twelve. Only the Jade Dew Pill has incompatible ingredients, so the medicinal power is lost, but being able to condense one more pill is enough to guarantee a top ten finish.

Fifteen minutes later, the top ten contestants were determined.

An elderly man with white hair, who had been sitting in a chair with his eyes closed, stood up for the first time. He glanced at the nine people present, and Lin Chen noticed that the old man's gaze lingered on the sixth man for a moment longer.

It seems that not only his own divine sense noticed the situation inside Old Liu's alchemy furnace, but the old man from the Thousand Machines Sect probably did as well.

"You have made it into the top ten in this round. The final match of this round will be postponed for three days."

Postponed for three days?

Hearing the old man's words, Lin Chen and the others were surprised. In the past, the alchemy competition had never been postponed; the top three were always decided over three consecutive days.

However, considering the fierce competition in this year's alchemy competition, those present were able to accept it.

The old man withdrew his gaze from Lin Chen and the others, and slowly looked at the scene. At this moment, his aura suddenly erupted, causing the many martial artists in the stands to fall silent instantly.

A sixth-level Innate Realm expert!
Lin Chen's pupils contracted slightly. He hadn't expected that this old man was actually a sixth-level Innate Realm expert. You must know that in the Canglan Sect, only the sect leader was at the sixth level of the Innate Realm, while the other elders were only at the fifth level. And the man in front of him was not the sect leader of the Qianji Sect.

It seems that the rumors circulating outside that the Thousand Machines Sect is the strongest among the twenty-four super sects are not unfounded.

"The top ten contestants in this alchemy competition will be under the protection of my Thousand Machines Sect for three days in Thousand Machines City. Anyone who dares to harass or attack them will be considered an enemy of my Thousand Machines Sect!"

The old man's words, though simple, resonated with everyone present.

This is the source of the Thousand Machines Sect's confidence!
Lin Chen could sense that the alchemists around him were slightly moved after hearing the old man's words.

Regardless of the Thousand Machines Sect's motives, they have to accept this favor.

……

……

Li family!

Main hall!

All four elders of the Li family arrived and hosted a banquet for Lin Chen.

However, because Lin Chen declined to attend the finals, the celebration banquet ended after half an hour.

"Master Xiao, the elders will deliver the two top-tier soul cultivation techniques you requested tomorrow."

Li Qin has now become practically a maid, accompanying Lin Chen from the very beginning of the banquet until its end.

"Ah."

Lin Chen nodded, believing that the Li family would not break the contract.

"The information the elders have gathered about the person you asked about is that he is not an alchemist from the Thousand Machine Domain, nor does he belong to any faction. He obtained his qualification by passing the assessment the day after the Thousand Machine Sect issued its announcement."

As early as after the alchemy competition, Lin Chen had Li Qin investigate information about that sixth brother.

Upon hearing the news from Li Qin, Lin Chen narrowed his eyes slightly. Her origins were quite mysterious, having come alone.

"What is this person's name?"

"Wei Yang".

……

……

The Thousand Machines Sect, the Heavenly Crafts Hall.

"Junior Brother Qiu, are there any special contestants in this alchemy competition?"

Inside the main hall, only Xuan Jing, the sect leader of the Thousand Machines Sect, and the white-haired old man were present.

"Senior brother, this alchemy competition is truly full of hidden talents."

Qiu Wangqiu chuckled: "Besides Jiang Yaoyan and Jiang Chen, there are two other people who are quite interesting."

"Oh, who is it?"

"One of them is Xiao Yan, recommended by the Li family. This man has a very profound spiritual soul, and he is probably hiding a lot of his talents."

Which Li family?

Xuan Jing was somewhat puzzled, and Qiu Wangqiu explained, "It's a superior family in our Thousand Machine Domain."

The Li family is not small in strength in the Thousand Machine Domain, but it depends on who they are compared to. Compared to a behemoth like the Thousand Machine Sect, they are insignificant.

Xuan Jing, as the sect leader of the Thousand Machines Sect, had no idea of ​​the Li family's existence.

"It seems that Xiao Yan was invited by the Li family to protect the interests of their clan."

Hearing his senior brother's judgment, Qiu Wangqiu nodded: "Junior brother, I also think so. Xiao Yan should not be after the Nine Revolutions Primordial Scripture and the Taiyi Azure Spirit Record, but the soul on this person has a faint aura similar to the Divine Control Record of our sect, which makes me a little curious."

The Divine Record is the most treasured technique of the Thousand Machines Sect and has never been leaked.

"Junior brother, you can't be mistaken?"

After asking the question, Xuanjing laughed to himself, knowing that with his junior brother's strength, it was impossible for him to have misperceived.

"Have the Li family members tell you everything about Xiao Yan's background. I'll leave this matter to you, Junior Brother."

"it is good."

Qiu Wangqiu agreed, and then continued, "There is another person named Wei Yang, who comes from an outer region and has no connection with any force in the Thousand Machine Domain. His origins are very mysterious, but his alchemy skills are no less than Jiang Chen's. He is obviously deliberately hiding his abilities, and I'm afraid he has a big plan."

"Wei Yang..."

Xuanjing narrowed his old eyes: "There's no need to investigate Wei Yang. If I'm not mistaken, he should be from there."

"There?"

Qiu Wangqiu looked in the direction his senior brother was looking, and a look of realization appeared on his old face. Then he laughed and said, "It seems that this time, it's not just that Young Master Dongfang who's eyeing the rewards of the alchemy competition."

"The transition between the old and the new will never be so smooth. For my Thousand Machines Sect, what we need to do is to get through this period steadily."

After saying this meaningfully, Xuanjing closed his eyes. Seeing his senior brother meditating with his eyes closed, Qiu Wangqiu also slowly walked out of the main hall.

(End of this chapter)