Chapter 322: Cauldron Explosion

Following Xiao Yan’s soft mutter, the dark black ring on Xiao Yan’s finger was quiet for a moment before it suddenly trembled gently a moment later. A faint icy cold feeling began to shroud the tip of Xiao Yan’s finger, causing the joint of his fingers to become slightly white.

The Purple Flame within the medicinal cauldron appeared to have sensed something and it actually began to dance around uneasily. It was fortunate, however, that there was the absolute suppression from Xiao Yan’s Spiritual Strength. Therefore, its uneasy movement did not cause any problems.

At that moment Yan Li’s unrestrained laughter on the open ground gradually weakened, these gazes which were thrown on the ‘Purple Heart Barrier Breaking Pill’ were once again shot toward the direction where Xiao Yan was at. Currently there was only him still refining on the entire stage. The remaining alchemists had all either chosen to admit defeat or had long since withdrawn from the competition. After all, in front of the peak tier four medicinal pill that Yan Li had refined, they did not have the ability to oppose fate and make a comeback with a result that would shock everyone.

Yan Li ceased his tossing of the ‘Purple Heart Barrier Breaking Pill’ in his palm. He crossed both of his hands in front of his chest and coldly smiled at Xiao Yan’s last struggle before his defeat a short distance away.

On the high platform, Fa Ma, whose expression was originally slightly dark, frowned slightly. He lifted his head and looked in the direction where Xiao Yan was at. As the highest tier alchemist of the entire place, he could naturally be able to swiftly sense the flame changes in the area where Xiao Yan was at.

“What has happened? Why is the flame in the cauldron beginning to show signs of agitation and uneasiness?” Fa Ma muttered, clearly at a loss. At that moment, his expression abruptly changed drastically. His eyes, which were staring at the medicinal cauldron in front of Xiao Yan suddenly shrunk. At that spot, he appeared to have vaguely seen a somewhat white colored thing. Moreover, a coldness was actually slowly seeping out from the medicinal cauldron.

“Cold air?” He sensed the temperature of the entire open ground had suddenly fallen, Fa Ma’s expression changed once again. The current him was totally confused by this sudden situation that had occurred.

“The temperature here has fallen. What a dense cold air. It can actually affect such a vast area. Don’t tell me it is created by Old Man Ice?” Jia Lao had unknowingly come to Fa Ma’s side and said as he looked at Hai Bodong beside him in a strange manner.

“If I am able to spread the cold air throughout the entire place without the both of you sensing my actions, I’m afraid that I would have long been of the Dou Zhong class.” Hai Bodong rolled his eyes. In his heart, he clearly knew that this cold air should be due to Xiao Yan starting to use that thick white colored ‘Heavenly Flame’. Back then, he had exchanged blows with this kind of flame and clearly understood the terror of this thing. It contained an extreme heat in the extreme cold. It was an extremely great headache when one had to handle it.

“No, that’s not it. That cold air seems to be emitted from Xiao Yan’s medicinal cauldron.” Fa Ma shook his head and said in a deep voice.

“What is he doing? Creating cold air when refining a pill? Isn’t he afraid of extinguishing the flame in his cauldron? Don’t tell me that fellow decided to break everything and give up?” Jia Lao frowned and said.

“No. Given his character, he would definitely not do such a silly thing. I think that he should have another intention.” Fa Ma shook his head. From what he knew of Xiao Yan, it was impossible for the him to think that the latter was giving up on himself.

“Little fellow, what exactly are you doing?” Fa Ma let out a soft sigh as he stared at the young man in the middle of the open ground.

The trembling of the dark black ring had become increasingly intense. Following the intensity of the shaking of the ring, Xiao Yan’s Spiritual Strength was once again out in force, ready to control the Purple Flame’s withdrawal from the medicinal cauldron at any moment. Of course, neither of these two flames really belonged to him. Therefore, the changing of flames this time around would be much more difficult compared to the last time. However, with the experience of his success the last time and his strange condition which was so good that it could not be better, Xiao Yan still had quite a lot of confidence in himself.

“Teacher, help pray for me.” Xiao Yan slowly exhaled. His finger, which was slightly bent at the flame outlet, extended abruptly. His dark black ring once again trembled. A thick white colored flame suddenly surged forth. At this moment, the surrounding temperature around Xiao Yan once again descended.

“Withdraw!” Xiao Yan let out a low cry in his heart. At the same time that the thick white flame surged into the medicinal cauldron, the purple colored flame was swiftly being lead out from the other flame outlet on the other side in an orderly manner. After which, it slowly disappeared.

“Raise temperature.” In a lightning like manner, Xiao Yan’s Spiritual Strength wrapped around the thick white flame which had surged into the medicinal cauldron. His feet violently stomped on the ground and a couple of crack lines began spreading out from there. Perspiration fell from his forehead as though it was raining. The alchemist robe on his body was instantly drenched. Fortunately, the workmanship of the robe was extremely good and it was able to absorb perspiration completely absorbed all of the perspiration on the surface of his skin. It was due to this that Xiao Yan did not appear to be in an overly terrible state.

Under the control of his Spiritual Strength which was released entirely, the temperature of the thick white flame began to swiftly rise. At one point, it finally wrapped around the green colored medicinal pill under Xiao Yan’s heavily burdened eyes.

Although Xiao Yan did his best to raise the temperature of the cluster of ‘Bone Chilling Flame’ that wrapped around the medicinal pill, the remaining flames that were not suppressed still repeatedly emitted a cold icy air. Fortunately Xiao Yan had already wrapped the medicinal pill within the flame whose temperature had been raised. Therefore, the writhing cold flame did not bring about too much trouble for Xiao Yan. All of these, however, were merely temporary.

As the ‘Bone Chilling Flame’ was writhing within the medicinal cauldron, threads of white cold air seeped out from the cauldron’s interior. Finally, it covered the medicinal cauldron until it became slightly blurry.

“What is he doing?” The Little Princess and Liu Ling looked at the cold air that was being spread out and then faced each other. Their faces appeared totally lost. Since Xiao Yan had extended his finger into the flame outlet when using the ‘Bone Chilling Flame’ and cold air came pouring out afterwards, even the Little Princess and the others who were a short distance from Xiao Yan still remained ignorant that a third flame was being changed within the ordinary dark red cauldron.

“What a strange cold air. It clearly is icy cold yet why does a probe using my Spiritual Perception tell me that it is as hot as a flame?” Yan Li eyed the cold air and said with a frown as he held the ‘Purple Heart Barrier Breaking Pill’ within his hand. For some unknown reason, he began to feel uneasy at this moment.

“There’s no need to worry. I don’t believe that this fellow is able to do something in the less than half an hour time that remains.” Yan Li gently rubbed the purple colored medicinal pill. Currently, only this little thing gave him a steadfast feeling.

“Buzz.” A strange sound suddenly caused Xiao Yan to be at a loss while his gaze stared intently at the round medicinal pill within the cluster of thick white flame.

Xiao Yan’s gaze swept over the rock table and finally paused on the dark red medicinal cauldron. That buzzing sound was emitted from the it.

𝒻𝑟𝘦𝘦𝘸ℯ𝒷𝑛𝘰𝓋ℯ𝘭.𝘤𝘰𝘮

Xiao Yan frowned. Just as he was puzzled, a minute cracking sound caused his expression to suddenly sink. He twisted his neck as his gaze paused on the dark red cauldron. His eyes had suddenly shrunk to the size of a pin-hole.

He noticed that a tiny crack line had quietly began to spread from the cauldron’s sleek exterior!

“A cauldron explosion is about to occur.” Xiao Yan’s throat moved slightly as he eyed that tiny crack line. His mouth suddenly felt a little dry. After the change of three different kinds of flames, this cauldron had finally reached the limit that it could endure and was about to blast apart. Xiao Yan, who had always neglected finding a good cauldron had finally realized for the first time how a good medicinal cauldron was not the type of unneeded external object to an alchemist as he had imagined.

“This is troublesome.” Perspiration once again slowly rolled down on his face. Xiao Yan did not expect that such a comical scene would actually appear at the last moment.

Not long after the first cracking sound appeared, the second one followed closely. After which, the third and fourth followed. In merely an instant, the medicinal cauldron, which was originally in good condition, was actually covered in tiny crack lines. Through the crack lines, Xiao Yan could even see the dancing thick white flame within it.

“Heavens.”

As the Little Princess and the others were a close distance from Xiao Yan, they sensed something not long after that ear-piercing cracking sound appeared. When they saw Xiao Yan’s face which was covered in cold sweat, everyone exclaimed. Who could imagine that this fellow would actually cause his cauldron to reach a point where it was about to explode.

On the high platform, the corner of Fa Ma’s mouth twitched. He had imagined many methods in which Xiao Yan would be defeated. However, he had never thought that Xiao Yan would fail because of a caldron explosion, a method that caused people to be speechless.

A long while later, Fa Ma finally shook his head with bitterness. He said softly, “Ah, it’s over. What exactly was this little fellow doing during this last period of time? Before this, the medicinal cauldron had to endure that high temperature. Now, there is suddenly so much cold air. Adding this to the low quality of the cauldron, it would be surprising if the cauldron did not explode.”

Hai Bodong frowned slightly. He was much clearer about the whole story compared to Fa Ma. It was likely that Xiao Yan had intended to use the thick white flame to refine the ‘Green Spirit Pill’ until it reached the ‘Three-Line’ grade, but had accidently overlooked this little problem. However, it was this little problem that determined who the champion spot belonged to at such a crucial moment.

“Ha ha, your medicinal cauldron is about to blow apart. Just what can you refine?” Yan Li was stunned as he watched the medicinal cauldron which was covered in crack lines. After being at a loss for a moment, he could not resist slapping the rock table as he laughed uncontrollably. Seeing how he had lost himself, it was clear that he had received quite a serious shock over Xiao Yan’s mysterious actions earlier.

Xiao Yan ignored the voices and gazes from the outside world. His head was filled with perspiration as he tried his best to preserve the medical cauldron from further damage. Unfortunately, he was an alchemist, not a blacksmith. Therefore, even after he had put in all his effort, he could only helplessly watch the medicinal cauldron gain increasingly large crack lines.

When the crack lines on the medicinal cauldron had expanded until they reached their limit, the rate at which the crack lines that were spreading came to a stop. It was quiet for a moment before a turbulent white colored cold air abruptly surged out from the crack lines of the cauldron, completely wrapping the entire stone table within.

The moment the cold air appeared, the medicinal cauldron began to swell. Xiao Yan’s gaze stared intently at the increasingly large medicinal cauldron. At the instant before it exploded, he suddenly slapped a spot at the bottom of the medicinal cauldron violently while his eyes were crimson in color.

“Bang!”

The medicinal cauldron which had already reached its limit finally burst apart with a bang with this slap from Xiao Yan.

An intense explosion reverberated throughout the open ground. Countless medicinal cauldron fragments shot in all directions, frightening the surrounding alchemists as they hurriedly pulled back.

“Ha ha ha ha. I have already said that the champion spot is mine!” Yan Li laughed wildly. He had finally completely relaxed as he eyed the stone table which was covered by a white colored cold air.

On the entire open ground, only the remnant explosion sound and Yan Li’s wild laughter could be heard. Everyone else had quietened down. Failure by Xiao Yan was a foregone conclusion.