The stage was cleared as the two contestants stood facing each other their personal cauldron placed in front of them, Ryuu's cauldron was grey colored with the depiction of four divine beast on four cardinal corner it stood on 4 legs it had nothing eye catching as it looked quite ordinary compared to Dugu Cheng's which had colorful pictures of various beasts on it not only that it has covered with gold with various gems stones embedded on it, what separated from Ryuu's cauldron was the aura it released somehow Dugu Cheng had managed to get his hands on a Immortal level treasure where as Ryuu's was Primal Daoist level at best.
People were awestruck at that as the murmured praises towards a smug looking Dugu Cheng, while Ryuu just frowned at that as he sighed as he remembered the teachings of his first mistress, 'Remember Ryuu, the most important thing for an alchemist is his concentration. Since the quality of the pill is also depends upon the cauldron most believe it is better to have higher level cauldron which I sincerely disagree you should use at the level you are comfortable after all swimming upstream is harder than downstream, if you use higher level cauldron your attention will be mostly on controlling them as such never use a cauldron that is more that a level above yours.'
Ryuu glanced towards the audience where his sisters had occupied front row seats they gave a small smile full of confidence towards Ryuu, on their right stood the maids in perfect guard like position and on their left sat the old man An, on to the left of the old man sat the "Mad Dog' whose eyes was glued to his sisters drooling which made Ryuu to frown, a sudden mental transmission came to him, 'Little Brother do not pay attention to this lowly beings just focus on your tasks.', Ryuu turned and gave a thankful nod towards Shamiran, only to sweat drop when he saw Lang Yuzhu was busy collecting money for the bet being placed on, which did not look promising for Ryuu he had an odd of over 100 to 1, as his opponent happened to be not only a very famous alchemist but a legacy disciple of some big shot Immortal level alchemist from the capital.
Ryuu snorted at that he had seen his teacher scold and making Immortal level alchemist do sit up while holding their ears before, he grimaced as he remembered what followed next he had snickered a their fate only to invite his teachers ire and in front of all his teacher bend him over her knees and tanned his buttocks, he still remembered he could not sit for an entire week.
Lang Yuzhu stood in front of both the contestants as she took the position of a referee, while her uncle being the highest level cultivator present, which Ryuu coughed in his hands and muttered which surprisingly sounded something like bullshit, was given the position of the judge.
Lang Yuzhu: "The battle of honor between two alchemists will now begin, on my right hand side is Dugu Cheng 78 years of age Mid Wanxiang Adept in cultivation, his alchemist skills are of Mid Wanxinag Adept Realm as well and on my right is a cute boy of almost 12 years, his name is Ryuu but please do not underestimate for in spite of his age he is a Peak level Wanxiang Adept as for his skills it is said that he is claimed to be a Peak Wanxiang Adept Alchemist who was openly challenged by Mr. Dugu Cheng and his friend Mr. Yang Chao as they claimed him to be phony, both parties have agreed the losing side will be slave of the winner for a week during that period the winner may treat however the wish. So without further ado let us begin."
Lang Yuzhu then turned toward both the duelist as she spoke, "On my hand is coin which I would toss, please tell me your choice before hand, remember whoever wins is the first to decide what kind of pill they will make and the second round the loser of the coin toss will decide on the type of pill."
Dugu Cheng spoke out with a solemn voice, "Heads."
Ryuu just shrugged as he spoke, "Well it is tails for me then."
Lang Yuzhu tossed the coin and Dugu Cheng smiled brightly as he exclaimed, "Even the Heavens helping me o fight against the grave injustice. Brat, prepare yourself for I will challenge you to prepare 'Heart Demon Pill.'"
Ryuu did not show any outward expression but inwardly he winced since his mother's death and revelation behind his birth Ryuu has developed a heart demon which had started manifesting causing him various problems during cultivation, as such he had to consume lots of such pills which suppresses his inner demons, a condition which is even unknown to his older sisters.
As the pill even though is very difficult to concoct was very common pill because appearance of heart demon in many cultivators because of various reasons.
'Purple Heart Shaped Lily, Spirit Grass, 500 year old Ginseng, 5 bladed grass and Calming Spirit fruit' were laid in a set of 10, the rules were simple make as many of this pills as possible, the person with highest number of successful pill with the highest purity wins.
Lang Yazhu raised her right hand and extended three fingers as she counted out loud, "Three, two, one you may start."
With that both the contestants started making their pills, of all the ingredients the 'Purple Heart Shaped Lily' and '5 bladed grass' required the highest temperature but the former melts instantly on reaching the required temperature and if kept on that temperature more than enough time, it will vaporize but the later melts very slowly at a particular high temperature but if it is increased beyond a certain limit it vaporizes instantly, while a fruit like 'Calming Spirit fruit', requires its juice to be extracted before which vaporizes even before it reaches tenth of the temperature required for melting the ingredients mentioned before, but one thing they all share if they are cooled below their critical point they tend to solidify then it will require not only much more heat to melt but their effects drastically lessens.
As such alchemists with the help of array masters created a special container which is used to store the processed ingredients in their required condition before the alchemist combines them, this was the method which was followed by Dugu Chen.
Meanwhile Ryuu had diligently introduced all of his ingredients inside the many pockets inside his cauldrons each of them kept in their respective conditions, to the spectators they started laughing, 'oi oi see the no named brat playing fool.', 'yeah putting the ingredients like that hahaha'.
As everyone was laughing Lang An was watching with his eyes wide, the method used by 'Dugu Chen', requires little to none insight on the Dao of Alchemy but Ryuu's style can be used by only those who have gained considerable insight on the said Dao, and seeing Ryuu's age it was a preposterous idea, normally people can become alchemist by following Dugu Chen's method but in the long run they will have not only inferior products their accomplishment will be limited.
Meanwhile Shamiran's mind was racing towards different direction she frowned heavily, 'Why is brother so skilled on making this pill, I wonder only someone who has created it many times has such finesse.'
While Dugu Chen was preparing it one by one Ryuu had finished even his opponent has finished his first batch, as he did his pills on one go.
Ryuu closed the lid as he felt his pills were finished he would reveal them while the other finished his.
The audience started making rude remarks towards him, while Yang Chao had already had a stream of drool in front of him as he gazed towards Ryuu's sisters with lust in his eye and those who had placed a bet on him cursed the heavens and Ryuu for their foolishness.
Ryuu did not pay any heed to them as he took a small nap, he was awakened by Lang Yuzhu who suppressed a squeal as she saw a cute visage of sleepy drooling Ryuu as he opened his eyes.
He was greeted by a sweaty annoyed looking Dugu Cheng who just grunted towards him, before his eyes shifted towards Lang Yazhu who just smiled kindly towards him, with a hint of possession. She tore his eyes of Ryuu as she faced the audience as she spoke, "The First Round is over I would request the duelist to present their pills one by one.
Dugu Chen with an air of confidence strode forward as he presented the pills to the judge, Lang An examined the pillsas he spoke, "Hmmm, 7 out of 10 pills are formed of which the highest has a purity of 68% and the lowest has a purity of 59%, not bad."
Dugu Cheng puffed out his chest with pride as he looked towards Ryuu with disdained, Ryuu did not bother with him as he opened the lid of the cauldron, a gust of refreshing smell erupted from it as everyone experienced a calming effect as Ryuu collected his contents and presented them in front of the Judge.
Lang An smiled as he replied, "Young man please wipe out the drool from your face", to which Ryuu went red from embarrassment as he quickly wiped them out, as everyone including his sisters giggled at his antics, as Lang An cast his gaze upon the pills his breath hitched at that, as he examine the pill he took a deep breath as he gave out his verdict, "10 out of 10 successful pills, with the quality ranging from 82% to 85%."
The people who were insulting Ryuu were stunned into silence, until someone shouted out in joy, "Yes, brat win this duel and make me rich."
Dugu Cheng was in denial, "Your Highness there must be some…..", but before he could speak further he was interrupted by Ryuu himself, "Oi old man I believe it is my turn to choose the next pill we have to concoct, as such I choose...."
Lang An has seen many things and heard many things in his life but upon hearing Ryuu's words he almost suffered a heart attack including the audience, as some of them drop whatever they carried from their hand while Dugu Chen almost fell on his butt on hearing the Pill Ryuu using to challenge him.