Chapter 687: Chapter 684: Master Duel!_1

“If Wei Gang hadn’t provoked Yang Chen from the beginning, Yang Chen wouldn’t have had a chance to participate. Now look what happened! It’s all Wei Gang’s fault. Wei Gang stubbornly provoked Yang Chen to step in, and now he lost!”

“Wei Gang just knows how to mess things up for the Great Elder.”

Not everyone in any place is unified, and so are the people under the Great Elder. Now, many of them are blaming Wei Gang for his apparent mistake and taking sides.

The Great Elder’s face darkened, as Wei Gang had brought trouble on himself. It was originally a winning situation, but Wei Gang had disturbed it. This made him angry, but fortunately, he was well-prepared and could handle this situation.

“Hmph, Wei Gang, what a waste of space, only causing me trouble!” Zhang Huai murmured to himself before shifting his gaze to the scarred man.

He was the trump card Zhang Huai had prepared for the Alchemy Competition.

“Competition results, Yang Chen, two Zi Ming Dan, wins. Wei Gang is eliminated,” the referee said.

Wei Gang felt like crawling into a crevice.

This was an utter humiliation.

Why did he have to provoke Yang Chen in the first place? If he hadn’t provoked Yang Chen, would Yang Chen have the right to participate? No, Yang Chen wasn’t qualified. Yet, Wei Gang provoked him impulsively, and now that Yang Chen won, it was hard to get him off the stage. What reason would Wei Gang have to make Yang Chen step down?

Wei Gang’s heart was filled with hatred and embarrassment.

He didn’t dare to look at the Great Elder and nervously stepped off the stage.

Seeing that Yang Chen had successfully refined fifth-grade initial-stage pills, Li Ruoxiang’s subordinates – the other Elders and disciples -, all cheered happily.

“That’s great!”

“We won, we won another match!”

At this moment, Li Ruoxiang and the Elders around her were not only delighted but also completely astonished.

“This… this young friend Yang Chen, has such a remarkable skill in alchemy, it’s incredible!”

“He can refine two fifth-grade initial-stage pills in one go!”

These Elders were now starting to see Yang Chen in a more favorable light.

Were they kidding? How could they not like Yang Chen now?

Li Ruoxiang silently watched Yang Chen for a long time without saying anything.

As Li Ruoxiang’s disciples and elders happily cheered, the referee asked, “Great Elder, now that Luo Jin and Wei Gang have both been eliminated, who will you send to the next match?”

“Let my direct disciple, Fang He, show his skills,” Zhang Huai said.

Fang He, whom Zhang Huai referred to, was none other than the scarred man Yang Chen had been observing for some time.

The scarred man, hearing Zhang Huai’s words, immediately stood up.

“Who is this guy?”

“I’ve never seen him before.”

Li Ruoxiang’s disciples couldn’t help but wonder, while the Elders questioned, “Old Zhang, who is this young friend? We have never seen him before.”

“Hehe, he is my newly accepted direct disciple since you guys left. Fang He has some really great talent in the Way of Alchemy, and he’s just waiting to make a name for himself at the Pill Battle Conference,” Zhang Huai stroked his chin, laughing confidently, not feeling at all that his disciple Fang He would lose.

This made Li Ruoxiang’s Elders frown.

Fang He certainly wasn’t from their Green Lotus Sect, even a fool could guess that Fang He was the Alchemy Master Zhang Huai had invited for this competition. As for being a direct disciple, it was just a deliberately assigned identity. However, they couldn’t refute that.

If Zhang Huai accepted Fang He as a direct disciple, what could anyone do about it?

The Elders cursed Zhang Huai silently in their hearts, but Zhang Huai’s face remained calm and composed, sporting a confident smile.

While the Elders worried and cursed silently, Yang Chen looked at Fang He with a calm expression.

Fang He walked up gracefully and slowly said, “Yang Chen, I heard that you are the newly acknowledged number one genius of the Eastern Region? Tsk tsk, I don’t know how much gold your title carries, but in terms of Alchemy, I suggest you don’t bring humiliation upon yourself.”

“Do you really think you can win against me?” Yang Chen asked.

Fang He burst into laughter, as if he had heard the funniest joke, “Yang Chen, it seems I overestimated you. You actually asked such a stupid question. It’s not about whether I have the confidence to win against you, but in a battle with me, you only have one possibility: to lose. If I were you, I’d think about that. If I didn’t have the confidence to win, would I still be standing here?”

Yang Chen grinned, “Brother Fang’s logic isn’t bad, so Brother Fang should also think about it. If I didn’t have confidence in defeating you, would I still be standing here? I would have stepped down long ago. Oh, right, according to Brother Fang’s logic, I should indeed step down and admit defeat.”

“You!” Fang He glared angrily and then twisted his neck, “Yang Chen, you may be young, but you have a sharp tongue. Fine, let the results speak for themselves. I will crush every bit of your confidence in Alchemy with my results!”

He looked at Yang Chen with disdain.

Not just for Yang Chen, but for everyone.

All of this was simply because of his background, as if people from the Eastern Region could refine pills?

Absurd!

He didn’t feel that any young alchemist from the Eastern Region could defeat him.

There would always be some fools wanting to challenge him, though.

The referee announced, “Alright, let the competition begin!”

Fang He took out his pill furnace, carefully placed the elixir ingredients inside, and finally started refining.

Yang Chen didn’t rush to refine pills, but first observed Fang He’s refining steps and process to analyze them.

He already had a fixed idea in his mind.

“A fifth-grade perfect pill?” Yang Chen blinked and couldn’t help but smile. Fang He was indeed not ordinary.

He had sensed early on that Fang He looked down on everyone, as if he was superior. Now he could see that Fang He did have some real skills. Although Fang He was also using the treasure furnace that Wei Gang had just used, he could refine a fifth-grade perfect pill, which showed that Fang He’s alchemy level was far superior to Wei Gang’s.

“It seems I’ll have to refine a sixth-grade pill,” Yang Chen thought.

And with that thought, he felt a little embarrassed.

He still had materials for fifth-grade lower-tier pills, but he didn’t have much stock for sixth-grade elixir ingredients.