Chapter 68 - Threaten
As the competition came to a close, everyone was hesitant to leave. They were curious about Liu Wuxie’s four formulas and wanted to take a closer look, but Master Mao kept them safely guarded to prevent them from being leaked or stolen.
Bi Gongyu quickly followed behind Liu Wuxie, fearing that he might be ambushed. The three were the first group to return to the Pill Gathering Pavilion. The damaged courtyard had been restored with new pieces of furniture in place.
Bi Gongyu apologized to Liu Wuxie for the events that had transpired, saying, “Wuxie, I’m sorry for drawing so many enemies to you today.” He felt responsible for what had happened because it was all due to the competition. Even he hadn’t expected Liu Wuxie to offend so many people by representing Master Huo.
Liu Wuxie waved his hand dismissively, saying, “It’s already happened. I’m tired and need to rest.” He returned to his room and closed the door, leaving Bi Gongyu and Lei Tao standing outside in the yard. They exchanged wry smiles.
Lei Tao spoke with a sense of helplessness, “He’s still angry with us.” He could understand Liu Wuxie’s fury, as anyone in his position would feel the same. After all, representing Azure Billow City in the competition had resulted in him making numerous enemies.
Bi Gongyu sighed, “We’ll have to do everything we can to assist the Xu Clan in the future to make up for today.” It was the only thing he could do to help.
Liu Wuxie sat on his bed and began to cultivate using the Desolate Devouring Art. He had no choice but to strengthen himself as much as possible, having made so many enemies. The cultivation technique drew in a terrifying amount of spiritual energy, which gathered above Liu Wuxie and formed into a spiritual rain.
The Sky Devouring Divine Cauldron devoured the energy like a ravenous beast, producing a green liquid within its depths.
As Liu Wuxie’s dantian began to expand, so did the world within it. Surprisingly, lifeforms began to appear in this world as saplings swiftly grew out from the ground, growing into towering trees. The mountains, seas, and lakes all expanded as well. Liu Wuxie couldn’t even begin to imagine how much spiritual energy he would need in the future, but it was sure to be an astronomical amount.
A tender sapling took root in the mountain range and grew to the height of a person after being watered with the liquid from the Sky Devouring Divine Cauldron. A powerful wood-attributed energy filled Liu Wuxie’s dantian, causing his body to tremble.
“Elements?! I have awakened an element?!” Liu Wuxie opened his eyes with shock and a hint of doubt. The Desolate Devouring Art had far exceeded his comprehension. He couldn’t comprehend the changes in his dantian, even if he were an Immortal Emperor in his previous life.
The world had countless elements, such as gold, wood, water, fire, earth, wind, rain, lightning, thunder, etc. The wood element came from trees. To become an alchemist, one needed to possess the fire or wood element, and it would be even better to possess the two.
Refining pills required fire, while each herb contained wood essence. So if one possessed the wood element, they could better communicate with the herbs, which could save half the work in refining pills.
Liu Wuxie knew better than anyone that elements were more powerful than ordinary true essence. A martial cultivator’s attack, when imbued with an element, could increase the destructive power of true essence by a hundredfold.
The tree slowed down after reaching an average human's height, requiring more spiritual liquid. Just thinking about it was enough to give Liu Wuxie a headache.
He stood up and channeled his true essence through his arm and into his index finger. With a flick of his finger, he shot out an energy beam that easily pierced through the wall, leaving a hole the size of his finger.
“How powerful!” Ordinary true essence couldn’t achieve this level. If he combined his element and blade intent, he was confident that even someone in the ninth level of the Spirit Cleansing Realm wouldn’t be able to face him head-on.
But Liu Wuxie didn’t dare to execute his blade technique in the room as it was too small, and there was a high chance he might destroy the entire room.
As Liu Wuxie focused on his cultivation, participants from the other thirty-four cities made their way back to the Pill Gathering Pavilion to prepare for the upcoming competition. The events of the day had left a significant impact on them, and they didn’t dare to rest upon their return. Instead, they immediately began revising for the next round.
“Pavilion Master Shangguan, welcome!” Bi Gongyu’s voice sounded from the courtyard. It was rare for there to be communication among pavilion masters. So they weren’t familiar with each other.
“Pavilion Master Bi, you’re too polite. I’m here because I have some matters to talk to Young Master Liu. Do you mind letting him know about my arrival?” Before today, Shangguan Cai had not even considered Bi Gongyu or Liu Wuxie worthy of his attention. In his eyes, the cities ranked at the bottom weren’t qualified to be equal to him. However, the events of the day had caused him to reconsider, and he had come with Ji Yang to speak with them.
“Pavilion Master Shangguan, please come in. I’ll call Wuxie right away.” Bi Gongyu invited them to wait in the main hall while he went to look for Liu Wuxie.
After serving the tea, Lei Tao retreated, leaving only Shangguan Cai and Ji Yang in the main hall. Shangguan Cai had nurtured Ji Yang throughout the years, and the relationship between pavilion masters and alchemists could be considered one of both friendship and mentorship, as the pavilion masters often taught them.
Liu Wuxie was still devouring spiritual energy, but the knock on the door interrupted his cultivation, and he walked out with displeasure.
“Wuxie, Pavilion Master Shangguan wishes to meet you, and he’s waiting in the main hall. So tidy up and come with me,” Bi Gongyu said, a sense of foreboding in his voice. After all, there wouldn’t be anything good for Shangguan Cai to visit them, not to mention Shangguan Cai only mentioned he wanted to meet Liu Wuxie and said nothing else.
“Let’s go.” There was nothing to tidy up as Liu Wuxie followed behind Bi Gongyu, passing through the artificial mountain and entering the main hall. When they came into the main hall, Shangguan Cai didn’t even have any intentions of getting up on his feet, which made Liu Wuxie frown. As for Ji Yang, he was still wearing an indifferent expression as though everyone in the world owed him money.
“Greetings, Pavilion Master Shuangguan!” Liu Wuxie only cupped his fists together with no intention of bowing. Since Shangguan Cai didn’t respect him, he saw no need to do so in return. Before Shangguan Cai could speak, Liu Wuxie walked over and sat down while Bi Gongyu sat on the other side.
“I was impressed by Young Master Liu’s performance today,” Shangguan Cai said in an aloof tone as if he were used to being in a position of authority. “I have taken the liberty of visiting today because I have a favor to ask of you,” he said, sounding like he was giving an order instead.
Bi Gongyu narrowed his eyes as if he had an inkling of what was to come, but he remained silent and waited for Shangguan Cai to continue speaking.
“Pavilion Master Shangguan, please go on,” Liu Wuxie said calmly. He remembered the expressions of those present earlier in the day. Shangguan Cai had not openly mocked him, perhaps because his status was too high, and he had to consider his position before acting. However, Liu Wuxie knew that Shangguan Cai had harbored doubts about him in the past. When Liu Wuxie received a perfect score on the first section, Shangguan Cai’s eyes had been filled with envy as he looked over Liu Wuxie’s papers, and Liu Wuxie had noticed.
Shangguan Cai didn’t mince words and spoke in a tone that sounded more like an order than a negotiation. “I want you to give up on the first place. I’m willing to take out two third-grade pills and 1,000,000 gold coins to compensate you. What do you think?”
Bi Gongyu stood up furiously. After all, Liu Wuxie obtained a perfect score in the first round of the competition. With Liu Wuxie’s talent, he could easily become the competition champion if he performed well in the next two rounds.
But strangely, Liu Wuxie had no emotions, as though he had already predicted what Shangguan Cai would say.
“Pavilion Master Shangguan, do you think I care about third-grade pills and 1,000,000 gold coins?” Liu Wuxie responded with a question instead. He didn’t care about 1,000,000 gold coins. As for third-grade pills, he didn’t lack them. As long as he had enough herbs, he could refine a large amount of Origin Yang Pill if he wanted.
“To show my sincerity, I’m willing to resolve the grievance between you and Yun Lan,” Shangguan Cai added, offering to act as a mediator between Liu Wuxie and Yun Lan.
The main hall fell silent for a moment, with only the sound of Bi Gongyu’s heavy breathing breaking the stillness. Bi Gongyu hadn’t been overly concerned with winning the championship before they arrived; he had only hoped that they wouldn’t be ranked at the bottom. However, Shangguan Cai’s aloof attitude angered him because it sounded like he was giving an order rather than negotiating.
Then again, Shangguan Cai did have the qualification to be prideful, as his branch obtained championships for several years in a row.
“Give me a reason!” Liu Wuxie was calm as he looked at Shangguan Cai. He naturally noticed the slyness and greed in Shangguan Cai’s eyes.
“Yang’er’s cultivation is stuck in the ninth level of the Spirit Cleansing Realm. He needs the fourth-grade pill to make a breakthrough. If he can step into the Marrow Cleansing Realm, he’ll be the youngest Marrow Cleansing Realm cultivator in the Great Yan Dynasty!”
Fourth-grade pills could only be refined by Marrow Cleansing Realm alchemists and were highly valuable. Shangguan Cai was only a three-star alchemist and couldn’t refine a fourth-grade pill. So he didn’t want to give up on this rare opportunity.
Liu Wuxie nodded and finally understood Shangguan Cai’s intentions. As a master, Shangguan Cai naturally had to think for his disciple. If his disciple were strong, it would bring fame to him as a master. But this had nothing to do with Liu Wuxie.
“What if I disagree?” Liu Wuxie replied indifferently, neither agreeing nor disagreeing but responding with a question.
“Young Master Liu, have you considered the fact that the three of you are alone in Zen City? What if something were to happen to you...?” Shangguan Cai’s words were a thinly veiled threat, implying that if Liu Wuxie refused, he might join forces with Yun Lan to target him, revealing his shameless and despicable nature.
“Pavilion Master Shangguan, are you threatening me?” Liu Wuxie wore a harmless smile. The last thing he feared was threats. If he were afraid of threats, he wouldn’t have insisted on making Xiao Mingyi kneel on the ground when Yun Lan threatened him.
“You can think of it that way!” Shangguan Cai had no intention of concealing his threat at all. He added, “Then again, we can be friends if you agree to my offer.”
Shangguan Cai was using both a carrot and a stick to try and persuade Liu Wuxie, revealing his cunning nature. This time, Bi Gongyu didn’t say anything because Liu Wuxie needed to make decisions on some matters, and it wasn’t something he could interfere with.
A sneer rose on Ji Yang’s lips as if he was mocking Liu Wuxie. So what if Liu Wuxie could obtain the first place? He still would have to give it up the next day.
“Pavilion Master, see our guests off!” Liu Wuxie got up and left the hall without even bidding his farewell.
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