Chapter 417: Alchemy Challenge 5

After a few moments of self-satisfaction, Shen Xu turned to the judges’ table and subconsciously narrowed his eyes.

The alchemy challenge originally had five judges.

However, without his notice, five turned to ten, and the new additions appeared more impressive than the original.

’Even the sect master’s wife is here.’ The double thought, secretly glancing at Lin Hua.

“The assessment will begin in a cup of tea.” Yang Zitao announced, attracting Shen Xu’s attention.

Although he was happy with his work, he was a little embarrassed that many of his pills were mid-grade and even low-grade.

That said, he was confident he did better than Xuanyuan Yan.

A cup of tea later, Yang Zitao instructed the two opponents to stand before the judges’ table.

“The elder judges have examined disciple Murong and disciple Tang.” Yang Zitao started and quickly continued.

“You may present your diagnosis and treatment plan for disciple Murong.” He said.

Hearing this, Shen Xu and Xuanyuan Yan presented a jade to the judges.

After receiving the jades, the judges read the contents and exchanged a glance before one of the elders began speaking.

“Disciple Xuanyuan has diagnosed disciple Murong with corpse flower poisoning and has suggested the relevant antidote.” Elder Jiang started, her voice echoing around the square.

“On the contrary, disciple Shen has diagnosed disciple Murong with death yin corpse flower poisoning and has also suggested an antidote.”

“After examination and discussion, the elders agree with disciple Shen’s diagnosis and treatment plan.”

After saying that, Jiang Shan looked at Shen Xu and smiled.

“You did well.” She said, and Shen Xu nodded with a satisfied expression.

Because of the Tianxuan continent’s incomplete inheritance, the double worried that the elders may not know about the death yin corpse flower.

Fortunately, his worries came to nothing, and he realised that the gaps in inheritance weren’t as devastating as he thought.

However, Shen Xu didn’t completely relax.

After all, knowing about the death yin corpse flower was one thing and having the recipe for the antidote was another.

“Unfortunately, the death yin corpse flower poison is an unsolvable problem in our Tianxuan continent.” Jiang Shan said, looking at Murong Ling with pitying eyes.

She didn’t know why the original elders chose someone with an unsolvable poison for the challenge.

However, regardless of the reason, it was cruel to use Murong Ling as a gimmick.

’Poor girl.’ She thought, but what could she do?

“Elder Jiang, I have refined the antidote.” Shen Xu said, placing a porcelain bottle on the judges’ table.

Hearing this, Jiang Shan and the other judges couldn’t help but be surprised.

With trembling hands, Jiang Shan picked up the bottle, opened it and smelled the contents before pouring a pill onto her hand.

Like most antidotes, the pill was white.

However, it had some yellow spots that exuded warmth, similar to the morning sun.

“This…” Jiang Shan muttered with an excited expression.

Although she had never seen the antidote for the death yin corpse flower poison, she imagined it would be like this.

After all, the main difference between ordinary corpse flower poison and death yin corpse flower poison was death qi. But since death qi was essentially cold, the antidote would definitely lean towards natural yang.

Considering that, Jiang Shan felt that Shen Xu’s antidote would likely work on Murong Ling’s poison.

’This kid is unbelievably talented.’ She thought and turned to the other judges.

“The formula for the antidote of the death yin corpse flower poison was lost in the long river of time.” Lin Hua stated, but didn’t continue.

Instead, he left his statement hanging, allowing everyone to make their own conclusions.

Unfortunately, Shen Xu had never been willing to suffer dumb losses and would certainly not allow Lin Hua to succeed in casting doubt on his antidote.

“The recipe was lost, but people’s brains weren’t. If the formula can be derived once, it can be deduced a second and third time.” He said and shrugged with a careless expression.

However, only he and Zhen Yuan knew that he had almost exhausted his brain cells to modify the formula in his inheritance.

If his soul power was weaker and if he hadn’t refined many drops of clarity, Shen Xu was sure he wouldn’t have been able to modify the formula without a year or so of hard work.

“Disciple Shen is right. The formula was lost, but people’s brains weren’t.” Jiang Shan reiterated, looking at Lin Hua with a gloating expression.

’Who knew you would also have this day?’ She thought, and a trace of schadenfreude flashed in her eyes.

She and Lin Hua were bitter rivals.

They had never liked each other and always turned up their nose whenever they saw the other.

Unexpectedly, after fighting in a stalemate for thousands of years, Lin Hua inexplicably hit a brick wall and suffered all kinds of grievances.

“Disciple Shen, how many spirit grasses did you use to refine the antidote?” One of the other judges asked.

“The formula I originally deduced needs less than thirty spirit grasses. However, fourteen of the required spirit grasses were not provided, so I substituted them with two hundred and sixteen other spirit grasses. In the end, the antidote used two hundred and twenty-nine spirit grasses.” Shen Xu answered with a frustrated expression.

It’s because he had to process so many spirit grasses that he couldn’t spare the time to completely remove impurities.

As a result, he refined the pills, but the quality was below his usual standards.

“Although your antidote follows the correct principles, it’s untested, and its efficacy is unknown. How do you suggest we judge it?” Elder Meng asked, and Shen Xu shrugged before turning to Murong Ling.

“Senior sister, are you willing to try it?” He asked and quickly continued.

“I know the quality is not good, but I will compensate you with a bottle of qi cleansing wine to remove the impurities.”

Murong Ling immediately nodded when she heard the question.

Although the pill was untested, she was willing to try it.

After all, her life had turned into a living hell since she was poisoned.

Even if there was only a one per cent chance that the pill would work, she was willing to take the risk.

“I am willing to test the pill.” Murong Ling said, looking at the judges with a serious expression.

“Disciple Murong, you can’t take this matter lightly.” Lin Hua said, and although his tone was pleasant, Murong Ling sensed an underlying threat.

However, she didn’t care.

Being poisoned with the death yin corpse flower poison had caused her to live a life worse than death.

Excluding her grandfather, everyone else had disappeared from her life, unwilling to tolerate the odour oozing out of her body.

While this had shown her which people she could trust, she was fed up with loneliness and wanted her life to regain a semblance of normality.

Because of this, she didn’t care about offending the sect master’s wife and simply wanted to live a good life.

Most importantly, her grandfather was a tribulation transcending realm cultivator, and even the Lin family wouldn’t dare to recklessly offend him.

“Elder Lin, I have thought about it. I want to take the pill.” Murong Ling said, and Lin Hua clenched his hands.

However, he soon regained his composure and sat with his eyes lowered.

’This Shen Xu is too abominable.’ He thought, and a trace of murderous intent flashed in his eyes.

After that, Murong Ling took the pills and sat cross-legged within an isolation formation.

Seeing this, Yang Zitao looked at Shen Xu, sighed and began speaking.

“Disciple Shen, disciple Xuanyuan, you can present your diagnosis and treatment plan for disciple Tang.” He announced, and as before, the two presented two jade tablets.

After receiving the jade tablets, the judges read the contents and immediately fell into chaos.

“This…” Elder Meng muttered with an uncertain expression.

“I didn’t notice.” He whispered, and the other judges nodded.

“I also didn’t notice.” Jiang Shan said and turned to Lin Hua.

“What about you, fellow Daoist Lin? Did you notice?” She asked, and Lin Hua shook his head, but his hands were clenched into fists.

He and Xuanyuan Yan had planned everything, but didn’t expect that Shen Xu would still detect the soul-eroding worm.

’This is going to be troublesome.’ Lin Hua thought, and a trace of unease flashed in his eyes.

Soul-eroding worms were forbidden insects.

Even if he was Xuanyuan Han’s wife, the sect and Tianxuan continent would not tolerate a righteous path cultivator who dared to use a soul-eroding worm on other cultivators.

’No matter what happens, the soul-eroding worm must not be traced back to either Yan’er or me.’ He thought, his eyes hardened in determination.

“Let’s re-examine disciple Tang before we decide.” Elder Meng said with a solemn expression.

After that, each of the elders re-examined Tang Bin before exchanging an uneasy glance.

“Disciple Shen is right.” Jiang Shan said, and several others nodded in agreement.

Source: Webnovel.com, updated by NovelKeep