Chapter 68: Robbing the Alchemist

"To be precise, I need a few alchemists," Xu Yang said.

Zhou Tian grew even more confused. "My lord, do you mean...?" he asked cautiously.

"I currently have a large quantity of spiritual herbs that need to be refined into pills, but I don't have enough alchemists. That's why I thought of you."

Xu Yang wasted no time and stated his intention directly.

Zhou Tian breathed a sigh of relief. As long as Xu Yang wasn't there to wipe out his entire clan, it was fine.

"My lord, that's easy to arrange. Just tell me which alchemist you fancy," Zhou Tian said.

Xu Yang, however, offered a faint smile. "I don't think you've fully grasped my meaning. I want these alchemists to refine pills for me for the rest of their lives."

Zhou Tian was momentarily stunned and only reacted after a pause. *Internal thought:* "Damn, something's wrong here. Xu Yang wants them to essentially sell themselves into servitude, to become pill-refining machines."

"My lord, this... this isn't quite right."

Cold sweat broke out on Zhou Tian's brow. Although he greatly feared Xu Yang, he felt Xu Yang was being overly aggressive and wanted to protest further.

"Of course I know that. I don't just want a few pill-refining machines. I want your entire Medicine Estate to refine pills for me from now on. Besides, I see that this sect within your estate is quite dilapidated. I've found a new residence for you. How about you move into our Azure Sky Sect from now on?"

Xu Yang said with a beaming smile, his eyes filled with apparent goodwill.

"Pfft..."

Upon hearing Xu Yang's words, Zhou Tian nearly spat out a mouthful of blood. His expression had completely changed. He said coldly, "Are you saying you intend to destroy my Medicine Mountain Estate, and then abduct all of its alchemists to refine pills for you?"

"You could interpret it that way," Xu Yang said, smiling.

"Never! Though we can't defeat you, you won't succeed even if we die." Zhou Tian's old face turned purple with rage, his eyes filled with grief and indignation.

"Exactly! Although we cannot contend with you, we have our dignity. If you intend to use force, you've made a mistake. No matter what, we will not yield!"

"Yes, even if you kill us all, you won't succeed!"

Just then, a group of people rushed out from the Medicine Mountain Estate, shouting loudly. Their faces were all etched with fury.

"These people are quite stubborn," Xu Yang remarked, his gaze playful. He had actually anticipated this scene. Since that was the case, he would strike where it would most impact their pride.

"Heh heh, given your touching attitude, I won't resort to force. How about we make a wager instead?" Xu Yang proposed.

Zhou Tian's expression was puzzled. Unsure what trick Xu Yang was playing, he asked cautiously, "A wager? How would we wager, and what would the stakes be?"

Xu Yang pulled out his alchemy furnace and set it down with a thud. "Since you are all alchemists, naturally we should have a pill-refining competition," he said. Xu Yang smiled.

"I have a pill formula here, containing a total of one hundred types of pills. I will refine all of these pills myself—one hundred pills. You will select fifty people, and each of them will refine two pills. We can compete to see who can refine them faster. If I win, you will follow my command. How about that?" Xu Yang said with a smile.

This time, Zhou Tian once again doubted reality. He felt dizzy by the time Xu Yang finished speaking. "Wait, did you just say that you, by yourself, will refine one hundred pills, while each of us only needs to refine two, and then we compare who is faster?"

Xu Yang nodded. "Exactly. You've understood perfectly."

Zhou Tian was utterly speechless, now truly doubting reality.

"He's too arrogant! Although I can't beat him in a fight, when it comes to alchemy, I could beat him by ten streets."

"Exactly! Don't forget, pill refining is how our Medicine Mountain Estate makes its living!"

"Besides, he alone will refine one hundred pills? Is his spiritual energy really enough? You know, pill refining consumes a lot of spiritual energy."

"Right! If he can refine a hundred pills in the time it takes us to refine two, and we still can't beat him, then we might as well just kill ourselves."

The people of Medicine Mountain Estate said with disdain.

Xu Yang looked at them and then said with a smile, "What's wrong? Do you dare to accept?"

Zhou Tian calmed himself and thought it over, then realized something. Xu Yang had spoken; could he still refuse? Of course not, because his fists weren't as hard as Xu Yang's. Moreover, from their perspective, this looked like an opportunity, no matter how they viewed it—provided Xu Yang kept his word.

"What if Senior loses?" Zhou Tian considered for a moment, then asked.

"Me, lose?" Xu Yang said, a smile playing on his lips. "I won't lose."

Upon hearing this, Zhou Tian nearly spat out blood. Alright, he decided to pretend he hadn't asked that question. Thinking this, he rolled his eyes.

"When do we start then?" Zhou Tian asked.

"I think we can start right now," Xu Yang said lightly.

***

After an hour of preparation, 101 alchemy furnaces were set up in the middle of Medicine Mountain Estate's plaza. At one end of the plaza, spiritual herbs were haphazardly piled beside Xu Yang. They were so chaotically arranged that one might believe they were pig feed.

At the other end of the plaza, one hundred alchemists stood in neat rows. Their spiritual herbs were meticulously arranged, every leaf smoothed out.

Zhou Tian stood in the center of the plaza as the referee. Looking at the "pig feed" beside Xu Yang, his eyelids twitched. There was no need to think; Medicine Mountain Estate was sure to win. Pill refining demanded precise timing for placing spiritual herbs into the furnace, with accuracy down to milliseconds. Even a slight error in timing would lead to failure. Therefore, arranging the spiritual herbs neatly before refining was not merely an obsessive habit. The benefit was that one could easily pick up the desired herb when it was time to place it in the furnace.

However... looking at Xu Yang's pile, it was disorganized and stacked high, resembling weeds just pulled from the ground. When it was time to refine, Xu Yang would probably struggle to even find the right herbs.

Just then, a bell chimed.

"The competition begins!" Zhou Tian announced loudly.

As soon as he finished speaking, the alchemists of Medicine Mountain Estate sprang into action. They began refining pills quickly and methodically.