Chapter 866: A Free Win?
Chapter 866: A Free Win?
Luo Kui began. Although his opponent was trash, Luo Kui planned on doing his best. There was no meaning in thrashing Yi Yun. Now, he was in the pursuit of refining a relic that was nearing the outstanding grade, so he could astound everyone present.
Luo Kui threw the Fey bone into the Eclipse Cauldron and he extracted all the energy in one fell swoop!
Boom!
Luo Kui's body began to burn with blue flames, and behind him, a gigantic, thousand-feet blue centipede shot towards the sky!
This centipede was more than a hundred feet tall as it charged straight for the ceiling.
The Thousand-feet Demon Centipede was Luo Kui's bloodline. After it appeared, it shot towards Luo Kui's Eclipse Cauldron!
This is…
Everyone was alarmed. Luo Kui was planning to refine his Ancient Fey bloodline with the Fey bone?
Although everyone knew that it was impossible for Luo Kui to damage his Ancient Fey bloodline to refine a single relic, it was still a stunning sight for them when they saw him seal the Thousand-feet Demon Centipede in the Eclipse Cauldron.
"That's not the case." At this moment, a Desolate Heaven Master spoke out. "The Thousand-feet Demon Centipede is one of the rare insect-based Ancient Fey. Its body is highly toxic. Ancient mighty figures would have their bodies disintegrate and die if they were bitten once by it. The Thousand-feet Demon Centipede usually likes to eat all sorts of treasured herbs and poisons. Treasured herbs and Fey bones, which have many kinds of medicinal essences and energies of differing types, or even opposite types, can be refined in its body. It will allow the medicinal essences to merge and be made usable by the Demon Centipede."
"Hence, in ancient times, a Thousand-feet Demon Centipede was invaluable. Just the amount of medicinal essence accumulated in its body would allow a supreme-grade pill to be refined if it is used."
With the Desolate Heaven Master's explanation, everyone came to an understanding. The Thousand-feet Demon Centipede could extract the energy from all sorts of herbs and Fey bones that it devoured. So the reason why Luo Kui had sent his Demon Centipede bloodline into the Eclipse Cauldron was to aid him in refining a supreme-grade relic!
By using the Thousand-feet Demon Centipede, it would be half the work with double the results!
“No wonder such a burly man like Luo Kui would choose to be a Desolate Heaven Master, and waste his precious time cultivating. It's all because he has a Thousand-feet Demon Centipede!"
"Indeed, if the Thousand-feet Demon Centipede can help devour the Fey bone and extract its energy, then it would not be a waste for him to be a Desolate Heaven Master."
As the people were engaged in a flurry of discussion, they felt a bit jealous of him. With the Thousand-feet Demon Centipede helping him, Luo Kui's Desolate Heaven technique would definitely attain great success one day.
Furthermore, Desolate Heaven Masters enjoyed a high status in the Luo clan. Many supreme figures from the Ten Thousand Fey Empyrean Heaven would frequently come to the Luo clan to buy a relic for a high price.
For example, the third Empyrean Uncle of the Luo clan, who had retired, was a supreme level Desolate Heaven Master. He was a person that even if Emperor Luo met him, he would respectfully bow with a junior's greeting.
If it wasn’t for the third Empyrean Uncle retiring, to put it bluntly, if he put his foot down, he could decide who the next Emperor of the Luo clan would be. There was no need for any competition for the throne!
At this moment, Luo Kui threw another few pieces of bone fragments and herbs into the Eclipse Cauldron.
Dang!
After the supplemental herbs were added into the Eclipse Cauldron, its lid immediately sealed it tight!
Some of the keen-eyed young elites present could tell at a glance that the bone fragments and herbs that Luo Kui had thrown into the Eclipse Cauldron were extraordinary items. Some of them were worth even more than the third grade Fey bone that he had taken out.
The Fey bone supplements were higher in value than the main Fey bone!
From the looks of it, Luo Kui was determined to refine a supreme-grade relic.
But in fact, using higher valued Fey bones as supplements to forcefully upgrade a low-level relic's grade was somewhat contrived. A truly powerful Desolate Heaven Master would refine a low-level Fey bone into a high-grade relic. Only then was there value in it.
However, that was too difficult. Luo Kui had only been practicing the Desolate Heaven technique for about a decade after all. It was already quite amazing for him to attain what he did.
"Luo Kui using so many supplemental Fey bones makes the competition somewhat unfair. Yi Yun only used a single Fey bone and nothing else."
"So what? This isn't even a competition. It's just an individual performance by Luo Kui! I also know a little bit of the Desolate Heaven technique. The disk array that Yi Yun is using is fully exposed. Regardless of the seals he forms, I can see them clearly. Yi Yun's seals would not be able to refine any relics of a good grade, so it's impossible for him to win. Furthermore, his low-level seals aren't even considered perfect. As such, being able to refine that Fey bone itself should be his limit. He would not be able to handle the adding of any more supplemental Fey bones, so what's so unfair about it?" A Desolate Heaven apprentice spoke.
He did not speak without thinking.
Yi Yun may have talent in the Desolate Heaven technique, but his age was less than half of Luo Kui's. The profession of a Desolate Heaven Master required the accumulation of time. Furthermore, Yi Yun had yet to fully come into contact with the Ten Thousand Fey Empyrean Heaven's Desolate Heaven technique, so the outcome was destined.
At this moment, even Luo Huo'er was feeling anxious.
She was certain that Yi Yun would not lose out. Since he dared to step forward, there was something that was backing him. But now, with Yi Yun's relic being almost 70% refined, there was still not a single miracle!
Luo Huo'er was probably the most qualified person present to comment on the competition. She was not only proficient in the Ten Thousand Fey Empyrean Heaven's Desolate Heaven technique, she was also proficient in the lower realm's Desolate Heaven technique. She obviously knew that with the techniques being used by Yi Yun, the quality of the relics that he refined would only be a 'poor' grade!
By using the most primitive methods to build a stone hut with a heap of construction materials, there was no way that a top architect could change it into a magnificent palace when the stone hut was nearing completion.
As for Luo Kui, he was using a supreme-grade desolate heaven cauldron, and with so many supplemental materials, as well as the Thousand-feet Demon Centipede bloodline, Luo Huo'er estimated that the quality of the relic Luo Kui would refine would be between 'refined' and 'outstanding'. The difference was like night and day.
Other than that, Luo Kui's refining speed was faster than Yi Yun's. Yi Yun had only refined 70%, while Luo Kui had already refined 90%!
In less than three minutes, Luo Kui's relic would be completed!
However, Luo Huo'er could tell that when the relic was nearing completion, Luo Kui was beginning to have problems holding it together. After all, he had used so many supplemental Fey bones, so it was demanding on his mental strength. Imperfections began to appear in Luo Kui's seals, and these meant that the quality of his relic was going to be at the 'refined' grade.
Seconds changed to minutes. Yi Yun formed one seal after another and he proceeded in a prescribed routine, as though he was not worried at all.
At the same time, Yi Yun had already opened his energy vision. Others could not see the situation inside the Eclipse Cauldron, but he could see it clearly.
In the Eclipse Cauldron, the Thousand-feet Demon Centipede was at its limits. It was not a true Thousand-feet Demon Centipede, after all, it was only a bloodline that Luo Kui had conjured. After eating up too much energy in one fell swoop, it could not digest it fully. As a result, its body swelled up as though it was about to burst.
And at the same time, the energy seals that Luo Kui produced were brought together. He was about to condensed them into a relic.
As Luo Huo'er said, these energy seals had their imperfections. It was not easy for ordinary people to detect them, but Yi Yun could see them very clearly. He could even tell how many imperfections there were clearly.
It was true that Yi Yun did not fully understand the Ten Thousand Fey Empyrean Heaven's Desolate Heaven technique, but with the Purple Crystal, Yi Yun knew what the perfect form of energy should be.
The spots where the energies were imperfect accumulated and gradually expanded in size. At the moment the relic took form, all of them would merge instantly and reach their largest size. However, it would not explode as it would be forcefully suppressed by Luo Kui's relic-forming hand seals. Finally, they would be left in the relic, and become the relic's energy ‘holes’, affecting the relic's rating.
In fact, when Luo Kui was using a hand seal to forcefully merge the energy seals together was the moment when the energy was most stable. This was an immense challenge on Luo Kui's mental strength, and it was this reason that the relic formation was a critical stage when Desolate Heaven Masters refined a relic. There could be no mistake.
At this moment, Luo Kui's relic was nearing completion.
Hundreds of energy seals were already condensed by Luo Kui. The final step was combining them together. He was in full concentration as his forehead began sweating.
Although it was only a third-grade relic, by using so many supplemental Fey bones, it was also an extremely big challenge for Luo Kui to produce an outstanding grade relic. He was also reaching his limit. If not, he would not have produced so many flaws on the energy seals towards the end.
Although it might have missed out on the outstanding grade by a hair, for Luo Kui to obtain such results, it was already something that he could be proud of. After all, despite having only cultivated for eighty years, his strength was not only exceptional, he had also been able to divert some attention onto the Desolate Heaven technique!
Combine!
Luo Kui isolated himself from distractions as his remaining mental strength was devoted into the Eclipse Cauldron, so he could control the energy seal's merger.
Hundred of energy seals began to emit beams as bright as the sun in the Eclipse Cauldron. Just as it was about to merge as one…
A summoning force that no one could perceive mixed itself inside the energy seals. This summoning force was without shape or form, as though it was the Origin powers at the beginning of the Universe… Even Empress Luo or Empress Xuan, much less Luo Kui, couldn’t sense it.
At this moment, nearly everyone's attention was focused on Luo Kui's Eclipse Cauldron. No one paid Yi Yun any mind. Yi Yun was standing by the side, condensing his energy seals while controlling the Purple Crystal. He began to lightly ‘nudge’ the hundreds of energy seals.
Just this light nudge moved the most critical energy combination point. It forcefully repressed many of the imperfects in the energy seals…
Instantly, it was like a spark dropping into an oil well. The delicate balance of energy was broken.
Luo Kui, who was nearing his limits, was late by the time it took to blink as he realized the nearly undetectable energy disturbance! Although the time it took to blink was short, it was fatal for the critical moment of relic formation.
No good!
Luo Kui widened his eyes as his pupils turned bloodshot. He bellowed as all the power from his bloodline burned. The Thousand-feet Demon Centipede in the Eclipse Cauldron opened its mouth wide and it tried to devour the collapsing energy seals. It was trying to maintain the relic at the risk of destroying the relic's quality.
However, the Thousand-feet Demon Centipede was already severely bloated and it was a spent force, so how could it succeed?
Yi Yun did not stand on ceremony as he controlled the Purple Crystal to nudge a second energy combination point.
As such, the collapse of the energy could no longer be stopped!
Boom!
A tumultuous explosion happened as the hovering Eclipse Cauldron violently trembled. The cauldron's lid was blown open and it heavily slammed into the ceiling. It had smashed a brick on the ceiling into smithereens!
Phew—
A blazing blue fireball rose up into the sky. Luo Kui's Thousand-feet Demon Centipede bloodline’s phantom image was enveloped in the blue fireball as it struggled in pain!
The Thousand-feet Demon Centipede bloodline was considered strong, but with it being at its limits and being caught unaware, it had been engulfed by the shock wave at a close distance. Furthermore, it was in a sealed space in the Eclipse Cauldron, so the impact was imaginable!
Luo Kui, who was mentally linked to the Thousand-feet Demon Centipede, grunted as he retreated backward and fell to the ground. His face was as pale as a sheet of paper!
Two streams of black blood began to flow down from Luo Kui's ears. This was the most accurate portrayal of the Thousand-feet Demon Centipede's damage. The shock wave in an enclosed space had blasted through the Thousand-feet Demon Centipede's ears, causing it to be severely injured. It would take him a few months to recover from these injuries.
Dong!
The Eclipse Cauldron heavily slammed onto the ground as black ash spilled out of it...
Luo Kui was battered out of his senses. His face was blank as he dully looked at the rolling Eclipse Cauldron on the ground. He could not believe his eyes.
The cauldron blew up? His refining of a relic had ended up in him blowing up the cauldron...
At such an important occasion, Empress Luo, Empress Xuan, elites from all over the world, and his future master, Prince Crimson Firmament, were all present, but he blew up his cauldron! Luo Kui's heart was palpitating!
"This… "
The young elites present all widened their eyes. Some of them were not even aware of the wine glasses that they had knocked over.
Luo Kui was just about to refine a relic that was a 'refined' grade at the minimum in an ostentatious display of his prowess. But at the final moment, he had blown his cauldron up.
As a result, he did not even have the poorest grade of a relic. It went from a 'refined'-grade relic to a pile of ash. This sudden change was too great!
Seeing Luo Kui look as though he had lost his soul, everyone knew that this failure would deal a terrible blow to his confidence. In the future, Luo Kui might even have a mental demon when he refined relics. He might end up being afraid of all sorts of things, affecting his future achievement in the Desolate Heaven technique.
The elites present, including Empress Luo and Empress Xuan, were stunned by the blowing up of Luo Kui's cauldron. However, there was one person who was unaffected, and that was… Yi Yun!
As everyone recollected their thoughts, they saw that Yi Yun was still controlling his crude disk array as he slowly refined a Fey bone relic.
His motions could only be described as leisurely. The speed at which he formed seals did not seem like he was refining a Fey bone relic. Instead, it could be described as him picking mushrooms in the wild.
On one side, one had blown up a cauldron, while the other looked relaxed. This contrast was way too big…
However slow he was, Yi Yun had managed to finish the final seal as he began to do the final relic formation.
Yi Yun's relic formation technique was also nothing fancy. It was the crudest relic formation technique from the lower realm. He had finished it quickly, but it was simple and crude.
"Dong!"
A gray relic rolled into Yi Yun's hand from the disk array.
Some high-grade relics would be crystalline upon after refinement, but the relic that Yi Yun refined did not look good, as though there were impurities within it. Furthermore, its quality rating did not go beyond its appearance. It was truly consistent in and out.
Quality evaluation — Poor.
When Yi Yun held the relic, he noticed that there was a bit of ash on its surface. Using his sleeve, he nonchalantly wiped it and placed it on the maid servant's tray, and motioned for her to hand it to Empress Luo.
"Your Majesty, this lowly one's relic has been completed. This lowly one has only been exposed to the Desolate Heaven technique for four to five months after all. It's quite nice to produce such a poor-quality third-grade relic. Now, this lowly one wants to present it to Her Majesty."
Seeing the maidservant hand the gray relic to Empress Luo, everyone present was dumbfounded. Their eyes were fixated on the relic as they could not turn their gazes away.
Holy shit, what was going on? Don't tell me that Yi Yun has won!?
Many people began to come to this realization. On one side, one had blown his cauldron up, while the other side had refined a poor grade relic, but at least he had completed it.
At this moment, Prince Crimson Firmament felt as though his heart was being trampled upon by a million Ancient Fey beasts with mud-stained hoofs.
He felt like he was a super retard. He had played a secondary role with the retard, Luo Kui, in a super humorous silly play. Unexpectedly, he would become the laughing stock of the royal capital in the next few days.
As for Yi Yun, this fellow, who looked like he was low on his intellectual quotient, had become the final victor.
"Only been exposed to the Desolate Heaven technique for four or five months."
"Quite nice to produce such a poor-quality third-grade relic… "
Thinking back to Yi Yun's words, Prince Crimson Firmament wanted to slam his head into a wall. This fellow, who looked like he had a screw loose, had actually won!?
Or was this punk acting the pig? However, Prince Crimson Firmament had a few thousand years of cultivation at least. He had been focused on the competition from beginning to end. He did not feel that Yi Yun had secretly done something — how could he have that ability!?
"Pfft!"
A pearly laughter was suddenly heard. Luo Huo'er had burst out into laughter.
She was a person with a child's temperament and she was never serious, to begin with. She had forcibly put on an elegant look for this banquet. How could she tolerate it when she truly encountered such an interesting matter?
Seeing many people looking at her, especially with Prince Crimson Firmament looking as though his mother had died, Luo Huo'er quickly gave a dry cough and dabbed her mouth with a handkerchief. Again, she put on a serious expression.
However, the more she behaved this way, the more depressed Prince Crimson Firmament felt.
Luo Huo'er holding back her laughter and pretending to be serious was the greatest travesty against him. This was because he felt that Luo Huo'er was mocking him.
"Prince Crimson Firmament, I… I can't accept it!"
At this moment, the dispirited Luo Kui suddenly got up. How could he accept it? From his point of view, an unpredictable problem had happened when he was combining the seals. It had caused him to blow his cauldron and give Yi Yun a free win. "Just one more time. One more time and I will be able to refine a top grade relic!"
After Luo Kui said this, Prince Crimson Firmament's expression turned even uglier. Luo Huo'er laughed and said, "Luo Kui, it was you who said it yourself. You have failed to refine a third-grade relic, so what qualifications do you have to continue competing? This time, you poked a hole through the roof, if you are given another chance, are you going to demolish this place?"
Luo Huo'er played with her handkerchief and spoke without sparing his feelings. The Luo Lucid Palace was not meant to be an area for the refinement of relics. It was not indestructible. When the cauldron blew up, it had shattered a brick.
Author's note: This is a 5100 character chapter, and it can be considered to be a big chapter. It's to slightly make up for the chapter that I missed when I had the flu.