Chapter 2028: The Bet

The group of Seven-Star Divine Alchemists all fell into deep thought.

Even Purple Wing Venerable was savoring Ye Yuan's earlier words.

Ye Yuan's insights were extremely profound, giving them great inspiration.

This was the essence of alchemy exchange.

At this moment, Ye Yuan's mind was already in turmoil, undergoing a terrifying storm of thoughts.

Thus, the entire space fell into silence.

No one knew how long had passed when Ye Yuan slowly opened his eyes, and the others all felt a stir in their hearts.

“Alchemy Master Ye, have you reached a conclusion?” Flowing Bright Venerable's eyes lit up as he asked curiously.

Ye Yuan nodded and said, “I have deduced three possible schemes. As for which one is most suitable, I will only know after refining.”

Everyone looked at Ye Yuan in astonishment, their faces full of disbelief.

This group of Seven-Star Divine Alchemists had studied for a month and only managed to supplement one spiritual herb, and it was wrong at that.

Only two days had passed, and he had come up with three schemes?

Flowing Bright Venerable quickly said, “Alchemy Master Ye, please do tell!”

Ye Yuan nodded and said, “There are many spiritual herbs containing speed attributes, but only a few hundred are compatible with the four herbs like Clear Quiet Ripple. After my deduction, I finally settled on these three schemes. The first: Xuncheng Leaf, Deer Soul Young Heart Fruit, and Thousand Maple Vine; the second: Fire Luan Grass, Wind-Singing Heavenly Crane, and Heart-Matching Wisdom Fruit; the third: Thunder Cloud Immortal Coagulation Fruit, Red Wind Sword-Toothed Grass, and Illusion Glass Cardamom.”

As Ye Yuan spoke, the group of Seven-Star Divine Alchemists immediately began deducing rapidly in their minds.

These were all great cultivators; they could quickly tell whether the herbs Ye Yuan mentioned made any sense.

Zheng Qiyuan, however, snorted coldly, “Nonsense! Deer Soul Young Heart Fruit is a wood-attribute spiritual herb, Fire Luan Grass is fire-attribute, and Thunder Cloud Immortal Coagulation Fruit is thunder-attribute. Yet you use them as main ingredients—it’s completely incongruous.”

Purple Wing Venerable snorted coldly, “How could such a combination possibly refine the Seven Treasures Cloud Wind Pill? Kid, were you just bluffing us?”

The other venerables also showed expressions of doubt, clearly agreeing with Zheng Qiyuan’s statement.

The goodwill they had just built toward Ye Yuan instantly dissipated.

The three situations Ye Yuan mentioned simply could not produce the Seven Treasures Cloud Wind Pill.

Even Flowing Bright Venerable frowned, evidently very puzzled.

At this moment, Ye Yuan also felt a surge of anger.

Even a clay Buddha has three parts fire; Zheng Qiyuan had provoked him time and again, truly thinking he was a pushover?

He looked at Zheng Qiyuan with a half-smile and said, “If these three schemes can refine the pill, what then?”

Zheng Qiyuan’s expression stiffened, and he said, “That’s impossible!”

Ye Yuan sneered, “Is that so? If you don’t have the guts, then shut your mouth. No one thinks you’re mute!”

Zheng Qiyuan could not stand such provocation and said coldly, “If you can’t refine it, what then?”

Ye Yuan said calmly, “If I can’t refine it, I will immediately hand over my Master Token, pack up and leave, and never refine pills again in this life. Don’t say I’m bullying you—if you lose, your Zheng family withdraws from the Cloud Alchemy Convention. Do you dare to bet?”

Zheng Qiyuan’s expression changed, clearly startled by Ye Yuan’s wager.

The Zheng family withdrawing from the Cloud Alchemy Convention would mean being isolated from the entire Southern Domain’s alchemy world.

This would be a huge blow to the Zheng family.

The others looked at Zheng Qiyuan in shock, finding his face ashen from the pressure.

Seeing this, Flowing Bright Venerable quickly stepped in as a mediator, saying, “Hehe, we are all fellow alchemists. Why make such a bet and hurt our feelings?”

Ye Yuan sneered, “Ever since I arrived, Zheng Qiyuan has provoked me time and again. Does he really think I’m easy to bully? Hah, does he think I’m young and naive? Your Zheng family’s juniors were dissatisfied and complained to you, saying I’m unworthy of the Master position, that my challenge to you was arrogant. That’s why you’ve been making things difficult for me at every turn, isn’t that right?”

Zheng Qiyuan’s face was extremely ugly, full of embarrassment at being exposed.

The other venerables were also shocked, not expecting so many twists and turns in between.

No wonder Zheng Qiyuan found fault with Ye Yuan in every way—it turned out he felt Ye Yuan had disgraced the Zheng family.

Purple Wing Venerable frowned and sneered, “Brother Zheng, so after all this, you were using me as a shield!”

Since joining this exchange, Zheng Qiyuan had been constantly instigating, saying that Ye Yuan had stolen his Master position and so on.

After all this, he was just trying to save face and deliberately make things difficult for Ye Yuan!

Zheng Qiyuan’s expression changed slightly, and he quickly explained, “That… that was just childish squabbling. I truly felt wronged for Brother Purple Wing!”

Ye Yuan sneered, “Sincere or not, the pill formula will speak for itself. I only ask: do you dare to bet?”

With one sentence, Zheng Qiyuan was backed into a corner.

Zheng Qiyuan hadn’t expected that a mere brat could be so shrewd, directly putting him at odds with all the venerables.

Now, he had no choice but to agree.

Zheng Qiyuan gritted his teeth and said coldly, “Bet it is! Do you think I’m afraid of you? I simply don’t believe that with different attributes, you can still refine a wind-attribute pill!”

Ye Yuan turned to Flowing Bright Venerable and said calmly, “Brother Flowing Bright, I’ll trouble you to test the pill.”

Earlier, Ye Yuan had not bothered with Zheng Qiyuan, and Flowing Bright Venerable thought Ye Yuan didn’t want to offend him. Who knew that once he acted, he would be so sharp and aggressive.

Ye Yuan was staking his entire alchemy career and the Zheng family on this bet!

Did this kid really have such confidence?

Was he arrogant, or truly confident?

As for Ye Yuan’s alchemy skill, everyone no longer doubted it.

His earlier remarks could not have come from an outsider.

With just that, Ye Yuan was qualified to sit and discuss alchemy with them.

But as Zheng Qiyuan said, Ye Yuan’s chances of winning were slim.

They were all alchemy masters and naturally understood the attributes of pills; what Zheng Qiyuan said was not wrong.

“Alas, must it come to this? Forget it, since it’s already like this, words are useless. Let’s try this pill formula.” Flowing Bright Venerable said helplessly.

At this point, the two were at loggerheads, and it was clearly irreconcilable; further persuasion was useless.

This space was also a large-scale alchemy room.

As for these seventh-grade spiritual herbs, though rarely seen, they could naturally be gathered at the Cloud Alchemy Convention.

Before long, three sets of spiritual herbs were laid before everyone.

For the first set, Xuncheng Leaf, Deer Soul Young Heart Grass, and Thousand Maple Vine were gathered. After some preparation, Flowing Bright Venerable began to refine the pill.

Ye Yuan’s expression was very focused, entirely on Flowing Bright Venerable’s alchemy, as if the bet had nothing to do with him.

Flowing Bright Venerable was indeed a grandmaster; his alchemy skill dazzled everyone, and even Ye Yuan felt rare admiration.

Only a strong practitioner of this level was qualified to discuss alchemy with him!

However, two hours later, a “puff” sound suddenly came from the pill furnace.

It failed.