Chapter 735: Fire Trees and Silver Flowers

Between a Pill King and a Pill Grandmaster, there are two major realms.

However, the duel between alchemists is different from that between martial artists. For martial artists, a gap of two major realms is insurmountable even for a prodigy like Ye Yuan.

Yet among alchemists, aside from pill refining, theoretically a Pill King might still have a chance to defeat a Pill Grandmaster.

Of course, that is only theoretical.

Without an extraordinary inheritance, it is basically nonsense for a Pill King to defeat a Pill Grandmaster.

The accumulation and experience of a Pill Grandmaster are simply incomparable to those of a Pill King.

Especially in the art of flame control, experience plays a crucial role, accumulated through countless pill refinings.

Given the ages of Ren Dong and Xiao Ruyan, no one believed they could match Su Qide, an old-school Pill Grandmaster, in flame control.

In fact, even Ren Dong himself had no confidence at all.

A Pill Grandmaster was a realm he had never even dared to imagine in the lower realm. And now, he was going to compete in flame control with such a powerhouse.

But Su Qide's words just now had angered Ren Dong.

Ye Yuan was like a deity in his heart, and Su Qide's words had touched his reverse scale!

"No matter what, I must have a good match with this old fellow! Even if I can't beat him, I must not embarrass Master!" Ren Dong resolved inwardly.

To others, this was a contest with no chance of victory. But Ren Dong knew that Master's match was an absolute win!

In pill refining, Ye Yuan indeed could not yet refine seventh-tier pills; but in flame control, so what if it was a Pill Saint?

"Boy, let's begin. I want to see just how formidable a disciple taught by a Pill Emperor can be!"

With that, Su Qide released his yuan power, and a cluster of red flame appeared in his palm.

His fingers plucked at the red flame like playing a zither, as if dancing, giving people a refreshing feeling.

In the midst of this, he occasionally looked up at Ren Dong, only to see Ren Dong still motionless, staring blankly at his flame control.

Seeing this, Su Qide became even more smug.

"Truly formidable! As expected of the second only to Pill Saint He in Gufeng City, this flame control technique is probably only inferior to Pill Saint He!"

"A Pill Grandmaster is indeed a Pill Grandmaster. Without thousands of temperings, how could one achieve such flame control?"

"Today is truly an eye-opener! If Pill Grandmaster Su's flame control is this impressive, how formidable must Pill Saint He's be?"

Hearing the crowd's flattery, Su Qide became even more pleased.

He still had some energy left, so with the intention of showing off, his movements quickened.

This drew even more exclamations of admiration.

As for Ren Dong, he still stared blankly at Su Qide, as if he had forgotten to make a move.

"Hey, boy, are you stunned? Haha, truly a greenhorn, having your eyes opened today, right?"

He Shuming, seeing Ren Dong 'frightened', was even more delighted.

With Su Qide winning this round, the Medicine Fragrance Pavilion was already half in his pocket. How could he not be pleased?

It was then that Ren Dong seemed to come to his senses and said blankly, "Uh, is this the flame control of a Pill Grandmaster?"

"Otherwise, what did you think? Boy, you're still young; experiencing some setbacks is nothing. At your age, reaching the Pill King realm is not bad. Since the Medicine Fragrance Pavilion won't exist anymore, why not become my disciple? I will teach you even more exquisite flame control techniques!" He Shuming coaxed, already starting to poach.

He completely missed the meaning in Ren Dong's words and thought Ren Dong was amazed by Su Qide's flame control, hence the exclamation.

Ren Dong, realizing He Shuming had misunderstood, shook his head and said, "If this is the flame control of a Pill Grandmaster, then defeating him should not be too difficult for me."

He Shuming was taken aback. This boy dared to mock him?

Just as he was about to explode, Ren Dong made his move!

With a single hand gesture, the fire lotus blossomed, forming a small cluster of flame.

Then, Ren Dong's hands moved dreamlike. Under his manipulation, that small cluster of flame grew into a vivid miniature tree!

The tree gradually sprouted, grew branches, and became lush with leaves!

The Medicine Fragrance Pavilion, which had been somewhat noisy, suddenly fell silent.

Seeing this, He Shuming's eyes widened.

Such exquisite flame control was in no way inferior to his own, a Pill Saint!

The art of flame control emphasizes precision—strong where it should be strong, weak where it should be weak.

Only then can the pill be more thoroughly baptized by the flame during refining.

Condensing flame into the shape of a tree required profound skill!

In contrast, Su Qide's technique, while seemingly impressive, was clearly inferior to Ren Dong's in terms of precision in flame control.

"Fire Trees and Silver Flowers!"

With a soft shout from Ren Dong, the small tree actually sprouted clusters of bright silver flowers!

Where was Su Qide's earlier calm and composure now?

Seeing Ren Dong's skill, his face turned green.

He desperately manipulated his flame, trying to condense it into a small tree as well.

Su Qide was, after all, a Pill Grandmaster. With forced effort, he did manage to form a tree shape.

But even martial artists who knew nothing about flame control could tell the difference in quality.

In the end, Su Qide's face flushed red, but his tree could not become as lifelike as Ren Dong's.

"First round, Medicine Fragrance Pavilion wins!" Ying Tianya directly announced the result.

No one doubted such an obvious outcome.

Ren Dong withdrew his flame and ran excitedly to Ye Yuan, saying, "Master, I didn't realize my flame control was already this formidable!"

Ye Yuan smiled and said, "This is nothing; you still have a long way to go! I let you two take the stage today to help you find some confidence, but remember not to become complacent! Humility brings benefit, arrogance brings loss. Understand?"

Ren Dong nodded like a chick pecking at rice and said obediently, "Disciple understands!"

Over the past few years, Ren Dong and Xiao Ruyan had not wasted their time in the Heavenly Pagoda.

On the contrary, Ye Yuan had subjected them to devilish training.

Flame control was one of those aspects!

The tasks Ye Yuan assigned were highly targeted. Ren Dong and Xiao Ruyan trained hard, and their strength advanced by leaps and bounds.

But they had been immersed in extremely monotonous training, mostly basic alchemist skills, so they had little awareness of their current strength.

When Ren Dong saw Su Qide's flame control, he realized how far he had come.

It could be said that, aside from his realm, he had comprehensively surpassed Pill Grandmasters in basic skills!