Dual Cultivation

Elder Deng’s heart raced a little bit faster with each step he takes toward the cauldron emitting the black smoke. His nerves were wrecked from all that’s going inside his head right now.

Although he has never seen black smoke during a pill’s creation before, he certainly has read about it in ancient scrolls.

"Impossible! There’s no way a kid like him could achieve something from the legends — a flawless-quality pill!"

Elder Deng kept telling himself that such a young man could not possibly be able to achieve what every Alchemy Master in this world is currently striving for — a pill with 0% impurity — a flawless-quality pill, but alas, there’s only one reason why the cauldron was emitting black smoke whilst not burning anything inside.

"If what the records say is true, then..."

Once Elder Deng reached the front of the cauldron, he slowly reached inside to retrieve the pill.

"This is — !"

However, before he could even take it out of the cauldron to see the color of the pill, his hands felt something extremely round and smooth, something akin to jade.

Once he grasped onto the smooth object, Elder Deng slowly retrieved his hands while trying his hardest to not drop the pill in his hands due to his uncontrollable trembling.

When he fully pulled his hand out of the cauldron, Elder Deng slowly opened his closed fist to see the object in his hands.

"T-T-This is a pill?!?! Impossible!"

A loud voice that was filled with shock suddenly echoed within the Lecture Hall, but the voice did not belong to Elder Deng. Instead, it was Qing Shan who had screamed just now.

Qing Shan was pointing to the milky white pill on Elder Deng’s palm that did not have even the slightest sign of impurity when she screamed. It was entirely white, almost as if the pill was made from milk instead of herbs filled with natural impurities.

"What else could it be?" Su Yang said.

He then looked at the pill she made and continued, "You were close — only 10% inferior to mine."

"?!?!?"

Qing Shen’s eyes widened even more after hearing his words.

"You are trying to claim that the pill you made is 100% quality without even the slightest impurity? How laughable! Such a thing simply isn’t possible!"

"Maybe in your Dao of Alchemy it is impossible." Su Yang smiled.

"What are you trying to say?"

"Your character is breaking, humble lady." Su Yang continued in a mocking tone.

"..."

Qing Shan was speechless. Just who is she dealing with? She has never felt such pressure from someone before!

Meanwhile, Elder Deng was seriously inspecting the Advanced Spirit Refreshment Pill made by Su Yang with his face so close to the pill that his eyeballs are nearly touching the pill.

Once he confirmed that the pill indeed had zero impurities, his hands began trembling even stronger than before, almost like there was an ongoing earthquake.

"100% quality... flawless... It’s a flawless-quality pill from the legends!"

Not just Qing Shan but when everybody there heard the word ’flawless-quality pill’ and Elder Deng’s trembling voice, their minds went blank; it was as if they weren’t able to comprehend such words and had to turn off their mind to prevent getting a headache.

The majority if not all of the disciples there have never heard of a flawless-quality pill until today, so it was no wonder why they could only stare at the pill on Elder Deng’s palms as if they were looking at an object that defied all logic.

To create a flawless quality pill is to concoct a pill without even a speck of impurity, which is deemed impossible by Alchemy Masters all over the world because it was simply impractical to remove every speck of impurity that dwelled within the ingredients used to concoct the pill.

Concocting a pill is similar to Cultivating in many ways, and one of them would be the natural impurities found within the natural resources of these two.

For Alchemy, the impurities habit the herbs, and as for Cultivation, there are impurities within the Profound Qi Cultivators use to Cultivate. To completely erase the impurities within a pill is akin to cleaning a room filled with dust in every corner. The best one can do is to clean whatever they can manage but it’s simply impossible to remove every speck of dust within that room.

However, it’s not just this world. Even the Alchemy Masters within the Four Divine Heavens that could achieve flawless-quality pills could be counted with one’s ten fingers!

"Elder Deng... what is a flawless-quality pill? And how does it compare to a high-quality pill?" A disciple decided to ask amidst the silence.

The people there were so distracted by the flawless-quality pill that they completely ignored the speed Su Yang had displayed when concocting the pill!

"According to the ancient records, a flawless-quality pill is a pill without the presence of impurities, meaning a pill with 100% purity. As for comparing them with high-quality pills... I honestly don’t have a clue, but if I were to guess, it would be ten times more effective."

"Ten times more effective?!"

The disciples all dropped their jaws upon hearing that. The effects of a high-quality pill is already considered extremely powerful. If a flawless-quality pill has ten times the effect of that... they couldn’t even imagine what it would be like to consume one of them.

Elder Deng looked at the milky white pill in his hands and swallowed the saliva that was building up inside his mouth. He also felt the urge to throw this pill into his mouth and have a taste of this legendary pill, but he didn’t dare to consume such a legendary item.

"Hey, it’s obvious who the winner is here." Su Yang suddenly called out to him. "It’s been three hours. I’d like to rest in a place that’s nice and quiet now."

"Oh right..." Elder Deng suddenly remembered what they were doing.

"And about this..."

He looked at the flawless-quality pill in his hands, feeling reluctant to let go of something that any and all Alchemy Master would fight to see, much less touch.

Su Yang knew very well what he was thinking and said, "That Advanced Spirit Refreshment Pill, give it to her."

He pointed to Qing Shan, who was greatly surprised by his words. "You... but why? Don’t you hate me?"

"You may be a little bit arrogant, but who in this type of world isn’t at least a little prideful of their own talent? You may have looked down on me, but I also did the same, so what reason is there for me to hate you? Just think of it as a gift for our meeting. I have no use for such a pill, anyway."

"..."

Qing Shan was speechless, even feeling a little guilty for the way she has been acting towards him.

Elder Deng felt like crying after hearing Su Yang’s words. While he has no saying in Su Yang’s decision because the pill didn’t belong to him, he still did not want to let it go.

But alas, Qing Shan was already staring daggers at him. Although he might be a Sect Elder and Qing Shan’s a mere disciple, her status within the Sect is not any less inferior to Sect Elders despite her humbleness towards them.

"Sect Elder Deng..." she even called for him.

Elder Deng took one last look at the pill like he was trying to engrave it into his soul and released a deep sigh before handing the pill over to Qing Shan.

The moment Qing Shan took ahold of the pill, her entire body trembled with excitement from the otherworldly feeling that was emitted by the flawless-quality pill.

"So this is a flawless-grade pill... It’s so pure and rich with the ingredients used to create this, almost like I am holding the purest treasure in this world..."

While Qing Shan mesmerized herself with the Advanced Spirit Refreshment Pill, Elder Deng led Su Yang and Qiuyue away from the Lecture Hall and directly to their living quarters.

"Not only do you have the recipe for the Soul Divination Pill but you can also concoct flawless -quality pills... And let’s not even mention the time it took you to finish the pill from beginning to end. Who are you, really?" Elder Deng could no longer hold his curiosity in and asked him in a voice that held a hint of fear towards Su Yang.

"Just some pervert," Su Yang replied in a casual tone.

"What?" Elder Deng looked at him with a baffled look. What kind of individual would call himself a pervert?

"Hmph!" Qiuyue snorted after listening to his joke.

"So he still wants to remain low-key despite all that he’s already shown to us... It’ll only be a matter of time before his identity is spread across the entire continent!" Elder Deng thought to himself as he continued to lead them to their living quarters.

"The Matriarch had arranged a living quarter for you two inside the Inner Court. There is only one house available right now so I hope you won’t mind sharing it."

"We’ll be fine," said Su Yang. The two of them have been sharing the same room for some time now already so sharing a house is considered nothing.

"Uhh... I just realized this but weren’t there three of you? What happened to the other one?" Elder Deng asked him after recalling the other little girl that was with them.

"You don’t have to worry about her; she’ll return soon enough."

"Is that so..."

Elder Deng no longer spoke with them after that and lead them in silence. A few minutes later, they arrived at a house that was at least three times bigger than the living quarters in the Profound Blossom Sect.

"This will be your living quarters until we finish the preparations. If you need anything or bump into any trouble, don’t hesitate to find me or any of the Sect Elders in this place, as I’m sure all of the Elders have been briefed of your presence."

Elder Deng’s attitude towards Su Yang has taken a weird turn ever since his match with Qing Shan. His current feeling towards Su Yang has respect and fear mixed together, almost like he’s treating a respectable master.

Once Elder Deng left them alone, Su Yang and Qiuyue entered the large house.

"So when do you plan on telling me?" Qiuyue suddenly asked Su Yang the instant they entered the house.

"Huh? What do you mean?" Su Yang looked at her with a puzzled look.

"Don’t act dumb. The attack you used against that Holy Sword Sect disciple when we were still at the Nine Spring Hall. Even if it’s you, there’s no way you could’ve released such power with your Cultivation base."

"Oh, that? It’s nothing special. I wanted to test the power of the Celestial Qi within my body, so I merely mixed some of it into the attack. And as you saw, "

Qiuyue’s eyebrows furrowed deeply upon hearing his words. "Are you crazy?! Do you realize how reckless that is?! Celestial Qi is something even Immortals fear, yet you actually had the gall to use it in your current state? You could’ve easily killed yourself if you had misused it even slightly!"

"I don’t understand you! Was that girl really worth risking your life?!" Qiuyue was truly angry this time.

She could ignore him playing around with other girls, but if he’s risking his life just to impress some girl, then she will interfere at all costs, even if he may end up hating her afterward. After all, he’s the only person in this world she could really trust and call family. She’s already lost him once and experienced the grief. She will not allow the same thing to happen again.

"You are right," Su Yang said a moment later, not denying the fact that he was indeed acting recklessly back then. "However, it was a chance for me to increase my Cultivation base drastically, and I really wanted to experience the Celestial Qi’s prowess, so I took the risk."

"If you want to increase your Cultivation base so badly, then I will help you!"

Right as she said those words, Qiuyue reverted her disguise and loosened her robes, allowing them to slide onto the floor, revealing to Su Yang her impeccable body.

Su Yang’s eyes widened, and he was rendered speechless by her sudden actions.