Du Hongchen could show off his techniques and pills to his heart’s content in front of Jun Changxiao, but the one thing he absolutely couldn’t flaunt was his flames, because… this fellow had a son nurtured in the universe itself, called the Fire Soul Spirit!

Undeniably, this type of spirit body was born in the mortal universe, but due to its special nature and enormous growth potential, even when placed in the Upper Realm’s system, it remained a fire attribute that people could only dream of obtaining.

“No wonder the Sect Master can refine Shape-Sculpting Pills—turns out he has such a formidable fire spirit!” Feng Guichen thought in shock.

Flames play a crucial role in melting medicinal ingredients, so the higher the level, the more powerful the pills one can refine.

So satisfying.

Brain supplementation.

The two immutable laws of Eternal Sect.

When Jun Changxiao revealed the Fire Soul Spirit that could only be nurtured in the universe, it immediately set off a small climax of showing off.

Du Hongchen, who had been smug and complacent moments ago, could no longer maintain his smile.

You have a pill furnace, I have a vacuum cleaner!

You have the compression tempering method, I have the slicing method!

You have Earth Spirit Fire, I have Fire Soul Spirit!

Come on!

Let’s hurt each other!

“Damn it!”

Du Hongchen suddenly swept both hands, and the various compressed and tempered medicinal materials instantly flew into the pill furnace.

Just from this technique of casting ingredients into the furnace, one could tell this was absolutely a battle-hardened Pill Dao master!

“Snap!”

Not to be outdone, Jun Changxiao first placed the vacuum cleaner on the medicine table, picked up the flat nozzle attachment, turned it on, and instantly sucked in the sliced medicinal materials, then continued heating with flames.

Flowing like clouds and water, accomplished in one breath!

Creating character images in hypothetical scenarios is called mime performance in the art of theater.

At this moment, Jun Changxiao had clearly entered this state. Not only was he completely immersed in the performance, his entire being seemed to transform into a Pill Dao master, standing in a top-tier pill competition venue watched by countless people, listening to the world chant: “Salt Lord, go for it!”

“Whoosh!”

“Whoosh!”

Scorching flames surged upward, sometimes blazing hot, sometimes restrained!

“Incredible!”

“A master!”

Everyone exclaimed in admiration.

If they knew that the medicinal materials in the vacuum cleaner had all turned to black sludge, and that Jun Changxiao himself was just fooling around the entire time, they would definitely vomit blood on the spot.

The pill refining was fake, true enough, but Jun Changxiao’s movements, logic, and other aspects were performed so convincingly that no flaws could be found. Even Du Hongchen was fooled into believing his abilities must be quite impressive.

An actor.

When you act something, you must be that thing.

Even the most insignificant movement, even an inadvertent glance—all is theater.

Mugging and grimacing in front of the camera, or even lip-syncing to numbers, makes one merely a celebrity at best.

Jun Changxiao was very handsome, everyone knew that, but please don’t casually slap the label of “pretty boy” on him just because of his appearance, because he also possessed acting skills worthy of an award-winning actor!

“Swish!”

After a short while, Jun Changxiao, who had completely merged into the role, withdrew his flames, placed the smoking vacuum cleaner on the medicine table, quickly rotated it to a different position, skillfully opened the dust chamber, and only after ten steaming hot pills were revealed did he cup his fists and say: “I’ve made a fool of myself!”

Du Hongchen was completely dumbfounded.

My ingredients had just been cast into the furnace and haven’t even begun decomposing, and he’s already finished refining? And it’s a full batch too—this speed is simply too terrifying!

Feng Guichen said in shock: “I’m not even one-tenth as good as the Sect Master!”

From the start of the performance to the pills coming out of the furnace, the time was only two or three minutes, so all the various warriors were also stunned.

Although everyone didn’t understand the Pill Dao, they had heard that the pill refining process was extremely tedious and complicated, and for extremely high-level pills, refining might even require several days or even dozens of days.

“Impossible!”

Du Hongchen said: “It’s impossible to refine that quickly!”

If it were an ordinary type of pill, it might indeed be refined in an extremely short time.

But what was stipulated this time was refining a First Revolution pill. Even if it were his master, Pill Origin True Person, it would be impossible to accomplish!

Jun Changxiao poured the ten First Revolution Shape-Sculpting Pills onto a plate and smiled: “Facts speak louder than eloquence.”

“…”

Du Hongchen fell silent.

At first, he thought perhaps the other party had thrown ten pills in when he wasn’t paying attention, but now he dismissed that notion, because the luster and aura emanating from the ten pills all indicated they had just been formed.

Correct.

The pills were indeed just freshly refined—on this point Jun Changxiao would absolutely not cheat. It was just that after being refined in the Pill Pavilion, they were sent into the vacuum cleaner.

“Hmph.”

Du Hongchen steadied his state of mind and said coldly: “Pill refining isn’t about speed, but about quality!”

“Whoosh whoosh!”

The flames intensified as he continued refining pills.

Jun Changxiao folded his arms and quietly watched him perform, thinking to himself: “Comparing quality with pills refined in my Pill Pavilion—you must have lost your mind.”

…

Du Hongchen’s abilities in pill refining were quite impressive. He completed refining a First Revolution pill in just two fifteen-minute periods, also producing a full batch.

Feng Guichen wasn’t surprised—after all, after competing so many times, everyone knew what abilities the others possessed.

“This kind of talent must be recruited!” Jun Changxiao thought happily.

“Come!”

Du Hongchen said: “Let’s begin verifying the pill quality!”

With that said, he walked uninvited to Jun Changxiao’s medicine table and picked up a pill to personally verify it.

“Perfect!”

Then he picked up the second pill to examine.

“Perfect!”

“Perfect!”

“…”

By the time he held the tenth pill and confirmed its quality also belonged to the perfect tier, Du Hongchen deflated like a punctured ball.

“Snap!”

Setting down the pill, he turned away and said: “You win, I lose!”

Actually, both of their refined pills were ten perfect quality pieces, but due to the huge difference in time, the winner and loser were easy to determine.

Hey.

This guy is quite honest.

“Nonsense.”

The System said: “After all, he’s the Pill Hall’s Chief Pill Refiner. He values reputation and honor—how could he be as shameless as the Host!”

Jun Changxiao smiled: “According to our prior agreement, if you lost you must join Eternal Sect.”

“Rest assured!”

Du Hongchen said indifferently: “Du always honors his bets and accepts defeat. I absolutely won’t go back on my word!”

“Swish!”

Jun Changxiao skillfully pulled out an admission form and said: “Since that’s the case, then let’s go through the admission procedures.”

“Wait!”

Du Hongchen pointed at Feng Guichen and said indifferently: “I want to compete with this fellow once. If I win, the previous bet is void. What does Sect Master Jun think?”

“Damn!”

The System cursed.

Just praised you for having the demeanor of a master, and immediately you slap my face by playing tricks!

“Fine.”

Jun Changxiao readily agreed.

Dog Sheng’s character was: don’t use those you doubt, don’t doubt those you use.

Since Hall Master Feng had joined Eternal Sect to become a hall master, and just said he could defeat Du Hongchen, he definitely trusted him completely and was even more willing to let the opponent lose more thoroughly, lose until convinced.

Indeed.

Feng Guichen didn’t disappoint Jun Changxiao.

After three chapters of pill competition, he ultimately achieved victory by refining a full furnace of perfect quality pills in even less time.

Du Hongchen, who had lost two matches in succession, stood dumbly at the medicine table.

He and Feng Guichen came from the same school, and in terms of Pill Dao they had always been evenly matched. Why, after just a few years of not seeing each other, would the other party make such rapid progress in pill refining time?

“Master.”

Jun Changxiao handed over the admission form with a smile: “Want to know how you lost? Join Eternal Sect and you’ll understand.”

“…”

Du Hongchen raised his head with difficulty and said: “Let me make this clear first—I’m only temporarily joining Eternal Sect. When I defeat you in Pill Dao in the future, you must restore my freedom!”

“No problem.”

Jun Changxiao said seriously: “As long as you’ve entered the sect, I accept challenges anytime.”

Only then did Du Hongchen begin filling out the admission form, while thinking to himself: “A gentleman’s revenge is never too late—what I lost today in these two matches, I will win back someday!”

“Snap!”

The sect seal was stamped on it.

At this point, Du Hongchen, one of the Pill Hall’s eight Chief Pill Refiners, became a member of Eternal Sect.

“Six more to go.”

—