The entire Central Plaza fell into a breathless hush. Fifty thousand pairs of eyes were locked onto the elevated white marble stage, watching the confrontation between two of the most famous young talents in the Southern Domain.
On the left stood Gu Feng, draped in glittering golden dragon robes. Hovering above his right palm was a orb of bright green flame—the Emerald Dragon Divine Flame—and between his fingers rested his prized Supreme Cleansing Pill. His face was a picture of absolute, unyielding arrogance.
On the right stood Lu Chen, completely relaxed in white and royal purple silk, his crimson hair swaying softly in the imperial capital's breeze. He held up a tiny, elegant crystal vial containing the shimmering amber dust.
"You want to test me?" Gu Feng scoffed, his voice amplified across the square by the stage's spiritual array. "Lu Chen, do you truly think a third-rate merchant prince using cheap, trickster powders can compare to the ancient heritage of my Pill Clan? My Supreme Cleansing Pill is refined from thirty-six heavenly herbs! It purges all poisons, clears all meridians, and renders the consumer immune to all unrefined concoctions!"
Lu Chen let out a low, smooth laugh. He took two slow steps forward, his glowing purple eyes sweeping over Gu Feng with lazy amusement.
"If your divine pill is as godly as you claim, Young Master Gu," Lu Chen murmured, his magnetic voice carrying across the crowd, "then you shouldn't mind taking a tiny breath of my humble Truth-Spilling Hiccup Powder first, right?"
"Hmph! I'll inhale your entire vial, swallow my pill, and prove to the entire continent that you are nothing but a Fraud!" Gu Feng roared, stepping right into Lu Chen's space. "Bring it on!"
Down on the spectator balcony, Saintess Ji Xue stood beside Ye Qingxian. She looked at Gu Feng's confident posture, then at Lu Chen's calm, angelic smile, and felt a sudden wave of pity for the golden-robed genius.
"He... he has no idea what he's walking into, does he?" Ji Xue whispered, her raven hair rustling in the wind.
Ye Qingxian didn't even blink. Her crisp, cool voice was steady as a mountain. "The Young Master never loses. He is merely giving Young Master Gu an educational experience."
Ji Xue twitched slightly. An educational experience?! He turned my four elders into a wrestling match and used my leg as a flyswatter! That's not education, that's pure demonic terror!
Up on the stage, Lu Chen smiled warmly.
"As you wish, Brother Gu," Lu Chen said softly.
With a gentle flick of his thumb, Lu Chen unstoppered the crystal vial. He didn't throw it. He didn't blow it with spiritual energy. He simply let a faint, microscopic puff of amber dust float out into the air between them.
Gu Feng snorted arrogantly, deliberately taking a deep, exaggerated breath through his nose to inhale the amber dust directly into his lungs!
"HA! Is that it?!" Gu Feng sneered, raising his hand to swallow his glowing green Supreme Cleansing Pill. "Now watch as my pill purges—"
HIC!
Gu Feng froze mid-sentence.
A sharp, violent spasm jerked his stomach upward. His golden robes twitched, his eyes went wide as saucers, and a loud, resonant hiccup echoed straight through the sound-amplifying array, blasting across the entire fifty-thousand-man plaza!
HIC!
"I... HIC! ...I USED TO WET MY BED UNTIL I WAS FOURTEEN YEARS OLD!" Gu Feng shouted at the top of his lungs, his voice echoing loudly off the golden pagodas!
Silence.
Absolute, suffocating, unbelievable silence fell over the Central Plaza. This chapter is updated first at g.com.
The fifty thousand spectators stared in utter, jaw-dropping shock. The grandmasters sitting in the VIP rows froze mid-sip of their tea. The young noblewomen covered their mouths in disbelief.
Gu Feng slapped both hands over his mouth, his face turning from pale white to a bright, violent shade of crimson!
What... WHAT DID I JUST SAY?! Gu Feng screamed in sheer, horror-stricken panic inside his mind. MY VOCAL CORDS... I COULDN'T CONTROL THEM!
He frantically jammed the green Supreme Cleansing Pill into his mouth, swallowing it whole, desperately channeling his Core Formation spiritual energy and triggering his Emerald Dragon Divine Flame to burn away the amber dust inside his meridians!
"Hahaha! See?!" Gu Feng tried to laugh, forcing a confident sneer as his divine flame flared up—
HIC!
"MY... HIC! ...MY DIVINE FLAME IS ACTUALLY A LOW-GRADE SPARK I BOUGHT FROM A BLACK MARKET PEDDLER AND FAKED THE AURA TO IMPRESS MY FATHER!" Gu Feng blurted out uncontrollably, his voice booming like thunder over the plaza!
HIC!
"AND I... HIC! ...I STOLE MY ELDER BROTHER'S FAVORITE HIGH-GRADE SPATULA AND BURIED IT BEHIND THE LATRINE!"
HIC!
"I ALSO THINK SAINTESS JI XUE WOULD LOOK BETTER WITHOUT A HEAD, BUT HER LEGS ARE TOO NICE TO IGNORE!"
BOOM!
The entire fifty-thousand-man crowd exploded into absolute, chaotic, earth-shattering hysteria!
"BAHAHAHAHAHAHA!"
"MY GOD! HE WET HIS BED UNTIL FOURTEEN?!"
"HE FAKED HIS DIVINE FLAME?! HAHAHA!"
"HE BURIED A SPATULA BEHIND THE LATRINE?!"
"LOOK AT HIM! HIS SUPREME CLEANSING PILL IS DOING NOTHING!"
Down on the balcony, Ji Xue’s eyes flared with icy, deadly fury as she heard her name blurted out. "That arrogant pervert! Shadow Guard Ye, lend me your sword! I'm going to cut off his tongue!"
Ye Qingxian casually stepped in front of her, holding her back with one arm, a rare, faint smirk touching her own lips. "Calm down, Miss Ji Xue. Let him continue. He's doing a wonderful job destroying himself."
Up on the stage, Gu Feng was on his knees, weeping tears of pure, agonizing humiliation! Every three seconds, his stomach twitched, and every three seconds, his deepest, most embarrassing secrets came spilling out like a broken dam!
HIC!
HIC!
"LU CHEN... HIC! ...PLEASE MAKE IT STOP! I'LL KNEEL! I'LL SLAP MY FACE! JUST MAKE IT STOP!"
Gu Feng collapsed onto the marble stage, slapping his own cheeks repeatedly while weeping hysterically, completely defeated without Lu Chen throwing a single punch, drawing a weapon, or shedding a drop of blood!
Lu Chen stood tall over him, his crimson hair swaying softly in the breeze. He looked down at the sobbing, hiccuping genius with profound, angelic pity, taking out a small blue vial from his sleeve.
"Ah, Young Master Gu," Lu Chen sighed gently, his voice echoing warmly across the laughing crowds. "You see? True alchemy is not about boasting or comparing flames. It is about understanding the human heart... and its deepest truths. Here, drink this sweet honey water. It will settle your stomach."
Gu Feng grabbed the blue vial like a drowning man catching a lifesaver, gulping it down greedily. Within seconds, his hiccups stopped, leaving him sitting in the middle of the stage, utterly ruined, completely disgraced, and weeping silently into his hands.
The grand referees of the Imperial Alchemy Conference looked at each other in absolute awe, stepping forward to raise Lu Chen's hand into the air!
"THE WINNER OF THE DEMONSTRATION... AND UNDISPUTED MASTER OF ALCHEMICAL UNORTHODOXY... YOUNG MASTER LU CHEN!"
BOOM!
The crowds cheered, laughed, and clapped till their hands turned red!
Right on cue, the brilliant golden prompt flashed before Lu Chen's purple eyes.
[Ding!]
[Quest Completed: 'Teach the Arrogant Alchemist True Humility'!]
[You subdued Gu Feng in front of 50,000 spectators without using lethal violence or spilling a single drop of blood, inflicting 1,000% permanent emotional damage!]
[Rewards Issued: 40,000 System Points!]
[Special Reward Issued: 1x Imperial Grade Nine-Dragon Alchemy Cauldron!]
[Special Reward Issued: 1x Ancient Pill Dao Scriptures!]
Lu Chen smiled warmly, looking up at the sky as his System Points tally surged past 95,000 Points!
He casually walked off the stage, walking right past the flustered Saintess Ji Xue and the loyal Ye Qingxian. He gave them both a slow, devastatingly handsome smirk, winking at them smoothly.
"Come along, ladies," Lu Chen chuckled softly, tossing his new Imperial Cauldron into his spatial ring. "Our work here is done. Let
's go find a nice inn... we have a long night ahead to celebrate.”