Brandon Tu understood Rockwell Nance’s intentions all too well, and Evan Yang was hardly ignorant of them either.
Evan accepted the challenge partly because he couldn’t stand Rockwell’s scheming, and partly because he was sick of Brynn Bishop’s arrogant, dismissive attitude toward him.
Everyone was still wondering how to get Evan to accept the challenge, but to their surprise, he agreed on his own. Rockwell Nance laughed cheerfully, “Good, then we’ll start right after the banquet. Let’s see the pill-refining skills of these two young men.”
Forden Wayne and the others quickly chimed in, even turning their heads to give Evan strange smiles from time to time.
“Kid, are you really going to compete?” Brandon Tu asked Evan quietly.
Evan nodded. No matter how much Brandon tried to persuade him, his mind wouldn’t change.
The banquet passed quickly, mostly filled with people probing into Evan’s background. But Evan kept his mouth tightly shut, driving them half mad with frustration. In the end, all their hopes were pinned on Brynn Bishop, who they expected to put Evan in his place and give everyone a good laugh.
“Alright, let’s have the two young men step up.” Rockwell Nance said to everyone after clearing away the wine tables.
The real show was about to begin. Everyone perked up, eager to see the pill-refining skills on display—and to mess with Evan.
Brynn Bishop walked up to the pill furnace, turned to Evan with a smile, and said, “You go first. Don’t say I bullied you later.”
“Such big talk,” Evan thought with a silent laugh. But since Brynn Bishop had let him start, of course he’d go first. Ignoring everyone’s gaze, he did his own thing—just as always, he began by selecting medicinal ingredients.
Seeing Evan’s sly expression, Brynn wanted to curse but couldn’t; after all, he’d said Evan could go first. In the end, he could only helplessly begin his own pill-refining.
Everyone’s eyes lit up, eager to see how these two would refine pills.
Every alchemist had their own habits, so naturally their pill-refining methods differed. Evan’s approach was the most natural: select ingredients, light the furnace, control the heat, and add the herbs in strict intervals and order. With his previous experience, Evan found this round much smoother.
Brynn had his own method too, but using the ordinary furnace felt awkward. Still, he pushed through and stuck with it.
As for why Evan was picking ingredients, everyone was confused. Shouldn’t adding all the materials make the pill stronger?
Actually, only Evan understood: while adding everything made the pill more potent, it also brought more impurities. Only by choosing compatible, high-quality ingredients could he refine good pills—otherwise, supreme-grade pills were impossible.
Brynn didn’t spend much time picking ingredients, but his fire control was superb. He made sure the whole furnace surface was evenly touched by flame, so it received uniform heat and reached maximum efficiency.
Evan knew this trick too, but he couldn’t reveal his cultivation, so he settled for using the most ordinary flame to heat the furnace.
Everyone noticed the difference between Evan and Brynn, especially Brynn’s flawless flame control, which left them deeply impressed.
Forden Wayne even started praising, "He really is from a prestigious family—his flame control is incredible." The other three city lords admitted they couldn’t compare.
Rockwell Nance watched and secretly laughed to himself, even snorting, "Kid, just this level of flame control alone means his pills will be way better than yours."
Brandon Tu stood to the side, sweating nervously for Evan.
Time passed, and soon an hour was up. Both of them finished refining their pills.
Brynn Bishop opened his furnace and said with a smile, "Two supreme-grade, five high-grade, five low-grade—no middle-grade."
"Wow! Two supreme-grade—that’s even stronger than the little beggar’s one supreme-grade from earlier!" Everyone was shocked, especially Rockwell, who broke into a wide grin and laughed, "Nice job, Brynn! You managed to get this result even with an ordinary furnace."
"Ordinary furnace?" The crowd was confused, but only Brynn understood what Rockwell meant. He smiled and said, "Let’s see how this little brother did."
Brandon Tu looked at Evan, worried for him.
Evan opened his furnace, counted the pills, and said calmly, "No low-grade, five low-grade, five high-grade, and..." At the end, Evan’s expression turned a bit odd.
Seeing Evan’s expression, everyone already guessed the outcome and burst into loud laughter. Brynn showed a satisfied smile and said, "Kid, looks like I won this time."
Rockwell Nance quickly spoke up, "Looks like Brynn Bishop won this round. Kid, your luck really sucks today."
Forden Wayne and the others crowded forward to congratulate Brynn. Brynn felt he’d laid a solid foundation for his debut—after all, stepping on someone else’s halo was the easiest way to win everyone’s approval.
Brandon Tu patted Evan’s shoulder and said, "Don’t worry, winning and losing is just part of the game."
But just then, Evan put down the furnace lid and smiled, "City lords, looks like my luck’s actually pretty good today."
"Oh?" Everyone was puzzled—was something strange in the furnace? The most excited was Brandon, who opened the furnace, counted inside, then looked at Evan in disbelief, before bursting into loud laughter, "Three supreme-grade!"
"What?" Three supreme-grade pills—this shattered everyone’s expectations. For a mere beggar to refine three supreme-grade pills was a huge blow, especially to Brynn, who was stunned and refused to believe it. He rushed to the furnace, counted, and finally showed a shocked expression before turning to Evan, "Who exactly is your master?"
"I told you, I don’t know my master’s name," Evan replied with a chuckle.
Rockwell had already seen the result when Brynn opened the furnace, so he knew what happened. But with the facts laid out, as the most powerful person present, he could only swallow his anger and say, "I didn’t expect your pill-refining skills to be this impressive, little brother."
"You flatter me, City Lord," Evan replied, though he was starting to get anxious—if they really ignored the old beggar’s warning and tried to kill him, what would he do?
Brynn was even less able to keep his cool than Rockwell, and said coldly, "I want to compete with you again!"
"?" Evan and everyone else were surprised—did Brynn really want another round?
(Irrelevant system message, skip translation.)
Only Rockwell understood what was going on, so he smiled, "In a few days, the city will host a pill-refining meet. Lots of people will join—why not go and see if you can learn something?"
Brynn knew Rockwell was giving him a way out, and he also knew there really was a city-wide pill meet coming up. This was Rockwell’s way of recruiting talent.
If Evan agreed right now, he’d look pretty dumb—who knew what might happen in the next few days? But he couldn’t openly refuse, so he just smiled, "Guess I’ll have to stay a few more days."
"Excellent. All you city lords should stick around too, so we can witness the Treasureforge First Furnace." Rockwell smiled, glancing at Brynn and Evan.
"Treasureforge First Furnace?" The crowd was shocked, but Evan had no idea what that was.
Rockwell didn’t explain further, instead sending everyone off to rest—leaving Brynn glaring fiercely at Evan.
"What’s wrong? Not satisfied?" Rockwell walked over to Brynn and sneered.
Brynn came from a famous pill sect, but his very first match after coming down the mountain ended in defeat to a beggar. Of course he wasn’t in a good mood.
Faced with Rockwell’s question, Brynn said unhappily, "That beggar—I’m going to make him lose so badly he won’t know which way is up!"
"At first we all underestimated him. Who’d have thought he could refine three supreme-grade pills without relying on anything external? That’s already a miracle. So at the upcoming contest, you must succeed—failure isn’t an option. Otherwise, even I’ll have trouble recommending you to the higher-ups." Right now, Rockwell not only wanted Brynn to win, he wanted Evan’s reputation ruined, so he couldn’t refine pills in front of the crowd.
Brynn hated Evan even more now.
After returning to his room, Evan discussed things with Brandon. They knew they’d stirred up real trouble—this so-called city pill meet was obviously meant to drag Evan into the mess. If it was just about pride before, now Evan realized there was no point; this wasn’t his turf, and when the time came, he wouldn’t be able to escape. It’d be best to leave while Rockwell still didn’t dare make a move.
Brandon’s thinking was just like Evan’s. He never saw Evan as a nobody—especially after Evan’s pill-refining skills, which left him in awe. Worried, he said, "Kid, this could get messy."
"City Lord Tu, has there ever been such a contest in Centralgate City?" Evan asked curiously, seeing Brandon so anxious.
"Normally, these contests only happen once every ten years. Technically, this is only the ninth year—we’re supposed to wait until next year for the tenth. So I think City Lord Nance is up to no good." Brandon answered thoughtfully.
Rockwell’s bad intentions were obvious—even a fool could see it. First, Evan had refused to reveal his identity; second, he’d slapped Rockwell in the face, and he was just a beggar. How could someone as high and mighty as Rockwell swallow that insult?
Evan understood this perfectly, and calmly said, "Looks like he moved the date up."
"Yeah, it’s a year early, so you need to be careful. Stick close to me whenever you can—I’m worried for you," Brandon said anxiously.
"City Lord Tu, don’t worry. He won’t openly attack me in the City Lord’s mansion—otherwise, he’d have done it already. So in the next few days, I’ll see if I can find a chance to leave the city." Evan was grateful for Brandon’s concern.
Even though Evan seemed calm, Brandon still wasn’t reassured. So wherever Evan went over the next few days, Brandon followed him. Not only that, they noticed some mysterious people tailing them.
To shake them off, Evan and Brandon wandered all over the city—and happened to run into Forden Wayne, who was outside arguing with the owner of a medicinal shop.
After Evan went over to ask, he found out the reason: Forden Wayne didn’t have enough Spirit Crystal Ore to buy the materials he wanted.
"Old man, I’m a regular here—what’s wrong with knocking off a hundred Spirit Crystal Ore this time?" Forden Wayne complained to the shopkeeper.
"Isn’t that City Lord Wayne? Want me to lend you some?" Brandon Tu was acting like a rich tycoon—he’d won their money, and now he had a perfect chance to tease them.
When Forden Wayne realized it was Brandon and Evan, he sneered, "City Lord Tu, you’d better keep an eye on your little buddy, or he won’t even know how he died." If Forden Wayne hated anyone most right now, it was Evan—Evan had won all his Spirit Crystal Ore and embarrassed him in front of everyone. If it weren’t for Evan’s upcoming contest, he’d love to ambush him and make it look like nothing happened.
Evan knew Forden Wayne was wary, and remembered how Wayne had used his qi to pressure him at the city gate. Evan flashed a bright smile, which infuriated Wayne, "City Lord Wayne, your materials are pretty good—want me to lend you some Spirit Crystal Ore?"
"You little beggar, you’ve got a sharp tongue!" Forden Wayne was so angry he sent a wave of qi at Evan, but Brandon intercepted it just in time. The two squared off, as if they had a deep grudge.
Watching their standoff, Evan walked around Forden Wayne, went into the shop, and told the shopkeeper, "Boss, I’ll take this one, and these two as well."