Chapter 1940: Dare to Gamble?

“Hahaha, how laughable! Don’t think that you can refer to yourself as an alchemist just because you’ve touched a pill cauldron before!” Yan Wei said to Ling Han with a disdainful expression. “In the future, don’t you dare call yourself an alchemist before me!”

Mo Shuang was enraged upon hearing this. ‘You’re the true joke! Don’t you know that Ling Han is already the junior brother of Grandmaster Zhu Feng? Even if Ling Han genuinely doesn’t know how to refine pills, just this relations.h.i.+p alone still gives him the right to refer to himself as an alchemist!’

“You’re a f*cking joke!” Mo Shuang said in retort.

Yan Wei erupted in rage upon hearing this. He was a young prodigy, so others only ever praised him and acted obsequiously before him. Since when had he ever been cursed like this?

“He’s not even a One-Star Alchemist, yet he dares to refer to himself as an alchemist. Is this not a joke?” Yan Wei said with a sneer.

Alchemists had special badges, so one could easily determine what rank they were at. Because of his relations.h.i.+p with Grandmaster Zi Cheng, Ling Han had kept his badge on while inside the Alchemy City. After leaving the Alchemy City, however, he had naturally taken his badge off as well.

It was because of this that Peng Huanian had easily recognized that Ling Han was a Two-Star Alchemist at that time. Now, however, Yan Wei was viewing Ling Han with absolute contempt and disdain.

Alchemists were like cultivators in that they both possessed extremely strict level hierarchies. Moreover, because alchemists were few, and because ascending in ranks was difficult, a difference of one star would lead to an extremely huge difference in status.

Mo Shuang wanted to retort Yan Wei, but he genuinely didn’t know what level Ling Han was at. Thus, he didn’t know what to say. In the end, he could only say, “Even if Brother Ling only refines pills with a single hand, he’ll still be several hundred times more skilled than you!”

“Mo Shuang, it’s pointless to make such claims,” Yang Jia interjected. Mo Shuang was clearly bluffing, so he continued, “If he’s so skilled, why don’t we have a compet.i.tion?”

“Do you think we’ll be afraid?” Mo Shuang didn’t back down, and he said, “Are we competing in swordsmans.h.i.+p, saber play, archery, the Dao of Tea, or go? I’ll accept any challenge!”

“Haha, always competing in these areas is boring,” Yang Jia said with a shake of his head. He paused for a brief moment before continuing, “Why don’t we compete in alchemy? We can have Brother Yan competing against your ‘Brother Ling’.”

He purposefully emphasized the words “Brother Ling”, and his voice was filled with evident disdain.

Ling Han rubbed his nose. Was he truly that detestable? He had only accompanied someone to this banquet, and he hadn’t even said a word. Yet, he had still become someone’s target?

Perhaps his halo of trouble was infectious?

“Humph! What’s the point of getting someone else to compete? If we want to compete, it should be between the two of us!” Mo Shuang said. He didn’t have any confidence in Ling Han. Even though Ling Han was the junior brother of a Four-Star Alchemist, he didn’t even have the badge of an alchemist.

If Ling Han were a true alchemist, why wasn’t he wearing his badge? Wasn’t this a symbol of status?

“Mo Shuang, you’re afraid?” Yang Jia said in a provocative voice. “I’ve heard that you have a small cup of Earth Spirit Heavenly Spring Water that you’re planning to refine onto a Celestial Tool. Coincidentally, I also have a piece of Four-Star Pseudo-Divine Metal.

“Why don’t we let Brother Yan compete against your ‘Brother Ling’. If you win, I’ll gift you this piece of Four-Star Pseudo-Divine Metal. You can forge a Celestial Tool with it.

“If you lose, however… then the Earth Spirit Heavenly Spring Water is mine!”

Mo Shuang was infuriated upon hearing this. This was far too underhanded!

How could a measly piece of Four-Star Pseudo-Divine Metal compare to his Earth Spirit Heavenly Spring Water? When refined onto a Celestial Tool, this treasure could elevate the level of the Celestial Tool by almost half a star! Moreover, its limit was elevating a Celestial Tool forged from Seven-Star Pseudo-Divine Metal!

Using it on a Four-Star Pseudo-Celestial Tool would be far too wasteful.

Even if Yang Jia won, there was simply no way that he would use the Earth Spirit Heavenly Spring Water on that piece of Pseudo-Divine Metal. Instead, he would save it for later.

‘Someone is offering me a present?’

Ling Han was moved by this, and purposefully put on an expression of delight. “Brother Mo, that’s Four-Star Pseudo-Divine Metal!” Judging from his expression, it was as if he weren’t talking about Four-Star Pseudo-Divine Metal. Instead, it was as if he were talking about genuine Divine Metal.

‘Tsk, tsk, tsk, is there any need for such excitement? Even though Four-Star Pseudo-Divine Metal is extremely valuable, it’s not impossible to obtain them in Ascending Origin Tier forces. At the most, they’re only slightly more valuable.

‘Is there any need for such fervent excitement?’

Yang Jia and Yan Wei both wore expressions of disdain. This person was truly an uneducated b.u.mpkin. It was a mystery how he had ended up together with Mo Shuang.

However, Mo Shuang came to some sort of realization upon seeing this. He naturally wouldn’t suspect that Ling Han was unknowledgeable or lowly. After all, Ling Han was a monarch tier, and he was also the junior brother of a Four-Star Alchemist. Could he truly be so naive and stupid?

Mo Shuang was no fool, so he immediately reached a conclusion. Ling Han was planning to screw Yang Jia and Yan Wei over!

He naturally wouldn’t oppose this. Instead, he would happily cooperate.

He hurriedly said, “Brother Ling, Four-Star Pseudo-Divine Metal is nowhere near as valuable as Earth Spirit Heavenly Spring Water! This gamble isn’t worth it!”

“Are you questioning my abilities?” Ling Han said in anger. He acted as if he had suffered great humiliation.

“No, Brother Ling, listen to me…” Mo Shuang said in a frantic voice. His cooperation was flawless.

Yang Jia hurriedly cut him off, and said, “Brother Mo, your ‘Brother Ling’ is so confident, so why don’t you let him try?”

“Yang Jia, you have the face to say this?” Mo Shuang said with a humph. “How can measly Four-Star Pseudo-Divine Metal compare to Earth Spirit Heavenly Spring Water?”

“Fine, then I’ll add the leaf of a Celestial medicine,” Yang Jia said with arrogance. “Green Divine Phoenix Gra.s.s with a medicinal age of 9.9 billion years. It possesses fragments of the Regulations of Flames.”

Mo Shuang was extremely enticed upon hearing this. Regardless of what Celestial medicine it was, they were all supreme treasures. Even if he didn’t cultivate the same Regulations, he could simply use it to exchange for something else. Moreover, it possessed a medicinal age of 9.9 billion years. This was definitely old enough.

Generally speaking, only Celestial King Tier forces could nurture Celestial medicines that were of the five elements. Regarding Celestial medicines such as the Void Flower, Lightning Flower, and so on, they were so difficult to nurture that even Celestial Kings would have trouble raising them. Thus, they could only rely on nature to birth such Celestial medicines. As such, they would naturally be more valuable.

“We’ll accept this challenge!” Ling Han said.

“Very well!” Yang Jia immediately answered. He was afraid that Mo Shuang might back out.

An anxious expression involuntarily spread across Mo Shuang’s face. Yang Jia and Yan Wei had indeed taken the bait. However, the problem was that he had absolutely no idea about Ling Han’s alchemy skills. What if he were the one being screwed over?

However, since Ling Han had already agreed to the challenge, how could he back out now?

He had no option but to accept this challenge.

At the most, he would sacrifice some Earth Spirit Heavenly Spring Water to strengthen his relations.h.i.+p with Ling Han.

“Hold up!” Yan Wei suddenly shouted.

Ling Han couldn’t help but glance over. Perhaps Yan Wei had suddenly developed some intelligence, and seen through his ploy?

“Add another vial of Soul Strengthening Pill,” Yan Wei said. He retrieved a vial of pills and placed it on a stone table. “Do you dare?”

So he was increasing the stakes.

Ling Han breathed a sigh of relief in his mind. Soul Strengthening Pills were for cultivators at the Dividing Soul Tier. During this cultivation level, one needed to cultivate the souls that they had separated out, and Soul Strengthening Pills could aid in this process. In other words, these were alchemical pills commonly used among those at the Dividing Soul Tier. However, they were indeed very valuable.

In any case, there were no cheap Celestial pills. After all, they all required a small portion of Celestial medicines.

“Do you think I’ll be afraid?” Ling Han asked. He pretended to be a rash youth.

Meanwhile, Mo Shuang pretended to persuade him, yet he naturally couldn’t convince Ling Han to back down. In the end, he could only increase his own stakes as well. He added 10 vials of Azure Dew Pills. These were for cultivators at the Severing Mundane Tier, so they were naturally less valuable. As a result, he had to offer 10 times the amount.

“Then let’s begin!” Yan Wei said with a haughty expression. In his eyes, Ling Han would back down in defeat once he revealed his skills.

“Come on, let’s go to the Time Cultivation Chamber.”

The four of them set off together. Moreover, they were naturally followed by a large crowd of onlookers. There was a show to be seen.