Yang Cheng stood on the lecture platform.
In truth, there wasn't even the slightest trace of nervousness in his heart.
On the surface, he looked like a twelve-year-old boy. But in reality, his soul had lived for over five hundred years.
By the measure of the soul, he was older—far older—than nearly everyone sitting below him.
He began to continue his discourse on the Myriad Phenomenan Alchemy Canon.
When he said, "A pill formula is merely the footprints of those who came before. If one clings to formulas and follows them blindly, how is that different from carving a mark on a boat to find a lost sword?"
An old master from the Horn Constellation Realm suddenly stood up, his face dark with fury. "Absurd!"
Master Hu's lips curled into a smirk. "Ah, it's Master Qin. He's the one who values pill formulas above all else. Seems I won't even need to act—this young Master Yang will soon be thrown off the stage."
Zheng Qiu's eyes gleamed with anticipation.
In the Horn Constellation Realm, Master Qin was quite famous.
He was known for his obsession with pill formulas, and Yang Cheng's words had struck his reverse scale.
"Utterly ridiculous!"
Master Qin's black robes billowed as his white hair stood on end. "Without the formula as the foundation and the timing as the rule, alchemy is no better than a child playing with fire! Do you even know that every ratio of ingredients in these formulas was paid for with the lives of our predecessors?"
Yang Cheng replied calmly, "Master Qin, look around. All things under heaven and earth can become medicine. This storm is water, the raging wind is the catalyst, and this lecture hall itself—this is the alchemy room."
He raised his palm and caught a drop of rain. The droplet shimmered in his hand, transforming into a tiny Water Essence Pill. "If you cling to formulas, you lose the true meaning of the Alchemy Dao."
"Nonsense!" Master Qin roared. "Don't think a cheap trick can fool anyone!"
From his sleeve, a bronze ancient mirror flew out, shimmering with light. Within its reflection appeared countless phantom images of medicinal herbs.
"Take, for instance, the Refining of the Life-Prolonging Pill," he said coldly. "Do you even know that you must extract the essence of a thousand-year ginseng precisely at midnight and fuse the inner core of three Snow Foxes at dawn? If you defy the old methods, what you refine won't be a pill—but poison!"
Yang Cheng's expression didn't change. He flicked his finger lightly, and in that instant, the bronze mirror flared blindingly bright.
With a sharp crack, the phantom herbs reflected in the mirror shattered to dust.
"The beauty of the Alchemy Dao," he said, his voice steady, "lies in resonating with the heavens and the earth, in aligning with one's heart. The sun, the moon, and the stars—they are all sources of fire. The billions of books across the ages—they are all pill formulas. If even the rules left by our forebears cannot be challenged, then one day, the Alchemy Dao will rot away into nothing but dead words buried in old scrolls!"
A violent surge of spiritual power erupted from both men. Their alchemical wills collided, shaking the entire hall with a low, thunderous hum.
"Gentlemen, there's no need for anger."
Li Xiang suddenly appeared between them. His invisible pressure suppressed the raging clash of spiritual force. "The Sword Dao has its disputes, and the Alchemy Dao has its debates. Master Yang's point—refusing to be bound by old formulas—has its value. And Master Qin's reverence for traditional methods is not without reason. Both have their merits."
"Ha! What a joke."
Master Qin refused to yield.
But around them, murmurs began to rise.
It was clear to everyone—Master Qin couldn't suppress Master Yang.
"Didn't expect that Master Yang really has some skill."
"Even if his theory sounds wild, his mastery of alchemy is clearly not below Master Qin's."
The crowd whispered among themselves.
"I'll make sure you understand who the real joke is."
Yang Cheng didn't bother with politeness.
His words stunned the hall—no one expected him to provoke a renowned alchemist so directly.
"Ha! And how exactly will you make me a joke?" Master Qin sneered.
Yang Cheng's gaze turned toward Master Hu. "I know that Master Hu is the creator of the Heavenly Profound Spirit Pill."
Master Hu's brows lifted slightly, though his expression remained calm. "That's right."
Among all the alchemists present, his status was the highest.
"And then?" Master Qin demanded impatiently. "The Heavenly Profound Spirit Pill is the most cost-efficient divine-grade pill in the Horn Constellation Realm. It was developed through countless refinements of ancient pill formulas. Its cost equals that of an emperor-grade pill, yet its effects reach the divine-grade. If you bring it up, you're only proving how essential formulas truly are!"
Yang Cheng's eyes remained calm. "Next," he said, "I'll refine a divine-grade pill—without using a single spiritual herb. Only with the ordinary things of heaven and earth."
His voice was steady but carried like thunder through the silent hall.
"If I succeed, then wouldn't that prove that the Myriad Phenomenan Alchemy Canon is indeed feasible?"
"What?"
The entire room erupted into chaos. Gasps and murmurs spread like wildfire.
A divine-grade pill… without using any spirit herbs?
Impossible—or perhaps, about to redefine the Dao itself.
"Without using any spiritual herbs, just ordinary things from nature—to refine a divine-grade pill?"
"Is this some kind of cosmic joke?"
"Master Yang, even if you wish to entertain us, there should be a limit to your jest!"
One after another, the various Masters stood up, their voices filled with anger as they shouted toward Yang Cheng.
Clearly, not a single one of them believed his words.
Master Qin even laughed outright. "If you can truly accomplish that, then I'll kneel before you in front of everyone here!"
"Alright."
Yang Cheng nodded calmly.
"And if you fail?" Master Qin pressed.
"If I fail," Yang Cheng replied, "then I'll withdraw from the world of alchemy and never touch the Dao of Alchemy again."
To him, the words carried little weight. His true path was the Martial Dao. Even if he abandoned alchemy completely, it meant nothing—he could simply pass on his alchemical knowledge to others.
But to everyone else present, that statement sounded like a deadly oath, a promise that could not be taken back.
For a brief moment, several Masters exchanged uncertain glances.
Could it be that this young Master Yang truly possessed such ability?
"Master Yu," a middle-aged woman beside an elderly man asked softly, "is there truly anyone in this world capable of such a feat?"
This woman wasn't just any onlooker—she was an envoy sent from the top alchemy merchants of the Horn Constellation Realm.
The old man beside her smiled faintly. "Perhaps there are such people—but those who could achieve this would already have reached the level of a Alchemy Ancestor."
The woman sighed, disappointment flashing in her eyes.
If such a pill could truly be made, it would mean unimaginable profit. But now, it seemed that was nothing but wishful thinking.
Meanwhile, everyone else in the hall—including the Masters of the Myriad Phenomena Dao Academy—remained unconvinced.
Still, no one tried to stop Yang Cheng.
To them, it was unnecessary. Sooner or later, he would expose himself as a fraud. They saw no need to interfere.
"Wang Rou, bring me some begonia blossoms," Yang Cheng said suddenly.
"Begonia blossoms?"
Wang Rou hesitated briefly but didn't question him. She turned and quickly left.
Several of the Myriad Phenomena Dao Academy's disciples exchanged looks of surprise.
"Flowers again?"
"Last time, Master Yang used peach blossoms for refinement. Now he's using begonia flowers instead."
No one could explain why, but many within the Academy suddenly felt a strange flicker of hope rise in their hearts.
Yang Cheng stood quietly at the center of the platform, his young face calm as an ancient well.
Moments later, Wang Rou returned, carrying several branches of begonia, each heavy with vibrant blossoms.
It was the fourth month of the year—precisely when begonia flowers bloomed in full glory.
The petals floated from his hand, scattering through the air like drifting rain.
In the next instant, streams of Pure Yang energy gathered from heaven and earth.
At the same time, brilliant ripples of spiritual power spread from Yang Cheng's body, spreading like a web into the ground beneath his feet.
The spiritual energy of the earth began to stir in response.
Moments later, under Yang Cheng's subtle control, the Earth's spiritual power intertwined with the gathered Pure Yang energy, swirling together in front of him.
Normally, the two forces—earth's spiritual power and Pure Yang qi—would never interact. They would simply cancel each other out.
But Yang Cheng's method of guidance was unlike anything ordinary.
He circulated the Pure Yang energy through the "Heavenly Gang Pure Yang Grand Formation," a formation that, in his previous life, had been created three hundred years later by Zuo Qiuming himself.
At the same time, he guided the Earth's spiritual power through the "Earth Fiend Spirit-Heart Grand Formation."
That formation too had been Zuo Qiuming's creation.
But Zuo Qiuming was long dead now—so these formations were, in this lifetime, Yang Cheng's own first invention.