Chapter 314: Broken Eyebrows, Scorched Hair, Black Charcoal Face; The Furious and Unbearable Old Alchemy Master

“Zhan Lu?”

Just as everyone realized what was happening, a terrifying wave of energy rippled out from the Lian Dan Fang. This wave was silent but possessed such might that all the onlookers at the doorway were sent flying into the air. While suspended, they clearly witnessed the scene unfolding.

Beneath the Dan Ding, the compressed fire seed, which had been heated to an extreme during the pill condensation, had fully expanded!

Compressing a fire seed was a simple matter, and Xu Xiaoshou had performed an expansion before. At most, it was equivalent to a “Small Fireball Technique.” But this particular fire seed had been compressed for several moments, with energy continuously being infused and its level drastically elevated in the final stages. The destructive power it possessed was evident from how expertly Xu Xiaoshou had fled the scene.

The expansion instantaneously evaporated all surrounding gases, leaving a void of emptiness. Scorching heat swept through, obliterating every element in its path. After a brief second of blankness, the atmosphere reconnected, ending the vacuum, and a thunderous roar erupted from the Lian Dan Fang, shattering eardrums.

Boom—

A gray mushroom cloud burst forth from the Dan Ta, expanding outward before collapsing back towards the center. The tower’s walls shattered into fragments, scattering in all directions.

Dead silence.

The main street fell into a stunned silence.

Passersby, who had been going about their business, suddenly seemed struck dumb by some divine force, unable to utter a single word. Those familiar with the area knew that the Dan Ta had been unusually turbulent today. Explosions had occurred repeatedly, each more intense than the last. But no one could have imagined that this final blast would destroy nearly half of the Dan Ta's seventh floor!

“Oh my goodness, what in the world is happening to the Dan Ta?”

“Hold on, is someone actually attacking the Alchemists’ Association? If so, why hasn’t the Forbidden Guard arrived yet…”

“Is this a Zhan Lu? What about their grand array—their defensive array?”

“How could any array withstand an explosion like that? The Dan Ta is a place even the black and white factions on the continent respect—why would it need such a powerful array? Who did they provoke to end up like this?”

“Maybe they messed with someone who’s neither black nor white?”

After a moment of stunned silence, the crowd erupted into heated discussion.

But that wasn't the end of it. After the mushroom cloud, people suddenly heard a series of rustling, “pitter-patter” sounds.

“What’s going on—who’s farting?”

“Farting? Are you kidding? That sounds more like thunder and rain coming!”

Some people began to panic, as they could distinctly feel the surrounding air temperature rising rapidly. Yet, to the naked eye, everything appeared perfectly normal.

Suddenly, someone stared at the Dan Ta and cried out in alarm.

“The Dan Ta—look, the Dan Ta is disappearing!”

As the crowd turned to look, they finally noticed that the outer walls of the seventh floor were rapidly melting away. A spirit refiner sensed something amiss and scanned with their spiritual sense, immediately panicking.

“Jin Zhao Tian Yan? Fire?”

“The Dan Ta is on fire?”

“Holy crap! Someone tell me what's happening!”

In that instant, a ragged old man shot out from a skylight. His face was ashen, his hair and eyebrows were badly singed, and most strikingly, his exposed chest and belly were charred. Yes, the old man’s shirt had been completely burned away. He hadn’t been injured physically, but there was no time to save his hair and other externals!

“Shi Ti, the association president?”

Everyone on the street was shocked. Was this the same “benevolent healer with an immortal aura, President Shi Ti”?

“Holy crap, am I seeing things?”

“This can’t be real—my eyes…”

“Ugh! Help, someone pinch me awake!”

“Xu… Xiao… Shou…” Shi Ti gritted his teeth and growled softly.

Tears in his eyes, he raised his hands and carefully peeled away the Jin Zhao Tian Yan clinging to the Dan Ta’s outer walls, then bundled it up with a headache. It was too terrifying. This all-consuming flame could only be dispersed by the will of heaven, returning it to its original spiritual elements. Anyone else, unable to grasp the great dao, would be brought to their knees by the Jin Zhao Tian Yan!

If he hadn't been at the Dan Ta today…

Shi Ti didn’t dare to contemplate it.

“Zhan Lu… This is no ordinary Zhan Lu—you’re even more terrifying than that Sang old man!”

Seizing the moment while the crowd was still in shock, he stabilized the situation and vanished from the top of the Dan Ta, likely to change clothes.

At a corner of the Dan Ta, Xu Xiaoshou flipped back in through the skylight and reentered the first floor of the Alchemists’ Association. But he hesitated.

“Should I go up there…?”

This simple question now concerned his very survival, so Xu Xiaoshou chose to evade it for the time being. He lowered his eyes and hid in the shadows, reflecting on the explosion.

“This was an accident!”

Xu Xiaoshou first affirmed the nature of the event. No matter what, he couldn’t let it escalate—it was just an accident, nothing more.

Second, it was a perfectly ordinary Zhan Lu. Extremely ordinary! That’s how his Zhan Lu usually went. But after the initial phase, Xu Xiaoshou had mastered his control over the heat so well that explosions rarely happened anymore.

“Why did this happen?”

Xu Xiaoshou frowned in thought. The entire alchemy process had been smooth, with the only potential issue being that he had upgraded his “Culinary Mastery” by two levels midway through.

“Was it the heat control…?”

Xu Xiaoshou narrowed his eyes, suddenly realizing the problem. The “heat control” bonus from “Culinary Mastery” had indeed strengthened him. Though it was a mature skill that appeared directly in his mind, it was his first time using it, so he wasn’t fully accustomed yet.

His upper limit for controlling flames had been raised, allowing him to handle operations at extremely high temperatures. However, the techniques and force he used in alchemy were still at his previous level. It was like an ordinary person wielding a heavy hammer with full strength to forge iron—nothing wrong with that. But after upgrading “Culinary Mastery,” his flame control had improved, turning that ordinary person into a seasoned expert. Using full strength on flames now would only lead to self-destruction!

Realizing this, Xu Xiaoshou felt more excited than scared. Burning the Dan Ta was a minor issue, but he had found the key to preventing Zhan Lu through this experiment. Once his “Culinary Mastery” improved further, his “heat control” would rise accordingly. When he could precisely manage the Jin Zhao Tian Yan at extreme temperatures…

Would there still be Zhan Lu?

“Hehe, ha ha…”

Xu Xiaoshou couldn’t help but laugh out loud. As he looked up boldly, he noticed something off. There was a face with singed eyebrows and hair, blackened like charcoal, belonging to an enraged old alchemist. Flames burned fiercely in his hands…

“Shi Ti, the president?”

Xu Xiaoshou swallowed hard, his throat dry after saying the name.

“Frightened, passive value: 1.”