Chapter 1077: Flaunting One's Seniority
Tang Jun turned his body slightly and the people behind him managed to see what he was doing.
And among those in the opposite direction, a lot of them did not notice the happening of the problem. As Tang Jun turned his body slightly, they noticed the hand of Tang Jun, which had been on the crucible all this while.
"He is using his own powers to nourish the crucible, diminishing any damage caused to the crucible." Everyone reacted, "The damage caused in one round of cultivation is negligible, thus restoring after the cultivation is complete will not lead to further problems. If this was repeated every time, not much damage would accumulate over time. Naturally, the quality of the crucible will not fall."
Tang Jun looked at Chang Ling and said, "We are not like you. Whatever problem that is present, we will get rid of it in the first instance."
Chang Ling's pupils shrank, and his gaze turned cold as he stared at Tang Jun. His aura also started to become more noticeable.
Tang Jun was unbothered, "So, you are going to turn violent just because I'm superior in pill cultivation? You can't match up to me, but Chen Xingyu over there may be able to."
"You!" Chang Ling took in a deep breath and was about to step forward.
At this point, a voice rang in the Xuanling Pavilion, "Young man, it's better to be humble. You are still not perfect in your skills yet."
As the voice rang out, everyone discovered two elders walking down from the third level of the Xuanling Pavilion. The leading one was a mature-looking elder with white hair. He was the Ling Jue Holy Man, Gu Yuankai.
And the other person was wearing a robe that was embroidered with auspicious clouds. He was also an elder bursting with energy and he was the Qing Ning Holy Man from the Great Void Sect.
The Qing Ning Holy Man and Gu Yuankai came down from the third level of the Xuanling Pavilion. As they saw them, the Great Void Sect disciples and the Gu Family disciples greeted them.
Chang Ling looked at the Qing Ning Holy Man and was embarrassed. He could not help but lower his head.
The Qing Ning Holy Man looked at Chang Ling and did not say anything much. Although his words previously were targeted towards Tang Jun, he was not looking at Tang Jun now. Rather, he turned towards the other direction on the second level of the Xuanling Pavilion, "Little Xiao Yan, I shall let you guide your own disciple."
Everyone was shocked and turned to look over, but they still felt that no one was there.
In the next moment, Xiao Yan and Xiao Zhener's figure surfaced in front of them.
It's not that they did not exist previously, but it's just that under the influence of Xiao Yan's powers, no one could sense their presence. At the same time, when they look, they might miss them out subconsciously.
Xiao Yan looked at the Qing Ning Holy Man and revealed a cold smile on his face.
The other party seemed to be gentlemanly and did not interfere with the teaching of the Celestial Sect of Wonders. However, he was actually putting himself on a pedestal, and was looking down on Tang Jun and Xiao Yan.
The words of the Qing Ning Holy Man contained a hidden meaning. He wanted Xiao Yan to point out Tang Jun's mistake first and give him pointers. After that, he could then point out the mistakes of Xiao Yan.
"Oh, what an entrance." Xiao Yan laughed as he shook his head.
With the Qing Ning Holy Man's age, experience and identity, he was not being too much for doing something like this.
Xiao Yan was much younger than him, thus Xiao Yan did not argue with the Qing Ning Holy Man when he called him little.
But to give pointers on the pill cultivation method of Tang Jun, it's a different matter.
The two parties that conflicted earlier, Tang Jun was the disciple of Xiao Yan while Chang Ling was the grand-disciple of the Qing Ning Holy Man.
The Qing Ning Holy Man and Gu Yuankai were old acquaintances, whereas Gu Yuankai was the granduncle of Xiao Zhener.
No matter how one saw it, he was considered the elder of Xiao Yan. But this was from the perspective of Xiao Yan. If one saw it from the perspective of Lin Feng, things would be different.
As for how Lin Feng's seniority should be decided, the Divine Lands had always been divided over this. Whereas Lin Feng was not too bothered by this anyway. When he spoke with others, he often called them a friend or a comrade.
Among these people, there were differences in seniority, inevitably. But if Lin Feng wanted to say something, no one could argue against him. Thus, the eventual conclusion was that he could call anyone whatever he wanted.
But even if Lin Feng was unbothered by this, others might not be the same. In the past, people reckoned that Lin Feng was among the top with Yan Nanlai, Liang Pan, Shi Yu and Xin Longsheng, and now he was thought to be on the same level as the Four Grand Elders of the Great Void. How to define Lin Feng's position was a huge headache to everyone.
In the end, they could only address him as the leader of the Celestial Sect of Wonders. And because of this problem of labelling Lin Feng's seniority, this problem further extended to his own Immediate Disciples such as Xiao Yan and Zhu Yi.
The relationship between the Celestial Sect of Wonders and Great Void Sect was naturally competitive. Whatever just happened didn't seem to deviate from the normal interaction of both sects. The reaction of the Qing Ning Holy Man was obviously to regain the face of the Great Void Sect and deal a blow to Xiao Yan, Tang Jun and the other disciples of the Celestial Sect of Wonders.
The attitude that the Qing Ning Holy Man adopted was like a teacher browsing through the homework of his student.
Although Xiao Yan was also quite reputable in the art of pill cultivation, to the Qing Ning Holy Man, he was also confident in his own pill cultivation skills.
Xiao Yan wanted to laugh, but he had never interacted with the Qing Ning Holy Man before. If this was a different place, he would not have mind exchanging pointers on the art of pill cultivation under a pleasant atmosphere. But since the Qing Ning Holy Man had made the first move, he had no reason to reject his advances.
Even for the increasingly mature Xiao Yan, there's no such word as 'tolerance' in his dictionary.
His belief was that, if the opponent wanted to challenge, then he would accept the challenge!
Tang Jun tough external stance was also inherited from his Master, even while it was partly due to his own character too.
"The imperfection that the Qing Ning Holy Man would have suggested that could be improved should be that my disciple is too impatient, and that when he retrieved the pills, he could have decreased the firepower by 10% more?" Xiao Yan asked, "In other words, this would have made the quality of the pills even better,"
As Xiao Yan's words were spoken, the bunch of junior disciples around were shocked.
Tang Jun's method was already extremely difficult, which posed a huge challenge to the control of the strength of the firepower needed in the pill cultivation. Among all the junior disciples around, besides Tang Jun, no one was probably capable of doing so.
To the rest, they were even afraid of the risk of explosion even before the decrease of firepower was initiated.
But Xiao Yan actually mentioned that he could initiate an even more drastic change. This naturally left them extremely appalled.
Trying to achieve even a slight improvement needed a great difference in the prowess of pill cultivation.
Gu Liancheng looked at Gu Yuankai, "Granduncle, is this achievable for a Nascent Soul Stage cultivator?"
One's pill cultivation skills were not entirely linked to one's own cultivation, but if two people of similar pill cultivation skills were put together, the one with the higher cultivation would naturally find it easier to cultivate pills.
That's because a person with higher cultivation could use his own powers to make up for the lack in his technique.
However, while the lack in technique could be made up for in this way, in some instances, this was not possible. Otherwise, the status as the top pill cultivator in the Great Void Sect would not have been accorded to the Qing Ning Holy Man.
For those of lower cultivations, this was a more common situation.
Tang Jun's cultivation method could not be replicated by Gu Liancheng. If he tried to, it's likely that he'll explode the cauldron. But if he was in the Immortal Soul Stage now, he might be able to use Tang Jun's method. He could use the greater control in his powers to stabilize the firepower in the crucible.
He wouldn't be like Tang Jun, who achieved everything through his own technique.
But with Xiao Yan's method, even if Gu Liancheng was in the Immortal Soul Stage, he wouldn't have full confidence. That sort of difficulty level could not be overcome just through one's powers.
A seemingly simple technique was actually very difficult to be carried out.
Gu Yuankai replied, "A Nascent Soul Stage cultivator can do it."
Gu Liancheng's face became even more shocked. After that, he seemed enlightened. As Gu Yuankai saw this, he nodded his head, "The Qing Ning Holy Man and I can do it. The young man called Tang Jun has some talent too. With more training, he may be able to do so. As for him..."
Gu Yuankai looked at Xiao Yan and shook his head, "Although he is a very direct and perhaps not so respectful person, he is still one who can live up to his words. Since he is able to describe it, it must mean that he knows how to do it."
"...There's always someone better!" After a long while, Gu Liancheng regained his awareness and sighed, "The world is so big and there are many talents around. I am still very far off."
Gu Yuankai smiled and said, "It's good that you can understand."
He looked at Xiao Yan, "Do you understand this reasoning today?"
The Qing Ning Holy Man's attention also landed on Xiao Yan. He remained clam and revealed no emotion on his face, "Little Xiao Yan, this is indeed an area that can be improved on."
Xiao Yan said calmly, "When the pills are retrieved, 70% illusory & 30% real powers as well as 60% illusory and 40% real powers are not the best percentages to use. The ideal state is to guide the reality of powers and dedicate the percentages of 65% illusory and 35% real to retrieve the pills. Under such a condition, there's a 70% possibility that 14 Gas Revolution Pills can be created with the same amount of herbs."
This was actually much difficult to achieve and was more demanding. As to why Tang Jun and Gu Liancheng used their respective percentages, it's because they were not up to the task of using the same method as Xiao Yan.
Everyone was shocked at this point, till they were numb. The Qing Ning Holy Man and Gu Yuankai's gazes flashed, "The rumors were true that Xiao Yan is exceptional in the art of pill cultivation!"
Besides the control of firepower, Xiao Yan also changed his own method of retrieving the pills. Even these two elders were limited in what they could do when they were below the Immortal Soul Stage.
Xiao Yan looked at the Qing Ning Holy Man calmly, "Qing Ning Holy Man, is there anything wrong with what I said?"
The Qing Ning Holy Man was silent for a while before nodding his head, "Your talent in pill cultivation is indeed rare. You will become something in the future."
"In this case, you have nothing to add on?" Xiao Yan said slowly.
The Qing Ning Holy Man's heart sank and an ominous feeling appeared in his heart.
In the next moment, Xiao Yan continued saying, "But I think there's something else to be added on."