As he watched, Ji Ying froze for a moment, because he discovered with a shock that the medicinal liquid Yang Kai had refined appeared to be no less pure than his own.
What stunned him even more was that the timing and sequence with which Yang Kai added the spiritual herbs were exactly the same as his own.
A single type of spirit pill did not necessarily have only one pill recipe.
Different alchemists had different understandings of the Dao of Alchemy, and their personal preferences and abilities varied as well. This led to subtle differences in the pill-refining process — for instance, the order and timing in which spiritual herbs were added.
Some alchemists felt it was better to add a particular herb first, while others preferred to add a different one first. This gave rise to the situation where a single type of spirit pill could have multiple recipes, sometimes even requiring entirely different sets of ingredients.
A pill recipe did not merely contain the materials needed for alchemy. A complete pill recipe included not only the ingredients but also the entire refining process. One could say that a pill recipe was essentially a full instruction manual for alchemy.
This was what made pill recipes so precious — they were the crystallization of an alchemist's painstaking effort.
And now, Ji Ying had made a startling discovery: Yang Kai's technique and process for refining this Emperor Yuan Pill were astonishingly similar to his own, practically as if they had been stamped from the same mold.
In other words, the Emperor Yuan Pill recipe that Yang Kai possessed was identical to the one he knew.
How was that possible?
The Emperor Yuan Pill was a spirit pill used by cultivators at the Emperor Realm to restore Emperor Yuan, and it was also one of the most common Emperor-grade spirit pills. According to Ji Ying's knowledge, there were at least eight to ten variations of its recipe. Though they were largely the same, there were still some differences among them.
And the best Emperor Yuan Pill recipe was naturally the one he himself possessed, because it had been personally refined and improved by the Marvelous Pill Great Emperor many years ago. In this world, there was no recipe that could surpass it.
The Marvelous Pill Great Emperor had only ever passed this recipe down to a few of his Personal Disciples. No outsider had ever learned it.
Now, seeing traces of this very recipe in Yang Kai's hands, Ji Ying could not help but feel astonished.
It was not only Ji Ying who was surprised. The expressions of everyone watching from the sidelines had grown peculiar as well.
Because they had noticed that Yang Kai and Ji Ying were almost identical throughout the entire pill-refining process. The only difference was that Yang Kai's movements were slightly faster while Ji Ying lagged by a hair. This was not because Ji Ying's alchemy was inferior to Yang Kai's, but simply because he had started later.
Even though they understood this, it still looked strange to the eye, as if Ji Ying were imitating Yang Kai's alchemy — whatever herb Yang Kai picked up, Ji Ying picked up the same one. Whenever Yang Kai placed an herb into the furnace, Ji Ying placed one in at the same moment…
Ji Ying's suspicion grew stronger and stronger. He had initially believed this was merely a coincidence, but it was not until they had reached the midway point of the refinement that he confirmed it — the two recipes were truly identical.
"Where did you get this recipe?" Ji Ying could not help but ask.
This was a recipe passed down by his own Master. How could it have ended up in an outsider's hands?
"Master Ji, you've lost focus," Yang Kai said, his expression unchanged. "If you keep this up, you're going to lose this contest."
Ji Ying's entire body shuddered, and cold sweat broke out across his skin. He had been so consumed with wondering about Yang Kai's recipe that his mind had wandered, causing him to fall short during the refinement of the medicinal liquid. Now that he looked, his own liquid seemed to be slightly inferior to Yang Kai's.
Refining the medicinal liquid was the first and most critical step in alchemy — the most fundamental stage. If this step was not done well, it would inevitably affect the quality of the final spirit pill.
Alchemy was like a game of chess: one wrong move led to another, and any detail done poorly was a fatal flaw.
He could not lose. This was a contest that concerned the reputation of Medicine Pill Valley and the honor of his Master. He absolutely could not lose.
A fierce determination flashed across his face, and Ji Ying seemed like an entirely different person, radiating an indescribable aura. His mind plunged deep into the art of alchemy, and nothing else existed in his eyes.
Yang Kai's expression had turned equally solemn. Though he was an Emperor Alchemist, this was the first time he had ever competed against another Emperor Alchemist in a pill-refining contest — and this opponent was a Personal Disciple of the Marvelous Pill Great Emperor.
If he did not give it absolutely everything, there was no way he could win.
The true advantage he possessed was not the Divine Sense Fire that Ji Ying had noticed — that was merely a minor edge. His real trump card was the Grand Dao Pill Sound!
Back in the day, on Water Moon Star, the main planet of the Heng Luo Commerce Association, a single pill-refining session had triggered the Grand Dao Pill Sound. Through that, he had received the Heavenly Dao's mysterious bestowment of alchemy techniques, and from that moment on, Yang Kai had soared in the Dao of Alchemy.
Without that stroke of fortune, how could Yang Kai have advanced so rapidly in alchemy? In recent years, he had barely invested any time in the art. Under normal circumstances, becoming a Dao Source Realm alchemist at this stage would have been lucky enough — becoming an Emperor Alchemist was something he could never have dreamed of.
But the foundation bestowed upon him by the Grand Dao Pill Sound had allowed him to climb effortlessly to the level of Emperor Alchemist.
Even so, in terms of experience, he could not compare with a veteran Emperor Alchemist like Ji Ying. He had to go all out.
His mind suddenly became ethereal and empty, his entire being seeming to merge with heaven and earth. A wondrous sensation rose from the depths of his heart.
Yang Kai's hands shifted, and suddenly he began to flail about as though stricken by a seizure, his arms and legs moving wildly.