Grandmaster Bai's unexpected answer made people on stage turn to look at each other in confusion. This time Bai Fanxian didn't use qi power hidden with her words, so the audience below didn't hear what she said.
"...What did Empress just say?"
"I couldn't hear clearly either... did she agree?"
Noisy debate followed continuously until acting president Elder Chen Deming had to come out and announce through the microphone after everything was settled.
"Testing the Recovery Pill... Heaven-Defying Revival Pill will be done by Grandmaster Zheng Renyi himself. Please everyone remain calm."
After hearing the announcement, the audience became excited and joyful. Director Wang himself ordered his people to quickly zoom in on the old man's back revealing the large purple bruise injury.
"Grandmaster Zheng's wound is truly frightening..."
"Just imagining having an injury like that in the middle of my back, at night I definitely couldn't sleep."
Not knowing who said this sentence, but everyone nodded in agreement.
Without anyone doing it, it was Bai Fanxian herself who eagerly stood up from her chair. She even left tea unfinished in her cup and walked to center stage.
Huang Zihan secretly watched his lady with a strange manner.
He'd never seen her hurry to do anything like this before. Her usual lazy and slow manner completely disappeared. Her current self seemed like wanting things to finish quickly.
But others still saw only sublime and cold Grandmaster Bai as usual. Some even admiringly thought she didn't delay in helping relieve the old man's pain.
Like her fans, for example.
"Empress is so merciful..." Brother Yang watched the stage scene, the corners of his eyes unable to hold back flowing tears.
"Right! Worthy of being her. We weren't wrong choosing to follow Empress!"
"You guys know what? I'm near the front stage so I could hear. Empress didn't just give Grandmaster Zheng one pill! But two pills!"
"Empress!"
Praising voices for Alchemy Empress rose continuously. But somehow Bai Fanxian, hearing those sentences, turned her face away, not daring to make eye contact with anyone.
"...Let's begin."
The young woman moved her hands hurriedly. One pill carefully cushioned floated into Bai Fanxian's hand.
The young woman looked at the pill in her hand thoughtfully. For a being like her, opportunities to use Tier 4 elixirs weren't frequent.
Even when treating Tang Yeye, the pills she took out were at least Tier 5.
Most importantly, the guilt in her heart that she accidentally made an unknowing person injured. One sliver of her thoughts considered compensating Zheng Renyi with a Tier 7 or 8 elixir in her storage instead.
But the young woman shook her head. She looked at the elixir in her hand consideringly. Like this, she'd have to compensate another way instead.
"...Troubling you."
Zheng Renyi nodded to Bai Fanxian. He was slightly surprised she stood up to give him the pill herself. He almost walked over to casually put it in his mouth.
But soon after, he knew why.
Because the white pill with blue stripes in Bai Fanxian's hand was trembling slightly!
Some power gradually peeled away the pill's outer shell. The moment what wrapped the pill completely dissolved, one stream of pressure burst from that pill until those nearby felt their hair standing on end!
It was the pressure received when opening a cauldron for the first time for normal elixirs!
"This is...?"
The association elders all watched with shocked faces. It was truly Tier 4 elixir pressure!
But for unknown reasons, at first they couldn't sense it until accidentally thinking they were just ordinary pills.
If they'd hastily judged from the start, it would definitely be terrible—not only missing seeing a Tier 4 elixir, but losing the chance to form good relations with a Tier 4 alchemist!
They turned to look at Elder Fang Niang admiringly, because she stopped them in time, preventing such a regrettable matter.
Pressure radiating from each elixir pill wasn't that higher levels were automatically more intense. Some pills, though lower level, because of certain properties displayed reactions more intensely.
Like this Heaven-Defying Revival Pill—it was releasing sweet fragrant aura full of life force similar to the elixir given to Tang Yeye, but its intensity was less. Those who could sense the fragrance and feeling of bodies slowly recovering were only those on stage.
But just that left them speechless, because physical and mental fatigue gradually washed away together. They felt vigor and boundless strength flowing through their bodies.
This was just its fragrance?
Zheng Renyi's eyes shook while excitedly looking at the elixir in Bai Fanxian's hand. He clearly noticed his granddaughter's face beginning to show faint color and looking slightly more vigorous, until he almost spoke asking to use both pills on his granddaughter right now.
But he knew well it was impossible.
He stood here because he spoke up himself. Moreover, this was testing for this young lady to become a Tier 4 alchemist. She needed a Grandmaster-level being to test the medicine's effectiveness. If it wasn't truly tested on a Grandmaster-level being, doubts might follow later.
Still, there was another pill... Zheng Renyi calmed his mind.
Moreover, if that pill still couldn't help cure his granddaughter, he wouldn't hesitate to beg Bai Fanxian to refine other elixirs.
Even if he had to exchange all his treasures, or even agree to follow and serve her.
His granddaughter's condition worsened with time. News of the Divine Doctor emerging from training was his last hope. But somehow the original schedule was postponed indefinitely, and Village Beneath the Clouds seemed to have chaos.
Previously, his old friend could obtain one hundred-year ginseng. That ginseng helped sustain his granddaughter's condition for quite a while, but now its effects were nearly depleted.
This talented and mysterious Tier 4 alchemist was Zheng Renyi's only hope.
The old man stared at Bai Fanxian walking toward him. The pill in her hand gradually floated toward him as if waiting.
He saw Bai Fanxian nod lightly. Zheng Renyi took a deep breath. He opened his mouth and swallowed the whole pill in one bite!
The audience watched with bated breath. When the pill flowed down his throat, the old man's eyes widened in shock.
Warm life force current exploded from that small elixir pill all at once like a dam breaking. It flooded throughout his body in less than five seconds. Zheng Renyi could feel his aging skin trembling lightly with joyful excitement.
Old external wounds leaving scars gradually healed at a not-very-fast speed, but when Bai Fanxian raised her index finger to touch the bare center of his chest, Zheng Renyi's body twitched lightly with eyes widening!
He felt one stream of the purest qi power flow in to mix with the elixir's power. They raced throughout his body like warhorses. The speed of healing scars on his body could be seen with the naked eye!
Intense pressure uncontrollably flooded from the old man's body. Nearby audience including elders could clearly sense strange phenomena occurring on stage.
Elder Chen trembled slightly. From his perception, it felt like the elixir Sword Saint Zheng Renyi ate wasn't Tier 4, but Tier 5!
The old man felt slight numbness in his back. The injury troubling him long was rapidly recovering. Dead flesh was regenerated. Bruising and swelling began relieving until showing only faint purple marks.
Bai Fanxian watched the occurring situation while nodding. She hadn't forgotten she still felt guilty and indebted to Zheng Renyi. Though sending her pure qi in earlier helped raise the elixir's level, she still didn't feel very satisfied with the results.
Suddenly another stream of qi flowed through into the old man's body. But this time it was both more intense and powerful than earlier by many times. Besides enhancing the Heaven-Defying Revival Pill's power, the excess qi Bai Fanxian put in gradually merged with Zheng Renyi's original qi meridians!
The old man felt his own body with strange feelings. He felt like he'd become years younger. Suddenly the qi power in his body exploded out until the audience gaped. Uncontrollable Grandmaster-level pressure swirled chaotically in this hall until those without high cultivation nearly fainted from being unable to withstand such intensity.
The elders on stage became tense. Could that pill have problems? It might make Grandmaster-level beings go berserk or unable to control qi power, because they too were starting to have problems from this nearby pressure!
Xie Suyao gracefully leaped down beside the stage. Her superior Grandmaster-level pressure released to cover both little ones and Tang Tianjie protectively, keeping all three uninjured.
She stared silently at the stage. Her Elder Sister glanced over showing appreciation, while Bai Fanxian herself stood before Tang Tianjie, who began roaring until qi streams visibly burst from his mouth.
The old man looked up at the sky. Qi power in his body kept erupting. The young girl who was Zheng Renyi's granddaughter looked at her grandfather in shock. Her small body nearly ran over worriedly but was instead lifted by Bai Fanxian's invisible qi to place behind her.
The young girl stared at the magnificent back of this stranger. She'd never felt this safe before, even when on her grandfather's back.
Zheng Renyi released qi power for nearly one full minute. Before everything in the hall collapsed from being unable to withstand it, he roared one final time. One qi stream shot through to the sky before dissolving and returning to normal.
Zheng Renyi looked at his own body in surprise. He sensed the qi power in his body with disbelieving feelings.
Bai Fanxian's Heaven Sense flowed through in one blink, then she nodded with a faint satisfied smile.
Now she felt relieved. Consider this my compensation to you!
"Congratulations... Grandmaster Sixth Stage. You advanced two levels at once."
Everyone in the hall gaped. Even Xie Suyao couldn't believe her eyes. Right now the old man's pressure that was always slightly below hers surged to match her, even feeling superior!
Even Zheng Renyi himself felt that if he had to clash with Ma Fufeng again now, he could probably handle that young general comfortably, unlike the inconclusive match before!
This was worthy of its name—it was more than truly "Heaven-Defying Revival"!
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