Chapter 286: The Most Powerful!

　　Chu Yuyan took a deep breath as she strode forward, walking directly up the stairs she herself had created.

　　Everyone else was still in the middle of concocting; the old man who had previously been in second place had now created more than 9,000 steps. Barring any unforeseen circumstances, he would be the second to pass through the third region.

　　However, it was just then that….

　　A shocking thunderclap sounded out, booming out from within the world of the Celestial Land. Concurrent with the sound of the thunderclap, a Tribulation cloud nearly three hundred meters in diameter appeared above Ye Feimu’s pill furnace. The Tribulation cloud roiled as it appeared in mid-air, and thunderclaps echoed out in roars. It seemed it desired to destroy the medicinal pill which had just been concocted.

　　The thunder existed only within the world of the Celestial Land. Outside on Eastern Emergence Mountain, where the audience was, the weather was sunny with a gentle breeze. Everyone was closely watching Ye Feimu’s screen and the Tribulation clouds within the Celestial Land.

　　Intense praise filling his eyes, Violet Furnace Lord Ye Yuntian lightly said, “Tribulation clouds. It seems the pill Feimu concocted has provoked Pill Tribulation.”

　　Just as the Tribulation cloud was about to explode downward, Pill Demon lifted his hand and waved toward the screen. Immediately, the Tribulation cloud of Ye Feimu quivered and then began to disperse. The lightning within completely dissipated.

　　At the same moment, Ye Feimu’s pill furnace exploded with a loud sound as a medicinal pill emerged. It was a nine-colored pill, containing all the nine colors of the Nine Treasures Pearl Curtain plant flowers. However, it also used their medicinal properties to produce a tenth medicinal property!

　　As soon as the pill appeared, the stairs in front of Ye Feimu boomed. Step after step appeared; ten, one hundred, one thousand… all the way to ten thousand steps!

　　Chu Yuyan would have had to produce more steps to make her stairs absolutely complete.

　　In the blink of an eye, Ye Feimu had risen from last place, to first!

　　He flicked his sleeve, and the pill furnace disappeared. As he proceeded up the stairs, he immediately became the focus of all attention.

　　“Such a Chosen of the Dao of alchemy… ten thousand stairs!”

　　“Who else could possibly be the Violet Furnace Lord other than him….”

　　“It seems that he really and truly is… Grandmaster Pill Cauldron!”

　　It just so happened that at this exact moment, Meng Hao’s ninth minor pill emerged, adding one more stair to his path. Now there were nine. When compared with ten thousand, nine stone steps were almost too insignificant to mention.

　　Meng Hao’s expression was the same as ever. He had no idea what was happening on the outside; he had no clue regarding the commotion caused by Chu Yuyan and Ye Feimu. His expression was as earnest as ever as he took his nine minor pills and placed them all into the pill furnace. He took a deep breath and, eyes filled with determination, began to concoct… a pill which conformed to his own Dao of alchemy! A pill which would be in accord with his skill, and would be a return to the simplicity of nature.

　　As the pills entered the pill furnace, Meng Hao’s eyes slowly closed. His hands pushed out into the air as he began to concoct.

　　Meng Hao’s actions on the screen went relatively unnoticed thanks to the shocking scene caused by Ye Feimu. The only people who seemed to notice were Fatty, Han Bei and An Zaihai.

　　Ye Feimu walked slowly up the steps, looking every bit like a Chosen. His screen was the only focal point atop the mountain; the only one who could remotely compete was Chu Yuyan.

　　As far as the others, they had fallen far behind. After the time it takes an incense stick to burn, the old man who had been in second place finally concocted enough pills; the 9,937th step appeared. The pill furnace in front of him exploded, and the Nine Treasures Pearl Curtain plant disappeared. This indicated that he had reached his peak.

　　He took a deep breath as he began to ascend the stairs.

　　Behind him, time continued to pass. The remaining candidates continued to persevere; to be able to participate in this trial by fire indicated that these were no ordinary alchemists. They might be a bit slower, but even the least among the group was able to create more than 9,600 stairs before his pill furnace exploded and he proceeded up.

　　Unfortunately, missing hundreds of stairs in the Violet East Mountain trial by fire was an indication of failure. Several people were forced pale-faced to admit defeat when they reached the end of the stairs they had created. Only a middle-aged man happened to succeed.

　　Of the group of eight just now, only five were left. Four had already succeeded; only Meng Hao was still concocting a medicinal pill.

　　Other than Fatty, Han Bei and An Zaihai, no one else was paying any attention to him at all. All of them were looking at the screens of Ye Feimu and Chu Yuyan.

　　Until… about half an incense stick later, the faint sound of thunder suddenly echoed out. This attracted some attention; almost immediately, more thunder could be heard, this time much clearer. Everyone suddenly began to look around, confused, trying to figure out which screen the sound was coming from.

　　When their eyes finally came to rest on Meng Hao’s screen, thunder pealed out for the third time, echoing out loud enough to shake the Heavens and rock the Earth, filling the entire world of the Celestial Land which could be seen on the screens. More and more people turned their gazes from Ye Feimu and Chu Yuyan, to look at Meng Hao.

　　Immediately, they began to gape.

　　This was because, although Meng Hao’s expression was one of unprecedented concentration, above the pill furnace in front of him was a roiling black cloud three hundred meters in diameter. It looked exactly the same as the cloud which had appeared above Ye Feimu.

　　“Fang Mu….”

　　“Don’t tell me he also concocted some type of astonishing pill?”

　　As astonishment spread throughout the mountain peak, An Zaihai began to breathe heavily, and his eyes shone with an incredible light. His unusual expression immediately attracted the notice of the other Violet Furnace Lords.

　　Suddenly, another incredible peal of thunder boomed out, far more intense than the previous three, by at least ten times. Meng Hao’s pill furnace trembled violently. Up above, the Tribulation cloud rapidly expanded, from three hundred meters to three thousand!

　　This caused shock to fill the hearts of everyone in the outside world. But then, a fifth, a sixth and then a seventh Heaven-shaking thunderclap rang out!

　　The thunder shook the Celestial Land, and the screens began to flicker, as if they were experiencing some sort of interference. Tribulation clouds swelled outward; by now, they were several tens of thousands of meters in diameter. The scene caused the minds of the Cultivators in the outside world to reel.

　　“What’s… what’s going on…?”

　　“What medicinal pill did he concoct to cause this?! Ye Feimu’s pill didn’t provoke such shocking Tribulation clouds!!”

　　Everyone was in an uproar; it was impossible for them not to be astonished. Before, they had believed the scene caused by Ye Feimu to be incredible, but now they were struck dumb. This… was truly incredible!

　　The thunder echoed out throughout almost the entire world of the Celestial Land. The sound of thunder rose up to the Heavens. Now, it wasn’t just Meng Hao’s screen that was flickering, but all of the screens. They distorted and twisted so violently that it seemed they might rip apart and disintegrate.

　　Even more shocking was that clearly visible to everyone on the mountaintop outside, the rest of the candidates had all stopped in their tracks. Their expressions flickered and began to fill with disbelief.

　　Obviously, all of them could hear the thunder and see the Tribulation clouds. This caused shock to fill everyone’s hearts. Ye Feimu’s pill had definitely caused an extraordinary sight. However, only he had been able to see it. The candidates were all within the Celestial Land, and on the same Mountain. However, they were treading different paths, so no matter what the others did, they wouldn’t be able to see or sense it.

　　But right now, a shocking scene was unfolding. The booming caused by Meng Hao’s medicinal pill was breaking through any such barriers, making it so that all the candidates could see the Tribulation clouds.

　　“How could this be happening…?”

　　“Furnace Lord Fang Mu, what… what is he doing…?”

　　Fatty stared open mouthed, panting. Suddenly, an excited glow filled his eyes, and his body began to tremble. Inside, he was yelling out, crying for Meng Hao to become famous. It seemed possible that he was more excited at the moment than Meng Hao was.

　　Han Bei’s eyes glittered; her expression quickly returned to normal, but inside, she was thinking that this was what she had expected of Fang Mu.

　　An Zaihai sat there cross-legged, his eyes shining with an intense light. All of the other Violet Furnace Lords were staring with unprecedented concentration at what was happening.

　　It was at this moment that the ninth thunderclap rose up.

　　Its appearance caused the entire world of the Celestial Land to quake. Atop Violet East Mountain, Chu Yuyan, Ye Feimu and the others all felt the shaking.

　　Up above them, they saw the sky completely covered with endless Tribulation clouds. They were huge and never-ending, thick, black and stacked in layers. As the booming rattled out, an uncountable amount of lightning bolts began to surge about in the clouds. The power on display was astonishing.

　　“Who is doing this…?” murmured Chu Yuyan, her face pale. It was as if she had lost her mind; she had no way to see who had instigated such a shocking scene. The first person who appeared in her mind was Ye Feimu. However, for some unknown reason, his image was suddenly replaced by someone who made her feel incredibly irritated.

　　Ye Feimu’s face drained of blood. He stared mutely up into the sky, one expression after another flickering across his face. Disbelief, confusion and a variety of other complicated expressions appeared. His mind was suddenly blank.

　　What happened next was even more astonishing. As the ninth thunderclap could be heard, it wasn’t Ye Feimu, Chu Yuyan and the others on East Violet Mountain who were shocked…. Completely unpredictable was that this ninth thunderclap influenced the outside world! In the sky above Eastern Emergence Mountain, black, roiling clouds suddenly appeared. Within them, lighting danced back and forth, and a rumbling roaring could be heard.

　　When this happened, An Zaihai leaped to his feet. The other Violet Furnace Lords who sat around him also had expressions of shock written on their faces. Pill Demon sat there quietly for a moment, then lifted up his right hand and flicked his finger.

　　The same move he had used to dissipate Ye Feimu’s Tribulation clouds, was enough to get rid of the thunder and Tribulation in the outside world. However, the Tribulation clouds within the Celestial Land were still there.

　　Seeing that the Tribulation clouds were about to reach the point where they would erupt, Meng Hao began to sweat. However, his eyes filled with determination. After the space of a few breaths passed, he growled then pushed out both hands toward the pill furnace.

　　As he did this, a roaring sound filled the air. Popping sounds rang out as cracks spread out over the surface of the pill furnace. A moment later, it exploded, and a colorless medicinal pill flew out. Suddenly, the Tribulation clouds up above began to shrink in on themselves. A massive lightning bolt, as thick as a person, began to descend.

　　Pill Demon’s eyes glittered, and he said, “Disperse!”

　　It was one word. However, it caused the entire world of the Celestial Land to suddenly tremble as if some new intangible rule had been proclaimed within it. This rule seemed as if it could affect everything inside; it warped the sky, changed the lightning bolt, covered the Tribulation clouds, causing them to suddenly… disappear. It was as if the sky had instantly been replaced.

　　Meng Hao stretched out his hand and grasped the semi-transparent medicinal pill.

　　Everything was still and quiet in the outside world. All eyes were glued to Meng Hao’s screen, and his right hand. The master alchemists, Furnace Lords, Violet Furnace Lords, and all the disciples of the visiting Sects, even the late Nascent Soul stage sub-Patriarchs, were all staring at the same thing.

　　What they wanted to know was, considering this medicinal pill had elicited such a shocking reaction, something that had even rippled out into the outside world….

　　How many stone steps would it create?!