Chapter 176: Explosion?

　　Everyone breathed a heavy sigh of relief. But then, their eyes gleamed; saving a violent mystic weapon during the refining process was even rarer, and they all widened their eyes to watch, fearing they might miss anything.

　　Bi Qianjin’s face lit up, and he exclaimed, “I’m sure everything will be fine with Brother Zhang Hua’s help!”

　　With a modest smile, Zhang Hua said, “You’re flattering me, Brother Qianjin! Now is not the time to chat. Although I’ve forcibly suppressed the sword with my soul power, it doesn’t show any sign of relief. Let’s use the transformation technique together to stabilize the violent power in it. Only then we can try to fix its shape!”

　　“Alright!” Bi Qianjin answered in a deep voice. Seeming to have recovered some strength, he began to use the transformation technique. Both men performed almost identical incantation gestures, sending various complex hand seals into the sword over the array, as if they were trying to forcibly refine and fix its shape.

　　The old man breathed a long sigh of relief when he saw that. He gave Yunxiao a triumphant look as he laughed and said, “Haha! What a plot twist! Haha!”

　　“A plot twist?” Yunxiao smiled mockingly. “In fact, its violent power can be negated with just a few simple hand seals, and then the refinement can be continued. However, that fool forcibly suppressed the sword with his soul power, and now they even joined hands to use the transformation technique. In ten breaths, the mystic weapon will explode with several times more violent power than just now.”

　　Yunxiao’s cocksure face and his confident voice gave the old man a pause and turned his face serious again. Although he was somewhat doubtful of that, he was already deeply convinced by the strength of Yunxiao’s divine sense and judgment. Feeling anxious, he turned to look at the front of the hall and began to pray in his heart, hoping that the other was wrong.

　　Yunxiao had said that openly without using a voice transmission, and his words immediately turned all heads around and attracted all kinds of disdainful snorts and angry curses. However, those alchemists who had heard him previously were anxious and doubtful.

　　“One!”

　　Paying no mind to the angry curses and gazes, he clasped his hands behind his back and stared coldly at the small sword as he began counting leisurely.

　　“Two!”

　　“Three!”

　　“Four!”

　　His unbridled counting immediately provoked general rage. A second-tier alchemist stood up and pointed at him while snapping, “Who are you, boy? How could you make a groundless comment about the refinement of a third-tier alchemist? Who are the seniors of your family?”

　　The old man looked at Yunxiao. He, too, wanted to know who were the seniors of this boy’s family. But, Yunxiao paid them no heed, and just continued to count as if there were no other people around. “Five!”

　　His behavior immediately angered the crowd, and many stood up to scold him. “Whose son is this? Throw him out of here now!”

　　“Throw him out? I think we better keep him in captivity and wait for his senior to come and ransom him!”

　　“Yes, let me do it, I’ll keep him in my house!”

　　“Brother Ximen, I don’t think that’s a good idea. You’re known for molesting boys.”

　　“Brother Shangguan, what you said is incorrect. I’m just romantic, but not obscene.”

　　“…”

　　Yunxiao turned a deaf ear to that. “Six!”

　　Even as his voice faded, Bi Qianjin and Zhang Hua’s faces fell at the same time, as if they had found something incredible, and their eyes were full of shock.

　　“How? Why is this happening?” For a moment, Zhang Hua was struck dumb, and he stared blankly at the little green sword. A violent aura gradually emanated on the mystic weapon, growing stronger and stronger, and the suppression of their soul power was rendered completely useless.

　　“Arrest him, arrest this boy who spread fallacies to deceive people!” The alchemist who was called Shangguan looked excited as he licked his lips and rushed out of the crowd toward Yunxiao.

　　“Seven!” A hint of a smile appeared on the corner of Yunxiao’s lips; everything was under his control.

　　The old man was startled. When he saw the changes in Zhang Hua and Bi Qianjin’s expressions, he knew he was losing the bet. He turned to look at Yunxiao in shock with a storm raging in his heart.

　　At the front of the hall were two third-tier alchemists, and yet they had failed to suppress a third-tier sword embryo together. And how did Yunxiao find out about that so early?

　　Just when Shangguan rushed in front of Yunxiao, Zhang Hua suddenly roared. His voice was so loud that it shook everyone and almost threw them off their feet.

　　“Run! The sword embryo is about to explode!”

　　“What!” The crowd was stunned, and everyone gave Yunxiao a horrified look. A dead silence fell over the hall for a brief moment, and then the people began to rush crazily toward the exit, pushing and stepping over others. Curses and shrieks could be heard coming from all over the place.

　　“Everyone stops and let second-tier alchemists leave first!”

　　“First my ass! If you push me one more time, I’ll turn you into a cripple here and now! Get out of my way!”

　　As Shangguan was at the foremost, he was pushed to the ground by the people rushing up from behind. Countless feet stamped across his body, and he screamed a few times before going silent completely. No one knew if he were still alive or not.

　　“Eight!” Yunxiao announced softly. Then, he turned to look at the old man, whose face was ashen, as he smiled and said, “How’s that? Are you convinced now?”

　　Sensing the energy fluctuation coming from the sword and looking at Bi Qianjin and Zhang Hua’s panicked expressions, the old man knew they were unable to save the situation anymore. With a dejected look, he sighed and said, “How did you know it was going to explode?”

　　“It’s good that you admit defeat.” Yunxiao chuckled, then pushed through the crowd and walked toward the front. “There are still two breaths left, and the sword can actually be saved,” his faint voice rang out.

　　Zhang Hua was trying his best to control the violent sword, buying more time for the people to run for their lives. When he saw Yunxiao walk over calmly, he cried out in shock, “You should not be here! I don’t know how you found out it is going to explode, but the structure of the sword embryo is completely damaged now, and we can’t do anything to save the situation! The explosion of a third-tier mystic weapon will kill you! Go now!”

　　Yunxiao gave them an approving look and said, “Facing danger fearlessly and buying time for the others with your own lives…Tsk, tsk, although your skill in alchemy is not so good, you do have an excellent moral quality.”

　　Under Zhang Hua and Bi Qianjin’s stunned gazes, Yunxiao lightly slapped the array disc, causing a beam of light to rise from it and envelop the green sword embryo.

　　Both men gaped, then Zhang Hua glared at him and bellowed, “Stop it! Do you know what you’re doing?!” What shocked them even more was that the soul power they used to suppress the sword embryo was pushed back by another soul power.

　　“This is insane! You’ll…”

　　Zhang Hua said furiously, but his voice came to a sudden stop, because to his astonishment, he found that the sword’s violent aura seemed to grow gentler. Although it was still extremely wild, the frequency gradually became rhythmic.

　　“This… this is…” Both men’s eyes grew wide as they stood there and watched with blank faces.

　　Yunxiao was already moving; standing where he was with both feet rooted to the ground, his upper body blurred into motion, and his hands moved so fast that it shocked everyone. Incantation seals jumped out of his palms without stopping one after another like the rushing water in a great river, pouring into the air over the array disc and enveloping the little green sword.

　　There was a flash of shock in the old man’s eyes as he stared incredulously at Yunxiao’s dreamlike movements. They were as fast and swift as lightning and wind, and that kind of complex movement and some of the skillful maneuvers were by no means something ordinary newbies could do. Only a seasoned alchemist with rich experience could perform them so smoothly and casually!

　　‘Ten breaths have passed, but there is no explosion…’ thought the old man. Although he could not see the sword embryo, he could sense the energy fluctuation emanating out of it become calm. It was like a pot of boiling water had suddenly become gentle.

　　The old man looked dejected. He did not think that he would lose to a strange boy. But, his eyes suddenly lit up, as if he were very excited.

　　Meanwhile, after waiting for a while without hearing the explosion, some of the bolder alchemists put on their battle suits and carefully went back into the hall to find out what happened. The timid ones waited anxiously for them to come out and report, but no one returned. It was like every alchemist who went inside had disappeared.

　　“What happened? What the hell is going on inside? Why hasn’t it exploded after so long? I thought he said ten breaths? Why did none of those who went inside come out?”

　　Everyone looked at each other. Occasionally, someone summoned up the courage and walked in, but they also never came out again.

　　“Could it be that the sword produced a legendary sword spirit and devoured every person who went inside?”

　　“Devour my ass! It is said that only a mystic weapon beyond the ninth-tier can produce an artifact spirit!”

　　“Tell me then, what’s going on?”

　　“How would I know? Oh, right, Xiao Fang, go inside and have a look!”

　　All eyes fell on the beautiful girl who worked at the front desk. She had run out together with everyone just now, and she still could not recover from her shock. When someone pushed her with a hand, she jumped in panic and said, “I…I…I’m just a girl…It will be very dangerous for me to go in alone.”

　　“Hmph! You are just an ordinary girl, so there will be no danger for you. Do you want us, the noble alchemists, to take the risk? If something bad happened to anyone of us, can you bear the responsibility?”

　　“Brother Shangguan is right. Eh? Brother Shangguan, you are still alive!”

　　“Fu*k! Why do you sound like you wished I was dead? I was trampled at least a hundred times just now. Who did that to me?”

　　“Kof! Kof! Let’s not talk about that now. We need to know what is going on inside! Xiao Fang, each of us here is at least ten thousand times nobler than you. If you don’t go in, who will? Go now and don’t waste our time.”

　　“Yes. There are dozens of us here, if you waste just one minute, you will waste at least half an hour of our time. Do you know how precious is half an hour for alchemists? What are you crying about? Don’t pretend to be pitiful. Go in quickly!”

　　Someone pushed Xiao Fang from behind and forced her into the building.

　　She held her breath in horror, and her face was covered with tears of grievance and fear. She knew she could not afford to offend any of those alchemists, so she chewed her lips and walked carefully toward the great hall.