Chapter 124 – Max level
Entering the controlling the flame stage...
At this moment, Zhao Feng was extremely nervous and excited. But due to his left eye, he calmed down quickly.
The left eye gave him precision, accuracy and control. Therefore, under the complex controlling the flame, Zhao Feng almost couldn’t make a mistake unless he had interpreted something wrong.
Time slowly passed by.
One hour, two hours, three hours...
This wasn’t the first time Zhao Feng refined pills, but it was the longest. The pills he had created before at the Grass-Wood Division were all low class and they were only useful in the mortal world but useless here. The Marrow Cleansing Pill he was refining now was almost a Spiritual Pill and the most complex one he had refined so far.
3 - 4 hours later, the stage of controlling the flame was coming to an end.
Beads of sweat appeared Zhao Feng’s forehead, the time he needed to create this batch was a lot more than the others. One had to know that he could only manage around 4 hours or so.
Only till 5 hours later was the stage complete.
Zhao Feng fell down on the ground powerlessly and gathered all his remaining inner strength to gently tap the air.
Pah!
The furnace opened and out jumped 4-5 pills the size of nails.
Zhao Feng reached out and grabbed the 5 Marrow Cleansing Pills. The quantity of pills made in each batch depended on how much material was put in. The amount of material Zhao Feng put in could only create 5 pills.
The most important factor right now was the success rate.
“One excellent, one normal, one useless and 2 substandard pills.”
Zhao Feng scanned the pills and immediately came up with the success rate.
40% success rate.
Truthfully, this result disappointed him. One had to know that when he had tried before, he had always reached 80% or above with the majority at 100%.
Zhao Feng obviously knew that the success rate depended on the refiners skills as well as what class the pill was.
If someone like old man Guan did it, his success rate would be at 100% because the level of the Marrow Cleansing Pill was way too low for him. At the same time, the Marrow Cleansing Pill was too hard for Zhao Feng, who was only at the 9th rank of the Consolidated Realm.
Normally, one would need to be at the half-step Ascended Realm to create a half-Spiritual Pill. But because Zhao Feng had denser inner strength due to Returning Breath Technique and saved energy due to his precision, he was able to break this ‘normality’.
This alone would make the other pill makers sigh in the Grass-Wood Division.
“Two Marrow Cleansing Pills are worth 10 substandard primal crystal stones!” Zhao Feng’s eyes lit up.
Although his success rate wasn’t high, he had still gained a massive profit because the materials used cost only 4 substandard primal crystal stones and the rest of the materials would be used to create the Broken Moon Breath Returning Pill.
Zhao Feng didn’t immediately start again because he thought his success rate was too low and he wasn’t skilled nor experienced enough.
On the same day, he took out the Holy Pill Bible and without another words, he imprinted its contents into his mind, then started to comprehend it...
In the process, Zhao Feng paid extra attention to the key points, tricks and tips. After looking at it once, Zhao Feng immediately felt more knowledgeable.
He couldn’t but sigh, if he had read this first, there would’ve been a higher success rate.
Only till late night did Zhao Feng put away the Holy Pill Bible.
From tomorrow onwards, he would go the Clan Mission Division and learn arrays with old man Zhang. But before this, Zhao Feng closed his eyes and the Illusion Fish Picture from the 3rd exam that had been forgotten for so long appeared again.
Before this, Zhao Feng didn’t gain much insights from the Illusion Fish Picture.
This was because he was focusing on the 4 Wind Stances and although the Illusion Fish Picture seemed profound, it seemed to be connected with arrays and not martial arts.
Zhao Feng realised that the Illusion Fish Picture was not as simple as he thought and like he thought, this picture had something to do with arrays.
He found that the changes in the picture seemed like it contained a sort of law from the heavens.
The colours of the fishes, waves of the ocean, light from the sun changed...
The changes in scenery gave others a feeling that everything was fake and that the person was tricked every time.
Zhao Feng was able to count the number and color of fished due to his left eye. His left eye seemed to be born with the power of ‘seeing through’ illusions and under its precision, Zhao Feng was able to reach the 7th scene. But counting the pictures didn’t mean that he had understood why it changed, it only meant he was able to not be tricked.
“Change, fake, real, illusion... ”
Zhao Feng seemed to gain something from the Illusion Fish Picture and he fully comprehended the first two pictures that night.
He realised that the enlightenment from the Illusion Fish Picture could be used in martial arts and it would cause his actions to be full of change, which would make the opponent feel as if his moves were all ‘illusions’.
“Terrifying!”
Zhao Feng tried it out and felt his Star Finger and Smoking Transparent Step seemed to have life and not the same stubborn moves.
His Star Finger and Smoking Transparent Step both were full of agility and they had exceeded the peak level and reached the max level.
Max level meant that the skill had started to exceed the original structure on how the skill was planned to be and became a ‘new skill’.
.......
Zhao Feng got up the second morning and reported to the Clan Mission Division.
The Clan Mission Division was a complex place which was in charge of the arrays and a few other things.
At the Clan Mission Division, Zhao Feng saw a familiar person, Xiao Sun, who was from the biggest family in seclusion of the Cloud Country.
When Xiao Sun had entered the Clan, he was already at the 9th rank of the Consolidated Realm and half a month later, he was now at the half-step Ascended Realm.
Zhao Feng understood that Xiao Sun came from the country’s biggest family in seclusion, which had a bit of relationship with the Clan and his talent was also great.
“Brother Zhao seems to be living a good life, being with Princess Yun Mengxiang and Vice Head Guan. You make me jealous!”
Xiao Sun took the initiative to speak, but his tone was sour.
Zhao Feng caught the envy and unwillingness in his eyes. When they had just entered the Clan, Xiao Sun was pretty close with Yun Mengxiang.
They were a good pair. One came from the country’s biggest family in seclusion while the other was the country’s Princess. But as time passed, Zhao Feng established his strength and became a substitute inner disciple and old man Guan seemed to place him of great importance.
Apart from that, Yun Mengxiang started to approach him and the closeness of the two surpassed the relationship of Yun Mengxiang and Xiao Sun.
“No matter how well I live here, it won’t be as good as Brother Xiao Sun, whom I suspect will become an inner disciple soon.” Zhao Feng said humbly and the second part of his sentence was more of a question.
His words hit Xiao Sun’s weak spot and the latter couldn’t help but be smug.
“Haha, thanks for your good intentions. But before I become an inner disciple, I also want to meet the substitute inner disciples. Being 13th Brother Zhao, I really want to exchange moves with you.” Xiao Sun laughed lightly and left.
Challenge me?
Zhao Feng shook his head and he didn’t put this to heart, even though he knew Xiao Sun had successfully become a substitute inner disciple a few days ago and was ranked 16th.
After reaching the 9th rank of the Consolidated Realm and the 9th level of Silver Wall Technique, Zhao Feng’s strength had doubled and with the help of the Illusion Fish Picture, Zhao Feng was on an entire level compared to tens of days ago.
........
After entering the important grounds of the Clan Mission Division, Zhao Feng once again saw met old man Zhang.
“Youngster Zhao Feng greets Vice Head.” Zhao Feng didn’t dare to be respectful.
Both old man Guan and old man Zhang had authority way higher than him.
Vice Head Zhang was clothed in white as he smiled towards Zhao Feng.
“There’s a few books here. ‘Beginner Array’, ‘The 49 Arrays for Beginners’, ‘12 Ways of Constructing Arrays’... ”
Old man Zhang waved his hands and 7-8 books appeared in front of Zhao Feng.
When the latter received these books, old man Zhang smiled: “You can memorise them right now.”
Zhao Feng paused, right now?
But this couldn’t trick him, in just the time it took for tea to boil, he had memorised the contents of these books.
“Memorising whatever you see, no wonder!”
Old man Zhang wasn’t surprised.
How did he know I can memorise everything I see? Could it be that old man Guan told him?
Under Zhao Feng’s curious eyes, old man Zhang laughed: “I already found out that you could memorise everything you see when we met the first time. The changes of the Illusion Fish Picture are extremely complicated and when the fishes of different colours moved, one must have great memory or else they wouldn’t be able to say the correct answer.”
Hearing this, Zhao Feng couldn’t help but sigh in admiration.
“There’s nothing strange about that, you’re not the only one who can memorise everything you see.” Vice Head Zhang said.
“Could it be that you’re also... ?”
Zhao Feng paused slightly and he was extremely surprised.
“That’s right, I was born with this talent. When reading, I only need the look over the contents twice or thrice to memorise it all. But compared to your talent, it’s too far off.”
Old man Zhang was smug at first, but he started to shake his head bitterly later on.
There were many geniuses who could memorise everything they saw, but none of them could be compared to Zhao Feng.
On the same day, Vice Head Zhang only told Zhao Feng the basic theory and direction of arrays.
Zhao Feng thought that arrays were even more complex than pill refining.
Before he left, old man Zhang gave a smile: “If you’re able to comprehend all the 7 books I just gave you, I’ll let you use the Energy Gathering Array in the Thousand Leaf Pond. It has great effects for body strengthening... ”