Daily Intelligence: From Miner to Dao Ancestor of Alchemy and Talismans

This was something he had prepared in advance. It looked dilapidated, but it was actually intact inside. It was just an ordinary first-tier alchemy furnace, the kind no one would even pick up if it were thrown on the ground. No one doubted what good things this old rogue cultivator at the third level of Qi Refining could produce, and no one would have thought that he already knew about the trap in the public alchemy furnace and never intended to use the furnace provided by the organizing committee from the beginning.

As soon as the referee gave the order, "The competition begins!" the entire arena fell silent instantly, with only the soft sound of the alchemical fire being lit and the subtle sounds of medicinal herbs being added to the furnace.

Xu Yuan calmly lit the spiritual fire, his movements slow and deliberate, even a little shaky, as he added the medicinal herbs one by one into the furnace. He looked extremely inexperienced, like a seasoned rogue cultivator who had never seen anything like it and was incredibly nervous. The rogue cultivator at the alchemy table next to him glanced at him, a disdainful smile on his lips, before turning his head away to focus on controlling his own alchemical fire, completely ignoring Xu Yuan.

Time passed slowly, and just half an hour later, a loud "boom" suddenly came from the arena!

The first alchemy furnace exploded!

Immediately afterward, like firecrackers being lit, the sounds of explosions echoed continuously throughout the arena. Countless communal alchemy furnaces belonging to independent cultivators instantly exploded, with uncontrolled flames shooting several feet high. Some cultivators suffered burns to their arms from the flames, screaming in agony; others were thrown to the ground by the blast waves, scattering medicinal herbs everywhere; and still others were backfired by the uncontrolled spiritual energy, spitting out a mouthful of blood and being carried off the field by the referees.

The stands erupted in uproar, with everyone discussing the incident. They assumed that it was the first time these rogue cultivators had faced such a large-scale event, and their unstable mentality and miscontrol of the fire had caused the furnace to explode. Even the referee frowned and kept scolding the chaotic alchemists in the arena. No one suspected the public alchemy furnace at all.

Only Xu Yuan remained calm and composed, controlling the alchemical fire as if the explosions in the arena had nothing to do with him.

He knew better than anyone that these rogue cultivators hadn't made a mistake in controlling the fire. Rather, the Pill King Valley had added a spirit-disrupting powder to the walls of the public pill furnace, which would activate upon contact with fire. At best, the pill fire would go out of control and explode; at worst, spiritual energy would backfire and cause injury.

From the very beginning, Li Mo and his group never intended for these rogue cultivators to survive the first round.

Even knowing all the inside information, Xu Yuan didn't make a sound. He even deliberately slowed down the alchemy process, pretending to be frightened by the surrounding explosions. He frantically tried to stabilize the fire, perfectly replicating the behavior of a low-level rogue cultivator, without attracting anyone's attention.

The two-hour competition was quickly coming to an end.

"Cease fire! All alchemists must stop refining pills and are forbidden from touching the alchemy furnaces!"

As the referee's loud command fell, all the alchemical fires in the arena instantly went out. At the last moment, Xu Yuan slowly lifted the lid of the alchemical furnace and took out three ordinary-looking, low-grade first-level Qi Gathering Pills. The success rate was exactly 30%, no more, no less, just barely enough to advance.

The referee in charge of the inspection walked over, glanced at the three pills in his hand, and his face instantly showed undisguised disdain. He muttered, "You barely made it into the next round. You're lucky. Let's see if you can still have this kind of luck in the next round."

He casually stamped Xu Yuan's competition token with a mark of advancement, then turned and walked towards the alchemy platform next to him, not even willing to linger for a second longer, completely disregarding this old rogue cultivator who had barely advanced.

In the center of the arena, Li Mo's alchemy platform was surrounded by referees and high-ranking spectators. Inside his furnace lay ten perfectly round, translucent, top-grade Qi Gathering Pills, a 100% success rate, with clear pill patterns and perfect quality. A deafening cheer erupted from the stands. Meanwhile, Su Qingyao had also successfully refined eight high-grade Qi Gathering Pills, drawing gasps of amazement.

All the limelight and all the attention were focused on the two of them.

No one remembers that in the far corner of the arena, there was an old rogue cultivator named "Old Xu" who quietly advanced to the second round, stepping right on the line.

Xu Yuan put away his competition token, still hunched over, and slowly walked out of the arena, blending into the crowd of rogue cultivators without attracting anyone's attention.

Just as he stepped out of the city lord's mansion, two disciples of the Hundred Herbs Hall dressed in blue robes suddenly stopped him and bowed to him, saying, "Senior, our hall master invites you."

Xu Yuan looked up and saw Su Qingyao standing by the carriage not far away, calmly looking at him. He didn't refuse, and slowly walked over, still looking timid. He cupped his hands in greeting to Su Qingyao and said in a hoarse voice, "What business does Hall Master Su have with this old man?"

"Senior, there's no need for such formalities." Su Qingyao looked at him, her voice low and solemn. "I just wanted to remind you that there's a problem with the public alchemy furnaces at the competition venue; it was Danwang Valley that tampered with them. In the upcoming competition, please be careful and use your own alchemy furnace as much as possible. Don't trust anything provided by the organizing committee."

She had clearly noticed something was wrong with the alchemy furnace, and even guessed that it was the work of the Pill King Valley, so she came over specifically to remind these lucky rogue cultivators who had advanced.

Xu Yuan pretended to be flattered and repeatedly bowed to Su Qingyao to express his gratitude, saying, "Thank you for reminding me, Hall Master Su. I will remember it." However, he did not say a word more or show any intention to join forces with her. After thanking her, he turned around and left slowly with his back hunched, leaving Danwang Valley with no leverage.

The enemy of my enemy is indeed a potential ally, but without absolute security guarantees, he will never easily take sides or easily form alliances. This is his ironclad rule for survival.

Back at the villa of Baodan Tower, Xu Yuan closed the gate, activated all the restrictions, and then removed the disguise from his face, revealing his original appearance.

He had just sat down and drunk a cup of tea when the system notification sounded in his mind precisely at midnight:

[Ding! Today's intelligence has been updated.]

[Bai Bao: In the second round of the Alchemist Tournament, Li Mo has bribed half of the judges on the organizing committee to deliberately lower the scores of the Hundred Herbs Hall contestants and the rogue cultivator seed contestants, ensuring his own absolute advantage in advancing to the finals.]

Xu Yuan looked at the intelligence report, a faint smile playing on his lips.

He had long anticipated that Li Mo would pull this stunt.

Without the slightest hesitation, he immediately devised a plan for the second round: to continue playing dumb, suppressing the success rate and quality of pills, and to keep barely making it into the seeded players' list, so as not to be targeted by the referees or Li Mo.

He continued to hide in the shadows, watching Li Mo and Su Qingyao restrain each other, and reaped the benefits.

Just then, voices suddenly came from the neighboring courtyard, clearly audible through the courtyard wall and the barrier.

It was the voices of Xue Wuya and Li Mo.