The Emperor of the Three Realms

chapter 164

The qi attacks surged and knocked down the cauldron cover. Smoke billowed and billowed from the inside of the cauldron, filled with a strong medicinal taste.    

Jiang Chen's brows furrowed slightly. The pungent smell that struck his nose made his heart sink.    

Although he had never refined the Five Dragons Heaven Opening Pill in his previous life, he knew that if this pill succeeded, it would be realized with the presence of a dragon swallowing the heavens. Of course it won't be like this.    

It was true, when the finished pill appeared, Jiang Chen did not know whether to laugh or cry. Looking at his black and dull appearance, Jiang Chen knew that this pill was trash.    

It was not even a semi-finished product, let alone a finished product. No one would take it even if he left it by the side of the road.    

“Fully according to my expectations, the first attempt failed.”    

Jiang Chen was in no hurry to start a second attempt. He sat cross-legged, adjusted the true qi within his body, and underwent the entire refining process.    

Every detail and step flashed through his mind like a movie.    

“Theoretically, none of my steps are wrong, so where is the error?” Jiang Chen meditated and rethought the refining process, concerned with his personal gains and losses.    

Yet he discovered that he did not have any flaws in his first purification!    

“Could I have missed something during my operation? Or is my control of the fire not quite right?”    

Although Jiang Chen had been a pill expert in his past life and was fluent in pill science, he had never refined the Five Dragons Heaven Opening Pill and therefore had no direct experience.    

He doesn't know the reason why this happened.    

After meditating for two hours, Jiang Chen readjusted back to his peak state and began his second purification attempt. He was even more cautious and cautious this time.    

He seeks perfection at his best at every step.    

However, the moment the results were revealed, Jiang Chen was once again disappointed.    

The results were exactly the same as his first experiment. It's not even a semi-finished product, it's really trash.    

The third time, the fourth time…    

Every time, Jiang Chen had always felt that there was absolutely no flaw in the effort, but the end result was always the same as before.    

"What the fuck? When have I, Jiang Chen, ever been so drenched in my life before or now? Am I unable to refine the finished product when I refine the Five Dragons Heaven Opening Pill without the help of the pill refining formation?”    

The determination to excel stimulated from Jiang Chen's bones.    

However, he knew there must be something wrong here. If he continued on this path without changing his mindset, things would definitely not go well.    

He had prepared enough materials for ten tries this time, but now he had failed four times. That means he has six chances left. And for these six chances, each failure meant he had one more effort left.    

“There should be no problem with the details, so what exactly is wrong? It's not like the Five Dragons Heaven Opening Pill which is a very special pill. With my ability, I can't fall in the same place for four times in a row. Something must be wrong here.”    

Jiang Chen once again drowned in a meditative state. He decided to change his thinking and change his mindset.    

“Pil Five Dragon Heaven Opener induces qi to become a dragon, opens the sky and splits the ground. The name of this pill is majestic and extraordinary. ”Jiang Chen suddenly seemed to understand a little hint.    

“True, the Five Dragons Heaven Opening Pill induces qi to become a dragon, opening the sky and splitting the ground. How heroic and brave is this? It seems that I have already deviated from the true meaning of this pill. I have been cautious and vigilant in the process of refinement and afraid of failure. I completely missed the true meaning of this pill. I continued to follow the pattern without a second thought, and started drawing a tiger but ended up with a dog, and failed to achieve what I wanted to do.”    

A glint of brilliance flashed through Jiang Chen's mind as inspiration came rushing and fast. He soon found the core of the problem.    

After all, he was a reincarnated pill expert, the pill dao was very clear to him. Once he found the tipping point of a problem, the direction of his next move became clear to him.    

There was nothing wrong at all in the refining process, but his mindset was wrong. He did not accept the attitude of sure victory from the start.    

It was impossible to successfully refine the Five Dragons Heaven Opening Pill under such conditions.    

Jiang Chen knew that it was his fear of failure that led to this outcome. Since he did not have the aid of a pill refining formation, it caused Jiang Chen to operate with less than a hundred percent confidence from the start.    

This was a fatal matter for a pill expert.    

Once he found the reason for his failure, he adapted. Jiang Chen's adaptability strength was still quite strong. If it was any other pill expert, their mindset would definitely be adversely affected after failing four times in a row.    

But Jiang Chen had practiced the art of “Boulder's Heart”, and his mental state was similar to a boulder. His emotions would not be disturbed just because he had failed a few times.    

Indeed, when the cauldron opened for the fifth time, a pill had already been formed. Although it was a bit far from a low rank pill, the pill could hardly be labeled as a finished product.    

“It seems my direction is right. This fifth time was a bit influenced by my mindset. I will definitely succeed on my sixth try!”    

Needless to say, Jiang Chen's confidence was something that no other pill expert could learn.    

The result was indeed a little better the sixth time the cauldron was opened. The Five Heaven Opening Dragon Pill this time around had reached the quality of a low rank pill.    

Jiang Chen was driven to a higher level when he saw this improvement.    

After the meditation, his mental strength had gotten enough rest and he made another effort with a strong spirit.    

The eighth time the pill cauldron was opened, he finally saw a medium rank Five Dragon Heaven Opening Pill!    

An intermediate level pill was enough to guarantee a ninety-five percent chance of success. That is, a practitioner at the peak of true qi realm would have a ninety-five percent chance of successfully attacking the spirit realm if they took this pill.    

This was practically a definite gap to enter the spirit realm.    

Each flower grows taller than the last. Jiang Chen harnessed his momentum and completely refined a top rank pill at the ninth and tenth times!    

“Honey once, if I have five more sets of ingredients, at least I have an eighty percent chance of refining the highest ranking pill!”    

Jiang Chen sighed, not without regret.    

However, that was enough to earn a reward of this magnitude. Jiang Chen did not feel dissatisfied about anything. The highest ranking pill was often something that was obtained due to luck and could not be searched for.    

Jiang Chen was already satisfied enough that he had managed to reach this step. If it was someone else, they would most likely be desperate with this terrible start.    

Jiang Chen had been able to turn things around and overcome the unfortunate situation, finally refining four to five finished products. It's really not easy.    

Although refining ten times seemed to only take a little time, in fact, almost every attempt towards the end took a whole day, or even two days.    

The refinement process did not take long, but what took longer was the time spent meditating, resting, and recovering his mental strength.    

When Jiang Chen came out of the pill room and inhaled the air of the outside world, he enjoyed the afternoon sun and felt quite comfortable.    

Old man Fei came staggered, “Chen Young, you have come out of the closed door purification?”    

“Fei Old, you are having a lot of problems this time.”    

Old man Fei's nose was blocked and he almost shed tears. It's not easy, keeping the door for ten days. He finally received a word of praise.    

With words of comfort from Jiang Chen, old man Fei felt that these ten days were all worth it.    

“Oh right, old Fei, there is one thing that I think is quite strange. Of the four great sites belonging to the Precious Tree Sect, three of them were quite famous. The Northern Palace was domineering and arrogant, the Southern Palace liked to be the center of attention, and not to mention the Myriad Treasure Palace — there was no business whatsoever in the entire kingdom that they were not handling. Why do I feel like that? only your Qingyang Valley does not present itself to the point of making it extreme? You don't look like someone who likes to be low profile!”    

Jiang Chen was quite curious about this matter.    

Who would have thought that he would touch old man Fei's hidden pain with this question?    

Old man Fei sighed dejectedly, as a trace of overwhelming sadness appeared in his sly eyes.    

“Ai, young Chen, to think that you have such observation skills in your young age. Right, our Qingyang Valley is indeed simple.”    

“Don't tell me that you are someone who basically likes not to stand out. Don't try to trick me with the words used to calm a three-year-old.”    

Old man Fei scratched his head and chuckled. “Alright, after all I am your servant. Even among the disciples of Qingyang Valley, not many of them were aware of this matter.”    

"Oh? Is there something behind this?”    

“Chen Young, you have also observed that the higher the profile of a person in Skylaurel Kingdom, the more abilities, status, and support he has. It's not that I, old Fei, don't know how to deal with problems and also don't know how to maintain a prominent attitude, but I really have a difficulty that I can't reveal.”    

“What difficulty?”    

“Chen Young, I was a disciple of the Precious Tree Sect in the past. I have a pretty good reputation among the younger generation. Except, I was destined to collide with the despicable people in my life. I accidentally injured a son of a sect elder in a one-time fight, and things got bad for me back then. I ended up unable to enter the sect any further and voluntarily applied to pave the way for a site in the common kingdom, and this is how the Qingyang Valley formed.”    

“Better to be a bird beak than a cow's ass. You were bullied in the Precious Tree Sect and treated unfairly, it was a wise decision to be the boss of a region within an ordinary kingdom.”    

Old man Fei widened his eyes, “Chen Young, you must be kidding! Do you know what the identity of the sect disciple means? Especially people like me. If not for that, with the potential I have, I would most likely have managed to reach the position of elder in a few decades. Worst of all, I will be the older person in the waiting. But look at me now. Even you once said that I was an old and disgusting person. Sighs. This is life. Taking one step with the wrong foot meant my whole life was wrong.”    

“Ai, young Chen, you are still young so you will not understand the bitterness, despair, and sorrow of a sect genius who descended into the world to become an ordinary person.”    

At this moment, old man Fei had changed from his normally noisy and boisterous face, and his thin eyes were filled with tragic grief that touched others.    

Although Jiang Chen was not a disciple of a sect, yet from his knowledge of this world, there was indeed a huge difference between sect disciples and ordinary practitioners.    

Exiled from the exemplary disciples of a sect to spending time in the ordinary world, this was the same as Jiang Chen reincarnating into the son of an ordinary little duke of the son of the Celestial Emperor. It was a rapid decline of three thousand meters.    

However, Jiang Chen was luckier than old man Fei, because Jiang Chen was unable to cultivate in his past life, he said, and good fortune emerged from the disaster when he reincarnated and now has the qualifications to practice.    

At that moment, Jiang Chen felt that he was instead pitying old man Fei as someone suffering from a similar affliction.