I Can Control Resources

The Noble Young Masters from the various sects and families, who had been carefully observing the Alchemists, were rendered speechless when they heard Gao Neng and saw him jogging over.

Time to open the furnaces and get the pills!

He really knew how to dream big.

’Does he really think Alchemy is just a barbecue?’

Of course, if Gao Neng insisted on opening the furnaces, they couldn’t stop him. In fact, far from stopping him, they were eager to watch the show.

So, by the time Gao Neng jogged up to the first Alchemy Furnace, pretty much all the other Noble Young Masters from the sects and families had gathered around.

"Opening the furnace! Everyone, make some room!" Gao Neng shouted to the crowd.

"..." The surrounding Noble Young Masters immediately parted to make way.

Meng the Second, who stood opposite Gao Neng, was completely dumbfounded.

’Open the furnace my ass!’

He subconsciously glanced at his own Pill Furnace.

’It’s far too early!’

He wasn’t like Gao Neng, who had just blasted it with high heat from the start. He was the type to use a slow simmer... no, that’s not right. He was someone who meticulously controlled the heat.

Besides, beyond just controlling the heat, the timing for adding each ingredient was also extremely precise.

As a result, his own Alchemy process was less than a fifth of the way complete.

Based on his estimates, it would take at least twenty-four hours, perhaps even longer, to finish refining his five Fire-Resistant Pills.

And that was only because the Fire-Resistant Pill was a relatively low-to-mid-grade pill.

Still, producing five Fire-Resistant Pills in twenty-four hours was already considered quite fast among the great families and sects.

After all, when it came to this Alchemy business...

Almost no one calculated the time. What people cared about more was the success rate.

For example, with the same materials, if you successfully created two pills in twenty-four hours, while someone else took thirty-six hours to create three, there was no need to even debate who was superior.

’He succeeded in just over five hours?!’ Meng the Second couldn’t believe it. But that obviously wasn’t the main point, because he knew Gao Neng was bound to fail.

So, if you were to ask how worried he was...

He wasn’t, really!

He just wanted to see what kind of charred lump would emerge after being blasted by high heat for over five hours.

CLANG!

Just as everyone was thinking the same thing as Meng the Second, Gao Neng effortlessly lifted the lid off the first Alchemy Furnace.

There was no ceremony at all.

No praying, no chanting, no checking for an auspicious time.

He just went for it!

The surrounding Noble Young Masters from the sects and families instantly craned their necks.

And it wasn’t just them. Wu Qingjing, Yi Qinglian, and Yutian, as well as Li Tiannan, Sword Elder, and the others in the second-floor private room, were all craning their necks too.

All eyes were fixed on the first Alchemy Furnace.

HUMMM!

A wave of energy washed out.

A rich fragrance wafted out.

Red flames flickered within the Alchemy Furnace.

Soon, the flames gradually receded, gathering toward the center of the Alchemy Furnace before finally coalescing into a single, crystalline pill marked with fiery patterns.

It wasn’t very large.

Only about the size of a thumbnail.

But it was undeniably a pill, and a genuine Fire-Resistant Pill at that.

"!!!" Meng the Second.

"!!!" The surrounding Noble Young Masters.

"!!!!" Li Tiannan, Sword Elder, and the other Strongest in the second-floor room.

"!!!!!" Wu Qingjing, Yutian, the Chairman, Vice-Chairman, and Secretary General of the Alchemist Association, Yi Qinglian, and the surrounding Military Department personnel monitoring intelligence.

Everyone stared at the pill that had appeared inside the Alchemy Furnace.

Their eyes went wide.

So wide they looked like they were about to pop out of their sockets.

They couldn’t believe it.

They were in utter disbelief.

They were shocked, horrified, and astounded. They wondered if their eyes were playing tricks on them, if they were dreaming. Should they slap themselves just to be sure?!

An uproar erupted!

Finally, a scream rang out.

"A Fire-Resistant Pill!"

"That’s a Fire-Resistant Pill!!!"

"He succeeded!"

"Gao Neng actually *roasted* a Fire-Resistant Pill!!!"

The person screaming was beside themselves with excitement and agitation.

Because the one shouting was one of the three directors of the Celestial King Group.

He was genuinely ecstatic!

So ecstatic he was about to lose his mind!

What was he seeing?!

He was seeing a return of two hundred billion!

Holy hell...

He was about to cry!

What does it look like when a man in his forties or fifties starts flailing his arms and legs in celebration?

Let’s just say it was a sight to behold.

As the Celestial King Group director’s screams echoed through the exhibition hall, the stunned crowd finally snapped out of it. Then, some people started slapping themselves.

It hurt!

This wasn’t a dream.

Gao Neng had really refined a Fire-Resistant Pill.

Even if it was just one, that alone was enough to scare the piss out of everyone.

"This is impossible!"

"How is this possible? He clearly just blasted it with high heat! We all saw it! This defies all common sense! No one does Alchemy like this!"

"It’s fake. It has to be fake. I must be hallucinating..."

When something that completely subverted their understanding of the world actually happened, the Noble Young Masters from the sects and families truly couldn’t accept it. This was completely illogical.

Of course, Gao Neng also felt that what he was doing was a bit illogical.

But he’d earned this cheat fair and square...

’Why should I have to be logical?’

’I risked my life for this cheat, after all.’

He still remembered the first mission: Sacrifice Shen Ning’Er. That was a true life-or-death situation. If he hadn’t been clever enough, the grass on his grave would be at least a meter tall by now.

’And that’s not even counting all the other crap that came later.’

’All that talk of battle, youth, passion...’

’All I know is that damn system tried to screw me over and get me killed time and time again.’

’Anyone else would have died dozens of times over by now.’

’So why should I have to be logical?’

’Since I have a cheat, I should use it openly and let everyone know that I, Gao Neng, am a goddamn cheater.’

At that moment, Wu Qingjing and Yutian also snapped out of their daze.

The two of them exchanged a glance.

They could both see the same expression in the other’s eyes: pure, soul-deep horror.

But the truly horrifying part, in fact, was just beginning...

Because, amidst the chorus of "Impossible!", "It’s a hallucination!", and "I’ll never believe it!", Gao Neng opened the second Alchemy Furnace.

HUMMM!

Another wave of energy pulsed outward.

The fragrance was nearly identical to the first.

The flames condensed.

A second Fire-Resistant Pill appeared in the second Alchemy Furnace.

"Another success?!"

"Two out of five Fire-Resistant Pills succeeded. That’s a 40% success rate!"

"Have I gone blind? How could something so impossible happen? I don’t believe it... I absolutely refuse to believe it!"

The already dumbfounded Noble Young Masters from the sects and families truly lost their minds now.

Two successful pills!

A 40% success rate! That was already considered a passing grade.

Most importantly, Gao Neng had only taken five hours to refine two Fire-Resistant Pills. Such speed, such efficiency, was simply demonic!

"Two?! This... this is impossible!" Meng the Second was stunned. He knew that with his own skills, he could produce three.

Three out of five.

But that wasn’t a guarantee every single time.

It required a perfect environment that allowed him to calm his mind, without the slightest disturbance, and without a single mistake during the entire Alchemy process.

A 60% success rate was his absolute limit.

But in an environment like this...

He actually felt a 40% success rate would be a good outcome.

But now, Gao Neng had already achieved what he considered a "good outcome." What did that mean? It meant that he was very likely going to lose this challenge.

’No, I can’t lose!’ Meng the Second screamed internally. He was the second Elder of the Beihe Meng Family. He had been studying Alchemy in the Beihe Meng Family since childhood.

He was more diligent than anyone else.

He had reached this stage through decades of bitter practice and refinement.

’I have to win!’

Whether for the twenty-fold return or for his own reputation, he refused to lose here. He refused to lose to Gao Neng, a man who hadn’t even mastered the basics.

Meng the Second began to pray.

He prayed to every deity he could think of. All he hoped for now was that Gao Neng’s success rate would stop at 40%. That way, he would at least still have a chance to win.

’The third one absolutely cannot succeed!’

’It absolutely cannot succeed!’

’Absolutely...’

CLANG!

Amidst Meng the Second’s incessant praying, Gao Neng decisively lifted the lid of the third Alchemy Furnace.

Because he was just that direct.

’A 40% success rate?’

’What a joke!’

’Am I, Gao Neng, a man who only settles for 40%?’

The third Alchemy Furnace was opened.

Energy emanated from within, and a rich fragrance gushed out, causing the seething crowd to fall silent and slack-jawed once more.

"Three successful pills!"

"That’s a 60% success rate!"

"Three out of five. And three in a row, at that. Could the remaining two furnaces... no, that’s absolutely impossible..."

The surrounding Noble Young Masters muttered amongst themselves.

But Gao Neng didn’t leave them to their speculation for long.

He had already strode over to the last two Alchemy Furnaces.

Steam billowed from the Alchemy Furnaces.

A continuous BEEP BEEP BEEP sound came from them.

"Sigh, I seem to have accidentally refined three Fire-Resistant Pills. I wonder if there will be any successful pills in these last two furnaces. I’m really worried..." Gao Neng said, looking at the wide-eyed crowd. A smirk played on his lips. "If, by some chance, I suddenly succeed with all five, then I really don’t know what I’ll..."

CLANG!

CLANG!

Gao Neng didn’t finish his sentence.

Instead, he directly opened the last two Alchemy Furnaces at the same time.

One with his left hand, one with his right!

HUMMM!

Energy erupted forth.

A rich fragrance filled the air.

Two more Fire-Resistant Pills, marked with fiery patterns, appeared before everyone’s eyes.

They were two pills just like the others, both about the size of a thumbnail. But at this moment, these two Fire-Resistant Pills felt as if they weighed ten million pounds.

It felt like a great mountain pressing down on everyone’s hearts.