226: Chapter 226 A Casual Move Resolves Decades of Confusion

Great Master Changming gently placed the teacup in his hand back onto the rosewood table, the bottom of the cup making a faint, crisp sound as it touched the surface.

His voice remained gentle, yet it clearly reached the ears of everyone present: "This young friend, do you have doubts about the answer I just gave?"

Hundreds of gazes in the hall instantly turned in unison toward where Zhou Tianchen was sitting. Some were curious, some surprised, and some slightly frowned.

Who was this young man? He looked very unfamiliar, and there was no Alchemist furnace emblem embroidered on his chest; he did not look like a local Alchemist from Huaiyang City.

How dare he shake his head at Great Master Changming's explanation?

Sun Mingcheng, sitting beside Zhou Tianchen, felt his back tighten under those gazes. The jade-boned folding fan in his hand nearly slipped from his fingers, and he secretly lamented in his heart.

Zhou Tianchen, however, remained composed. He stood up, bowed to Great Master Changming with cupped hands, and spoke in a tone that was neither servile nor overbearing: "Senior, what you just explained—that Spirit Medicine with cold attributes requires reducing the heat by thirty percent in compound Medicinal Pills to prevent the cold and fire from clashing and ruining the medicinal properties—is indeed correct. It is the standard solution found in Alchemy classics. I have no doubts, Junior just feels a slight regret."

"Regret?" Great Master Changming's graying eyebrows arched slightly, and a hint of interest flashed in his eyes. "How so?"

The murmurs in the hall gradually died down.

The few Earth-tier Alchemists sitting in the front row looked over one after another. The white-haired old woman among them narrowed her eyes slightly, her gaze lingering for a moment on the palm-sized qiankun furnace at Zhou Tianchen's waist.

She had felt earlier that this young man had an extraordinary aura and did not look like an ordinary Loose Cultivator. Seeing him now speaking so freely in front of Great Master Changming, she became even more curious about his background.

"Senior just said that Alchemical Fire is to an Alchemist what a sword is to a Sword Cultivator," Zhou Tianchen said unhurriedly.

"Senior used Spirit Medicine with cold attributes as an example to explain the method of avoiding the clash between cold and fire. However, I believe that avoidance is not the only solution. If the Alchemical Fire itself contains both Yin and Yang attributes, allowing cold and heat to shift as one wishes, then why would one need to avoid it?"

As soon as these words were spoken, a low uproar erupted in the hall.

Alchemical Fire containing both Yin and Yang attributes? This was practically a joke.

Alchemists, when refining Alchemical Fire, always choose one attribute to master thoroughly, either refining extremely Yang fire or extremely Yin fire.

Controlling two diametrically opposed flame attributes simultaneously—not to mention how many times more difficult the refining process would be—the consequences of the two attributes clashing within the Dantian alone would be enough to make most Alchemists shrink back in fear.

The white-haired old woman in the front row could not help but speak up: "Young man, your reasoning is sound, but in practice, it is nothing more than a fantasy."

"Yin and Yang dual-attribute Alchemical Fire—in all my years, I have only seen it recorded in ancient classics. I have never heard of anyone in this world who has been able to refine it."

Great Master Changming, however, did not rush to refute. His gaze fell upon the qiankun furnace at Zhou Tianchen's waist. The furnace body was ancient and simple, with runes faintly flowing across it. Although only a tiny sliver of the golden firelight was visible at the furnace opening, it caused his own Green Jade Cold Flame to tremble slightly and involuntarily.

He was all too familiar with this feeling; it was the instinctual resonance between Alchemical Fires. Only when facing a flame far superior to its own rank would the Green Jade Cold Flame produce this tremor of near-reverence.

"May I ask, young friend, who is your master?" Great Master Changming's tone became a bit more solemn.

"It is inconvenient to mention my teacher's name," Zhou Tianchen said calmly, then changed the subject. "However, I can demonstrate it for you, Senior, if I may borrow your Green Jade Cold Flame."

He stepped up to the rosewood table and gave a gentle flick of his right hand. The qiankun furnace flew from his waist and hovered three inches above his palm, spinning rapidly.

The furnace lid opened slightly, and a sliver of extremely fine golden flame poked out from the opening. Although the flame was as thin as a thread, it exuded an extremely pure and intense aura.

At the same time, he supported the air with his left hand. The Green Jade Cold Flame, which had been hovering in front of Great Master Changming, seemed to be pulled by an invisible force, flying on its own to hover above Zhou Tianchen's left palm, circling obediently.

The hall was deathly silent; everyone was stunned by this scene.

The Green Jade Cold Flame was Great Master Changming's natal Alchemical Fire, which he had refined for forty-nine years. It was in perfect sync with its master, and even if a Heaven-Tier Alchemist were to come, they might not be able to draw it away so easily.

Yet, this young man had only given a casual lift of his hand and had tamed that unruly cold flame into complete submission.

Zhou Tianchen ignored the gasps of astonishment around him. He slowly brought his hands together, drawing both the golden flame from the qiankun furnace and the Green Jade Cold Flame into his palms.

The two flames, one gold and one green, intertwined, collided, and wrapped around each other in his palms, yet strangely, there was no explosion or clash.

The golden flame gradually separated a tiny, thread-like wisp of gold, which slowly seeped into the center of the Green Jade Cold Flame, intertwining with the sliver of silver-white cold marrow essence.

The color of the Green Jade Cold Flame began to change. Within the originally pure green, a faint golden halo emerged, like the clouds in the sky at the first light of dawn.

"Green Jade Cold Flame: its nature is cold but not congealing, its quality is pure but not rigid."

Zhou Tianchen's ten fingers fluttered like butterflies through flowers, working the two flames closer and closer together, his tone as calm as usual.

"If one uses a sliver of extremely Yang fire as a guide, and the cold marrow essence as a bridge, one can harbor heat within the cold, and hide Yang within Yin."

"In this way, when encountering Spirit Medicine with cold attributes again, it will no longer be a case of stacking cold upon cold, causing the medicinal properties to stagnate. Instead, there will be warmth within the cold, and vitality within the warmth. The medicinal properties will not be ruined; on the contrary, they will stimulate each other."

He spread his hands, and the Green Jade Cold Flame flew from his palms, hovering once more in front of Great Master Changming.

The flame was still the same flame, the cold marrow essence was still the same sliver of cold marrow essence, but the aura of the entire flame was completely different.

Within the original chill that seemed to keep people at a distance, a hint of gentle warmth now faintly radiated.

The two attributes, which should have been like water and fire, had reached a remarkably subtle balance under the guidance of that golden thread.

Great Master Changming stared blankly at the transformed Green Jade Cold Flame before him. He remained silent for a long time, his lips moving slightly, unable to speak for a moment.

He slowly extended his right index finger and gently reached into the flame.

The flame wrapped around him, still as docile as before, but the aura that surged along his fingertip and into his Meridians was completely different from before.

Previously, there was only pure coldness, but now, within that coldness, there was a faint, elusive warm current. One cold, one warm; one Yin, one Yang—they had actually formed an extremely tiny cycle at his fingertip.

"This... this..." Great Master Changming withdrew his finger. His fingertip was completely unharmed, yet the subtle Yin and Yang cycle within his Meridians was still slowly rotating.

He raised his head and looked at the young man before him with a complex gaze, his voice trembling slightly.

"With a casual gesture, you have resolved decades of my confusion, young friend. I have refined the Green Jade Cold Flame for decades, knowing only how to seek purity and coldness, never realizing that when cold reaches its extreme, it becomes rigid; when it is rigid, it cannot flow; and when it cannot flow, it is difficult to advance any further. It turns out it wasn't that the cold wasn't pure enough, but rather that it lacked this hint of warmth."