At noon, the autumn sun stood high over Yanjing’s central Medicinal Plaza.
The grand stone square, paved with white granite and surrounded by ancient bronze herbal braziers, was packed with more than ten thousand spectators.
Loose cultivators, traditional herbalists, modern pharmacologists, and hundreds of media crews filled every tier of the stone amphitheater.
In the center of the plaza, two elevated stone refining platforms had been erected thirty yards apart.
On the eastern platform stood Outer Deacon Dan Huo of the hidden Pill-Cauldron Sect.
Dan Huo wore flamboyant scarlet robes embroidered with black flame patterns. A bronze medallion depicting a three-legged cauldron swung from his sash. Around him, eight disciples in crimson tunics waved silk pennants, burning dried wolfbane in copper bowls that sent pungent purple smoke curling into the sky.
Beside Dan Huo stood a massive four-legged cauldron forged from dark meteoric iron, carved with screaming demon faces.
To the side of the platform, resting on a pedestal of red velvet, was Dan Huo’s wager: the Rank 4 Purple-Gold Dragon Cauldron. The ancient relic was cast from pure purple-gold spirit copper, with two coiled dragon handles that breathed faint golden mist. It was worth at least three million Low-Grade Spirit Stones.
