Chapter 158

At the sound of three dong-dong-dong tones, Liu Ling and Xiao Princess Yue's expressions changed; they turned to look at Xiao Yan in the center, their eyes filled with disbelief.

Sensing the gazes of Liu Ling and Xiao Princess, Xiao Yan smiled faintly and pulled out a Shenggu Pill, saying: "Your courtesy."

Then Xiao Yan flicked his finger, and the Shenggu Pill shot into the detection device before him; instantly, countless eyes from the audience seats, VIP seats, and even Alchemists still refining turned toward this most conspicuous spot.

Everyone wanted to know how the top-ranked inner-test candidate and favorite for the Champion title had performed.

Moments later, a faint muffled sound echoed as a brilliant green light column erupted violently from the Stone Platform before Xiao Yan; its color intensity was so dense that even those still refining knew what the rich green meant.

The jade-like beauty of the color left everyone in the audience seats spellbound.

"So impressive! Some are still studying the Pill Formula—he's already finished!"

"Too fast! Is this even Spirit Refining? How is his Alchemy different from ordinary people's?!"

In the VIP seats, Fa Ma nodded; using that method, speed was inevitable. But though Xiao Yan worked quickly and extracted the medicinal properties perfectly, only Alchemists of Four Grade or higher could grasp the true difficulty.

Chimer frowned, saying with concern: "Xiao Yan's speed in Spirit Refining isn't necessarily a good thing."

As expected, after Xiao Yan completed his refining, Alchemists who had failed to understand the Pill Formula and withdrawn early began whispering among themselves.

"How could he refine so fast with zero hints on the Pill Formula?!"

"Exactly! Without prior practice, it's impossible to go that fast!"

"Pfft, this is the so-called Number One seed? He knew the exam question in advance."

"What's the point of a Champion won by cheating? The Alchemist Guild is just this corrupt."

Instantly, Xiao Yan's excessive speed drew a wave of suspicion.

Hearing these accusations, Xiao Yan merely smiled faintly; amateurs saw spectacle, experts saw technique—without sufficient strength, no one could understand why he completed Spirit Refining so swiftly.

Just as Xiao Yan was about to pull out a chair from his space ring to rest, a second light column, nearly equal to his own, shot up from a corner.

The second to finish wasn't Liu Ling or Xiao Princess—but a Black Robed Alchemist!

"That man," Fa Ma squinted, his cloudy eyes flashing with sharp light as his fingers tapped lightly on the railing, murmuring: "That Black Robed man… seems strong."

Xiao Yan hadn't expected anyone else could come close to his speed!

"Who the hell is that?!" Xiao Princess and Liu Ling, still refining, stared in shock at the sudden powerful rival, their faces full of bewilderment.

The first round wasn't difficult; soon, Liu Ling and Yue Er also completed their refining, though their light columns were noticeably thinner than Xiao Yan's and the mysterious one's.

From their thickness alone, it was clear their Shenggu Pills were inferior in quality to Xiao Yan's and the mysterious one's.

Xiao Yan gazed at the mysterious Black Robed man, a flicker of interest in his eyes; he smiled faintly: "This boring Alchemist Convention might get a little interesting."

"Chimer, give me his file," Fa Ma suddenly turned to Chimer in the VIP seats, his voice low and firm.

Chimer also sensed something was off; he pulled out a stack of documents from his space ring and flipped through them rapidly. After a while, he handed a thin sheet to Fa Ma.

The photo on the file showed the mysterious Black Robed man to be around seventeen or eighteen—so young it felt unnatural.

"An Alchemist from Chu Yun Empire?" Fa Ma frowned; Chu Yun Empire bordered Jia Ma Empire, and the two nations were often in conflict—effectively enemies.

"Why does this file only list him as Two-Rank? From my senses, that man is at least a Four-Rank Alchemist." Fa Ma frowned, glancing at the recorded Rank.

"A seventeen-year-old Four-Rank Alchemist? Guild Master, that's impossible. No matter how talented, Alchemy requires time and accumulated experience," Chimer chuckled bitterly.

Beside him, Hai Bodong cleared his throat twice: "Some things aren't impossible—don't be so certain."

"What do we do now?" Chimer asked.

"What else can we do? Keep the Convention going. We'll investigate tonight after today's matches end," Fa Ma said.

Time passed second by second; more and more Alchemists passed, others failed and withdrew. When the hourglass ran dry, the original thousand Alchemists had dwindled by a third—leaving only about three hundred.

Once the first round was cleared, maidens emerged from the corridors and placed two sets of Medicinal Materials and one Scroll of Pill Formula before each qualified Alchemist.

Unrolling the Scroll, Xiao Yan sighed upon seeing the orthodox Pill Formula. This round, too, required refining according to the formula—though upgraded from Two-Rank to Third-Rank, it was still only a low-grade Third-Rank Pill: Fengxing Pill.

"It temporarily heightens the user's sensitivity to wind-element energy in the heavens and earth, thereby increasing movement speed."

"Useful, I suppose."

For Xiao Yan, whether Two-Rank or Three-Rank, the difficulty was identical: none at all.

Xiao Yan watched the Alchemists around him already refining; even Liu Ling and Xiao Princess had quickly entered their rhythm, as if spurred by Xiao Yan's pace, unwilling to be slower, all beginning their refining.

Xiao Yan shook his head, slowly pulling a chilled mineral water bottle from his space ring, gulping down two swallows, then stretching his body with a languid expression.

Xiao Yan planned to let them refine for a while first.

Again, two sets of Medicinal Materials; again, he stashed the second set directly into his space ring; again, he tossed all Medicinal Materials into the Alchemy Furnace.

Xiao Yan didn't even need to clean the furnace's residue—Black Flame would completely burn even the residue into nothingness.

Seeing Xiao Yan repeat his first-round move—dumping all Medicinal Materials into the furnace—Vice Guild Master Chimer smiled faintly, whispering: "Heh, finally caught this brat off guard. Let's see how he handles this."

At that moment, suddenly—bang! —a loud explosion echoed across the Guang Chang; a Third-Rank Alchemist's Alchemy Furnace had blown up, destroying his Medicinal Materials.

Unsurprisingly, soon another explosion occurred on the opposite side; one after another, Alchemists began blowing their furnaces. Even Xiao Princess, Liu Ling, and the mysterious Black Robed man beside Xiao Yan suffered furnace explosions.

Liu Ling and Xiao Princess's faces darkened; they exhaled slowly, both turning to look at Xiao Yan's position.

Because Xiao Yan had moved so slowly, he'd only just tossed his Medicinal Materials into the furnace—he hadn't even finished extraction yet.

"Something seems off?" In the VIP seats, Ya Fei stared in astonishment at the Alchemists across the arena, all frozen in dumbfounded silence, murmuring softly.

"Indeed strange. Though I'm not an Alchemist, I know that following the Pill Formula should greatly increase success rate—but these people, including Liu Ling and Xiao Princess, all seem to have failed," Nalan Yanran replied, frowning slightly.

Yao Ye glanced toward the Alchemist Guild's leadership, crossed his long right leg over his left, and stared at the strangely tense Guang Chang, murmuring: "This exam seems suspicious… I wonder if that Alchemy prodigy can pass this hurdle."

Soon after, as everyone paused to investigate the cause, Xiao Yan—who had been slow—suddenly became the fastest again.

Just as the medicinal essences began fusing into a Pill, a sudden surge of chaotic energy erupted inside the Alchemy Furnace, spreading violently outward.

Xiao Yan shook his head, sighing: "Playing such childish tricks? Your Alchemist Guild is truly immature."

"Mao Wu."

Whoosh!! From within a furnace wreathed in Black Flame, a black cat suddenly appeared and swallowed all the medicinal essences just before fusion.

Instantly, the chaotic energy vanished.

With agile fingers, Xiao Yan purged one of the two extra medicinal essences—the herb called Hou Tu Zhi—from the furnace.

Xiao Yan's powerful Soul Force understood every detail of the recent Pill melting process, so he naturally knew exactly which step had gone wrong.

Soon after, two dull thuds rang out as Xiao Yan retrieved two pale green Wind-Running Pills into his Pill Bottle.

"I could've produced three Pills in one furnace, but I wasted one."

Xiao Yan glanced at Liu Ling and the young princess, who stared at him in stunned silence, then at the stunned high-ranking Alchemists on the stage. He narrowed his eyes slightly and suddenly shouted: "That Thick Earth Fungus might be better off discarded."

!!!!!!!!!!

Hearing Xiao Yan reveal the answer to everyone, Fa Ma and the others instantly widened their eyes.

You cheated!!

(End of Chapter)