Chapter 332

"Not bad—you actually won first in the West District, and even beat that guy Li Shi despite the level gap." At the Yan Alliance's mansion, Xiao Yan couldn't help but say.

To be honest, he never expected Nalan Yanran could sweep through every genius disciple from all sects in the West District, let alone pull off a shocking victory over Li Shi.

After all, when she fought me, she wasn't that strong.

Jia Xingtian and the Deepsea Serpent Beast didn't return together—they stayed behind at the young Alchemists' competition site, since Princess Yue Er was still refining her Elixir and needed protection from sabotage.

Those were the Alchemists cultivated by the strongest sects in the Northwest Region; the weakest were Fourth-Rank Alchemists, and Yue Er was even refining a Five-Grade Elixir—the results wouldn't be ready until tomorrow.

Of course, now Xiao Yan, as an Alchemist, naturally served as the team's "healer"—anyone injured needed his intervention.

Nalan Yanran fought a bloody battle today to defeat Li Shi.

"Hmph, of course—I Nalan Yanran always keep my word." Nalan Yanran remained as haughty as ever.

"Hmm?" Xiao Yan raised an eyebrow—the implication was clear: she hadn't quite kept it yet.

But Xiao Yan didn't continue teasing Nalan Yanran; her talent truly was impressive—it was just her bad luck to meet me. With anyone else, she'd have succeeded.

Xiao Yan pulled out the Huangtian Elixir from his space ring—he never stinted on those who earned merit.

Nalan Yanran snatched the Huangtian Elixir from Xiao Yan's hand outright, preparing to refine it, aiming for tomorrow's final four—tomorrow's three opponents would all be Dou Huangs, backed by the top ten sects of the Northwest Region's youngest geniuses; if she remained only a Dou Wang, she'd surely lose.

"Hey hey hey, don't rush! Using Elixirs to break through easily causes Qi to become unstable—I'll use my Beast Fire to help refine the effects, which will solidify your Qi somewhat." Xiao Yan hurriedly called out; while the Huangtian Elixir could directly propel one from Nine-Star Dou Wang to Dou Huang, the side effects were considerable.

Hearing Xiao Yan planned to use Beast Fire, Nalan Yanran's face flushed slightly. "Use Beast Fire to refine the effects? You won't do something like you did during the Alchemist Convention—or with my grandfather, right?"

Nalan Yanran hadn't forgotten how Xiao Yan looked during the Alchemist Convention with the Four-Stripe White Spirit Elixir. And back then, when he removed the Luo Du poison from her grandfather, that Beast Fire had been awfully unruly.

He burned her clothes right off.

Xiao Yan coughed lightly, glancing at her. "What do you think Beast Fire is? With my current strength, such things won't happen again."

Beast Fire is for refining Elixirs—not for burning clothes!

In the end, Nalan Yanran nodded in agreement—unstable Qi was a serious problem for cultivators.

But after Xiao Yan spent the entire night helping Nalan Yanran refine the Elixir with Beast Fire, he stepped out of the room just as Yun Yun arrived with breakfast for Nalan Yanran—the atmosphere instantly turned awkward.

Though Yun Yun said nothing, Xiao Yan could tell from her eyes that she thought he'd done something improper.

"Yun Zhi, listen to me—I didn't do anything! I'm innocent!"

"You don't need to explain to me. You and Yanran were already betrothed—this is perfectly reasonable. And by the way, my name is Yun Yun."

?????

Thud—the door slammed shut, leaving Xiao Yan standing bewildered in the wind.

He'd broken off that engagement!

Of course, this was just a minor incident—the real highlight today wasn't just the emergence of the Northwest Region's strongest young generation, but also the appearance of the strongest young Alchemist.

After a day and night of refining, the number of people in the Alchemist competition arena had dwindled significantly—originally over a hundred geniuses under thirty had lit their Alchemy Furnaces, but after one day, only a handful remained.

Not only had those who failed their refining left, but even those who'd refined Fourth-Rank low-grade Pills had finished and departed.

Those still left were all refining Fourth-Rank Peak Pills—or even Five-Grade Pills!

For any powerful Sect, having outstanding Alchemist disciples was indispensable—these disciples typically exchanged Pill refining for Sect contribution points, gaining resources to cultivate and improve their Alchemy and strength.

This virtuous cycle was what every Sect craved.

"She Wangyao of the Tian She Mansion, Huangfu Guangtai of the Thunder Sect, Jian Feixue of the Yao Gu Sect, Cao Jun of the Shi Ming Sect, Sima Lin of the Tian Xue Gate—they're all refining Five-Grade Pills."

"Tsk tsk tsk—no wonder the top ten sects of the Northwest Region are so formidable; even their Alchemy branches are this strong. Our Sect only has one Five-Rank Alchemist total!"

"That She Wangyao is insane—he's a beast, but because his Alchemy talent surpassed everyone in his Sect, Tian She Mansion spared no effort to give him a Transformation Pill when he was young, letting him take human form—and now he's already Five-Rank!"

Inside the arena, many sharp-eyed observers, after watching all day, deduced these remaining Alchemists were refining Five-Grade Pills.

Remember, even the Deputy Head of the Chu Yun Empire's Alchemist Guild, who cheated to enter the Alchemist Convention, couldn't refine a Five-Grade Pill—yet here, at this Northwest Region Sect Grand Meeting, there were so many Five-Rank Alchemists under thirty!

"Huh? Who's that little girl? I've never heard of her—and what's she refining? Why's it taking so long?"

As the Fourth-Rank Peak Pills began to emerge one by one and more people left, Yue Er—whose position, due to Yan Alliance's low status, was tucked in the arena's corner—finally drew attention.

Anyone still refining now was either faking it—or refining a Five-Grade Pill!

And clearly, Yue Er was the latter.

Excluding the anomaly that was Xiao Yan, Yue Er was even younger—she'd just turned twenty-two not long ago. Her Alchemy skill had reached Five-Rank; such talent was already astonishing in the Jia Ma Empire.

As if reaching the moment of completion, all six—including Princess Yue Er—opened their eyes simultaneously, six colored Pill Fragrances pouring forth from their Alchemy Furnaces!

"My god—all Five-Grade Pills!"

"And they're all about to succeed! They're at the final stage of formation!"

As everyone intensified their efforts to finalize their Pills, Yue Er took a deep breath, swallowed a Pill, then—hoo! —spat out a purple flame that surged violently into her Alchemy Furnace.

Her furnace already contained the blue Deepsea Flame from the Deepsea Serpent Beast—now, with this new purple flame, it was clearly the Purple Fire of the Purple Crystal Winged Lion King!

"Kuang?! What's she doing?! Why's she adding another flame?!"

"Wait—look again! There's more!"

Yue Er, as if addicted, spat out another purple flame—but this one was much deeper in hue than the Purple Crystal Winged Lion King's.

This was Zi Yan's Void Ancient Dragon Flame!

Still not done—another flame erupted, this time green. No need to guess—it was Xiao Yan's Blue Lotus Earth Core Fire!

Four flames! This sight had been seen before—at the Jia Ma Empire's Alchemist Convention!

And back then, Yue Er had been one of the closest spectators!

"Four flames… I know now—the Pill requiring four flames is the legendary Jia Ma Empire Elixir: the Four-Stripe White Spirit Elixir!"

"So this girl is a Jia Ma Empire Alchemist? No—she's from the Yan Alliance!"

"Again, the Yan Alliance!!!"

The appearance of four flames drew not only the crowd's attention but also startled glances from the five Alchemists inside the arena.

Everyone in Jia Ma Sheng Cheng knew the Four-Stripe White Spirit Elixir—but distant empires in the Northwest Region didn't.

"Hmph, refining isn't about how many flames you have!" someone sneered.

"Four-stripe White Spirit Pill? My Xiuyuan Pill is certainly no worse than that." Someone said confidently.

"That blue flame seems a bit strange." Someone wondered.

Only Xiao Princess Yue was fully focused on refining the pill—this was her first time refining a Four-stripe White Spirit Pill.

After all, when Xiao Yan had ruthlessly crushed the entire Alchemist Convention, defeating Yan Li with undeniable strength, that scene had left an indelible impression on this little girl.

So this time, she too chose the Four-stripe White Spirit Pill!

"Pill formed!" *6

Almost simultaneously, the six of them slammed their palms onto their Alchemy Furnaces; six colored Pill Fragrances instantly filled the entire Guang Chang, each of the six Pills' fragrances holding its own, none yielding to the other—for a moment, it was impossible to tell who had won.

But if one had to say who won, it would surely be Xiao Princess Yue, for she was the youngest here, only twenty-two years old!

At this moment, the Sect Master of Yaogu Sect, Old Bone Child, and Master Qiu Ping from the Dan Domain both descended from the VIP seats to inspect the Pills; the first place they went was toward Yue's direction.

After glancing at Yue's Four-stripe White Spirit Pill, they exchanged a look, seeing shock in each other's eyes.

This was made by someone twenty-two years old?!

"I am the Sect Master of Yaogu Sect; our Yaogu Sect possesses a powerful Alchemist lineage. I wonder if you'd be interested in joining us? On my authority as Sect Master, I guarantee you the best treatment—you don't need to stay in that small Sect."

Everyone was instantly stunned—the Sect Master of Yaogu Sect had come down personally to recruit!

And what left everyone's jaws on the floor was that Xiao Princess Yue refused without a moment's hesitation!

"No thank you, I'm quite happy in my own country—there are very powerful Alchemists there." Xiao Princess Yue, true to her Imperial Family upbringing, refused with great politeness.

At this moment, Jia Xingtian also appeared beside Yue to protect her, fearing the other might fly into a rage.

Old Bone Child's expression showed slight displeasure, but he did not anger; he continued: "If you join our Yaogu Sect, you might even have the chance to enter the Qiu Family of the Dan Domain—I can recommend you."

Upon hearing Old Bone Child's words, even Jia Xingtian showed a look of surprise. One of the Five Great Families of Zhong Zhou's Dan Domain!

Not just Jia Xingtian—the audience members were all awestruck. The Five Great Families of Zhong Zhou's Dan Domain! Their power surpassed even the combined strength of the entire Northwest Region, and even the Four Pavilions were no match for the Five Great Families of the Dan Domain!

Because each of these Five Families had a Grade-Eight Alchemist!

Nearby, Qiu Ping quietly nodded and said: "Your current talent is decent—a Five-Rank Alchemist at twenty-two is quite impressive even in my Qiu Family. If you can break through to Six-Rank before twenty-eight, you may be granted special admission into my Qiu Family."

"Recruiting me?"

Suddenly, laughter came from nearby; Xiao Yan, clad in an Alchemist Long Robe, slowly walked in through the hall entrance and said calmly: "This is probably the funniest joke I've ever heard."

"What kind of thing is your Qiu Family? You'd make people think your Qiu Family Head is the First Alchemist of Dou Qi Continent."

(End of Chapter)