Chapter 706: One Furnace, Five Elixirs—The Crowd Awestruck!

After dozens of breaths.

The judge's voice rang out from the stone platform: "The three incense sticks have burned out—time is up!"

As his words fell silent.

Jiang Yan, Zhou Yan, and Tang Jingming all ceased their movements and retracted their peculiar flames.

Jiang Yan silently lowered his head.

His expression was calm, a faint smile on his lips, still maintaining his low profile.

But Tang Jingming and Zhou Yan held their heads high, their faces glowing with fierce confidence!

This alchemy session had gone without incident, even exceeding expectations.

In their eyes, victory in this Alchemy Assembly was already assured—there was no possibility of failure!

At this moment, Zhou Yan turned his gaze to his only perceived rival: "Tang Jingming."

He clasped his hands behind his back, looking down from above, radiating an air of supreme arrogance!

"Are you still determined to wait for the results? If you admit defeat now, it's not too late—you might still preserve a shred of dignity."

"But if you wait until the results are announced, you'll be utterly humiliated. I hope you won't find my rebuttal too embarrassing later..."

Hearing this, Tang Jingming raised an eyebrow and burst into laughter: "Hahahaha, admit defeat? Do you really think I'm someone else?"

As he spoke, he deliberately glanced at Jiang Yan.

Seeing the other man ignore him completely, showing not the slightest concern.

Tang Jingming shook his head and turned back to Zhou Yan: "As the saying goes, a tiger father has no dog son. I originally thought of you as the son of Master Zhou, and having heard many of your deeds over the years, I assumed you must possess extraordinary talent."

"Yet now, before the results are even announced, you've already lost your composure, feeling fear..."

Upon hearing this, Zhou Yan's face turned icy as frost.

He narrowed his eyes and said coldly: "Fear? You think I'd fear you? Hah, what a ridiculous joke!"

"Tell me—what exactly am I supposed to fear?"

Tang Jingming sneered: "You fear failure. You fear being outdone by me. Precisely because you lack absolute confidence in victory, you're trying to make me surrender first. So? Do you really have so little faith in yourself?"

Hearing this, Zhou Yan snorted and turned away, refusing to speak further.

Seeing this, Tang Jingming felt a pang of disappointment, then turned his gaze to the nearby stone platform, waiting for the judges to approach.

Under their watchful eyes.

A few breaths later.

The judge left the stone platform and walked toward the crowd.

He first approached Zhou Yan.

He opened the alchemy furnace and removed the elixirs inside.

A rich medicinal fragrance filled the air, condensing into mist, revealing the elixirs' extraordinary nature.

The judge nodded, extended a finger, and began counting under the gaze of all present.

One... two... three... four... five...

He examined the quality once more, then concluded: "Zhou Yan: one furnace, five elixirs—four of superior quality, one of medium quality. Total score: nineteen points!"

At these words, gasps of astonishment erupted all around.

Many alchemists couldn't help but draw in sharp breaths.

The senior alchemists who had already withdrawn from the contest felt profound relief.

"Truly, the younger generation is formidable! At such a young age, he produced five Seven-White Elixirs in one furnace, four of superior quality—such alchemical mastery, I truly cannot match."

"Thank goodness we had the foresight to withdraw earlier—if we'd stayed, what would have become of us? Would we not have been crushed by Zhou Yan, subjected to his blatant humiliation?"

"Sigh, it's better to leave early after all—at least we still preserved a little dignity..."

Everyone sighed in awe.

You have to understand that even for them, when refining the Seven-White Pills, the most they could produce from a single furnace was three pills.

As for quality? If even one could reach the top grade, that would already be a blessing.

How could it be as exaggerated as Zhou Yan's feat?

He actually refined five pills in a single furnace, and four of them were top grade.

Such terrifying mastery of the Alchemy Dao was truly beyond what they could compare to.

At this moment.

Listening to the exclamations of the surrounding crowd, the smile on Zhou Yan's face grew even broader.

Even he was greatly surprised by the outcome of this refinement.

After all, in his own expectations.

Being able to refine three Seven-White Pills this time, with two of top-grade quality, would have already been excellent, giving him a chance at first place.

But now, due to some unexpected factors, he performed beyond his usual level, refining a full five Seven-White Pills and earning a high score of nineteen points!

This sudden stroke of good fortune filled his heart with certainty, making him feel victory was within his grasp!

Zhou Yan glanced at Tang Jingming and could not help but grin: "What? At this point, are you sure you still want to compete with me?"

As his words fell.

Tang Jingming's heart also sank to the bottom.

Even he had not expected that Zhou Yan could possess such ability.

One must know that with his current capability, refining four Seven-White Pills was already his limit.

To defeat his opponent, he would need to refine five Seven-White Pills all of top-grade quality, scoring twenty points, to have any chance of winning!

But just how difficult would that be?

"Sigh, I can only leave everything to fate now......."

Tang Jingming drew in a deep breath.

Then he closed his eyes and quietly awaited the arrival of fate.