Chapter 85

"Sister Yan Lingqing, among the Fifth-Rank Spirit Waters, which one are you most familiar with?" Seeing Yan Yan Lingqing regain her composure, Li Luo exhaled in relief and smiled as he asked.

"Tian Gui Spirit Water—I'm most familiar with this Fifth-Rank formula. I've been practicing it constantly, but as I said, I've never succeeded once."

Li Luo nodded, then summoned a staff member, telling them they needed to replace the refining materials. The man immediately reported it, and soon various materials were delivered one after another into the refining chamber.

At this moment, Song Song Qiuyu had already stepped out of the refining chamber. She gazed with a smile at the Xiyang House refining chamber and murmured calmly: "Yan Yan Lingqing, are you still struggling? You can't turn this around."

Her heart was filled with profound satisfaction, for this time, she had finally crushed Yan Yan Lingqing beneath her feet.

In the past, at the Shengxuan Star Academy's Cuixiang Courtyard, Yan Yan Lingqing always overshadowed her. Even after she recommended Song Song Qiuyu to her teacher's refining team, the teacher clearly favored Yan Yan Lingqing far more and treated her with noticeable coldness.

This filled Song Song Qiuyu with deep resentment and jealousy. She felt her Cuixiang talent was no weaker than Yan Yan Lingqing's—why then was she ignored?

Though Yan Yan Lingqing had been kind to her back then, she never wanted to accept such condescending, charity-like kindness. You, Yan Yan Lingqing, were merely trying to showcase your own brilliance.

"And this time, I've finally surpassed you!"

"Let's begin."

When all the materials had been delivered into the refining chamber, Li Luo looked at Yan Yan Lingqing.

She took a deep breath, then nodded immediately heavy.

"Liu Li Liquid, ten drops!"

Li Luo swiftly retrieved a transparent, crystal-like fruit, gently squeezed it, and dropped ten drops of juice into the crystal tube. Then he gripped it, channeling a stream of Xiang Li into it.

This Xiang Li was considerably more substantial than during his previous trial.

He swiftly passed the crystal tube to Yan Yan Lingqing, who took it, infused her own Xiang Li into it, and began breaking down impurities and synthesizing the medicinal properties.

But this time, the moment her Xiang Li stirred, she sensed a surge of Xiang Li brimming with potent spiritual essence. Though subtle to her senses, its spiritual quality made her heart tremble slightly.

Most crucially, this spiritually charged Xiang Li showed not the slightest resistance to her own—its sensation was as if someone had inserted a Mi Fa Source Water into it.

In that instant, Yan Yan Lingqing's thoughts flashed like lightning. She turned her head and gazed deeply at Li Luo.

If she still didn't understand the origin of this spiritually charged Xiang Li at this point, she'd be utterly dull.

Yet she said nothing further. She quickly adjusted her mindset and used her own Xiang Li to guide that spiritually charged Xiang Li, rapidly purifying the materials' impurities.

"Acid Rain Spirit Fruit."

"Tian Gen Grass."

"Hundred Flowers Paste."

"."

One after another, the material names rang out from Yan Yan Lingqing's lips in rhythmic order, and Li Luo swiftly prepared and passed each one to her.

Time flowed rapidly.

In the other refining chambers of the venue, all Cuixiang Masters had completed their refining—some succeeded, some failed—but it no longer mattered; under Song Song Qiuyu's Fifth-Rank Spirit Water, they were all losers.

Thus, every gaze now focused on the only refining chamber still unconfirmed: the Xiyang House chamber.

"Still not giving up?"

On the Song family's viewing platform, Mo Ling watched with a smile, shaking his head: "Does Yan Yan Lingqing still think she can make a desperate bid and produce a Fifth-Rank Spirit Water?"

"Impossible. She hasn't even crossed into the Fifth-Rank threshold—she can't refine a Fifth-Rank Spirit Water. Even Song Qiuyu couldn't have succeeded without my Mo family's secret medicine."

Song Shan smiled faintly: "When Song Qiuyu claims the title of First Cuixiang Master of Tian Shu Prefecture, we can immediately announce the launch of Ink Water House products. It will cause a sensation and utterly crush Xiyang House."

Even Song Shan felt his heartbeat quicken at the thought of that moment.

After today, Songzi House will become the true number one in Tian Shu Prefecture.

On the Golden Dragon Bank's viewing platform, Director Lü frowned: "Xiyang House is in trouble. The Song family has allied with Ink Water House—they secretly shipped in massive quantities of Ink Water House's Mi Fa Source Water Light, waiting precisely for today to expose it and destroy Xiyang House."

Beside him, Lü Qing'er gasped, then worry darkened her lovely face. This grand ceremony was indeed a long-planned ambush by the Song family.

Their goal: to crush Xiyang House and seize the top position in Tian Shu Prefecture's Spirit Water and Qi Light market.

On the House Luolan Mansion side, Cai Wei, seeing Yan Yan Lingqing regain her resolve, exhaled in relief—she understood the bitter history between Yan Yan Lingqing and Song Song Qiuyu. Losing here would be a devastating blow.

Yet she grew uneasy, for she couldn't fathom how Yan Yan Lingqing could possibly reverse this situation.

Time passed swiftly beneath the entire venue's focused gaze, until the sound of bells and drums rang out—the signal that refining time was nearing its limit.

Song Song Qiuyu crossed her arms, leaning lazily against the crystal wall of her chamber. She tilted her head, watching Yan Yan Lingqing's focused form inside the Xiyang House chamber, her eyes filled with smug satisfaction.

"Yan Yan Lingqing, all this futile effort won't save you," she whispered.

DONG!

Another bell and drum sounded.

Inside the refining chamber, Yan Yan Lingqing halted her material manipulation. Sweat glistened on her delicate face, trickling down her sharp chin. Processing nearly a thousand materials had drained her severely.

But thankfully, all material preparation was complete.

And more smoothly than ever before in her practice.

Yet the final step remained: condensing the Source Water—merging all prepared materials into the final Spirit Water product.

This step was equally critical.

Yan Yan Lingqing took a deep breath, reached for the nearby Xiang-Collecting Crystal, and placed her small hand upon it, preparing to condense the Source Water.

But suddenly, Li Luo extended his hand, covering hers.

Yan Yan Lingqing startled, staring at Li Luo in shock. Had she not known the gravity of the moment, she might have thought he was taking advantage of her.

"Sister Yan Lingqing, let's do this together," Li Luo said with a radiant smile, leaving Yan Yan Lingqing momentarily stunned.

She snapped back to herself. Though she didn't fully grasp his intent, she trusted him—and nodded lightly.

The next instant, both channeled their Xiang Li simultaneously into the Xiang-Collecting Crystal.

Pure light radiated from the crystal, followed by several drops of Source Water dripping down into the crystal vial below.

Li Luo's face was pale—he had expended nearly all his Xiang Li. Though his Xiang Li was far weaker than Yan Yan Lingqing's, the Source Water he condensed possessed superior spiritual quality.

Now that their two Source Waters had merged, the result would surely surpass Yan Yan Lingqing's alone.

Yan Yan Lingqing held the condensed crystal vial, gazing at its pure Source Water. She could clearly sense—this vial's quality was stronger than any she had ever condensed before.

And this was clearly not because of her, but because of Li Luo.

Her gaze fell on Li Luo. The latter was leaning against the refining platform, his face pale, and he gave her a smile.

"Yan Lingqing-Zhong Jie, show us what you've got," he said with a grin.

Yan Yan Lingqing said nothing, merely giving a slight nod. She took the crystal tube refined and compounded from nearly a thousand portions of materials, then gently poured that bottle of source water into it.

The instant the source water fell in, light blazed violently within the crystal tube, as if countless lives were writhing inside, countless collisions fusing together in a single instant.

This transformation lasted roughly a dozen or so breaths, then gradually subsided into stillness.

And within the crystal bottle, the boiling died down. The color of the liquid within gradually turned transparent and clear, while radiance burst forth from it, dazzling to the extreme.

Whoosh!

At the sight of this, an uproar instantly erupted throughout the venue. This was the hallmark of a finished Spiritual Water Marvel, and the Resonance Refiners present were even more shocked, because from the radiance shooting out, they could discern that this was absolutely not something a fourth-grade Spiritual Water could achieve — this was unquestionably a fifth-grade Spiritual Water!

Yan Yan Lingqing stared blankly at the crystal bottle in her hand. A moment later, her hands trembling slightly, she took a quenching-verification needle and inserted it inside.

Then she saw that on the needle, the refinement degree had climbed straight to the five-tenths-eight mark!

Yan Yan Lingqing's eyes instantly reddened.

And at that moment, the judge's voice, trembling from shock, also rang out across the venue.

"Xiyang House, Yan Yan Lingqing, has successfully refined a fifth-grade 'Heavenly Return Spiritual Water'! Refinement power, five-tenths-eight!!!"

Boom!

The venue fell silent for several breaths, then in the next instant erupted into a boiling tide of shocked cries. No one had expected that Xiyang House would actually manage to refine a fifth-grade Spiritual Water before time was up!

Moreover, that refinement power was even higher than Song Song Qiuyu's earlier!

Simply unbelievable!

And amid that uproar of noise, Song Song Qiuyu, leaning against the outer wall of the refining chamber, felt the faint smile on her cheeks stiffen bit by bit at this moment.

(End of chapter)