Chapter 398: Brainstorming Regarding Pill Formulas

In the blink of an eye, two more days passed.

Today was the day for the Fourth Round of the Alchemy Competition, which also served as the Semi-finals; only this single match remained before the Finals.

With over ten thousand Alchemists entering the competition, only thirty had successfully made it to the Semi-finals, revealing just how cruel the earlier rounds had been.

Creating a Self-created Alchemy Formula required a quiet place, sheltered from wind and rain, where one's train of thought could not be interrupted by external factors.

Therefore, the venue for this round of the competition would be within a massive Palace; since the space inside the Palace was limited, only the most distinguished and high-status figures from various regions could come to watch.

Clearly, a large number of ordinary Gu Cultivators had no way to enter here to watch the match and would have to wait for the final Finals.

On this day, Long Xuan rose early, finished washing and grooming, and after leaving the Inn, walked into the depths of the Imperial Palace amidst a crowd of awestruck gazes, finally being led by Long Xiaoyao into a great hall.

Although Long Xuan had rarely risen so early, he was still the last one to arrive.

The other twenty-nine contestants had already arrived long ago and were currently seated in the center of the great hall.

In the center of the hall, there were a total of thirty tables and thirty seats; the thirty seats were arranged in six rows and five columns, with each tabletop marked with a contestant's name, and all contestants took their seats according to their ranking by total score.

Long Xuan currently held two hundred and ninety-two points, ranking first in total score, so he sat in the upper-left corner position, with Duan Tianwu and Fen Tian Old Ancestor seated to his right.

After glancing sideways at the neighbor to his right, Long Xuan sat quietly in his seat, closed his eyes to rest, and waited calmly for the Fourth Round of the competition to begin.

At the Judge seats in front, the group of Judges whispered among themselves; Long Xiaoyao, seated in the very front row, turned his head to look at Feng Tiancheng beside him and smiled, saying, "Brother Tiancheng, shall we place another wager? We have bet on every previous round; it would be a pity not to bet on this one."

Feng Tiancheng gave him a dark look, turned his head away, and remained silent; this time, he absolutely would not bet again, for to bet further would be foolish.

That Long Xuan was extremely uncanny; at this moment, he completely lacked confidence that a Fourth Grade Alchemist could steadily defeat him.

Ignoring Long Xiaoyao's provocation, he stood up and said in a heavy voice, "Since all contestants have arrived, let the Fourth Round of the competition officially begin; serve the tea!"

As soon as his words fell, five beautiful women dressed in palace robes approached carrying tea, walking respectively to the frontmost positions of the five columns and pouring tea for each contestant in turn until their cups were full.

Smelling the clear fragrance released by the tea, all the contestants felt refreshed in spirit and clear in mind; some even shivered all over, revealing expressions of intoxication.

The Dao-Understanding Tea Tree was a tea tree surpassing Twelve-Rank, unique in the world; calling it tea for immortals to drink was not an exaggeration in the least.

Merely the tea aroma was enough to make one's mouth water, so how absolutely wonderful must the taste be; everyone's throats bobbed, revealing looks of impatience.

Long Xuan also curiously gazed at the steaming cup of fragrant tea before him, showing an expression of great interest.

"Is this the Enlightenment Dao Tea that can cause one to comprehend the Dao? It is truly extraordinary; I wonder what it tastes like?"

Thinking that he already had a branch of a Dao-Understanding Tea Tree on his Wood Island, which had been successfully planted and brought to life by his Medicine Gu, allowing him to drink as much Enlightenment Dao Tea as he wished in the future, he smiled slightly and thus felt no rush to drink this cup of tea.

After three beautiful palace maids had poured a cup of tea before each contestant, Feng Tiancheng looked around once, finally letting his gaze linger for a moment on Long Xuan's face before speaking:

"I will not speak many formalities; all contestants, begin drinking the tea now to comprehend the Dao."

Feng Tiancheng seemed to be in a bad mood; having spoken only this single sentence, he returned to his original seat and spoke no more.

As soon as Feng Tiancheng finished speaking, all the contestants raised their tea cups together and, with remarkably synchronized movements, drained them in one gulp.

No one savored it carefully; all drank the tea directly into their stomachs like cattle gulping water, with some even failing to discern carefully what flavor the Enlightenment Dao Tea possessed.

The contestants all set down their tea cups together, then closed their eyes and began to feel the power of the Enlightenment Dao Tea.

The group of Judges watched silently, making no sound to disturb them, for every Judge was filled with anticipation regarding what each contestant would comprehend next.

In particular, the gazes of most Judges converged upon the three figures of Long Xuan, Fen Tian Old Ancestor, and Qin Dan.

Long Xiaoyao's gaze upon Long Xuan was filled with tension, and the fist beneath his sleeve unconsciously tightened by three parts at this moment.

At this time, after draining the Enlightenment Dao Tea in one gulp, Long Xuan had no time to savor its flavor before closing his eyes to refine the tea's power.

Like most people, his mindset was the fear that slowly sipping the tea would cause the medicinal power to become intermittent, so he simply gulped it down like cattle; once the Dao-Understanding Tea Tree on Wood Island grew back, there would be plenty of time to slowly savor the taste of Enlightenment Dao Tea.

After closing his eyes, he directly ran into the Soul Study to cheat; possessing the Soul Study, a Golden Finger, and Enlightenment Dao Tea, the combination of these three made comprehending the Dao far quicker than merely drinking Enlightenment Dao Tea alone.

Compared to the other contestants, he enjoyed an unparalleled advantage; just as Long Xiaoyao had said, the Rule of this stage favored him, and he truly did not believe that under such advantageous conditions, the Pill Formula he created could be inferior to those of Fen Tian Old Ancestor and Duan Tianwu.

It did not keep him waiting long; shortly after he closed his eyes, he felt himself become much wiser and his thinking much faster; all sorts of realizations surged forth uncontrollably, and various whimsical ideas instantly filled his mind, making his head feel swollen, so that for a moment he did not know how to choose.

Ultimately, Long Xuan decided to prioritize self-benefit; no matter how wildly his imagination soared, if the Pill Formula he created offered no help to himself, it would be a pure waste of time.

After narrowing the scope in this manner, the number of ideas in his mind immediately decreased greatly, which also made his brain feel much more relaxed.

As for which Pill would be both Heaven-defying and highly beneficial to himself, Long Xuan ultimately chose the Bone-Mending Blood-Melting Pill that had appeared in novels from his Past Life.

This was a Heaven-defying Pill capable of allowing a Soul Body to reshape a physical body.

He added a touch of his own imagination: the appearance, attributes, Aptitude, and so on of this physical body could all be freely chosen, but once finalized, they could never be altered again.

As long as one wished, one could possess the most Heaven-defying Aptitude in this world, and furthermore, it would not cause any rejection phenomenon with any soul.

Of course, this Pill was simply too Heaven-defying; a Second Grade Pill could definitely not possess such medicinal power, so a Pill Formula born of such imagination absolutely had to be a Twelve-Rank Pill.

He could only use the old method, employing large quantities of trash materials to dilute the Twelve-Rank Pill down to a Fourth Grade Pill; naturally, the Fourth Grade Bone-Mending Blood-Melting Pill would not be quite so Heaven-defying.

The reason he chose to imagine such a Pill was, of course, for the sake of the Heavenly Water within the Thunder Swamp.

He had previously been pondering how to scheme for the Heavenly Water held by Old Man Water: should he take the risk to kill Shui Wuqing for him, or should he find a physical body that perfectly suited him?

For a very long time, he had been unable to make up his mind, but now he finally had an idea; if he borrowed the Enlightenment Dao Tea to research and develop the Bone-Mending Blood-Melting Pill, then he would not need to struggle with the decision at all.

With a single Bone-Mending Blood-Melting Pill, he could completely enable Old Man Water to reshape his physical body, and in exchange, obtain the Heavenly Water from Old Man Water's hands.

A smile curled at the corner of Long Xuan's mouth; the Bone-Mending Blood-Melting Pill was both useful to himself and Heaven-defying, even having a high probability of attracting a Thunder Tribulation, so he decided to research the Bone-Mending Blood-Melting Pill; he simply did not believe that such a Heaven-defying Pill would fail to secure FirstPlace in this round of the competition.

At this moment, beside him, Duan Tianwu sat with his eyes closed at his seat, his brows deeply furrowed.

Just like Long Xuan, his imagination was too vast, with far too many whimsical ideas, so that after drinking the Enlightenment Dao Tea, too many realizations appeared, leaving him momentarily unsure of how to choose.

Ultimately, in tacit agreement with Long Xuan, he chose to prioritize self-benefit; since one was creating a Pill Formula, one ought to create something useful to oneself.

Otherwise, no matter how Heaven-defying the Pill Formula might be, if it was useless to oneself, it was merely waste paper; what use was there in creating it?

After Duan Tian eliminated options, the ideas in his mind instantly decreased by more than half; with fewer choices, his entire person immediately felt much more relaxed. (End of Chapter)