Chapter 524: Is It Grandstanding or Real Talent?

At the very front of the alchemy competition field, several chairs were placed, and several old men sat quietly on the high platform.

Lin Chen didn't know these old men, but the martial artists who came to watch the competition on the scene, after recognizing the identities of these old men, had excitement in their eyes.

"Qianji Sect Alchemy Pavilion Master, Alchemy Guild President, and two Alchemy Grandmasters... these few figures didn't appear in previous alchemy competitions."

"Nonsense, can previous alchemy competitions compare with this one? This one can be said to be the strongest one in recent years, with all alchemists who meet the qualifications to participate in the Yan Imperial Dynasty having rushed here."

"I'm not surprised that these four appeared, after all, this one can be considered the strongest in recent years. But why would the President of the Artifact Refining Guild appear here?"

On the high platform, there were a total of five old men. What puzzled many people was why this Qianchui City City Master, the current President of the Artifact Refining Guild, would also appear here?

Although artifact refining and alchemy have commonalities, the differences are also not small.

The most critical point was that in the artifact refining competition a few days ago, this President of the Artifact Refining Guild didn't show up, but now he showed up for the alchemy competition, which many people found a bit hard to understand.

On the high platform, Qianji Sect Alchemy Pavilion Master Gu Gu Yunfeng looked at the people beside him: "Do you have any opinions?"

"The old man is just here to watch the fun, Pavilion Master Gu doesn't need to care about me."

Qianchui City City Master Yang Yang Rongtian smiled slightly, while the other three old men didn't speak. Gu Gu Yunfeng's gaze then swept toward the ten people below, including Lin Chen.

"In this alchemy final competition, the elixirs to be refined are not specified. Each of you chooses the name of the elixir you want to refine and carves it into the jade slip. The Qianji Sect will provide the medicinal materials for the elixir, and the final ranking will be determined by the quality of the elixirs. The refined elixirs belong to you."

Gu Gu Yunfeng's voice didn't just reach the ears of the ten people, including Lin Chen, but also reached all the martial artists watching the competition on the scene.

"The elixirs belong to the contestants. This is the same rule as previous years. Those who couldn't enter the top three can also be considered to have earned the medicinal materials for the elixirs."

"Not restricting the types of elixirs, this rule is different from previous years."

"In previous years, the final competition specified three kinds of elixirs, and the final result was whose elixir quality was higher and whose quantity was more."

"The old man understands why the Qianji Sect changed the rules this time. Whether it's that Jiang Jinwu Yaoyan or Jiang Chen, if they followed the rules of previous years, I'm afraid they wouldn't be able to distinguish the winner at all."

The rules for the final competition in previous years were to see whose elixir quality was high and whose quantity was more, but this had no difficulty for Jiang Jinwu Yaoyan and Jiang Chen, who could both do it without wasting a trace of medicinal materials.

"This kind of not restricting the types of elixirs, letting each refine the ones they are good at, and finally deciding the winner by quality and quantity is the most appropriate. This also involves everyone's game and guessing."

A middle-aged man had brilliance in his eyes: "Four-star elixirs also have high and low differences. If one seeks stability, one chooses those with slightly lower quality, while the opponent chooses those with higher quality. This is naturally falling behind in results before it even starts."

Listening to the discussions of some alchemists, many martial artists also suddenly realized. It turned out that this choice of elixirs was already a contest.

Lin Chen looked at the blank jade slip handed over by the Qianji Sect disciple, but didn't rush to confirm the elixir to be refined. The Qianji Sect letting them choose elixirs in this secret way was to test whether they were confident enough in themselves.

The higher the quality of the elixir, the

Should one choose a lower-tier elixir to play it safe, or choose a higher-difficulty elixir to take a gamble?

Besides judging one's own alchemy strength, one must also have some judgment in their heart regarding what elixirs their opponents will choose to refine.

"An alchemist never wins by picking up scraps or taking shortcuts."

Jiang Jinwu Yaoyan, standing at the very front, saw that no one had handed over their jade slips; a look of disdain appeared on his face, and he handed his jade slip directly to a disciple of the Thousand Machines Sect.

Seeing Jiang Jinwu Yaoyan make his choice, Jiang Chen subsequently handed his jade slip to the Thousand Machines Sect disciple beside him as well. As for Lin Chen and the others, not a single one was influenced by Jiang Jinwu Yaoyan's words; each remained deep in thought, and the slowest one among them even pondered for a full hundred breaths before making a choice.

"This change in rules also adds to the spectacle for us; at the very least, we can guess what elixirs these ten have each chosen to refine."

"With the strength of these ten, to compete for the top three, it must be at least a top-tier four-star or even a five-star elixir—Seven-Star Elixir, Origin-Returning Elixir, Origin-Seeding Elixir..."

While everyone began to speculate, the ten Thousand Machines Sect disciples also began to read out the names of the elixirs from the jade slips. Perhaps to increase the suspense, the first to have the elixir name from their jade slip read out was the alchemist who had ranked tenth in the previous round.

"Seven-Star Elixir!"

Hearing the Thousand Machines Sect disciple announce it loudly, there was still quite a bit of uproar at the scene.

"Seven-Star Elixir, a top-tier four-star elixir. Aside from Alchemy Masters, even those who have successfully refined it in the past cannot guarantee they will succeed next time. This one is really gambling."

Refining elixirs under normal circumstances carries a probability of failure, let alone in the tense situation of a competition.

"Origin-Returning Elixir!"

"Origin-Seeding Elixir!"

Soon, the elixirs chosen by the contestants who ranked eighth and ninth in the previous round were also announced; both were top-tier four-star elixirs.

"I have a premonition that a five-star elixir might appear!"

The atmosphere among the alchemists watching the competition was thoroughly stirred up. Since even those at the bottom chose top-tier four-star ones, what about Jiang Chen and Jiang Jinwu Yaoyan?

"A five-star elixir—if one can successfully refine it, it means they can be called an Alchemy Master."

The Alchemy Guild's examination for an Alchemy Master is the refining of a five-star elixir.

In the stands, the eyes of the Li clan members were all fixed on Lin Chen at this moment. Li Qin's beautiful eyes even held a look of nervousness. Although Xiao Yan entering the top ten had already made the clan very satisfied, the clansmen coming to watch the battle now were mostly there to watch the excitement, not expecting Xiao Yan to enter the top three at all.

Yet, she still hoped that Xiao Yan could achieve a good ranking in this final.

The Thousand Machines Sect disciple standing beside Lin Chen cast his spiritual sense into the jade slip. When he saw the name of the elixir inside clearly, his pupils shrank suddenly, as if he had seen some incredible scene. He looked at Lin Chen: "Is Your Excellency certain the elixir name is correct?"

This abrupt action by the Thousand Machines Sect disciple caused the eyes of others on the competition field to look over. Even Jiang Jinwu Yaoyan, standing at the very front, squinted over at this moment.

In the stands, the many martial artists who heard the Thousand Machines Sect disciple's words also revealed looks of curiosity in their eyes. What elixir had this Xiao Yan chosen to make a Thousand Machines Sect disciple ask such a question?