Chapter 211 During the conference
As the competition officially began, the atmosphere in the square became increasingly tense and heated. The audience held their breath and watched the actions of each alchemist intently, fearing that they would miss any exciting moment.
The little princess Yaoyue slightly opened her red lips and her hands gracefully drew complex trajectories in the air. As she moved, a faint blue flame slowly rose from her palms. It was the royal family's unique "Dry Blue Water Flame" that appeared yesterday.
Although this flame looks gentle, it contains extremely strong alchemy capabilities and can accurately control the pill refining process.
Xiao Yan seemed more calm. He closed his eyes slightly, took a deep breath, then opened his eyes and waved his hands. A ball of colorful flame leaped out from his palms. It was his "Phantom Spirit Flame".
The flame was agile and mysterious, as if it had life, dancing in the air according to Xiao Yan's will.
However, Liu Ling's actions were somewhat unexpected. He put his hands together, muttered something, and a pitch-black flame rose from his palms. Although the aura emitted by this flame was inferior to the flames summoned by Xiao Yan and Yao Yue, its quality was definitely not low.
This beast fire is called "Netherworld Black Flame". His teacher invited many powerful people to obtain it from the body of a fifth-level monster comparable to a human Dou Wang level warrior.
As soon as the flames of the three alchemists appeared, they caused a low murmur of amazement in the audience. The audience whispered to each other, discussing the origins and characteristics of the three flames, and at the same time guessing the outcome of the competition.
In the square, as the strange scene disappeared, the contestants gradually turned their attention back to the test they were about to face. They poured the flames in their hands into the medicine cauldron, then took out the herbs from their rings and began the first step of refining the elixir: refining!
As the flames rose, the air in the square seemed to become hotter. The contestants began to get busy, their movements were either skilled or unfamiliar, but without exception, they were full of concentration and determination.
The medicinal herbs gradually released a rich aroma under the roasting flames, and the whole square was filled with a refreshing medicinal fragrance.
With his eyes fixed on the medicine cauldron, Xiao Yan occasionally waved his hand and threw one or two herbs on the stone platform into the cauldron. Then he controlled the temperature of the flame and slowly extracted the essence needed to refine the pill.
During the alchemy process, Xiao Yan showed unprecedented concentration and was determined to successfully refine the pill on the first try.
The elixir that Xiao Yan was going to refine this time was called the "Tough Veins and Spirituality Pill", which was a top-level fourth-grade elixir. This precious elixir recipe was one of the many elixir recipes that Yao Chen had given to Xiao Yan along with Han Feng's elixir-refining notes.
Although the "Tough Veins and Spiritual Pill" is only of the fourth grade, its efficacy is strong enough to be comparable to ordinary fifth-grade pills. What's more, if it is carefully refined by a master of alchemy, this pill has the potential to leap to the top of the fifth grade.
Its main effect is to significantly widen the meridians of the practitioner, enhance the elasticity of the meridians and the ability to carry Dou Qi, allowing the practitioner to absorb and circulate Dou Qi more smoothly and efficiently.
In addition, this pill can nourish the power of the soul, improve the perception and understanding of the practitioner, and help them achieve faster breakthroughs in practicing skills and martial arts. After taking this pill, the practitioner's practice speed will be significantly improved within a certain period of time, and the probability of breaking through the bottleneck will also increase. However, if the practitioner who uses this pill is already very powerful and exceeds the Douhuang level, then the effect of the pill may be weakened, or even negligible.
However, due to the extremely significant effects of the "Resilient Veins and Spiritual Pill", the medicinal materials needed for its refining are naturally more precious and rare. In order to gather enough medicinal materials, Xiao Yan got a few of the rarer ones in the prescription from Xiao Ling.
In addition, the types of medicinal materials needed to refine the "Tenacious Veins and Spiritual Pill" are also quite numerous and the quantity is huge. The refining process takes a long time and is much more difficult than ordinary pills. This undoubtedly brings greater challenges to the refiner.
In the fierce competition of this alchemy conference, Xiao Yan chose the "Tough Veins and Spiritual Pill" as his refining target, which was undoubtedly a risk.
Because if the first attempt failed, considering the time limit of the competition, it would be almost impossible for him to use the second batch of herbs to successfully refine the pill again within the remaining time.
This choice not only tests his alchemy skills, but also demonstrates his deep understanding and grasp of the potential of elixirs.
As the competition progressed, the atmosphere in the square became increasingly tense, as if even the air had frozen. Each alchemist was concentrating on his own medicine cauldron, while the audience stared with bated breath, fearing that they would disturb this sacred alchemy process.
Xiao Yan's hands danced lightly above the medicine cauldron, and each swing accurately controlled the temperature of the flame and the placement of the medicinal materials. His eyes flashed with determination, as if he had seen the scene of the successful refining of the elixir.
Under the scorching heat of the "Phantom Spirit Flame", the medicinal herbs gradually released their most essential parts, interweaving with the flames to form a gorgeous picture.
Yaoyue's "Dry Blue Water Flame" was not to be outdone. Under her control, the dark blue flame was as gentle as flowing water yet powerful. The medicinal materials slowly rotated in it, becoming purer with each rotation and more refined with each extraction.
Liu Ling's "Netherworld Black Flame" was like a ghost in the night, mysterious and profound. Its black flames jumped in the medicine cauldron, and every jump seemed to devour the impurities in the medicinal materials, leaving only the purest essence.
As time passed, the medicinal fragrance in the square became stronger and stronger. The essence of various medicinal materials gradually blended under the refining of flames, forming a unique scent.
Fine beads of sweat began to appear on the contestants' foreheads, but their eyes remained firm, without any wavering.
……
In the VIP seats, the atmosphere was relaxed and joyful, and the audience was concentrating on appreciating the wonderful performances of the alchemists on the field. They exchanged lighthearted conversations from time to time, enjoying this feast of alchemy art.
In the VIP seats, some audience members who were familiar with each other were enthusiastically discussing their favorite alchemists and arguing about who was most likely to win the championship of this competition.
The debate even developed into a bet, which added a bit of fun and fun.
At this time, a slim girl walked out slowly in the aisle between the VIP seats. She was the eldest princess of the royal family, Yao Ye.
Her arrival immediately attracted everyone's attention, and everyone smiled and greeted her. Xiao Ling also responded with a nod and a smile, and then turned to chat and laugh with Xiao Yixian and Qing Lin beside him.
Yao Ye maintained the dignified manner of a princess of the royal family and responded to everyone politely. However, when she saw that Xiao Ling did not seem to pay much attention to her appearance, but was chatting and laughing with the woman next to him, she could not help but feel a little lonely.
Despite this, her expression remained perfect, not letting any of her emotions show.
Then, Yao Ye walked to Jia Xingtian's side and whispered a few words to him. After listening to Yao Yue's words, Jia Xingtian's originally calm face flashed with a gleam in his eyes, showing that he valued the content of Yao Ye's words.
Afterwards, Yao Ye stood quietly behind Jia Xingtian and looked towards the arena again. Her figure was particularly eye-catching in the VIP seats.
Then, Jia Xingtian turned to Xiao Ling. Since the two of them were sitting next to each other, it was very convenient for them to communicate. Jia Xingtian waved his hand and released a layer of fighting spirit barrier to ensure that their conversation would not be heard by others.
"Master Xiao Ling," Jia Xingtian whispered, "Our royal family has prepared three sets of materials for the Po Zong Dan, and other rare rewards. I wonder if you are free recently to help us refine the Po Zong Dan?"
After hearing Jia Xingtian's words, Xiao Ling stopped talking with the people around him and turned his gaze to Jia Xingtian.
Upon learning that Jia Xingtian had collected three sets of materials for Pozong Dan, Xiao Ling's eyebrows slightly raised, and he was surprised at the efficiency of the royal family. After all, as the actual controller of the Jiama Empire, they did have a unique advantage in collecting resources.
"Sure, as long as you send the herbs over, I can start refining." Xiao Ling replied, but he was planning in his mind that after receiving the reward and herbs, he would hand over a ready-made Po Zong Dan to Jia Xingtian in a few days.
In the past days at Canaan College, Xiao Ling was entrusted with refining the Po Zong Dan. Although he only charged for two materials, with his superb alchemy skills, he not only completed the task successfully, but also made a surplus.
Xiao Ling did not leave these extra Po Zong Dan idle, but exchanged them for rare medicinal materials left by Mang Tianchi in the academy, enriching his collection.
Even so, he still had a few Po Zong Dan left in his hands, and now these pills could come in handy.
Anyway, it was the Pozong Pill that he had refined himself, so Xingtian wouldn't be at a disadvantage by adding it.
Upon hearing this, Jia Xingtian's eyes flashed with joy. He was full of confidence in Xiao Ling's ability and believed that with the help of the Pozong Pill, the strength of the royal family would be further enhanced.
"Then I'll have to trouble Master Xiao Ling." Jia Xingtian said with a smile, "We will send the materials and rewards to you as soon as possible."
The conversation between the two was covered by the Dou Qi barrier, and no one could spy on the content. Although everyone present was full of curiosity, given the noble status of Jia Xingtian and Xiao Ling, no one dared to pry into it rashly.
However, Fa Ma and Hai Bodong, who knew some of the situation, seemed to have some guesses about the possible content of the two people's conversation.
Fa Ma did not show much interest in the conversation between Jia Xingtian and Xiao Ling. After all, his current cultivation had not yet reached the peak of Dou Huang. Even if he had the Po Zong Dan, it would not be of much use to him.
Hai Bodong had another plan in mind. He stroked his chin and planned in his heart: Now that I have reached the realm of Nine-Star Douhuang, it is time for the family to start collecting materials for refining the Po Zong Dan. If I can get the help of Master Xiao Ling and successfully refine the Po Zong Dan, then I may be able to achieve a breakthrough soon and reach the coveted Dou Zong realm.
……
At this time, nearly half an hour had passed since the start of the assessment. In the square, some alchemists who had less refining materials had already finished refining the herbs and began to prepare for the next step.
Xiao Yan did not pay attention to the contestants who had finished refining. He focused on the medicine cauldron. His left hand occasionally put a herb in, and his right hand quickly sucked out the refined materials from the cauldron and carefully put them into the jade bottle.
As he was busy doing this series of actions, beads of sweat gradually appeared on Xiao Yan's forehead. He had no time to wipe them off, and just focused on putting another herb into the medicine cauldron. Ten minutes later, he carefully sucked out the extracted material again and put it into another jade bottle.
When the refining process was successfully completed, Xiao Yan finally breathed a sigh of relief. He turned around and looked around, and was somewhat surprised to find that the little princess Yaoyue, Liu Ling, and Yan Li had not yet completed the refining.
“Tsk tsk, it seems that the quality of the elixir they want to refine this time is not low. Although the number of refined herbs cannot represent the quality of the elixir, generally speaking, the more and more complex the materials needed to be refined, the higher the quality should be.” Shaking his head slightly, Xiao Yan rested for a while, and then with a serious face began to refine the next herb.
While Xiao Yan continued to refine the essence of the medicinal materials, the little princess, Liu Ling and Yan Li also finished refining the materials one after another. Without any rest or nonsense, they immediately put the refined materials into the medicine cauldron and began the process of melting the pill.
From time to time, there were slight muffled sounds on the huge square. The alchemists were very familiar with these sounds, because every time they failed to refine the elixir, they would hear these extremely annoying sounds... and as these sounds rang out, from time to time, contestants with depressed faces would leave the venue sadly, and as a result, the more than one hundred contestants in the square were gradually decreasing...
This conference is like a sieve with large gaps, which eliminates those small and weak contestants. Those who are qualified to survive several rounds of screening are naturally the best of the younger generation.
……
Time passed slowly, and on the square, some contestants who had originally had calm faces began to breathe a little. Such high-intensity consumption was extremely exhausting.
Hai Bodong walked lightly behind Xiao Ling, glanced at the busy alchemists in the square, and asked in a low voice: "Master Xiao Ling, can you tell which of the pills they are refining is of higher grade?"
When Xiao Ling heard Hai Bodong's question, he raised his eyebrows slightly and then turned his gaze to the competition field.
He observed Yan Li and his two companions, the little princess Yaoyue, Liu Ling, and the medicine cauldron in front of Xiao Yan in turn, and then answered calmly: "It is difficult to judge the quality of the pills they are refining at the moment, but if nothing unexpected happens, they should all be trying to refine fourth-grade pills. As for Xiao Yan, I do know what kind of pill he is planning to refine. If he can successfully refine it, then winning the championship is basically a foregone conclusion."
(End of this chapter)