290: Chapter 290 The Grand Competition Begins

There were a total of 377 participating Disciples, all of whom were Foundation Establishment Disciples of the Alchemic Dao.

The competition was divided into three rounds.

Round One: Basic Screening. The Alchemy Hall would designate a specific second-rank pill and provide the Pill Formula and Spirit Medicine. All participants would begin refining at the same time. Those whose pill quality reached Medium Grade or higher within six hours would advance; the rest would be eliminated.

Round Two: Efficiency Competition. The Alchemy Hall would designate another second-rank pill to be refined within a set time. Advancement to the top fifty would be determined by a comprehensive evaluation of the quality and quantity of the pills produced.

Round Three: The Final Round. The Alchemy Hall had specially invited a certain Nascent Soul Old Ancestor to personally develop a brand-new second-rank pill. This Pill Formula had never been released to the public, making it impossible for anyone to practice in advance. The Alchemy Hall would provide the Pill Formula and Spirit Medicine, with each person limited to five sets of Materials. Rankings would be calculated based on the final pill quality, with a time limit of three months. The venue would be provided by the Alchemy Hall.

Once the rules were announced, the Sect was abuzz with discussion.

The first two rounds were manageable; the first round filtered out those just making up the numbers, while the winners of the second round would be the true experts.

What truly made everyone gasp was the third round.

A pill that had never appeared before. After receiving the Pill Formula, one had to thoroughly study it, analyze the pharmacological properties of every Spirit Medicine, grasp the key nodes of medicinal compatibility, and then successfully refine it within five sets of Materials.

Five chances, a brand-new Pill Formula, and a three-month time limit.

If a mistake was made at any stage, a set of Materials would be wasted. If all five sets were used without a successful pill being formed, the participant would be disqualified immediately.

Even if the final fifty were all alchemic geniuses, the difficulty was absurdly high.

Refining a pill one had never encountered before was fundamentally different from refining a familiar one.

For a familiar Pill Formula refined dozens or hundreds of times, every change in heat and every reaction of the medicinal liquid was etched into muscle memory.

But when faced with a brand-new Pill Formula, all experience had to be re-adapted. The slightest carelessness would lead to a furnace explosion and a wasted pill.

Of course, only the rules had been announced so far. No one knew what that pill actually was; it would only be revealed when the third round of the competition began.

On the afternoon the rules were announced, Chen Yuan came running over again.

"Junior Brother, did you see the rules?" Chen Yuan began venting his frustrations as soon as he entered the Immortal Cave. "The third round is way too harsh! A new Pill Formula, five sets of Materials, three months... If the first two furnaces explode, one's hands will be shaking for the remaining three."

Su Cheng handed him a cup of spirit tea. "Does Senior Brother think he can make it into the top fifty?"

Chen Yuan took a sip of tea and thought for a moment. "The top fifty... shouldn't be much of a problem. Revered Master has taught me for so many years; my basic skills for second-rank pills are solid. It's just that third round..."

He rubbed his hands together, his expression extremely conflicted.

"We'll deal with it when the time comes," Su Cheng said. "Soldiers will block the path, and water will be held back by earth; there's no point in overthinking it."

"You certainly are easygoing." Chen Yuan shot him a glare, but the conflict on his Face eased slightly. "Fine, it's not like the test is happening right now. Overthinking really is meaningless."

After chatting for a bit longer, Chen Yuan stood up and left.

On the day before the competition, Elder Qingmu called both Su Cheng and Chen Yuan to his Immortal Cave.

Two cups of spirit tea sat on the stone table. Elder Qingmu sat opposite them, looking at his two Disciples.

"Tomorrow is the competition," Elder Qingmu's tone was no different from usual. "Go and participate with an easy heart. It's best if you can get a ranking, but it doesn't matter if you don't. The path of Alchemy cannot be rushed. The competition is just a test, not the finish line."

Chen Yuan nodded, and Su Cheng nodded as well. Then, they each returned to their respective Immortal Caves.

Su Cheng sat cross-legged on his bed, mobilizing the Dao Rhyme that had settled within the creation furnace in his Sea of Consciousness. He followed the path he had become familiar with over the past two months, slowly circulating it for one full cycle—from the chamber of the creation furnace to the central Meridians, and then to the dao foundation furnace in his Dantian.

As the Dao Rhyme flowed through his body, that mysterious sense of resonance emerged again. Su Cheng firmly memorized this feeling, then finished his cultivation and closed his eyes to rest.

Tomorrow, the Alchemy Hall Competition. The top ten was the baseline.

First place... he also wanted to try for it.

Just after the Hour of Mao the next day, the giant plaza on the eastern side of Zixiao Peak, usually used for Alchemy Hall gatherings, was teeming with people.

Half a month in advance, the Alchemy Hall had ordered Law Enforcement Hall Disciples to clear the grounds and set up 377 independent Alchemy Platforms arranged in a fan shape. Each platform was based on High-Grade Spirit Stones and engraved with Spirit Gathering Formations and Fire Isolation Formations to ensure no interference during Alchemy.

Su Cheng didn't arrive early. When he flew over from Qingmu Peak on his sword, the plaza was already packed with a dense crowd.

He landed in an inconspicuous spot and looked around, feeling quite moved.

On the high platform on the north side of the plaza, within a viewing area enclosed by rows of green jade balustrades, sat nothing but Golden Core True Persons.

Over forty of the Danding Sect's own Golden Core Elders had come. Peak Revered Masters, deputy Peak Revered Masters, Alchemy Hall deacons, Law Enforcement Hall Protectors... great figures who were usually hard to see were all gathered together today.

On the left and right wings of the high platform were the seats for external guests.

Su Cheng's gaze swept across the left side.

Three flags belonged to the other three Nascent Soul Sects of Tianlan Province.

The Giant Spirit Sect, the Shiyin Sect, and the Fentian Sect. Each Sect had sent three Golden Core Elders and fifteen Foundation Establishment Disciples to observe.

To put it bluntly, they bought the Danding Sect's Medicinal Pills every year and requested their Alchemists every year; no School would fail to give Face.

On the right were the seats for the three Nascent Soul families.

The Han Family, the Liu Family, and the Wu Family.

Each of the three families had sent a Golden Core Elder and several young clansmen.

Among them, the Wu Family had the grandest display, with two Golden Core Elders and seven or eight Foundation Establishment clansmen sitting in the front row, half a body's length ahead of the other two families.

The reason wasn't complicated: Wu Chen.

The young man who had suppressed everyone with a supreme grade biling pill during the Sect entrance examination and had been taken as a Personal Disciple by a Nascent Soul Old Ancestor now represented not only the Danding Sect but also the Wu Family's Face within the Sect.

The Wu Family's Golden Core Elder was currently engaged in a low-voiced, jovial conversation with Deputy Head Zhao Ming deep of the Alchemy Hall.

Su Cheng took all of this in and calmly retracted his gaze.

This was a Nascent Soul Great Sect.

With the three major Sects and the three major families sending representatives, an internal alchemic competition had been elevated to the scale of a grand Sect event.

Fortunately, the great mountain that was the Danding Sect was now his backing.

If he could take first place in this Alchemy Hall Competition and solidify his reputation as the "Strongest Alchemist of the Foundation Establishment Generation in the Danding Sect," his status among the young Cultivators of Tianlan Province would be firmly established.

By then, the Su Family's development in Qinghe Prefecture, the Four Seas Chamber of Commerce's expansion across various prefectures, and the networking with various Sects and families would all Face countless fewer obstacles because of this reputation.

Indeed, since Su Cheng had come to participate in the competition, he didn't plan on hiding his light under a bushel anymore.

Because with his current alchemic abilities, he was no weaker than any of his peers, even without relying on the qiankun creation furnace.

During yesterday's final round of pill refining, his supreme grade rate had stabilized at fifty-five percent.

Producing five to six supreme grade pills out of ten furnaces—this figure could only be described as "absurd" among all the Foundation Establishment Disciples in the Sect.

In this competition, Su Cheng intended to take first place with absolute strength.

The plaza remained noisy for about half an hour. Exactly at the hour of chen, a bell tolled from the main peak of Zixiao Peak.

Everyone fell silent.

In the center of the high platform, the Danding Sect Revered Master was the first to stand. He scanned the field and gave a brief speech, which consisted of nothing more than standard remarks encouraging the Disciples to advance in the Alchemic Dao and live up to the Sect's Legacy. After a few sentences, he stopped and handed over the hosting duties to the Alchemy Hall.

The Alchemy Hall Head Xu Changqing then stood up, followed by Deputy Head Zhao Ming deep and four Alchemy Hall deacons.

Xu Changqing was over five hundred years old and wore a greyish-white Daoist robe.

He glanced at the dense crowd of participating Disciples below the plaza, then at the external Golden Core True Persons and young talents in the guest seats on both sides. His voice spread throughout the venue.

(There have been so many chapters behind the scenes, and after so much foreshadowing, it's about time for the protagonist to rise. After this competition, his cultivation will increase rapidly. The Family will also see great development, unlocking new characters and factions.)