291: Chapter 291 Who knows?

"The Alchemy Hall Competition is held once every ten years; this is the nineteenth session."

"There are three hundred and seventy-seven participating Disciples, which is one hundred and forty-one more than the last session."

Among these extra one hundred and forty-one people, they were likely all here for the Wood Spirit, disrupting the original competitive landscape.

Head Xu Changqing did not waste any words and directly announced the rules.

"The competition is divided into three rounds. The rules have already been posted, so I will not repeat them. There is only one thing I must reiterate."

His gaze deepened. "The Sect does not restrict the grade of the Pill Furnace, nor does it restrict external auxiliary items. If you have any Treasure Artifacts, secret techniques, or spiritual arts, feel free to use them. Alchemy is about the result, not the process. As long as it is your own ability, use whatever you want."

This statement was blunt. A rustle of discussion broke out in the square, only to be quickly suppressed.

"The first round: refine the second-rank pills [Ningxin Pill]."

The Pill Hall Deacon distributed the Pill Formula Jade Slip and a portion of Spirit Medicine to each Alchemy station one by one.

The Ningxin Pill is a second-rank pill. Its main effect is to stabilize the state of mind and resist the intrusion of external demons; it is commonly used by Foundation Establishment Cultivators when they are in secluded meditation to break through a Bottleneck.

The difficulty of refining it is above average. The challenge lies in the liquid Fusion stage. The attributes of the two auxiliary medicines, Ningxin Grass and Purple Spring Stone, conflict significantly. If the heat is slightly off, the furnace will explode.

Su Cheng glanced at the Pill Formula and understood.

He had never refined this kind of Medicinal Pill before, but analyzing the pharmacology was effortless for him.

Ningxin Grass is a Wood-attribute Spirit Medicine for calming the mind, while Purple Spring Stone is a Water-attribute mineral for stabilizing the soul. The key to combining them lies in first using a gentle fire to fully release the medicinal properties of the Ningxin Grass, then using an intense fire to force the Purple Spring Stone into the liquid, and finally using a medium fire to harmonize them. Essentially, it is a three-stage operation of "soft first, then hard, then Fusion."

In the first round, only one portion of Spirit Medicine is provided. To pass, the quality of the finished Medicinal Pill must be Medium Grade or higher; otherwise, one is eliminated.

In other words, failure is not allowed.

Su Cheng did not take out the wanbao mirror but instead retrieved a second-rank High Grade bronze Pill Furnace from his Storage Pouch. It was more than enough to handle the first round.

There was no need to reveal his trump cards in the first round.

"Begin."

At Head Xu Changqing's command, spiritual light shone simultaneously on the three hundred and seventy-seven Alchemy stations.

Su Cheng arranged the Spirit Medicine in order on the table. He first passed his Qi of Creation over them to confirm the quality of the Spirit Medicine, ensuring they were full of spiritual energy and of sufficient age.

Subsequently, he used his own spiritual power to activate the bronze Pill Furnace, and the furnace chamber began to heat up.

Using the most basic techniques, Su Cheng completed the three stages of purification, Fusion, and pill condensation step by step.

The entire process was unremarkable.

An hour later, the furnace lid was lifted. Three round pills lay quietly in the furnace chamber, their surfaces shimmering with a warm luster.

One High Grade, two Medium Grade.

Su Cheng collected the Medicinal Pill into a jade bottle, handed it to the patrolling Pill Hall Deacon, then sat down behind the Alchemy station and closed his eyes to rest.

By this time, many people in the square had already finished their refining. Su Cheng used his Divine Sense to probe in several directions.

On Zhou Mingyuan's side, the old man was sitting cross-legged with his eyes closed, his aura steady. For him, a Medicinal Pill of this difficulty was merely a warm-up.

In the northeast corner, Wu Chen had a Treasure Artifact Pill Furnace that shimmered with radiant light in front of him. Using a Treasure Artifact in the first round was quite a show.

To the west, Shen Qing had also finished refining. His Water Spirit Body had a distinct advantage with the Ningxin Pill, which required a high proportion of water-type auxiliary medicine.

Su Cheng withdrew his Divine Sense and continued to rest with his eyes closed.

The three-hour time limit was still far off. Disciples finished refining and handed in their pills one after another. Of course, some people also had their furnaces explode.

The first explosion occurred about an hour and a half after the start. Flames and smoke rose from an Alchemy station in the southeast corner, and an Early Foundation Establishment Stage Disciple was pushed back by the blast wave, stumbling, his face ashen.

He hadn't grasped the timing for adding the Ningxin Grass into the liquid; the overflowing medicinal liquid collided with the Purple Spring Stone, triggering a chain reaction.

After that, the sounds of exploding furnaces came one after another. By the time the three-hour deadline arrived, Su Cheng had roughly counted that, including those who had furnace explosions and those whose finished Medicinal Pills did not meet the quality standards, a total of one hundred and five people had been eliminated.

The first round ended, with two hundred and seventy-two people remaining.

The result was as expected. Those eliminated were basically Disciples at the Early Foundation Establishment Stage and Middle Stage. Those with real strength were unlikely to fail in the first round.

"The first round is over. The second round will begin tomorrow at the Chen hour."

After the Pill Hall Deacon announced the end of the session, the crowd in the square slowly dispersed.

Just as Su Cheng was preparing to return to Qingmu Peak, Chen Yuan squeezed through the crowd.

"Junior Brother, do you have confidence in tomorrow's second round?"

"It's alright."

Chen Yuan looked him up and down. "You really are... why do I feel like you're still hiding quite a few things?"

Su Cheng changed the subject and asked, "How was your result in the first round, Senior Brother?"

Chen Yuan rubbed his nose. "It's fine. I couldn't be stopped in this first round."

"Isn't that good?"

"What's good about it? Compared to Zhou Mingyuan and Shen Qing, it's far worse." Chen Yuan waved his hand. "Forget it, let's not talk about that. Looking at how relaxed you are, could it be that you can refine supreme grade Medicinal Pills?"

"Who knows."

"..." Chen Yuan wanted to press him further but felt that asking would be a waste of time. "Fine, your mouth is like a clam shell. What are you doing tonight?"

"Going back to sleep."

"Sleep? You really have no sense of tension for the competition at all."

Su Cheng laughed, and the two flew back to Qingmu Peak together.

He was indeed not nervous.

After returning to his Immortal Cave on Qingmu Peak, Su Cheng took the wanbao mirror out of his Storage Pouch and injected spiritual power into it. The mirror body rotated and transformed, turning into that precious artifact pill furnace with flowing five-colored patterns.

The Abyssal Purple Fire danced inside the furnace chamber, the white light at the heart of the flame flickering, carrying a faint scorching heat.

Su Cheng reached out and touched the furnace wall, feeling the smoothness of the spiritual power conduction. After three months of integration, the tacit understanding between the wanbao mirror, the Nether Abyss Exotic Fire, and the Qi of Creation had been polished to a fairly high level.

Tomorrow, he could show off his gear.

The next day, at the Chen hour.

The atmosphere in the square was very different from yesterday.

The guests in the observation area sat further forward. Yesterday's first round of screening was calm, and the truly interesting part was only just beginning today.

The Golden Core Elders of the three great Nascent Soul Sects whispered to each other, commenting on the participating Disciples they favored.

The gazes of the two Golden Core Elders from the Wu Family were fixed on one direction from beginning to end: the Alchemy station of Wu Chen in the northeast corner.

Head Xu Changqing personally announced the rules for the second round.

"The second round: refine the second-rank pills [biling pill]."

Su Cheng raised an eyebrow slightly.

The biling pill is the most commonly used high-efficiency healing Medicinal Pill for the Foundation Establishment Stage.

He was too familiar with this kind of Medicinal Pill; he could refine it with his eyes closed. It was one of the main varieties he had previously supplied to the Four Seas Chamber of Commerce.

However, the difficulty of refining the biling pill ranked at the forefront among second-rank pills. The liquid Fusion stage required simultaneously regulating the reaction speeds of three types of Spirit Medicine; a slight carelessness would lead to an imbalance of medicinal properties.

"There is no limit to the Spirit Medicine; it will be provided uniformly by the Alchemy Hall. The time limit is two days."

"As for the scoring criteria..."

Head Xu Changqing held up three fingers. "Medium Grade is one point, High Grade is three points, supreme grade is fifteen points."

"The top fifty will advance to the third round."

Two days, with plenty of Spirit Medicine.

This meant that it was a competition of comprehensive ability. You could play it safe and go for quantity, or you could gamble on supreme grade.

Going for quantity with Medium or High Grade required refining furnace after furnace without stopping. Each pill was worth one point, so to get a good score, one had to be fast and have a high success rate.

While aiming for supreme grade carried high risks and took a long time, one supreme grade pill was worth fifteen Medium Grade ones.