305: Chapter 305 Your lips are all curled up.

No one noticed the changes in this batch of Su Cheng's Alchemy.

Inside the furnace, the initial process remained the same, with the Qi of Creation guiding the self-reaction of the Spirit Medicine.

When it reached the pill condensation stage, after allowing the first six golden patterns to form on their own, Su Cheng withdrew his ten fingers.

He pushed both palms flat to the position of his Dantian, and the creation spirit liquid, carrying the Dao Rhyme, was released from his Dantian, turning into a layer of pale cyan mist that shrouded the entire wanbao mirror Pill Furnace.

It bypassed the Meridians in his arms, going directly from his Dantian to the Pill Furnace.

The transmission distance was shortened by nearly half, and the decay of the Dao Rhyme was at least twenty percent less than in the previous batches.

The seventh golden pattern condensed, deep and full.

The eighth was equally perfect.

For the ninth, the cyan mist thinned, and the Dao Rhyme was consuming rapidly.

Su Cheng poured every bit of the amount he could mobilize into this final one.

The outline of the ninth golden pattern emerged, the lines turning from blurry to clear, and then, when the lines condensed to ninety percent, the Dao Rhyme was completely exhausted.

Just a breath short, a breath short again!

Su Cheng stared at the pill about to take shape in the furnace; among the nine golden patterns, eight and a half were perfect, and the last half was just a hair's breadth away.

If one had to give this quality a rating, it was between Low Grade and Medium Grade, barely counting as the pinnacle of Low Grade.

But the judging criteria for the Grand Competition did not consider the word "barely."

Su Cheng did not give up on the ninth golden pattern like he did with the third batch, nor did he force it.

He did something no one expected: he withdrew both palms from his Dantian, reached his ten fingers back toward the furnace opening, and replaced the Dao Rhyme with the Qi of Creation, pouring it into the half-formed ninth golden pattern.

The Qi of Creation lacked the "sublimation" effect of the Dao Rhyme, but it could stabilize the medicinal properties and guide the medicinal power back into place.

Supported by the Qi of Creation, the ninth golden pattern barely converged and took shape, the lines faint but complete.

The nine golden patterns were complete and closed.

A pill floated in the furnace, its luster warm and moist, the nine patterns uneven, some deep and some shallow; its overall spirituality was much stronger than the Low Grade of the first batch, but it was still a distance away from Medium Grade.

Su Cheng collected the pill into a jade bottle and let out a long breath.

Low Grade, only one.

Including the five Low Grade ones from the first batch, he had a total of six Low Grade nine-aperture golden spirit pills in his hand, and zero Medium Grade.

Meanwhile, Wu Chen had one Medium Grade and one Low Grade, Shen Qing had one Medium Grade and two Low Grade, and Zhou Mingyuan had three Low Grade, but he had the most experience in Alchemy and an extremely high success rate.

In terms of points ranking, the weight of Medium Grade was far higher than that of Low Grade.

Su Cheng's six Low Grade pills crushed everyone else in quantity, but the quality gap couldn't be closed; his ranking would be at best in the top five, with no hope for first place.

Unless a miracle happened in the final batch.

Su Cheng put the jade bottle into his Storage Pouch and did not immediately start the final batch.

He still had one portion of Spirit Medicine left, and only one chance.

The time had already reached the seventy-eighth day, with twelve days left until the end of the Grand Competition.

On the seventy-ninth day, Wu Chen's fourth batch came out of the furnace: Medium Grade, two pills formed.

This result made the viewing area boil over.

Two Medium Grade pills in one batch; with the assistance of the medicinal-guiding shovel, Wu Chen's simultaneous refining technique finally unleashed its full power.

On the same day, Shen Qing's fourth batch also produced a Medium Grade pill, one of them.

The number of Medium Grade pills from the two powerhouses continued to climb: Wu Chen had three Medium Grade, one Low Grade, and one waste pill; Shen Qing had two Medium Grade and two Low Grade.

On the eightieth day, Zhou Mingyuan's final batch was Medium Grade.

This veteran Disciple, who had kept a low profile for nearly a hundred years, erupted at the final moment.

The true intent of fire was squeezed to its limit in his fifth batch; the nine golden patterns on the pill carried a layer of pale red flame texture, and the quality steadily crossed the threshold of Medium Grade.

After storing the pill, Zhou Mingyuan's gaze seemed to cross the light screen, landing in the direction of the distant Alchemy Hall.

Alchemy was not his ultimate goal; the Golden Core was.

The true intent of fire contained in this batch of Medium Grade pills was deeper than what he had polished during his seclusion.

This Grand Competition was worth it.

On the eighty-second day, it was time for Chen Yuan's final batch.

He densely inserted twenty-two miniature Formation Flags around the Pill Furnace; three layers of nesting plus two additional auxiliary Formations turned the perimeter of the Alchemy platform into a small-scale Formation testing ground.

The process after opening the furnace was still bumpy; he almost flipped over at the seventh step, and at the ninth step, the color of the medicinal liquid flickered twice and nearly turned gray.

But at every critical moment, the outer Formations provided a helping hand at the key nodes; the Spirit Gathering Formation provided extra spiritual power buffering, the medicine-stabilizing Formation forcibly reined in the straying medicinal power when the properties conflicted, and the pattern-locking Formation clamped down on the fifth golden pattern that was about to shatter during the pill condensation stage.

The pill formed was Low Grade, one of them.

Among the nine golden patterns, three were crooked, the quality was incredibly rough, and it would probably be discounted if sold outside.

But it still formed into a pill; Formation-assisted Alchemy, it formed a pill.

Chen Yuan stared at the pill with its worrisome appearance for a long time; the expression on his face went from tense to relaxed, and finally, he almost grinned, but held it back by force.

Elder Qingmu's mouth twitched on the high platform, and he was also very happy in his heart.

"Old Qingmu, what are you smiling at?" Elder Chiyang leaned over.

"I'm not smiling."

"The corners of your mouth are curled up."

"It's the wind blowing."

Elder Chiyang sneered and ignored him.

The value of this Low Grade pill of Chen Yuan's did not lie in its quality, but in the word "approach."

Formation-assisted Alchemy—this path was not something predecessors hadn't thought of, but no one in the Sect had succeeded in a formal setting.

Chen Yuan had paved this path at the cost of five batches of Spirit Medicine; even if he only succeeded in one batch, and even if the quality was only the lowest level of Low Grade, this was enough for the Elders of the Alchemy Hall to remember his name.

On the eighty-fourth day, Wei Tian and Lin Ruoshui each completed their final batch.

Wei Tian steadily produced Low Grade, and Lin Ruoshui's fourth batch finally crossed the threshold from waste pills, successfully refining one Low Grade pill.

Thus, out of fifty people, fourteen had successfully refined finished Medicinal Pills.

And everyone's Spirit Medicine had been used up, except for three people.

Wu Chen, Shen Qing, and Su Cheng, each had one portion left.

On the eighty-fifth day, Wu Chen and Shen Qing began their final batch at almost the same time.

No one had discussed it in advance, but both of them coincidentally chose to make their move on the same day.

This tacit understanding came from the same judgment: their state had been adjusted to the best within their capability, and continuing to wait would only increase the psychological burden.

Let's talk about Shen Qing first.

His approach was unexpected by everyone.

After the nine ingredients of Spirit Medicine entered the furnace, the true intent of water ran through the whole process, and the preceding steps were carried out with extreme composure.

When it reached the ninth step, where three types of third-tier spirit medicine were incorporated one by one, he used a method that he hadn't used in the previous four batches.

He bit his tongue tip, sprayed a mouthful of essence blood into his palm, and it was carried by the water-blue spiritual power into the furnace.

The essence blood of the Water Spirit Body itself contained rich water-type spirituality; after this mouthful of essence blood entered the medicinal liquid, it formed a resonance with the true intent of water.

Under the dual moistening of the water-type spiritual power and the essence blood, the medicinal properties of the nine Spirit Medicines in the liquid became exceptionally docile, and the intensity of the compatibility reaction dropped to an unprecedented low.

During the pill condensation stage, Shen Qing poured all the true intent of water he had comprehended into the forging and pressing of the nine golden patterns.

Under the moistening of the water-blue spiritual power, the golden patterns became deeper and more profound one after another.

When the ninth golden pattern took shape, a soft precious light suddenly lit up in the Pill Furnace; it was pale blue, carrying the clear, transparent texture unique to the true intent of water.

The nine golden patterns converged into one amidst the precious light, and the process of medicinal power blending was as smooth as could be, without a ripple.

The pill formed, and the precious light overflowed from the furnace opening, rippling through the independent space before dissipating.

High Grade! Shen Qing had actually refined a High Grade nine-aperture golden spirit pill!