187: Go all out, more than 70% of the medicinal properties? !

Yin Xiaotong saw that most of the people were already in the Fusion step, and some had even reached the third step!

What a terrifying speed this was!!!

For a moment, Yin Xiaotong felt immense pressure, as if it was going to crush her and make her unable to breathe!

She shook her head and muttered to herself:

"Are Alchemists from the outside world really this powerful?! I am still too weak after all... But to live up to my master's expectations, Xiao Tong, you can do it! Even if I fail in the end, I must never give up!"

Yin Xiaotong cheered herself up and continued to immerse herself in the pill refining process.

In the second step, Yin Xiaotong became even more fully engrossed, her face already starting to turn pale, which was a sign of excessive spiritual sense consumption.

However, when fusing the medicinal ingredients, Yin Xiaotong still found some unclean things.

These were some black spots, mixed in with the medicinal ingredients; if her Alchemy skill hadn't reached a certain level, she probably wouldn't have been able to find them.

It was at this moment that Yin Xiaotong realized that this was part of the examination question; only after clearing these black spots could she proceed to the next step.

Finally, with half an hour remaining, Yin Xiaotong completed the second step.

The Fusion degree reached eighty-one percent!

She took a few deep breaths to adjust her state, then plunged into the third step.

Her complete focus made her oblivious to the fact that those Alchemists who had been faster than her earlier were now scratching their heads!

Discontent and confusion appeared on their faces; it was clear that their first batch of pills had all ended in failure!

"No... why did it fail? I should have succeeded; I can succeed at my master's place, so why can't I succeed here?"

"What's going on? With my skill level, how could I fail?!"

...

Many Alchemists participating in the assessment frowned within their Formations, searching for the reason for their failure.

The third step was the most difficult. Yin Xiaotong was incredibly focused, using her spiritual sense regardless of the cost. Her face was already extremely pale, to the point where she could barely see any color.

"This assessment is really difficult..."

Yin Xiaotong sighed softly in her heart.

Sure enough, when activating the medicinal properties, she encountered some more black spots, and had no choice but to continue clearing them.

Finally, with ten minutes remaining, she completed the third step. She wasn't sure about the degree of medicinal property activation, but a conservative estimate was around seventy percent.

Most of the surrounding Alchemists were already refining their third batch, having failed the previous two. At this moment, their faces were filled with tension and pain!

Yin Xiaotong was also racing against time for the final step, forming the pill!

But when she was about to form the pill, she couldn't find those black spots anywhere.

"Damn it, where did that dirty thing go? Why can't I find it?!"

Again and again, Yin Xiaotong controlled her spiritual sense to continuously scan the pill that was about to take shape, but there was still no trace of any black spots.

Yin Xiaotong was incredibly nervous at this moment; she was afraid that if she couldn't find it, the final pill-forming step would end in failure!

However, as time passed, only ten seconds remained, and she still hadn't found it.

Forget it! I can't worry about it anymore, form the pill!

Finally, in the last few seconds, Yin Xiaotong gritted her teeth and directly formed the pill.

The medicinal ingredients in the Alchemy furnace quickly condensed together, forming several smooth pills that emitted bursts of medicinal fragrance.

"Hoo..."

Yin Xiaotong looked at the pills in front of her and let out a long sigh.

"Thankfully, I succeeded..."

"It seems there was no interference in the final step after all; I was just overthinking it."

"Assessment time is up! Please stop refining pills immediately, everyone stand up. Those who continue to manipulate vital energy to refine pills will be considered in violation!"

Soon, the Chief Examiner's voice rang out; she had already finished solving the certificate issue for Yin Xiaotong and rushed back.

Yin Xiaotong looked at the certificate that suddenly appeared in front of her and silently put it away.

As the Deputy Examiners checked, the final results came out.

In this assessment, out of thousands of Alchemists, only fifteen successfully refined pills. The rest failed because they couldn't find the black-spot-like Impurities, leading to their Alchemy failure.

Yin Xiaotong was one of the fifteen Alchemists.

However, merely forming a pill was not enough to pass the assessment; this assessment also had requirements for the degree of medicinal property activation in the pills.

The refined pills had to have at least forty percent of their medicinal properties activated to be considered qualified!

After the failed Alchemists left, the Chief Examiner personally came down to inspect, and Yin Xiaotong's pill was placed at the very end.

As expected, during the inspection, four Alchemists' refined pills did not meet the purity requirements and were mercilessly eliminated.

The Chief Examiner also sighed at this.

"Alas... these Alchemists, they haven't even learned the basics properly and are rushing to refine pills. As a result, they can't even detect such tiny Impurities. How can they progress in the path of Alchemy...?"

She picked up Yin Xiaotong's pill and casually conducted a test.

In her opinion, even if Lu Hao was very rich, it wouldn't change the fact that Yin Xiaotong was a connected individual.

She inherently looked down on Alchemists like Yin Xiaotong who used backdoor connections, but there was nothing she could do; Lu Hao had given too much. Who could turn down money?

That was a supreme-grade spirit stone!!!

But soon, the facts slapped her hard in the face.

Because at this moment, seven stars were brightly lit on the testing instrument! And the eighth star was even emitting an extremely faint glow!

This... this was actually a three-star pill?!!

How was this possible?!! How could an Alchemist refine such a pill during the assessment phase?!!

No! Impossible! Absolutely impossible!!

The Chief Examiner couldn't believe her eyes, then she roared:

"Deputy Chief Examiner! Get over here!"

The Deputy Chief Examiner who was substituting for her in supervising the exam heard the sound and quickly scurried over.

"Is there something fishy about this pill from someone named Yin Xiaotong!"

The Chief Examiner asked via telepathic message.

"Ah? What's going on, let me see..."

The Deputy Chief Examiner looked towards the testing instrument, and upon seeing it, he was so startled that he jumped back.

"This... this, this, this... this is more than seventy percent medicinal property activation?!"

"This, this is impossible!! I watched this girl refine it from beginning to end; she refined it with great difficulty. How could it be a three-star pill?!"

The Chief Examiner asked again via telepathic message:

"Did you give her special tutoring? Did you switch her pill?"

The Deputy Chief Examiner waved his hands repeatedly and quickly denied:

"No, no, no, how could I dare to do such a thing? An assessment spot is not a big deal, but cheating is a serious matter; that would lead to being sent to purgatory! Give me ten times the courage and I wouldn't dare to do such a thing..."

The Chief Examiner thought it over carefully and believed him.

After all, those who passed the assessment were going to participate in the Pill Conference. If they were helped to cheat now, they would be exposed at the Pill Conference.

If such a thing were exposed and the higher-ups investigated, no one could bear the consequences.

No one should be foolish enough to do such a thing.

The two spoke for a while, then looked at Yin Xiaotong in unison and asked:

"Yin Xiaotong, did you really refine this pill yourself?"

"Yes... yes, I did... what's wrong?"

"No... nothing, it's just that a pill of your quality is too strange. I can't make the decision, please wait a moment, I need to have an Elder from my Miao Dan Sect come and take a look."

...

Soon after, Lu Hao and the others returned, and at the same time, an Elder from Miao Dan Sect also received a message and quickly arrived.