Ruan Se, standing below the stage, let out a faint sigh of relief. The results of the first round were almost exactly as she had expected. With first place in hand, all she had to do in the following rounds was play it steady.
Her gaze unconsciously swept across the layered sea of spectators on the stands, trying to find the figure wearing the dark blue mask.
But the stands were a sea of bobbing heads, with robes of every color interweaving into a vibrant ocean of color.
After searching for a moment, she gave up.
Then she turned her gaze to the judges’ seat. Her sister, Ruan Qin, was sitting there, her cyan dress particularly eye-catching. Two pairs of very similar amber eyes collided across half the plaza.
Ruan Qin merely gave her a faint glance, with neither approval nor expectation in her eyes, as if her younger sister taking first place in Myriad Phenomena Spirit Recognition was nothing more than an ordinary trifle.
Ruan Se was first surprised, then lowered her head. Before that faint trace of melancholy in her heart could spread, her peripheral vision caught a strange scene.
Just a few seats to the right of her sister, a man dressed in a dark blue robe and wearing a half-mask waved at her.
That person gave a casual wave left and right, his demeanor relaxed, even carrying a certain infuriating nonchalance.
Ruan Se was stunned.
‘Senior Lai? How could he be sitting on the judges’ seat?’
From afar, Lai Li’an saw Ruan Se’s usually cool eyes go wide, her whole body as if frozen by a binding spell.
He withdrew his hand with great satisfaction, leaned back in his chair, barely able to contain his smile.
Ruan Se remained silent for a moment before forcibly tearing her gaze away from Lai Li’an. The tips of her ears were faintly tinged with pink.
On the judges’ seat, Ruan Qin took in the entire scene.
She cast her gaze at the man who was leisurely crossing his legs and sipping tea, a glint of interest flickering in her eyes.
That her younger sister actually knew someone on the judges’ seat, and it didn’t seem like a mere nodding acquaintance. She subtly looked him over from head to toe.
Mid Golden Core cultivation level—not top-tier, but respectable enough. However, Ruan Se had always had her nose in the air since childhood, caring about nothing but alchemy. Someone capable of earning her special regard could not be solely because of their cultivation.
After the first round of competition officially ended, the platform at the center of the plaza was quickly cleared. The grassy mound that was originally covered in spiritual herbs was removed, replaced by thousands of independent stone platforms.
Each stone platform held a completely identical set of raw materials.
The voice of the presiding elder rang out across the venue again:
“Second round: Herb Refining. On the stone platform in front of each contestant, a fully identical set of materials has been prepared. Blazing Sun Grass is the main ingredient, with Ice Marrow Flower, Bitter Vine Root, and Stone Stamen Powder as supporting materials, and Rootless Water as the conductor. Contestants must complete the refinement and extraction within the allotted time, submitting the purified liquid.”
“Scoring will prioritize purity; those who fail to meet the purity standard will be eliminated. Among those who meet the standard, the ones with the shortest time will advance. During the competition, interfering with other contestants’ operations is prohibited; violators will be disqualified. Those who fail to finish when the hourglass runs out will be eliminated.”
With the sound of a long-lasting bell, nearly a thousand clusters of spiritual flame ignited simultaneously across the field. The orange-red glow reflected across the entire plaza, making it look like a furnace.
Blazing Sun Grass is a fire-attribute spiritual herb. Refining it requires a fierce fire to attack the stems and leaves, forcing out the medicine power, then instantly switching to a gentle fire to reduce the juice. The slightest mistake in heat control would incinerate the entire plant.
What made it more tricky was that the Ice Marrow Flower among the supporting materials had conflicting medicinal natures with Blazing Sun Grass. The extracted liquid had to be fused with the essence of Blazing Sun Grass before completely cooling down; otherwise, both would lose their effect.
Lai Li’an’s gaze passed over the scattered points of spiritual flame on the field and found Ruan Se.
Her movements were still composed, her spiritual power control precise enough to earn admiration. Under the guidance of her spiritual power, the Blazing Sun Grass slowly shed its outer shell, revealing a cluster of golden-red essence within. But Lai Li’an noticed that her brow was slightly furrowed.
The problem lay with the Ice Marrow Flower. Ice Marrow Flower was a water-attribute supporting ingredient, which should not have been a problem for a Wood Spiritual Root cultivator. However, extracting Ice Marrow Flower required an extremely cold environment, while the fierce fire refinement of Blazing Sun Grass had baked the entire stone platform scorching hot.
Ruan Se had to constantly switch between two completely opposite types of spiritual power output. One moment, she had to use spiritual power to induce the Ice Marrow Flower to crystallize at low temperature; the next, she had to divert her mind and spirit to suppress the Blazing Sun Grass that could overheat at any moment.
“Your younger sister’s wood-element manipulation is indeed exquisite,” Pei Changjing said, having straightened up at some point, the drowsiness in his phoenix eyes lessening.
“But pairing Blazing Sun Grass with Ice Marrow Flower is inherently unfair to cultivators with water and wood spiritual roots. An alchemist with a Fire Spirit Root refining Blazing Sun Grass is like cooking a small fish; a Wood Spiritual Root cultivator, however, must expend double the spiritual power to suppress the heat. This rule—I, Old Pei, said back then that it should be changed.”
Yin Zheng picked up his tea cup and said calmly,
“Herb Refining tests general techniques, not spirit root preferences. In the future, when alchemists travel the world, will all the medicinal ingredients they encounter match their own spirit roots? Being able to hold steady in a disadvantageous position is itself part of one’s strength.”
Pei Changjing raised an eyebrow, noncommittal, and his gaze drifted back to the field.
Ruan Se’s hands were still steady. The essence of Blazing Sun Grass gradually condensed into a golden-red liquid bead under the fierce fire, while the Ice Marrow Flower crystallized into frost at a visible speed on the other side.
She was simultaneously handling two medicinal ingredients with completely conflicting properties, and her progress was not slower than other contestants. Only her complexion had become increasingly pale.
Suddenly, a familiar muffled sound came from the east side of the plaza. Someone had made a mistake while extracting Ice Marrow Flower, causing cold energy backlash that froze the entire set of materials into a chunk of ice.
That young alchemist jumped back clutching his hand, and was quickly escorted off the field by disciples of the Enforcement Hall. This small incident caused a brief commotion, but Lai Li’an didn’t even look; his gaze was always fixed on Ruan Se.
Just then, a commotion suddenly arose from the direction slightly south of the plaza’s center.
“You’ve got to be kidding me? What kind of furnace is that?”
Lai Li’an followed the sound and saw Shao Jiao standing in the farthest corner position.
On his stone platform, a worn-out copper furnace was set over a spiritual flame. The furnace body was covered in scratches and rust, looking as if it had been salvaged from some junk pile.
A contestant in a magnificent brocade robe glanced at the broken furnace in his hand and sneered,
“Fellow Daoist, what kind of poverty has your sect fallen into? Can’t even afford a decent elixir furnace? Want me to lend you one? So you don’t blame the tools when you lose.”
Shao Jiao ignored him, tossing the Blazing Sun Grass into the worn-out furnace. He gently placed the fingers of his right hand on the furnace wall and slowly infused spiritual power.
A moment later, an extremely pure essence of Blazing Sun Grass flowed out from the bottom of the furnace into the jade bottle he had prepared in his left hand.
The color of that essence was so pure it was almost transparent, without a trace of impurity.
The sneering contestant in the magnificent brocade robe choked on his laughter. He withdrew his gaze without a word and never looked again.
“Interesting.”
Pei Changjing tapped lightly on the armrest on the judges’ seat.
“That furnace—although the patterns on its body are worn, one can faintly tell it’s the craftsmanship of an ancient copper furnace, even more refined than the magic artifact-grade elixir furnaces sold on the market now. That kid knows quality, and he knows how to use that old furnace.”
Lai Li’an raised an eyebrow slightly, but at this moment he had no mind to pay attention to others, because Ruan Se’s progress had clearly slowed.
It wasn’t that her technique was insufficient; it was that her spiritual power was running low. A Wood Spiritual Root consumed too much in the face of the blazing fire of Blazing Sun Grass.
Suddenly, Ruan Se quickly withdrew her hands, tracing an arc in the air. The essence of Blazing Sun Grass and the crystals of Ice Marrow Flower were each wrapped by a stream of spiritual power at the same moment, guided to above the stone platform, and then, between her interlocking fingers, they were abruptly merged.
Cold and heat clashed, and a cloud of white mist surged up, swallowing most of her figure. After a moment, the white mist dissipated, and peacefully lying on her stone platform was a medicine crystal—an even rarer crystallized form.
The appraiser alchemist stepped forward, tested it with a magic artifact, and announced loudly,
“Ruan Se, purity ninety-eight percent, pass!”
The stands erupted into deafening cheers. Lai Li’an slowly leaned back into his chair and let out a long breath.
When Ruan Se walked back to the rest area, her steps were noticeably heavier.
After sitting down, she closed her eyes; this second round had almost drained most of her spiritual power.
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