People speculated that Lin Xiao would also use all the herbs, while others believed he didn’t have the skill for it. After all, Lin Xiao was so young and lacked the guidance of a renowned master, so his expertise in refining high-grade elixirs was thought to be inferior to that of Ye Yu and the others.
Yet, just as the crowd harboured their doubts, a pile of herbs rose simultaneously in front of Lin Xiao. Immediately after, a surge of cyan flame energy burst from his forehead, beginning to calcine them.
“He’s really calcining them all at once!”
“It’s either a grand success or a grand failure, this refining competition just got interesting.”
The crowd buzzed again. With everyone using the same amount of herbs, if they all succeeded, the rankings would depend on who could refine with greater purity, producing more elixirs from the pile.
Wu Sha, Feng Huo, and Meng Sheng also began calcining all their herbs. Chen Qing’er, Zhou Ruoyi, and a few others drew out most of theirs, while Xuanxuan only took two or three portions.
Other spirit controllers varied, some taking half the herbs, but the vast majority of youths only used two or three portions.
For most, refining a single second-grade advanced Explosive Yuan Elixir was already difficult. Only genius-level youths dared to attempt more than two.
“Bang!” “Bang!” “Bang!”…
As time slowly passed, the sound of exploding elixirs rang out repeatedly. Especially among those aiming to refine two elixirs, countless had failed. Even many attempting just one elixir mostly met with failure.
With a quarter of an hour left until the deadline, over three hundred participants had already failed. Refining another Explosive Yuan Elixir in time was impossible, leaving them to watch the others with helpless sighs.
Meanwhile, Lin Xiao and the other most eye-catching super geniuses hadn’t finished yet. Refining multiple elixirs at once was simply too challenging.
Half a quarter of an hour later—
“Bang!”
A relatively loud explosion echoed.
A wave of heat blasted out from in front of Zhou Ruoyi, rippling in all directions. Fortunately, the third round had fewer participants, and the space was wide enough, with the explosion’s force not too strong, so it didn’t affect anyone else.
“I actually failed!” Zhou Ruoyi’s face flushed red with frustration. Glancing at the incense on the platform, with less than half a quarter of an hour remaining, she stomped her foot in anger.
In less than half a quarter of an hour, she had no time to refine another second-grade advanced Explosive Yuan Elixir.
This meant she’d failed to advance to the fourth round. Forget the top thirty, she couldn’t even make the top fifty. For someone who’d basked in the halo of genius since childhood, this was hard to accept.
Zhou Moyi on the main platform showed a wistful expression. He could tell Zhou Ruoyi had only been attempting two Explosive Yuan Elixirs simultaneously. He hadn’t expected her to fail.
Still, considering the difficulty of refining two second-grade advanced Explosive Yuan Elixirs within an hour, he didn’t blame her.
The crowd quietly marvelled. Even Zhou Ruoyi, one of the four great beauty geniuses, had failed, showing just how tough it was to refine Explosive Yuan Elixirs simultaneously.
In contrast to Zhou Ruoyi, not far away, Xuanxuan, a second-grade intermediate spirit controller one level below her, successfully began condensing an elixir. A gleaming golden Explosive Yuan Elixir floated in the air.
“Cross-grade refining, I did it!” Xuanxuan let out a jubilant cheer.
Refining across grades, even if just one elixir, drew gasps of admiration from the onlookers. Pang Po outside the arena nodded with satisfaction, stroking his beard.
“How is that possible? How could she succeed at cross-grade refining!” Zhou Ruoyi inwardly raged. Her own failure already stung, and seeing someone else succeed was unbearable. Gritting her teeth, she snorted inwardly, “Hmph, so what if she succeeded at cross-grade refining? It’s just one elixir, she still won’t make it to the finals!”
“Chi! Chi!” At that moment, Wu Sha, to Xuanxuan’s side, also finished condensing. Three gleaming golden Explosive Yuan Elixirs floated in the air.
Zhou Ruoyi was dumbfounded. She couldn’t even manage two, yet Wu Sha had refined three…
“Three, she actually refined three Explosive Yuan Elixirs at once!”
“Worthy of a third-grade elementary spirit controller genius!”
The crowd erupted in astonished exclamations, and Wu Meng and the others beamed with delight.
Shortly after, amid the crowd’s gasps, Feng Huo, Meng Sheng, and Chen Qing’er also successfully condensed their elixirs. Feng Huo and Meng Sheng each produced three, while Chen Qing’er managed two.
This made it even harder for Zhou Ruoyi to accept. By all accounts, Chen Qing’er was on par with her, yet Chen Qing’er succeeded while she failed…
A few breaths later, a burst of hearty laughter rang out, “Hahaha, four elixirs, nothing special…”
With this laughter, a wave of astonished murmurs followed.
“That’s Wu Gong, he actually refined four second-grade advanced Explosive Yuan Elixirs at once!”
“This guy’s incredible, outnumbering Feng Huo, Meng Sheng, and Wu Sha, and faster than Ye Yu and Heimu!”
“He might just become this year’s champion!”
The crowd’s exclamations peaked for the first time, while Wen Renliang outside the arena couldn’t help but sigh inwardly, “This Wu Gong is quite the genius.”
Glancing at Wu Gong’s master, Fan Renlou, he saw Fan Renlou’s smug, contemptuous gaze directed at him. Wen Renliang snorted coldly and turned anxiously to Lin Xiao, still refining.
“Chi! Chi!” At that very moment, five perfectly round, gleaming golden elixirs condensed successfully in the air before Ye Yu.
“Five, Ye Yu actually refined five, reaching the maximum limit of the herbs!”
An elder let out a cry of amazement.
Even on the main platform, the fourth-grade intermediate spirit controller Le Zheng Hongmao exclaimed in awe, “Truly a disciple of a great family, Alliance Leader Ye, your nephew is remarkable. Refining five at once pushes the limits of both herbs and time.”
“He’s learned a few tricks, but it’s not refined enough,” Ye Fenghua nodded, a faint look of approval on his face.
The others nearby twitched slightly. Refining five second-grade advanced Explosive Yuan Elixirs in half an hour, the top youth alchemist of the moment, and it was just “a few tricks” and “not refined enough”?
But considering Ye Fenghua’s own talent, they could only accept his perspective. His achievements spoke for themselves.
Perhaps only Ye Fenghua had the authority to call such genius-level alchemy “not refined enough.”
In the arena, Ye Yu took out an empty jade bottle, happily collecting his five elixirs. He glanced at Lin Xiao, still refining, then at the black-robed youth nearing condensation, his eyes brimming with provocation and disdain.
“Heh, there’s still a few minutes left. I hope you lot don’t blow it up, or this round and the next will get boring.”
“Oh, really?” As Ye Yu’s words fell, a mocking voice replied. The sound of condensing followed, and above the black-robed youth, six golden gleams shone. Six elixirs took shape.
