“You have all seen the mechanical birds on your alchemy platforms, haven’t you? They will faithfully record your every action. If anyone violates the rules, they will be immediately eliminated. At that point, the bird will emit a piercing screech!
Additionally, the assessment for the first round is limited to half an hour. If you cannot complete it within that time, you will also be eliminated!
Pay attention to the time on the magical treasure clock. Do not end up panicking.”
Having said this, Medicine King Sun Ran looked towards Ji Qing. The next announcements would be made by Ji Qing.
Ji Qing looked at the crowd, stood up, and said in a clear voice, “The rules are as Medicine King has stated. What you need to do is not rigidly follow the formula. Use your brains! There is only one portion of herbs. Once wasted, that is failure. So think carefully before you act!
Now, I declare the first round of the Alchemy Conference officially begun!”
As Ji Qing’s words fell, over ten thousand alchemists began the tense assessment.
However, at the start, no one began refining. Instead, they quietly observed the pill formula and herbs, hoping to find a balance.
The time limit was thirty minutes.
And there was only one portion of herbs.
The conditions were truly too harsh.
Naturally, Ling Xiao did not rush to act.
He had already analysed it. If he simply refined the mortal pill using only the herbs available as per the formula, the final pill’s efficacy would definitely not reach sixty percent.
In other words, he would certainly be eliminated!
So this assessment was not that simple. There must be some trick to it.
Since there was only one chance, even Ling Xiao did not dare to be careless. He had to sort everything out and understand it fully before starting.
Anyway, there were thirty minutes. For him, refining the pill would only take five minutes. The rest of the time could be used entirely for thinking.
Most people were pondering the problem, but some began refining after just a moment.
Those were Little Medicine King Ji Luoyu and Dan Qing.
These two had probably undergone such tests more than once. They knew not only the purpose of the test, but also the method to pass it.
“I suppose this topic was set by Medicine King Sun Ran himself.”
Ling Xiao thought, casually glancing at their alchemy platforms.
The two ignited their furnace flames and began refining. However, due to the influence of the formation, he could not clearly see what method they were using.
This was probably to prevent alchemists from copying each other.
It seemed the Changle Ancestor had thought things through carefully.
Though he could not see their techniques, their skilled movements and confident expressions still made Ling Xiao show an appreciative look.
Regardless of his feelings towards these two, or their personalities, at the very least, they were truly capable and very strong.
In fact, he had already noticed this during the internal test.
Geniuses were geniuses. With guidance from famous masters, they were indeed formidable.
“Ah~~ Failed!”
Finally, the first failure appeared.
It had only been about two minutes.
This fellow had probably seen Dan Qing and Ji Luoyu refining and could not hold back. He rushed to start, only to end in tragedy.
Ling Xiao shook his head lightly, no longer paying attention to others. Instead, he focused fully on his own alchemy platform.
The white bone throne appeared once more. He sat comfortably upon it.
One thing he was dissatisfied with was that today’s conference had not provided chairs for the alchemists to rest.
Many alchemists were startled by his action. Some were speechless, others puzzled.
But after a moment, they all refocused on their refining.
Ling Xiao paid no mind to the gazes of others. Suddenly, his eyes lit up.
“So that’s it!”
He had guessed the key to this assessment.
Although several auxiliary herbs from the formula were missing among the provided materials, there were some extra herbs instead.
If one carefully considered and was familiar with these herbs, one could think of extracting components from them to substitute for the auxiliary materials.
This way, the efficacy could reach up to eighty percent at most!
He used the perspective ability of his Taiji Eye to look at Ji Luoyu’s and Dan Qing’s platforms.
Sure enough, that was exactly what the two were doing.
However, he found this method rather boring.
And not perfect enough.
No matter how it was done, the efficacy could only reach eighty percent at best. It could not reach one hundred percent, let alone produce a perfect-grade mortal pill.
For someone like him who pursued perfection wholeheartedly, this was truly hard to accept.
Glancing at the time, only five minutes had passed. There was still plenty, so he was in no hurry.
Yet in these five minutes, dozens of alchemists had already withdrawn helplessly.
There was no choice. Without the auxiliary materials, not only would the final efficacy be greatly reduced, but the success rate of refining would also drop significantly.
For alchemists who only knew rote memorisation and lacked flexibility, this was simply fatal.
Ling Xiao did not watch them.
The alchemy conference was not everything for alchemists. Failure was failure. Even in the world of alchemists, not everyone could be a genius or master. There was still a need for diligent, ordinary alchemists. Otherwise, unranked pills might have no one to refine them.
What he needed to do now was figure out how to refine this mortal pill to sufficient perfection.
He lay on the white bone throne, eyes closed, appearing to rest. However, in his Mountain River World, he began simulating the refining process.
Memories from another world surfaced once more in his mind.
Among these memories was a medical technique that greatly broadened his horizons.
According to this medical technique, every herb contained certain special components. These were the key to their effects.
These components could be extracted, even synthesised or artificially created!
In that other world, they relied on high technology for this.
But Ling Xiao felt that was troublesome. It was easier to extract them using internal force.
So this method should be feasible.
But this was merely his speculation. Whether it would work still required testing.
He did not dare to rashly use the herbs on the alchemy platform for trials. He could only rely on his Mountain River Martial Soul and powerful soul force for simulation.
During the simulation, he slowly stood up. His body floated a foot off the ground, and his hands began moving involuntarily.
“What is that guy doing? Gesturing at thin air?”
After all, Ling Xiao was refining in the most prominent spot, so his every move was visible to everyone.
Whether in the judges’ seats, preparation seats, or spectator stands.
This inexplicable behaviour from Ling Xiao left everyone baffled.
“Has he gone mad?”
Someone asked in confusion.
“Idiot, that is called the sensory testing method! Only alchemists with extremely powerful soul force can do it. You see him waving his hands at nothing, but in his eyes, a real alchemy platform truly exists before him.”
The one who said this was naturally an expert who understood.
