Everyone was extremely tense.
Some hoped Ling Xiao would fail.
Others hoped he would succeed.
After all, this fellow had made such a flamboyant entrance, and his alchemy process had been so utterly different from everyone else’s.
“Dong dong!”
The clock finally sounded.
At that moment, people’s attention was drawn to the sound, and they did not notice that Ling Xiao had already sat back on the White Bone Throne to rest.
He had calculated the timing precisely for his refining. Although it was extremely tight, he still completed it before the clock rang.
And perfectly!
For a perfectionist, this was truly too important.
“He actually completed it?”
“He finally finished. I almost thought that after such a flashy alchemy process, it would end in failure.”
Among the crowd, there were already quite a few die-hard fans of Ling Xiao.
As the clock sounded, those alchemists who had not finished refining their pills all looked dejected. Some were still frantically trying to rush the process, but the mechanism birds had already given their verdicts.
A series of piercing screeches rang out.
In that instant, around six thousand of the more than ten thousand participants were eliminated. In the end, fewer than four thousand remained.
The exact number would probably be determined by the mechanism birds shortly.
After all, some people had successfully refined mortal pills without obviously following the prescription rigidly, so the mechanism birds could not eliminate them immediately. But in the end, through appraisal of the pills, those who passed could be confirmed.
“You lad have pretty good luck. You managed to complete the refining just in time. But if the method is wrong, you still won’t pass. You are the one recommended by Elder Chang Le. If you can’t even get through the first round, you’ll truly become a laughingstock.”
Just as Ling Xiao was waiting for the mechanism bird’s final judgement, Dan Qing’s irritating voice rang out once more.
“Ignorant!”
Ling Xiao merely curled his lip slightly and said, “You only know how to copy others without any creativity of your own. You have no qualification to criticise me.”
“You dare call me ignorant? This is the substitution method devised by Senior Drug King himself. It is currently the most efficient one. You are not insulting me, you are insulting Senior Drug King!”
Dan Qing said angrily.
“Say whatever you like. When the scores are announced shortly, you will realise how naive you are. In the end, you are nothing more than a frog at the bottom of a well.”
“A frog at the bottom of a well!”
Every time Dan Qing argued with Ling Xiao, he ended up thoroughly infuriated.
This time seemed no exception.
But he took a deep breath and ultimately held back. He wanted to see, after the scores were announced, what qualification Ling Xiao would still have to argue with him!
On the judges’ seats, Elder Chang Le stood up, looked down at the roughly fewer than four thousand people still standing in the arena, and said loudly, “Now, place the mortal pills you refined into the mouth of the mechanism bird. The mechanism bird will score each person’s pill.
Sixty points or above is qualified and passes; otherwise, eliminated!”
Hearing this, the alchemists all looked toward the mechanism bird that resembled a crow. Someone curiously placed their pill into its mouth.
“Sixty points, qualified!”
A voice actually emerged from the mechanism bird’s mouth. Then, on the huge jade wall in the square, the name of this alchemist appeared, along with his score.
“I passed! I passed!”
He jumped up excitedly.
Although it was just barely passing, he had passed after all.
Afterward, many people followed suit and placed their pills inside. As the mechanism bird continuously spoke, more and more names appeared on the jade wall.
The earliest ones were mostly qualified.
But soon, alchemists scoring below sixty appeared, and some even received zero points directly.
Although those judged unqualified were furious in their hearts, they dared not say anything.
After all, they knew best what kind of pill they had refined themselves.
Many had simply thrown all the herbs into the cauldron haphazardly. What they produced in the end was complete waste.
Worse than those eliminated during the assessment.
Of course, those who qualified were still the majority. After all, for this round, if one only aimed to pass, it was not difficult for alchemists of graded rank.
Ling Xiao leaned back on the White Bone Throne with his eyes closed, resting.
It was not that he did not want to test quickly.
He was simply too exhausted.
Creation was originally something mortals should not do, yet Ling Xiao had done it. This had consumed a massive amount of his physical strength and soul force.
When he argued with Dan Qing earlier, he had actually been quite dizzy. If Dan Qing had not been so annoying, Ling Xiao would truly have been too lazy to speak.
“Sister Luoyu, shall we try too?”
Dan Qing said to Ji Luoyu.
“Alright.”
Although Ji Luoyu really wanted to see how many points Ling Xiao’s pill would get, seeing that Ling Xiao showed no intention of testing, she could only go with Dan Qing.
The two simultaneously stuffed their pills into the mechanism bird’s mouth.
The mechanism bird seemed to swallow the pills like eating food. Afterward, its body actually began to shimmer with a strange lustre.
Many alchemists paused their actions, and the people in the audience seats also looked toward the huge jade wall. They wanted to see what kind of scores these two proud sons of heaven in the alchemy world would receive.
After all, both had received personal guidance from Drug King Sun Ran.
“Look, Dan Qing got eighty points!”
“Little Drug King Ji Luoyu also got eighty points!”
“My goodness, these should be the highest scores so far, right?”
“Yes, indeed. Truly a golden boy and jade girl. These two are too amazing.”
Drug King Sun Ran saw the scores and rankings on the jade wall and nodded with a smile. Eighty points, in his view, should already be the highest possible.
Even if Ling Xiao passed, he absolutely could not exceed this score.
“What a pity. I used a bit more time than Brother Dan Qing, so I concede defeat.”
Ji Luoyu was quite open-minded. Although her score was the same as Dan Qing’s, she had taken longer to refine. If the scoring were stricter, she would be inferior to Dan Qing.
“Sister Luoyu is too modest. We can only call it a draw. Unlike certain people, who are still over there playing dead, unwilling to reveal their scores.”
Dan Qing glanced disdainfully at Ling Xiao, revealing thick sarcasm.
“Perhaps he is truly tired.”
Ji Luoyu’s impression of Ling Xiao had grown better and better, so she did not particularly agree with Dan Qing’s view.
“Sister Luoyu, don’t be deceived by certain people’s honest and simple appearance. When his score is announced shortly, everything will be clear. But I believe no one today will get a higher score than us.”
Dan Qing appeared extremely confident.
Ji Luoyu glanced at Ling Xiao and said nothing.
The powerful abilities Ling Xiao had displayed time and again had already made her unwilling to speak carelessly.
