Under everyone's gaze, these young alchemists were diligently and intently refining pills.
Chu Yang's attention was also fixed on Wei Zhiyan, the young man he had mentioned earlier.
This kind of scene, where one is watched by everyone, is a great test of an alchemist's state of mind. Although everyone was proceeding in an orderly fashion, more than half of the ten individuals were rather nervous, causing their concentration to be less focused than usual.
However, Wei Zhiyan was different. Chu Yang could clearly see that this fellow was very engrossed, with purplish-black flames burning fiercely within the alchemy furnace.
Chu Yang looked at Xue Qianwei and said, "In fact, his alchemy talent is higher than yours."
Expecting Xue Qianwei to be displeased, she instead nodded in agreement and said, "I knew this when I was guiding his alchemy. Back then, he was only at the Foundation Establishment stage, but he could already refine top-grade pills. If you still have that 'Pill Emperor's Manual,' giving him a copy would surely lead to him having greater achievements than me in the future."
"That item is currently only one copy, so you'll have to guide him yourself."
Wei Zhiyan started cultivating relatively late. When his aptitude was assessed, it caused quite a sensation. Many people believed he might become another powerhouse on par with Li Qingyun and the others. However, he later chose to become a full-time alchemist, which disappointed many.
What others didn't know, however, was that when his aptitude was assessed, his alchemy talent reached a remarkable 90.
Even though he wouldn't have been low in achievement by following the normal path of a cultivator, there was no need to abandon his greatest advantage.
He was currently at the Golden Core stage cultivation. Apart from Xue Qianwei, he was the best alchemist.
Xue Qianwei's only advantage over him was her longer cultivation time, higher cultivation level, and the fact that she had absorbed the 'Pill Emperor's Manual.'
The pill he was currently refining was the [Po Sha Pill], a pill that could clear demonic obstacles and suppress inner demons.
This pill was one of the most difficult to refine among the fourth-grade pills. Not only him, but the other nine contestants had also chosen high-difficulty pills. To reach this point and aim for the championship, one had to stand out from the others.
Wei Zhiyan's hands did not stop for a moment, continuously adding medicinal herbs and controlling the heat minute by minute.
This process would take about four hours.
Someone, due to excessive nervousness, made a mistake when adding medicinal ingredients.
"Boom!"
With a loud explosion, someone's furnace exploded.
The face of the failed contestant instantly turned pale, and tears welled up in his eyes. He had failed to seize this opportunity to distinguish himself!
A clamor erupted among everyone.
"Good heavens! How did his furnace explode?"
"This is bad. I bet on him to take third place, and he pulls this stunt!" 138 Reading Network
"Oh my, it's just an alchemy competition, but it's making me so nervous."
The failed alchemist was bewildered and lost, but soon Chu Yang's voice echoed in his mind: "Don't be discouraged. I know your true skill. This time, you were just too nervous. Go watch from the side for now, learn from the others. You need to practice your focus."
Hearing Chu Yang's voice, he felt much more at ease. He looked towards Chu Yang on the judging panel and saw him smiling at him.
He breathed a sigh of relief, reorganized his defeated emotions, and went to the side to observe.
The furnace explosion and the constant whispering of the audience placed even greater pressure on the alchemists present.
In this extremely tense atmosphere, only Wei Zhiyan was able to maintain complete concentration.
As time rapidly approached its end, many had already successfully refined their pills and were waiting in place for the time to end so they could open their furnaces.
However, Wei Zhiyan's fire had not yet been extinguished and was still burning.
The others watched Wei Zhiyan, who was still refining.
"Why is it still burning? Is the heat going to be excessive?"
"His fire is different from ours, so does it need to burn longer?"
"Is he trying to refine it to top-grade?"
"......"
In the final five minutes before the time ended, Wei Zhiyan also breathed a sigh of relief and extinguished his unique Nine Nether Fire.
"The assessment time has ended. Everyone prepare to open your furnaces! Brother Xian will be the judge!"
In reality, Chu Yang, by using his [Rank Chart] ability, already knew the rankings of everyone. However, the usual procedures still had to be followed.
Everyone tensed up, awaiting Chu Yang's critique.
"Ma Lei, the refining process of your [Fire Devouring Pill] was very perfect. It's just that you were too hasty in the final finishing stage, otherwise, you would have had a chance to refine a top-grade quality. But this pill has a relatively low difficulty, so if you didn't refine it to top-grade quality, your ranking won't be very high."
Ma Lei nodded awkwardly. He had wanted to refine it to top-grade quality to win, which was why he deliberately chose a pill of lower difficulty, but he didn't expect to fail.
Chu Yang continued to the next person: "Hong Xueyan, you added too much Qi Condensing Grass in your [Spirit Condensing Pill], and the heat was too high, resulting in a poor color. Excess medicinal power in the alchemy furnace will affect the effect of other medicinal ingredients. You need to pay attention to this, understand?"
"Thank you, Brother Xian, for your guidance!"
Chu Yang inspected everyone's pills one by one. When he arrived at Wei Zhiyan's side, the alchemy furnace was opened, and a golden light flashed.
Three pills lay within the furnace, and all three pills exhibited beautiful patterns.
The camera then turned towards the pills in the alchemy furnace, clearly displaying the top-grade pills to the entire world.
Chu Yang said to Wei Zhiyan, "The skill level of others is not on the same tier as yours, so there is no suspense for this championship. Your refining process for the [Po Sha Pill] was flawless, and your concentration was sufficient. All these eyes focused on you did not distract you. You are truly born to be an alchemist!"
Wei Zhiyan said excitedly, "Thank you, Brother Xian!"
For him, nothing was more prideful than Chu Yang's recognition.
Chu Yang waved his hand, and a ranking list appeared in the sky, showing the top ten rankings of this alchemist convention.
Wei Zhiyan was prominently ranked first, without any dispute.
Chu Yang took out the [Human Emperor Cauldron] and said to Wei Zhiyan, "All you lack now is cultivation. With so many people paying attention to this competition, as the champion, I certainly cannot be stingy. I'll give you a celestial artifact first!"
He retrieved the [Six Paths Fire Wheel] from the cauldron. This was a spoil of war previously collected by Li Qingyun and his companions. This item could generate the Six Paths True Fire, which was quite beneficial for alchemists.
"This celestial artifact is called the [Six Paths Fire Wheel]. It is one of the spoils of war obtained by Li Qingyun and his companions. It can allow you to possess a new flame, which might have unexpected effects when refining other pills."
Wei Zhiyan received the celestial artifact, his face filled with unconcealed excitement. He too now possessed a celestial artifact!
Afterward, Chu Yang gave him a token and said, "Activating this token will allow you to directly enter the medicine garden. From now on, you will have the same authority as Boss Xue to freely enter and exit the medicine garden to pick herbs. From now on, you will refine pills alongside Boss Xue."
This startled Wei Zhiyan. This level of authority was too great!
"Also, I'll give you some more good things..."
Chu Yang then took out some heavenly materials and earthly treasures, along with some alchemy-related secret manuals for Wei Zhiyan from his cauldron.
Up to this point, Xue Qianwei had been acting as a mentor for Blue Star's alchemists, and it was quite a burden. Finding a second-in-command alchemist would free up a lot of her spare time.
Xue Qianwei had expressed to Chu Yang that after this wave of alchemy fever subsided, she wanted to continue wandering with the Ice Sword mercenary group. When she was away, a new alchemy mentor would be needed to guide the people of Blue Star.
However, Wei Zhiyan would still need considerable training, but that was Boss Xue's responsibility...