Having hosted the Pill Gathering several times, Xuan Kongzi was already thoroughly familiar with the procedures, making him appear exceptionally practiced. With a few gentle words, he not only welcomed the alchemists who had traveled so far to participate in the Pill Gathering, but also clearly explained its rules.
The Pill Gathering was mainly divided into three stages. The first required contestants to pass through a Soul Illusion Realm, a checkpoint meant to filter out all alchemists below the fifth grade, as well as Fifth-grade Alchemists whose wills were extremely weak. The second required them to enter the Pill Realm and search for designated medicinal ingredients. Only after passing these two basic stages would one be qualified to enter the final alchemy contest. Those who reached the final stage were at least sixth-grade alchemists, or even peak sixth-grade alchemists. They could be called the elite of those participating in the Pill Gathering.
After introducing these rules, Xuan Kongzi finally said with a light smile, "The champion of this gathering will not only receive a position among the Pill Tower's giants, but also a pill formula capable of producing Seven-colored Pill Lightning. I hope you all work hard and claim this honor for yourselves."
Although this reward was not as precious as the soul cultivation method from the original timeline, it was still quite good—more valuable than the rewards awarded to the champions of the previous two Pill Gatherings. After all, a pill formula capable of producing Seven-colored Pill Lightning was considered extremely high-grade even among eighth-grade formulas. Taking it out as a reward was a tremendous opportunity for alchemists, few of whom were Eighth-grade Alchemists. Of course, among these tens of thousands of alchemists, only one person would ultimately obtain the formula. Everyone else would merely serve as foils.
But