Inside the assessment hall.
Everyone's eyes were fixed on Cao Ying and Xin Lan atop the alchemy platform, still locked in a contest of Soul Power. Their gazes were filled with shock and admiration.
Compared to the contest among the five earlier, the clash between these two was the true competition.
The Soul Power the two of them had unleashed had even surpassed that of nearly all the elders from the alchemist families present in the hall!
After Cao Ying and Xin Lan both released their Soul Power with all their strength, their vast Soul Power enveloped the entire hall, making the atmosphere unbearably oppressive.
Every collision of their Soul Power sent gusts of fierce wind sweeping out from the alchemy platform in all directions.
As their Soul Power continued to clash, the positions where the two stood within the circle were steadily forced backward.
"Little Sister Xin Lan, your strength truly is remarkable. But the real contest is only beginning now!"
Looking at Xin Lan before her, Cao Ying's alluring face broke into a smile as her red lips curled upward. After speaking, her jade-like hands suddenly formed a seal before her chest, then began rapidly weaving countless intricate hand seals in a dazzling blur.
As her hands continuously formed seals, amid waves of strange soul fluctuations, the invisible Soul Power surrounding Cao Ying rapidly condensed, ultimately turning into an incorporeal soul phoenix.
Although this soul phoenix could not be seen with the naked eye, no one in the hall was ordinary. They were elders of alchemist families with hopes of competing for the title of the Five Great Families, and all were at least seventh-tier alchemists.
Through their soul perception, everyone immediately "saw" a lifelike silver soul phoenix condense around Cao Ying!
Once the silver phoenix took shape,