Ten days later, the Pill Gathering officially began.
Unlike the branch tower tests, which merely assessed an alchemist's grade of pill-refining skill,
any alchemist of the fifth tier or above could pass the preliminaries and officially register for the Pill Gathering.
But even with the requirement set at fifth-tier alchemists and above, the alchemists participating in the Pill Gathering came from the entirety of the Central Continent.
Although fifth-tier alchemists were scarce in any single place, across the whole Central Continent, there were easily tens of thousands of them!
Naturally, so many people could not compete in pill refinement at the same time. Several rounds of extremely strict selection were necessary.
Only the final several dozen or hundred contestants would remain, making the competition clearer to watch.
Moreover, after passing through layer upon layer of selection, the final group of outstanding alchemists would make the competition even more spectacular and would not tarnish the Pill Gathering's reputation!
That morning, the fiery-red sun had only just risen in the eastern sky. Its brilliant golden morning light streamed through the endless white clouds and shone down upon the earth.
In the northern district of Sacred Pill City, where the first stage of the Pill Gathering was to be held, a dense sea of people had already gathered. From afar, it looked like an endless mass of humanity.
At that moment, everyone gazed eagerly into the distance, toward a vast, boundless plaza beyond an endless expanse of deep-purple space.
That was the endpoint of the first stage!
According to the process for the Pill Gathering announced by the Pill Tower,
the first stage required participants to pass through that expanse of deep-purple space and reach the plaza on the other side.
This stage was called Illusion Realm Pass!
Among the crowd waiting for