Stunned Everyone

Spirit pills were refined from the spirit herbs provided, and the score was determined by their quantity and grade.

Within three hours, refining one First-Rank Spirit Pill earned ten points.

Refining one Tier 2 Spirit Pill earned thirty points, while refining one Third-Order Spirit Pill earned seventy points.

Refining one fourth-tier Spirit Elixir earned one hundred and twenty points.

The full score was two hundred points. Any score above that was counted as two hundred.

Generally speaking, fourth-tier Alchemists would choose to refine fourth-tier Spirit Elixirs, while Tier 3 Alchemists would choose to refine Third-Order Spirit Pills.

Most Tier 2 Alchemists, meanwhile, would choose to refine Tier 2 Spirit Pills.

Of course, a small number would choose to refine First-Rank Spirit Pills. If they refined four or five within the allotted time, they would earn forty or fifty points—far more than the score for refining one Tier 2 Spirit Pill.

There were even some exceptional Tier 2 Alchemists who scored higher than Tier 3 Alchemists by refining multiple Tier 2 Spirit Pills.

However, such cases were rare.

Historically, there had also been fourth-tier Alchemists who refined fourth-tier Spirit Elixirs and produced two pills, earning full marks, but that was extremely uncommon.

Most Alchemists could only produce one pill.

To produce several pills required extraordinarily refined alchemy techniques.

Although the four branch pavilions with fourth-tier Alchemists had fallen twenty points behind Tianchen City in the first part of the competition,

they were confident they could score highly in this second alchemy section and leave everyone behind.

Tianchen City had performed brilliantly in the written test of the first part.

Yet no one still believed that the Tianchen City Branch could score highly in the second alchemy section.

Yang Lingtian was simply too young. In their eyes, he could not possibly have much alchemy experience, and his techniques had to be clumsy.

Yang Lingtian turned a deaf ear to the discussions outside the arena and began considering which grade of spirit pill to refine.

"Why aren't there any points for refining fifth-tier Spirit Elixirs? Otherwise, I'd just refine one."

"Should I refine a fourth-tier Spirit Elixir? Ever since I mastered alchemy, I haven't refined a spirit pill above the Third-Order Spirit Pill level. This will be good practice."

After making his decision, Yang Lingtian began refining the fourth-tier Spirit Elixir, Phoenix Return Pill.

He dumped all the spirit herbs he needed into the Alchemy Furnace in one go.

This action immediately caught everyone's attention, and they all wore puzzled expressions.

"What is he doing? How can he put so many spirit herbs in all at once?"

"Good heavens, does he even know how to refine pills? He's wasting them!"

Some Alchemists could tell that Yang Lingtian had thrown in several high-grade spirit herbs, and they were astonished.

Only fourth-tier Spirit Elixirs required high-grade spirit herbs. Most Tier 2 Alchemists only used low-grade spirit herbs.

They were deeply puzzled. Could Yang Lingtian actually be planning to refine a fourth-tier Spirit Elixir?

Not a single person present believed Yang Lingtian was a fourth-tier Alchemist.

After all, becoming a First-Rank Alchemist at such a young age was already astonishing. A fourth-tier Alchemist was something they did not even dare imagine.

Even Master Qin Qi, despite possessing astonishing alchemy talent, had only been a First-Rank Alchemist at Yang Lingtian's age.

At this moment, even Master Qin Qi could not see what Yang Lingtian was doing.

He wondered inwardly, Could this boy be planning to refine a fourth-tier Spirit Elixir?

But even I wouldn't dare put all the high-grade spirit herbs in at once.

Rather than adding the spirit herbs one by one in order, he has put them all in at the same time.

That requires extremely refined alchemy techniques to successfully produce a pill. Otherwise, it is easy to end up with a ruined pill.

Even I only dare use this method when refining First-Rank or Tier 2 Spirit Pills. Otherwise, refining anything above Tier 2 would most likely result in a ruined pill.

Could it be that he truly doesn't know how to refine pills? Or is he simply too young and overconfident?

Everyone in the audience could clearly see the actions of all the Alchemists present.

Apart from Yang Lingtian, every Alchemist's actions were perfectly normal. Yang Lingtian's strange method inevitably drew even more eyes.

Feng Qiulin burst into laughter and shouted mockingly, "Looks like the Alchemist from the Tianchen City Branch is an outsider when it comes to alchemy!"

"We've never seen alchemy like this before. Putting all the spirit herbs in at once will inevitably produce a ruined pill."

"I say he doesn't know how to refine pills at all. I've never seen this technique before. And the reason he got full marks in the first part—"

"My guess is that he obtained some kind of alchemy manual containing introductions to various spirit herbs and previously unknown pill formulas."

"He memorized the whole thing and got full marks. In truth, he simply doesn't know how to refine pills."

The people nearby began nodding in agreement and started questioning Yang Lingtian.

"That must be it. I thought he was impressive, but it turns out he's just trash."

"But he really is lucky to have obtained such a rare alchemy manual."

"So what? He'll only get zero points in this alchemy section."

Yang Lingtian was still completely immersed in the alchemy process, displaying his one-of-a-kind technique.

This was his first time refining a fourth-tier Spirit Elixir, and he had chosen the most difficult method to control.

Yet he remained completely unruffled. His movements were graceful and fluid, without the slightest hesitation or nervousness.

Everyone had begun to doubt Yang Lingtian. Only Wu Xulong believed that Yang Lingtian could refine a spirit pill.

After all, he had personally seen Yang Lingtian refine Third-Order Spirit Pills and produce five pills.

Even so, he was still a little worried. Judging from the situation, Yang Lingtian seemed to be refining a fourth-tier Spirit Elixir.

The difficulty was on an entirely different level from refining a Third-Order Spirit Pill.

He was worried that Yang Lingtian might be taking too great a risk by refining a fourth-tier Spirit Elixir directly.

Producing five Third-Order Spirit Pills would already earn full marks. Why take on the even greater difficulty of refining a fourth-tier Spirit Elixir?

Time passed second by second, and after a little over an hour, someone finished refining.

They then extinguished the furnace flame, and the spirit pill floated out of the Alchemy Furnace, hovering in midair.

After more than two hours had passed, the Tier 2 Alchemists and Tier 3 Alchemists had finished refining.

They had refined the corresponding Tier 2 Spirit Pills and Third-Order Spirit Pills.

Only a few people had produced two pills. After the main pavilion's Alchemists inspected them, their scores were announced.

Now, only the four fourth-tier Alchemists and Yang Lingtian were still refining.

After all, refining fourth-tier Spirit Elixirs required more time.

However, the spectators outside had different opinions about the five Alchemists who were still refining.

They all believed that the four fourth-tier Alchemists were truly refining pills.

As for Yang Lingtian, they all thought he was making a mess of things, and that the pills in his Alchemy Furnace had long since become ruined pills.

"Why is the Tianchen City Branch's man still refining? If he's ruined them, he should stop already!"

"Exactly. What a waste of so many high-grade spirit herbs. They never had a chance to show their worth before turning into ruined pills."

"That's right. The main pavilion went all out and brought out so many high-grade spirit herbs for this alchemy competition, only for the Tianchen City Branch to waste some of them like this."

Amid the crowd's gossip, the first fourth-tier Alchemist finished refining.

A dazzling fourth-tier Spirit Elixir slowly floated up from the Alchemy Furnace.

After the main pavilion's inspection confirmed that it was indeed a fourth-tier Spirit Elixir, the branch pavilion received one hundred and twenty points.

The second and third fourth-tier Alchemists soon finished as well, each producing a fourth-tier Spirit Elixir.

They were exceedingly pleased. In the second section, they had each earned one hundred and twenty points and were currently tied for first place.

Now, only the pills from the Tianchen City Branch and Qingquan City Branch had yet to emerge.

Suddenly, the Alchemy Furnace of the Qingquan City Branch opened, and two dazzling fourth-tier Spirit Elixirs slowly floated upward.

After inspecting them, the main pavilion's Alchemist announced that the Qingquan City Branch had produced two fourth-tier Spirit Elixirs and earned two hundred points.

The spectators outside immediately cried out in shock.

"Good heavens, he produced two pills at once! Those are fourth-tier Spirit Elixirs!"

"I heard that in the history of the alchemy competition, no one has produced two fourth-tier Spirit Elixirs in fifty years."

"Looks like first place belongs to the Qingquan City Branch this time."

"Ten years ago, Master Yu Qiang of the Qingquan City Branch only managed to produce one fourth-tier Spirit Elixir in the competition."

"I never expected that after ten years, Master Yu Qiang would be able to produce two fourth-tier Spirit Elixirs at once."

Faced with everyone's praise, Master Yu Qiang revealed a smug smile.

Producing two fourth-tier Spirit Elixirs meant he had earned full marks.

He had scored eighty points more than the fourth-tier Alchemists from the other three branch pavilions, who had each earned one hundred and twenty points.

As long as he scored at least twenty points in the third section, pill identification, his total score would surpass those of the other three branch pavilions.

In everyone's eyes, the first place in the alchemy competition had already been decided.

The Qingquan City Branch was certain to take first place in the alchemy competition.

As for the Tianchen City Branch, whose furnace had yet to open, they had already dismissed it entirely.

Master Yu Qiang was floating on air and did not take Yang Lingtian seriously at all.

Yang Lingtian had received full marks in the first part of the competition. At first, Master Yu Qiang had suspected that he was a hidden alchemy expert.

But after seeing Yang Lingtian dump all the spirit herbs into the Alchemy Furnace in one go, along with that never-before-seen alchemy technique,

Master Yu Qiang decided that Yang Lingtian was merely refining blindly. It was inevitable that he would end up with a ruined pill.

While the sparse discussions had yet to die down,

Yang Lingtian's Alchemy Furnace suddenly opened, and an unbelievable scene appeared before everyone's eyes.

Five spirit pills slowly rose into the air, dazzling beams of light shooting in every direction as a rich pill fragrance spread outward.

The scene immediately drew everyone's attention.

The knowledgeable judges and the four fourth-tier Alchemists from the branch pavilions recognized at a glance that all five pills were fourth-tier Spirit Elixirs.

They were all dumbstruck, unable to believe what they were seeing.

Especially the four fourth-tier Alchemists from the branch pavilions, who shouted in unison, "Impossible!"

Most of the spectators outside could not tell that these were fourth-tier Spirit Elixirs, but they could still sense that the five spirit pills were extraordinary and certainly not ruined pills.

They were equally astonished, completely stunned.

"How is that possible? He actually produced five pills!"

"Are those five fourth-tier Spirit Elixirs? Could they be only First-Rank Spirit Pills?"

"What do you mean, First-Rank Spirit Pills? Do First-Rank Spirit Pills give off such dazzling light and such a rich pill fragrance when they emerge from the furnace? I'd say they're at least Tier 2 Spirit Pills."