Year-End Test (Third Update!)

When the recipes for the Soul Nurturing Pill and Soul Condensing Pill were announced, the entire Alchemist Association erupted.

Gu Yan had already verified them: all five pill recipes were correct! The Soul Nurturing Pill and Soul Condensing Pill really were much more effective than the Soul Gathering Pill!

At last, the recipes for these two pills, lost since the age of the Divine Empire, had returned to the world!

The several elders who had been unhappy with Director Yang for buying large quantities of useless herbs immediately fell silent. You had to be kidding! Of the dozens of herbs Director Yang had bought, seven were ingredients for the Soul Nurturing Pill and Soul Condensing Pill. Those two pills alone could earn the Alchemist Association an unimaginable amount of money!

At the same time, they were a little puzzled. Of the dozens of herbs Director Yang had bought, only seven could be used to make these two pills. What were the rest for? Could President Gu Yan have hidden the recipes for some other pills without announcing them?

The Alchemist Association launched a massive pill-making campaign. Nearly every alchemist above the intermediate-apprentice level hurried to produce these two pills.

The Alchemist Association's activity soon spread throughout the entire City of Brilliance.

The news that the long-lost Soul Nurturing Pill and Soul Condensing Pill were dozens, even hundreds, of times more effective than the Soul Gathering Pill sent the entire City of Brilliance into an uproar.

The Soul Gathering Pill was something of a white elephant: its effects were weak, yet it was expensive, so many people were unwilling to pay a high price for it. But the Soul Nurturing Pill and Soul Condensing Pill were different. Their ingredients cost only a little more than those of the Soul Gathering Pill, yet their effects were far stronger. The Alchemist Association had already announced that, since these two pills could be produced in great quantities, the Soul Nurturing Pill would cost twice as much as the Soul Gathering Pill, while the Soul Condensing Pill would cost twenty times as much. Their effects were ten and a hundred times greater, yet their prices were only twice and twenty times as high. The Alchemist Association's announcement caused a sensation.

Everyone was eagerly awaiting the large-scale sale of these two pills!

Gu Yan's thinking on the matter was that, although there was room to raise the prices, setting them too high would hinder widespread adoption. Selling the pills at a low price would earn more money while strengthening the City of Brilliance against demon beast attacks. It would also boost the Alchemist Association's influence. It was a win on all fronts.

With the arrival of the Soul Nurturing Pill and Soul Condensing Pill, the once-declining Alchemist Association, which had attracted little attention, was suddenly thrust into the limelight. Everyone wanted to get their hands on the pills ahead of time, and prices on the black market went through the roof!

Before long, the City Lord's Mansion sent a confidential order to the Alchemist Association, telling them to step up production of the two pills. They would have an enormous impact on the City of Brilliance, and even the City Lord was taking them very seriously!

Every member of the Alchemist Association worked overtime to mass-produce the pills. Though they had far more work than usual, they were also paid several times, even dozens of times, as much. None of them were making the garbage Soul Gathering Pill anymore! They were focused entirely on the Soul Nurturing Pill and Soul Condensing Pill!

Some of the pills made their way out of the Alchemist Association. After a few Demon Spirit Masters took them and absorbed their effects, it became clear that they worked exceptionally well. Many Demon Spirit Masters whose cultivation had long been stalled suddenly made great strides. The people of the City of Brilliance became even more excited and eager. Many Noble Families were preparing to buy the pills in bulk to cultivate their younger generations. In the future, these two pills might produce hundreds, or even thousands, of Demon Spirit Masters!

It was said that some members of the Dark Guild were also buying large quantities of the Soul Nurturing Pill and Soul Condensing Pill on the black market. In response, the City Lord of the City of Brilliance issued an emergency order: anyone who resold the pills to the Dark Guild would face severe punishment!

The two pills had drawn the gaze of everyone in the City of Brilliance to the Alchemist Association. Then, at that very moment, President Gu Yan announced that they would also be making three other kinds of pills. One was the Soul Tempering Pill, ten times more potent than the Soul Condensing Pill and highly effective even for Black Gold Demon Spirit Masters and Legendary Demon Spirit Masters. Another was the Flame Yang Body Tempering Pill, which could greatly strengthen the body and dramatically increase the user's strength. The last was the Nine Revolutions Pill, which could keep someone clinging to life even after suffering a fatal injury.

In an instant, everyone in the City of Brilliance was even more astonished. It was said that on the very night the news was announced, Legendary Demon Spirit Master Ye Mo and the City Lord went to the Alchemist Association to visit Gu Yan, buying a large quantity of pills from him for a fortune.

If even Lord Ye Mo, a Legendary Demon Spirit Master, and the City Lord cared so much about these three pills, everyone couldn't help but look forward to them even more.

Before long, the Soul Nurturing Pill and Soul Condensing Pill went on sale in the Alchemist Association's stores. The crowds were beyond anyone's expectations. In addition to the Noble Families, all kinds of merchant guilds and even small families eagerly competed to buy them. Sales reached a full six hundred million Spirit Coins in a single day, and Nie Li alone stood to receive nearly two hundred million. Yang Xin personally brought the money to Sacred Lan Academy and handed it to Nie Li. For a long time to come, money would keep pouring in for him.

The Alchemist Association's elders were deeply shaken by the figures, and Gu Yan's position within the association became even more secure. Elder Hu Shuo had once joined forces with two other elders to try to seize the presidency from Gu Yan, but now Hu Shuo had lowered his banner and sheathed his sword. The two elders he had courted had also thrown in their lot with Gu Yan.

The Alchemist Association's financial strength swelled to astonishing levels. They announced that they were recruiting disciples on a large scale throughout the City of Brilliance. All tuition would be waived, and those who reached the intermediate-apprentice level could earn money by making pills. The association's appeal immediately soared, and many commoner children who had no way of entering Sacred Lan Academy joined the Alchemist Association!

More than a month passed in the blink of an eye.

Everything remained peaceful. Though members of the Dark Guild were occasionally spotted in the City of Brilliance, no major incidents occurred. With Lord Ye Mo and the City Lord holding the fort, the city stood as firm as a mountain as long as it didn't face an attack by a Legendary demon beast.

Nie Li, Du Ze, Lu Piao, and the others devoted themselves to cultivation at Sacred Lan Academy, practicing the most powerful techniques. Their Spatial Rings were filled each day with more Soul Tempering Pills and Crimson Flame Body Tempering Pills than they could use, and every night they soaked in baths of Purple Mist Grass. Their cultivation advanced by leaps and bounds.

There were people outside who wanted to harm Nie Li, but he and the others stayed inside Sacred Lan Academy, leaving those people helpless.

The year-end test was drawing near.

The results of this test would affect the future and fate of every student at Sacred Lan Academy! Once the exams were over, all the students would be reassigned to new classes, and the differences between classmates would gradually grow wider.

After this test, the students of Sacred Lan Academy would be able to go home and face their parents' questions about how well they had cultivated over the past year.

All the students at Sacred Lan Academy were preparing anxiously, hoping to earn excellent results in the test.

In the junior martial artist apprentice class, what drew the most attention was the bet between Nie Li and Instructor Shen Xiu.

Nie Li, Du Ze, Lu Piao, and the others hadn't appeared in class for a long time. Nobody knew how they were doing. Breaking through to the Bronze 1-star Realm in two months was impossible, wasn't it?

"Boss Shen Yue, Nie Li and his gang spend every day hiding in the library. They don't even dare show their faces around the academy! There's no way he's reached the Bronze 1-star Realm. He'd better get ready to drop out!" one of Shen Yue's lackeys said with a flattering grin. "Boss Shen Yue has taken a few Soul Condensing Pills. He must be close to the Bronze 2-star Realm by now!"

Was Nie Li really too afraid to show himself? Could he reach the Bronze 1-star Realm? Shen Yue didn't know how to answer. Nie Li had beaten Chu Yuan, who was already at the Bronze 3-star level! Could that really have been only because Nie Li had an unusually good grasp of Soul Power? It just didn't add up!

Still, Shen Yue would rather believe that Nie Li hadn't reached the Bronze 1-star Realm.

Ever since Nie Li had shown up, Ye Ziyun had never once looked him in the eye! Shen Yue hated Nie Li to the bone. But he had never had a chance to cause trouble for him. Once the test was over, if Nie Li dropped out, Shen Yue still wouldn't let him go. He would make Nie Li wish he were dead!

Nie Li had exposed the Crimson Flame Explosion inscription pattern as a copy, enraging the Sacred Family. The Sacred Family was already doing everything it could to suppress the Sky Mark Family. Even if Nie Li didn't leave Sacred Lan Academy, he would still become a stray dog with nowhere to go. Shen Yue could already picture Nie Li's miserable fate!

Who told you to offend me and my big brother! Shen Yue thought bitterly. Was Nie Li really born to oppose the Sacred Family? He had stolen Shen Yue's woman, and now he had stolen his big brother's woman too. His big brother was the future heir of the Sacred Family, after all!

The entire Sacred Lan Academy grounds were filled with people cultivating—in the practice yard, among the trees, everywhere. To prepare for the exams, many children from Noble Families had taken plenty of Soul Nurturing Pills and Soul Condensing Pills, and the results were quite noticeable. Some with especially prestigious families had even managed to get one or two Soul Tempering Pills or Crimson Flame Body Tempering Pills!

The pills' effects were quite obvious. This year's students were clearly stronger than the previous year's, much to the delight of the academy's senior staff.

Who knew how many of this year's graduating students from the genius class would reach the Silver 5-star level? Anyone who reached the Silver 5-star level before the age of sixteen would become a pillar of the City of Brilliance and an important power-holder. In general, anyone who reached the Silver Level would have a bright future.

Nearly half of the previous genius class would graduate and leave, while some new students would take their places. How many would qualify to join the genius class this year? That was something to look forward to as well.

Sacred Lan Academy was decked out with decorations everywhere, making preparations for this important occasion.