Where the Problem Lies

Something was wrong—very wrong!

In the Original Work, Xiao Yan did run into a problem during the first round, but it had merely been a momentary lapse that caused the ingredients to be refined into dregs. It was nowhere near as serious as having the cauldron explode. If the ingredients were gone, there was still a spare set. But if the medicine cauldron exploded, everything would be for nothing.

Liuli grew much more nervous. These successive changes had begun to fill her heart with unease.

Xiao Yan's expression gradually turned ugly. He had never imagined that he would merely let his guard down for a moment and forget to continuously feed in Beast Flame. By all rights, at worst the ingredients should have failed to fuse and been burned into dregs. It should never have reached the point of exploding. Such energy fluctuations could only have resulted from injecting too much flame at once.

Now that his medicine cauldron had shattered, he could only swallow his resentment and withdraw. He had no chance at becoming the champion of this Alchemist Competition. It would also be difficult for him to obtain the Spirit Fusion Pill formula through this method.

However... this was the item Queen Medusa had requested in their deal. If Xiao Yan failed to obtain it this time, then when she appeared next time, she would surely seek out its owner and forcibly seize it.

Even before her awakening, Medusa had been a Peak Dou Huang, with practically no rivals among those of the same level. Now that she had awakened, her strength would likely advance even further, perhaps even reaching the Dou Zong realm. If she wanted something by force, there was probably no one in the surrounding few empires who could stop her.

Fa Ma, Jia Xingtian, and the others were equally shocked. They had not expected the young man they thought so highly of to blow up his medicine cauldron in the very first round.

Nalan Jie frowned slightly, a strange feeling rising in his heart. This Mister Yan Xiao had controlled a ferocious thing like Heavenly Flames, allowing it to travel through his meridians and help clear away his Brand Poison. How could he have such a major problem refining and fusing ingredients in the first round?

The entire plaza fell into a brief silence. Then, discussions erupted from the stands.

"Earlier, that Alchemist's control over Dou Qi looked extremely skilled, and he even took the most eye-catching spot. He should have been an expert with absolute confidence. How did he end up exploding his medicine cauldron in the first round, just like that Third-grade Alchemist from before?"

"Ha! If you ask me, he's just a show-off. Look at his Alchemist robe—it's only second-grade. Isn't it perfectly normal for a second-grade Alchemist to blow up a cauldron while refining a more demanding second-grade pill?"

"Exactly! Earlier, I even saw him making eyes at the Nalan Family's Young Miss and Miss Ya Fei of the Mitel Family. Now look at him, acting like such a useless fool. Let's see what right he still has to show off in front of those two."

"Shut up!" Yao Ye slapped the wooden armrest of the VIP seats and glared at the noble youths chattering endlessly behind him.

Seeing Ao Tuo grow angry, those people immediately wilted and obediently shut their mouths.

Listening to the waves of discussion across the plaza, Xiao Yan fell silent. He had heard plenty of similar remarks before, but that did not mean he felt nothing at all. Moreover, he had not noticed the cause of this accident in the slightest. It had come completely out of nowhere, and a surge of anger rose within him.

What the hell are you talking about? Have you ever refined pills yourselves? If you've got the guts, come down here and do it yourselves!

You dare question the Alchemy skill my Master taught me? Are you fucking looking to die?

A voice screamed madly within his heart.

At this moment, Yao Yue and Liu Ling also looked toward Xiao Yan. Seeing his somewhat gloomy expression, the former was a little worried. However, she had pills of her own to refine and could not spare the attention to comfort him. Besides, she had only brought one medicine cauldron, so she truly could not help. The latter, meanwhile, wore a gloating smile. Yan Xiao had thoroughly stolen the spotlight before him earlier, and now that he had stumbled, Liu Ling was delighted.

"Mister Yan Xiao, Mister Yan Xiao." Just as Xiao Yan could no longer bear it and was about to erupt, shouting out the suffocating grievance in his heart, a somewhat worried voice echoed beside him.

Xiao Yan took a deep breath and forcibly suppressed his anger. Turning toward the Bluestone Platform beside him, he saw the Pink-haired Girl staring at him.

"What is it, Miss Gongsun?" Xiao Yan forced out a smile, though it would have been better if he had not smiled at all.

"Do you need to borrow a medicine cauldron?" Liuli smiled and shook the Storage Ring on her hand.

Xiao Yan froze for a moment before a trace of joy rose in his heart. "Do you truly mean that, Miss Gongsun?"

Liuli smiled knowingly and summoned four or five medicine cauldrons of different colors from her Storage Ring. She declared confidently, "Liuli may not have much else, but I do have a few medicine cauldrons. Come on, pick whichever one you like. One use costs ten thousand Gold Coins!"

Seeing her somewhat smug expression, Xiao Yan could not help but smile as well. He cupped his hands toward her and said, "Then I'll gladly accept your offer!"

Everyone present stared blankly at the medicine cauldrons lined up on the Bluestone Platform before Liuli and fell silent.

Fa Ma, Jia Xingtian, and the others were also dumbfounded, exchanging glances. Jia Xingtian hesitantly said, "Those cauldrons seem to be of very high grade."

Fa Ma nodded woodenly, not knowing whether to laugh or cry. "The quality of these cauldrons is no worse than those national-treasure-grade medicine cauldrons of your Royal Family."

Jia Xingtian looked at Yu Gongtian, seated beside him, and placed even greater importance on her.

It was no wonder. Her family had nurtured a Dou Emperor who appeared to be under thirty, and even a younger member of the family could casually produce several high-grade medicine cauldrons. The family or faction behind them certainly could not be weak. At the very least, within the Northwestern Region, it was probably among the very best.

He definitely needed to make contact with the family or faction behind this woman. For the future Jia Ma Imperial Family, they could also serve as an exceptionally powerful shield.

Jia Xingtian silently calculated in his heart.

Liuli patted the medicine cauldrons, her expression filled with familiarity and memories. These were all cauldrons she had used for Pill Refining from childhood to adulthood. For instance, the green medicine cauldron Xiao Yan had chosen was one she had used from the age of six to nine. Back when she had first begun learning Alchemy skill and was at her most playful, she had used it to refine all sorts of strange things.

Xiao Yan carried the heavy medicine cauldron onto his own Bluestone Platform and slowly let out a breath. Bending down, he carefully examined it and felt the faint warmth from its six fire vents. Most of the negative emotions in his heart dissipated.

He still had hope. He could still fight for the championship.

As he stroked the medicine cauldron, he suddenly discovered a tiny engraved design in one corner: an unidentified flat pill, with a rectangular ruler drawn beside it... and next to that, a little figure sitting on a lotus, holding a small knife.

Xiao Yan found it rather strange and could not understand what the drawing meant. He could only sigh that this girl named Gongsun Liuli was not only unusual herself, but had an equally unusual artistic style.

Naturally, Xiao Yan quickly put this minor episode out of his mind. He calmed his breathing and focused his mind, taking out a fresh set of ingredients and slowly placing them into the new pill furnace for refinement.

Seeing Xiao Yan return to the right track, Liuli also relaxed and placed her second set of ingredients into the medicine cauldron.

This time, she became serious as well. Compared to the first attempt, both her technique and control had undergone a qualitative improvement. She had long since deduced the pill formula; she only needed to follow the steps.

She did not slow down again. The ingredients were quickly refined by the Life Flame of the Yin Yang Twin Flames. Without pausing, she immediately dropped all the ingredients in through the fire vents.

The powdered ingredients were gradually refined into six different medicinal liquids. Liuli began using Soul Power to control them into fusion. The fusion went smoothly. The first was completed in less than thirty seconds, while the second and third were completed within three minutes. But just as Liuli focused completely and prepared to fuse the fourth ingredient—

Bang! Bang! Bang!

Four or five explosions of medicine cauldrons rang out in succession. Liuli's concentration was disrupted slightly, but fortunately, she stopped in time. She forcibly halted the medicinal liquid fusion process and did not allow the ingredients to be ruined.

She looked around and saw black smoke billowing from dozens of pill cauldrons across the plaza, indicating that their cauldrons had exploded due to unstable medicinal liquid fusion. Even among the ten seats in the center of the plaza, four had failed, including Yao Yue and Liu Ling. However, the quality of their medicine cauldrons was excellent, so they did not suffer much damage and could proceed with a second attempt.

They all stared at their own cauldrons in disbelief, as though such a problem should never have happened to them.

Liuli frowned, sensing that something was wrong.

The situation in this first round felt somewhat familiar to her... wasn't this supposed to happen only in the second round?

She shifted part of her consciousness back to her main body, then turned to look at Fa Ma. She found him blowing his beard and glaring, his expression equally bewildered.

Regaining her senses, she looked once more at the medicinal liquids wrapped in Life Flame. A rather definite thought formed in her mind.

Someone had tampered with these ingredients or this pill formula!