The bell rang out, deep and resonant, heralding the arrival of the final showdown.
The bustling square sank into a searing silence the moment the bell fell. Tens of thousands of gazes, like iron filings drawn to an invisible magnet, fixed themselves on the few Stone Platforms that remained.
Every figure standing upon them represented the pinnacle of alchemy among the younger generation of the Jia Ma Empire.
And the final victor would be decided in this round.
Fa Ma's powerful voice rang through the sky. "Final round—pill refinement!"
"The pill formula: fourth-tier, Spirit Recovery Purple Pill!"
As his words fell, screens of light rose from the Stone Platforms, clearly displaying the intricate pill formula and its steps.
Gasps rippled across the square like waves.
A fourth-tier pill!
That was a summit most alchemists could never reach in their entire lives!
Before Stone Platform Three Hundred Twenty-Seven.
Xiao Yan let out a long breath.
His pupils, once unfocused with humiliation, now sharpened into two icy points.
"Boy, steady your mind!"
The old, grave voice rang through his heart like the tolling of a morning bell and evening drum.
"Forget him. Forget everyone! At this moment, your world contains only the cauldron and the flame!"
"Give everything you have to refining this pill! Let them see with their own eyes who the true once-in-a-century genius on this continent is!"
Yao Lao's voice held a strain of anxiety he could barely conceal. He could clearly sense that his proud disciple's resolve had been on the verge of shattering beneath those humiliating words.
Xiao Yan didn't answer. He merely closed his eyes slowly.
When he opened them again, all humiliation and resentment had been crushed and buried deep within those dark eyes. In their place was the madness of burning his boats and