With the first ringing sound—
Liu Ling was the first to slam his palm onto the cauldron. The lid shot into the air, and a round pill flew out. He leaped up and caught it in one hand, unable to hide the smug look on his face.
"Clang!" Another crisp ring sounded. On the other side, the little princess flicked her delicate hand, and a pill shot out of her medicinal cauldron.
"Clang, clang, clang..."
Following those two sounds, a chain reaction seemed to sweep across the enormous square. Cauldron lids shot into the air one after another, and several hundred pills of various shapes sprang from their cauldrons, scattering toward the sky before being eagerly snatched out of the air by their owners.
"Time's almost up..." Otto stared fixedly at Xiao Yan, who still had his eyes closed in the center. Seeing the hourglass opposite him nearly run out, Otto suddenly clenched his hand. This fellow always made people worry during every assessment.
And Uchiha Madara beside him was also refining at an unhurried pace. Compared to Xiao Yan's grave expression, Madara remained completely calm, as though he had everything under control.
Nonsense—he was not even the one refining the pill. How could he not be calm?
Countless gazes in the square slowly shifted toward Xiao Yan and Uchiha Madara at the center. Watching the tiny amount of sand trickling through the hourglass, everyone wanted to know whether these two youths, standing in the most watched positions, could complete this round of the test at the last possible moment...
Well, Madara had been looking younger and younger these past few years. Calling him a youth was barely passable.
The few remaining grains in the hourglass quietly fell. As the last small cluster of sand was about to drop, regretful