The Second Round of the Tournament, the Flawed Pill Formula

Seeing Xiao Yan emerge victorious.

Fama and the others in the VIP seats let out soft sighs of relief.

However, the concern in their eyes had not completely faded.

The tournament had three rounds, and only the winner of the final round would claim the championship.

After a brief rest, the second round of the tournament began.

When the remaining eight hundred-plus Alchemy Masters saw that this time the formula was a standard one, they let out sighs of relief.

With a standard pill formula, even though it was a third-tier pill, most Alchemy Masters were extremely confident that they could pass.

Windwalking Pill, a third-tier pill.

Effect: After taking it, one could increase their affinity with wind-element energy between heaven and earth. Even those without wind-attributed battle qi could temporarily borrow wind energy to increase their speed, while wind-attributed battle qi users could use the pill's effects to temporarily accelerate their cultivation.

After reading the formula with their soul strength, most Alchemy Masters confidently lit their fires and began refining the medicinal ingredients.

However, Alchemy Masters such as Liu Ling and Yao Ye, who had ranked highly in the first round, frowned slightly. They were somewhat puzzled as to why the second round was so easy.

Still, that doubt lasted only a moment before they, too, lit their fires and began refining pills.

Xiao Yan knew the plot. He knew that the formula for the Windwalking Pill was actually wrong, with one extra medicinal ingredient.

However, he could not be bothered to warn anyone. He merely refined the ingredients slowly.

As time passed, a faint muffled bang sounded. An Alchemy Master had failed during the pill-fusing stage, and his pill was burned into ashes.

The Alchemy Master stared in astonishment. He was certain he had followed the method on the formula exactly, so how had he failed?

However, more and more muffled bangs soon rang out. One Alchemy Master after another stared blankly at the pills burned to ashes, questioning their very existence.

Two faint muffled bangs also sounded beside Xiao Yan. Liu Ling and the Little Princess wore ugly expressions; clearly, they had failed as well.

This made them become cautious, because they had only one final batch of ingredients left. If they failed again, they could only stop here.

When Xiao Yan began the fusion stage, he drew everyone's attention.

After all, he had taken first place in the first round.

With a muffled puff, the pill in Xiao Yan's cauldron exploded as well, burned into ashes by the surging Purple Flame that rushed over it.

Seeing that Xiao Yan had failed too, the ugly expressions on Liu Ling and the others' faces improved considerably.

In the VIP seats, Fama frowned slightly. Could it be that even Han Li hadn't noticed the problem with the formula?

However, what reassured him was that the gray-robed Alchemy Master from the Cloud Empire had failed the first time as well.

After everyone failed their first attempt at fusing the pill, Bluestone Platform Square fell silent.

Most Alchemy Masters picked up their formulas again and sent in their soul strength, carefully reading the information within once more.

Only after exhausting the remaining soul strength in the formula did it turn into waste paper.

"All my steps, the refinement purity, the flame temperature, the fusion process, the fusion timing—none of them were wrong. Why did I fail?"

An Alchemy Master muttered to himself, his face full of confusion.

That same expression appeared on most of the Alchemy Masters' faces. They looked at one another, not knowing what to do next.

The spectators in the stands also noticed the strange atmosphere on Bluestone Platform Square and began whispering among themselves.

When the first Alchemy Master failed again and became the first to leave, the others were so frightened that they no longer dared to fuse their pills.

As time passed, many Alchemy Masters grew anxious. They could only grit their teeth and follow the method on the formula, carefully beginning the fusion process.

However, when their pills were burned into ashes once more, those Alchemy Masters became utterly dejected.

"I clearly refined it according to the formula. How could I have failed?"

They doubted their own abilities, yet never suspected that there was a problem with the formula. How pitiful.

As Alchemy Masters failed one after another and left regretfully, the remaining Alchemy Masters became too frightened to fuse their pills.

But there was not much time left. If they continued refusing to fuse them, they would still be eliminated for failing to produce a pill in time.

The originally bustling square fell quiet.

There was an exception, however: the second-place finisher of the second round, that gray-robed man.

He began fusing his pill. When the essence of the final medicinal ingredient was tossed in, the pill did not explode. Instead, it spun rapidly within the flames. It was about to form.

Could it be that only he could pass the second round?

At that moment, Xiao Yan revealed an "enlightened" expression and began fusing his pill as well.

The surrounding Alchemy Masters carefully watched the steps of the first-round champion, trying to glean some useful information from them.

After fusing the essences of eight medicinal ingredients, Xiao Yan stopped. The surging Purple Flame tempered the pill embryo until it spun rapidly.

As it spun, the pill embryo became rounder, denser, and more solid. It was about to form into a pill.

Yet they had not seen Xiao Yan add the essence of the final medicinal ingredient.

Liu Ling and the Little Princess were closest to Xiao Yan. They exchanged a glance, their lips moving slightly.

"Thick-Earth Lingzhi!"

They understood. The formula had one extra medicinal ingredient.

Some of the nearby Alchemy Masters also came to a sudden realization. Understanding the issue, they immediately began refining.

Some Alchemy Masters had already refined their ingredients earlier, so they still had enough time to begin fusing them now.

Others were miserable. Because they had been overly cautious earlier, they had not refined their ingredients at all. Even though they now understood the crux of the matter, it was already too late.

As the sand in the hourglass was about to run out, Alchemy Masters successfully refined Windwalking Pills one after another. Of course, red lights flashed on more than half the bluestone platforms, indicating elimination.

The first to succeed was naturally the gray-robed man. Xiao Yan unhurriedly took second place, Liu Ling came third, and the Little Princess fourth.

Although they had successfully refined their pills, the pills still needed to be tested.

This time, the gray-robed man's pill was found to have eighty percent efficacy, while Xiao Yan's had only seventy percent.

When the hourglass ran out, more than two hundred Alchemy Masters had successfully refined pills. However, after testing, another seventy or eighty were eliminated because they had rushed too much, producing Windwalking Pills that were too crude and had less than forty percent efficacy.

After two rounds, the original two thousand-plus Alchemy Masters had been reduced to just over a hundred.

"Everyone, today's tournament will end here for now. The final round will take place the day after tomorrow, when the tournament champion will be decided."

Fama announced loudly.

After two rounds of competition, the sky had darkened, and the silver moon quietly rose over the horizon.

Hearing Fama's words, the Alchemy Masters on the bluestone platforms who had advanced to the next round let out relieved sighs. They put away their cauldrons and left chatting and laughing with acquaintances.

The gray-robed man also put away his cauldron and quickly left the square, disappearing into the crowd.

"Brother Han Li, I truly have you to thank for advancing through the second round."

Yao Yue thanked Xiao Yan in a sweet voice, a trace of gratitude appearing on her pretty face.

Liu Ling clenched his fists. As the disciple of the Pill King, he did not want to admit that Xiao Yan was better than him.

Watching the Little Princess and Xiao Yan leave, he silently swore that he would perform well in the final round and seize the tournament championship.

At the imperial capital's night market, Xiao Yan was accompanied by Ya Fei, Xue Mei, Lin Fei, Yao Yue, and Yao Ye. The five women's gorgeous looks complemented one another like a hundred flowers in bloom, drawing heated gazes from every man around them.

When those men saw Xiao Yan's ordinary face, they were filled with disbelief. Why did five beauties like such an ordinary man?

"Heh, you lot must be blind. He was first place in the first round of today's Alchemy Master Tournament and second place in the second round."

Some spectators who had watched the tournament recognized Xiao Yan and mocked them.

Hearing that, everyone withdrew their contemptuous gazes. So he was a distinguished Alchemy Master.

Not far behind Xiao Yan, a black-robed man was quietly following him.

He concealed himself in the dark shadows, and even those passing by him failed to notice his presence.

This fellow is so promiscuous, with so many beauties at his side. What a waste of Miss's feelings for him.

Fine. I'll report the truth to Miss. It would be best if she became disappointed in him.

He may be considered a genius in the Jia Ma Empire, but he is nothing when viewed across the entire Battle Qi Continent.

With his talent and strength, he is not even worthy of carrying Miss's shoes.

The black-robed man thought to himself as he hid in the shadows and followed Xiao Yan from afar.

"There really is a mysterious person following you from behind. Do you want me to get rid of him?"

Within the Portable Space, Medicine Elder sent Xiao Yan a soul transmission.

After recovering his memories clearly, Xiao Yan had learned that Xun'er had sent someone to follow him, from Wutan City to the Magic Beast Mountain Range, then to the Tagor Desert, and finally to this imperial capital.

That was why Xiao Yan had told Medicine Elder to keep watch.

With Medicine Elder's powerful soul perception, even though the black-robed man's concealment methods were extremely skilled, he was still detected.

"No need. Xun'er sent him to protect me."

Xiao Yan replied with a smile through soul transmission.

"Xiao Xun'er, that little girlfriend of yours from Wutan City? Her background is indeed mysterious. Even I cannot see through it."

Medicine Elder said.

Xiao Yan did not say anything more. Instead, he strolled through the night market with the five women. Smelling the various fragrances coming from them was quite enjoyable.

"Little Yan, why did you deliberately hold back during the second round? With your skill, you must have noticed the problem with the formula from the beginning."

At that moment, Medicine Elder transmitted his voice again.

Xiao Yan said, "Heh, I did it on purpose. I don't believe you failed to notice the gray-robed man's disguise."

Medicine Elder said, "That gray-robed man's alchemy techniques are extremely seasoned, not something an Alchemy Master of your age should possess. He must have used some method to become younger and participate in the Alchemy Master Tournament. But what does that have to do with you?"

Xiao Yan opened his mouth and ate a spirit fruit that Xue Mei fed him before transmitting his reply.

"That fellow is an Alchemy Master from the Cloud Empire. If he wins the tournament championship, it will be a slap in the face of the empire's Alchemy Masters' Guild. Fama, as the guild president, should be getting anxious."

"So what?" Medicine Elder asked in confusion.

"Right now, I'm the only one who can compete with that fellow for the championship. Fama will definitely come begging me, and then the benefits will come, won't they?"

Xiao Yan said with a light laugh.

"That's it?"

Medicine Elder was speechless.