Victory in Sight

At Wei Chengzong's word, "Begin," Ning Fa immediately entered his rhythm.

His expression became utterly focused, as though he had returned to those days and nights at home when he refined pills without rest. Only the pill furnace and spiritual ingredients remained in his eyes; all else was cast far behind him.

Ning Shaohong glanced at Ning Fa in surprise, then a smile curled across her lips. For the first time, she had a trace of confidence that Ning Fa might pass this assessment.

Wei Chengzong, standing nearby, merely curled his lip. He did not believe Ning Fa had any chance of passing the assessment at all.

After all, he knew Ning Fa's pill-refining skill very well. By his estimate, if Ning Fa had four or five chances to refine pills each month, he would need at least another five years before he even had a slim chance of truly passing the assessment.

Yet Wei Chengzong could never have imagined that Ning Fa possessed something as heaven-defying as the Mysterious Scroll. In this nearly one month, Ning Fa had opened the furnace hundreds of times.

Ning Ruiming still wore a look of lingering anger and disdain as he watched Ning Fa, clearly waiting for him to make a fool of himself in public once more.

Liu Qinghui, meanwhile, watched Ning Fa quietly. The emotions in her beautiful eyes were difficult to read. For some reason, she felt that Ning Fa might pass the assessment this time.

When she had seen Ning Fa on Jinchang Island last time, she had felt that he seemed somewhat different. That was why she had told Ning Ruiming that perhaps a miracle might happen.

And today, after learning that Ning Fa had come to take the assessment again, she had been drawn here as if by some unseen hand to watch in person.

As Ning Fa began extracting the spiritual herbs into spiritual liquid, the expressions of Wei Chengzong, Ning Ruiming, and Liu Qinghui—all three pill refiners—changed.

Ning Fa's movements flowed like drifting clouds and running water, without a single superfluous action. They were swift, precise, and ruthless, yet pleasing to the eye, without the slightest hint of disorder.

Wei Chengzong and the other two could not help asking themselves whether they could achieve such a level while extracting spiritual liquid. Very quickly, all of them gave themselves a negative answer.

This was not to say that Ning Fa's skill in extracting spiritual liquid had surpassed all three of them, but when it came to extracting the spiritual herbs for Essence Replenishing Pills, Ning Fa's level was unquestionably higher than theirs.

The disdainful smile at the corner of Ning Ruiming's mouth vanished, and his expression began to darken.

Very soon, Ning Fa had extracted all seven types of spiritual herbs into spiritual liquid.

Wei Chengzong narrowed his eyes, because he realized that Ning Fa had spent nearly sixty breaths less than usual completing this step.

Moreover, judging from the color, purity, and quality of those spiritual liquids, the extraction had been superb. For the first time, he felt that Ning Fa might truly have a chance to pass the assessment today.

A glimmer seemed to flash through Liu Qinghui's eyes as she watched Ning Fa's pill refinement even more intently.

Ning Fa had already begun the next stage: nurturing the pill.

This process severely tested the order and intervals at which the various spiritual liquids were added to the pill furnace, as well as the Hand Seal control over the furnace, allowing the spiritual liquids of the various medicinal ingredients to merge smoothly.

Ning Fa did not panic in the slightest. His movements were orderly and unhurried as Hand Seals of different colors shot from his hands one after another. This was the confidence brought by extensive practice.

But as the process continued, Ning Fa's brows gradually drew together.

He could feel that the feedback from this white pill furnace differed from that of his own furnace.

It was not that this furnace was poor in quality. It was simply like someone accustomed to driving one carriage suddenly switching to another—there was always some discomfort.

Fortunately, Ning Fa was already exceedingly familiar with refining Essence Replenishing Pills. He was still able to forcefully maintain control, though his movements inevitably became somewhat uncoordinated.

The consummate, flawless ease he had displayed while extracting the spiritual liquid disappeared, replaced by a faint sense of disorder.

Only then did Wei Chengzong and Ning Ruiming breathe a sigh of relief. This was the normal performance of a low-grade pill refiner. Ning Fa's earlier performance in extracting spiritual liquid had truly frightened them.

Ning Fa successfully completed the pill-nurturing stage and began the next stage, the pill-forming stage. This was also the most important stage.

After pill formation came the final furnace-opening stage.

As Ning Fa sent the final yellow Hand Seal into the pill furnace, he shouted, "Rise!"

The pill furnace flew open on its own, and a hazy glow spread from within it. At the same time, a fragrant scent rushed forth.

Wei Chengzong looked at Ning Fa in surprise. From his experience, this batch had definitely produced proper pills; he just did not know how many.

And judging from the signs of the furnace opening, the quality of those proper pills was likely far from poor.

In Ning Fa's more than ten previous assessment attempts, he had only luckily refined a single proper pill in the final furnace two or three times. Even then, their quality had been ordinary, only barely qualifying as proper pills.

Ning Shaohong and Ning Xiuying beside her both stared at the pill furnace. Although they did not understand pill refinement, they could vaguely guess that Ning Fa's refinement had succeeded this time.

Ning Ruiming stared fixedly at the pill furnace. He could naturally tell that Ning Fa had definitely produced proper pills this time. In his heart, he prayed frantically that there would be only one proper pill.

Liu Qinghui gave Ning Fa an inconspicuous glance, and the feeling in her heart grew even stronger.

Ning Fa's face remained expressionless, but inwardly, he felt somewhat annoyed.

Though he had not yet looked inside the furnace, his experience had already told him that this refining result had definitely not reached his true standard.

At this moment, Wei Chengzong stepped forward to the pill furnace. He first lowered his head to look inside, then stroked his beard and nodded.

Then, with a beckoning motion of one hand, a cluster of radiance flew before him. Within it were five milky-white pills the size of fingertips.

Two were round and full, lustrous in color, without a single crack. A faint sheen shimmered across their surfaces.

The other three were irregularly round, and their surfaces bore cracks to varying degrees. They were clearly all Failed Pills.

"Two proper pills, three Failed Pills."

Wei Chengzong announced the result to everyone, then said to Ning Fa with a kindly expression, "Ning Fa, you did well. If you maintain this level in the next two furnaces, you will pass the assessment today."

Everyone present possessed divine sense, so they naturally all confirmed the Results of this refinement.

Ning Shaohong looked at Ning Fa, and the smile in her beautiful eyes deepened.

Ning Ruiming's gaze darkened, and he gripped the armrest of his wooden chair so hard that it nearly warped.

After resting for a quarter of an hour, Ning Fa began his second round of pill refinement.

This time, Ning Fa spent even less time than during the first round, refining three proper pills and three Failed Pills.

In other words, he had refined five proper pills across two furnaces. As long as he refined one more proper pill in the third furnace, he would pass the assessment.