The examinees' failure with their second batches of medicinal ingredients startled everyone watching.
"What happened? Even Fang Yiqian failed?"
"Something's wrong. After succeeding with the first batch, they should have had enough experience to succeed with the second, no matter how they refined it."
"Could there be something wrong with the Alchemical Furnace?"
A clamor of discussion rose from the crowd, echoing throughout the Qu Shui Orchid Pavilion.
Just as I thought! Jun Wangchen watched the scene unfold. These examinees had been so eager to refine pills that they had forgotten to inspect their herbs.
More precisely, they had assumed from the outset that all ten batches of herbs were fine, which was why they had begun refining without a care.
What they did not know was that Hall Master Zheng had added interfering substances to their pill ingredients. Without a careful examination using soul power, those substances were difficult to detect.
Once these substances entered the Alchemical Furnace with the ingredients, they would become agitated and affect the flame temperature to varying degrees, throwing off the herbs' ignition points and causing the refinement to fail.
To succeed with the remaining batches, they would have to identify the interfering substances. Otherwise, failure was all but inevitable.
With that thought, Jun Wangchen sent his soul power surging into the first batch of ingredients. After checking them and confirming that nothing was wrong, he redirected his spiritual power into the Alchemical Furnace.
In an instant, the Alchemical Furnace shook violently and flames flared to life. Even the surrounding air seemed to grow warmer.
Jun Wangchen flipped his right hand, transforming a stream of spiritual power into a flame that rose into the air and poured into the Alchemical Furnace.
The instant the spiritual flame entered the Alchemical Furnace, a roaring blaze