The Bright Mountain Sect group was still watching Tong Mingshan. Naturally, they understood what those last two Black-and-White Flames were, and they could also see that Tong Mingshan had focused on the competition again.
Zuo Zisheng, the Heavenforging Sect disciple, had fallen into utter despair. Earlier, he had still clung to a sliver of hope, a few possibilities. He had considered that Luo Shengsheng might slip up, that Gu Liani, being a woman, might not have the ability, and that Mi Liangmeng of the Golden Hall was overreaching by attempting nine apertures.
As for Tong Mingshan, who came from a small sect like that, he had never taken him seriously, even if he had absorbed one more divine fire than him.
Only after weighing all those possibilities had he felt he had the faintest chance, that choosing to refine eight apertures might actually have been his best option.
Now Li Hongjiu, who had absorbed three divine fires just like him, had suddenly pulled out a move like this. It instantly made all his earlier calculations seem absurd and laughable, crushing him into complete despair.
He had given up entirely on taking first place.
Now he could only work to preserve his own dignity and his sect's honor, refining this eight-aperture Exquisite Heart as well and as quickly as possible.
Xu Mang of the Bright Sun Palace and Huang Chunzhu of the Hidden Light Valley had also abandoned their unrealistic hopes after Li Hongjiu's move, focusing on refining their own seven-aperture Exquisite Hearts.
The same was true of everyone else. In their hearts, they acknowledged that their skills fell short and no longer placed themselves on the same level as Li Hongjiu and Luo Shengsheng.
The competitors all busied themselves with their own work again, flames of every color flickering and