"We're all friends here, so I'll speak frankly. If we disregard rank, these pills rank as follows in quality: Qin Yue'er first, Ge Jiao second, You Butong third, and Wu Xian fourth."
Hearing Tang Yan's assessment, the four of them could not help looking startled.
Wu Xian's face flushed red. "I only rank fourth?" he protested.
"That's right, only fourth." Tang Yan nodded earnestly.
"Judging by their appearance, Qin Yue'er's pill is fine-textured, round, and smooth. Its fragrance escapes relatively slowly, so it retains its Spiritual Qi longer.
"Ge Jiao's pill is relatively fine-textured, but not round enough.
"Although You Butong is only a First-Rank Alchemist, he also achieved a fairly good result.
"But your pill, Wu Xian, is round and smooth, yet not fine-textured enough.
"That lack of fineness means there are many pores on the surface, so the pill won't keep for very long."
Hearing Tang Yan's assessment, Wu Xian, who had still been unconvinced, had to admit that Tang Yan had a point.
"There's a chance of failure in pill refining. Wu Xian successfully refined one, so that's already pretty good," Qin Yue'er said, coming to Wu Xian's rescue.
Tang Yan looked at Qin Yue'er with a smile in his eyes. "It's not just Wu Xian. I'm dissatisfied with every pill you refined."
"Hm?" The four looked at Tang Yan with somewhat unfriendly eyes.
Tang Yan picked up Qin Yue'er's pill, brought it to his nose, and sniffed lightly. He said calmly, "Of the ingredients in Qin Yue'er's pill, the Hundred-Colored Flower underwent the most extractions-seven. The other ingredients underwent between two and five.
"There was a delay of one breath when the ingredients began to fuse. So this pill of yours can only be considered middling in quality among pills of its kind."
As Tang Yan