In the stands, the instant Xiao Yan summoned his flame, Jiang Yun's gaze fell on him.
With the strength of a nine-star Dou Shi and his Flame Mantra now evolved to the intermediate Black Tier, he had already surpassed his counterpart at this point in the original story.
And the flame within him was the Myriad Beast Spirit Flame!
Having confirmed Xiao Yan's current condition, Jiang Yun looked away. He still could not be certain whether it was all a coincidence; he would have to keep watching.
As time passed, explosions began ringing out across the square.
Bang, bang, bang... The first round tested the alchemists' fundamentals, and clearly, among these two thousand or so alchemists, quite a few were merely filling seats or were first-tier alchemists. Second-tier pills were still too much for them.
There were also many second-rank alchemists whose fundamentals were inadequate, leaving their success rate in refining second-tier pills far too low.
Combined with the atmosphere of the Alchemist Tournament, those who lacked mental fortitude had an even lower chance of successfully refining a pill.
After exhausting both portions of ingredients, alchemists kept leaving the square with livid faces, cursing under the regretful gazes coming from every direction.
"Condense!"
When half the sand in the hourglass had fallen, Xiao Yi Xian gave a sharp cry. A perfectly round pill flew out of the medicine cauldron before her ahead of all the others, and she beckoned, catching it in her hand.
Xiao Yi Xian's being the first to successfully refine a pill greatly astonished everyone in the VIP seats. They had never expected the first to finish to be the quiet young woman accompanying Jiang Yun. Although the speed of pill refinement did not determine the level of one's alchemy, finishing fastest was an ability in itself.