The pill-forming process was purely a test of an Alchemist's pill-refining skills.
Not only did it demand precise control over the heat, but it also required a sufficiently high level of pill-condensing skill.
The slightest carelessness could easily cause the extracted medicinal powders and liquids to react violently during condensation, leading to exploding pills, exploding furnaces, and other problems.
Every step therefore had to be strictly controlled.
Throughout this process, Zong Ya appeared quite relaxed.
That was because, lately, she had spent more than half of almost every day refining pills.
She could not have been more familiar with every step of the pill-refining process, so even with the final step of forming the pill, she remained fairly confident.
By contrast, none of the other disciples were as relaxed as she was.
Although they, too, possessed sufficient pill-refining skills, their fire control and pill-condensing abilities were clearly inferior to Zong Ya's.
As a result, not only were they considerably slower than Zong Ya, but the quality of the Cultivation Pills they refined was also far inferior to hers.
This gave Zong Ya an opportunity. As long as she maintained her standard and refined her pill properly, she would have no trouble passing this Alchemist assessment.
On the other side, Zhao Yan continued his "consistent performance," finding new ways to cheat.
Judging by his manner, he had not come to take an assessment at all today. Just as that disciple had said, he was merely going through the motions.
Outside the examination area, Lin Ke took it all in.
He had to admit that, sometimes, he really did admire people like this.
They clearly had no abilities whatsoever and relied entirely on their family's powerful backing, yet they insisted on pretending they could do everything, plastering themselves with gold.
Before the