On the platform, the contestants looked at Yao Shiling, who had suddenly collapsed and was now seemingly lifeless. Many of them wore mocking expressions, clearly having heard about his deeds beforehand. Seeing him in this state, they couldn't help but feel schadenfreude.
Standing there, Xiao Yan calmly looked at the pale-faced Yao Shiling, snorted softly, and with a wave of his hand, a cluster of Heavenly Flames shot out from Yao Shiling's body and then returned to Xiao Yan's hand.
Once the Heavenly Flames had entered his body was no longer suppressed by the Yao Shiling, it naturally regained its freedom. For Xiao Yan to subdue it was as easy as lifting a finger.
"Laugh!"
The next moment, just as the onlookers were making sarcastic remarks to Yao Shiling, the space around him suddenly distorted violently, and a middle-aged man with an extremely ugly face appeared. Judging from his clothing, which was similar to Yao Shiling's, he should also be a member of the Yao Clan.
The middle-aged man appeared and quickly grabbed Yao Shiling. After examining her, his already gloomy face became even more unpleasant. Just as he was about to turn and leave, his gaze swept over everyone present. Those whose eyes met his fell silent. Then his gaze landed on Xiao Yan, his cold eyes containing a chilling killing intent.
Xiao Yan merely glanced at it indifferently and then ignored it.
Since Yao Shiling dared to snatch the Heavenly Flames from his hand in public, he should have been prepared to suffer the consequences. In the end, this situation was nothing more than Yao Shiling bringing it upon himself.
After exchanging a glance, the middle-aged man coldly withdrew his gaze, stomped his foot heavily on the ground, and flew out carrying Yao Shiling's body, soaring back towards the archway they had come from. Yao Shiling Pill Gathering.
"Whoosh!"
Seeing the middle-aged man leave the venue with the Yao Shiling, Xiao Yan casually placed the Heavenly Flames in his palm into the sea of fire again. This time, Xiao Yan had no patience left. After what had just happened, there was not much time left in the first stage of the competition, so there was no need to waste any more time.
With Xiao Yan's deliberate enhancement, the speed at which the Heavenly Flames extracted the pill naturally increased significantly. In just a few minutes, a somewhat mottled Nascent Pill was returned to Xiao Yan's hand. Looking at the pill in his palm, Xiao Yan couldn't help but frown slightly.
"This pill doesn't seem like an ordinary Nascent Pill; it looks more like a sixth-grade Return Fire Pill."
After a moment's hesitation, Xiao Yan finally confirmed the true quality of the pill.
The so-called Return Fire Pill is made by adding new medicinal materials to an already refined pill using special techniques, thus refining it and raising its grade, thereby enhancing its efficacy. This technique is quite similar to the Spirit Ascension Method that Xiao Yan has mastered.
However, refining Return Fire Pill is much more difficult than refining Formed Pill. The higher the grade of the Return Fire Pill, the more complicated and difficult the refining method becomes, no less than refining a Formed Pill from scratch. Therefore, unless there is no other choice, ordinary people would never refine a pill that has already been refined.
The appearance of a sixth-order Return Fire Pill at the Pill Gathering is astounding. With this alone, most of the sixth-order beginner alchemists present would likely find it difficult to refine. It seems that this first hurdle will eliminate quite a few participants!
As expected, when the alchemists present finally managed to retrieve a Nascent Pill from the cauldron after much effort, only to discover that it was actually a Return Fire Pill, their faces instantly turned pale. Many of them gritted their teeth and retreated to an open area far from the crowd. They then summoned their cauldrons and solemnly began to attempt to refine the pill.
Even worse, after looking at the Nascent Pill in his palm and pondering for a while, he sighed bitterly and left the arena with a helpless expression.
This Return Fire Pill was like the first watershed moment for the alchemists at the Pill Gathering. This single hurdle eliminated thousands of alchemists from the competition, which also proved to everyone present the prestige of the Pill Gathering.
At this moment Xiao Yan and Xiao Siyu had also retreated to the outer edge of the crowd. Not far behind them, Mu Leng Ling was carefully controlling the flame in the medicine cauldron in front of him, slowly refining the pill that was about to take shape.
This guy has remained silent since entering the arena. Although he suffered some hardships during the process of retrieving the pill, he has remained steady and has successfully reached this point. Judging from the state of his cauldron, the pill is not far from being successfully made.
As for Xiao Yan and his companion, one stood with his hands behind his back, while the other crossed his arms. On either side of their figures, a ball of flame floated in the air, within which lay the soon-to-be-formed Return Fire Pill.
With their methods, a mere sixth-tier Return Fire Pill is naturally no problem for them.
"Clang clang clang..."
At a certain moment, the sound of bells rang out again above the wide platform, and all those who had refined the Return Fire Pill held up their pills, allowing the burly man who appeared above them to inspect them.
"Hmph, no need for unnecessary checks. If you successfully refine your pills, you'll naturally be qualified to proceed to the next stage. If anyone wants to gamble and sneak through, feel free to try, as long as they can withstand three of my punches afterwards!"
The man with the rough and bold voice was none other than Wu Changfu. As soon as he finished speaking, his fierce gaze swept across the entire scene, and then he threw a punch into the air in front of him.
The seemingly insignificant strike instantly created an astonishing shockwave in front of him, followed by a sharp sonic boom that shattered the void and reverberated in the ears of everyone present, echoing throughout the venue. At the same time, it startled some people on the platform below, who hurriedly withdrew the pills they had extended outwards with expressions of fear.
"Swish, swish, swish!"
Immediately afterward, from the void shattered by Wu Changfu's punch, one after another pitch-black medicine cauldrons fell down. After Formation Plate, they strangely split in two, spreading out in increasing numbers until the medicine cauldrons landed in certain fixed positions in the arena. The whole process lasted for several minutes, and in the end, the number of medicine cauldrons on the platform even far exceeded the number of alchemists.
"Buzz!"
As the black medicine cauldron landed, Wu Changfu waved his hand again, releasing a suction force towards the medicine cauldron in the center of the fire below. The flames on the field quickly receded, and the medicine cauldron was then sucked into the air, hanging high above all the medicine cauldrons in the field. Looking down from above, these medicine cauldrons seemed to have formed a special array.
After doing all this, Wu Changfu did not stop for a moment. With a series of rapid finger strikes, he unleashed another series of complex hand seals. Streams of light landed on the suspended medicine cauldron. Instantly, all the alchemists present felt a special pressure emanating from the sky and the medicine cauldrons around them.
At this moment, Wu Changfu's rough voice rang out again.
"Second Challenge: The Soul-Suppressing Cauldron!"