Third-Tier Alchemist Examination

Hearing this, Frank immediately rose and exchanged a glance with Otto. The two then went down together, taking their places on either side of Xiao Yan's stone platform.

The others also jumped down from the stands and crowded around to watch, eager to hear Frank's assessment.

Xiao Yan smiled faintly and tossed the Power Accumulation Pill in his hand to Frank.

Frank caught the pill in his palm and felt that it was still warm.

Clearly, that was a sign it had just been formed.

In other words, this Power Accumulation Pill was not a spare that Xiao Yan had secretly prepared, but one he had refined on the spot.

Frank then raised his hand to eye level and examined it closely.

The Power Accumulation Pill gave off a faint halo. Round and full, it released a violent presence, and a trace of medicinal fragrance wafted into his nostrils.

Several lines flickered faintly in and out of sight on the pill's surface, an exceedingly mysterious sight.

"It's warm to the touch, crystal clear, and completely free of impurities. Pill Patterns even appear faintly on its surface. Its medicinal potency is probably stronger than that of an ordinary second-tier pill."

Frank spoke in admiration, sparing no words of praise. His eyes were full of pleasant surprise.

The path of alchemy was about far more than simply refining pills.

Only someone who could precisely condense all the energy in medicinal ingredients, wasting not the slightest bit and leaving not a trace of impurity, was a true master alchemist.

Ordinarily, a pill could take shape once more than half of the energy in the ingredients was utilized.

To produce a Pill Pattern, that had to reach sixty percent.

To produce several Pill Patterns, it had to reach over ninety percent.

Once a pill of this caliber took shape, its medicinal effects were enough to break through the limits of its rank, making it comparable to a pill a tier higher.

Otto snatched the Power Accumulation Pill from Frank's palm and promptly tossed it into his mouth, chewing for a moment.

In an instant, he felt a warm current surge down his throat and through his body. The concentration of his Dou Qi showed a subtle, faint fluctuation of improvement.

"Unbelievable! Even though I've already reached the Dou Ling level, a pill like this can still give me a slight but noticeable boost. It truly deserves to be called a first-tier pill in a state of perfection."

Unable to hide the excitement on his face, Otto asked Xiao Yan:

"How did you do it? You actually refined a Power Accumulation Pill in such a short time! You should know that an ordinary first-tier pill takes at least two to four hours to complete. You really cut that time down!"

Many medicinal ingredients were extremely fragile. If the temperature rose even slightly too high, they would be completely scorched and all their energy would be lost.

Thus, alchemists generally had to undergo extremely arduous training to master their control over the heat.

Xiao Yan brushed his bangs aside and smiled confidently.

"This is just a simple flame-control technique. It's nothing difficult. I can demonstrate it right now."

With that, he held out his palm. The seven-colored fire dragon flew out again, circling continuously above his hand as numerous tiny flames shot out around it.

With his other hand, the young man picked up a spiritual herb from the stone platform and casually tossed it into the flames.

Sizzle, sizzle, sizzle...

The tiny flames quickly spread and clung to the spiritual herb, slowly penetrating it and beginning to burn inside.

Before long, the flames had hollowed out the medicinal ingredient, leaving only its outer shell intact.

But in less than a minute, that too melted completely, becoming a puddle of emerald-green liquid.

Seeing this, Frank immediately took a jade box from his Storage Ring and quickly caught the liquid.

Xue Mei and Lin Fei squeezed in close on either side of Xiao Yan. The alchemists nearby also crowded densely around him, dozens of heads all staring at the liquid in the jade box.

Sizzle, sizzle, sizzle, sizzle...

The piercing sound of flames burning the material continued without cease. To everyone's surprise, many little flames were still floating above the jade box.

"I see. It's just like how sweat seeps out of our skin."

"You did the reverse, letting the flames seep deep beneath the surface of the medicinal ingredients and burn them away from within, leaving only the essence behind."

Frank had come to a sudden realization, and he felt he had benefited greatly. As he looked at Xiao Yan now, he no longer saw a junior, but seemed to be looking at a true Grandmaster Alchemist.

Inside the simple, ancient black ring, Yao Lao's face showed approval and pride.

He had not expected Xiao Yan to learn this alchemy technique after he had casually used it while helping the Nether Snake King refine pills.

As expected of my, Yao Chen's, disciple.

Someone with such talent would be among the few leading lights of the younger generation, even across the entire Dou Qi Continent.

But Xiao Yan merely smiled at everyone's astonishment and said modestly, "I just got lucky!"

Though that was how he appeared on the surface, he was secretly thinking:

What's so special about this? I was the Flame Emperor in my previous life, and an Emperor-Grade Alchemist too. Shouldn't I know how to do this much?

He then coughed a few times and immediately changed the subject.

"President Frank, the First-Rank Alchemist examination is over. Let's begin the second-rank examination next!"

Frank was somewhat puzzled. "You're only a Dou Zhe, aren't you? You just refined a first-tier pill. Don't you need to recover your Dou Qi?"

Xiao Yan said nothing. He simply formed a hand seal and silently circulated his art. The Flame Mantra cycled continuously through his body, frantically absorbing the surrounding Fire Attribute Dou Qi.

Hiss-!

With a sharp rush of air, all the fire-element Dou Qi within several meters was forcefully drawn over by Xiao Yan, forming a vortex that gathered at his lower abdomen.

Dense, viscous energy was extracted and then sank deep into his dantian's Qi cyclone, where it was continuously refined, soon restoring his stamina in full.

"A Dou Qi cultivation technique close to the Mid Profound Tier. Not bad, very good."

"You're only a Dou Zhe now. Once you've cultivated for a while longer, you'll be able to switch to a High Xuan Tier technique."

Seeing how rich the color of the energy produced by Xiao Yan's Dou Qi cultivation technique was, Frank quickly judged the technique's rank and offered his opinion.

Otto, on the other hand, wasted no words. He spread his arms, sending a fierce wave of Dou Qi flames sweeping out to push the crowd back, and hurriedly barked:

"Everyone, stand back! Young friend Yan Xiao is starting his second examination. Don't disturb him, or don't blame this old man for turning hostile!"

Faced with a brilliant young talent of such extraordinary potential as Xiao Yan, Otto naturally dared not be negligent and hurried to protect Xiao Yan's interests and safety.

Otto then announced once more:

"Young friend Yan Xiao, the Power Accumulation Pill you refined earlier has already proven that you're fully capable of refining second-tier pills. So in the second examination, you won't need to take the Second-Rank Alchemist examination..."

He paused here. "Go straight to the Third-Tier Alchemist examination! As long as you can refine one kind of third-tier pill, you'll pass. There's no time limit and no limit on medicinal ingredients. Just do your best."

Those words shocked everyone present, but Xiao Yan's expression remained unchanged as he replied, "All right! I have no problem with that."

With a turn of his palm, the fire dragon transformed into a fire cauldron once more.

With a thought, Xiao Yan took a batch of medicinal ingredients from his Storage Ring, placed them on the stone platform, and began his second refinement.

His target this time was the Third-Tier Qi Gathering Powder, which he had frequently refined some time ago.