Chapter 389: Halftime Break? Show Your Skills!

  On Liu Ling’s side, he tio refi least four medial ingredients with each attempt. Although he had a minor failure once, given his speed, he only wasted four herbs in total, which didn’t set him bapared to the others.

  After a few more minutes, Liu Ling had already extracted all the essential pos needed for the pill on his stoform.

  “This kid, he really doesn’t give anyone else a ce to shihe process of refining such a vast amount of materials for a fifth-tier pill, and he’s still faster than someone w on a third-tier pill,” remarked Fa Ma from the high ptform, uain if he was plimenting or critig.

  Meanwhile, in the main square, Xiao Yan, the Little Princess, Xiao Yi Xian, and the remaining testants were still rushing through their own refining processes.

  “Phew!”

  Exhaling deeply, Liu Ling finally pleted his extras, clearly worn out. Without hesitatioook a pill to restore his battle energy and sat cross-legged tain his strength.

  “Well, at least he’s taking a steadier approaow!” Fa Ma smiled approvingly, seeing that Liu Ling prioritized rest his energy instead of rushing straight to the pill fusion phase.

  “Is this guy really just sitting down to rest?”

  “What is this? Is he waiting for us or something?” Xiao Yan and the Little Princess grumbled almost in unison, feeling frustrated as they watched Liu Ling’s calm recovery.

  “Our senior brother is really impressive; he’s aiming to make a fifth-tier pill.” Xiao Yi Xian g Liu Ling during a break in her own refining. She was only w on a fourth-tier pill, but before long, she became the sed testant to finish extrag all her materials, right after Liu Ling.

  Shortly after her, Xiao Yan, the Little Princess, and a few others also pleted their extras.

  “Still resting?”

  Upon finishing his owra, Xiao Yan couldn’t resist looking over at Liu Ling, who was still calmly meditating. Shaking his head, Xiao Yan took a pill to recover his own energy and focused ba his work. With swift movements, he pced each refined ingredient into the cauldron, carefully attuning himself to each subtle rea as the materials fused together.

  As Xiao Yan began the pill fusion, the Little Princess and Xiao Yi Xian wasted no time; they promptly added their ingredients into their cauldrons and started the fusion process as well.

  From time to time, a muffled thud echoed across the expansive square. This familiar sound was a dreaded one for any alchemist, signaling a failed pill refi. With each thud, some testants, visibly disheartened, left the square one by ohe petition seemed like a sieve with wide gaps, steadily eliminating those weaker and less skilled. Those who mao remain after several rounds of sing were undoubtedly the elite among the younger geion.

  As time passed, even some of the initially posed testants began to show signs of fatigue. The high-iy ption was indeed wearing them down.

  “ you tell whose pill will be of a higher tier?”

  Hai Bodong slowly walked up behind Fa Ma, gazing at the square below and asked quietly, "So, you tell yet?"

  "irely certain just yet," Fa Ma replied ambiguously. Although he suspected that Liu Ling was aiming to refine a fifth-tier pill based on the amount of ingredients used, he khere could be certain plex fourth-tier pills that require this many ingredients. Not wanting to jump to clusions, he expined, "However, as the pills start to take shape, you often tell. Fourth-tier pills produce a distinct fragrance before they fully form. The strohe aroma, the higher the pill's quality. As for fifth-tier pills, they’re unique; when they form, they gee an actual energy ripple due to the intense energy within.”

  Hearing this, Hai Bodong nodded slightly and fell silent, folding his hands behind him as he patiently awaited the petition’s clusion.

  At that moment, while most petitors were still midway through ingredient fusion, Liu Ling finally stood up and began his own pill fusion process.

  Every move he made was closely watched by the “big names” present.

  True to expectations, Liu Ling did not disappoint them. Rather than following a ventional step-by-step method, he once again adhered to a peculiar rhythm, adding three, four, or even five types of ingredient esse a time into the cauldron.

  "Sigh, this kid," Fa Ma muttered from the high ptform, his face showing a mix of frustration and resignation. "This is no ordinary practice session. 't he be a bit more careful? In the earlier stages, if he failed, he would only waste a few ingredients. But if he slips up now during the fusion phase, he could lose seventy to eighty pert of his materials!"

  It seemed Fa Ma’s remark wasn’t unheard, as some onlookers in the VIP seats took note of Liu Ling’s as and exged various expressions.

  “Isn’t Senior Brother taking on too much risk with this approach? I really hope nothing goes wrong,” Nan Yanran murmured, watg Liu Ling work with a hint of worry.

  Seven ht mier, Fa Ma’s expression suddenly ged, a hint of delight fshing across his aged face as he looked toward Xiao Yan’s dire. From his dark red cauldron, a faint medial fragrance had begun to spread out.

  "Yan Xiao is the steady one; he’s already showing signs of successful pill formation," Fa Ma mused, secretly pleased with the pns he had set ihe previous night.

  After Xiao Yan, a simir fragrance began to emerge from Xiao Yi Xian, Princess Yao Yue, and a few other testants. For a moment, the entire square—and even the VIP and spectator seats—was filled with the rich aroma of medial pills.

  A careful observer would note, however, that of the dozen or so distinct fragrances, Xiao Yi Xian’s was the stro.

  Realizing this, Fa Ma’s face turned slightly tense. He hadn’t expected that the pill refined by the mysterious bck-robed figure would reach a mid-level fourth-tier quality. If Xiao Yan only mao produce a siterned Green Spirit Pill, it would indeed fall slightly short.

  At that moment, Xiao Yan, as if sensing the higher quality of Xiao Yi Xian’s pill in parison to his own, couldn’t help but frown slightly.

  (End of Chapter)

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