After the other groups saw that Liu Bingqian had already condensed purple qi in her cauldron, they all started to speed up.
This was because none of them want to be slower than the one who was going to get last place. It would be too embarrassing.
One stick of incense burned up…. Two sticks of incense burned up….
Under Ye Zifeng’s careful guidance, Liu Bingqian slowed down and focused on improving the pill’s quality.
“Big brother rough guy. You’re incredible! I can already feel that this is the best pill that I will ever concoct in my entire life!”
Ye Zifeng chuckled, “Don’t say that. I can guarantee that this won’t be the best one you’ll concoct in your life. There will be more to come….”
“Alright!!” Liu Bingqian’s eyes lit up and became very excited.
In her heart, she understood that without Ye Zifeng, she would never have been able to concoct a pill like this.
In the four other groups, the first one to complete their pill was not the first and second place winners from last year. It was Qushui City’s Yi Hao!
Right when he succeeded in concocting his pill, he started to laugh wildly as if he had been holding it in for quite a while. He then turned around and smirked at Xu Zhen.
“Brother Xu, our abilities are almost on par. The pills that we concoct are about the same as well. When the judges give their judgment, they will definitely factor concoction speed into the evaluation. It seems like I won’t be seeing brother Xu in the next competition….. Actually, I feel kind of sad not being able to see you….”
While saying that, his expression showed that he was rejoicing in Xu Zhen’s failure.
Xu Zhen let out a cold snort. After being provoked by Yi Hao’s words, he began to work even faster. A golden light appeared from the cauldron causing Yi Hao to stare in shock.
“Completed!”
Xu Zhen laughed loudly and opened up his cauldron. He slowly and carefully retrieved the pill from the cauldron and placed it onto a cloth.
The pill was sparkling and translucent. A hint of black was infused into the dark green color creating a shiny luster coating. Compared to Yi Hao’s pill, anyone can tell that it was at least one grade higher!
“You…. You!” Yi Hao gasped, his eyes filled with shock.
“I’m sorry brother Yi. I know that I won’t be as fast as you so I used all my strength to refine an even better pill. Look at my pill, it’s at least an entire grade higher than yours. I believe that the judges already have their decisions!”
While saying that, Xu Zhen smiled as he turned around to look at the judges.
Very quickly, his expression turned into one as if someone had stepped on his face.
This was because none of the judges were paying attention to him or Yi Hao at all. They were all looking towards Liu Bingqian.
Xu Zhen and Yi Hao both looked at each other. They can see the shock in each other’s eyes.
“What’s there to see from a mere last place? What’s so good about her? Could it be that condensing the purple qi early is some sort of phenomenon?” Xu Zhen didn’t understand why these elders were watching Liu Bingqian.
At this time, the first place Qi Zimo also completed his pill. However his expression was very calm as if he had finished some common chore that he was suppose to do.
“It seems like Zimo’s skills is still so exquisite. I, Young master Hua, am impressed. I’m not ashamed to be inferior to you!”
Tonghuo City’s young master Hua had been chasing Qi Zimo in these past few years. However, no matter how hard he tried, his talents can’t match up to Qi Zimo’s at all. He had been behind Qi Zimo his entire life.
However, he had lost to Qi Zimo so much already that he didn’t feel ashamed in losing anymore.
Qi Zimo looked at young master Hua expressionlessly, “Three things. We’re not close so don’t call me Zimo. Second, I don’t have a good opinion of people who call themselves young master. Third, let me give you tips. Don’t think about anything else while you’re in the process of concoction, or else you’ll never be able to become a first rate alchemist.
When Qi Zimo said these words, he wasn’t giving young master Hua any face at all.
Young master Hua would have never thought that he would receive such a reply and was infuriated.
“Qi Zimo. Don’t think that you’re all that just because you can win the alchemy competition all the time. What else can you do besides concocting pills? Are you going to stay in your little Lingfeng City and concoct pills your whole life?”
Qi Zimo looked at him with a cold expression and didn’t want to talk trash with him anymore. He went towards his cauldron and took the pill out. He looked at the pill and inserted his qi to clean out the last impurities.
His actions didn’t do much to the pill but to someone who seeks perfection like Qi Zimo, it was a necessary action.
When the judges saw what he was doing, they all praised him in their hearts.
After a while, four teams had completed their concoction. The only group left was Ye Zifeng’s group. Naturally, everyone had their eyes on the two of them.
“Miss Liu looks like she’s improved quite a bit. It’s just that she’s a bit slower. It seems like she won’t be able to escape her fate of being last.”
“From what I can see, if Liu Bingqian loses, all the blame will be on her helper. Other than helping out with the fire, it seems like he didn’t do anything at all. He pushed all the work towards Liu Bingqian. If they win, I will kill myself!”
“When I saw that they had condensed the purple qi first, I thought they had a chance. However, it seems like I was thinking too much.”
Everyone started to talk about Liu Bingqian and Ye Zifeng. Liu Bingqian heard some criticisms and suddenly trembled.
“Bingqian, don’t worry about what they say and concentrate on concocting. Shut their mouths with your ability.” With Ye Zifeng’s words, Liu Bingqian started to concentrate again.
“I got it.”
They were already at the final step so Bingqian cannot get distracted.
“Bingqian, the purple qi had already formed. We have to assemble the ingredients together and form the pill. This is the most important part. Use your qi to assemble the pill. Don’t let any of your qi leak out!”
Liu Bingqian took a deep breath and did what Ye Zifeng told her to do. Actually, she didn’t even need Ye Zifeng to tell her this step. She knew that she was at the final step and would’ve done the same thing.
In her heart, Liu Bingqian was feeling very happy. This was because under Ye Zifeng’s guidance, she was able to take her understanding of alchemy to a new level.
Countless amount of silver sparks appeared and the cauldron lit up in fire. This caused an uproar amongst the audience. This was because many people had never seen flames appear inside a cauldron, especially a silver flame.
Liu Bingqian was shocked herself. She didn’t dare make any mistakes. At this time, all of the judges began to move towards the stage and anxiously watched her movements. They didn’t dare make any sounds.
Amongst these senior alchemists, not everyone knows the ancient concoction method. The people that do know, have probably used this technique many times over their career. If Liu Bingqian succeeds, then she will be the first person in the younger generation to concoct a pill using this technique during the alchemy competition.
“Complete!” Liu Bingqian felt that the qi had condensed into the pill. A red light bursted out of the cauldron and knocked the cover of the cauldron off the stage. Two pills surrounded with red qi descended from the sky.
“Two Yuan Increasing Pills?” Everyone was shocked.
Ye Zifeng saw how shocked Bingqian was and smiled.
“Bingqian, what are you doing? Retrieve the pills. Don’t let them hit the floor.”
“Alright.”
Bingqian was shocked and extremely happy at the same time. She quickly retrieved the two pills and placed them onto the pill tray. She felt as if she was dreaming.
All of the seniors were shocked and immediately walked towards Muyun Old Devil, “Master Old Devil, what’s going on? Isn’t there only one set of ingredient? How did she concoct two pills? DId you give her some extra?”
Muyun Old Devil came back to her senses and looked over, “Preposterous. You guys saw the ingredients that were distributed. Everyone had the same amount of ingredients. You’re asking me about how she concocted two pills? Even I don’t know. I was about to ask myself!”
“……I get it…..It must be a special effect of the ancient concoction method.” One of the senior alchemists thought about it and understood what happened.