Chapter 378: The Strange Second Test!


    “This time, the prescription you’ll be working with is an official one. Our association spent several months creating it. For this test, you are required to sessfully refine the pill ording to the prescription. The materials in front of you are enough for two attempts. In other words, you have only two chances. Once your materials are used up, that means failure!” Fa Ma’s voice echoed through the arena.


    “Huh?”


    After hearing Fa Ma’s exnation, the contestants were momentarily stunned.


    “Refining a pill ording to the prescription? Isn’t that a bit too easy for a test?”


    “Following a recipe is even simpler than the first round. What’s going on?”


    “With how serious thispetition has been so far, why would theye up with such an easy test?”


    Puzzled, Liu Ling, Xiao Yan, and Princess Yao Yue all picked up the prescription scrolls simultaneously.


    As they unrolled the scrolls, Liu Ling closed his eyes slightly and released his soul power, carefully scanning the details recorded on the prescription.


    As his soul power swept over the prescription, various precise data were quickly imprinted into his mind. Every important detail needed for the refining process was clearly remembered. This was the advantage of working with an official prescription.


    Once all the information was recorded in Liu Ling’s mind, he noticed that the details stored within the scroll via soul power were rapidly dissipating.


    “Windwalking Pill, a third-tier pill. Effects: The consumer bes highly sensitive to the wind attribute energy in the environment, thus greatly enhancing their movement speed.”


    Although this prescription was valuable, for someone like Liu Ling, who had seen even sixth-tier prescriptions, it wasn’t impressive. Moreover, he had refined simr pills before.


    “ording to this, refining the Windwalking Pill requires the fusion of nine different medicinal ingredients. It’s not too many, but it’s also not too few,” Liu Ling murmured as his gaze swept over the nine ingredients ced before him. “As long as one is a third-tier alchemist and has the prescription, refining this pill isn’t difficult. Is this test so simple because they went too hard on us in the first round and want to make things easier now?”


    Liu Ling frowned slightly as he carefully reviewed the contents of the prescription again, falling into deep thought.


    Meanwhile, Xiao Yan had already thrown a purple pill into his mouth and began igniting the mes within his cauldron.


    From the VIP tform, Fa Ma looked down at Xiao Yan and Princess Yao Yue, both of whom had already started their fires. His brow furrowed slightly as he muttered under his breath, “This test is not as simple as they think. They mustn’t be careless.”


    In the massive square below, after reviewing the prescription, most alchemists were visibly pleased with the seemingly easy challenge. They quickly lit their fires and began preparing to refine the pill.


    Of course, among the many alchemists, there were also some cautious ones. The sudden simplicity of this round surprised them. But after staring at the prescription for a long time and finding nothing amiss, they reluctantly shook their heads and carefully began their preparations.


    Xiao Yan’s gaze remained fixed on the rising mes inside his cauldron. As the fire grew hotter, he slowly tossed in one of the medicinal ingredients, closing his eyes as he began refining it.


    Not long after Xiao Yan began refining, the princess beside him also lit her fire and started her process. With the official prescription and their skills, as long as they were careful, refining the Windwalking Pill wouldn’t be too difficult for them.


    Of course, this assumed that their luck wasn’t particrly bad, as no refinement process ever guaranteed a 100% sess rate.


    As the alchemists resumed their refining, the chatter in the audience began to die down. One by one, the spectators’ gazes swept over the alchemists, their eyes filled with envy as they watched mes burst into life with every movement.


    However, while Xiao Yan had already refined five of the nine medicinal ingredients, Liu Ling hadn’t even started yet.


    At this moment, several capable contestants in the square had already begun extracting the necessary medicinalponents. After a brief hesitation, they gritted their teeth and poured the refined essence into their cauldrons, beginning the final stage of pill refinement.


    Xiao Yan, meanwhile, was carefully watching a herb swirling inside his cauldron. Concerned about potential unforeseen problems, he was proceeding with the extraction at a slower pacepared to the other contestants, many of whom had alreadypleted this phase while he continued his cautious refinement.


    "Seems like everything is fine," Xiao Yan muttered after a while, watching as the material in the me of the pill cauldron transformed into a pile of pale purple powder. He carefully opened the cauldron, retrieved the powder, and stored it in a jade bottle.


    As his gaze swept across the nine jade bottles in front of him, Xiao Yan realized that he had sessfully extracted all theponents needed to refine the Windwalking Pill. Now, the final step ofbining themy ahead.


    His hand gently stroked the cool surface of one of the jade bottles, and after a moment of contemtion, he decided to proceed without further dy. Just as he was about to pour the contents into the cauldron, a muffled sound suddenly echoed from a nearby stone tform. Xiao Yan turned and saw a fellow alchemist staring nkly at a pile of ckened ash that had spilled from the bottom of his cauldron—a clear sign of failure.


    "How could this be? I followed the prescription exactly. How did I fail?" the alchemist muttered in confusion. Unable to find an answer, he chalked it up to a mistake in controlling the heat and quickly cleared the ashes. Without wasting time, he added thest of his ingredients into the cauldron for another attempt.


    Narrowing his eyes and watching the alchemist’s actions closely, Xiao Yan hesitated. He recognized this alchemist from the internal tests and knew he possessed the skill of a third-tier alchemist. Logically, someone with his ability shouldn’t be making such a basic mistake in controlling the heat while refining a third-tier pill. Yet the evidence was undeniable—he had failed.


    "Something’s not right," Xiao Yan thought, his suspicions growing.


    As time passed, simr muffled sounds began echoing one after another across the square. More and more alchemists stared at the ckened ashes in their cauldrons, their faces filled with confusion and disbelief. The dazed expressions on their faces made it clear that they, too, had no idea what had gone wrong.


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