Fan Hongde's eyes were fixed on Shi Xuan. He knew the level of the disciples of their Divine Cauldron Sect by heart, but Shi Xuan was an unknown. The fact that she could continue after putting all the raw materials into the pill furnace could only mean one thing—her ability to control her divine sense far surpassed that of the other disciples! Even he could probably only do this with low-grade pills, and the quality of the pills would not be perfect.

Time flew by as everyone watched. It seemed like only a short while had passed when someone started collecting pills, and the first disciple to successfully complete the pill appeared!

It is time to announce!

The pill emitted a faint fragrance while it was in the alchemy furnace. But when she made a hand seal to collect the pill, she immediately concealed the fragrance, leaving not a trace of it!

Fan Hongde in the stands jumped up. This is impossible!

The first one to produce pills should be Fan Mingzhu! Mingzhu has been influenced by medicine since childhood and is already familiar with the principles of various pills. She has memorized hundreds of pill formulas. In the past few months, her cultivation has caught up, and her pill refining skills have naturally become proficient. Not to mention, he personally guides her every day, teaching her everything he can without reservation.

However, no matter how much he didn't want this person to be Shi Xuan, the matter was already settled.

Shi Xuan put the refined pills into a porcelain bottle and stamped it with her own mark. The assistant disciple next to her immediately recorded the time of pill formation.

The contestants of Lianfeng Sword Sect were already used to her strength and knew that the gap between them was huge. They did not try to compete with Shi Xuan and continued to work in an orderly manner.

However, people from other sects were unaware of this. Upon learning that someone had successfully completed their pill-making process in such a short time, while they had only just finished processing the materials, they couldn't help but feel anxious, and many of them lost their rhythm.

The Grand Alchemy Competition is like this. Sometimes it's not just about technique; a stable mindset is also very important. Staying calm when others are trying to get you into a state of deep concentration, and trying to get others into a state of deep concentration, is also part of the Grand Alchemy Competition.

Fan Mingzhu gritted her teeth. She had done her best, without a single mistake, yet it still took two incense sticks' worth of time to produce the elixir. She didn't understand why Shi Xuan could do it; had she taken some shady shortcut?

She took a deep breath, trying to calm herself down. She didn't know her pill-producing rate or the grade of the pills she produced. As long as she succeeded in the latter two areas, she could still be number one.

Two incense sticks' worth of time passed, and Fan Mingzhu indeed became the second contestant to successfully produce pills. She breathed a sigh of relief, recalled the steps she had just taken, and found that there had been no mistakes. She produced four pills, all of which were of superior quality.

For pain relievers, this achievement is unmatched among their peers.

In their Divine Cauldron Sect, only she and her senior brother were capable of refining high-grade pain-relieving pills, and even then, they weren't always successful. This time, they had already performed exceptionally well.

Fan Mingzhu was very satisfied with herself. She glanced confidently in Shi Xuan's direction, but Shi Xuan didn't pay attention to her as expected, not even giving her a glance. Instead, he was already using the leftover herbs from making the painkiller to refine another batch of pills.

Shi Xuan thought that since he was idle anyway, he might as well not waste the medicinal herbs. Fan Mingzhu, however, felt that Shi Xuan was deliberately ignoring her and was furious.

As time went by, the disciples of the six sects gradually produced pills, though occasionally some messed things up due to a lack of composure. If the first batch of pills failed, theoretically, if there were enough materials remaining, they could continue trying. However, a failed first batch meant that even if the second batch succeeded, it would take them much longer. Often, adjusting their mindset was even more difficult for the second batch than the first, increasing the chances of failure.

The sound of the gong rang out again from the stands, which meant that the assessment time had come. At this point, the contestants who had not yet achieved the required elixir would be eliminated and would not be able to participate in the competition.

The assistant disciples of the Fuyuan Sect placed the contestants' pill bottles on the long table in front of the judges. Each judge looked at them in turn and scored the pills based on their quality.

There are three items in total: time, quality, and success rate of pill formation, each worth 10 points, for a total of 30 points.

Of the 52 participating disciples, 48 ​​pill bottles were submitted, and four people failed to produce pills.

The time it takes for a pill to form is meticulously recorded, and the success rate is readily available. The judges' primary task is to assess the quality of the pills. For instance, if some pills are classified as mid-grade, then even within the mid-grade category, a ranking can be established, and using a scoring system is the fairest way to measure their quality.

The first thing Fan Hongde looked at was Fan Mingzhu's work. Seeing that it contained four high-grade pills, he immediately gave it a perfect score in the pill quality option.

Of the other five sects, four gave it nine points, while only Shuyuan Temple of Lianfeng Sword Sect gave it seven points.

Fan Hongde instinctively felt that he was settling a personal score and deliberately giving their Divine Cauldron Sect a low score, so he couldn't help but sneer: "Fellow Daoist Shu has high standards. He only gave seven points for a high-grade pain-relieving pill, which is difficult to refine. I wonder how many points he would give for his own disciple's pill."

The judges from the other four sects also felt that Shu Yuan Guan's score was a bit low. After all, the pain-relieving pill is the most difficult to obtain among all first-grade pills, and they knew what each sect's disciples could produce. A mid-grade pill was already considered quite good.

Shu Yuanguan laughed heartily, unconcerned, and said, "As a judge, I am the most fair and impartial one. The scores I give to your disciples and my sect's disciples will naturally be based on the same standard."

He paused, looked at Fan Hongde, and said, "As for Sect Leader Fan, you've only given ten points for a high-grade pill. In my opinion, this is undoubtedly favoritism. There are only ten points in total, and you've already given the full amount for a high-grade pill. What will you do if a top-grade pill comes out later? Can you really give it fifteen points?"

"What a joke!" Fan Hongde scoffed. "I have been in charge of the Divine Cauldron Sect for thirty years and have never seen any disciple who can refine a top-grade pain-relieving pill. You dare to spout such nonsense here? Do you think anyone in your sect can refine a top-grade one? If your Sword Sect disciples can refine top-grade pain-relieving pills, you might as well give me the title of Divine Cauldron to you!"

Putting aside everything else, the Divine Cauldron Sect has undoubtedly been far ahead of the other six sects in the Western Region in terms of alchemy over the years. If a sect that focuses on alchemy cultivation is not as good as a sword sect, what face do they have left?

Elder Yu of the Langya Sect smiled and smoothed things over, saying, "The scores don't matter, as long as the final result is fair. I believe Fellow Daoist Shu will treat everyone equally and will not discriminate."

The final ranking is based on a place, not a score. As long as Shu Yuanguan applies a uniform standard in the subsequent scoring, there will be no problem.

"Of course I treat them all equally. I won't find more than seven-tenths of the best quality painkillers I see later. But I'm curious, if we encounter something of higher quality later, how will Master Fan handle it?"

Fan Hongde had never even considered this possibility. He snorted coldly and said decisively, "There is absolutely no way there could be a pain reliever that is better than a top-grade one!"