"Crack! ... Snap! ..."
As the sand in the hourglass continued to slip away, the alchemy room echoed with the sounds of spiritual herbs being roasted by true fire.
Some alchemists, looking somewhat disheveled, shook their heads and walked out of the alchemy room with bitter expressions.
The failure to purify the elixir also meant that they had lost the opportunity to participate in the subsequent alchemy conference.
Looking around, most of these failed alchemists were second-grade alchemists, while there were only a few third-grade alchemists.
The purification of Black Iron Spirit Leaf Grass is too troublesome. Even a third-grade alchemist is not 100% confident that he can complete it. In addition, the inability to use one's own alchemy furnace adds a lot of difficulty. It is expected that some third-grade alchemists will fail.
When only a quarter of the sand remained in the hourglass, the intense heat in one of the alchemy rooms suddenly subsided. Instantly, the eyes of Shi Rang, the Grand Elder of the Pill Tower, opened, and the gazes of the surrounding martial artists immediately turned towards that spot, fixed intently on it. (cascoo.net)
A figure stepped lightly out of the alchemy room, exuding an aura of royalty, a satisfied smile on his lips, as he slowly walked out...
"As expected of the eldest prince, such talent in alchemy is probably unmatched in our Ding Dynasty..." Compliments rang out all around, causing Ding Sheng to hold his head high.
Upon reaching the center of the hall, Ding Sheng smiled slightly at Shi Rang, the Grand Elder of the Dan Tower, and even glanced at Zhan Qingqi beside him. He then stood aside and waited for the others, behaving quite gentlemanly.
Not long after Ding Sheng emerged, a graceful figure dressed in red swiftly stepped out of the alchemy room. Looking at Ding Sheng, who was already standing in the center of the hall, she frowned slightly, moved to the center of the hall, and said softly, "I didn't expect to be a little slower than you."
"Hehe, you're not slow either," Ding Sheng said with a smile, his eyes constantly scanning him up and down.
"I didn't expect that even though I gave it my all, Sister Lan was still a bit faster than me."
Before the words had even finished, another voice came from the alchemy room, and a pair of prominent, sword-like eyebrows seemed to show some disappointment.
“Jiang Xingchen, you are two years younger than me. To be able to purify the Black Iron Spirit Leaf Grass so quickly, you will probably surpass me by the time you reach my age.”
Yan Lan watched Jiang Xingchen walk slowly towards her and said with a smile, but her eyes were fixed on Ding Sheng.
The martial artists watching nearby all knew that these words were meant to mock Ding Sheng for being too old. After all, he was already twenty-nine. Although the alchemy competition stipulated that anyone under thirty could participate, there were not many people of that age who actually came to participate.
"Ahem, Sister Lan, you're too kind."
Jiang Xingchen understood the meaning behind Yan Lan's words, but given the Crown Prince's immense prestige, he didn't dare to reply and could only give a casual response.
As the group was talking, Lin Yan, one of the four great families, also arrived at the center of the hall. However, he remained silent, seemingly because he was by nature a man who did not like to talk much.
At this point, among the royal family and the four major families, only Qin Xin, representing the Zhan clan, remained in the alchemy room.
In the center of the hall, ten people have already completed the purification of Black Iron Spirit Leaf Grass and are waiting for the hourglasses in the other rooms to run out.
"I'm telling you, Zhan Qingqi, don't wait any longer. I think that kid named Qin Xin will have a hard time purifying the Black Iron Spirit Leaf Grass. If you agree to the royal marriage, the eldest prince might be so happy that he might even grant your Zhan clan another spot."
After finishing the purification of the Black Iron Spirit Leaf Grass, Ding Shen, who was somewhat thin, stepped out of the alchemy room and found that he did not see Qin Xin. He was overjoyed and spoke directly to Zhan Qingqi without any politeness.
"snort!"
Zhan Qingqi didn't even glance at Ding Shen, and let out a soft rebuke.
Then, her beautiful eyes were fixed on the alchemy room where Qin Xin was, her hands were clenched tightly, and her fingertips turned white and lost their color. She looked very worried.
"You really don't know what's good for you. If your sisters were to marry into the royal family, what an honor that would be! Besides, our eldest prince's talent is unparalleled throughout the entire Ding Dynasty..."
Ding Shen stood behind Ding Sheng, flattering him relentlessly.
This made Ding Sheng, who was standing to the side, very happy. He had a smile on his lips and was staring at Zhan Qingqi with his head held high.
Ignoring the man's provocation, Zhan Qingqi felt a pang of sadness as she watched the three third-grade alchemists walk out one after another.
If Qin Xin fails the test, it means that no one from the Zhan Clan will be able to participate in the subsequent alchemy competition. Their elder seat in the Pill Tower will be directly replaced, and they will fall out of the ranks of the four great families. Before long, their clan's assets will be swallowed up and divided by other families.
"well!"
As the sand in the hourglass began to run out, the entire alchemy room fell silent. It seemed that everyone else had failed and had stopped refining. Zhan Qingqi let out a soft sigh.
"Haha, I thought that kid was something special, turns out he's just a..."
Ding Shen was even more pleased with himself as time was about to run out, but he was interrupted by a sudden voice.
"Oh? What was it?"
A calm voice suddenly came from the quiet alchemy room. Immediately, a figure stepped out and walked slowly with a calm expression, giving a light smile to Zhan Qingqi, who was full of worry.
Seeing Qin Xin's expression, Zhan Qingqi loosened her clenched fists slightly. Because of the light scratching with her fingernails, there seemed to be several marks on her palms, as if the skin had been broken.
Meanwhile, the sand in the hourglass had all slipped away.
"Who knows if the refining can be completed? It might just be a shoddy job."
Ding Shen stared at Qin Xin and said with a disdainful look.
"With the Grand Elder of the Pill Tower here, it's not up to you to decide whether the refining is complete!" Yan Lan said softly from the side.
"Alright, everyone, I hereby declare that time is up. Next, we will test the purity of the elixirs you have refined."
The Grand Elder Shi Rang of Danta also walked in front of the group. With a light wave of his robe, a blue stone platform appeared in the center of the hall.
"This stone platform was specially made to test the purity of spiritual herbs. The more times it is purified, the fewer impurities there are, and the higher the spiritual power level. So you only need to place the purified spiritual herb on it, and it will automatically display the number of times the spiritual herb has been purified."
"Alright, now, put the Black Iron Spirit Leaf Grass that you extracted into it..."
When refining pills, the more times the medicinal herbs are purified, the fewer impurities there will be, resulting in a higher success rate when condensing the pill in the later stages, and the quality of the pill will also be better. However, the difficulty of each purification is several times that of the previous one. Generally, alchemists will not continue after refining for a maximum of ten times, because ten times is already perfect, and the effect of further purification is not significant.
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