Seeing the puzzled looks of An Yu and Jun Zichen, Xu Errong smiled lightly and explained softly, "The basic qualities of an alchemist are not only the ability to identify herbs, but also courage. This green fruit seems to be testing his ability to identify herbs, but it's not the case. When blindfolded, in addition to touch and smell, there is another important sense - taste!"
"But the prerequisite for taste is tasting, which greatly tests a person's courage. After all, when blindfolded, no one knows whether the object in their hand is poisonous..."
"He didn't bite down, so he lost the round."
"I'm sorry, I lost this round!" After struggling for a long time, Alchemist No. 3 said dejectedly. The red brocade was taken off. The man looked at the fruit in front of him, and a look of regret instantly rose on his face. If he had known this would happen, he should have bravely bit into it. Unfortunately...
The elders on the rostrum shook their heads, disappointment on their faces. Everyone in the field sighed, and the atmosphere suddenly became much lower.
"Alchemist No. 3 has failed the test. Please withdraw from the competition." After the host on the stage finished speaking, Alchemist No. 3 walked off the stage with a dejected look on his face, facing countless pairs of gazes. Failure in the first level also meant that he could not proceed with the subsequent competitions. In this alchemy competition among the freshmen, the longer he persisted, the greater his hope.
"Okay, please ask Alchemist No. 4 to come forward." As Alchemist No. 3 stepped down from the stage, the host instantly drew everyone's attention back.
Just as everyone was waiting for the answer, Venerable Ye Yun on the judging platform nodded again, and the host showed a look of joy on his face, "Congratulations to Alchemist No. 4, you have done an excellent job in this round..."
The applause was louder and lasted longer this time, perhaps because of the failure of the alchemist No. 3. It did not stop until the alchemist No. 5 walked to the front of the stage at the signal of his supporters.
The following process was no different from the previous one. Basically, several alchemists came forward and told their identification results in turn. Except for alchemist No. 3 who failed, alchemists No. 5, No. 7, and No. 10 were also eliminated. Of the ten alchemists, only six were left in the end. Such a high elimination rate further hit everyone's fragile hearts.
In the first round, ten alchemists went down, and another ten came up, including many alchemists An Ran had seen in the Alchemy Academy. The content of the competition was the same as before, identifying herbs. The burly young man was the number one alchemist in the second round and luckily passed the competition. The elimination rate in the second round was even higher than that in the first round. In the end, only four of the ten alchemists were left. There were also ten alchemists in the third round, and this time seven passed.
There were a total of thirty new alchemists. In the end, seventeen of them passed the first stage of identifying herbs.
"The first stage of identifying herbs is over. Now we enter the second stage, refining the elixir! All alchemists, please stand in your seats and prepare for the preliminary work." The supporter stood at the front of the platform and announced to everyone.
Boom! Suddenly, everyone's blood boiled and they stood up, their eyes shining with excitement.
It’s time to refine the elixir. It’s finally time to refine the elixir. After waiting for so long, this moment is about to come!
Identifying herbs can only be regarded as one of the basics to test the level of an alchemist, while alchemy is what everyone values most. After all, no matter how high an alchemist's basic level is, it will be useless if he does not have the alchemy skills.
"Haha, it's finally time to make an elixir. This is the first time I see someone making an elixir, wow..." A young man clenched his hands and said excitedly.
…
Just as everyone was getting excited, a man suddenly hurried over from the judges' booth. After saying a few words to the host, he clearly noticed the host's surprised expression. However, it didn't take long for him to speak. "In the second round, we will add two people from the Four Great Halls. These two are disciples of Venerable Mo Shang, recommended by Venerable Mo Shang himself. Next, we invite An Ran and Xu Errong to come on stage to compete!"
An Ran and Xu Errong were stunned. They didn't hear their names in the first round of competition and thought they were not participating. They didn't expect that they would directly enter the second round!
The people around couldn't help but sigh as they watched An Ran and Xu Errong walk onto the stage. After all, they were disciples of Venerable Mo Shang, yet they had directly advanced to the second round. For a moment, envious and jealous eyes were directed at them.
An Ran and Xu Errong looked up at the sky in silence. In the strange atmosphere of the whole venue, they remained calm and walked silently to the seats assigned to them.
"The second round of Danbi officially begins!"
The host of the second round of Danbi has been replaced by Elder Tianwu. As soon as these words were spoken, everyone fell silent. The entire Danbi venue was so quiet that only the sound of slight breathing could be heard, and everyone's eyes fell on Elder Tianwu, because his next words were the key points.
"Each of you will have three medicinal ingredients: a fourth-grade Lingdan Pill, a fifth-grade Phoenix Pill, and a sixth-grade Tiankui Pill. Each pill has only one corresponding ingredient. In the end, the competition will see who has refined the best pill. The evaluation will be based on the quality and quantity of the pills."
As they spoke, the disciples in the medicine hall had already placed the herbs on the table of the person who was taking the alchemy competition. They did so quickly and without making any noise. In a short time, they had all been placed.
"If there are no questions, Danbi will begin now! The time limit is two hours!"
Fourth- and fifth-grade elixirs wouldn't take this long, but these two hours were clearly reserved for sixth-grade elixirs. The higher the elixir's grade, the longer it takes to refine. It's said that refining a holy-grade elixir could easily take a day or even several. Consequently, improving alchemy skills becomes even more challenging.
Everyone wasted no time and immediately started refining the elixir. At this time, time is also very important.
However, while everyone else was working, An Ran remained silent. Looking at the three medicinal herbs in front of her, she hesitated over whether to refine the fifth-grade Phoenix Pill or the sixth-grade Tiankui Pill.
If she were to refine the fifth-grade Phoenix Pill, she would be fully confident of success, but the possibility of getting a good ranking would be very small. If she were to refine the sixth-grade Tiankui Pill, then she would be taking a complete gamble. If she failed halfway and wasted too much time, she might not even be able to refine the fifth-grade Phoenix Pill.
Thinking of this, Anran couldn't help but frown.
Xu Errong did not hesitate at all, and his eyes did not even linger on the medicinal ingredients for the fifth-grade Phoenix Pill. He directly picked up the medicinal ingredients for the sixth-grade Tiankui Pill.
(To be continued.)
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