Shu Yuanguan gave him a meaningful look, then stopped arguing and picked up the next bottle of pills.
It just so happens that it was Gu Liangce, a disciple of the Lianfeng Sword Sect. Without a second thought, Shu Yuanguan wrote down seven points, exactly the same as before. In fact, if we examine the details more closely, Gu Liangce's qualities are even higher.
Upon seeing this, Fan Hongde's expression changed instantly. How could this be! The Lianfeng Sword Sect is a sect with few alchemists, whose best result in the annual alchemy competition is only third place. How could the pain-relieving pills refined by any of its disciples surpass Fan Mingzhu's level!
The other four judges were also taken aback, but just like last time, they gave the same score, nine points.
Fan Hongde had no choice but to give this disciple of the Lianfeng Sword Sect a perfect score. However, he was deeply puzzled by the disciple's superior-grade pills. Was it because of exceptional talent? Then why did he go to the Sword Sect instead of their Divine Cauldron Sect? If he had gone to the Divine Cauldron Sect, this young man would surely have been highly regarded, and his future would have been far brighter than being a pill cultivator in the Sword Sect!
After a round of scoring, the third place was actually a disciple of the Lianfeng Sword Sect. When the bottle of pills was opened, it turned out to be of superior quality again!
This is far too unexpected. The Lianfeng Sword Sect evaluated two people, both of whom were rated as top-grade. Could it be that the refining technique for the pain-relieving pill has been upgraded, and they are unaware of it? Otherwise, how can we explain the Lianfeng Sword Sect's sudden and rapid improvement in strength, which had been performing only moderately in the Pill Dao Competition?!
Fan Hongde could no longer laugh. He could barely accept it if there was only one person at the top grade, since their sect also had two people who could reach the top grade. But two people meant that Lianfeng Sword Sect was at least on par with them in this aspect! This was too unacceptable.
There was no other way; starting with the first bottle of superior-grade pills, everyone's base score had already been determined. Fan Hongde reluctantly gave it a perfect score of ten, and the others did the same. All three bottles of pills were superior-grade, with slight differences, but not to the point of differing by a single point, so they had to be treated equally.
Shu Yuanguan's smile was meaningful.
After five more were rated as medium quality, the judges breathed a sigh of relief. Otherwise, they would have thought that high-quality pain relievers were already widely available on the market.
Then it was the next turn of the disciples of the Lianfeng Sword Sect. They opened it and saw that it was still a high-grade item! It was actually a high-grade item!
Four bottles of superior-grade quality were produced in total, three of which came from the Lianfeng Sword Sect. What's even more astonishing is that, to date, only these three bottles from the Lianfeng Sword Sect have been submitted for evaluation! Does this mean that all disciples of the Lianfeng Sword Sect are of superior-grade quality? Is that why Shu Yuan Guan is so dismissive of superior-grade quality?
Of the six judges on the stage, only Shu Yuanguan could still smile. The others were shocked and angry, with varying expressions, among which Fan Hongde's was the most obvious.
Elder Yu noticed Fan Hongde's displeasure and, not wanting to provoke him further, offered ten bottles of low- to mid-grade liquor. However, Fan Hongde's expression softened slightly, and he opened a bottle of high-grade liquor from the Lianfeng Sword Sect.
So far, all the pills that Lianfeng Sword Sect has participated in the review of have been rated as top-grade!
The other four sects were already numb, secretly praying that the second round wouldn't prevent any of their disciples from getting in.
Fan Hongde's face was ashen as he said, "The results of the Lianfeng Sword Sect are not right! How could so many disciples be able to refine high-grade pain-relieving pills? There must be something fishy going on!"
"Heh, so you're saying that anyone who surpasses your sect is wrong?" Shu Yuanguan sneered. "Then why bother holding this annual alchemy competition? Why not just have your sect dominate and win the championship directly without needing the competition anymore? Wouldn't that be much easier?"
This round of competition was completed under the watchful eyes of all the sect leaders and judges. The entire process was witnessed, and there was a photo stone above the square recording the whole event. If there were any doubts, the footage could be replayed.
Fan Hongde was speechless after being rebuked, veins bulging on his forehead. In the end, he gritted his teeth and endured it.
The judging continued, and by the time they saw the bottle from the Lianfeng Sword Sect again, they had accepted reality. Now, they were curious about how the Lianfeng Sword Sect had improved the method of refining the pain-relieving pill, making it so common for all disciples to refine high-grade pills.
Shu Yuan observed their expressions and thought to himself: If Fan Hongde knew the truth, he'd be grinding his teeth in frustration. The disciples they had discarded like trash, thrown off the cliff, had simply moved to a different place and were now shining brightly, practically becoming the leaders of the Hundred Herbs Peak disciples. Could this be the legendary saying, "Oranges grown south of the river are sweet, but those grown north of the river are bitter"?
After several more rounds of review, as expected, of the eight disciples of the Lianfeng Sword Sect, the seven who had been reviewed were all of the highest grade. There were two more who had not been reviewed: one was Gu Zhusheng, the eldest disciple of the Shending Sect, and the other was Shi Xuan, the earliest disciple of the Lianfeng Sword Sect to produce a pill.
Needless to say, the judges knew who these two were. Shi Xuan was a given, as all the pills from the Lianfeng Sword Sect were of the highest grade without exception. They had also heard of Gu Zhusheng, who was the most talented disciple of the Shending Sect, so his pills were undoubtedly of the highest grade as well.
Elder Yu picked up Gu Zhusheng's bottle with an expression that suggested he already knew the answer. When he poured out the pills to examine them, he was surprised. The result was somewhat different from what he had imagined. Gu Zhusheng did not seem to have performed to his full potential. These three pain-relieving pills were barely top-grade, and could only be described as top-quality among mid-grade pills.
The group looked at Fan Hongde. There was nothing they could do; even if a pill was close to top-grade, it could only be counted as mid-grade. The group was quite lenient and only deducted one point from his grade, including Shu Yuanguan.
He disdained to make things difficult for this disciple. What did it matter if he gave him a few points? Their Lianfeng Sword Sect had already won big this time. He wanted to see what kind of face Fan Hongde would have when he saw the final top-grade pill. Just thinking about it made him feel very satisfied.
Finally, it was the last bottle's turn. Shi Xuan of the Lianfeng Sword Sect was the first to complete the pill, much earlier than the other disciples.
Gu Zhusheng hadn't performed well before, so Xuan might too...
Their thoughts suddenly stopped. The judges who had seen the pills wondered if they were still half asleep. What were they seeing? These perfectly round, white pills, without a single flaw, were they made by a disciple in the Pill Refining Competition? And this disciple had the fastest pill-making speed, throwing all the materials into the furnace at once... and yet they could produce top-grade flawless pills! And there were as many as seven of them!
Several people were starting to doubt their own abilities; even if they had tried to do it themselves, they could never have done it to this extent!
What kind of freakishly talented disciple is this?!
They all looked at Shu Yuanguan. No wonder he gave seven points for the first top-grade item. At that time, he had asked Fan Hongde how to score the top-grade item if it was a perfect top-grade item. It was clear that he knew what he was doing.
Suddenly, they all realized something and turned to look at Fan Hongde. This disciple with extraordinary talent was actually a former disciple of their Divine Cauldron Sect who had been persecuted to the point of near death and thrown off a cliff!
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
