Xiao Tian opened his eyes, picked up the medicinal ingredients arranged neatly before him, and cast them one by one into the roaring cauldron for refinement.
Nine Profound Vine, Nine-Petal Jade Flower, Nine-Heart Lotus, Nine-Leaf One-Branch Flower, Nine-Pattern Ganoderma... a total of nine ancient, precious medicinal herbs.
Xiao Tian extended his immense soul power, meticulously controlling the temperature of his Heavenly Flame as he slowly extracted the pure, unblemished essence required for the pill.
Around him, Xiao Yan and the other contestants were also focused intently on their respective cauldrons. Every alchemist handled their herbs with extreme caution, well aware that a single momentary lapse in control could lead to immediate failure. Even if they had brought abundant backup materials, time was their ultimate limit—the massive hourglass provided enough time for only two or three attempts at best.
The grand square gradually fell into a tense, expectant silence. Even the tens of thousands of spectators in the stands held their breath, watching in fascination as the alchemists' nimble fingers danced in the air, guiding the tumbling herbs inside the burning cauldrons.
Time slipped away unnoticed in the quiet atmosphere.
Approximately fifty minutes later, Xiao Tian gathered all the refined, glittering medicinal essences into a jade bottle.
Scanning his surroundings, he noticed that several contestants had already entered the pill fusion stage. Xiao Yan was among them.
Xiao Tian glanced toward Xiao Yan's station, a faint smirk touching his lips as he recalled the original events. *If history repeats itself, he will fail his first attempt when switching flames, only to succeed at the absolute last second on his second try.*
Xiao Yan always had a knack for cutting things close, even when playing the hero saving the day. Perhaps he ought to try that thrilling style himself sometime.
Chuckling softly under his breath, Xiao Tian began his own pill fusion.
He poured the extracted medicinal essences directly into the Ten Thousand Beast Cauldron. Under the intense, terrifying heat of the Heavenly Flame, the essences began to merge in an orderly, precise fashion.
Xiao Tian concentrated fully on regulating the temperature and thermal output. At this delicate stage, the slightest imbalance would ruin everything—at best degrading the pill's grade, and at worst burning the delicate essences into useless ash.
Minute by minute, time trickled away.
Suddenly, a muffled boom echoed from a nearby platform. Xiao Yan had failed his first fusion attempt while switching flames, his cauldron emitting a cloud of black smoke. Without losing his composure, Xiao Yan immediately cleared his cauldron and began refining his second batch.
Throughout the entire process, the ancient spirit within Xiao Yan's ring remained completely silent. This was Xiao Yan's personal path of growth; he needed to face setbacks and discover his own limits rather than relying on a benefactor's guidance at every turn. Overindulgence would only cripple his future potential.
By now, the fine sand within the giant hourglass had already passed the halfway mark.
Bursts of loud exclamations erupted from the stands as Princess Yao Yue became the first to successfully condense a pill, followed closely by Liu Ling. Both had managed to produce Tier-4 pills, though Liu Ling's product carried a slightly higher purity and quality than the Little Princess's.
"Hahaha! You two might as well accept your fate as my defeated foes!"
A shrill, arrogant laugh rang out from across the arena. The two turned around in anger, only to see a vibrant, multi-colored pill aroma billowing aggressively from Yan Li's cauldron! A colored pill aroma was the definitive hallmark of a Tier-5 pill, though a few extremely rare peak Tier-4 pills could occasionally produce a similar phenomenon.
Moments later, Yan Li slapped his cauldron and caught a gleaming pill in his hand. He had successfully refined a peak Tier-4 product, completely outclassing Liu Ling and Yao Yue by a wide margin.
"The championship is mine!" Yan Li declared wildly, gripping the pill tightly in his hand. His eyes gleamed with greed and triumph as his haughty voice resonated through the square.
"Is that so? I wouldn't be so quick to celebrate."
Xiao Tian's calm, confident voice echoed clearly across the silent square.
Everyone turned to look in astonishment. A wisp of dense smoke, laced with a mysterious, dark aroma, was surging outward from the vents of the Ten Thousand Beast Cauldron.
Yan Li frowned slightly, but observing that Xiao Tian's cauldron also merely produced a colored pill aroma, he quickly regained his composure and sneered. "I thought you were truly capable of something extraordinary. Even if your pill carries a colored aroma, how could it possibly compete with my Purple Heart Barrier Breaking Pill?"
The Purple Heart Barrier Breaking Pill was a legendary peak Tier-4 pill capable of directly elevating a Great Dou Master's cultivation by one full star, with a lifetime limit of two pills per person.
Xiao Tian ignored Yan Li's arrogance completely. His eyes remained locked on his cauldron as he brought his hands together, his fingers forming a series of dazzling, fluid hand seals. His thumbs, ring fingers, and pinky fingers crossed in pairs, while his index and middle fingers overlapped, forming the unmistakable shape of a soaring dragon's head.
"Golden Dragon Soaring Hand!"
With a sharp cry, Xiao Tian struck the body of the Mountain Melting Cauldron!
*Rumble—!*
The crimson cauldron erupted with a dazzling, deep-green pillar of light that shot straight into the sky! A colossal python shadow coiled majestically around the light pillar, letting out a silent, heavenly roar toward the clouds.
Opening its phantom dragon maw, the projection drew in vast torrents of natural energy from the surrounding world, funneling the concentrated energy down the light pillar and directly into the heart of the cauldron!
As the raw heaven and earth energy poured in, intense, visible energy ripples swept outward from Xiao Tian's platform—the unquestionable signature of a genuine Tier-5 pill taking shape!
"A colored pill aroma accompanied by spatial energy ripples..."On the high platform, Grandmaster Fa Ma's dark expression instantly vanished, replaced by a radiant, ecstatic smile. "That is the hallmark of a successfully refined Tier-5 pill!"
"Based on the herbs he selected earlier and that legendary alchemical hand seal he just performed, he must be refining that ancient Tier-5 mid-grade pill... the Nine Profound Pill!"
"Nine Profound Pill?" Hai Bodong asked in confusion, having never heard of such a pill before.
"The Nine Profound Pill is an ancient formula created by a legendary master," Fa Ma explained, his voice trembling slightly with excitement. "This pill allows a Dou Spirit expert to directly increase their cultivation by two whole stars upon consumption, though a person can only take one in their lifetime!"
"However, even though the formula has been passed down over centuries, virtually no one in modern times has ever managed to refine it successfully!"
Hai Bodong was thoroughly shocked. "Even with the formula, people failed? Is it really that difficult to make?"
"Indeed," Fa Ma nodded deeply, stroking his beard in awe. "To successfully form the Nine Profound Pill, one cannot rely solely on fire and herbs—one must master the legendary alchemical technique, the *Golden Dragon Soaring Hand*, to forcibly guide the energy of the world into the pill to complete its spiritual properties. Without that technique, it will only yield a useless, dead pill!"
Down in the arena, boundless natural energy continued to pour into the cauldron, refined continuously by the Heavenly Flame. The energy ripples pulsing from the platform grew stronger and more intense with every passing second.
Finally, the pillar of blue light dissolved. Xiao Tian slammed his palm against the cauldron once more—the heavy lid flew into the air, and a glossy, dark-purple pill soared out, landing perfectly in his outstretched palm.
"Tier-5, Nine Profound Pill!" Xiao Tian held the gleaming pill high above his head, his clear voice resounding across the entire Royal Square.
Watching Xiao Tian complete his pill, Little Fairy Doctor, Ya Fei, and Qing Lin let out a collective sigh of relief, their hands resting over their heaving chests as bright smiles lit up their faces.
"Good grief! A Tier-5 pill! To become a Tier-5 Alchemist at such an age... is there any natural law left in this world?!"
"Is there no justice?! How can one person possess such absurd talent?!"
"That dragon silhouette just now was utterly magnificent! Just watching him refine alchemy makes my blood boil!"
Overwhelming shock swept through the audience and the VIP stands. Everyone stared at the young man standing atop the stage as if looking at an immortal.
Hearing the name and effects of the Nine Profound Pill, Yan Li's face turned completely ghost-white. Naturally, he knew what the Nine Profound Pill meant—a pill that worked on Dou Spirits far surpassed a pill that only served Great Dou, Masters! A Great Dou Master and a Dou Spirit were on entirely different tiers!
"Why did you stop smiling?" Xiao Tian looked over at the pale, bloodshot-eyed Yan Li, a calm, mocking smile gracing his lips. "Are you simply not a smiley person by nature?"
"Personally, I preferred your arrogant and unrestrained demeanor from earlier. Please, revert back to that."
Yan Li clenched his fists so hard his knuckles turned white. He wanted nothing more than to rush over and tear Xiao Tian apart, but he knew that the moment he moved, the three Dou Emperors watching from the high platform would instantly obliterate him. Their murderous intent was already locked onto his body.
Just as the atmosphere reached its peak, a violent vibration shook Xiao Yan's platform. His cauldron was on the verge of exploding!
At the very last critical moment, Xiao Yan unleashed his Green Lotus Core Flame, tightly wrapping the volatile pill and wrenching it out of the exploding cauldron just in time to preserve its structure.
"Tier-4, Three-Pattern Azure Spirit Pill!" Xiao Yan held his newly formed pill in his trembling hand, shouting weakly as sweat dripped down his face.
A Tier-4 Three-Pattern Azure Spirit Pill offered a Great Dou Master the chance to leap three stars in cultivation, and could even be consumed by a Dou Spirit, albeit with a risk of backlash. Compared to Yan Li's Purple Heart Barrier Breaking Pill, the difference in value was instantly obvious!
Having been decisively crushed by two geniuses in a row, Yan Li's heart turned to pure ash. His face was utterly despondent as his dreams of glory shattered into pieces.
Following a final, desperate plea from Yan Li to inspect the pills, seven respected grandmaster alchemists thoroughly examined every contestant's final product and declared the results valid and untampered.
Realizing his plot had failed, Yan Li frantically gathered his belongings and hastily fled the square, trying to disappear into the crowd.
Cough, cough.
Grandmaster Fa Ma cleared his throat lightly into a broadcast talisman. The noisy square instantly fell into complete silence, every single eye fixed on the high platform.
Fa Ma smiled warmly, sweeping his gaze across the audience before announcing in a booming, thunderous voice:
"I hereby officially declare... the champion of the Seventh Grand Alchemist Convention..."
Fa Ma dramatically extended his hand, pointing straight at the radiant, immortal-like figure standing in the center of the arena.
"...is Xiao Tian!"
"XIAO TIAN! XIAO TIAN! XIAO TIAN!"
The moment Fa Ma's announcement fell, deafening roars of excitement erupted throughout the grand square. Tens of thousands of spectators stood up, passionately chanting Xiao Tian's name in unison!
The sound shook the heavens, celebrating the birth of this legendary, ridiculously young Tier-5 Alchemist!
In the VIP section, Little Fairy Doctor and the other two women embraced each other in sheer joy, wishing they could dive right into the arms of their amazing man.
"Brother Tian, congratulations on winning the championship!" Xiao Yan walked over, a genuinely happy and respectful smile on his face as he offered his heartfelt congratulations.
"You performed exceptionally well today as well," Xiao Tian smiled softly, patting Xiao Yan's shoulder warmly. "Refining a Three-Pattern Azure Spirit Pill under such pressure is something very few could accomplish. In the future, your name will certainly echo across the continent as well."
Hearing his brother's sincere encouragement, Xiao Yan felt a warm wave wash over his heart, nodding heavily with renewed determination.