The Final Trial

After the second trial, fewer than a hundred alchemists remained on the high platform.

Yin Shixiu and Qin Yu stood side by side, their eyes sweeping over the crowd.

The alchemists left standing were all outstanding talents of the younger generation. Regardless of how they performed in the upcoming third trial, reaching this point already set them far above their peers.

The high platform, previously packed tight with over a thousand competitors, now looked quite sparse, with small clusters of alchemists scattered here and there.

Under everyone's watchful eyes, Qin Yu clapped his hands. The dotted lines of the formation on the ground—previously dividing the floor into thousands of squares—lit up one after another. They merged and expanded in a flash of shifting light, transforming the thousands of small grid squares into a hundred far larger ones.

Qin Yu's majestic voice then resounded: “Will everyone please enter your respective positions according to your total scores.”

Having taken first place in total score across the two trials, Shi Yu stepped into the first grid square.

She inspected the formation that formed the grid lines and thought to herself, This array is quite clever. It allows for flexible layout adjustments, which is remarkably convenient for such a large venue.

Behind Shi Yu, Pei Yanji, Yin Wenzhou, and Qin Qingmu entered their respective squares in descending order.

Now, everyone had more than double their original space, making each contestant's performance far clearer and easier to observe.

Once everyone had taken their places, Yin Shixiu exchanged a nod with Qin Yu and spoke: “Having passed the previous two trials, all of you standing here today have proven your strength.”

“Regardless of whether you held back in the first two trials, the upcoming third trial—the final trial of this tournament—will require you to display every bit of your true capability.”

Hearing this, many alchemists let out bitter laughs. Hold back? How could they dare hold back? Reaching this stage had already required everything they had.

Though the earlier rounds varied between minor and major tournaments, the final trial was always the same. Thus, Yin Shixiu didn't waste time with suspense, stating directly:

“For the third trial of this tournament, you are free to refine any pill you choose. The winner will be determined first by the highest pill tier produced. Among those with equal tiers, the pill of superior quality wins. If both tier and quality are identical, the pill with higher refining difficulty takes precedence. Therefore, please be sure to choose the highest-tier pill you are capable of refining.”

“This trial has a time limit of ten days.”

“Everyone, begin.”

Yin Wenzhou glared coldly at the two standing ahead of him. He had not experienced falling behind others for more than a decade. Such humiliation instead ignited his fighting spirit, and he thought to himself, I originally planned to play it safe and refine the Heart-Clearing Pill or Mystic Ice Pill, both of which I've mastered to perfection... But as things stand, those two won't be enough. I'll have to choose the more difficult Dragon Breath Pill... First place belongs to me.

Qin Qingmu had been mired in feelings of defeat and embarrassment, but she finally pulled herself together now, making a resolute decision: Teacher said refining the Soul Spirit Pill easily causes backlash, but I have no better option left. I have to go all out!

...

Unaware of what the others were thinking, Shi Yu lowered her eyelashes in deep thought.

From the first two trials, she could roughly confirm that the remaining alchemists were mostly Tier-2 alchemists. Only Yin Wenzhou and Qin Qingmu were firmly in the Tier-3 ranks, while a few other standout performers had likely just stepped into Tier-3 and remained unstable in their execution.

The only wild card was Pei Yanji.

Shi Yu constantly felt that this man was still holding back, though she couldn't tell just how much.

She murmured silently, Right now, restricted by my cultivation, I can at most refine a Tier-3 pill. Because of that, I must maximize the finished pill's quality as much as possible.

When it came to Tier-3 pills, Shi Yu wasn't fully confident she could produce a supreme-grade pill as she had with the Tier-2 Mind-Soothing Pill. She could only ensure a high-grade pill while giving it her absolute best.

It hadn't been long since she reached the eighth layer of the Qi Refining Realm, and thus not long since she gained the ability to attempt Tier-3 pills.

Out of the few batches she had successfully refined, all were Tier-3 Heart-Clearing Pills. Reasonably speaking, choosing the Heart-Clearing Pill would be best since she possessed practical experience with it.

However... Shi Yu frowned slightly and glanced toward Pei Yanji. After pondering for a moment, she abandoned that plan.

The Heart-Clearing Pill was the most common Tier-3 pill, and its refining difficulty was relatively low among Tier-3 pills. Relying on it would hardly yield a favorable final score.

Besides, she always preferred to leave herself a backup buffer.

That left only one option.

Shi Yu raised her eyes and brushed her hand over the Fate-Tapping Bell, withdrawing a variety of spiritual plants from within.

These spiritual plants were precisely the materials required to refine a downgraded version of the Extreme Devouring Pill.

She had obtained the damaged pill recipe for the Extreme Devouring Pill from Zeng Rong in exchange for a Lesser Longevity Pill. Through deductions with the 《Illusory Resemblance Art》 inside the light-speck space, she hadn't fully restored the original recipe, but she had successfully derived a downgraded version.

The original Extreme Devouring Pill ranked at Tier-5, while this downgraded version ranked at Tier-3. Upon consumption, it burned blood essence to temporarily boost a cultivator in the late stage of the Qi Refining Realm up to the Foundation Establishment Realm. In terms of refining difficulty and pill value, it far surpassed the Heart-Clearing Pill.

Furthermore, she had simulated refining it several times inside the light-speck space, so it wasn't entirely unfamiliar to her.

Behind her, Pei Yanji, Yin Wenzhou, and the others had also selected their respective pills and brought out the required spiritual plants one by one.

...

Having announced the start of the trial, Qin Yu and Yin Shixiu retreated to the front row of the spectator area.

Yin Shixiu tapped his fingers against the back of his chair, his lips twitching imperceptibly as he transmitted his voice via spiritual energy, focusing it into a thin thread directly into Qin Yu's ear: “Is there any way to silently kill that man?”

Who “that man” referred to went without saying.

Qin Yu glanced at him, transmitting his voice in return: “We aren't the only Golden Core Realm cultivators present. Under everyone's watchful eyes, trying to kill someone without a trace is... difficult.”

With that, he countered, “You are the president of the Alchemist Association. Can't you just whip up some odorless, colorless poison to poison him to death?”

The two, who had always been at odds, were surprisingly aligned on this matter.

Yin Shixiu rolled his eyes, too lazy to respond to Qin Yu's suggestion, and said anxiously, “That Pei Yanji's depth is unknown. Judging by his performance in the first two trials, his alchemy skills might even exceed Wenzhou's.”

He then shot a glance at Qin Yu. “And above your precious daughter's as well.”

“If he truly takes first place, it won't just affect my Alchemist Association. Hengze Prefecture and the entire Changyuan Prefecture will lose all face. As the City Lord, I doubt you'll be able to sit comfortably either, will you?”

Qin Yu frowned at his words. What Yin Shixiu said was true. If an evil cultivator from Wanchou Prefecture truly claimed first place, Changyuan Prefecture would never be able to hold its head up in the entire East Continent again.

He looked toward the stage and said, “We can't kill him, so what else can we do besides wait and see how things unfold?”

Yin Shixiu let out a sigh. “The top spot in this tournament was originally supposed to be a contest between my disciple and your daughter. Right now... anyone else winning is fine, as long as it's not Pei Yanji.”

Qin Yu shook his head slightly, his gaze falling upon the young woman standing in first place. He spoke up: “That young friend from Lingtai Prefecture—why don't you place any hope in her? Her performance in the first two trials was head and shoulders above everyone else.”

Yin Shixiu paused, then looked toward Shi Yu with a bitter laugh. “Can't you tell she's only at the eighth layer of the Qi Refining Realm?”

“The girl is only seventeen years old. Her cultivation is already impressive for her age, and refining a Tier-2 pill at the eighth layer of the Qi Refining Realm proves her talent is extraordinary and her attainments profound. But attempting to refine a Tier-3 pill is practically impossible.”

Actually, saying “practically” wasn't entirely accurate. Reasonably speaking, it was completely impossible for a Qi Refining Realm cultivator to refine a Tier-3 pill.

“Without sufficient spiritual sense and spiritual energy to back it up, it's impossible to form the pill at all!”

...

Down in the spectator area, everyone knew the real show was finally beginning. This free alchemy segment would allow the alchemists to display their unique abilities, which was bound to be thrilling.

Although several days had already passed during the first and second trials, the enthusiastic atmosphere showed no signs of fading. Some even set up betting tables on the spot, offering various odds and drawing a frenzy of wagers from the crowd.

The ones attracting the most attention were still Yin Wenzhou and Qin Qingmu, whose names had long been widely known. Although their performances in the first two trials fell slightly behind, plenty of people still believed they could claim first place.

Pei Yanji, the dark horse, also had many supporters. To gamblers, grievances between two prefectures or an evil cultivator identity meant nothing—placing a winning bet was all that mattered.

By contrast, Shi Yu, who currently held first place, had remarkably few bets placed on her.

No one was a fool. Everyone understood that while her talent might be extraordinary and her future achievements might surpass Yin Wenzhou and the others, a Qi Refining Realm cultivator in this free alchemy round was still far from qualified to contend with several Foundation Establishment Realm alchemists. Naturally, no one was willing to waste spirit stones betting on her.

President Song and his group were quite open-minded about it.

For Shi Yu to reach this stage and achieve such results was already more than enough to satisfy them.

Master Ji spoke up: “Little Yu's quality in refining Tier-2 pills is already astonishing. Regardless of what happens, a spot in the top ten is definitely guaranteed for her.”

This was already an unprecedented achievement for the Lingtai Prefecture Alchemist Association.

On stage, the alchemists finished their considerations and pulled out their pill furnaces one after another, preparing to ignite their fires and begin refining.