"Look over there!"
Li Nanzhu turned her head abruptly to see that in Lu Tingyun's alchemy furnace, the pitch-black sinking water jade was being forcibly refined, merging rapidly with the silver-white profound iron. Unnatural ripples appeared at the boundary between the two materials.
"He's forcing the fusion!" Feng Qingping was somewhat surprised. "If I remember correctly, sinking water jade requires at least three hours to melt completely. For him to force it like this..."
Several inner sect disciples from the Water Moon Sect who had already left the stage were whispering nearby:
"What is Senior Brother Lu doing? That's not how the properties of sinking water jade work!"
"Forcing the fusion might be fast, but it will ruin the material's structure..."
"I heard that little junior sister from the Sword Heart Sect gave him some advice yesterday."
"Shh—lower your voice..."
Li Nanzhu's ears twitched slightly as she took in all these discussions.
She noticed that Lu Tingyun's forehead was already covered in fine beads of sweat, and his hands were trembling slightly as he made hand seals, but his eyes were exceptionally determined.
"Why is he in such a hurry?" Duan Xianxing scratched his head, looking puzzled.
Zhu Yinxi spun his jade flute around his fingertips. "To win first place."
Sure enough, in less than fifteen minutes, Lu Tingyun's alchemy furnace suddenly erupted with brilliant light.
A pitch-black longsword soared into the air, its surface rippling with watery patterns that flowed under the sunlight. However, upon closer inspection, those ripples were slightly stiff, as if they had been forcibly branded onto the metal.
"Lu Tingyun of the Water Moon Sect, tier 3 high-grade Sinking Water Sword, quality... superior." The deacon elder's announcement carried a hint of hesitation.
Li Nanzhu keenly sensed that as the longsword flipped in mid-air, a nearly inaudible cracking sound came from a certain part of the blade—evidence of the imperfect fusion of materials.
"The blade's toughness has been reduced by at least thirty percent," Duan Xianxing judged while staring at the longsword. "If it had been refined normally, it could have been raised by at least another grade."
At that moment, a deafening explosion suddenly erupted from the northwest corner.
A disciple who was nearly finished had been stimulated by Lu Tingyun's success; his mind wavered, causing his spiritual energy to spiral out of control. His alchemy furnace immediately exploded into a ball of fire.
"Disciple of furnace B19, disqualified due to furnace explosion!"
That disciple was led off the field by a deacon, his face covered in black soot, his eyes filled with unwillingness and regret.
Li Nanzhu turned her gaze toward the other direct disciples of the Water Moon Sect.
Chu Chenzhou maintained a steady rhythm, and the longsword in his furnace had already begun to take shape.
"As expected of the chief disciple of the Water Moon Sect," Duan Xianxing couldn't help but praise.
On Liu Qingyang's side, the black round disk before him was gradually forming, occasionally emitting a faint dark-red glimmer.
"What kind of sinister thing is he refining?" Duan Xianxing craned his neck to look.
Li Nanzhu shook her head, her gaze sweeping over the equally confused crowd—it was clearly another one of Liu Qingyang's eccentric self-made magic tools.
She then looked at the other two direct disciples of the Water Moon Sect: Yi Qingyu was mechanically forming hand seals, sweat dripping from her temples; Su Mu's materials had already failed to melt for the third time, his fingertips trembling slightly.
Although these two carried the title of direct disciples, their performance at this moment was no different from that of ordinary disciples.
Time passed minute by minute, and other participating disciples finished their refining one after another.
At this time, the most eye-catching person was Chu Chenzhou.
Inside his alchemy furnace, all the previous materials had been completely purified, and it was clear that he was about to finish.
Accompanied by a series of complex hand seals, the temperature of the furnace before Chu Chenzhou suddenly dropped. The molten liquid instantly solidified into a sword blank, its surface covered in a layer of fine frost.
"He's about to shape it!" a disciple whispered.
Li Nanzhu saw spiritual light surge from Chu Chenzhou's fingertips as he used streaks of cold air to carve the sword blank.
The blade, the spine, the edge... every detail gradually took form under the cold mist.
Most miraculously, the soul-confusing sand that had been excluded was cleverly utilized by him to form natural anti-divine sense patterns on the blade.
"A genius concept..." Even Feng Weilan offered a rare word of praise.
When the final pattern was completed, the entire longsword suddenly erupted with a piercing cold light.
The temperature on the arena floor plummeted instantly, causing several nearby disciples to shiver uncontrollably.
"Chu Chenzhou of the Water Moon Sect, Mysterious Ice Sword, tier 4 mid-grade!"
"Cra—ck—"
A series of sharp cracking sounds suddenly rang out.
In the two alchemy furnaces closest to Chu Chenzhou, the magic tools that were about to be completed were suddenly covered in a layer of white frost. Then, before everyone's eyes, several hideous cracks split open.
"My magic tool!"
"No—!"
The desperate cries of two disciples rang out. A short blade before one of them was ninety percent complete, only to be frozen and cracked at the last moment by the sudden cold air. The other was the last remaining participant from the Heavenly Sound Sect; the lute strings he had painstakingly maintained for three hours all snapped under the low temperature.
"Disciples C7 and D22, refining failed!"
The deacon elder's announcement was like a final blow. The Water Moon Sect disciple slumped directly to the ground, while the Heavenly Sound Sect disciple glared at Chu Chenzhou with bloodshot eyes.
Chu Chenzhou seemed to only just realize the impact he had caused. Frowning slightly, he flicked his finger, and an invisible barrier immediately isolated the cold air.
But it was too way late; the magic tools of those two disciples were completely ruined.
"I apologize," he said, nodding slightly in their direction.
The Heavenly Sound Sect disciple bit his lip and said nothing, while the Water Moon Sect disciple shook his head with a bitter smile—anyone could see that Chu Chenzhou hadn't done it on purpose.
Li Nanzhu noticed several elders on the judging panel discussing in low voices.
Elder Chang Yan stroked his beard and mused, "We were indeed a bit inconsiderate this time. We should have set up temperature-isolating barriers in advance."
Liu Changhe lightly tapped the armrest of his chair, and the crowd immediately quieted down.
With a flick of his finger, two streaks of gentle spiritual energy entered the bodies of the two failed disciples, helping them calm their turbulent breath—this was the greatest consolation he could offer.
"However, combining the cold-quenching method with divine sense weaving, and even utilizing the disruptive materials at the end..." Elder Chang Yan quickly shifted the topic. "This child Chenzhou has truly surpassed his predecessors."
A white-haired elder nodded repeatedly. "To reach tier 4 mid-grade under the interference of soul-confusing sand is already beyond his usual level."
While everyone was still discussing Chu Chenzhou's Mysterious Ice Sword, a sudden commotion erupted from Liu Qingyang's side.
The black round disk before him was flashing wildly, and the red patterns on its surface formed a bizarre design.
"Liu Qingyang of the Water Moon Sect, this is... tier 3 mid-grade." The deacon elder stared at the strange magic tool, momentarily unsure how to judge it.
Liu Qingyang said triumphantly, "Watch closely! As long as there is evil energy nearby..."
He pulled a fragment of yin-malevolent stone from his materials and brought it close to the disk. The red patterns on the surface immediately twisted violently, emitting a piercing red light.
Exclamations of surprise rang out from the sidelines.
Several Water Moon Sect disciples even started cheering, "Senior Brother Liu has come up with something new again!"
"Of course!" Liu Qingyang spun the disk smugly. "My evil energy warning disk is..."
Before he could finish, the disk suddenly began to flash violently toward a certain direction in the audience.
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