On the judges' bench, Elder Tan's eyes were fixed intently on Li Nanzhu's every move, his mind already made up.
No matter the outcome of this competition, he would personally visit Feng Yi, the sovereign of the Five Elements Dao Sect, after the event to persuade him not to waste Li Nanzhu's staggering talent in the Dao of alchemy.
With such exquisite fire-control techniques, if she dedicated herself to studying alchemy, she would surely become a grandmaster of her generation.
Su Muli, meanwhile, was lost in thought, his fingertips unconsciously tapping the tabletop.
Such refined refining techniques—could they be the secret arts of the Five Elements Dao Sect? After all, that sect had once been the foremost power with unfathomable foundations; it wouldn't be surprising if they possessed some long-lost alchemy inheritance.
In the arena, Li Nanzhu was completely oblivious to the undercurrents on the judges' bench.
She was fully focused on controlling the flames, fine beads of sweat forming on her brow. Refining the modified version of the clear heart mind-concentrating pill was far more complex than the traditional recipe, with every step requiring extremely precise control.
She first used a warm fire to slowly simmer the mind-concentrating flower, and just as it was about to release its essence, she quickly switched to civil fire to perfectly lock in its medicinal properties.
Next came the moon-essence grass. With spiritual energy flowing through her fingertips, she uniformly extracted the moon-essence within. The true test of her skill was the processing of the stone marrow vine and the gold-patterned fruit—these two ingredients had conflicting medicinal properties and had to be added simultaneously, using special techniques to make them counterbalance each other.
"Look! She's putting in the stone marrow vine and the gold-patterned fruit at the same time!" someone in the audience exclaimed.
Li Nanzhu formed hand seals, her left hand controlling the fire to temper the stone marrow vine while her right hand guided the medicinal properties of the gold-patterned fruit.
Two distinctly different flames coexisted harmoniously under her control. The rigidity of the stone marrow vine and the parching heat of the gold-patterned fruit gradually merged, transforming into a peculiar, balanced energy.
Su Muli stroked his beard and mused, "The stone marrow vine strengthens bones and tendons, while the gold-patterned fruit concentrates the mind and gathers qi. If these two properties truly can merge... she might just create an entirely new alchemical effect."
Bu Qingwei nodded in agreement. "Indeed. Traditional recipes often stick to conventions, but this girl is certainly daring in her actions."
Of course, while there were those who praised Li Nanzhu's behavior, there were naturally those who looked on with disdain.
"Nothing more than grandstanding," Mu Zeting snorted coldly below the stage, speaking to the fellow disciples beside him. "It is common knowledge that the medicinal properties of stone marrow vine and gold-patterned fruit conflict. Forcing them to merge will only lower the quality of the pill."
Mu Zeting's sarcasm indeed drew some agreement. Several Wuji Sect disciples nodded one after another, whispering amongst themselves.
"Senior Brother Mu is right. Those two ingredients conflict; forcing a merger is truly risky."
"It seems she's ignoring pill quality just to show off."
However, the other direct disciples of the Wuji Sect only gave him a faint glance and did not join the conversation.
But Mu Zeting didn't care whether they responded or not. In his view, Li Nanzhu's furnace explosion was already a foregone conclusion. Once it exploded, they would realize just how much foresight his words had possessed.
Over by the Sword Heart Sect, Zhao Wufeng had already instructed his disciples to remain silent.
Cang Dongqing watched the arena expressionlessly. Pei Ji and Li Nanyi also kept their mouths shut, though complex emotions flickered in their eyes.
As for those who firmly believed in Li Nanzhu, aside from those of the Five Elements Dao Sect, the only ones were likely from the Hehuan Sect.
Qinghe couldn't help but mutter under her breath, "What do you know! Junior Sister Li even merged heart-eroding grass perfectly; what does this little bit of difficulty matter?"
Rong Yuying smiled and gently flicked her nose.
They had actually observed the first two rounds of the competition, but because they were afraid of disturbing Li Nanzhu's preparations, they hadn't planned to interfere too much.
Now, suddenly hearing someone—especially Mu Zeting—slandering Li Nanzhu, they naturally couldn't stomach it.
"If you get any angrier, you'll turn into a grumpy old woman," Rong Yuying teased with a light laugh.
"What! Really?" Hearing this, Qinghe immediately dropped her angry look and pulled out a small mirror she carried with her to check herself carefully.
"Yuying." Just as Rong Yuying was about to tease her further, she heard a secret voice transmission from her grandmother. "What are your thoughts on this?"
She immediately straightened up and replied, "Grandmother, she will succeed."
"You have that much faith in her?"
"It's not just faith in her." Rong Yuying gazed at Li Nanzhu on the stage. "It's faith in my own judgment. A genius of triple cultivation, a once-in-a-millennium find... I won't lose this bet."
Six hours flew by in the tense process of refining.
Lin Xiaowan was the first to form her pills—two water rhyme pills.
Tao Ying formed five starlight pills with a pure medicinal fragrance. The two exchanged smiles, both quite satisfied with the results.
Other disciples also finished their refining one after another. Although the quantity of pills wasn't high, they all successfully completed the match.
Soon, only a few direct disciples and Li Nanzhu remained in the field.
Jiang Zhi's refining had reached its most critical moment.
Refining a tier 4 high-grade gold spirit pill was far more difficult than he had anticipated. Fine beads of sweat covered his forehead, and his hands holding the seals trembled slightly.
Every adjustment of the flame consumed a massive amount of mental effort, but he gritted his teeth and persisted—as the chief of the Shenmu Sect, he absolutely could not fail here.
On the other side, Ye Zhiqiu and the three other direct disciples were in slightly better condition. All their processes were within their control, though their faces appeared somewhat pale due to the heavy consumption of divine sense.
Another hour passed, and the atmosphere in the arena grew increasingly tense.
Jiang Zhi's face was now as pale as paper, but a light of determination flashed in his eyes. Suddenly, he bit the tip of his tongue and spat out a mouthful of essence blood, pouring all of his divine sense unreservedly into the alchemy furnace!
"This child!" Su Muli stood up abruptly, worry in his eyes. "A tier 4 high-grade pill consumes too much divine sense; this is far too risky!"
The alchemy furnace vibrated violently, golden light radiating in all directions. It looked as if it were about to explode at any moment.
At this hair-raising juncture, Jiang Zhi's hands formed the final mudra, forcefully suppressing the rampaging energy!
A dense medicinal fragrance wafted out.
"It's a success!" Elder Tan shouted in surprise. "That boy Jiang Zhi! He actually made a breakthrough during the Sect Competition!"
The hall of discipline elder stepped forward quickly to inspect it and announced loudly, "Jiang Zhi of the Shenmu Sect, tier 4 high-grade gold spirit pill, three pills formed!"
Under the inspection of several elders, although there was some loss of medicinal properties due to the final fluctuation, it truly met the standard of a tier 4 high-grade pill.
This result caused the people of the Shenmu Sect to erupt in cheers.
With a tier 4 high-grade pill, first place was already a certainty!
Immediately after, the other direct disciples also formed their pills.
Ye Zhiqiu's five elements spirit-nurturing pill ultimately landed at tier 4 mid-grade, with five pills formed. Wei Zhaoheng's scarlet sun pill was tier 4 low-grade, with four pills formed. The other two direct disciples also refined tier 4 low-grade pills.
On the judges' bench, the various sect leaders offered their congratulations to Su Muli one after another. "Congratulations, Sect Leader Su. The Shenmu Sect has secured another grand victory!"
Su Muli returned the courtesy modestly, but his eyes couldn't help but drift toward Li Nanzhu, who was still refining.
At this moment, she was the only one left in the arena who had not yet finished. All eyes were focused on her.
Only Li Nanzhu herself knew that her situation was far more difficult than it appeared to outsiders.
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