When the time limit was reached, there were still seventy-eight contestants on the field who had failed to refine a Pill. However, no one paid attention to them anymore; everyone’s gaze was glued to the contestants who had successfully refined their Pills.

The Presiding Elder cleared his throat, his voice echoing across the arena: “Seniors of the judging panel, please step down into the field to evaluate the Pills and determine the rankings.”

It had come. It was finally here.

Lai Li’an sat upright in his chair, maintaining an expression of perfect composure while cursing furiously in his heart.

They had to fly again. Couldn’t they just let people walk properly?

The judging panel was at least several dozen meters above the arena. If he took the side stairs down, it would be too late by the time he arrived.

Just as he was racking his brains to come up with an excuse, a faint, cold fragrance suddenly drifted from beside him. Ruan Qin had walked over to his side at some point.

“At a time like this, are you still planning to walk?”

Her voice was kept extremely low, allowing only the two of them to hear.

Lai Li’an’s mouth twitched. He was suffering on the inside, but he wasn’t going to say a word.

Ruan Qin looked at his frozen expression and suddenly sighed softly, “Forget it, my sister told me everything. I know you have a hidden ailment. How about this, put your hand on my shoulder, and I’ll fly you down.”

A hidden ailment? Lai Li’an almost couldn’t hold back from refuting it on the spot: I’m very healthy! My body is in great shape!

But he opened his mouth and then swallowed his words. Given the current situation, admitting to having a hidden ailment was better than admitting he couldn’t fly.

He fell silent for a moment, silently placing his hand on Ruan Qin’s shoulder.

The moment his fingertips made contact, Ruan Qin’s warm body temperature transmitted through the thin fabric, and a very faint fragrance wafted from her collar, clear and not overly sweet.

Ruan Qin turned her head to look at him, didn’t say a word, and simply formed a hand seal.

A gentle surge of Spiritual Power gushed from her palm, gently lifting them both, and they slowly descended towards the center of the arena along with the other airborne judges.

Although this movement wasn’t particularly grand, the people on the judging panel were all old monsters at the Golden Core stage at a minimum; which one of them wasn’t extremely observant and alert?

Pei Changjing was the first to notice this scene. He raised an eyebrow, a trace of amusement flashing through his sleepy phoenix eyes.

Yin Zheng also glanced over. His gaze paused for a moment on Lai Li’an’s hand resting on Ruan Qin’s shoulder, then shifted away as if nothing had happened.

No one said anything, but everyone was muttering in their hearts. What kind of temperament did Ruan Qin have? Anyone who had spent time in the Alchemy Sect knew that this was someone who dared to deny face even to the Supreme Elder.

To actually let a Rogue Cultivator she had known for barely two days rest his hand on her shoulder, no one would believe it even if they were told.

Lai Li’an took in all these gazes without a ripple of emotion on his face, though he was howling internally:

But then again, the flight was quite steady. Ruan Qin’s control over her Spiritual Power was indeed pure and precise, more than a tier above the wobbly sensation he felt when riding Su Wan’er’s Flying Sword previously.

After landing, the judges began to walk past each contestant’s stone platform in sequence.

Most of the first 20 or so people had refined Fourth-Grade Pills of varying qualities. Yin Zheng evaluated them one by one, his tone gentle and every word hitting the mark.

Several young Alchemists were so nervous they hardly dared to breathe; receiving a single compliment of “acceptable quality” made them feel as though they had been granted amnesty.

Pei Changjing was much more easygoing. He yawned all the way, casually patting the contestants on the shoulders and saying, “Not bad, not bad, keep it up next time.” Though, no one knew if he actually meant it or not.

After walking through more than half the circle, the judges coincidentally slowed their pace. They had deliberately saved the two Fifth-Grade Pills and Ruan Se’s Sixth-Grade Pill for last.

Approaching Meng Qiuran first, Yin Zheng took Meng Qiuran’s Blazing Sun Snowmelt Pill out of its jade bottle and held it in his palm to examine it closely.

The Pill was completely crimson, with five distinct pill veins, and a layer of warm luster flowing over it in the sunlight.

“Qiuran,” Yin Zheng raised his eyes, his tone carrying a bit of gratification. “Mid-Tier Fifth-Grade, excellent quality, and the transition between Low and High Heat was done without any hesitation. This Blazing Sun Snowmelt Pill is already much better than what the disciples of the same realm in our Main Branch can produce.”

Pei Changjing also leaned over to take a look. “Martial Nephew Meng has indeed put in effort this time. To be able to alternately refine Blazing Sun Grass and Ice Marrow Jade—two materials with completely opposite medicinal properties—in the same furnace using Low and High Heat to this extent, even I might not have been able to do it back in the day.”

Meng Qiuran scratched the back of his head and smiled somewhat embarrassedly, “Martial Uncle, you flatter me. This disciple merely practiced in secluded cultivation for three months and almost refined myself to death in the Alchemy Room. However…” His tone suddenly shifted, and he raised his head, his gaze looking straight at Lai Li’an standing in the back. “This disciple also has a presumptuous request, I would like to ask Senior Lai to also give a few comments.”

As soon as he spoke, the atmosphere in the arena instantly changed.

Wait, why am I involved?

Lai Li’an complained frantically in his heart, but on the surface, he nodded calmly.

The eyes of the surrounding judges also turned over in unison. He had no choice but to take two steps forward, take that Pill from Yin Zheng’s hand, and pretend to examine it.

As soon as Meng Qiuran made this request, the grandstands immediately exploded in an uproar.

“Who is that masked guy? I thought he was just here to make up the numbers.”

“I don’t know, but Meng Qiuran is the top seed of the Alchemy Sect Branch. To actually call on a stranger by name to comment, what is this person’s background?”

“Maybe he is some hidden Senior. Look at his bearing standing there; it’s completely different from the others.”

The whispers from the stands surged over like a tide, but Lai Li’an acted as if he hadn’t heard a thing.

His gaze fell on the Blazing Sun Snowmelt Pill in his palm. The problem was, what could he possibly comment on? He couldn’t even understand the refinement process of a Fifth-Grade Pill; asking him to evaluate it was practically asking for his life.

Fortunately, with a mere thought, the relevant records regarding the Blazing Sun Snowmelt Pill from the Scripture of the Eternal Alchemy God automatically surfaced in his mind.

“This pill…” he began slowly, rapidly rattling off an evaluation based on the alchemy book’s contents. “The heat control for the Blazing Sun Grass is acceptable, but during the transition between gentle fire and High Heat, the fire’s momentum deviated slightly. This should be because the temperature was a bit too low when the Ice Marrow Jade entered the furnace.”

At this point, a thought suddenly flashed through his mind. The alchemy book mentioned a much more exquisite handling method, and he subconsciously blurted it out:

“If the Ice Marrow Jade could be nourished in advance with Spiritual Power for a moment, bringing its medicinal properties to a critical state of ‘about to melt but not yet melted,’ and then fused with the essence of the Blazing Sun Grass, it would not only prevent the loss of medicinal efficacy caused by the clash of hot and cold, but also allow the two properties to stimulate an even stronger effect during their collision. In this way, the quality of this Blazing Sun Snowmelt Pill could be raised by at least another ten percent.”

He closed his mouth after finishing, feeling that this critique was enough to pass muster.

However, the surroundings suddenly fell quiet, so quiet that something felt wrong.

Lai Li’an looked up and found everyone looking at him.