Too few people had been eliminated in the first two rounds. Although this outcome was within the organizers’ expectations, seeing that over seventy percent of the nearly a thousand contestants had successfully advanced still caused the Elders on the judging panel to frown.

Pei Changjing flipped through the advancement roster and scoffed, “The foundational skills of this batch of contestants aren’t bad. At this rate, I’m afraid the finals won’t even start until next month.”

Yin Zheng set down his teacup and nodded in agreement, “There are indeed too many people. Although the conference’s purpose is to discover new talents, if every round is this lenient, the finals will just be a sea of people, and the entertainment value will be greatly diminished.”

The Elders discussed quietly for a moment, then cast their gazes toward the platforms in the arena that had already been rearranged. They all decided to temporarily raise the original difficulty of the third round by a notch.

Subsequently, the host’s voice resounded across the square once again: “The third round, Pill Consolidation. By unanimous decision of the judging panel, the difficulty of this round has been increased. Each contestant will randomly draw a Fourth-Grade Pill Formula. The conference will provide all necessary supplementary ingredients for the formula and one standard main ingredient. Contestants may also choose to use their own high-grade main ingredient to replace the conference’s standard one, but the formula itself cannot be altered. Those who successfully form a Pill within the stipulated time will advance; those who fail to do so or whose Pill quality fails to meet the standard will be eliminated.”

As soon as these words were spoken, the stands instantly exploded into an uproar, with discussions rising and falling. Experienced older Alchemists in the audience shook their heads and commented, saying that this was clearly testing a Fourth-Grade Pill Formula using the standards of a Fifth-Grade Alchemist.

The requirements for control were more than just a single level higher than usual; this round would likely eliminate over half of the participants.

When the nearly seven hundred contestants stood before their respective stone platforms once again and looked at the thin pill formula in front of them, many of their expressions grew much more solemn.

Suddenly, a few disciples from major Sects unhurriedly took out self-prepared, precious Spirit Herbs from their Storage Bags and placed them on their stone platforms, drawing a wave of envious gazes from their surroundings.

One young man among them held a stalk of Star-Vein Grass swirling with purple light. Its grade was extremely high, and the moment it appeared, it drew the eyes of several nearby contestants.

He glanced at a Rogue Cultivator wearing plain robes beside him and openly ridiculed him: “Fellow Daoist, you’re actually still using the standard main ingredient issued by the conference? With that quality, I’m afraid you won’t even be able to extract eighty percent of its medicinal properties. Do you want me to share half a stalk with you? Although it can’t compare to this thousand-year-old one of mine, it’s still better than yours.”

The rogue cultivator’s face flushed red, and his lips moved for a moment, but ultimately he did not retort. He merely lowered his head and placed the standard main spiritual herb distributed by the conference into the alchemy cauldron.

Meng Qiuran stood among the crowd, his gaze sweeping over them with a slight frown, as if he were looking for someone.

From the first round to the third, he hadn’t seen Su Wan’er’s figure at all.

Senior had clearly said she would participate in this Alchemy Conference, but he hadn’t spotted her among the participants from beginning to end.

Since Senior had come, why hadn’t fellow Daoist Su appeared? Could some accident have happened? His thoughts drifted for a moment, before being pulled back by the sound of a bell.

Regardless, the most important thing right now was the competition. He took a deep breath, expelled all distracting thoughts from his mind, and slowly released his spiritual power.

The pill formula Ruan Se had drawn was the fourth-grade Cold Dew Pill, one of the more difficult formulas among them all. And the standard main herb provided by the conference in front of her had an ordinary appearance with shriveled branches and leaves, clearly the leftovers from the inventory.

She picked up the Cold Marrow Grass, examined it, and impassively put it back.

She had originally planned to use her own materials, but she realized that most of her Spirit Stones had gone towards buying ingredients for the Azure Wood Qi-Harmonizing Pill, leaving her with no extra Spirit Stones to prepare them.

Her Spiritual Power was already running low, and meditating in the resting area for an hour had only restored a small fraction of it.

At this moment, her face was paler than usual. The Fire-Starting Stone lit up, and the Spiritual Fire flared from the bottom of the Alchemy Cauldron, quietly reflecting in her pupils.

In the judges’ seats, Ruan Qin’s gaze lingered on Ruan Se for a long time for the very first time. Although she showed no expression of concern, her fingers resting on the armrest tightened slightly.

In a corner of the plaza, Shao Jiao also began his refinement. He had drawn a relatively average Fourth-Grade Pill Formula; its difficulty was neither high nor low.

He picked up the standard main ingredient provided by the conference, weighed it in his hand, and nodded slightly, as if the quality of the materials had never been the most important thing to him.

But no one noticed that the moment his Spiritual Fire ignited, the flame flickered abnormally. The movement was so slight that even he merely assumed the Fire-Starting Stone had gotten damp.

He adjusted his Spiritual Power a fraction to stabilize the fire, then tossed the medicinal herbs into the cauldron and began his refinement.

Lai Li’an sat at the judges’ panel, tearing his gaze away from Ruan Se to casually sweep over the spectator stands around the plaza.

Suddenly, he caught a familiar silhouette in the crowd. The person was wrapped in a cloak, their figure hidden at the very edge of the stands. It was Yin Wuji. Lai Li’an instantly furrowed his brows.

About an hour into the competition, accidents began to occur one after another.

First, a Rogue Cultivator’s Alchemy Cauldron exploded for no apparent reason. The Spiritual Fire inside the cauldron suddenly shot several feet high, swallowing the entire batch of materials.

The Rogue Cultivator was left covered in ash and dirt, staring at his Alchemy Cauldron in sheer disbelief, while the surrounding people couldn’t help but turn their heads to look.

Immediately after, two contestants, one after the other, showed signs of their Spiritual Power slipping out of control. It was as if an invisible wind had blown past; their flames began to sway erratically, and no matter how much Spiritual Power they injected, they couldn’t stabilize them.

One of them barely managed to salvage the situation, but the other failed to rein in the medicinal energy in time. The essence of the Spirit Herbs overheated and collapsed within, blasting his Alchemy Cauldron out of position and narrowly missing the contestant next to him.

Disciples from the Law Enforcement Hall quickly intervened, but a slight commotion had already rippled through the scene.

These accidents seemed unrelated, scattered across different locations in the square, but Lai Li’an quickly connected their positions in his mind. Every spot where an accident occurred happened to be not far from Shao Jiao.

He shifted his gaze back to the edge of the stands, only to find it completely empty.

In the center of the arena, Ruan Se’s refinement had entered its most critical moment. Her hands hovered above the Alchemy Cauldron, her Spiritual Power transforming into dozens of extremely fine threads that simultaneously reached into the cauldron, individually protecting each auxiliary medicinal ingredient of the Cold Dew Pill.

Her technique remained exquisitely masterful, yet her complexion grew increasingly pale. Under her guidance, the tumbling medicinal liquid in the cauldron was slowly condensing into a Pill Embryo.

Suddenly, the Spiritual Fire flared up violently. In her seat, Ruan Qin abruptly sat up straight. It didn’t seem like an ordinary flare-up; in that instant, Ruan Se’s Spiritual Fire was pulled in four directions simultaneously, as if caught in a tug-of-war by several invisible forces.

The soon-to-be-formed Pill Embryo within the cauldron trembled violently, emitting a series of faint, fragmented buzzing sounds.

Ruan Se’s eyes snapped wide open, a flash of panic crossing her gaze. She frantically poured her Spiritual Power into the Alchemy Cauldron, using a forceful, heavy-handed approach to suppress the trembling Pill Embryo back into place.

In the end, the Pill Embryo stabilized, but a trickle of blood spilled from the corner of her mouth.

Her remaining Spiritual Power was almost completely drained by this forced suppression. The Spiritual Fire in the furnace began to flicker and waver, like an oil lamp on the verge of burning out.

Lai Li’an felt his heart skip a beat.

The murmurs of discussion in the spectator stands instantly quieted down. Many gazes focused on Ruan Se; anyone could see that she was at the end of her rope.

The invisible force just now had been too bizarre, it was clearly someone secretly causing trouble. Ruan Se already lacked sufficient Spiritual Power, and after this intense drain, it was feared she wouldn’t last until the pill was fully formed.

Seeing this, a disciple of a major Sect curled his lips in contempt. “So what if she’s a genius? She’s just showing off. With neither good medicinal herbs nor enough Spiritual Power, she still thinks she can refine a Cold Dew Pill?”

Ruan Se supported herself against the stone platform. The coppery taste of blood welled up in her throat again, but she forcefully swallowed it back down, her gaze locked dead onto the barely stabilized Pill Embryo.

With her Spiritual Power exhausted, an ordinary Alchemist might have already abandoned the furnace and admitted defeat by now. Yet, there was not the slightest hint of retreat in Ruan Se’s eyes; instead, a flash of absolute resolve appeared. She suddenly recalled the scene of the Senior performing Alchemy earlier, “Using Herbs to Control Herbs.”

Perhaps there was no need to drive it with a massive amount of Spiritual Power; she just needed to use the medicinal properties of the auxiliary ingredients to nourish the Spiritual Fire, which could then feed back into the Pill Embryo!

With no time to overthink, Ruan Se raised her trembling hand. No longer forcefully injecting Spiritual Power, she used her last remaining trace of Spiritual Power to gently hook onto an auxiliary ingredient in the furnace.

Her fingertips moved slightly. That wisp of Spiritual Power gently teased the medicinal fragrance of the Spirit Herbs, guiding it to slowly seep into the Spiritual Fire.

The originally flickering Spiritual Fire actually brightened faintly for a moment.

Ruan Se felt a wave of relief in her heart. She then took advantage of the momentum to guide the medicinal properties of the other auxiliary ingredients, blending them into the Spiritual Fire one by one. As each one blended in, the Spiritual Fire stabilized a bit more, and the trembling of the Pill Embryo lessened by a fraction.

In the judges’ seats, Ruan Qin’s tense body slowly relaxed. A hint of surprise flashed in her eyes, which then turned into approval.

She had never seen such a peculiar Alchemy method, actually abandoning Spiritual Power to use auxiliary ingredients, doing the exact opposite of the norm.

In the arena, Shao Jiao had stopped his movements at some point. He turned his head to look in Ruan Se’s direction, seemingly shocked.

At this moment, Ruan Se had already forgotten everything around her. The buzzing in the furnace gradually subsided, and a clear, refreshing pill fragrance wafted out. The fragrance carried a piercing coldness, yet did not lose its gentle warmth. The old Alchemists in the stands all had their eyes light up, unable to hold back their low murmurs of admiration: “What a pure Cold Dew Pill fragrance! The quality of this is likely very high!”