The discussions in the stands began to surge.

At first, it was just whispers, but soon, the voices grew louder and clearer.

“Heh, Sixth-Grade? She actually has the nerve to present a Sixth-Grade pill refined from those ingredients?”

“Joyful Union Grass paired with Dragon Yang Vine, doesn’t everyone know exactly what kind of pill this produces?”

“Ruan Qin’s sister? Tsk tsk, if Ruan Qin knew her sister was refining this sort of thing, she’d probably be so furious she’d expel her from the Sect on the spot, wouldn’t she?”

“No wonder she’s been wearing a veil the whole time. So she refines this kind of Pill; she must be too ashamed to show her face!”

“Crooked paths and evil ways! This is clearly taking a shortcut! Winning by such underhanded means, what kind of skill is that?”

“Exactly! A grand Alchemy Conference, how can such a Pill be allowed to win first place? Aren’t they afraid of being laughed at if word gets out?”

“If I were a judge, I’d smash this Pill right now. What is there even left to evaluate?”

These words were like knives, stabbing into her one after another.

The Righteous Path cultivators in the stands, who usually appeared so sanctimonious, now bore ferocious expressions, as if Ruan Se had committed some heinous, unforgivable crime.

Someone even stood up, pointing at Ruan Se in the arena and reprimanding loudly, “Get down from there! The Alchemy Conference does not welcome your crooked ways!”

Ruan Se stood where she was, her lips beneath the veil pressed into a thin line.

She did not bow her head, nor did she retreat. She simply stood there straight, her gaze as cold and clear as usual, as if the people accusing her did not exist at all.

Yet her fingertips were trembling slightly, not out of fear, but out of indignation.

Every ingredient she used was taught to her by Senior. Taken individually, which of these was not a proper Spiritual Herb? It was only because they had been used by others for improper purposes that they bore a bad reputation.

The Azure Wood Qi-Harmonizing Pill was a genuine Sixth-Grade Pill.

She had taken no shortcuts, much less played any tricks; she had refined it fair and square.

But these people did not look at the Pill itself; they merely looked at the names of the ingredients and condemned her.

Ruan Se took a deep breath, suppressing that trace of indignation.

She did not need these people to understand her. She only needed one person to see that she had not failed to live up to his teachings.

On the stage, Yin Zheng remained silent.

He raised his head, looking at Ruan Se with a complex expression in his eyes.

That gaze held an appreciation for her talent as well as a sense of dilemma. It was as if he were looking at a genius who had strayed down the wrong path, wanting to pull her back but not knowing where to start.

A Sixth-Grade Pill could not be refined through mere luck. This young girl’s talent in the Alchemy Dao was top-tier, even across the entire Cangwu Realm.

If her strength were denied simply because of the issue with the medicinal ingredients, it would be an injustice to the Alchemy Dao.

But if she were allowed to win first place ignoring the issue with the medicinal ingredients, the discussions in the stands weren’t entirely unreasonable either…

Yin Zheng fell into an unprecedented dilemma.

Elder Sun stood expressionless. The stance of the Law Enforcement Hall made it unsuitable to participate in this kind of judgment, but he noticed that the commotion in the stands was almost out of control.

Lai Li’an stood behind the crowd, taking all of this in, his brow furrowing.

Crooked paths? Taking shortcuts?

Lai Li’an sneered in his heart. These people couldn’t refine a Sixth-Grade themselves, so they were just being sour.

He was the one who had taught the recipe for the Azure Wood Qi-Harmonizing Pill, and he was the one who had selected the medicinal ingredients. Did these people really want to refute a Heaven-Grade Alchemy Book?

Moreover, these people had absolutely no idea what Ruan Se had sacrificed for this Pill. Over 60 cauldrons of ruined pills, spending day and night in the Alchemy Room, her Spiritual Power depleted time and time again, the burn marks on her hands healing only to be burned again, over and over.

They knew nothing at all, yet dared to stand on their high horses and accuse her.

Lai Li’an took a deep breath, just about to speak up to bail Ruan Se out, when a cold, clear voice rang out a step ahead of him.

“Who said this is a crooked path?”

Ruan Qin stepped out from the group of judges and walked straight over to her younger sister’s stone platform.

Her cyan dress fluttered gently in the wind. There was no expression on her cold, glamorous face, but the aura radiating from her made the surrounding people subconsciously take a half-step back.

Ruan Se’s body stiffened.

Sister…

Her heartbeat suddenly accelerated, and countless thoughts flashed through her mind. Her sister was going to reprimand her again. In public, in front of tens of thousands of cultivators, her sister was going to demean the pill she had refined into something entirely worthless.

Ruan Se clenched her fingers tighter. She wasn’t afraid of being scolded.

Growing up, she was already used to being lectured by her sister. What she truly feared was the person she cared about the most standing in opposition to her.

The discussions in the stands paused briefly the moment Ruan Qin appeared, only to erupt again at an even higher volume.

“Ruan Qin is here! Now there’s a good show to watch!”

“With her sister refining this kind of stuff, she must be losing face too, right?”

“She might even smash that pill on the spot. The Alchemy Sect can’t afford to lose face.”

“Tsk tsk, sisters turning against each other, this drama is far more entertaining than alchemy.”

Ruan Qin ignored those voices. Standing before the stone platform, she reached out and picked up the pink jade-like pill from the tray.

Ruan Se’s heart leaped into her throat. What would she say? Would she smash it? Would she publicly announce that this pill was trash?

Her mind was a tangled mess, and she was even beginning to mentally rehearse the scene of being reprimanded by her older sister.

“This is a Sixth-Grade Pill, the Azure Wood Qi-Harmonizing Pill.”

Ruan Qin’s voice echoed across the entire plaza, every word clear and resounding.

Ruan Se was stunned. Beneath her veil, her lips parted slightly, but she couldn’t utter a single word.

Her sister was… speaking up for her?

“An ancient lost pill recipe,” Ruan Qin continued, “using Yin-wood Spiritual Herbs such as Joyful Union Grass, Dragon Yang Vine, Mystic Musk, and Jade Pot Spring Flower as the base.”

She paused, lifted her eyes, and her gaze swept across the entire audience.

“It transforms their aphrodisiac medicinal properties into a restorative power that nourishes the meridians.”

As soon as these words were spoken, the entire plaza went into an uproar.

“Transform? What does she mean?”

“Does she mean that even though these herbs inherently have aphrodisiac effects, through alchemy, their properties have changed to nourish the meridians?”

“That’s impossible, right? How could the properties of medicinal ingredients just change like that?”

“But the one saying this is Ruan Qin. If she says it can be transformed, then it probably can, right?”

The discussions in the stands shifted from one-sided accusations to a clamor of debate.

Some believed it, and some didn’t, but at the very least, no one dared to hurl insults as brazenly as before.

Ruan Qin did not give them time to argue and continued, “When taken by a cultivator with a Wood Spiritual Root, it can consolidate the foundation, cultivate vitality, and nourish the Meridians.”

After saying this, her gaze fell onto her younger sister’s face and lingered for a moment.

In that gaze was a gentleness Ruan Se had never seen before.

Ruan Se’s eyes suddenly reddened. She had thought her sister would scold her and humiliate her in public.

She had originally thought her sister would stand against her, but she didn’t.

Her sister stood in front of her, shielding her from all the malicious gossip, and then used the coldest tone to speak the most resolute words.

Ruan Se’s lips trembled slightly. She tried with all her might to keep her tears from falling.

Ruan Qin withdrew her gaze and turned back to the stands.

“The rules clearly stipulate that the Alchemy Conference does not restrict pill formulas, grades, or materials.”

“The pill is complete. It is Sixth-Grade and of top-tier quality.”

“Are there any remaining doubts about who takes first place?”

Her gaze swept over those in the stands who had just been hurling the harshest insults. Caught in her stare, they looked as though something were lodged in their throats. Faces flushed red, they lowered their heads, not even daring to breathe heavily.

Ruan Qin did not press them further. She simply placed the pill gently back onto the tray, took a step back, and stood by her sister’s side.

Ruan Se kept her head lowered, every word her sister had just spoken echoing over and over in her mind, things she had never once heard her say before.

Sensing her sister’s emotional shift, Ruan Qin turned her head slightly to glance at her.

“Don’t zone out.” Ruan Qin kept her voice extremely low so only the two of them could hear. “Once we have the Azure Profound Root, we’ll go back to save your friend. As for this pill…” She paused. “You refined it well.”

Those last few words were as light as a feather brushing against Ruan Se’s heart.

Ruan Se’s fingers suddenly curled tight as she desperately held back the tears welling in her eyes.

She had waited so many years to finally hear these four words from her sister’s mouth.

Yin Zheng was silent for a moment, then slowly nodded. The other judges looked at each other and ultimately all nodded in unanimous agreement.

The cynical and sarcastic voices in the stands completely disappeared, replaced by irrepressible gasps of amazement.

“Sixth-Grade… It really is Sixth-Grade!”

“Ruan Qin personally appraised it, how could it be fake?”

“Azure Wood Qi-Harmonizing Pill, a lost ancient pill recipe. Just what is this female cultivator’s background?”

“To be able to transform an aphrodisiac into a nourishing force that warms and nurtures the meridians, how is this a crooked path? This is true attainment in the Alchemy Dao!”

Someone began to reflect on their previous remarks: “I just said she took a shortcut… Now it seems that she is walking the true Righteous Path.”

“A Sixth-Grade Pill, even if it was a shortcut, could you have taken it?”

“It’s not taking a shortcut, she is genuinely capable. The transformation of the medicinal properties of those ingredients requires extremely precise control of Spiritual Power and a profound understanding of medicinal properties. This is much more difficult than refining an ordinary Sixth-Grade Pill.”

Ruan Qin’s words were like a basin of cold water poured onto the fires of gossip and criticism. Once the fire was extinguished and the smoke cleared, the crowd finally began to look at the pill itself objectively.

Ruan Se’s pill was indeed not the product of unorthodox tricks, but a display of genuine strength in the Alchemy Dao. The medicinal properties she had transformed and the medicinal materials she had redefined all testified to her understanding of the Alchemy Dao, which had long surpassed the shallow perception that “medicinal materials are divided into orthodox and unorthodox.”

Pills are neither orthodox nor unorthodox; it only depends on the hands that use them and the heart that refines them.

The Presiding Elder cleared his throat and announced loudly, “The champion of this Cangwu Alchemy Conference is Ruan Se from the Alchemy Sect Main Branch. Second place, Shao Jiao from the Misty Moon Sect. Third place, Meng Qiuran from the Alchemy Sect Branch.”

Cheers erupted from the stands like a landslide and tsunami. The Spiritual Water Mirror suspended above the square simultaneously reflected the names of the top three, its golden characters dazzling under the sunlight.

Countless cultivators stood up from their seats. Their cheers, discussions, and applause merged together, echoing endlessly over the entire Yunze Market.

Ruan Se was still in a bit of a daze. She turned around, her gaze subconsciously searching for something.

Over at the judges’ area, Lai Li’an and a group of senior alchemists were being invited to the center of the square. Surrounded by a crowd of cultivators, it was unclear what they were talking about.

He seemed to sense something and happened to look over in her direction.

Their eyes met across half the square. The corners of Lai Li’an’s lips curled up slightly as he discreetly slipped his right hand out of his sleeve and gave her a thumbs-up.

Beneath her veil, the corners of Ruan Se’s lips finally curled up into a slow smile, the sparkling light in her eyes exceptionally dazzling.

The conference had officially come to an end.