novelraw Chapter 376: Tenfold Purification!
Chapter 376: Tenfold Purification!
As the competition entered its middle stage, Long Yuyao and Feng Shuang finally emerged from their respective examination rooms.
Both exited almost simultaneously, but since Feng Shuang’s room on the second floor was closer to the ground floor, he was the first to arrive.
Following closely behind, Long Yuyao shot a sharp glare at Feng Shuang when she saw he had arrived first. She then placed ten medicine bottles on the table in front of Long Xiaoyao.
Seeing this, Long Xiaoyao let out a long sigh of relief, inwardly grateful for his caution. He was glad he hadn’t bet on which clan’s candidate would finish first, as that would have been a sure loss.
“Excellent! Ten Water Ganoderma herbs purified, with a 100% success rate. This is an impressive additional credit,” Long Xiaoyao remarked.
Hearing his praise, Long Yuyao’s face lit up with a beautiful smile.
“Don’t be too quick to celebrate. Feng Shuang also purified ten water ganoderma herbs with a 100% success rate. Since the success rate is identical, we’ll have to compare their purity,” Feng Tiancheng interjected.
He turned to Feng Shuang and said, “The competition rules stipulate that we evaluate the best bottle of purified essence. Select your finest one for me.”
Feng Shuang scratched his head in hesitation. All ten bottles of his purified water ganoderma essence appeared to have similar quality. Choosing the best one among them proved difficult, but eventually, he picked one at random and handed it to Feng Tiancheng.
Feng Tiancheng uncapped the bottle and peered inside, simultaneously extending his soul power to inspect it. The soul power of over a hundred judges followed suit, probing the essence. After a moment, many nodded imperceptibly, and some even smiled in satisfaction.
The chief alchemist of the Radiant Moon Empire, Wang Hu, exclaimed, “Not bad! Not bad! A ninefold purity! Even I, at my best, can only achieve this level!”
“To think that a mere third-grade alchemist could purify water ganoderma to ninefold purity! Even most fourth-grade alchemists would struggle to reach this level.”
“It seems your Feng Clan has produced a prodigy! For such exceptional essence, I’m willing to award 96 points,” Wang Hu declared.
“Indeed, but the Long Clan’s Long Yuyao is no less impressive than Feng Shuang,” Feng Tiancheng responded with a touch of pride before turning to Long Xiaoyao.
“I’ll abstain from scoring to avoid bias. What score would Long Brother assign to Feng Shuang?”
Long Xiaoyao, having examined Long Yuyao’s purified essence and shown a satisfied smile, replied, “I’ll also abstain to avoid bias. Brother Wang, how about you score our clan’s genius?”
Wang Hu examined Long Yuyao’s purified water ganoderma essence with his soul power. After a moment of consideration, he declared, “The emperor of the Dragon Soaring Empire has indeed raised an exceptional daughter—beautiful and a standout among her peers in alchemy.”
“Too bad beauty isn’t a scoring criterion, or I’d give her a perfect score. As it stands, I’ll award her 96 points, the same as Feng Shuang.”
“Thank you, Uncle Wang!” Long Yuyao sweetly replied.
The remaining judges followed suit, scoring both prodigies equally to avoid offending either clan.
After discarding the ten highest and ten lowest scores, the average score for both Long Yuyao and Feng Shuang was 97—the highest in the competition, resulting in a tie.
Long Xiaoyao and Feng Tiancheng frowned, clearly dissatisfied with the result. They understood, however, that the two were evenly matched in alchemy skills. Without a clear gap in talent, repeated matches would likely end in ties.
“Ha! It seems we’re at a draw. Let’s not covet each other’s alchemy recipes anymore,” Feng Tiancheng remarked to Long Xiaoyao, shaking his head.
“Is that so? I wouldn’t be so sure!” Long Xiaoyao said, his gaze shifting to the staircase.
A young man dressed in black descended the stairs, exuding a faint sense of kinship with Long Xiaoyao, who immediately deduced that the youth was from the Long Clan.
“Perhaps this Long Clan prodigy can work a miracle,” Long Xiaoyao thought, hopeful.
The Long Clan had sent numerous prodigies to this competition, some from distant regions even Long Xiaoyao didn’t know personally. Since the bet concerned the highest score among all clan members, a new challenger could change everything.
The room’s attention shifted to the black-clad youth.
Feng Tiancheng sneered, “Him? An unknown nobody?”
His scorn vanished the moment he noticed ten medicine bottles concealed in the youth’s sleeves.
Few could achieve a 100% purification rate, and those who could were unlikely to produce low-purity essence. Feng Tiancheng clenched his fists nervously.
Long Xiaoyao, on the other hand, laughed heartily. “Haha! The Long Clan is truly brimming with talent!”
“Your name is Long Xuan, correct? Excellent! Don’t disappoint me!”
Spotting the name on the youth’s identification token, Long Xiaoyao grew even more confident.
“Let’s see your work!” Before Long Xuan could approach, Long Xiaoyao used his soul power to snatch the ten bottles and opened them.
The moment he looked inside, his expression changed drastically. He stood up in shock, unable to hide his astonishment.
Seeing his shock, Long Yuyao and Feng Shuang grew curious and immediately extended their spiritual senses toward the source. Upon discerning the quality, their expressions changed dramatically.
"Tenfold purification! How is this possible? How did he achieve this?" Long Yuyao's eyes widened, disbelief written all over her face.
Feng Shuang stared intently at one of the medicinal bottles, slowly clenching his fists, his eyes filled with frustration.
He had thought his alchemy skills would dominate all competitors in this alchemy competition.
But now, this scene dealt a heavy blow to his confidence, making him understand what it truly meant for there to always be someone stronger.
To encounter such a formidable opponent at the start, how many more such prodigies would he face in the finals? At this moment, his confidence wavered.
"What? Tenfold purification?"
Hearing Long Yuyao's exclamation, the other judges couldn't stay calm either. They hurriedly sent their spiritual senses over.
After confirming the purity of the medicinal essence in the bottle, everyone was utterly shocked, and a wave of gasps rippled through the venue.
"How is this possible? This is actually tenfold purified medicinal essence!"
"Hiss... Tenfold purification—this is something even a Grade Fourth Alchemist can't achieve. How did he manage this?"
"A heaven-sent genius! Truly a heaven-sent genius! It seems a dark horse is about to rise in this year's Western Region Alchemy Competition!"
The judges, their faces flushed with excitement, exclaimed loudly, their reactions utterly unrestrained as though tenfold purification was an earth-shattering feat in the world of alchemy.
Witnessing the judges' reactions, Long Xuan sighed inwardly. Indeed, tenfold purification was a heaven-defying achievement in the realm of alchemy.
Achieving this required an alchemist's spiritual strength, flame control, and flame intensity to reach exceptional levels simultaneously—a combination rarely found.
He had cultivated the Heavenly Demon Soul-Splitting Devine Art, a heaven-defying soul-cultivation technique. Combined with the auxiliary effects of the Soul-Nourishing Wood, his current spiritual strength was likely on par with that of a Gu King, meeting the required standard.
As for flames, ordinary peak-grade spirit flames couldn't refine medicinal herbs to tenfold purity. Previously, he had refined nine Water Ganoderma to a ninefold purification level.
In truth, his refining speed was far superior to Long Yuyao's and Feng Shuang's.
However, he had been cunning, choosing not to emerge immediately. Instead, he observed his competitors' levels before making his move.
When his spiritual senses detected that both Long Yuyao and Feng Shuang had refined their Water Ganoderma to ninefold purity, he realized that stepping forward would only result in a tie with these two prodigies, with no chance to outscore them.
Thus, gritting his teeth, he decided to use his trump card: 'Heavenly Fire.' Using the Sunset Divine Flame, he refined the final Water Ganoderma.
As expected, under the power of the Heavenly Fire, the last Water Ganoderma reached tenfold purification, creating the current sensation.
"Impossible!" Feng Tiancheng's face turned ashen as he stood up, rushing to Long Xiaoyao's side and snatching the bottle containing the tenfold purified medicinal essence from his hand.
He examined it repeatedly, and after confirming that the medicinal essence in the bottle was indeed tenfold purified, his expression grew even darker.
Feng Tiancheng raised his head to look at the young man before him, a deep seriousness in his eyes. He hadn't expected a dark horse from the Long Clan to emerge midway, completely disrupting his expectations.
This dark horse's alchemy skills likely surpassed Feng Shuang's—a fact that was undoubtedly bad news for the Feng Clan.
"Heh! It seems the heavens favor my Long Clan. I wonder, how many points will you award to this genius of my clan?" Long Xiaoyao said smugly, looking at Feng Tiancheng.
He knew he had already secured victory in this bet, and his smile grew wider.
Feng Tiancheng glared at him fiercely and said, "This participant was slower than others and the refined medicinal essence was slightly dry. Additionally, the other nine bottles of medicinal essence only achieved ninefold purity."
"My standards for participants are always strict. I can only award him 90 points."
Although Feng Tiancheng knew he had lost this bet, he still decided to suppress the participant's score as much as possible.
Each round's score was cumulative, and the higher this participant's score, the more disadvantageous it would be for the Feng Clan. Therefore, he chose to shamelessly reduce the score within the bounds of the rules.
However, he only dared to lower it to 90 points. Reducing it to a few dozen or zero points was unrealistic and would lead to severe consequences.
Long Xiaoyao shook his head and sneered, "The competition rules state that only the best bottle of medicinal essence out of the ten will be scored."
"Yet you included the less refined nine bottles as part of your evaluation. Truly grasping at straws."
"In my opinion, the medicinal essence refined by this genius of my clan is exceptionally perfect, reaching the pinnacle of purity without a single flaw."
"I can't find any faults, so I give this genius of my clan a perfect 100 points. I believe no one will accuse me of favoritism, will they?"
Long Xiaoyao swept his gaze across the judges with confidence, concluding triumphantly.