Chapter 345 - Is There a Problem with the Elixir Recipe

With the Jade Scroll Pill Recipe, refining elixir pills seemed to become much simpler.

Many of the competitors couldn’t wait to start refining medicine, as they aimed to secure a good ranking.

However, some maintained a skeptical attitude.

They refused to believe that the second round could be so simple, repeatedly studying the Jade Scroll Pill Recipe over and over.

But no matter how they looked at it, there seemed to be no issues.

“The control over the details appears to be flawless, it doesn’t seem fake,” Song Qianqian mused, supporting her chin as she pondered deeply.

“Hmph, no matter what the issue is, it won’t stump me!” Duan Fei declared with absolute confidence.

Eventually, they all decided to begin alchemy.

Wind Moon Square once again fell silent, as everyone waited patiently and speculated in whispers about who would emerge victorious.

At the stands, Meng Chuan and the others focused their attention entirely on the red-robed girl named He Nian, continuously analyzing her every move.

“Judging by her furnace control techniques and the way she handles the herbs, it’s hard to believe this is a fifteen-year-old boy.”

“Such proficiency, she must have been practicing for decades!”

“There’s definitely something amiss with her!”

These people were all Elixir Masters; when they worked together to observe someone, they quickly noticed anomalies.

Yet this alone wasn’t enough to expose her.

Meng Chuan sighed, “Although we don’t know her intentions, I certainly don’t want the winner of the second round to be someone with an unclear identity.”

“Don’t worry, President Meng, that young fellow Lin Xuan won’t lose,” Old Man Di Que said with a laugh.

“Hmph!

As a Third Grade Alchemist, Duan Fei definitely won’t lose!” Song Yunxing snorted coldly.

Amidst their conversation, a new development occurred in the square.

Boom!

A deep sound suddenly interrupted the quiet of the square.

The crowd looked up in confusion and saw black smoke billowing out of a competitor’s Pill Furnace on the stone platform above.

“What happened?

What’s going on?”

“Looks like a furnace explosion.”

“A furnace explosion?” The crowd wore strange expressions, but these became even stranger when they identified the disciple in question.

“Isn’t that a disciple of the Medicine Emperor Institute?

How did they experience a furnace explosion again?”

Everyone noticed the incident and low laughter spread among the masses.

The members of the Medicine Emperor Institute immediately darkened in complexion; they hadn’t yet recovered from the fiasco of a previous furnace explosion and now it had happened again in full public view.

“Waste, complete waste!” Song Yunxing was nearly bursting with anger as he shouted in a low voice, “Can someone tell me what’s going on?”

The surrounding Medicine Emperor Institute elders also had grim expressions, and they remained silent, unsure of how to respond.

“Hehe, I think your Medicine Emperor Institute’s standard is so poor it might as well shut down!” Wu Xiong, Third Hall Master, mocked mercilessly.

The Medicine Emperor Institute’s members’ faces flushed red, dark thoughts crossing their minds.

On the stone platform, the disciple responsible for the furnace explosion was also stunned, with a hollow gaze and repeating to himself,

“Impossible, I followed the Elixir Recipe precisely, it definitely shouldn’t be wrong!”

“How could this happen…”

“Ha ha ha ha!

As expected, a furnace explosion again!” Wu Shaoyu beamed with schadenfreude, “Your Medicine Emperor Institute really specializes in furnace explosions, huh?”

As his words trailed off, there was another boom from the stone platform – yet another sound of a furnace explosion.

Wu Shaoyu’s face was covered in soot, and his earlier smile gradually disappeared, turning uglier and uglier.

“Damn it, what’s happening?

My operation couldn’t possibly be wrong!”

“You bastard, it’s all your fault!

You’ve passed your bad habit of furnace explosions onto me, get lost!” Wu Shaoyu roared furiously.

Below, the crowd was also shocked; someone else had caused a furnace explosion.

And the two individuals were right next to each other, could furnace explosions truly be contagious?

“Hmph, it seems that the disciples of Dan King Hall aren’t so impressive either,” Song Yunxing’s face eased slightly, “Isn’t that the son of Brother Wu who just exploded his furnace?”

“I really don’t know how Brother Wu educates his juniors on normal days?”

Song Yunxing finally found an opportunity to retaliate, and the other elders from the Medicine Emperor Institute scoffed and jeered.

“You…” The Third Hall Master trembled with anger, his hands crunching as he clenched them.

“What a tremendous loss of face!”

“You little bastard, wait until I get back and see how I deal with you!” The Third Hall Master gritted his teeth.

While everyone was ridiculing and discussing, the Stone Platform saw another change.

Bang Bang Bang!

The continuous sounds erupted one after another, like firecrackers bursting in the sky.

Almost half of the contestants experienced a furnace explosion.

“This…” Everyone was dumbfounded.

“There’s a problem!” Old Man Di Que furrowed his brows.

If one or two people had their furnaces explode, it would definitely be due to a lack of skill, but when over a hundred people made a mistake all at once, it was indeed suspicious.

“It seems that the second round is not as simple as we thought.” Elder Hei Xin, not far away, also had a shifting gaze.

So many people exploding their furnaces at once created a massive noise, directly interfering with the other contestants.

As more and more people failed, the air itself seemed to fill with impatience and unease.

Boom!

Song Qianqian’s Pill Furnace trembled, belching a plume of black smoke.

“Did I fail?” She bit her lip, her face filled with perplexity.

Lin Xuan took a deep breath; he still held a herb in his hand that should have been added by now.

But he stopped his actions.

He was aware of Song Qianqian’s strength; she was easily among the top five here.

Yet even she had failed, and that was too strange.

“Could there be a problem with the Elixir Recipe?” The thought crossed his mind immediately.

After all, not long ago, he had created a fake pill recipe that resulted in an explosion at the Medicine Emperor Institute.

However, there were many kinds of fake recipes that could cause an explosion, and Lin Xuan had no idea which one was causing the issue now.

“As expected of the Pill King competition, to be able to deceive everyone!” Lin Xuan sighed inwardly.

He could only check little by little, ensuring to find the problem during the refining process.

It wasn’t long before Shi Taishang’s voice was heard again.

Duan Fei sat with a dark expression; in front of him lay a wasted pill.

“Damn it, where did it go wrong?” He gripped his hair forcefully, reading the pill recipe again.

From below, the crowd exclaimed, “Duan Fei is a Third Grade Alchemist, even if he has failed, it seems this round is much tougher than we imagined.”

“Five people are left, I wonder if they will succeed on their first try?” The crowd started to anticipate.

Among the remaining five still refining were Lin Xuan and the Red Robe girl, He Nian.

The remaining three were alchemists from other forces who, because they started refining later, likely hadn’t reached the problematic step yet.

Nevertheless, sweat already covered their foreheads.

Time passed, and someone began refining again.

But soon, a low sound came from the sky again.

Looking at their shattered Elixir Pills, the earlier contestant from the Medicine Emperor Institute was inconsolable.

“Dammit, what a crappy recipe!

I followed it exactly!” the Disciple said bitterly, cursing wildly.

Since there were only two chances in the second round, the contestant was eliminated.

Seeing his dejected figure descending from the Stone Platform, the remaining contestants felt a chill in their hearts.

If they couldn’t find the problem within the allotted time, they would end up just like him, disqualified.