Chapter 410: Nine Revolutions Holy Healing Pill
Ning Xuan had a Pill Furnace she was accustomed to using, but to prevent contestants from tampering with them in advance, personal furnaces weren’t allowed. Everyone had to use the ones provided here.
Ning Xuan felt the Nine Phoenix Sun Rising Furnace was a good fit. ’If I don’t find anything better,’ she thought, ’I’ll just pick this one.’
Aside from Ning Xuan, none of the other candidates were here for the first time. They were all familiar with the Spiritual Medicines and Pill Furnaces arranged in the waiting area. With the exception of Ning Xuan and Fu Rong, everyone else had already selected their ingredients, kindling, and Pill Furnaces, and were getting ready to begin their Alchemy.
Fu Rong gave Ning Xuan a quick rundown of the rules, picking out her own items in the process. Once they had their materials, they arranged them on their Alchemy Platforms. On Fu Rong’s suggestion, they had chosen adjacent Alchemy Platforms.
Even though this was just the preliminary stage—not the actual assessment, but a chance to get familiar with the chosen Pill Furnaces and the Alchemy process—everyone still took it with the utmost seriousness.
The waiting room was already filled with the fragrant aroma of various herbs. The other candidates were completely focused, controlling their respective flames, Pill Furnaces, and the ingredients awaiting processing. A recorder in a gray uniform stood beside each Alchemy Platform, their expressions stern as they documented every detail with recording devices.
"Ning Xuan, it’s fine at the start, but the further we get, the more chaos there’ll be. Furnaces exploding, people having mental breakdowns... anything can happen. Remember, no matter what, don’t get distracted. The moment you lose focus, you’re likely to fail," Fu Rong cautioned. "The greatest taboo in Alchemy is a restless mind."
Ning Xuan knew Fu Rong’s advice came from a place of concern, so she nodded earnestly and began arranging the ingredients she had just selected on her Alchemy Platform.
When Fu Rong saw the Thousand-year-old Snow Ganoderma Ning Xuan placed on her Alchemy Platform, she sighed helplessly. She had just explained the risks involved to Ning Xuan, but Ning Xuan had been insistent. There was nothing she could do.
’If that Thousand-year-old Snow Ganoderma gets destroyed later, I’ll just have to scrape together some money to help Ning Xuan pay off the debt.’
Just as Fu Rong was thinking this and preparing to start her own Alchemy, she saw Ning Xuan walk back to the cabinets of precious ingredients. She watched as Ning Xuan took out three more rare herbs in one go, returned to her station, and placed them on the Alchemy Platform.
Fu Rong gasped. ’Looks like Ning Xuan is definitely getting stuck here today. There’s no way I can scrape together that much money. If all those ingredients are ruined, even all the money I have wouldn’t be enough to compensate for them.’
Fu Rong completely gave up on Ning Xuan. She focused intently on refining the Elixir Recipe she had chosen.
As for Ning Xuan, she first arranged her selected ingredients in the order they needed to be processed. Then she lit the kindling under her Pill Furnace. The moment the flames flared to life, Ning Xuan’s entire demeanor changed, and a phantom flame flashed into existence behind her.
The Alchemy Platform Ning Xuan chose was Number 9. The recorder for Platform 9 felt the intense fluctuations of spiritual power radiating from Ning Xuan and saw the dozen or so blackish-red vines sprouting from her palm, his eyes widening in astonishment.
This competition strictly forbade cheating. He didn’t know if the vines helping Ning Xuan process ingredients and control the flames counted as external aid, or if what Ning Xuan was doing counted as cheating. He immediately uploaded the recorded footage to the Alchemist Association’s panel of judges to request instructions.
The panel of judges reviewed the footage repeatedly. They confirmed that the vines emerged from Ning Xuan’s palm, which meant the vines and Ning Xuan were one and the same. It could not be considered cheating.
Time passed, minute by minute. Ning Xuan was completely absorbed in controlling the refinement of each ingredient, adding the processed herbs into the Pill Furnace in sequence. The recorder watched Ning Xuan’s dazzlingly skillful technique, a sense of deep respect rising in his heart.
’Like the Alchemy Masters, I also thought that someone so young was just here to make up the numbers, her real goal being to steal techniques.’
But now, looking at her, Ning Xuan had no interest in anyone else’s refinement methods at all. Instead, she was completely focused on refining her own Elixir Pills. Moreover, he could feel that during the refinement process, Ning Xuan’s grasp of the ingredient processing was extremely precise, and her control over the energy was flawless.
Inside Ning Xuan’s Pill Furnace, the purified medicinal liquids gradually coalesced under the tempering of the Spiritual Fire. Her fingertips tapped lightly on the furnace wall, and shimmering golden Fire Element Energy seeped inside like silken threads, precisely regulating the fusion of the medicinal power.
Her expression was focused and serene, as if the outside world had ceased to exist for her. The only thing in her entire world was the Pill Furnace before her.
It seemed Ning Xuan was genuinely confident.
Gradually, the sounds of Pill Furnaces exploding began to echo through the waiting room, occasionally mixed with frustrated shouts. Ning Xuan paid them no mind, focusing solely on refining her elixir.
HUMMM—a humming sound emanated from the Pill Furnace. The clear, melodious hum from within the furnace was like a sound from the heavens, reverberating throughout the entire waiting room.
In an instant, most of the other people stopped what they were doing. Countless astonished gazes shot toward Ning Xuan in unison.
After the sound died down, a unique, refreshing fragrance drifted out from the furnace. The aroma was as clear as a sweet spring, yet it carried a majestic vitality that shook one’s very soul. Just a single whiff of the medicinal scent made one feel completely at ease, as if all the stagnant impurities in their body were swept away. Even old, hidden injuries showed faint signs of healing.
"Th-this is... What grade of Elixir Pill is this?" an examiner patrolling the waiting room stopped dead in his tracks, staring at Ning Xuan’s Alchemy Platform with utter disbelief in his eyes.
Before the crowd could recover from their shock, Ning Xuan’s Pill Furnace suddenly erupted with a brilliant golden light!
BOOM—The furnace lid was blown open by a vast surge of Dan Power. An elixir pill the size of a thumb tip shot through the air and hovered there.
The elixir pill was crystalline and translucent, with nine profound, golden Dan Patterns flowing across its surface. It emitted intense energy fluctuations.
"Is that a Nine Revolutions Holy Healing Pill? And a perfect-quality one at that! Ning Xuan, how did you do it? You’re incredible! And to think I was so worried about you. You were hiding your true skills all along!" Fu Rong shouted in astonishment. She had just finished refining a simple batch of Elixir Pills and was about to challenge something more difficult. She had barely stored away her finished pills when the potent medicinal fragrance hit her.
It wasn’t just Fu Rong; Lan Shuiyu and the others were also stunned.
Ning Xuan quietly extended her hand, and the brilliantly glowing golden elixir pill floating in mid-air gently descended into her palm.
Ning Xuan glanced down, a satisfied smile gracing the corners of her lips. "Mm, as expected of a pill refined with the Thousand-year-old Snow Ganoderma as the main ingredient. The quality is pretty good."
Ning Xuan’s tone was light and not overly excited, as if this result was only to be expected.