Looking at the group of contestants on the right who were once again deeply immersed in their exhausting analysis work, Xu Xiaoshou’s face showed a strange expression.
Inside the ling array, he raised his hand again.
“Again?”
On the referee seat, Dong Ling was already accustomed to it and directly asked, “What is it?”
As expected, she didn’t move, but the ling array was shut off.
This time, Xu Xiaoshou didn’t speak, but Xiao Wanfeng’s trembling voice came through, “Esteemed presidents, my young master Xu, he—he is requesting three more blank jade slips.”
The eighteen referees: ???
Almost immediately after a moment of stunned silence, the veteran presidents reacted in unison.
Requesting three more blank jade slips meant that Xu Xiaoshou thought the incomplete dan fang had sixteen variations?
“Absurd!”
“Outrageous!”
“This young man is utterly arrogant beyond belief!”
The veteran presidents muttered curses one after another.
Xu Xiaoshou’s action was slapping them in the face.
Even with their lifetime of experience, the eighteen referees could only deduce at most thirteen variations from the incomplete dan fang in a short time.
And this young man thought he could reach the heavens, spotting sixteen variations just by glancing at the incomplete dan fang?
“Dong Ling, as president, I demand his expulsion…”
Lu Chenghui’s angry words were cut off midway by Dong Ling, “Fine, give them to him. The referee team will agree to any reasonable request from the contestants.” She spoke directly to Xu Xiaoshou.
“How is this reasonable!” Lu, the president, ranted from behind.
Three blank jade slips were a minor issue.
The real problem was Xu Xiaoshou’s attitude—it was downright arrogant, questioning their authority!
“Perhaps it’s just youthful bravado, or maybe it’s because he’s exceptionally talented, isn’t it?” Dong Ling turned back with a smile, looking at the group of presidents and saying seriously, “But we must never stifle a promising young talent with dreams. Maybe he really can do it?”
“This is called having dreams?” Another veteran president scolded aloud, clearly unable to save face—not just Lu Chenghui. “This is more like daydreaming!”
“Exactly, in just one hour, to deduce sixteen variations, including three that even we don’t know—this is either showboating or pure nonsense.”
“He can do jack! Don’t think that refining a few top-grade Ke Xuan Dan gives him the right to be so arrogant. Ke Xuan Dan is only seventh-grade, after all.”
“But what if?” Shi Ti, acting as the odd one out in the referee team, raised the possibility of “what if,” saying, “Knowledge has no limits, and the capable lead the way. What if, with his background as a half-saint’s successor, he’s encountered dan fang that we haven’t?”
As soon as he said this, it infuriated everyone.
“How old is he!”
“Even if he has the deep foundation of a half-saint’s successor and has encountered countless dan fang, his age isn’t enough to support him learning all the low-grade dan fang completely at such a young age—all of them!” A president emphasized the words “age” and “all.”
“Exactly, a half-saint background is impressive, but he’s too young.”
“Refining pills is an art that requires time to mature. I don’t believe he can list out sixteen dan fang—thirteen would be a stretch, not even three!”
The variations from the incomplete dan fang were all rare formulas.
Otherwise, if the geniuses from the five domains could spot a standard dan fang they’ve refined before with just a glance, wouldn’t that make it too easy?
“Let’s give him a chance.”
Dong Ling smiled and quelled the elders’ anger, signaling the staff to deliver three more blank jade slips.
The veteran presidents talked tough about not giving in, but when it came to being rational, they still were—they ultimately didn’t stop it.
They wanted to see what kind of answer this showboater would submit in the end.
The staff on the side of the referee seat moved quickly, heading back toward Ling Array Number One to hand over the three blank jade slips.
This scene, in the utterly quiet alchemy competition venue, was impossible to ignore.
Almost all the contestants on the field turned their attention to Ling Array Number One.
“What is he doing?”
No one was unaware of what those three blank jade slips being delivered meant.
But equally, no contestant dared to believe that anyone on the field truly thought they could deduce up to sixteen variations.
“I’m struggling with even one…” A contestant stared blankly in the direction of Ling Array Number One.
Comparing people really is infuriating?
“No, he’s just disrupting our focus, like in regular alchemy exams when I turn in early to create panic for others.” Zhu Yan noticed the scene too, but interpreted it differently.
“Really?” Yu Chuchu looked to the side, watching Xiao Wanfeng receive the three jade slips and start thanking them, feeling her mindset starting to crumble.
Her dao heart wasn’t firm enough to accept this.
She had only just grasped a hint of the first variation, yet someone on site had deduced all the variations of the incomplete dan fang—and even three more than the referees?
Was this scientific?
On the viewing platform and in the outer audience, people were clutching their heads one by one.
“What a cocky Xu Xiaoshou!”
“Pfft, ha ha ha, I just want to see what happens when he can’t submit a perfect answer and gets scorned by everyone.”
“Damn, that’s so annoying—I hate players who turn in early more than anything, let alone these monsters who dare question the examiners!”
“Sixteen variations—he’s so confident, I love it…” Someone murmured.
Inside Ling Array Number One.
Xiao Wanfeng handed the three new blank jade slips to Xu Xiaoshou, listening to the surrounding opinions and wishing he could sink into the ground. “Young Master Xu, are you really sure about this?”
“Why, you doubt me too?” Xu Xiaoshou looked at him.
“It’s not doubt, it’s just that this seems… a bit excessive…”
“Not at all.”
Xu Xiaoshou patted his head and said earnestly, “Wanfeng, no matter when, don’t limit your vision to just your peers. Otherwise, you’ll never surpass legends and become the supreme existence.”
Xiao Wanfeng’s eyes lit up, his spirit invigorated.
Young Master Xu wasn’t even considering all the other contestants on site?
The only enemy he truly saw was himself!
Constantly surpassing… Xiao Wanfeng pondered in his heart, and when he looked at Xu Xiaoshou again, his gaze was filled with admiration.
No matter what, saying something like that proved that Young Master Xu’s ambitions reached for the skies.
And what a swordsman needed was exactly this kind of fighting spirit to challenge the heavens.
“I’m starting now.”
Xu Xiaoshou ignored Xiao Wanfeng, who was lost in thought, and ran his fingers one by one over the sixteen blank jade slips laid out on the table, his mind racing wildly.
It had to be said, the referee team was indeed strong.
After encountering the incomplete dan fang, the sixteen variations that flashed in his mind were all rare formulas.
At least, Xu Xiaoshou himself had never refined even one of them.
And the key to the exam lay right here.
For dan medicines that hadn’t been refined or even encountered before, most contestants couldn’t restore the dan fang.
Because a dan fang recorded not only the entire refining process, but also the details and various special precautions, which required extensive trials to deduce.
So even if someone glanced at the incomplete dan fang and thought they’d seen something similar and vaguely remembered it…
Without successfully refining it before, no one could be certain of perfectly restoring the dan fang.
Xu Xiaoshou was absolutely sure.
If the contestants on the field couldn’t refine the pills, even if they restored the dan fang based on experience in the end, it wouldn’t be perfect.
At least, they wouldn’t get full marks for just restoring the dan fang.
In the end, everyone would just be picking the tallest among the short ones.
But he was different!
“Mastery of Culinary Arts” gave him the complete foundation—all of it!
He had originally doubted his own creativity.
But the hints from the incomplete dan fang were too much for him.
With the main ingredient and seventy-two auxiliary ingredients, he could quickly filter out a rough match from the low-grade dan fang that Elder Sang had given him in his memory.
Then, through comparison and verification of medicinal properties and fusion, Xu Xiaoshou felt in his mind that he could get it about eighty or ninety percent right.
“The first variation, tenth-grade, Yin Huo Dan.”
Steeling his resolve, Xu Xiaoshou took out the dan ding gifted by Shi Ti, narrowed his eyes, and began the analysis.
Yin Huo Dan mainly functioned to calm the mind and aid meditation, helping spirit refiners enter a state of deeper cultivation, and it had a minor effect in removing heart demons that arise during practice.
This dan’s effects were powerful.
But Yin Huo Dan was expensive to make, with an extremely complex refining technique, and the final product was only tenth-grade.
Such tenth-grade dans were generally used by those in the acquired realm.
Yet, geniuses in the acquired realm didn’t have issues with failed meditation, and mediocrities either couldn’t cultivate or couldn’t afford such an expensive dan.
As for heart demons, people just starting cultivation didn’t have them.
So this led to Yin Huo Dan being unused, and over the years, it had nearly vanished—even finished dans might not be found on the market, let alone the dan fang.
Xu Xiaoshou knew about this dan only because it was recorded in the comprehensive dan fang jade slips from Elder Sang, but he had only glanced at it briefly and didn’t remember the details.
Even with his super memory, it was like that—let alone the other contestants.
But now, through “Mastery of Culinary Arts,” he boldly verified and carefully tested, step by step perfecting the dan fang’s details.
“Xiao Wanfeng, request ingredients from the referees: Extinction Flower, Tranquil Seed, Ice Heart Lotus Seed…”
Xu Xiaoshou turned his head slightly, eyes closed, as scenes of the refining process flashed repeatedly in his mind, murmuring aloud.
Xiao Wanfeng noted them down one by one, raised his hand inside the ling array, and summoned the staff to request the ingredients. Soon, someone delivered the materials.
“It’s starting!”
The audience who witnessed this was surprised.
Xu Xiaoshou was the first to begin refining!
How much time had passed?
Excluding the commotion he caused earlier, he had barely spent a few minutes seriously thinking.
Meanwhile, the other contestants who seemed more focused hadn’t even heated their dan dings yet, let alone formed any refining ideas in their minds.
“He’s really starting?”
In Ling Array Number Two, Yu Chuchu had her train of thought interrupted once again.
Xu Xiaoshou’s actions were too bold.
Setting up the ding, summoning the flame, selecting ingredients, refining…
The entire process flowed smoothly, as if he had rehearsed it countless times in his mind, or as if he had encountered this dan before.
“Fake, right?” Yu Chuchu felt a headache coming on.
She had only deduced that the incomplete dan fang might lead to a seventh-grade “Little Thunder Dan,” but she hadn’t even prepared the main spiritual ingredient yet, and Xu Xiaoshou had already started.
“This is awful…”
Yu Chuchu felt immense pressure in her heart.
Usually, she was the one putting pressure on others by turning in early, but now, as the top student, she was being crushed by a prodigy, and she felt the qualitative gap.
“How is it?”
On the referee seat, the veteran presidents stared eagerly at the note in Dong Ling’s hand.
This was the list of missing ingredients that Xiao Wanfeng had written for the referees.
Without a doubt, if anything on this note was wrong, it would prove that Xu Xiaoshou was just showboating.
Dong Ling scanned the note from top to bottom with a serious expression, was silent for a moment, then handed it over, “Not a single issue—he’s refining Yin Huo Dan.”
The veteran presidents were shocked.
Lu Chenghui shook his head and exclaimed it was impossible—how could anyone deduce Yin Huo Dan in such a short time?
He snatched the note, glanced at it, and fell into a daze.
“It’s really Yin Huo Dan…”
The other presidents nearby sensed something was wrong.
The note circulated quickly.
Soon, after the group of elders read it, they seemed drained of energy, slumping into their seats and remaining silent for a long time.
“Did we make the exam too easy? Has someone encountered Yin Huo Dan before?”
“It’s possible, but not likely! Look at the other contestants—they’re all confused.”
“So it’s not our problem—it’s Xu Xiaoshou’s…”
“Is he really not cheating?”
“Cheating should be impossible. Now we just need to check his refining details. He can list the ingredients for a tenth-grade Yin Huo Dan, but that doesn’t mean he’s refined it before—maybe he’s just encountered it, but doesn’t know the details.”
“Exactly! Details are the key. A dan fang needs details; otherwise, just listing ingredients is something anyone could do.”
The elders spoke as they turned their attention to Ling Array Number One.
Black chickens lined up, selecting ingredients for sacrifice…
Xu Xiaoshou had his eyes closed, taking time to engrave the refining details on the first blank jade slip…
“Is he joking?” Lu Chenghui watched, his face twitching. “Doesn’t he need to watch the process while refining? Or has he refined Yin Huo Dan countless times before?”
The black chicken refining technique that had drawn endless complaints in the previous round didn’t get a single remark from the elders now.
Xu Xiaoshou was too outrageous!
He was refining while engraving the jade slip—multitasking like this in a task that demanded full concentration left a deep impression.
Time passed.
The elders silently watched the fluid scene in Ling Array Number One, collectively speechless.
“Flowing like water…”
Someone murmured unconsciously, and the elders nodded in agreement, only to quickly shake their heads.
Then they looked at each other, feeling awkward and chuckling.
They didn’t want to admit it.
But they had to admit—the details of Xu Xiaoshou’s refining were flawless!
Soon, the refining process reached its end.
Whoosh!
A burst of colorful light sprayed out, soaring into the sky.
The viewing platform and outer audience were stunned.
Pill formation with radiant light!
And turning in early again!
The other ninety-nine contestants were still struggling, yet Xu Xiaoshou had already completed a batch?
Was he cheating?
“Hurry, hurry…”
On the referee seat, the veteran presidents urged the staff frantically to retrieve the finished pills from Ling Array Number One for inspection.
The other ninety-nine ling arrays’ contestants turned their heads simultaneously.
“This…”
The pill formation light was too dramatic.
Even if they didn’t want to notice, they couldn’t help but be disturbed.
After all, there was precedent…
“Young Master Xu, he’s already formed the pills?”
Yu Chuchu wore a bitter expression, looking down at her own setup where she hadn’t even started warming the ding.
She realized that as a sixth-grade alchemy master, in front of Xu Xiaoshou, she was practically worthless, with no comparison at all.
3644 · 0 · 8
