Chapter 148: Once

"Wait and see." Liu Ling turned around, staring at the spot where Xiao Yan had disappeared moments ago. With a cold smile, he murmured under his breath, "I'll make him feel utterly humiliated at the Alchemist Grand Meeting. The disciple of the Pill King is the most outstanding person in the Jia Ma Empire."

…

Early the next morning, Xiao Yan once again arrived at the Alchemist Association under the guidance of Steward Zhao.

Tomorrow was the official start of the Alchemist Grand Meeting, and today there would be an internal test.

As they walked along, Xiao Yan was somewhat surprised to see fully armed troops patrolling the main streets of the city.

Clearly, this was due to the upcoming Alchemist Grand Meeting. After all, for such a grand event, it was only natural that ample security measures would be put in place.

The colossal Alchemist Association finally came into view after traversing several wide streets. Xiao Yan shook his head with a feeling of helplessness as he looked at the entrance that seemed even more crowded than two days prior.

It seemed that alchemists from all over the empire, and even from other empires, were eager to make a name for themselves at this Grand Meeting.

Stepping down from the carriage, Xiao Yan smoothly approached the main entrance of the Association under the prestigious banner of the Nalan Clan.

Just as he was about to enter through the VIP passage, a commotion suddenly arose not far behind him, and gazes from all around were cast in that direction.

'Hmm? What's going on?' Xiao Yan furrowed his brow slightly as he turned to look toward the source of the commotion.

A strange beast with blue flames rising from its body was pulling a silver-white carriage. From the carriage, a jade-white slender hand reached out and elegantly grasped the handle of the carriage door. Then, a graceful figure gracefully stepped out, appearing in everyone's sight.

The young lady who emerged was wearing a purple-colored dress that had silver-colored lines embedded in it. Her exquisite features exuded an innate noble temperament. A purple-colored belt was worn on her narrow and delicate waist, displaying the small waist vividly and incisively. She didn't seem to be very old, probably around seventeen or eighteen, about the same age as Xiao Yan.

This young lady, who looked quite ladylike, had a quirky and strange smile flashing across her watery eyes. Clearly, she wasn't as quiet as she appeared on the surface.

Steward Zhao spoke in a low voice, "That is Princess Yue Er of the Jia Ma Imperial Family. Her Master is Qie Mi Er, the Deputy Chairman of the Alchemist Association. Last year, she passed the 3rd-tier alchemist examination. She's the treasure of the Jia Ma Imperial Family and one of the top contenders for the championship this year."

Xiao Yan could only silently mourn for the little princess after hearing the old steward's words. Because whether one was a 3rd-tier or even a 4th-tier alchemist, to Xiao Yan, who possessed a Heavenly Flame, Tier 6 Spiritual Strength, and peak 4th-tier alchemy skills, they were all mere also-rans.

Xiao Yan took the lead and entered the Alchemist Association without paying any further attention.

Following the old steward, he arrived at a spacious inner hall with a rather classical decor. By this time, there were already several people standing in groups of three or two. As Xiao Yan's gaze swept over these people, he was a bit surprised to find that many of them, who looked around twenty-seven or twenty-eight years old, were actually 3rd-tier alchemists.

Not long after, the imperial princess he had just seen at the entrance, as well as Liu Ling, also walked in.

"Young Master Xiao Yan, I won't be able to accompany you further," Steward Zhao said with a bow.

"Thank you for leading the way."

"It was no trouble at all. I wish Young Master Xiao Yan great success."

After seeing off the old steward, Xiao Yan had no intention of interacting with these people. He leaned against the wall with his eyes closed to rest as he waited for the test to begin.

"Eh? Wasn't that the steward of the Nalan Clan just now? Who is that person not wearing an alchemist robe? He shouldn't be on the list, right? How did he manage to get in through the backdoor?" Master Ao Tuo from Black Rock City asked.

Deputy Chairman Qie Mi Er shook his head upon hearing this and said, "I don't know. I heard he got in through Nalan Jie's influence. It seems he hasn't even been assessed for an alchemist tier."

"Hasn't even been assessed? He's probably just here to broaden his horizons."

Qie Mi Er didn't say much more. He shifted his gaze to the people below and pointed to the left side of the hall, where many black curtains hung from the walls. "Behind each curtain is an individual small room. That's your testing site."

"As we all know, the purification of medicinal ingredients is an extremely important step in alchemy. Our test this time will be examining your refinement of these medicinal ingredients."

"On the table in each small room, the medicinal ingredients for the test have already been prepared. What you need to do is to refine the medicinal ingredients to the highest purity you can achieve before the hourglass runs out."

Xiao Yan slowly opened his eyes and looked at these small rooms when he heard the Deputy Chief's words. He casually chose the nearest one and walked in.

A stone platform immediately appeared before him as he lifted the black curtain and stepped inside. On the platform was an hourglass, as well as lumps of medicinal ingredients that looked like black coal.

Xiao Yan muttered to himself as he picked up the medicinal ingredient, "So that's it. It's the low-grade medicinal ingredient Black Iron Spiritual Leaf, commonly used in refining tier 2 healing pills. This thing is highly resistant to burning and requires strong fire control abilities for precise manipulation during the refining process."

Xiao Yan merely shrugged upon seeing this. It wasn't very difficult for him. After yawning and smacking his lips, he took out a medicinal cauldron and threw the Green Lotus Core Flame and the Black Iron Spiritual Leaf into it.

With a whooshing sound, Xiao Yan instantly raised the temperature of the Green Lotus Core Flame to its maximum. At such a high temperature, forget about refining, the Black Iron Spiritual Leaf could be directly incinerated into ashes.

Just as the Black Iron Spiritual Leaf made contact with the Green Lotus Core Flame, Xiao Yan controlled the Green Lotus Core Flame with both hands as if manipulating a puppet.

In a thousandth of a second before the Black Iron Spiritual Leaf was about to turn into ashes, strands of green flames rapidly threaded through the disintegrating Black Iron Spiritual Leaf. The medicinal essence was instantly extracted from it.

The Black Iron Spiritual Leaf in the medicinal cauldron was reduced to ashes in the blink of an eye. If Xiao Yan had been even a fraction slower, the medicinal essence would have been destroyed along with it.

The key to this technique lay in using ultra-high temperature to quickly break down the medicinal ingredient, then using Spiritual Strength to sense a critical point. At the very limit before the ingredient disintegrated, one had to swiftly use Spiritual Strength to extract the medicinal essence.

This required not only powerful flames but also extremely strong Spiritual Strength capable of seeing through the medicinal properties of the ingredient.

Xiao Yan took out a wooden box from his storage ring, placed the medicinal powder in it, and turned to leave the room.

The entire process took less than a minute.

Seeing Xiao Yan emerge after just a minute, while some sluggish alchemists were still dawdling in the hall and hadn't even entered, Deputy Chairman Qie Mi Er smiled and said, "Young friend, there's no need to come out just to check the hourglass in the hall. There's an hourglass inside as well, synchronized with the one here. The time before the hourglass runs out is all for refining. The purity will be checked after time's up. You don't need to be anxious."

It was clear that the Deputy Chairman thought Xiao Yan was overly nervous and unfamiliar with the rules, so he came out to ask.

Xiao Yan took out the wooden box, looking drowsy and listless, and said, "I've already finished refining."

"You've already finished refining??!!" The two judges, Qie Mi Er and Master Ao Tuo, both exclaimed in shock.

Master Ao Tuo asked, "How many times did you refine it?"

"How many times? Once, of course."