Chapter 149: Why Refine Ten Times?

"Once?!!!" Qie Mi Er's expression became quite colorful upon hearing Xiao Yan's response.

An ordinary 1st-tier alchemist could perform one refinement; a 2nd-tier alchemist could at least refine it two to three times. What did you mean by just once???

Master Ao Tuo standing nearby walked over, patted Xiao Yan on the shoulder, and comforted, "Young friend, don't worry. There's still time. This test is about refining the Black Iron Spiritual Leaf. It's not enough to refine it just once; you need to enhance the purity through continuous repeated refinements."

Only then did Qie Mi Er have a sudden realization. It turned out that what he said just now was not clear enough and caused a misunderstanding. He quickly clarified, "Due to its special nature, each refinement of the Black Iron Spiritual Leaf becomes several times more difficult than the previous one. Even with my 4th-tier alchemist strength, I can only refine it ten times at most. Any more, and it would be futile."

Refining medicinal ingredients was nothing more than using flames to heat and decompose them, then employing methods like sublimation, crystallization, filtration, extraction, liquid separation, distillation, percolation and others to obtain high-purity medicinal essences.

However, no matter what, refinement could never obtain 100% of the medicinal essences, just like how the highest purity of gold was 999.999 fineness, infinitely close to 1000.

And it was true that the more times it was refined, the higher the purity.

Xiao Yan tilted his head, bewildered. He took the wooden box and walked back into the small dark room. He couldn't help but fall into deep thought as he looked at the pure white powder inside the box.

'This thing can still be refined? If I continue, won't it be destroyed?'

'Could it be that the Alchemist Association of the Jia Ma Empire has special techniques that can truly bring the purity of the Black Iron Spiritual Leaf to 100%?!!'

His eyes sharpened as a competitive spirit instantly surged within him. He promptly took out his medicinal cauldron and began experimenting.

...

Time passed by swiftly, minute by minute. Thirty minutes later, the first to emerge was, unsurprisingly, Liu Ling. He first glanced around, then looked toward the small room where Xiao Yan was. Noticing that no one else had come out yet, he revealed a cold smile.

Shortly after Liu Ling came out, a graceful figure swiftly emerged from behind a black curtain. When she saw Liu Ling already standing in the hall, a trace of disappointment flowed across her exquisite face.

She slowly made her way to the center of the hall and mumbled, "Big Brother Liu, I didn't expect you to be so fast."

"Hehe, the Little Princess isn't slow either," Liu Ling replied with a smile.

"Hmph! Even though you came out earlier, the purity of your refined medicinal ingredient might not necessarily be higher than mine!" The Little Princess pouted, raising her snow-white jade fist toward Liu Ling.

Very soon, more and more alchemists emerged one after another.

The grains of sand in the hourglass were about to run out as the black curtain was continually lifted. However, Ao Tuo and Qie Mi Er's brows were tightly furrowed because Xiao Yan still hadn't come out.

"He's the only one left."

"Why is he taking so long?" Qie Mi Er had a puzzled look on his face. This was really dragging on.

He was about to announce that the time was up and Xiao Yan hadn't come out yet!

Qie Mi Er sighed, walked to the small room where Xiao Yan was, and gently said, "Young friend, time's up. Regardless of the outcome, please come out."

The black curtain lifted as soon as he finished speaking. Xiao Yan shook his head and walked out with a defeated expression. Upon emerging, he curiously asked, "Does your Alchemist Association have some special technique? No matter how I look at it, this Black Iron Spiritual Leaf can only be refined once."

Xiao Yan's voice wasn't quiet; the other Alchemists heard him clearly.

"Once?"

"Hahahaha, I was wondering why he wasn't wearing an alchemist's robe. Turns out he doesn't have one at all."

"I could refine it once back when I was still an apprentice. Don't abuse your backdoor connections."

At this moment, many of the alchemists nearby burst into laughter upon hearing Xiao Yan sounding like a country bumpkin.

Qie Mi Er shook his head, patted Xiao Yan's shoulder to comfort him, and said, "It's alright; you're still young. There will be more opportunities in the future."

Among everyone present, only Liu Ling, who disliked Xiao Yan the most, frowned. He knew that even if Xiao Yan was weaker than him, it was impossible for him to have refined it only once.

Moreover, Liu Ling had heard from Nalan Yanran that Xiao Yan had once refined a tier 3 medicinal pill for Nalan Jie. This meant Xiao Yan was at least a 3rd-tier alchemist. How could he have refined it only once?

"Big Brother Liu Ling, why are you paying so much attention to that person?" Princess Yue Er noticed that Liu Ling had been observing Xiao Yan repeatedly and asked curiously.

"He's at least a 3rd-tier alchemist," Liu Ling replied.

Yue Er was shocked upon hearing this. She widened her eyes and looked at Xiao Yan. A 3rd-tier Alchemist refining only once? How was that possible? Was he lying on purpose?

Qie Mi Er didn't say anything more. He walked to the center and announced, "This is a purity measuring device crafted by renowned artisans invited by our Alchemist Association. It can accurately test the purity of your refined materials."

He stroked the dark machine and pointed to a groove. "This is where you place your test material. The scale is out of ten points—ten being the highest, one the lowest; four is the passing score. Please also state how many times you refined it."

"Let's start with you, Liu Ling."

Liu Ling calmly approached the testing device under everyone's gaze. He retrieved a jade bottle from his storage ring, poured some grayish-white powder into the groove, and said to Qie Mi Er with a smile, "This junior's abilities are limited; I could only refine it six times."

Everyone in the hall took a cold breath one after another and then an uproar arose. Not only the participants but even Qie Mi Er and Ao Tuo couldn't help but look at each other in surprise.

Being able to refine the Black Iron Spiritual Leaf five times required at least the peak strength of a 3rd-tier alchemist. Six times?!! That fire control was quite something. 

In other words, Liu Ling's fire control was already equivalent to that of a 4th-tier alchemist.

After the screen flickered for a moment, a large '7' gradually appeared.

"Seven points. Congratulations on passing," Qie Mi Er said with a smile.

Liu Ling smiled and then stepped to the side. His gaze occasionally drifted toward Xiao Yan standing at the very back from time to time. Regardless of why Xiao Yan was lying, the results would prove that he, Liu Ling, was the strongest!

At this moment, Xiao Yan was frowning deeply, his expression extremely odd, as if he had encountered something incomprehensible.

Next was Princess Yue Er's turn. It was a pity that although the Little Princess also refined it six times, her purity was slightly lower than Liu Ling's.

Watching more and more people step forward to test the purity, Xiao Yan couldn't help but sigh. He finally understood where the problem lay.

After everyone had finished testing, Qie Mi Er looked at Xiao Yan and softly said, "Young friend Xiao Yan, please come up and have your material tested."

Xiao Yan nodded slightly, holding the small wooden box, and slowly walked to the testing platform.

Ao Tuo asked, "You only refined it once?"

Xiao Yan nodded and calmly replied, "Yes, only once."

Just as the people below were snickering, Qie Mi Er and Ao Tuo gasped the moment they saw Xiao Yan open the wooden box, exclaiming, "Pure white powder?!"

Suddenly, dazzling golden light erupted from the screen. The huge '10' displayed was like a slap in the face to all those who had mocked him.

Xiao Yan looked at Qie Mi Er with a strange expression and asked, "Deputy Chairman, for a medicinal ingredient whose essence can be fully extracted in one go, why would you need to refine it ten times?"