Creating something from nothing. Concocting pills in a Celestial Land. Refining the rules of alchemy. Turning an illusory Nine Treasures Pearl Curtain plant into an actual seed that could be planted. All of these things caused waves of shock to fill their minds.
As of now, they had forgotten Chu Yuyan and Ye Feimu. All eyes were fixed like glue onto Meng Hao. He was the focus of attention of all the people here.
Fatty was panting. Han Bei’s eyes shone with a strange light as she looked at Meng Hao. Li Shiqi’s expression was one of fascination. She herself had never imagined that Alchemist Fang Mu would concoct a pill such as this.
Chen Fan had never been very interested in Alchemy. But he gaped in astonishment, and admiration grew within his heart for Fang Mu.
Patriarch Violet Sieve from the Black Sieve Sect laughed. “Starting today, the name of Alchemist Fang Mu will be known to everyone within the Southern Domain.”
Sub-Patriarchs from the other Clans laughed and said similar things. When their words entered Ye Yuntian’s ears, his face grew unsightly, and unconsciously he glanced toward his Master, Pill Demon. Pill Demon’s face was expressionless, which caused Ye Yuntian to sigh with relief.
Turning his head to look at the other Violet Furnace Lords, he said, “Unless Master makes a specific choice, then everyone has a chance. Fang Mu may have some unique skills in pill concocting, but… the general trend is clearly favoring Feimu to become the next Violet Furnace Lord!” He gave meaningful looks to those among the Violet Furnace Lords with whom he was close. He felt a bit more calm after that, and when he looked back at Meng Hao’s screen, his expression was the same as ever. His heart, however, was filled with rancor and cold laughter.
Meng Hao had no way to know what was happening in the outside world. However, from the moment he had begun to concoct the pill, he had decided to make a big scene. At the moment, he was walking up the mountain path. Ahead of him was nothingness, but every step he took, more stone steps would appear to support him.
Time passed. The buzz of conversation still filled the outside world when Meng Hao stepped onto the final stone step of the third region. He wasn’t really sure how many total steps he had traversed. If he thought about it, then perhaps it was more than ten thousand.
Meng Hao didn’t actually care about a specific number; it wasn’t important.
“Who was it…?” thought Chu Yuyan, her breathing heavy. She still wasn’t sure who had caused the shocking scene just now. Whoever it was, that person was on a different path. Unless they were at the peak of mountain, it would be very difficult to see anything. At the moment, the first person that came to mind was, again, Ye Feimu.
But then, she hesitated. Suddenly she wasn’t so sure. Something inside of her was telling her that it probably wasn’t Ye Feimu. And yet from her perspective, other than Ye Feimu, none of the other candidates, including herself, could possibly have done something like that.
As she thought, determination filled her eyes. She turned and continued upward.
The most conflicted of all was none other than Ye Feimu. He stood mutely on the stone steps, thinking for a very long time.
“Who was it? What pill did they concoct…? I concocted one medicinal pill, the pinnacle! I can’t believe that someone else’s decision regarding the Dao of alchemy could surpass my own. In the third region, I definitely produced the most steps with the least amount of medicinal pills! I only concocted one! This person could not possibly have outdone me!” Ye Feimu’s pride caused pain in his heart, but it quickly vanished. “I must be in first place!”
His eyes glittering, he raced forward, hurrying toward the end of the third region. In his preparations to participate in this trial by fire, Violet Furnace Lord Ye Yuntian had actually violated Sect protocol by secretly telling him in detail about his own experience in the promotion trial by fire.
For example, Ye Feimu knew that at the end of the third region, it was possible to see who had passed through the region, what method they had used to do so, and what position they were granted by the Immortal Land.
His eyes filled with stubbornness, Ye Feimu hurried on, panting.
In addition to Chu Yuyan and Ye Feimu, there was also the old man and the middle-aged man. They were were also racing forward.
Time passed. The first person to reach the end of the third region was Chu Yuyan. She leaped across the gap created by the last few missing steps. Then, a tremor ran through her body. She had just seen the boulder marking the beginning of the fourth region. The first thing which entered her vision was not the requirements for concocting a pill, but rather, the rankings from the previous region, which floated in the air in front of the boulder.
In third place, was her own name, Chu Yuyan. Next to it were written the numbers 9,999!
She gasped, then looked up toward second place. It