Translator: Timothy_ Editor: GlobeGlotter
Everyone sat down and prepared himself.
The examiner announced,
The second question is based on the first question. Everyone here recognized at least six herbs. The second question is for you to concoct the pill recipe you made based on the herbs you recognized in the first quest-
Before the examiner finished, the scene already erupted. Ye Mo’s heart sunk too. Had he made the wrong decision? The pill recipe each cultivator made was only theoretical, just like his spirit weaving pill. It was too hard to make a pill purely based on theory!
The other pill masters had similar thoughts, so it was very noisy. Ye Mo frowned, but he didn’t make a noise. He didn’t believe that the examiners and judges couldn’t think of this.
When the noise quietened down, the main examiner spoke again,
Everyone, quiet down and listen to the question. If you miss something, that will be your responsibility.
The voices suddenly stopped. Clearly, no one wanted to miss anything.
The examiner nodded and continued,
The second round’s points aren’t based on the pill being concocted or not. Of course, if you were to actually make the pill you wrote about, you will definitely reach the third round.
The main points of the second round, however, will be awarded for the herbal refinement and pill concoction steps. Everyone will get the herbs they recognized in the first round and start the pill concoction. The cauldrons you use are special ones provided by the pill association that can record your herbal refinement and pill concoction process. The final points will be awarded based on your pill concoction skill.
No matter who it was, they had to refine the herbs with fire before concocting a pill. So the second round was based on herbal refinement. As for the actual pill concoction, it was probably prepared for the top ten. Not everyone could concoct the recipe that they had made impromptu.
Someone asked,
Does this mean it’s more beneficial to those who recognized more herbs? Wouldn’t this be unfair?
The examiner replied calmly,
You know in your heart whether it’s fair or not. If other people were able to recognize the herbs, why couldn’t you? Moreover, if you can only refine one herb, but refine it to 100%, then no one else might have as high marks as you even if they refine 12 herbs. If you just recognized 6 herbs and your refinement isn’t too good, but you make the pill you devised on the spot, you will also still have higher points than others.
If you weren’t able to make your own recipe, will your final mark be zero?
another cultivator asked.
The examiner looked at him and said,
You clearly didn’t listen to my words. Your pill concoction methods also count towards your marks. They are recorded, and the judges will give points accordingly. If your process was perfect, then even if the pill wasn’t formed, your points won’t be low.
Ye Mo recognized 9 herbs, so even if he couldn’t make the spirit weaving pill, his refinement technique wouldn’t lose to anyone, even if he didn’t use the Mist Lotus Heart Fire. He should be able to refine the herbs more than 90%. The pill concoction process also counting was good news to him. Even if he didn’t make the spirit weaving pill, he shouldn’t have low marks.
After the question came out, even the spectators were discussing that although everybody had a chance, clearly those who had recognized more herbs stood a better chance.
…
Ye Mo and the others didn’t wait too long before getting their cauldrons and herbs. His number was ten as he was ranked tenth in the first round. He checked his cauldron with his spirit sense and found a recording formation indeed.
The contestant couldn’t see the data, but it definitely was being transmitted through a special formation to the judges.
Ye Mo didn’t start refining immediately. He only had 9 herbs, and he only had one chance. He wanted to see how good the other contestants were.
Ye Mo scanned the contestants and was shook. Out of the 500 people, he saw 12 types of Pill Fire and 6 Rare Fire Seeds.
Pill Fire was an external fire, and it couldn’t live too long. It was harvested by cultivators to become their fire for pill concoction or forgery, but Pill Fires were far inferior to the Rare Fires of Heaven and Earth. They were much stronger than one’s own chi fire, however.
Other than this, Cai Sheng of the Heaven Pill Sect was using the Stone Skin Fire, ranked 30th in the cultivation realm. One other cultivator who was among the top ten used the Bleak Qian Bone Flame, ranked 19th. Mu Qinxin used a Blue Phoenix Flame, ranked 21st.
Ye Mo looked at Zhuang Man – he used Beast Heart Fire, ranked 27th, while the old man who had ranked first used Ken Qin Fire.
Ye Mo took back his spirit sense and started using his own foundation establishment state chi fire. He didn’t dare to use the Mist Lotus Heart Fire.
Most people were disappointed by the flame Ye Mo used. This meant that he was just a solitary cultivator. If he were to do anything exceptional, many sects would want Ye Mo, but Ye Mo didn’t even have a Rare Flame. A pill master’s future was mostly based on his flame. Without a Rare Fire, he wouldn’t be able to become a strong pill master, much less a pill king.
Rare Flames weren’t something ordinary people could get in the first place – they were passed down by the sect. Nobody would think Ye Mo could get a Rare Flame by himself.
Still, even some other contestants rested easy after seeing Ye Mo take out his foundation establishment state chi fire.
Ye Mo didn’t hold back in terms of skill, though, and went on to refine three herbs at a time.
His chi fire wasn’t as fast as those Rare Flames, so his speed was just average, but Ye Mo had his strong points. His pill formation was very fast. Once the herbs were refined, no one would be able to beat him in terms of pill formation speed.
After the nine gusts of herbal liquid were refined, Ye Mo simply threw the impurities outside of the cauldron and started to control the liquids with his spirit sense.
He was very careful. Making the spirit weaving pill was his only certain way of getting a good mark.
The pill had a high requirement for spirit sense, so Ye Mo took out more than 70% of his spirit sense to form the spirit chi whirlpool to separate the herbal attributes of the spirit attraction grass. He used the remaining 30% to control the other eight herbs. The whole process was even harder than making the cao huan pill.
