Chapter 2089: Secret intervention

Ling Han left the alchemy palace quietly, and returned to the inn, as if nothing had happened.

He had already done what he should do, and whatever came next would be up to fate.

Another few days pa.s.sed, and the third compet.i.tion began.

100 partic.i.p.ants arrived once more at the alchemy plaza. Though the majority of them had no hopes of coming in top three, none of them wanted to give up before the results were even out.

Who knew if there would be a what-if?

It was still one alchemy chamber for each person. Then, a number of alchemy apprentices walked over, each bearing a box in their hands. Names were written on these boxes. These boxes were all correspondingly distributed among the partic.i.p.ants.

After Lin Yongchang took his box, he turned his head, and cast a disdainful glance at Ling Han.

To dare steal his limelight, how truly ridiculous!

He was indeed arrogant. He had clearly attained a lead only through underhanded means, and really thought that he was truly all that impressive.

Ling Han only smiled slightly, and ignored him.

…Even if Lin Yongchang managed to fortunately escape this time, Ling Han would still think of some way to kill this guy in the future.

F***, what kind of person was he?

“Begin,” the Four-Star grandmaster who was in charge announced. Because a considerable number of Four-Star alchemists had appeared, and they could be his equal in status, his tone had become considerably gentler as well.

Every person had 12 hours’ time.

…Under the time acceleration effects of a hundredfold, there was more than enough time even for three times of Spirit Refinement.

Ling Han closed the doors, ignoring everything that happened outside, and focused on Spirit Refinement.

Becoming a Five-Star alchemist meant that he had accomplished a leap in alchemy, and would definitely be able to perform Fifth Refinement. However, being able to perform Fifth Refinement did not mean that he would be able to succeed each and every time. Even a Five-Star alchemist would not dare to guarantee that.

Thus, every partic.i.p.ant had three chances.

If you did not have enough confidence, you could also perform Third Refinement, or Fourth Refinement. There was no rule that specified a Four-Star grandmaster definitely had to perform Fifth Refinement.

However, without a Fifth Refinement, how would he obtain first place?

Ling Han took a deep breath. All the details regarding Spirit Refinement appeared once more in his mind, together with some suggestions that Grandmaster Zi Cheng had given to him.

This master had never taught him anything particular step by step, but would take an indirect approach, and guide him to the correct mindset.

Thus, Ling Han did not walk the old path that Grandmaster Zi Cheng had walked, but had rather developed the ability to think for himself.

After about a day, he finally began moving.

When he moved, his speed was naturally astonis.h.i.+ngly fast.

First Refinement, Second Refinement, Third Refinement, and Fourth Refinement. Ling Han quickly completed four rounds of Spirit Refinement. He had already done these steps a great many times before, so he was proficient and familiar with it, but what came next was the most crucial Fifth Refinement.

Stimulating the Nine Heavens Flame, he began the final Spirit Refinement.

Boom!

Not long after, with a lick of flames, this alchemical pill turned into ashes.

Righto, the previous four times of Spirit Refinement were all completely wasted as well.

Thankfully, Spirit Refinement did not require ingredients, or the loss would be much too great.

Again.

***

Outside, the spectators were all watching closely, especially on Fan Luoling’s side. It was practically a sea of people.

Due to pressure, Yuan Tongguang did not dare to brazenly cheat again this time, or rather the powerful figure who was the overseer here could no longer bear to watch. Thus, this time, Fan Luoling’s alchemy chamber was completely clean, and could be seen with absolute clarity.

The people outside were all staring fixedly. There was no possible way the number of times of Spirit Refinement she accomplished could be concealed again.

If her Fourth Refinement was going to be described as Fifth Refinement, then from today onwards, at least this branch of the Ancient Alchemy Tower would completely lose all their trust.

Fan Luoling was also famous by now. The attention focused on her was even greater than that on Lin Yongchang and Lin Yongchang.

However, the attention focused on top-tier prodigies was also great. There were still a great many people gathered around the alchemy chambers of those like Lin Yongchang, Ling Han, Wu Zixu, and the others.

“Sigh, it’s too bad!”

“A Fourth Refinement Celestial Pill, it’d be great if that was given to me. I can at least sell it for 100,000 Star Stones.”

“A One-Star alchemical pill with Fourth Refinement, this is really exorbitant. Too bad it exploded.”

Seeing how Ling Han failed at his first attempt, everyone was feeling rueful, and this kind of rueful feeling was also experienced by others, such as Wu Zixu, Alchemist Riyang, and so on. They had all just barely been promoted to Four Stars rank. Even if they had been working their a$$es off at Spirit Refinement these few days, just how great would their improvement have been?

Failing at the first attempt was inevitable. What was crucial was whether they would be able to succeed once in the remaining two attempts.

And under the eyes of the public, Lin Yongchang also opened the box, and took out an alchemical pill.

Nothing happened.

His luck was very good. He had not taken that alchemical pill that had been poisoned.

He began Spirit Refinement.

First Refinement, Second Refinement, Third Refinement, and Fourth Refinement. All four instances of Spirit Refinement went very smoothly. He could already perform Fifth Refinement. The last four times of Spirit Refinement were naturally done very easily. However, when he began Fifth Refinement, his speed immediately decreased because he had not stepped into this threshold very long ago, either.

He used the Regulations of Fire as a cauldron, and aroused the Dao of Heaven and Earth to strengthen the grade of the alchemical pill.

A faint golden vein appeared, entwined around the alchemical pill. It appeared out of thin air, gradually darkening further and further.

There were four golden veins beside it as well. When the color of all five was the same shade, it meant that the Fifth Refinement was completed.

Then, Lin Yongchang would definitely become the champion of this alchemy compet.i.tion.

Pa!

Right when Lin Yongchang was about to succeed, this alchemical pill suddenly exploded.

Spirit Refinement had failed.

Lin Yongchang couldn’t help but look irritated. He had been so close to success, and had only been just a step away.

Again.

He took out another alchemical pill. However, he was still standing steadily, and there were no signs that he had been poisoned.

This luck!

He began Spirit Refinement again.

Among the crowd, someone mumbled, “This luck is a little good!”

If one paid more attention to him, he would be able to see that while this person wore a loose cloak, and had a bamboo hat on his head, covering all parts of him firmly, his two feet were still exposed. They were clearly a pair of black dog’s legs.

“I can only move again,” this “person” said while extending a hand, which he reached slightly out of the cloak. It was clearly another dog’s paw, and there was actually pink-colored underwear hanging from his paw.

“Celestial King Ling Miao’s underwear, just a single sniff would energize me a hundredfold over!” this “person” mumbled to himself, and then tapped his dog’s paw in the direction of the alchemy chamber Lin Yongchang was in.

Pa

, a sound rang out, and the alchemical pill in Lin Yongchang’s hands suddenly exploded.

F***, why had he failed again?

Lin Yongchang was completely baffled. This was only a Third Refinement, and he would still fail at a Third Refinement? How could this be? How could it be possible?

Outside, everyone was also in uproar.

Spirit Refinement was the easiest to distinguish. However many golden lines there were on the alchemical pill meant how many times Spirit Refinement it was. There was no second possibility. Thus, everyone could see clearly that Lin Yongchang had actually failed at a mere Third Refinement.

“As a great Four-Star grandmaster, he actually failed even at a Third Refinement?”

“This is a little weak, isn’t it?”

“I now seriously wonder how he managed to become a Four-Star alchemist? Could it be that he managed it through cheating, like some specific woman, right?”

“Hehe!”

A considerable number directly went into mockery mode. Who asked Fan Luoling to be a previous example? Everyone’s trust had dropped to rock bottom.

“Hehe!” That “dog person” laughed slyly. “To actually dare bully our Little Han, Grandpa Dog is already very merciful for not

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you!”

…If Ling Han had heard this, he would have been able to guess his ident.i.ty immediately.

Lin Yongchang was stunned for a moment before stretching his hand towards the final alchemical pill.