The opening of the Alchemy Saint Hall's trial seemed not to have stirred the slightest ripple within the Mingyuan Sect.
After all, scarcely anyone had gathered on Mount Alchemy Saint to observe the proceedings.
Yet this was merely the surface appearance.
Because Chu Yan was a figure ill-suited for open discussion within the Mingyuan Sect, how could anyone shamelessly show their eager interest in the legacy she had left behind?
In truth, countless individuals were secretly monitoring every development here.
Whoever obtained the Alchemy Saint's legacy was destined to inherit the seat of Hall Master of the Alchemy Saint Hall in the future, presiding over all alchemical affairs in the Mingyuan Sect.
Centuries down the line, they might even become a transcendent, peerless alchemist just like Chu Yan!
Who would dare truly disregard such a prospective titan?
Lu Chun's elimination had come rather swiftly, yet the outcome surprised no one.
In the end, he was not of the Alchemy Saint's direct lineage. The alchemical texts he possessed amounted to a mere twenty or thirty percent obtained from the Chu family. Coupled with his impetuous temperament, his reputation as a Lesser Grandmaster was mostly an empty compliment forced upon him by flatterers.
What kind of grandmaster could refine only two or three types of fourth-tier pills?
As for Xin Yisheng, his shallow foundation was common knowledge. That he had outlasted Lu Chun was already an impressive display of alchemical talent.
The remaining three were the ones upon whom the greatest hopes rested.
Yet all of this shifted the moment Mister Xuan Yan appeared and strode into the Alchemy Saint Hall without meeting the slightest resistance.
"Didn't he say he would never covet the Alchemy Saint's legacy again?"
"At such an advanced age, he could ride the crane to the west at any moment. If he fails to win the legacy, that's fine, but if he does, it will bring more harm than good to our Mingyuan Sect."
"We can't let him carry Chu Yan's legacy straight down to the Yellow Springs!"
"The Ancestors have truly grown muddled!"
"It's hard to say. Doesn't Mister Xuan Yan still have a direct disciple who went to gather herbs in the Million Mountains? Rumor has it that although he keeps a low profile, he has truly reached the realm of a Lesser Grandmaster. If the old master passes the acquired legacy down to him, our efforts won't have been in vain either."
"Uh... and what sort of relationship do you have with the cultivators on Xuan Yan Peak?"
"Relationships can always be mended afterward!"
To some extent, the hushed discussions of these onlookers reflected the shared thinking of the Mingyuan Sect's three Ancestors.
The Alchemy Saint's legacy was right there; it mattered little who took it, so long as the meat remained stewing in their own pot.
The prerequisite was that someone had to bring it out!
If a promising junior obtained it, that was naturally ideal.
Even if Mister Xuan Yan, whose lifespan was nearing its end, secured it, so long as it could be handed down, no real harm was done.
***
The four inside the Alchemy Saint Hall were completely oblivious to the stir outside.
All of them were immersed in the arduous trial of the second stage.
*Thump!*
A muffled sound abruptly detonated in the empty chamber.
With a heavy heart, Chu Yu lifted the furnace lid.
Sure enough, inside lay a charred, foul mass, devoid of the slightest trace of spiritual clarity.
She lifted her hands, staring blankly at her fair, jade-like fingers.
"Still not working?"
Her ancestor had left many things to the Chu family: alchemical texts, pill recipes, refining implements, and even three sourceless flames, which alchemists prized most of all!
Most of those treasures had been seized by the sect, leaving the Chu family with only a few transcribed alchemical insights.
Chu Yu had relied on those insights to grope her way forward step by step, achieving the rank of grandmaster before reaching four hundred years of age.
Yet her greatest harvest had not been any of these!
After her failure in the previous Alchemy Saint Hall trial, she had returned and combed through her ancestor's notes again and again, faintly discerning a concealed alchemical art within them.
It appeared ordinary, but was in fact a composite technique assembled from dozens of fundamental alchemical methods!
Upon first obtaining it, Chu Yu had devoted some effort to practicing it. Yet once she attained basic entry, she was startled to discover that the technique was not meant for pill refinement at all, but for decomposing materials.
Back then, she could not fathom the purpose of such an alchemical art.
Only after clearing the first stage this time did she finally understand its true significance.
Countless heavenly treasures existed in this world, and to an alchemist, every one of them could serve as medicine.
The saying "refining the heavens, refining the earth, and refining humanity" was no hollow boast!
Yet there was only one heaven, only one earth, and only one person.
Many heavenly treasures possessing truly immense and wondrous power were unique in the world.
Should an alchemist fail when attempting to refine them, they often had to wait hundreds or thousands of years—or even spend their entire life without ever seeing a second matching treasure emerge.
Even the cleverest artisan could not cook without rice; they could only wring their hands and sigh in vain, letting their sole opportunity slip away.
Under such circumstances, the alchemical art left behind by Ancestor Chu Yan was of paramount importance.
By reverse-refining and decomposing the needed primary materials from failed waste pills, one could gain a second, or even a third chance.
Not only that, for pill recipes lost to time, one could also reverse-refine existing pills down to their raw ingredients, deduce their original composition, and thereby reconstruct the ancient recipe.
Such was the purpose of that alchemical art known as "Restoring Former Countenance."
Unfortunately, Chu Yu had only realized its true worth now.
"If only I had mastered this technique before entering the trial, this second stage would have been smooth sailing for me!"
"Curse Luo Chen's arrival for opening the trial ahead of schedule..."
Her resentment vanished as quickly as it came.
Chu Yu could not lie to herself; she had never paid much attention to that alchemical art in the past.
Her alchemical realm was still climbing upward, so how could she have possessed any enthusiasm for a technique meant to break things down to their base elements?
Moreover, even if she had poured her energy into learning it, she likely would have struggled to pass the first stage.
"I wonder how Luo Chen is faring?"
"The Alchemy Saint Hall opened early for your sake. If you halt at the second stage, that would truly be laughable."
Though she bore no real hatred, grievance remained.
Chu Yu shook her head, sweeping away the pile of medicinal dregs in the furnace with a wave of her sleeve.
She had failed and could advance no further.
Her only path was back.
A gentle surge of magic power welled up within the hall, wrapping around her and pulling her outward.
She did not resist, so there was no danger of injury.
Yet as she was carried back across the trial ground of the first stage, she was surprised to discover an abundance of dense white light streaming in a single direction.
As their paths crossed, a ruddy-faced elder offered her a friendly nod.
It was Mister Xuan Yan!
Chu Yu was thoroughly astonished, but offered a reflexive blessing: "May your Dao of Alchemy flourish, Mister!"
"Haha, the future belongs to you young ones. May your Dao of Alchemy flourish as well!"
Mister Xuan Yan chuckled freely, taking a stride into the second stage.
At this moment, merely a few days had passed since he entered the hall.
***
"Being a step ahead is only fleeting; only he who reaches the end first is a true hero."
"Luo Chen, your foundation is simply too shallow after all!"
Inside a scorching hall, Chen Mozi's weary expression brimmed with joy.
He had reached the third stage!
The first stage had cost him a year.
The second stage had trapped him for two full years!
Yet to him, this pace was already extraordinary.
Had the failure of the previous trial not driven him to prepare beforehand, he would have struggled to clear this second stage before the trial's time ran out.
Glancing across the hall, Chen Mozi found nothing to surprise him.
The layout here was all too familiar to any alchemist.
Earth-fire vents, bellows, humanoid puppets...
This was the standard solitary refining room required for high-tier alchemists of the Mingyuan Sect.
The only difference was its larger size, built to accommodate multiple alchemists refining pills together.
"What is the test for the third stage?"
Chen Mozi was consumed with curiosity, for he had never reached this point before.
In the entire Mingyuan Sect, Mister Xuan Yan was the only one who had ever set foot here.
Even as his curiosity mounted, earth-fire surged within the chamber, coalescing in midair into a pill recipe visible only to him.
"Refining a new pill?"
"Fourth tier?"
"A bit troublesome, but manageable. It shouldn't be too hard for me."
Chen Mozi breathed a sigh of relief, as if he could already envision passing this trial.
Yet just as he was about to begin, he froze.
"Such harsh conditions?"
***
Within an empty chamber of the second stage.
The white-robed Daoist sat cross-legged, surrounded by scattered medicinal dregs.
The topknot that Huiniang had meticulously combed for him was now loose and tangled across his shoulders.
His golden pupils shone brightly, yet the whites of his eyes were mapped with bloodshot veins.
Those veins were not from activating source power, but the mark of mental exhaustion from racking his brains to the limit.
At this moment, the white-robed Daoist stared blankly at a pile of dregs before him, muttering under his breath.
"Just a bit off, just a bit off, still just a bit off."
"Where exactly is the flaw?"
Suddenly!
His nostrils twitched as he sniffed the air.
Amidst the mingled, chaotic odors, he caught a wisp of a familiar scent.
Luo Chen paused, then waved his hand.
A lump of medicinal dregs from a failed reverse-refinement landed before him.
Looking down, Luo Chen understood at once.
This was a third-tier pill known as Bai Zhi Paste, formulated specifically to dispel cold qi and highly effective in soothing the agony of injuries plagued by extreme frost.
The primary ingredients of Bai Zhi Paste were stream angelica, Qi lotus, turbulent-drift duckweed, and other unique water-attribute herbs.
He recalled that his reverse-refinement had failed.
Why, then, could he still smell a faint wisp of Qi lotus fragrance?
"Qi lotus naturally possesses the quality of emerging unstained from the mud. But since the refinement failed, how can its fragrance still linger?"
Puzzled, Luo Chen shifted through the dregs. Executing his unformed alchemical technique, he pushed aside all other impurities until a lump of charred black liquid remained.
Staring at the liquid, Luo Chen sank into deep thought.
After a long while, an epiphany struck him like a splash of cold water, snapping him awake.
A look of wild joy broke across his face.
"That's it!"
"That's it!"
"Before, I cared only for form and ignored intent, obsessing over restoring the herbs to their original shapes."
"In truth, when we refine pills, we often seek only a single unique substance within an herb. That substance is the true essence for which the herb was chosen; no matter what shape it takes, it remains."
"Just like our cultivation: we breathe in the world's spiritual qi to forge vast magic power. Yet once we fall and our Nascent Soul dissipates, that immense power returns to its true essence, dissolving into stray spiritual qi adrift between heaven and earth."
"Dust returns to dust, earth returns to earth. Even the height of splendor is nothing more than a handful of fine sand."
"What I want is not the pearls that make up a crown, but merely that purest sand!"
"So this technique shouldn't be cast this way. It should be..."
In his ecstatic revelation, Luo Chen's hand seals shifted abruptly. He brushed lightly across the charred black liquid.
That gentle brush was like a groom lifting the bridal veil to see his lovely bride, like wind parting dark clouds to reveal the bright moon. Luo Chen finally beheld the essence behind the fragrance.
A speck of pure white flickered into view.
The faint, crisp fragrance of Qi lotus drifted forth!
As magic power poured into it, a lotus blossom even unfurled slowly in the air.
At that exact instant, a line of text quietly surfaced on his long-silent attribute panel.
[Unknown Alchemical Art: Entry (1/100)]
As if drained of all strength, Luo Chen slumped onto the floor, staring at the white lotus and breaking into a wide grin.
"Let's call it the Dust Return Technique!"
Dust to dust, earth to earth. Casting this technique allowed one to see the essence buried beneath glory.
From this day forward, most pills in the world would hold no secrets from him, even those he had never laid eyes on!
Then next...
Luo Chen glanced over the remaining twenty-odd pills, his eyes filled with anticipation.
The lowest among them were third-tier, and the vast majority were fourth-tier.
If he remembered correctly, the ingredients used to refine these pills were vast and varied, enough to encompass all the components from his previous failed attempts.
This Alchemy Saint Hall trial could still continue!
***
Half a year later, a wisp of cloud and smoke drifted into the brightly lit hall.
Chen Mozi, seated bleakly on the floor with a furrowed brow, looked up just in time to see a white-robed man materialize.
Ink-black hair hung loosely down his back. Though weariness touched his face, his eyes shone with peerless clarity.
At that moment, the newcomer was surveying the grand chamber with curious eyes.
Within those faintly golden pupils, it seemed as if no secret in the world could remain hidden.
It was Luo Chen!
Chen Mozi parted his lips, overwhelmed by bitterness.
To think he had actually cleared the second stage!
He had previously looked down on the man, assuming that given Luo Chen's shallow foundation, passing the first stage had already been a stroke of genius.
Yet seeing him now, passing two stages with ease on his very first attempt at the Alchemy Saint Hall's trial—calling him a genius was an understatement!
"Truly worthy of the title of Alchemy Grandmaster!" he muttered softly.
Hearing the voice, Luo Chen turned his gaze and gave a slight nod.
"Fellow Daoist praises me too much. You arrived ahead of me, after all."
Chen Mozi shook his head, unwilling to explain how much preparation he had poured into that second stage.
Curious, Luo Chen asked, "What does this third stage test?"
This time, Chen Mozi did not conceal anything, answering casually, "Refining pills!"
Luo Chen froze, then smiled.
Refining pills!
To him, nothing could be simpler.
So long as there were ingredients...
Flames rose, shaping characters in midair.
Luo Chen looked up, his brow twitching slightly. The more he read, the graver his expression became.
Once the fiery curtain dissipated, Luo Chen looked back at Chen Mozi.
No wonder the man had arrived at this refining hall so early yet hesitated to act, paralyzed with indecision.
He had never expected the third trial to be so unforgiving!
"Use the raw ingredients previously obtained through reverse-refinement to refine a single fourth-tier pill."
"The specific pill is of your own choosing, but you have only one chance!"
Everyone knew that the pill success rate was notoriously difficult to control.
Anyone who could reliably form a pill was considered competent.
One who could keep their success rate around twenty or thirty percent was fully worthy of being hailed as an alchemical master.
Grandmasters like Chen Mozi and Chu Yu could at best maintain a success rate around fifty percent, and that was only with lower-tier pills they were thoroughly accustomed to.
How difficult would it be to succeed on the very first try?
Even Luo Chen!
Though famed for mastering a hundred pills to perfection, he had never dared boast that he could refine a fourth-tier pill on his first attempt.
Whenever he refined pills for others, he always demanded ample portions of raw ingredients.
And this time, they even had to formulate the pill recipe themselves!
"In a trial like this, even if I force an entry through the attribute panel, there's still a ninety-percent failure rate!"
Luo Chen found himself in a dire predicament.
Formulating a recipe was hard enough; having to succeed on the first attempt was another hurdle entirely. Who in the world could resolve both conundrums?
In his entire life, the instances where he had succeeded on his first attempt with an unfamiliar recipe could be counted on one hand.
This third trial appeared to be an open-book test, deceptively simple and familiar to every alchemical grandmaster, yet no one could guarantee success.
Just as both men were locked in bitter contemplation, an aged, hearty laugh echoed in from outside.
"Fellow Daoists, why hesitate? Do you truly have so little faith in yourselves?"
Chapter 901