Chapter 206: Traps in the Prescription

Chapter 206: Traps in the Prescription
Then, Fama slowly walked to the edge of the VIP table and took a deep breath, as if he was gathering all his strength.

His gaze, like the cold moon penetrating through the clouds, fell on the three gray-robed teenagers below, and a sharp cold light flashed in his turbid old eyes. A moment later, his voice rang out again, clear and firm, penetrating the sky above the square and spreading to every corner.

"Everyone," Fama's voice was filled with unquestionable authority, "the first round of the competition has been successfully concluded. Now, let us face the challenge of the second round. All alchemists who passed the first round of assessment, please press the red button on your stone platform immediately."

As the bell for the second round of competition rang, Yaoyue, who had been playful and lively, now showed a seriousness different from usual.

She took a deep breath, pulled herself together, nodded to Xiao Yan and Liu Ling not far away, and then said firmly: "The champion must stay among us and must not fall into the hands of foreign alchemists."

Yaoyue's words revealed a sense of responsibility. As a member of the royal family, she knew that maintaining the dignity of the Gama Empire was her mission.

There was a determination gleam in her eyes, indicating that she would do her best to ensure that the honor of the conference would not be lost.

Liu Ling nodded solemnly after hearing this. As Gu He's favorite disciple, he also had a persistent pursuit of the championship in his heart. Not only did he want to follow in his mentor's footsteps, but he also wanted to win the championship and attract more attention from Nalan Yanran.

Thinking of this, his eyes involuntarily turned to Xiao Yan, the man who had been engaged to Nalan Yanran. In Liu Ling's heart, there was a voice telling him that he must not lose to Nalan Yanran's former fiancé.

Even if she couldn't win the championship, Liu Ling was determined to at least widen the gap with Xiao Yan. If she couldn't even do this, how could she expect to attract Nalan Yanran's attention? She would probably be looked down upon even more.

Xiao Yan gave Yao Yue a confident smile, his eyes gleaming with an unyielding fighting spirit. His voice was firm and powerful: "Don't worry, I will definitely win the championship this time."

Although he had foreseen that he would face a strong opponent, Xiao Yan did not feel nervous at all. On the contrary, an unprecedented motivation surged in his chest, igniting his fighting spirit.

Moreover, he clearly knew that the strength he had shown before was far from his limit. Xiao Yan firmly believed that if he gave it his all, then the first place in the first round would not be a big deal.

However, when Fa Ma announced the content of the second round of assessment, the atmosphere in the square suddenly became complicated.

There was a hint of mystery in Fa Ma's voice: "This time, the prescription was carefully prepared by our guild after careful consideration. Your task is to successfully refine the medicine according to this prescription."

The recipes and herbs in the hands of the alchemists seemed to be the source of doubt in their hearts. Some looked puzzled, while others were delighted, thinking that this second round of assessment was too simple.

Xiao Yan carefully examined the recipe for the third-grade Fengxing Pill in his hand, frowned slightly, and whispered to himself: "Is this second round really just refining it step by step?" A trace of uneasiness surged in his heart, feeling that things might not be as simple as they seemed on the surface.

Xiao Yan was not the only one who had this doubt. Liu Ling and Princess Yaoyue who were not far away also frowned, wondering what the guild's intentions were.

In several remote corners of the square, among the three mysterious alchemists from foreign countries, the young-looking Yan Li was experienced. He was the first to discover that something was wrong with the prescription, and a smug smile appeared on the corner of his mouth.

Then he made a few special gestures to the two people not far away, which made them suddenly realize. Then the three of them looked at each other and began to refine the elixir.

Following the exploration of soul power, some alchemists, after confirming that the prescription was correct, could not wait to ignite the fire and begin refining the medicinal materials.

Among the alchemists present, there were also many who were meticulous. They were a little surprised by the sudden simplicity of the test. However, after looking at the prescription and hesitating for a long time, they still did not find anything wrong with the prescription. So they could only shake their heads helplessly, then carefully lit a fire and began to refine the pills.

In the VIP seats, Xiao Yixian frowned slightly. She turned slightly and asked Xiao Ling curiously, "Xiao Ling, is this second round of assessment too easy? If it is really that easy, won't there be too many people advancing to the finals?"

This was also the doubt in the minds of many people around. After Little Medical Fairy spoke, they all pricked up their ears, hoping that Xiao Ling, the person with the strongest alchemy skills present, would give an evaluation.

Even Fa Ma, Mitchell, and some elders of the Alchemist Guild who knew some inside information cast curious glances.

Under the watchful eyes of the crowd, Xiao Ling calmly said to an elder of the Alchemist Union: "Please help me get a prescription for the exam."

The elder left in response and soon returned to Xiao Ling with a prescription.

Xiao Ling took the prescription and quickly scanned the words on it. A flash of understanding flashed in his eyes, and he soon saw the mystery in the prescription.

Sure enough, the guild cleverly added a herb called "Hou Tu Zhi" to the prescription, just like the trick in the original book. This was obviously a trap set by the question setter. If an inexperienced person rashly tried to make it, he would definitely suffer a great loss.

"There's something fishy about this prescription," Xiao Ling said in a deep voice, lightly tapping a spot on the prescription. "The properties of one of the herbs conflict with the other herbs. This is the difficulty of the test."

Suddenly, the three clan leaders around them, Jia Xingtian, Hai Bodong, Mitel Tengshan, etc., also had a look of sudden enlightenment on their faces.

It was not the first time for them to witness the grand occasion of the Alchemist Conference, and they had long heard that every conference would bring some innovative elements. However, since they were not experts in the field of alchemy, they always found it difficult to understand the hidden strategies and techniques of the Alchemist Guild.

As for the elders of the Alchemist Guild, such as Michelle, they were even more impressed by Xiao Ling's insight.

"Master Xiao Ling's vision is truly admirable," one of the elders spoke with a tone full of respect, "He saw through our carefully planned mistake at a glance."

"Master Xiao Ling's insight and wisdom are truly convincing..." Another elder echoed, "Our little tricks are simply not worth mentioning in front of Master Xiao Ling."

Mitchell and Fa Ma's hearts were filled with uncontrollable admiration. They had long anticipated that Xiao Ling, with his profound attainments in refining medicine, would easily be able to discern the secrets of the prescription.

However, his quick and accurate identification ability was even more amazing. This not only proved that although Xiao Ling was young, he had extraordinary experience in refining medicine, but also proved his profound foundation in this field.

Xiao Ling nodded slightly, his eyes revealing a hint of expectation: "This is the essence of alchemy. Not only do you have to master the skills, but you also have to have the vision to discover and solve problems. Let us wait and see who will stand out in this assessment." His gaze turned to the competition square again, and a tense and expectant atmosphere filled every corner.

Following the lead of the Yanli trio, the other contestants also gradually began to immerse themselves in the intense process of refining medicine.

A hint of pride flashed across Yan Li's eyes, and he was full of confidence in his judgment. He knew very well that the traps in the prescriptions were tricky for experienced pharmacists, but they were by no means insurmountable problems.

However, there were only a few alchemists who could see through this quickly. Yan Li was secretly delighted, and he was confident that he could win again in this round of competition.

In this way, before tomorrow's final, he will not only be able to further suppress the morale of other contestants from the Gama Empire, but it may even cause tomorrow's opponents to be under excessive pressure and cause their condition to decline. They will not be able to perform at their true level in the competition, or even give up the competition directly.

Although Liu Ling and Yao Yue still had doubts in their hearts, they did not find any problems with the pill formula after studying it for a while. But seeing that Yan Li and the other two had already started refining, they did not dare to hesitate any longer.

The two of them quickly adjusted their mindsets, put aside all distractions, and immediately concentrated on refining the medicine.

Liu Ling's technique was steady and precise, Yao Yue's movements were elegant and smooth, and both of them demonstrated their best alchemy skills.

Xiao Yan was not shaken by the noise around him. He closed his eyes and followed the steps on the prescription in his mind, carefully simulating every step of refining the "Wind Dan". After thinking for a moment, he suddenly recalled the pharmacology knowledge taught by Elder Huo. Not all medicinal materials can be refined harmoniously, and some properties will conflict with each other.

After a careful examination, Xiao Yan finally discovered the flaw in the prescription. The medicinal properties of the "Hou Tu Zhi" in the prescription were obviously in conflict with those of other herbs.

Xiao Yan silently said in his heart: "The properties of medicinal materials conflict with each other. This is the subtlety of medicine refining." He glanced at the prescription in his hand again, and a flash of understanding flashed in his eyes, "The medicinal properties of 'Hou Tu Zhi' conflict with those of other materials. This is the trap of this assessment."

This discovery made him suddenly realize that the real difficulty of the second level was to identify and solve the errors in the prescription. Some alchemists might not be able to successfully refine the real elixir because they failed to detect this.

Before Xiao Yan started to refine the pills, he had already noticed the movements in the square. He had already discovered that the three black-robed men quickly started to refine the pills as soon as they got the recipe. Their movements were swift and methodical, and they were obviously confident in their skills.

Yaoyue and Liu Ling began their refining process shortly after the man in black robe started. There was a hint of urgency in their eyes, as if they did not want to fall behind in this competition.

The corners of Xiao Yan's mouth rose slightly, and a confident smile bloomed on his face.

He said to himself, "I wonder if those three have discovered the trap in the medicine prescription, or if they just started refining it impatiently after the competition was called."

His eyes flickered, and his tone revealed a determination that should not be underestimated. "However, I let you steal my thunder last time, but this time, I will not let you take the lead so easily."

In order to increase his medicine refining speed, Xiao Yan waved his hand and took out the "Liuhe Lingyan Cauldron" that Xiao Ling had given him before from his storage ring.

Xiao Yan took a deep breath and calmly adjusted his mind and breathing. As he slowly exhaled, he felt that his mood and state had reached a peaceful and focused state. After confirming that his mind and body were in the best condition, he began to refine the third-grade "Wind-Running Pill".

In the "Liuhe Spirit Flame Cauldron", colorful beast fires burned fiercely, roasting each herb. Xiao Yan's technique was skillful and precise, and every movement seemed so natural and orderly. Under his control, the herb gradually released its most essential part.

With Xiao Yan's current superb alchemy skills, refining ordinary third-grade pills is already a piece of cake for him, and there will hardly be any mistakes.

With the help of the powerful beast fire and the "Liuhe Spirit Flame Cauldron", the entire refining process is not only extremely precise, but also astonishingly fast, far beyond the imagination of ordinary people.

……

Naturally, every detail of the competition stage could be seen by the audience in the VIP seats.

The hidden traps in the prescriptions caused many alchemists to encounter failures in their first attempts. Even Liu Ling and Yao Yue, who had superb skills, could not avoid the explosion during the refining process and faced the embarrassment of failure along with many other contestants.

Each contestant only has two precious refining opportunities, and those who insist on trying again often face unsatisfactory results.

However, in this medicine refining competition, some insightful contestants sensed something was wrong.

Instead of rushing into action, they chose to think carefully and be cautious about the second chance of refining, unwilling to rashly waste this last hope.

When they failed in their first attempt at refining, many contestants first suspected that there was something wrong with their refining skills, believing that their own methods led to the failure of refining the pill.

The possible reason for failure is that the medicinal properties of the medicinal materials do not match, but this is only a minority after all.

Even if some people realize this, there are very few who can truly stand firm in their judgment and make brave decisions.

Jia Xingtian sat on the high platform, his eyes fell on Yaoyue who was playing with Hou Tuzhi in her hand. She obviously also noticed the problem, but she was still unable to make up her mind. Jia Xingtian shook his head slightly, with a trace of regret in his heart.

"Yaoyue has always lived under protection and lacks the opportunity to gain independent experience, so it is naturally difficult for her to make decisions quickly. But it is quite good that she can find the problem so quickly."

There was a hint of helplessness in Jia Xingtian's tone. Fama next to him understood his feelings and comforted him with a smile.

(End of this chapter)