The Sword God of the Universe

Chapter 556: Chapter 556 Refinement Complete [Third Update]

”Jing Yan, do you still think you can win?” Wan Lai mocked with a playful look in his eyes.

His ambition was set on becoming the champion of this Alchemy Festival. His family felt the same way.

The Source Power that Wan Lai wielded wasn’t truly his own, it belonged to the resources of his clan. This Source Power was temporarily entrusted to him by his family, solely for the purpose of seizing first place in the Alchemy Festival to win the Source Power reward for this event. Once the Alchemy Festival ended, the Source Power he currently wielded would be reclaimed by his family.

Source Power was far too precious; no clan would hand over such power to a Sixth-level Alchemist. In the hands of an Eighth-level Alchemist, Source Power could be exponentially more effective compared to a Sixth-level one.

Of course, the clan would also grant Wan Lai an extremely generous reward!

To tell the truth, Wan Lai hadn’t intended to use Source Power because he believed that, with his ability, it wouldn’t be difficult to win first place in the Alchemy Festival. However, he hadn’t expected that a freak like Jing Yan would appear in the Alchemy Festival, suppressing him in the earlier rounds. This forced him to resort to using Source Power. Without it, he wasn’t confident he could defeat Jing Yan.

Although he was reluctant to admit it, he had to acknowledge that if they were to truly compete solely on individual alchemy skills, Wan Lai felt that his chances of defeating Jing Yan were probably less than fifty percent. Therefore, he ultimately had to resort to using Source Power to dominate Jing Yan.

”I just said, as long as the results of the competition aren’t out, everything is hard to say,” Jing Yan said, lifting his brows.

Wan Lai possessed Source Power, which put a considerable amount of pressure on Jing Yan.

But expecting Jing Yan to simply concede was out of the question.

So what if Wan Lai had Source Power?

He himself wasn’t entirely without a chance of victory. Perhaps it required some luck, but there was still an opportunity. If he gave up now, then he would have no chance at all.

”Fine! I want to see what you can do,” scoffed Wan Lai.

Then, he began to focus on refining the Golden Pattern Sun and Moon Pill.

Wan Lai’s motions were cautious. After all, he was a Sixth-level Alchemist, and even with the aid of Source Power, a small mistake could still lead to failure in elixir refinement.

He channeled the Source Power into the Pill Furnace first, then began to add various Spirit Grasses, focusing intensely on every step, careful not to overlook any detail.

After glancing at Wan Lai, Jing Yan also started to refine the Dragon Tiger Pill. He swiftly added various materials into the Pill Furnace.

The judges, meanwhile, were conversing in low voices, guessing what kind of elixir Jing Yan was refining.

With Jing Yan having begun his alchemy, it could be ascertained that he did not have Source Power, or at least it confirmed that Jing Yan wouldn’t be using Source Power in this round of alchemy. Therefore, Jing Yan’s only chance of victory would be if he were a Seventh-level Alchemist.

The exact elixir Jing Yan was intending to refine was unknown to everyone. Hence, no one could determine whether Jing Yan was refining a Sixth-level Elixir or a Seventh-level Elixir.

However, everyone understood one thing—the likelihood of Jing Yan being a Seventh-level Alchemist did not exceed ten percent.

Jing Yan approached the refining of this batch of Dragon Tiger Pills with much more caution than before, unlike his previous nonchalance. The speed of his alchemy also slowed down significantly.

Primordial Power was carefully controlled at every step, and the Qiankun Alchemy Dao was in constant operation.

Refining the Dragon Tiger Pill was much more difficult than an ordinary Sixth-level Elixir. Jing Yan had not refined the Dragon Tiger Pill before—not because he didn’t want to, but because it was challenging to collect all the required materials. Moreover, Jing Yan wasn’t in a hurry to use the Dragon Tiger Pill, so he didn’t go out of his way to gather the necessary Spirit Grass.

More than halfway through the allotted time, Jing Yan finally completed the last step of stabilization.

Jing Yan’s expression didn’t look great.

Although the furnace wasn’t open yet, Jing Yan could somewhat sense his alchemical achievement. It seemed that his batch of elixirs had only yielded four pills. Jing Yan felt that if he had been able to produce eight pills, all of first-class quality, he might still stand a chance of victory. But as it was, it seemed he had only managed four pills, which made his hope for victory very slim.

Alchemy complete, Jing Yan looked over at Wan Lai.

Wan Lai was still in the midst of his refinement, and his batch of elixir had yet to be completed.

”I wonder what kind of elixir Wan Lai has refined, how many pills it yielded, and what quality they are!”

”If the value of his elixir is relatively low, then that’s a bit better. But with Source Power at his disposal, how could he possibly choose to refine an elixir of low value?” Jing Yan frowned and gently shook his head.

Though the Dragon Tiger Pill was extremely valuable, there were still some highly valuable Sixth-level Elixirs on the Heavenly Origin Continent. And as a scion of the Wan Family, it wasn’t impossible for Wan Lai to obtain some rare Pill Formulas.

”Forget it! Whether it’s failure or success, it’s all up to fate now. Thinking further is futile!” Jing Yan exhaled a long breath, which seemed to relax him considerably.

Time passed slowly.

A short while before the two hours were up, Wan Lai finished his alchemy.

At this point, Wan Lai’s eyes sparkled with confidence. He was filled with self-assurance about his elixir refinement and seemed to have succeeded.

The judge, Wan Li, had been keeping a close eye on Wan Lai and breathed a sigh of relief upon seeing his expression, a joy that she could barely contain appeared on her face.

If Wan Lai’s batch of Golden Pattern Sun and Moon Pills were successful, then clinching first place was almost a certainty. In other words, the reward of Source Power from the first place of the Alchemy Festival was almost within reach.

The Wan Family would gain yet another Source Power—a tremendous boost for the clan.

”Alchemist Jing Yan, Alchemist Wan Lai, have you both finished your alchemy?” the white-robed elder inquired upon seeing they had both ceased their activities.

”I’m ready!” Wan Lai said, lifting his head proudly.

”I’ve finished as well,” Jing Yan responded with a nod.

”Then let’s open the furnaces!” the white-robed elder announced.

At the same time, Wan Lai opened his furnace first, as Primordial Energy surged, and pills enveloped in golden halos flew out from the Pill Furnace.

On closer inspection, one could see the roundness of these elixirs beneath the golden glow. There were intricate golden patterns on the surface of the pills.

Seeing the elixirs in his hands, Wan Lai felt overjoyed.

Before opening the furnace, Wan Lai had sensed that his batch of elixirs might be well refined and yielded a good number of pills. However, upon seeing the pills with his own eyes, he still couldn’t help feeling ecstatic.

”One, two, three...” Wan Lai glanced over them.

”Six, a full six Golden Pattern Sun and Moon Pills! It seems that today, I’ve outdone myself. Even the best I have ever done at home was just five pills, and usually, it’s three to four per batch, sometimes even resulting in failure!” Wan Lai suppressed the surge of excitement within him.