Translator: Henyee Translations Editor: Henyee Translations
This ranking had come far too suddenly.
In fact, An Lin and Xu Xiaolan both started questioning the Pill Tower’s power.
This was the ability of the top one hundred pill refiners…? No, the top ninety pill refiners?
Weak beyond belief!
Xu Xiaolan had aimed for the top one hundred, yet she came first.
An Lin had aimed for… nothing, yet he placed in the top ninety!
M-hm… This was completely unreal!
When the competition card flew back to An Lin, the rejoicing Grey was astounded. “So, you’re An Lin? My God! Who would’ve thought that you were also this capable!”
An Lin sighed. “I also didn’t expect this. I just casually refined a pill, yet I still placed higher than you… This is the supreme honor that you speak of? As expected. The overly powerful me is unable to understand the lives of weaklings such as you…”
Grey almost spat out a mouthful of blood upon hearing this. However, he couldn’t come up with any retort. After all, Meimei had read An Lin’s name right before his.
The black lizard dragon was both embarrassed and furious. It widened its bloody maw and roared, “An Lin, I’m going to kill you!”
Bam!
Grey’s head suddenly suffered a heavy blow.
“Grey, if you dare cause any more troubles, I’ll kill you first!” Julia’s razor-sharp dragon claws clamped down on Grey’s head. It was as though she was going to crush his head any second.
“Waah… Cousin, I won’t do it again. Please spare me!” Grey shrunk his head back and begged loudly.
An Lin: “…”
Could it be… that Grey had learned the phrase “I’ll kill you” from his cousin?
…
The eliminated competitors started leaving the competition grounds, and the vast dao plaza suddenly became extremely spacious. The surrounding spectators quickly moved in closer.
The gazes of the hundreds of thousands of spectators were all gathered upon the ninety pill refining prodigies.
That’s right, An Lin also had the chance to be viewed as a pill refining prodigy. He was also able to enjoy the spectators’ envious and reverent gazes.
Of course, Xu Xiaolan captured the large majority of the spectators’ attention.
Xu Xiaolan—who had only wanted to save some resources and make it into the top one hundred—found that she had performed too superbly. She ended up coming first, and she instantly became the center of attention.
Not only were the spectators amazed, but even Meimei and the Pill Tower elders were surprised by Xu Xiaolan’s performance. It was evident that she had already become a legitimate contender for first place in their minds.
Upon seeing the attention surrounding Xu Xiaolan, An Lin smiled proudly. He really wanted to shout, “Impressive, isn’t she? She’s my dao partner!”
Many people had expressions of envy and reverence. However, there were also some who had looks of hostility. They were none other than the remaining competitors. They were clearly unhappy about Xu Xiaolan coming first.
“Humph! It’s only the preliminary competition. What’s the point of refining such a high-ranked pill? To grab attention?” A transparent, liquid-like female stood with her hands on hips. Her entire body was blue, and there was a look of disdain on her face.
“Rika, just ignore her,” a true demon sneered. “Only foolish humans will do things like this. We’re also able to refine fifth-rank pinnacle stage spirit pills, aren’t we? She’s a fool for wasting resources and gifting the Pill Tower a high-quality spirit pill. There’s no need for us to do that.” This true demon had a black sword strapped to their back.
“Honor and glory? They’re nothing but illusions. The higher one flies, the more painful their fall.
“In the next event, she’ll most likely understand. She’ll understand what true difference in ability looks like.”
An ethereal and distant voice sounded. This was a female whose body was composed of a mass of black-colored energy. Behind her was a green crescent.
The three conversing beings were also enjoying a great amount of attention. This was because they were also strong contenders for first place. They were—Rika, Black Sword Lord, and Ban Yue!
Every single one of the ninety competitors had a cultivation base at or above the Spirit Nurturing Stage.
In reality, pill refinement ability was strongly correlated to one’s cultivation base. After all, one’s grasp over various types of skills, as well as their understanding of nature, would increase as their cultivation base increased.
Thus, even if one wasn’t naturally talented in pill refinement, they could still raise their pill refinement ranks through raising their cultivation base.
An Lin and Dongfang Zhuangshi were the best examples to demonstrate this point.
Were these ninety competitors strong?
Even if one disregarded their pill refinement talents, they were still undoubtedly supreme prodigies. After all, they had reached the Spirit Nurturing Stage before the age of thirty!
This fact would become even clearer if one looked at the Heavenly Court’s The United University of Cultivation. This university housed the largest number of young prodigies. However, how many of them could reach the rank of Spirit Nurturing Stage before graduating?
Thus, the competitors here weren’t weak at all. Rather, An Lin and Xu Xiaolan were simply too strong!
It was just that they didn’t recognize this fact themselves.
After all, their recent skirmishes were all against beings of the Return to Void Stage…
…
“The second event will decide the top five most outstanding competitors. Each of them will receive a sixth-rank immortal pill coupon. Next, I’ll announce the event rules.
“In a while, I’ll hand each of you a recipe for a fourth-rank spirit pill—the Spirit Rejuvenation Pill. Your task is to refine this Spirit Rejuvenation Pill. The elders will rank you according to the quality of your refined pills.
“The Pill Tower will provide you with the ingredients… free of charge!”
Meimei smiled broadly as she spoke.
The competitors were speechless. If the Pill Tower didn’t provide them with ingredients, then they would all be f*cked, okay?! It would be likely that over half of them would have to resign from the competition.
An Lin was fairly happy about this. At least the Pill Tower still had some conscience. This decision was most likely made because most of these competitors were probably going to join the Pill Tower. It wouldn’t be nice to screw their own disciples over so badly.
M-hm… speaking of which…
Most competitors fell into despair upon hearing that they had to refine a fourth-rank spirit pill.
F*ckin’… The rank of this pill was even higher than what Xu Xiaolan had achieved in the preliminary event! And she had come first! How could they refine it?
They were indeed prodigies. However, they weren’t that freakishly talented!
Many competitors hung their heads in dejection. A large number of them hadn’t even refined fifth-rank spirit pills before, let alone fourth-rank spirit pills. How could they suddenly jump to refining a fourth-rank spirit pill?
Even if Fish Leong1 sang for them, they still wouldn’t be able to muster any combative spirit…
Grey also had a look of despair. He glanced at An Lin and sighed. “Human, we’re both the weakest of the bunch. It’s best if we resign and spectate from the sidelines.”
An Lin remained still upon hearing this. He clasped his hands behind his back and chuckled. “How can a sparrow know the will of a swan1?”
Grey faltered upon hearing this. “Foolish human!” he roared. “I’m going to kill you!”
A chill suddenly ran down his spine, and the black dragon instantly shrunk back in fright.
Julia’s piercing glare was currently focused on Grey.
“An Lin, I’ve decided not to leave. I’ll stand right here to witness how you fail!” Grey remained where he was as he sneered at An Lin.
An Lin ignored the black dragon.
He didn’t stay because he could refine a fourth-rank spirit pill. The reason he remained was that he couldn’t stand the thought of the Pill Tower making money off him. He wanted to put the Pill Tower’s resources “to good use”.
Bundles of ingredients were handed down to them.
Duang!
Following the chime of the bell, Meimei announced, “The second event begins now!”
