He lazily stretched his limbs about, feeling the extremely pleasurable relief shimmer through and down his body. Lifting from the king-sized bed, he determined the amount of time that had eclipsed so far, feeling a slight amazement at seventy-six days since his concoction had completed. This answered a question of his: Was the Alchemic Astral Soul the reason his concoction times were extremely small?
Now he knew the truth.
No.
At least, it wasn't the sole reason.
Fortunately, during this long period of time, he hadn't just been idling around without doing much. Instead, he was delving into his own cultivation, focusing on the insights he'd gleamed from watching Zuhei and Lin Ming's fight all those months ago. With all this available time, he could fully focus only on this.
After all, an All-Alchemic Clash was notorious for being extremely long. The typical runtime standard for one of these things was classified by years, not months. Now witnessing Qingye Ying's patience and slow-speed, he knew this was going to go the distance.
In regards to his advancements in cultivation, after that brief moment of inspiration followed by insightful rumination, he had discovered the essential missing piece to form a Soul Idol. This excited him to no end.
Unfortunately, he couldn't ascend to the next phase yet due to Qingye Ying's ongoing concoction and the audience of trillions likely watching his every move lest he foolishly reveals his true cultivation state. While he had decided to lay bare most of his Alchemist abilities for comparison's sake, his cultivation state was still his greatest secret.
So he could only silently study his various arts and spells, improving his understanding of their various applications.
Subsequently, he had made leaps and bounds in his understanding of force control, which includes both astral and spiritual. He finally realized that he'd been too busy to cultivate his combat strength, merely relying on his extremely oppressive cultivation foundation. This break of seventy-six days was quite beneficial. He could even get a good rest. He was quite satisfied.
While this was his thought, Qingye Ying was extremely frustrated at the sight of Wei Wuyin's seemingly lazy appearance. She didn't know why, but she felt insulted and infuriated. This feeling pierced further into her heart when she heard his words: "Oh. You're done."
It was as if he was waiting for her! FOR HER?!
She couldn't help but shout out a powerful spiritual transmission to him. But after that, she realized that her mental state had become chaotic and disorientated. She was exhausted. The natural energies within her, both mental and spiritual, were being thoroughly drained as she applied her greatest degree of focus to this task.
Underneath her veil, she bit her lips softly as her cheeks became a ruddy red. Her breathing was a little heavy, causing her ample chest to heave up and down in an alluringly rhythmic manner.
Wei Wuyin was currently shaking his limbs lightly when his Celestial Eyes caught a glimpse of her current blushing appearance. 'This girl truly is gorgeous.' Not only was her face exquisite but her body was generously well-endowed. This coupled with her Alchemic Astral Soul, she was truly a perfect woman for any male cultivator.
As he thought about this, he couldn't help but think about the Everlore Ascension Pill. According to the records, this was the only known pill that could enable an Alchemic Soul to naturally overcome the Mortal Star Astral Tribulation, allowing for further growth. But when his thoughts brought him to this point, a question he hadn't considered emerged in his mind:
'I've concocted Everlore Ascension Pills before, they aren't that difficult, and I can't imagine the King of Everlore never concocted one after his ascension, so why aren't there more Alchemic Astral Souls in history?' This thought was like a snapping whip, causing Wei Wuyin to realize there was an inconsistency in this.
In actuality, Wei Wuyin didn't use an Everlore Ascension Pill to ascend. So did the King of Everlore actually do so as the legends say or…?
While the King of Everlore could've simply been a stingy fellow, he didn't come off as such in history. There had to be a reason.
He pondered for a moment, unable to determine anything. Just as he took further note to inquire deeper into the subject, Yi Yun's voice echoed throughout the stadium. It was the first voice that he'd heard besides Qingye Ying in seventy-six days. A faint arc formed on his lips.
"All-Alchemic Clash, Elixir Segment: Have all participants finished their concoction?" Yi Yun was quite official, sounding a little robotic even. But the faint emotion in his voice betrayed his curiosity and shock.
Qingye Ying hadn't even gotten the chance to rest to stabilize her various energies and forces before Yi Yun's voice sounded out. This caused her to be somewhat startled, turning towards Wei Wuyin with her golden irises effusing rays of disbelief. 'He finished? Before me?!' A faint wisp of unease emerged in her heart, unable to accept that the Alchemic Astral Soul was slower than others.
Due to her wholehearted focus, she had removed all other distractions, not even noticing that Wei Wuyin had completed his concoction long ago. This only served to highlight her utmost serious attitude in regards to the competition.
"I have," Wei Wuyin responded, standing upright and regaining the demeanor of a Heavenly King. Just his voice that had echoed out of the formation had caused the crowd to erupt in cheers, chanting his name and throwing out flattering praises. While some were still skeptical, based on what they heard over two months ago, Wei Wuyin should've completed his refinement in the quickest time in recorded history.
"I have," Qingye Ying responded as well.
Therefore, they couldn't hold back in joining in with the explosive cheers. Shockingly, there were considerably less cheers for Qingye Ying.
Most of those present weren't too familiar with the standards of All-Alchemic Clashes. While the vast majority present had long since known that this was a clash that could take years even, they weren't too familiar with that patient concept. When Wei Wuyin finished his concoction in five minutes, they assumed Qingye Ying would take seven at most.
This belief, while fundamentally a wrong assumption, had brought about a deep dissatisfaction as they felt like they had to wait in line for a slow order. It was extremely frustrating to the average individual.
It was like watching a race between a tortoise and a hare, with the hare having completed the one meter run in a second while the turtle took two hours. They nearly turned hostile for a moment, their thoughts fuming at the mere thought that they had to be 'waiting' for her. While extremely unreasonable, it was the stark comparison that brought about these emotions.
It subsequently ended many of their willingness to cheer for the Princess of Everlore, with some even feeling like she wasn't even worth comparing any longer. That this entire competition had already been determined quite clearly in the first hour. It left them bitter.
Fortunately, Yi Yun diffused the crowd and said that quality mattered and taking a longer time would likely produce a better quality of product. Only this, reinforced by Li Che, had restrained their thoughts and emotions. If Qingye Ying revealed a high-quality product and Wei Wuyin produced merely a low-quality product, then it would support their words and alter their thoughts instantly.
The phrase 'haste makes waste' would then fill their minds and reinvigorate their opinions of Qingye Ying.
There was an air of anticipation due to this.
Wei Wuyin was unaware of these mental gymnastics of the crowd, but his Celestial Eyes could 'see' the trend of the world, how it shifts about, and this was heavily influenced by the Mortal Dao, by the people. He could already perceive that an ill-shadow was slowly encroaching on Qingye Ying's figure, threatening to strangle her, while radiance was extremely prominent around him.
He wasn't slow, realizing the situation in an instant. But there was little he could do about this development. With a helpless smile, he waved his hand to bring out the vial of Refraction World-Light Elixir.
When he did, Qingye Ying looked over subconsciously. She saw a mirror-like liquid within the vial. This confused her. Wasn't the Refraction World-Light Elixir multi-colored? For example, hers was filled with colorful lights reminiscent of a rainbow. She had never heard of a Refraction World-Light Elixir that was like a liquid mirror, reflecting the image of everything present. Not even peak-quality elixirs.
Her unease started to swell, from a wisp to a cloud in her heart.
Before she could further consider the oddity of this matter, the sight of the five judges' seats came into view. They revealed the prestigious figures of the three leaders of hegemonic forces and two Alchemic Emperors. At the lead, Yi Yun was smiling.
When Wei Wuyin saw that smile, he couldn't help but inwardly chuckle. It was ingratiating, a smile he was quite familiar with. He turned to see Gao Zi's hulking demonic figure as he sported his two horns, exuding an extremely oppressive aura. Jiang Feilan's icy gaze was staring at him, and he frowned.
Within that icy gaze was something he was also familiar with. Still, he thought about the Bloodforge Continent and her daughter who had devastated the lives of countless bystanders for the sake of jealousy, and his opinion of her mother sank. As for Lin Ruyan, she similarly looked at Wei Wuyin with a familiar glint, but it was curiosity and uncertainty.
He smiled.
Yi Yun said, "We'll judge each product to determine its quality. If the quality is equal, we'll move to the number of attempts made. If this too is equal, we'll move to the time it took to complete the two products. This will determine the winner of this segment. Do you two understand?"
Wei Wuyin and Qingye Yun nodded, both thoroughly understanding these rules of victory. His words were merely for the audience, to refresh their memories.
Yi Yun nodded, "Then, since the challenger chose this segment, they'll go first in presenting."
Step.
Qingye Ying took a solid step forward, facing these peak figures without hesitation. With a lift of her hands, she revealed the vial in her palm. It lifted into mid-air, floating upwards until it was directly before the five judges. They all gathered around it, not coming into direct contact. Instead, their spiritual sense carefully interacted with the vial.
Li Che's eyes brightened. There was a light of excitement flickering within, while the three hegemonic leaders' eyes flashed with greed and desire. This was especially so for Gao Zi. He wasn't one to hide his desires.
Yi Yun conferred with them spiritually. Numerous messages were transmitted as they deliberated, coming to a conclusion on the product's quality and validity. After a while, Yi Yun excitedly turned towards Qingye Ying and announced, "Princess Ying has successfully concocted the High-Tier, Eighth-Grade Refraction World-Light Elixir! It has been judged, after careful inspection by the five of us, to be of the high-quality!"
While not everyone understood the exact significance of it, the experts did, and their reaction was colorful to say the least.
Jiang Feilan had reached a point of cultivation phase invincibility thanks to the low-quality elixir, and the high-quality elixir had a special effect of refining the body to achieve a much better effect. This thrilled them, with many even thinking of ways to acquire this elixir. In some ways, this elixir was worth planets. This was especially so in today's cultivation climate.
Wei Wuyin couldn't help but be slightly awed. While the speed of his concoction wasn't linked to the Alchemic Astral Soul, it still held similar advantages when it came to quality and success rate. It seemed he couldn't underestimate it. After all, this was the quality of elixir he expected to concoct himself.
Yi Yun turned to Wei Wuyin, "Are you ready?"
