Meow! A cat's cry echoed from within Xiao Yan's heart.

  (▼ヘ▼#)

  "Meow meow meow!" (I'm a?Heavenly Fme?too, you know!)

  Using spiritual transmission, Xiao Yan chuckled and replied, "You've still got some ways to go. When the day es that all fmes submit the moment you appear, then you'll have truly matured into a genuine Heavenly Fme."

  Although Mao Wu was just a Seed Fme, it was the Seed Fme of the 2nd-ranked Nihility Dev Fme. Its potential, once fully grown, was definitely not weaker than any?Heavenly Fme, and might even surpass the lower-ranked ones.

  Xiao Yan had long anticipated that all the fmes in the pza would submit and bow in worship. With a geouch, he pced his palm on the?medial cauldron, and the?Ten Thousa Fme?instantly filled its interior.

  Only wheen Thousa Fme?ehe cauldron did the fmes of all the other alchemists in the pza return to normal.

  "This guy is really demoralizing." the Little Princess felt somewhat dejected. She had heard that Xiao Yan possessed a?Heavenly Fme?but had never wits overwhelming might firsthand. She had always believed that the?Dry Blue Water Fme?she obtained from a Rank 6?magical beast?wouldn't be much weaker than a?Heavenly Fme.

  But as it turned out, fet about paring, her Beast Fme had directly k in submission before his!

  Ah dising eyes could see that no matter what kind of fme it was, none could eveely pare to a?Heavenly Fme. Otherwise, such a se of submission wouldn't have occurred.

  pared to the?Little Princess's bewilderment,?Liu Ling's expression was dark and gloomy. His fme alsinated from a powerful?magical beast?and was inteo be his trump card. He hadn't expected to lose before the petition even began.

  'Hmph, what's the use of merely possessing a superior fme? Alchemy ultimately tests one's alchemy skills!'?Yan Li?grumbled distentedly as he poured his bck fme into the cauldron.

  'Today, I, Yan Li, shall prove that possessing a?Heavenly Fme?is nothing special!'

  Yan Li quickly posed himself as expected of the Deputy Chairman of the Chu Yun Empire's?Alchemist Association. He swiftly pced all the necessary?medial ingredients?into his cauldron.

  His teique for refining ingredients was not at all slower than Xiao Yan's method of refining them all at once. Although Yan Li still refined eagredient separately, he stored the refined essences directly ihe cauldron as soon as he finished with eae.

  Just like the previous day, Xiao Yan was the slowest to begin. Moreover, this time he didn't dump all the ingredients into the cauldron together but carefully pced them into it one by one.

  "As expected, Xiao Yan's?Heavenly Fme?is superior," said?Nan Jie, seated in the VIP area.

  "Indeed. After all, a Heavenly Fme is a heavenly treasure that even Elder Gu He dreamed of obtaining but never succeeded. Naturally, it ot be pared to the fmes of Liu Ling and the others." Beside him,?Nan Yanran's beautiful eyes were fixed on Xiao Yan's position. She had withe might of a?Heavenly Fme?before.

  "The person from the?Misty Cloud Sect?who came this m was urging you to return?" Nan Jie asked.

  "Mm, I've applied for early entry into the sect's secret realm," Nan Yanran nodded slightly.

  "Sigh." Nan Jie shook his head with a bitter expression. "Yanran, truth be told, there may not be a young man who surpass Xiao Yan throughout the entire Jia Ma Empire. Only he truly meets your standards."

  Nan Yanran's slender fingers, which were about to brush aside her silky bangs, stiffened slightly upon hearing this. Pressing her red lips together, she softly said, "Perhaps."

  Nan Jie refrained from saying more after seeing her rea. Some mistakes, once made, are irreversible. Some opportunities, once missed, are gone forever. Mistakes could sometimes be rectified, but missed opportunities were gone food, o return.

  By now, nearly over two hours had passed. In the pza, some alchemists refining low-grade?tier 3 pills?had even pleted the final pill formation step.

  They had produced several entig?medial pills.

  At this moment,?Fa Ma?and other judges from the?Alchemist Association?had desded from the VIP seats and began examining the refined pills.

  Of course, even the partits themselves were acutely aware that their low-grade or even middle-grade?tier 3 pills?were far from suffit to vie for the championship.

  Xiao Yan paid o the partits who had fiheir refi, his gaze fixed ily upon his?medial cauldron. His left hand occasionally tossed in an ingredient while his right hand swiftly extracted the refined material from within aly stored it in a jade bottle.

  His every movement exuded an air of extreme caution aiculous precision.

  Time passed by the minute and sed. At this point, only four people iire pza had yet to plete their refi: Yan Li, Liu Ling, Yue Er, and Xiao Yan!

  When nearly two-thirds of the allotted petition time had epsed, the medial pill withitle Princess's cauldron was the first to solidify. Shortly thereafter, a rich, entig medial fragrance wafted out from her cauldron.

  "The medial fragrance is overflowing, f a mist. Could it be... a?tier 4 pill?!!"

  "Not just the?Little Princess! Look at Liu Ling's cauldron. There's also medial mist emanating from it! And it seems even dehatle Princess's!"

  "Oh my, both the?Little Princess?and?Liu Ling?are attempting to refiier 4 pills! And from the looks of it, they're on the verge of success!"

  "Wait a moment, aren't they merely?3rd-tier alchemists? How they possibly refiier 4 pills?"

  "Ah, that's where you're mistaken. Even?3rd-tier alchemists?have an exceedingly slim ce of successfully refining?tier 4 pills. Otherwise, how else would they hope to advao tier 4?"

  "It looks like both of them have won their gamble."

  Undoubtedly, the?Little Princess?and?Liu Ling?khat if they only refiier 3 pills, eveier 3, they would still lose after learning about Yan Li's situation.

  If they weren't aiming for the championship, they might as well have stayed home. So the two of them steeled their resolve and decided to take a risk!

  Seeing the pills on the cusp of taking shape within their cauldrons, Fa Ma's expression finally eased somewhat. With a nod of approval, he said, "Two types of?tier 4 pills. These two young ones indeed possess talent not inferior to?Gu He."

  "Keh keh keh, you two little brats still wet behind the ears think you snatch the champion's throne from my grasp?!" A strange ugh suddenly sounded from the side. Yan Li's cauldron was burning fiercely, and a faint purple pill mist began to rise from within!

  "Colored pill fragrahat's indicative of a peak?tier 4 pill!!!" All the alchemists who uood what this signified cried out upon seeing the faint purple mist slowly asding from the cauldron.

  Fa Ma's face darkened as he said slowly, "That fellow actually succeeded in refining it!"

  Even peak?4th-tier alchemists?had less than a 50% success rate when attempting to refine pills of the same grade. Yet Yan Li had succeeded!

  It was as if the heavens themselves had aligned in his favor.

  "This time, I'm afraid we've lost for certain."

  The?Little Princess?and?Liu Ling?stared bnkly at the faint purple medial mist rising from Yan Li's cauldron. Their faces instantly turned ashen, filled with deje and despair.

  In the face of absolute superiority, any excuse would seem utterly feeble.

  "Keh keh keh! The championship is mine! Just as you ot afford to fail, her I!"

  Suddenly raising his head aing out a thunderous roar, Yan Li smmed his palm onto the?medial cauldron. The lid shot off, and a vast expanse of pitch-bck fmes surged out like a tidal wave. tless purple rays of light burst forth from the ter of these bck fmes.

  A rich, intoxig purple pill fragrance slowly wafted upward, eventually coalesg into a cloud of purple mist above Yan Li's head, as if it possessed its own spirit.

  "Keh keh keh! How could you little brats still wet behind the ears possibly defeat me? Behold, this is my greatest masterpiece!! The?Purple Heart Barrier Breaking Pill!!!"

  Even Fa Ma's pupils stricted violently upon hearing the pill's name.

  The?Purple Heart Barrier Breaking Pill?eak?tier 4 pill?that could rival?tier 5 pills!!

  "It's over. To think it would actually be the?Purple Heart Barrier Breaking Pill..."

  The entire pza fell into a deathly silence. Everyoared in shod horror at the purple pill floating within Yan Li's cauldron, their faces filled with despair.

  "That 'little brats still wet behind the ears' you mentioned wouldn't happen to be referring to me, would it?" Just then, the calm voice of Xiao Yan from the other side shattered the grave-like stillness.