Finally when dusk came, the first of the four top candidates arrived.
It was young master Hu, the sixth elder's disciple that Lin Fan had talked to the other day.
When he came into the square, the crowd that had gathered around the stage all parted like waves to create a path for him. As he casually walked through the crowd to the stage, he didn't forget to wave his hand as if he was a celebrity who was surrounded by fans.
Of course, with his status and his looks, there were fans of his that were in the crowd.
As he waved his hand, there were cheers that came from the crowd for him.
Once he reached the stage, the first thing that he did was take out his cauldron with flourish. As his cauldron appeared, there were flames that came out with it that pushed away everyone who was near him, even those who had been refining pills.
While they glared at him, there was nothing that they could do since there was a difference in status between them.
However, for those in the crowd, they were shocked by the flames he released.
"Those flames…could they be?"
"It's the Roaring Bellows Flames!"
"Aren't those the flames that are considered the most intense flames in the world?! When did young master Hu get them?"
Young master Hu revealed a faint smile as he heard all the chatter around him, but then he turned up the flames which were absorbed by the cauldron.
After the cauldron was filled with flames, he waved his hand and took out several herbs. With one quick motion, he threw the herbs right into the cauldron which started releasing even more flames after these herbs were put in.
The flames kept pouring out of the cauldron until they formed another cauldron of flames around the cauldron itself.
"This is the Double Cauldron Technique! Isn't that the legendary lost technique?"
"Young master Hu, you are too amazing!"
Young master Hu's ego was stoked even more as he heard these cheers and he confidently continued his refinement, feeling like there was nothing in this world that could take him down.
He even snuck a peek at Song Shu who had been sitting by the judges watching this entire time.
As he looked at her, he couldn't help revealing a bit of a lewd look.
Song Shu was completely different from how she looked a few months ago.
After she started following Lin Fan, she was able to get proper nutrition, so she started growing properly. She was no longer as skinny as before and had even started filling out her curves, so now, she could be considered quite the beauty instead of a cute young girl.
This was the other reason why most of the elders' disciples were interested in marrying her.
They were hot blooded young men, so naturally they desired beauty and who wouldn't want the one who was proclaimed the number one beauty in the Alchemy King Hall?
However, young master Hu's show didn't last long as another person made their way through the crowd.
At first no one noticed this person because of young master Hu's show, but after a few people noticed him, everyone noticed him. That was because this person was just as famous as young master Hu…No, it could even be said that he was more famous than young master Hu.
That was because this was the disciple of the second elder, young master Ying.
Once he came near the stage, young master Ying gave a simple jump before calmly landing on the stage.
He ignored the heat released from young master Hu's cauldron and raised his hand without a single word, bringing out his own cauldron.
This wasn't a normal cauldron, rather it was a cauldron that had two holes in it.
Normal cauldrons only had a single hole for the alchemist to put herbs and flames in, but this one was a cauldron with two different holes on different sides of the cauldron. They were perfectly parallel to one another and created a symmetry on the cauldron.
After his cauldron had been pulled out, young master Ying raised both his hands into the air. With a snap from both hands, different coloured flames appeared in both.
While they were different coloured, the intensity of the flames didn't lose to one another.
He brought his hands up to the cauldron, putting them on different sides of the cauldron and started injecting the two coloured flames into the cauldron. The flames entered the cauldron at the same time and even flowed at the same rate until they stopped right in the center, creating a swirl that was made of two different coloured flames.
This swirl continued to spin until the different coloured flames came together to form a single coloured flame. This flame was the colour of these two flames mixing together, but the flame that it released was on a completely different level compared to the two flames separately.
The power of this combined flame was even stronger than that of the Roaring Bellows Flames that young master Hu used.
Young master Hu knitted his brows when he sensed the heat coming from beside him, but he didn't lose heart as he focused his mind on his pill refinement. That is until he saw the herbs that the second elder's disciple had taken out.
"Those are! How did you get your hands on those?"
Young master Ying revealed a faint smile when he heard this, but then his face returned to calmness as he too focused on his refinement.
However, as they kept refining their pills, it was clear which one of them had the advantage.
There was a strong fragrance coming from young master Hu's cauldron, but there wasn't a single scent that came from young master Ying's cauldron.
All of his medicinal essence was caught inside of the swirling flames in the center of his cauldron, being refined again and again.
However, if one went closer, they would still be able to smell the fragrance coming from the cauldron.
When they were finished, the pill that young master Ying made was the one that caught the attention of all the judges.
They came forward to take sniffs of the pill and when they did, they all revealed shocked looks. This was a pill that even reached a level of purity that matched some of the pills that they made and they were elders!
Finally, the head judge, Elder Fu said, "This is a pill of 95% purity and is a high grade pill. It is the highest grade pill that we have seen today, so young master Ying will take the throne."
Everyone was shocked when they heard this.
95% purity!
That was something that even the elders had trouble with sometimes, but young master Ying had been able to achieve this with his pill!
There were even people that thought that young master Ying had already won this thing.
Young master Hu glared at young master Ying and asked, "Where did you get that herb from?"
The herb that he was referring to was the herb that young master Ying had pulled out last.
This herb was known as the Cleansing Herb and while it had a simple name, it was anything but simple. This was a herb that had the effect of cleaning out impurities when refining a pill, but it also had the effect of decreasing the medicinal energy of the pill that was refined.
To counter this, herbs with strong enough medicinal power were needed to create a powerful pill.
Young master Ying had prepared all the ingredients just to make this pill, but the ingredients definitely weren't things that could have been prepared last second, so he must have known about this event.
But who told him about it?
Young master Hu had only heard about this event from Lin Fan, which was why he was able to prepare his ingredients…
After this thought passed through his mind, he realized something and revealed a bitter smile.
It was Lin Fan. He had rushed off that day, so he didn't know what else Lin Fan did, but he was certain that Lin Fan had gone to meet the second elder's disciple after meeting him.
Of course, he wasn't angry with Lin Fan for telling the second elder's disciple about this because he could understand why he did this.
Lin Fan was new to the Alchemy King Hall and in this critical time, he had this crucial information. Naturally he would use this information to build connections with the disciples of the elders, especially those that had the chance to marry the Alchemy Master's disciple.
It wasn't strange that he would share this information with the second elder's disciple.
At the very least, Lin Fan had still kept his promise of not entering this contest. He could see Lin Fan sitting in the crowd and he could see that he wasn't intending on entering this contest at all.
So in the end, Lin Fan couldn't be blamed for his actions since these were things that he would have done as well.
Young master Hu could only blame himself for not preparing as much as the young master Ying.
Young master Ying saw the change in expression on young master Hu's face and he didn't bother answering the question as he made his way to the throne.
Along the way, he couldn't help looking at Lin Fan with a grateful look.
If it wasn't for this Lin Fan telling him about this event, he certainly wouldn't have been able to get all those ingredients on time.
If anything, it was Lin Fan who helped him win this event.
But it was still too early for him to think this.
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