Chapter 236: Failure
Xuening was so focused that she didn’t have time to dodge when the pill in the furnace was destroyed.
The black smoke rushed straight into her face.
And once again, Xuening turned into a small flower cat.
She looked somewhat helpless and innocently at Su Jingzhen beside her.
“Just now, it was going so smoothly, I thought I could achieve a miracle and refine it all at once. Looks like I overestimated myself.”
Xuening was slightly disappointed, but not discouraged.
After all, this was just the experimental stage, and they had already prepared for failure.
“No worries, I’ve already taken a look around.”
“Everyone else hasn’t shown any signs of success either. In fact, you’ve done better than many people, Xuening.”
At this time, Su Jingzhen’s words were not just empty comfort.The fact was that even Ye Zhiqiu, who was of highest rank, had only managed to fuse twelve ingredients before the failure.
They were still far from fusing forty-eight ingredients.
Although everyone would make progress in the exploration process, at least for now, it seemed that whether it was Su Jingzhen refining the Breaking Through Adversity Pill or Xuening’s fusion of other ingredients, they were still one step ahead.
If they could maintain this leading state, then even if none of the ten alchemy teams succeeded in refining the Bodhi Breaking Through Adversity Pill, they could still take the lead.
“Alas, we’ve placed too much expectation on her.”
“It seems that these ten alchemy teams are all at a loss when it comes to this fourth-grade pill.”
“I wonder if anyone will be able to refine a complete pill before the Alchemy Conference ends at sunset?”
“Evidently, the recipe provided by the Feng family is quite rare, and even alchemists with sufficient levels need to conduct extensive research before daring to attempt it.”
“And now, with time still far from sunset, it seems that they’re all in a hurry.”
“…”
After Xuening’s failure, many onlookers couldn’t help but let out a sigh of relief.
At this time, Bai Susu, sitting in the Spirit Sound Valley seat not far away, looked at Tuoba Junlin beside her.
“Although they failed, I still feel that they’ll have a place in the final ranking.”
“You’re not getting anxious, are you?”
As she spoke, Bai Susu’s icy face revealed a hint of teasing.
Tuoba Junlin’s lips curved into a beautiful arc: “I told you yesterday, all of this is just your overthinking.”
“What’s the big deal about the final ranking?”
“I’ve been telling you from the start, I, Tuoba Junlin, don’t rely on family power.”
“I still believe she’ll make the right choice in the end.”
Tuoba Junlin’s tone remained gentle, filled with absolute confidence.
After a pause, Tuoba Junlin’s gaze turned to Xuening and Su Jingzhen on the stage.
“These two… although I don’t know where they came from, their alchemy talent is truly rare in Qingzhou.”
“I think the Tuoba family should be able to provide them with a good development platform.”
Upon hearing Tuoba Junlin’s words, Bai Susu’s face froze, and her eyes revealed a hint of shock: “You… you’re also planning to poach them?”
Tuoba Junlin smiled slightly again: “The Tuoba family is also a family of the Treasure Gathering Pavilion, and providing a good development platform for such talented individuals is only natural, isn’t it?”
After hearing this, Bai Susu fell silent, and then spoke with a serious tone: “You wouldn’t succeed.”
Tuoba Junlin remained unfazed: “It’s just a try, whether it succeeds or not doesn’t matter.”
“Or perhaps, your Bai family is also planning to poach them?”
“…”
At this time, the onlookers below had different thoughts.
Meanwhile, Su Jingzhen and Xuening began their second round of fusion.
Xuening picked up a superior-quality Breaking Through Adversity Pill and directly threw it into the furnace without hesitation.
Then it was protected by the Cold Dew Grass liquid, and everything proceeded as before, without a single mistake.
As Xuening entered her focused state, Su Jingzhen watched her seriously from the side.
He occasionally glanced at the other nine alchemy teams, and as long as Xuening could hold on until the fusion of forty ingredients, he would lend a hand to assist.
At this time, Su Jingzhen noticed that Liu Ming on the 91st alchemy platform had a gloomy expression on his face.
From the first round to now, he had already failed twice.
Liu Ming, Bai Xiu, and Ye Zhiqiu were all rising stars among Qingzhou’s alchemists.
None of them had brought any assistants, relying solely on their own abilities.
However, Su Jingzhen saw that Liu Ming didn’t stop after failing, and instead quickly refined the ingredients again and began fusing.
‘This guy is really wasteful.’
Su Jingzhen had already realized that Liu Ming’s level might not be enough to refine a fourth-grade pill.
But he was trying to make up for it with quantity.
Maybe after trying many times, he would get lucky and succeed once.
Alchemy did have an element of luck, but the success rate was extremely low.
Su Jingzhen speculated that if Liu Ming continued to refine like this, he would likely exhaust all the ingredients provided by the Feng family before sunset.
If this weren’t a competition, and if Liu Ming weren’t trying to refine a Bodhi Breaking Through Adversity Pill, anyone who refined like this would be ridiculed by the entire alchemy community!
Seeing Liu Ming’s state, Yao Changsheng on the judging platform shook his head and sighed.
“I hope he’ll realize his own limitations after this.”
It was clear that Liu Ming was already giving up.
Having failed twice, Liu Ming knew that the Bodhi Breaking Through Adversity Pill was beyond his current abilities.
Vice President Ouyang chuckled and said, “Although Liu Ming’s approach is unacceptable for an alchemist, he still has a few chances in this competition.”
“Looking at the current situation, neither Su Jingzhen nor Ye Zhiqiu, nor even Bai Xiu, seems to be able to refine a complete Bodhi Breaking Through Adversity Pill.”
“Liu Ming’s method might just allow him to produce a semi-finished product.”
Yao Changsheng shook his head in response to Vice President Ouyang’s words, without saying much.
He knew his own disciples best.
As time passed, the other alchemists, despite having some experience, began to follow Liu Ming’s approach, frantically refining and fusing ingredients.
They were trying to accumulate as much as possible, hoping to at least preserve one or two semi-finished pills.
This way, when the final evaluation came, they wouldn’t be left with nothing to show.