Jiang Chen snorted coldly. "Still not leaving? Was that not enough of a beating?"
Wei Xing'er flushed with exasperation. "Hmph, Jiang Chen, just you wait. Sooner or later, I'll make you drink my foot-washing water."
With that, her cheeks burning red, she stormed out in a huff. At the door, she slammed it shut with a vicious kick.
Jiang Chen's expression remained indifferent, as if talking to himself. "This Wei Xing'er tried to use the Green Apricot Smoke Silk Powder to bewitch my mind, yet she assumed the greatest beneficiary would be the Carefree Sect? If she'd gotten her way, the one who'd have profited most would've been Ding Tong."
However, if Jiang Chen couldn't participate in the fourth round, it would inevitably have a major impact on the Qianlan Palace's overall score. In terms of cumulative results, it wasn't impossible for the Carefree Sect to overtake them.
At the thought of this, Jiang Chen grew secretly vigilant.
This Wei Xing'er was flirtatious and shameless. If Jiang Chen hadn't possessed some ability to read people, and if Ling Bi'er hadn't warned him beforehand—and he himself hadn't known that the Carefree Sect's people were adept at using poisons—all these factors combined had put him on his guard against Wei Xing'er long ago.
With that guard in place, the Green Apricot Smoke Silk Powder naturally posed no real threat to him.
Even so, Jiang Chen didn't dare let his attention waver around Wei Xing'er. Born with seductive bones and a bewitching constitution, every gesture she made, every glance she cast, even every word she spoke carried a natural charm that could make a man's blood boil and his composure crumble.
This little episode didn't cause Jiang Chen to lose himself. He sat cross-legged, rested briefly, and after a short while, tossed the whole affair to the back of his mind.
After a full day of rest, all the contestants gathered once more.
This time, the assembly point was the most sacred hall within the Huanbo Mountain Grand Hall—the Danli Palace, the hallowed ground of the alchemy competition.
Here stood over a thousand alchemy arrays, each one enclosed by isolation barriers that formed independent spaces.
As before, the elder section was on the left, and the genius group on the right.
"All contestants, enter your respective alchemy areas according to your assigned numbers."
At the command, every contestant found their number and stepped into their designated area. Once inside, the surrounding barrier arrays activated immediately, sealing them within their individual competition zones.
"From this moment until the end of the competition, no one may leave this area. Any unauthorized departure will trigger an attack from the array."
Everyone had already been briefed on these rules beforehand, so there was no surprise.
"The alchemy segment is worth a total of six hundred points, the same as the Spiritual Medicine Cultivation round. Of course, this segment consists of three sub-tasks. Each sub-task is worth two hundred points. The alchemy final will last half a month."
In other words, these contestants could not leave the competition area for a full fifteen days.
"Sub-task one: Complete the pill formula! In front of each of you are ten incomplete pill formulas. Each formula is missing certain materials that have not been written in. Your task is to fill in the missing ingredients. Remember, the number of missing materials varies from formula to formula—there may be one missing, two missing, or even three. Incorrect entries and omissions both count as failures. This sub-task is worth a total of two hundred points. In other words, completing one formula correctly earns you twenty points."
Ten formulas, twenty points each—the first sub-task totaled two hundred points. The rules weren't particularly difficult. However, since both wrong answers and omissions earned no points, the demands on the alchemists were quite high.
"Sub-task two: Decompose a pill and decipher its formula. Before each of you is a single pill. You must decompose this pill, list its ingredients, and write out the formula's composition. This sub-task is also worth two hundred points! The formula contains ten ingredients—each correct entry earns twenty points. Remember, if you're not sure, it's best not to write anything. Because for every ingredient you get wrong, twenty points will be deducted. The more mistakes, the more deductions, continuing until your score for this sub-task is completely wiped out."
Hearing this, everyone grew solemn. This was rather harsh. Wrong answers meant negative points. If you got seven or eight right but made one or two errors, you'd effectively only have six or seven correct, and your score would take a serious hit.
Everyone felt they needed to proceed with caution—absolutely no guessing without certainty. The only consolation was that deductions in this sub-task wouldn't carry over to scores from other sub-tasks. Otherwise, it would even be possible to end up with a negative score for this round.
Jiang Chen sat still as a mountain. No matter how the rules twisted and turned, none of it could shake him.
The strong remained strong. As long as his pill-refining foundation was solid, the format of the competition didn't matter—it all came down to depth of skill in the end.
"Sub-task three is the pill-refining task. Also worth a full two hundred points. This sub-task tests not only your alchemical skill but also your powers of creative design. Before each of you is a batch of pill-refining materials. From these materials, you must combine and formulate a pill recipe, then refine it. We have a four-tier grading system: Ding tier earns fifty points; Bing tier earns one hundred; Yi tier earns one hundred and fifty; Jia tier earns the full two hundred points."
"You surely have questions about how the tiers are determined."
"I'll tell you outright: if you can refine a True Sacred-grade pill, then even if its quality is only low-grade, you'll receive a Jia-tier rating—the full two hundred points."
"If it's a high-tier Sacred-grade pill, it must be refined to high quality to earn a perfect score."
"If it's a mid-tier Sacred-grade pill, the quality must reach the pinnacle of perfection—flawless—to earn a perfect rating."
True Sacred-grade and Sacred-grade referred to the inherent grade classification of the pills themselves. Regardless of whether the alchemist succeeded, every pill formula had a strict grade designation.
Low-grade, mid-grade, high-grade, and pinnacle—these referred to the quality tier of the finished pill. For example, even a mortal-grade pill could vary in quality.
Jiang Chen understood this principle well. All in all, the higher the pill's inherent grade, the greater the chance of earning a Jia-tier rating.