Xiao Yan was dumbfounded!

  He had thought there was some special property of this medial ingredient that he wasn't aware of, and that disc this special property was the key to passing the test.

  However, when he saw others p out their refined medial powders oer another, he couldn't help but sigh.

  It wasn't that there was anything wrong with him refining it once; rather, the problem was that these people o refihe ingredie or ten times to achieve suffit purity.

  It was akin to how in aimes, f ons required repeatedly hammering and queng iron blocks to remove purities, only then could high-quality steel be produced.

  But that was due to the underdeveloped industrial teology of the past. Modern industry no longer required such repeated hammering to obtain refieel.

  Xiao Yan possessed a Heavenly Fme, the Fme Mantra, extremely powerful Spiritual Strength, and precise alchemy teiques. This allowed his refining process to be as effit as modern industry, easily obtaining ultra-high purity medial essences.

  A single refi achieved perfe.

  While others o refihe Bck Iron Spiritual Leaf several times to remove the bck impurities, he directly used his Heavenly Fme to destroy the leaf, theracted the required medial properties from the destru.

  Hence, when he saw that Liu Ling and Little Princess Yue Er's powders were grayish-white, and some people's were even grayish-bck, he pletely uood.

  These people's skills were too g!

  Dead silence.

  The inally lively hall instantly became silent as a grave, even the sound of breathing lessened.

  Qie Mi Er and Ao Tuo didn't even want to answer Xiao Yan's question.

  Why refi so many times? Isn't that obvious?

  Without refining it multiple times, the impurities simply couldn't be removed!

  This was also the reason why Xiao Yan could often produce multiple pills in a sich when refining. With his Heavenly Fme, his extra of medial ingredients wasted almost nothing, and the purity was extremely high. As a result, not only was the quality of his pills excellent, but he also saved on medial materials.

  Liu Ling and Little Princess Yue Er abruptly stood up and looked at the white powder oesting device. As alchemists, they naturally uood how terrifying the purity of that powder was.

  'Nearly 100% purity!' Yue Er gasped, c her mouth, her beautiful eyes fixed on Xiao Yan. This was a level of purity even the Association Chairman couldn't achieve!

  'How is this possible? I've only seen my Master achieve this purity, and that was only with the lowest-grade medial ingredients.' Liu Ling's heart trembled. Didn't this mean Xiao Yan already possessed the strength of a 6th-tier alchemist?!

  As for cheating, that was even less likely. Xiao Yan hadn't left at all, and even if he had slipped out, who could refihe Bck Iron Spiritual Leaf to such a degree?!

  Just as all the alchemists were utterly astonished and didn't uand why, it was Liu Ling who provided the answer.

  "A Heavenly Fme! You truly possess a Heavenly Fme!" He had been somewhat uain before; after all, removing the Searing Poison could have been aplished by other means. But now he was sure.

  "A Heavenly Fme!!"

  "He actually has a Heavenly Fme!"

  "No wo was because he had a Heavenly Fme."

  As if they had found an excuse for their own failure, all the alchemists, including the Deputy Chairman, nodded in relief.

  They didn't dare believe, couldn't bring themselves to accept, that aeen-year-old youth could aplish what even the Association Chairman couldn't. They couldn't e to terms with the vast chasm between their own talent and Xiao Yan's.

  They refused to aowledge the fact that, pared to Xiao Yan, they were actually quite mediocre.

  Therefore, their inner defense meisms kicked in, attributing everything to 'luck'.

  They vihemselves that Xiao Yan was simply fortuo obtain a Heavenly Fme, and that if they had a Heavenly Fme, they could do it too.

  Xiao Yan merely smiled faintly. He didn't mind others attributing his success to his possession of a Heavenly Fme. Iy, having a Heavenly Fme was also part of his strength, an inseparable part of himself.

  Ihe hall, the discussions persisted for a long time befradually calming down.

  Gazes filled with awe, curiosity, envy, unwillingness, and various other emotions tinuously shot toward that slender back.

  Only the gaze of pt was absent.

  Beside him, Liu Ling's handsome face alternated between gloom and irritation, his eyes fixed ily on that golden score. For him, who was extremely proud to the bohis was somewhat difficult to accept.

  But Liu Ling had fottehing—the mae dispyed a score of ten only because ten was its maximum, not because Xiao Yan's strength was merely at ten.

  The gap between them was definitely more than a mere three points.

  "Then, may I take my leave now?" Xiao Yan asked with a smile.

  Gazing at this smiling youth before them, the two peak 4th-tier alchemists on the cusp of reag tier 5, Qie Mi Er and Ao Tuo, both felt their hearts tremble.

  For some inexplicable reason, they sehat Xiao Yan's strength surpassed their own, and by a signifit margin at that!

  Qie Mi Er and Ao Tuo could only nod bnkly. After Xiao Yan politely csped his hands in farewell, he took the lead in leaving the hall, leaving behind a profound and unfathomable silhouette.

  Many people were waiting outside the hall for the results, and Steward Zhao had naturally arrived early as well.

  "Young Master Xiao Yan, the carriage has been prepared," Steward Zhao said respectfully.

  Xiao Yan nodded and followed Steward Zhao out of the Alchemist Association. After all, this was just the exemptio; the real Alchemist Graing would be held tomorrow.

  Of course, for others, it was actually already over.

  As for whether those alchemists would attribute his success to luck or express admiration, he paid it no mind. He only cared that the tier 6 pill recipe wouldn't disappoint him.

  "Did Young Master Xiao Yan's test go smoothly?" Steward Zhao asked while driving the carriage.

  "It was alright, not much of a challenge," Xiao Yan looked out at the bustling traffic outside the window and replied indifferently.

  Steward Zhao heard Xiao Yan's nont tone and uood that he had likely taken first pce. After all, he was one of the few who had witnessed Xiao Yan's exceptional skills ioxification and alchemy.

  "There will be a gathering at the mansion this evening, bringing together s of all sizes from across the capital to celebrate the Old Master's recovery. Will Young Master Xiao Yaending?" Steward Zhao inquired softly.

  Xiao Yan's eyes flickered as he inwardly smirked, 'This is clearly a 'Hongmen Bao procim to all the s in the capital that Nan Jie, one of the Ten Strong in the Jia Ma Empire, has recovered aurned, in order to intimidate those s who have harbored ulterior motives i years.'

  "Then I'll attend. I'm also curious to see if any among the younger geion in Jia Ma Sacred City open my eyes. The younger geion of alchemists isn't up to much." Xiao Yan merely smiled calmly. The younger geion of alchemists were just so-so. In any case, they didn't bring him much of a surprise.

  He could only hope to see what strong individuals might be on the cultivation path.

  …

  As night fell, Xiao Yan awoke from his cultivation and stepped down from the lotus ptform. He fed a Purple Fme Pill to Mao Wu, g the Seven-Colored Heaven Swallowing Python still asleep as it restructed its body, then pushed open the door and headed toward the main hall.

  He didn't even bother to ge clothes, still wearing the same casual outfit from the m.

  Xiao Yan approached slowly. Bursts of lively chatter and ughter mixed with melodious music drifted out from the main hall. The entire hall had bee a se of a joyful gathering.

  His gaze swept across the hall. He was a bit surprised to find that not only were Liu Ling and Little Princess Yue Er here, but even Ya Fei was among them.

  At this moment, she was wearing a tight red gsam with a snow-white fox fur shawl that added a touch of elegand opulence. Her beautiful and enting figure made many men in the hall secretly cast fiery gnces her way.

  In trast, as the young dy of the Nan an Yanran stood alone in a er, leaning against a stone pilr and elegantly sipping red wine. She was still wearing the Misty Cloud Sect's signature silver moon-colored robe, which occasionally atuated the graceful curves beh.

  With such a refined appeara was no wohat many people in the hall were entranced while looking at her. It wasn't unusual for a woman with such a transdent temperament to have tless men pursuing her.

  Ya Fei, perhaps deliberately, smiled upon seeing Xiao Yan and said, "Oh? Isn't this the first-pce finisher of today's internal test of the Alchemist Graing?"

  Instantly, everyone's eyes turned uniformly toward Xiao Yan.

  Xiao Yan rolled his eyes at her, shrugged his shoulders, and slowly strode into the main hall.