The elders of the Alchemist Association were utterly dumbfounded.

  The inal purpose of the sed round was to test whether alchemists had the ce and boldo question the pill recipe. By directly revealing the answer like this, what was even the point of testing anymore?!

  Questioning a pill recipe required siderable ce and boldness. Some traditional alchemists pced too much faith ihodoxy of established recipes. No matter how many times they failed, they found it difficult to attribute the problem to the recipe itself, thus failing to innovate.

  They would only think that they must have made mistakes somewhere iiming rediera process. Those who held such beliefs were undoubtedly destined for plete failure.

  While Xiao Yan indeed possessed ce and boldness, before that, he possessed absolute strength!

  In the face of absolute strength, everything else had to step aside.

  Now, upon hearing his words, even if the other alchemists were relut to accept this 'cheating' information, they had already heard it. What else could they do?

  Liu Ling and the Little Princess looked at each other helplessly and finally shook their heads. Although they might have eventually discovered the problem on their own, they could only follow what Xiao Yan had said now.

  Sihey already khe answer, what else could they do?

  The surrounding alchemists were initially stunned upon hearing Xiao Yan's words. After a moment, expressions of sheer joy gradually spread across their faces. They cast grateful g Xiao Yan and then hurriedly resumed their refining with renewed vigor.

  Seeing the partits eagerly resuming their work, Xiao Yan calmly pced the Wind Walking Pill oesting ptform. Unsurprisingly, it passed with perfect results once again.

  Afterward, he sat down on a chair, waiting for the sand in the hss to run out.

  Before long, a beam of green light soared into the sky. Xiao Yan didn't eveo look to know it was defihat mysterious bck-robed man. Moreover, judging by the speed, he must have started his sed refi before Xiao Yan's pill was pleted, having deduced the issue with the Thick-soil Ganoderma without hearing the answer first.

  Although the other party had refiwice, Xiao Yan had essentially dohe same to succeed. His first attempt at pill formation had also failed; it was just that Mao Wu had swallowed it, preventing the cauldron from exploding.

  Half an hour ter, green lights lit up in front of the Little Princess and Liu Ling. The two pced their pills into jade bottles, g each other, and both breathed a sigh of relief.

  When they g Xiao Yan again, the look in their eyes had pletely ged, no longer harb any fighting spirit or hostility.

  Liu Ling raised his head to look at Nan Yanran's position in the VIP seats. At this moment, her gaze was fixed on Xiao Yan rather than him.

  It ainfully clear that he had lost utterly and pletely. Even though the Alchemist Graing had not yet cluded, for him, it was essentially over.

  After the first and sed rounds, some of the more perceptive alchemists had already discovered that this monstrous Xiao Yan was a 4th-tier alchemist!

  Aeen-year-old 4th-tier alchemist—this level of talent pletely shattered Liu Ling's pride.

  Moreover, Xiao Yan hadn't even used his Heavenly Fme yet!

  Following these two, green lights began fshing oer another, but more were still red glows.

  Even though Xiao Yan had told everyohe ahose capable of refining a tier 3 medial pill with just o of ingredients were still a minority.

  By the time the sand in the hss hanging on the wall had pletely run out, only a little over thirty people remained in the spacious pza. The others had all been eliminated over the course of these two rounds.

  Over a thousand partits were reduced to just thirty!

  However, these thirty individuals represehe most talented alchemists uhirty years old in the Jia Ma Empire.

  Of course, the vast majority were close to thirty. Those uwenty, like Xiao Yan, included only the Little Princess and that mysterious bck-robed man.

  "Everyone, let's clude today's petition here," Fa Ma announced with a hearty ugh. "Please rest well tonight. Tomorrow will be the final round of the Graing, the crucial match that will determihe champion. So, I urge all of you not to miss it for any reason, or you'll regret it for life."

  Xiao Yan frowned slightly upon hearing Fa Ma annouhe end of today's test. He g the sky; with the current daylight, they could have finished everything today.

  Looking over at the mysterious man's position, he said meaningfully, "So that's how it is. It's because of this guy."

  He didn't mind; resting for a night was fihe championship would still be his regardless.

  The frenzied screaming girls in the spectator stahrowing things at him as he slowly walked toward the passageway. Most of them were love letters filled with affeate words or flowers. The most eous even threw their underwear at him.

  Xiao Yan was shtehat he hurriedly ran into the passageway. Womeruly terrifying when they went wild.

  The momeered the rest area, he saw a rge group of people waiting for him, especially three beauties, each with distinct temperaments. Even Xiao Yan couldn't help but take a few extra g this beautiful sight.

  "gratutions, Little Brother Xiao Yan," Ya Fei offered her felicitations with a gentle ugh.

  Xiao Yan smiled faintly. "Just a bit of luck."

  Princess Yao Ye shook her head. "If such strength could be achieved through mere luck, I think many people wouldn't o painstakingly practice alchemy every day."

  Xiao Yan just smiled mildly without denying it. Gng around and notig that Hai Bodong was absent, he asked, "Where is Old Hai?"

  Ya Fei replied, "Elder Hai left earlier with Elder Jia and Chairman Fa Ma for some matters."

  Xiao Yan uood upon hearing this. They must have goo handle issues reted to the mysterious bck-robed man.

  "Mr. Xiao Yan, the imperial family will be hosting a baonight for the alchemists who advao the third round. Would you honor us with your presence?" Princess Yao Ye asked with a faint smile.

  Xiao Yan was taken aback, then shook his head with an apologetic smile. "I'm sorry, Princess Yao Ye. I'm really quite exhausted today. The final test is tomorrow, so I'm afraid I won't be able to spare the time to attend the ba. I appreciate Yhness's kind invitation."

  Yao Ye nodded slightly. She k wouldn't be easy to invite Xiao Yan. Tonight's ba was actually an olive braended by the imperial family. The alchemists who made it to the final round were undoubtedly one-in-a-million geniuses.

  Xiao Yan naturally uood the implication, but he had no desire to join the imperial family, so he directly deed.

  "I'll escort you back," Nan Yanran suddenly spoke up.

  Ya Fei, who was aware of the history between Xiao Yan and Nan Yanran, had quite a remarkable expression on her face.

  Xiao Yan was momentarily stunned. He hadn't expected Nan Yanran to say that. After a brief sideration, he nodded. After all, he still o return to the Nan Mansion to rest and prepare for tomorrow's final round.

  …

  Ihe carriage, the atmosphere was unfortably quiet. Apart from the sound of Steward Zhao driving up front, the entire carriage was enveloped in silence.

  Even Xiao Yan, who had traversed the Soul Path, seized Heavenly Fmes, and battled Dou Emperors, felt somewhat at a loss in this situation.

  This was the first time he and Nan Yanran were aloogether, fag each other directly.

  Nan Yanran was the first to break the awkward silence.

  "Would you sider joining the Misty Cloud Sect? You would receive the same special treatment and resource allocation as Elder Gu He," she said softly while looking at him.

  Unsurprisingly, Xiao Yan shook his head and deed. "I'm sorry, but I have no iion of joining the Misty Cloud Sect."

  Nan Yanran wasn't surprised. She had only asked casually anyway.

  "Also, could we postpone our duel by a month or two? I'll be entering the sect's special training ground in a few days."

  Based oe Nan Yanran had e to annul the e back then, the three-year deadline was just about up, just a few days after the Graing cluded.