After transmigrating, I cultivated immortality by smelling the scent.

Chapter 158 A Dark Horse Emerges

A short while later, all the eliminated alchemists had left the stage, leaving only those who had advanced to the second round.

Seeing that it was almost time, Song Changsheng, the vice president of the Alchemist Alliance, began to announce the content of the first round of assessment.

"First of all, I congratulate you all on passing the first round of assessment. Now we will officially enter the second round of the Alchemy Competition!"

"The second round of assessment involves refining a fifth-tier pill—the Spirit Essence Pill! This pill can quickly restore the spiritual energy lost by Core Formation stage cultivators, greatly enhancing their combat endurance. It is truly one of the rare recovery pills among fifth-tier pills!"

"What? It's actually a fifth-grade pill?"

"As expected, the second round wasn't so easy. It seems we fourth-grade alchemists have no chance!"

"However, with the formula, we can still give it a try; maybe we'll succeed in refining it!"

"Yeah yeah!"

The alchemists participating in the competition below immediately started discussing among themselves. Even Ye Xiaobai was slightly surprised, not expecting to encounter a fifth-order pill formula in the second round, which he had never refined before.

"Quiet down, I haven't finished my introduction yet!" Vice President Song Changsheng shouted loudly, clearly displeased.

Upon hearing this, the crowd fell silent, and no one dared to speak further.

"A friendly reminder: this is an incomplete formula discovered by our Alchemist Alliance. It requires further refinement by all alchemists before the corresponding Spirit Essence Pill can be successfully made. Also, there are only three sets of related refining materials. So, let's begin!"

As soon as Song Changsheng finished speaking, everyone was in an uproar. The pill formula was incomplete. How could it be refined? Many participating alchemists complained that the Alchemist Alliance's test questions were too difficult.

Ye Xiaobai frowned deeply. The first fifth-order pill formula he had encountered was incomplete, which was truly troublesome.

However, Ye Xiaobai quickly adjusted his mindset. Looking at the fifth-order pill formula and related spiritual herbs that appeared in the array in the corner of the platform, he quickly picked up the pill formula and examined it carefully.

The Spirit Essence Pill is made from spiritual herbs such as Black Blood Spirit Mushroom, White Snow Spirit Leaf, Euphorbia kansui root, and Fanggai.

Based on his familiarity with the properties of these spiritual herbs, Ye Xiaobai could only make simple additions to the combination of the principal, assistant, and adjuvant herbs before starting to refine the pills, and then observe the effects of the refined pills.

Before long, the spiritual herbs had been processed, and the next step was to condense the pill. Ye Xiaobai was extremely nervous at this moment, after all, it was his first time refining a fifth-order pill, and he was using an incomplete pill formula, so he was not sure about the final result.

Ye Xiaobai carefully used his divine sense to control the condensation of the pill, adjusting the intensity of the pill fire according to the changes in its aroma. Soon, the essence refined from all the spiritual herbs began to slowly condense into a pill. Ye Xiaobai's forehead was already covered in sweat, but he didn't bother to wipe it away.

The most important thing at the moment was to safely condense the pill. After a short while, with Ye Xiaobai's complete focus, the pill condensation was successful. Looking at the dark brown pill in the furnace, Ye Xiaobai was overjoyed. He hadn't expected to succeed on his first attempt.

Ye Xiaobai quickly took out the pill he had just successfully refined and examined it carefully. After a moment, his face, which had been beaming with joy, suddenly darkened. It was a failed Spirit Essence Pill.

On the one hand, the color of the pill is slightly different from the color of the Spirit Essence Pill described in the pill formula. On the other hand, after Ye Xiaobai's inspection, the spiritual power contained in this pill is not enough to restore a Core Formation stage cultivator with depleted spiritual power to his peak state.

This indicates that a large portion of the spiritual energy of the herbs was lost during the refining process, indicating that it was not properly controlled.

Then, Ye Xiaobai swallowed the pill directly and personally experienced its effects.

As the pill dissolved in Ye Xiaobai's body, a large amount of spiritual energy surged unrestrainedly within him. Just as the direct test results showed, the spiritual energy within the pill was insufficient, barely enough for a Foundation Establishment cultivator to recover his spiritual energy.

Ye Xiaobai also took the opportunity to restore his spiritual power and feel the effects of the pills on his body.

After the time it takes to drink a cup of tea, the effects of the pill within Ye Xiaobai's body had been completely refined, and he slowly opened his eyes. Through personally experiencing the effects of the pill, Ye Xiaobai now had a new understanding of the Spirit Essence Pill.

So Ye Xiaobai began refining the pill for the second time, continuing to optimize the combination of the main ingredients and auxiliary ingredients, and controlling the loss of spiritual energy during the refining of the spiritual herbs.

With his previous refining experience, Ye Xiaobai was able to process the various spiritual herbs quickly and smoothly, and the next step was to condense the pill.

This time, Ye Xiaobai was still extremely focused, concentrating intently on the final pill-forming process. Soon, a round, light brown pill appeared in the furnace.

Ye Xiaobai didn't rush to get excited. He carefully took out the pills and examined them thoroughly.

The color, spiritual energy, and smell were all fine. Ye Xiaobai was overjoyed, for he had finally succeeded in refining the fifth-grade pill, the Spirit Essence Pill.

Just as Ye Xiaobai was about to jump up excitedly, he heard people talking not far away.

"What? Fairy Liu actually successfully refined a Spirit Essence Pill! Although it's only a low-grade one, it's still quite impressive!"

"As expected of the number one alchemist of the younger generation in the Alchemist Alliance!"

"Yes! It seems that the first place will definitely go to Fairy Liu!"

"Wait a minute, look! The female alchemist next to that person has actually refined a mid-grade Spirit Essence Pill!"

"No way! There's a dark horse?"

"Who is that female alchemist? I don't recognize her."

"Speaking of which, I now know. That fairy is an alchemist from the Qingxia Sect of the Yue Kingdom, named Sun Siyu!"

"It seems that the winner of this alchemy competition should be Fairy Sun!"

"Who said that? Didn't you see Fairy Liu is still continuing her challenges? Maybe she can even refine a mid-grade Spirit Essence Pill!"

"Yes, yes! Go Fairy Liu! We support you!"

"Hey, I support Fairy Sun! Go Fairy Sun!"

The audience on stage could hear the discussions below and were inevitably affected to some extent; this was a test of the alchemists' concentration.

Ye Xiaobai was also shocked when he heard the discussion. He was not surprised that Liu Rumei had refined the Spirit Essence Pill, but he did not expect that the female alchemist next to him, also named Sun Siyu, had actually refined a mid-grade Spirit Essence Pill.

At this moment, Ye Xiaobai felt immense pressure, but he still had one more chance and certainly couldn't give up; perhaps a miracle would happen.

Ye Xiaobai quickly adjusted his state and began his final alchemy challenge.

Having gained experience from the previous two alchemy attempts, and with the aroma of the mid-grade pills nearby, Ye Xiaobai once again optimized the combination of the medicinal herbs in the formula, and the final alchemy attempt began!

Under Ye Xiaobai's complete concentration, the Spirit Essence Pill was successfully refined—a miracle occurred, but it was only a mid-grade Spirit Essence Pill.

At this point, Ye Xiaobai could only assess Sun Siyu's strength, but the final outcome of the alchemy competition depended on Liu Rumei and Sun Siyu's performance.

The outcome remains to be seen!

Are there any dark horses out there? Not necessarily!