Cao Yun's judgment on the pill astonished everyone present. He was almost as thorough as Mei Hua and Feng Yingyue. In fact, the arbiter felt like he was even more thorough than Mei Hua in certain aspects. It was as though he had been able to sense the feelings of the alchemist. And the arbiter knew about those because he had been the one to refine that pill. And he had indeed felt bad to do that to those ingredients. However, it was necessary to refine such a pill for the competition.
Great Master Duren had created many pills and in 'Chronicles of the Seven Seasons', he had done so following the flow of the seasons. However, he had further divided the seasons according to his own principles and theories about alchemy. Each pill could be refined at its best during the corresponding season.
When he heard Cao Yun's assessment, the arbiter was not surprised by his tone. Young alchemists tended to be a bit arrogant. Besides, Cao Yun was probably angry that such a pill had been spoiled for this trial. No, what truly astonished him was that he was absolutely correct. Of course, he had not been as precise as Feng Yingyue on every single detail of the refinement process. But he also knew that this boy and Feng Yingyue were Dao companion. For a Spirit Warrior it wasn't too hard to guess after watching them as closely as he had. In his views, the three alchemists he had just heard were very close to being 1-star Heaven alchemists.
In fact, if they had the right cultivation, they would already have exceeded this rank. Clearly, the Golden Flowery Fragrance Institute was great. Maybe the next generation might even be able to duplicate Spirit Masters Xiao and Hua's accomplishment. Hell, they might even improve upon it. Although he was the arbiter and needed to be impartial, he couldn't stop himself from being excited by what the future might hold for alchemy.
"Great. 98 points."
As insightful as Cao Yun's analysis was, there were a few points that were lacking. Indeed, he was very knowledgeable and had a great perception. But it was obvious that he lacked actual practice. In other words, his analysis was a bit too academic on certain points while he had a great understanding of what the alchemist had felt like while refining the pill. With a bit more experience, he could surpass Mei Hua. However, Feng Yingyue was excellent in all aspects. And as Cao Yun could increase his experience, so could she.
The crowd was ecstatic. After all, the first three contestants had all obtained scores of 98 points or more. While Hua Mei and Feng Yingyue were not too surprising, Cao Yun's performance was unexpected. Since he was Sect Leader Xuan's successor, his main talent should be martial arts. Yet, he was also insanely talented in alchemy as well...
There was one man who really didn't share this enthusiasm, Xue Gulin. He had been almost certain of at least equaling Mei Hua. But now even if he did, he wouldn't beat Cao Yun. Besides, no matter what, he would have taken more time than him. Indeed, right now, he wasn't fully convinced of his analysis. Thus, he spent more and more time to try and discern every single detail. After hearing Cao Yun's report, he knew what points were lacking in his analysis. So he was trying to best him on those particular points.
Since he was trying to be perfect, other alchemists went to the central platform before Xue Gulin. A couple of them were able to obtain more than 85 points but the others were around 70 points. This was still very good considering that the pills were all Heaven pills that had at least reached the Perfect grade.
Xue Gulin was petty but he wasn't completely conceited. He could see that his attempt at besting Cao Yun was putting him in a bad position. Indeed, the more he was stressing about that, the less focused he was. Thus, he was forced to take some time to erase the negative emotions from his mind. Losing because of his own uncontrolled jealousy would be a problem. That was when he finally realized that he was indeed jealous of Cao Yun. From now on, he couldn't hide the truth from himself. He wasn't angry toward Cao Yun just because of his family or because he was inadequate for Feng Yingyue.
This was the opposite, he hater Cao Yun because he was worthy of Feng Yingyue, much more than Xue Gulin was and would ever be. Even concerning his younger brother. What Xue Gulin truly hated was his own incompetence. He had known that his younger brother was always trying to prove himself over him. That was most likely the reason why he had chosen such a path. And Xue Gulin had failed to reassure him beforehand so he wouldn't walk that path, and to see through him after that choice.
What he was seeing in Cao Yun wasn't a rival, but his own failures and shortcomings. Thinking more about this, his hatred didn't lessen. In fact, it was amplified.
At that moment, Cao Yun was able to feel this emotion. From the moment he had met him, Cao Yun knew that this man was a problem.
"You should just kill him and be done with it!"
Dian Mo had a very good and definitive solution for the problem.
"I do agree with you. However, I can't do so within the Imperial City. But if I have the opportunity, I will kill him. There is clearly killing intent mixed in his gaze. As much as he tries to conceal it, I see through him. I even suspect that he already planned my death. And I won't make the same mistake several times. All threats should be eliminated as soon as possible."
"Good."
For too long Cao Yun had only reacted to the threats. If he had the possibility to do so, he would get rid of them before they could cause any harm to him or his closed ones.
To be honest, Cao Yun might have tried to find ways to kill Xue Gulin despite being in the Imperial City. However, it would have caused alarm. Indeed, he was one of the contestants of the Alchemy Conference. Even with his means, Cao Yun couldn't be sure not to be found out in that situation. That being said, he could simply behead him in the wilderness and no one would ever find any clue pointing to him. Worse than that, Cao Yun could probably attack him without killing any of his servants and none would ever be able to identify him thanks to his stealth technique.
At that moment, Xue Gulin's fate was sealed. Because he had let out a tinge of killing intent against Cao Yun, he was going to die one day or another. Of course, Xue Gulin was unaware of that. In his mind, it was Cao Yun's fate that was sealed as he had paid for his death.
At last, Xue Gulin walked toward the central platform. His pill floated toward the arbiter.
"Evanescent Jade Pillow pill. 5-star Heaven pill. It reached 91.7% medicinal essence and 19.2% toxins. Although the standard recipe was adhered to, some strange techniques were used to try and make it easier to refine. However, they proved to be ineffectual."
Xue Gulin tried to be as detailed as possible. In the end, he spoke even longer than Feng Yingyue. However, in his desire to up everyone else, he made a few mistakes that even Cao Yun caught. They were not very important, but still they caused his logic to be flawed. In fact, it was as though he knew the conclusion and had tried to make a guess to justify his conclusion. Although his conclusion was indeed true, the link to reach it was weak.
"Good. 96 points."
It wasn't much but that completely froze Xue Gulin. Not only had he not beaten Cao Yun, he had in fact done worse than him... And for once, he didn't blame the young man, he blamed himself. Because he had been too focused on Cao Yun, he had lost his calm. That was entirely his fault and he would need to correct it. Besides, with Cao Yun's death already set in motion, he couldn't show his enmity toward the young alchemist in public. So he quickly recovered from the shock and bowed toward the arbiter before leaving.
Despite his loss, Xue Gulin was still the fourth contestant in that competition. Of course, no one was able to get a score higher than 95 points. In fact, only one alchemist was able to reach 92 points. All the others had less than 90 points.
Unfortunately, one alchemist wasn't able to obtain 50 points. She was a young girl who came from the Shuangli Province. That was the province where the Wubei Sect was. In other words, she was the representative of the province where Cao Yun lived. But the Wubei Sect attracted all the great talents, even alchemists who couldn't join other sects. Since the Wubei Sect had decided not to send anyone against their own Young Sect Master, the governor had chosen this poor girl.
The other 23 participants were qualified for the second trial. Because the day was almost over, that second trial would happen the next day. Even if Human alchemists could work several days in a row, they would obviously get more and more tired. Besides, those trials were anything but easy. As such, it was best for them to have all their strength.
As such, they were given a banquet to enjoy. Then, they would have some time to meditate and even sleep if they wanted. Cao Yun and Feng Yingyue talked with Mei Hua. A few other alchemists went to present their congratulations. Although they were rivals now, they all knew that the three alchemists from the Golden Flowery Fragrance Institute as well as Cao Yun would become great masters. It was a good idea to form a friendly relationship with them.
As a matter of fact, this was also one of the goals of the Alchemy Conference.
Xue Gulin tried to be as polite and friendly as he could in order to hide his anger. On the other hand, Feng Yingyue, Mei Hua and Cao Yun were talking like very old friends. As a consequence, the alchemists were very short when they talked to them, they didn't want either to intrude or to disturb them.
Just when he entered his personal chamber, Cao Yun saw a message on his desk. The chamber was extremely spartan. After all, they were just here for the alchemists to get some rest between two trials. Getting this letter, Cao Yun recognized the name right away, Yong Ke.
"Sorry for my abrupt departure. My father forbade me from leaving the Imperial Palace. And because I've left without his permission, he's even forbidden me from watching the Alchemy Conference. But your performance was very impressive. I'll try to sneak out at some point. However, this might be difficult. My father believes that demonic cultivators will use the Alchemy Conference to attack us. And worse than that, he also suspects that the demons have some plans as well.
"He doesn't know for sure whether they work together or if most likely, the demons learned of this threat and decided that the ensuing chaos would be the perfect opportunity for their own attack. Although many experts are watching over things, you should be extremely careful. They will all target you since you caused Gu Song's demise and Cang Yin's capture.
"On that note, I did try to pressure my father into speeding things up. Unfortunately, we couldn't get things done in time. Soon though, Cang Yin will be interrogated by a late Spirit Warrior to get deep into her memories. I'll try to ask my father to choose Xiao Xuefeng since she's so close to you. But I can't promise anything."
Reading this letter, Cao Yun was very pleased with Yong Ke's attitude. However, he wanted to get to talk with her in person. He had to know for sure who she was and what had happened to her both during the attack causing all those injuries but also during her recovery. He had to be certain what had been done for her to wake up. Many wild ideas were going through his head. Although he was certain that Yong Ke knew nothing of her father's actions, she might still be involved without knowing.
Anyway, he was rather intrigued about the potential action of demons during the Alchemy Conference. With Xiao Xuefeng's presence, he wasn't too worried. But the Demon King might appear in person. If a 9th-grade Spirit Warrior attacked the Imperial City, this could be a huge problem, even if killing either Spirit Master Xiao or Emperor Weide would probably be impossible even for him.
During the night, Cao Yun went into his own sea of consciousness to derive many plans. He had identified most of the array formations of the Imperial City with Dian Mo's help. There were still a few that were just too big for him to understand. Even Dian Mo would need a few years. After all, they had been set up over centuries by Emperor Nuwa and the Four Saints. This wasn't something just anyone could see through. That being said, Cao Yun was ready to many potential attacks. After all, he had seen Gu Song's memories.
Even if the demonic cultivators wouldn't use the same strategy, knowing Gu Song had been killed, they would most likely conserved the same logic. After all, they couldn't completely alter their plans in only a few months. To be honest, Cao Yun's biggest problem was that he couldn't use all of his strength in public because he couldn't explain everything. Thus, he would be forced to fight while concealing his techniques or using other means altogether. That was why he was interested in array formations so much.
Despite the upcoming second trial, he also decided to refine some pills to get ready for about anything. Of course, he wasn't the only one with those worries. In fact, Xiao Xuefeng was more vigilant than ever and so were the guards. A few 6th-grade and 7th-grade Spirit Warriors were monitoring the Imperial Palace at all times.
For now though, Emperor Weide had not appeared in public yet. Xiao Xuefeng couldn't know how serious his injuries were. Despite what she had learned about him, his presence would be a tremendous help for them.
Then, the second trial finally began.