"This trial will more classic. We will ask every alchemist to refine the best pill possible. Everyone has the same ingredients in the same quantities. However, the recipe is not given to the alchemists. From the list of ingredients and their respective quantities, they have to refine a pill. This is the same for everyone. It is only a 5-star Human pill. This trial will obviously judge the alchemists' ability to refine a pill, but also their knowledge and their adaptability. Indeed, they must deduce which pill they have to refine. And they have to make do with the ingredients in front of them. Every contestant has the right to refine three times."
Cao Yun had already faced an even more difficult trial when he was in the Palace of Supreme Wisdom. This time, he had the list of ingredients and even their quantities. Just by looking at them, he knew exactly what he needed to do. It was a Crane Devours the Tiger pill.
In front of Cao Yun, there was bile from a Frost Shattering Bone Tiger, three bones from a One-Legged Milk Crane, Bark Parasitic Moon Eater, Emerald Catfish Vine, Moon Shadow Thistle, Sleeping Crystalline Tears, ... Among those ingredients, some were relatively rare while others were a bit basic as they were Earth ranked. In theory, preparing those would have been very easy indeed. However, Cao Yun detected several things that were not right. The Frost Shattering Bone Tiger's bile had been harvested while he was in rut. That meant that his bile was corrupted by a powerful Pure Yang. It would clearly clash with the Moon Shadow Thistle that couldn't even survive the light of the full moon. Talking about this Moon Shadow Thistle, it wasn't completely ripe either. The difference was small, but it still was a subpar product.
Some of his ingredients were perfectly fine. In fact, some were even great. The Emerald Catfish Vine had been harvested at the perfect moment and cut in a fantastic way. But the few deficiencies in his ingredients were severe enough that his pill would probably not reach the Perfect grade. Besides, they were subtle enough that it was difficult to perceive anything for most people. Someone who knew his stuff had planned all this. At first, Cao Yun wasn't too sure. Thus, he looked around.
Soon, he understood that this was indeed part of the test. All the other alchemists had the same ingredients but there were different problems with all of them. As he looked around, Cao Yun saw confusion in the eyes of a few alchemists just before they came to the same realization. After all, the arbiter had said that adaptability was being judged as well. None of those ingredients were so lacking that it was impossible to refine. However, the quality of the pill would be severely altered. And that was the crux of the matter. In a way, this trial was putting their mastery of Ingredients Preservation to the test.
There were cauldrons and furnaces already in place in front of the alchemists. They were of great quality but Cao Yun and some others preferred to use their own material. So he took out his 'Aureate Grove' from his spatial ring. Since the ingredients were imposed, the only real freedom the contestants had were the tools and the flame powders. Although they were authorized to use any resource from their spatial ring, there were shelves filled with all kinds of flame powders they could use for their refinement.
While preparing the ingredients, Cao Yun showed all his craftsmanship. The Bark Parasitic Moon Eater was a kind of carnivorous plant. There were also several sacs of poison in this plant. With a thin knife, Cao Yun expertly cut it open with an incision so precise it was invisible. And from within the plant, a few small sacs flew out, directed by his Qi. Not a single drop contaminated the plant. One of the sac was so full that it could have burst open at any moment. As a consequences, Cao Yun needed to waste precious minutes on handling it with care.
The Emerald Catfish Vine was cut in small pieces that had the exact same size. Then, he crushed them under his blade and extracted the flesh within.
During almost an hour, the alchemists worked on their ingredients. This time, the show was easier to enjoy. Indeed, the audience could admire the handiwork of the alchemists. Even though the young people in the audience who weren't knowledgeable preferred to watch their use of the flame, this was also very good. Watching them manipulate their blades to carefully prepare each ingredient was really enticing. For some it was almost hypnotic, especially when it was a beautiful woman like Mei Hua or Feng Yingyue doing the preparation.
Finally, Cao Yun did something that surprised many. He mixed the bile from the Frost Shattering Bone Tiger with Immovable Mercury. Although it could sometimes be used as an ingredient, this was considered as a flame powder. Contrary to the bile, it was Pure Yin. In theory, the two of them should have clashed. And inside the cauldron, this would have completely broken the balance of everything. After preparing his ingredients with so much care, it seemed completely foolish to do such a thing. Only expert alchemists could understand what he was trying to do. Cao Yun was hoping to balance the Pure Yang in the bile since there was still a light Yang attribute in the Immovable Mercury. But his approach seemed wrong.
Holding this thought, a few alchemists understood what Cao Yun was aiming at. Instead of refining right away, he opened his cauldron and threw some flame powders in. Cao Yun carefully coated the interior of his cauldron and then poured various liquids within. Then, he even added many other ingredients from his own spatial ring. Since they were not part of the refinement, in theory he couldn't use them. But he was only using small amounts.
In the crowd, many were not making any sense of what was going on.
"Why isn't anyone stopping him?! He's obviously cheating!"
"Idiot! He's not refining the pill right now, he's just feeding his cauldron."
"Feeding his cauldron?"
"Yes, each cauldron has its own properties, it's not rare for an alchemist to try and alter those properties before refining a pill. The ingredients he used will be vaporized by his furnace."
As that man explained, the scene he had described happened on the stage. Cao Yun activated his furnace and burned everything within his cauldron. A thick black smoke rose in the air as the flames were being controlled by Cao Yun.
"Since he couldn't know which pill he had to refine beforehand, he has to adapt his cauldron to the pill. Would you blame a martial artist from choosing his weapon carefully before a fight?! Or would you blame him for training according to his opponent?! This is exactly what Chen Guo is doing right now. It is perfectly accepted in any refinement competition. There is no reason to prevent him from doing so today."
"In fact, this is even a dangerous process. The safest route is always to keep one's cauldron as neutral as possible to avoid any clash. However, one can improve the quality of the pill if their cauldron is perfectly in accordance with the ingredients within and their interactions. Since those interactions change all the time and since the ingredients themselves have conflicting properties, preparing one's cauldron is highly difficult and risky. However, he seems to have carefully planned ahead."
"Indeed, did you see how he placed the flame powders and the ingredients within. He's clearly tried to give different properties to different parts of his cauldron. In itself, it is part of both Cauldron Maintenance and Ingredients Preservation. Those two principles come together to form the technique of 'Muddying the Battlefield'. I admit that this is a very advanced technique. It's no wonder the young ones don't know of it. But look!"
Besides Cao Yun, most alchemists had tried to feed their cauldron yet. They had prepared the ingredients with the same expertise and they were now refining the Crane Devours the Tiger pill. Just like Cao Yun, they had all recognized the pill they had to refine. Some had taken a bit too long to do so but in the end, they had found it. After all, this wasn't the main difficulty of this trial.
Two other alchemists were at a loss though. They were watching their ingredients again and again, unable to make a clear decision. To be fair, there was a trap in the ingredients as it wasn't the most known recipe for the Crane Devours the Tiger pill. But the real problem for them was that the ingredients were lacking. Contrary to what the audience might think, they weren't in doubts about which pill they had to refine, but about how to best refine it. Those two alchemists were Xue Gulin and Mei Hua.
What the woman from the audience was pointing was another alchemist, the only alchemist who had obtained a perfect score. Feng Yingyue was also coating her cauldron with flame powders. Through the use of her Qi, she was placing tiny amounts of flame powder everywhere within her cauldron. In fact, she even added some powder on the exterior of her cauldron. Then, she directly fed a few ingredients to her furnace to alter the flame in a more lasting fashion. By putting ingredients within the furnace itself, the flame would be altered for a long period of time. After this trial, she would need to carefully clean her furnace and her cauldron for the next trials.
Just like with Cao Yun, a thick black smoke rose from her cauldron and her furnace as she was burning many things inside. On the central platform, the arbiter had activated some array formations to prevent the smoke and any form of emanation from disturbing the other alchemists on the stage. As such, they were all sent flying toward the sky without spreading around. As a matter of fact, those array formations also lessened the noise around them. Thus, they would never be disturbed by anything except by what they could see, but they had screens they could use if they wanted to.
Anyway, most alchemists had already refined a first batch. However, the quality really wasn't good. A few alchemists had not even realized that the ingredients had been tampered with. Thus they were quite flabbergasted when their refinement didn't bear the results they had hoped for. That was when they realized what Cao Yun and Feng Yingyue had been doing. At that point, they all understood the problem they were facing. Unfortunately, some had wasted one batch and they only had two left. On the other hand, the best alchemists on the stage still had three batches to refine.
This time, Cao Yun was the first of the four favorites to begin his refinement. Feng Yingyue would start soon after him though. By the time they were refining their pills, Mei Hua and Xue Gulin would also begin working on it. Unlike Cao Yun, Xue Gulin had not used 'Muddying the Battlefield'. Instead, he had coated the ingredients themselves with some flame powders and had also prepared a few of them in strange manners. For example, he had left one poison sac in the Emerald Catfish Vine. Few in the audience were able to understand his logic. Xiao Xuefeng and Hua Fenfei had seen right through him though. What he was doing was smart enough. After all, he was a representative of their Golden Flowery Fragrance Institute.
In his refinement, the poison would burn faster that the vine and he would use it as though it were a flame powder. The burning poison would alter the properties of the Emerald Catfish Vine. But the way he had coated it would counterbalance it. As the smoke from the poison and the powders would fill the cauldron, it would act as a catalyst for the refinement process. Such a technique would however be strenuous on his intent and focus.
Finally, the fireworks started. Cao Yun's flames were dancing all over his 'Aureate Grove Crucible' as he was making various strange gestures with his hands and fingers. It was as though he was making the flames dance for him. Besides, they had all kinds of color. Even away from the furnace, one could imagine how high the temperature had to be around Cao Yun but he didn't seem hot at all. In fact, he seemed quite refreshed.
Many alchemists, including the arbiter himself, were shocked by Cao Yun's mastery over his flame. It was akin to what a 5-star Heaven alchemist could do. They had almost never seen a flame as docile as this was. Since he was so close to it and observing everything through his spiritual senses, the arbiter could tell that the temperature was exactly as it needed to be. Indeed, Cao Yun had the Rune of Fire within him. The flames were naturally subservient to it.
It didn't take Cao Yun very long to refine his very first pill. Looking dissatisfied, Cao Yun turned toward his second batch. Once again, he repeated the same process and also mixed flame powders with some ingredients, not the bile this time. Putting flame powder with the ingredients could upset the balance and corrupt the pill. Indeed, flame powders had little to no medicinal essence but they did have toxins. They were only supposed to be used within the flames to change their nature.
Of course, changing the nature of the ingredients was his goal right now. He could accept a bit more toxins if the overall quality was greatly improved. In fact, Xue Gulin had also decided to make that concession himself. Besides, Cao Yun had worked on toxins minimization with Meng Jia. He knew he could account for that in the finished pill.
Before a double hour had passed, Cao Yun, Feng Yingyue, Mei Hua and Xue Gulin had all refined three batches Crane Devours the Tiger pills. Like the previous time, Feng Yingyue was the first one to go present her pill, the best one from the three batches of course.