Immortal Mortal

At this instant, the array display screen had already showed the 2nd place. It was displayed clearly: 2nd Place: Participating Immortal City - High Grade City, Long Light Immortal City; Participating Pill Refiner - Gong Yangxue. Points: 97.711. Advanced into the second round.

Gong Yangxue was one of the top Pill Emperors in the Pill Dao Immortal Alliance. The number of Pill Emperors that exceeded him could be counted in one hand.

However, this Pill Emperor only got 2nd place. There was still one more name; even a fool would know that the 1st place was this unknown, young pill refiner. If there wasn’t anything wrong with the arrays, then this pill refiner must have cheated.

This alchemy competition was not the biggest to have been held, but its importance was one of the top. Even the Pill Dao Immortal Alliance wouldn’t want to cheat in such a competition. Even if the Pill Dao Immortal Alliance was any stronger, if it dared to cheat in such an important competition, it would only be digging its own grave.

Even Gong Yangxue, Heng Jun and the other Pill Emperors were looking at Mo Wuji; they also wanted to know how things would turn up.

The involved personnel, Mo Wuji, was not a half bit flustered. When he saw that Gong Yangxue only had 97.711 points, he knew that he was definitely 1st place. Under normal circumstances, he could purify Tier 5 and Tier 6 immortal herbs to a purity of over 99%. Even though this round’s Jade Pomegranate Immortal Grass was hard, it would not dip below 99%.

The originally noisy site was now silent. Everyone was waiting for the 1st place to come out and wait for the organisers to give them an explanation.

In the concentrated stares of the crowd, the 1st place finally appeared. As everyone expected, it was an unfamiliar name.

1st Place: Participating Immortal City - Low Grade City, Water Ying Immortal City; Participating Pill Refiner - Mo Xinghe. Points: 99.361. Advanced into the second round.

"Boom!" Almost at the same time, everyone burst into noise. Everyone was discussing and everyone was staring at the Pill Dao Immortal Alliance’s Vice Head He Zhenyu, as well as Yong Ying Immortal Domain’s Heavenly Emperor Kui Fengyun. They wanted these people to give a reasonable explanation for such results.

The people, who were supposed to be happy, the Wen Family, were now having pale expressions on their faces. They were naturally happy that Mo Wuji obtained a good placing. But Mo Wuji’s placing was too good; too good to the point where they’re afraid; too good to the point where even they couldn’t accept it.

The moment there was a problem with the placing, the first person to be killed would naturally be Mo Wuji. After Mo Wuji was killed, the blame wouldn’t be bourne by the Pill Dao Immortal Alliance, nor Yong Ying Immortal Domain’s Heavenly Emperor, but his Water Ying Immortal City.

In other words, he, Wen Hou, as the castellan of Water Ying Immortal City would be the second one to be killed. After he was killed, the rest of his family would simply be ants left to be stomped.

Hu Zhenyu walked to the front of the main altar. The crowd had quietened down as they all stared at Hu Zhenyu.

Hu Zhenyu’s gaze moved from Mo Wuji to the people in the plaza, then he said loudly, "I know what everyone is saying. I am now explicitly telling everyone: the first round is true and effective; the results are accurate with no errors. There is no problem with the grading array, nor is there any problem with the display screen. Of course, if any pill refiners feel that there is a problem with your score, you can stand forward. We will allow your medicinal essence be publicly graded..."

As he said this, Hu Zhenyu’s gaze swept across some of the eliminated pill refiners, then he said with greater solemnity, "If there’s indeed a problem with your score, then there’s no need for you to take part in the second round and you would be allowed to enter Yunxian Immortal Valley. Of course, if the score turns out to be correct, then you would be directly killed. Now, any pill refiners with doubts over your score may come forward. We will immediately score your products."

Everyone’s eyes turned to the seats where the pill refiners were. A whole half an incense’s time passed but no one believed that their scores were wrong.

A pill refiner had a firm understanding of their own capabilities. They all knew very clearly that the results from the array were correct and accurate. It might even be more precise than their own estimations.

After waiting for half an incense’s time and no one stepped forward, Hu Zhenyu nodded, "Looks like all the pill refiners are clear that the array is correct. So the results from this round are effective. Since that’s the case, we will not waste anymore time and begin with the second round."

The second round was about to begin; this meant that there weren’t any problems with Mo Wuji or the grading array. Many people began to look at Mo Wuji with envy. Mo Wuji was able to pass the first round with almost a full mark. As long as he could obtain a set score in the second round, he would very likely be able enter the top 50.

Of course, if Mo Wuji wasn’t even able to obtain a good score in the second round, then that would mean that his first round results might be fake.

...

"Father, Brother Mo’s results are actually real, he actually obtained 1st place with 99.361 points. Now, our Water Ying Immortal City definitely wouldn’t be some other city’s subsidiary. If Mo Wuji’s second round results are good, we might even be promoted to become an intermediate grade city..." When she heard the Pill Dao Immortal Alliance’s Vice Alliance Head declare that the results were effective, Wen Lianxi stood up in emotion.

Yan Qianling and Wen Hou were also incomparably excited. Yan Qianling hurriedly grabbed her daughter’s hand and got Wen Lianxi to sit down.

Water Ying Immortal City had obtained 1st place in the first round, but it was still better for them to remain modest, lest other people find that they had gotten carried away.

"Impressive, impressive..." Tan Liang muttered to himself; he did not think that Mo Wuji’s results were false. From the moment he saw the 100% purity dregs in the pill furnace, wasn’t he also in disbelief? If he could be in disbelief once, then there would be a second time.

A few of the castellans nearby came to greet Wen Hou. Even if Water Ying Immortal City didn’t get promoted to the intermediate grade, Water Ying Immortal City knew of such an impressive pill refiner, which made them worth befriending.

Wen Hou, however, looked at his daughter and said, "Lianxi, thank you. If not for you, our entire family would become some other person’s vassal."

"Father, we should be thanking Brother Mo. If not for Brother Mo, how could we sit here in such relief? Even high and intermediate city castellans are taking the initiative to greet us?" Wen Lianxi’s face was red in excitement; up till now, the red still hadn’t receded.

Wen Hou nodded continuously, "Right, we should thank Pill Master Mo. Without Pill Master Mo, we would already be the subject of other’s disdain."

From afar, Pill Dao Immortal Alliance’s Tier 5 Pill King Geng Ji couldn’t believe that Water Ying Immortal City had obtained 1st place in the first round. His gaze swept towards the incomparably excited Wen Hou and he snorted coldly. A mere low grade immortal city, even if they found a pill refiner and managed to find 1st place in the first round by luck, so what? In the eyes of a Pill Dao Immortal Alliance Tier 5 Pill King like him, it was still nothing.

...

Slightly far away from the Wen Family, a young man agitatedly spoke to the middle-aged man beside him, "Father, I know that Mo Xinghe..."

"Ah..." Zhong Muqiao, who was staring at Mo Wuji, unconsciously uttered an ‘Ah’, before immediately turning to his son in excitement, "Zhen’Er, are you speaking the truth?"

This young man was exactly the Zhong Zhen who previously helped Mo Wuji once. He nodded and said, "It’s true. During that time, Blade Scar Mountain’s Gou Xinghao was causing him trouble and I helped him get out of that pinch. I really never expected that his purification skills would be so impressive; it’s simply to the point of disbelief."

"Good, good..." Zhong Muqiao uttered continuously, "You did well, you did well... After this competition ends, you must definitely invite him for a short chat."

Originally, Zhong Muqiao wanted to ask his son why he didn’t get Mo Xinghe to represent them. However, when he heard that his son didn’t know of Mo Xinghe’s skill, he changed his words.

Sitting by Zhong Muqiao’s side, another man side, "After this alchemy competition, Mo Xinghe’s reputation will simply soar; his status is no longer ordinary. I’m afraid that there would be as many high grade immortal cities trying to talk to him as there are hairs on a cow. And our True Cliff Immortal City is only an intermediate grade immortal city..."

Zhong Zhen hurriedly said, "Master Huai, that Mo Xinghe looks like he has a good character. He should not forget the ties that we had."

...

Hu Zhenyu was still speaking on the main altar, "The second round will still require contestants to use their own pill furnaces and use the earth fire from the competition area. This round will be a pill concoction round. Pill refiners will decide for themselves what pill you which to concoct. Even if you want to concoct a Tier 9 immortal pill, it will be entirely up to you. It’s just that you must provide your own immortal herbs. If you are unable to take out any immortal herbs, then please leave the competition area, because you have been eliminated. Now, I announce that the second round of the competition has begun."

It was indeed very simple and straightforward.

The second round was a pill concoction round and the herbs used will be provided by themselves. However, everyone knew that this round also couldn’t be cheated.

If anyone dared to use a prepared pill and place it into the grading array, they would probably be eliminated like what happened in the first round.

Mo Wuji swept around with his spiritual will. From the immortal herbs that the others took out, he gathered that basically all the other pill refiners here chose to concoct Tier 6 pills; only an extremely small number of them chose Tier 5 pills. Ostensibly, a majority of the pill refiners here in the second round were Tier 6 pill kings. As for those Pill Emperors, they also chose Tier 6 pills.

Don’t just see that they’re Pill Emperors, even Pill Emperors couldn’t casually concoct Tier 7 immortal pills. Firstly, the ingredients for Tier 7 immortal pills were astronomically expensive. Secondly, the success rate of forming Tier 7 immortal pills was very low. To them, even if they concocted Tier 6 pills, they would still secure positions in the top 5. There was no need for them to take a risk.

Even though Mo Wuji could also concoct Tier 6 immortal pills, he knew that if he truly concocted a Tier 6 pill, he would definitely be dancing on the line between success and failure.

He was different from other pill refiners. For other pill refiners, if they could concoct unique grade Tier 5 immortal pills, then they would at least be able to concoct half a batch of high grade Tier 6 pills. But for him, he could concoct Tier 5 immortal pills, and while he could concoct Tier 6 immortal pills, he wasn’t even able to concoct a single intermediate grade one.

Exactly what pill should he choose to ensure a position in the top 50?