Lu Ping even suspected that if it wasn't for the strict rule that high-grade pill furnaces weren't allowed in the Pill Pavilion's examination, it wouldn't be surprising if someone took out a high-grade pill furnace at the start of the third examination!
Naturally, these pill refiners wouldn't have high-grade pill furnaces. However, their teachers and the forces they represented might be able to take out a high-grade pill furnace.
Although Zhenling only wanted to reward the top ten pill refiners, the top twenty would be qualified to listen to the lectures of the various pill refinement masters in the Pill Pavilion. They might even have the opportunity to receive pointers from grandmasters like Tianlu Laozu and Tianqin Laozu.
This was specially prepared by Zhenling for the outstanding pill refinement masters who participated in the examination. The duration of the examination was about one year. Regardless of whether they were disciples of Zhenling or cultivators from the subordinate forces, the top twenty in the Pill Pavilion's examination would qualify.
When these people raised the flames they controlled, the spectating cultivators in the plaza cried out in surprise again. Originally, most of these 32 people were only using some ordinary beast flames, spiritual energy flames, and fire seeds that were a level higher than ordinary flames.
Now, when these 32 people lit up their flames, the weakest of the 32 flames was the beast fire of a Mid or Late Blood Condensation Realm demonic beast. Some of the flames even came from Core Forging Realm demonic beasts. These flames were of a higher grade than some of the special flames of heaven and earth. The few Core Forging Realm pill refiners didn't have such a beast fire, but the Blood Condensation Realm pill refiners also had this kind of beast fire. It was obvious that they didn't own it.
Other than that, there were a few special flames of heaven and earth. Tian Yue had been using a special flame in the previous examination. It was given to him by Hu Lili a long time ago. Hu Lili had told Lu Ping about this beforehand. It was something she obtained from a cultivator who had returned from an expedition in the Outer Endless Sea.
Although this special flame was good for concocting pills, Lu Ping naturally didn't need it. Hu Lili also knew that Lu Ping valued Tian Yue, so she gave it to Tian Yue.
Lu Ping didn't mind seeing Tian Yue continue to use this kind of flame, but Perfected Master Xuan Fang, who was talking to Master Li Yanshan, couldn't help but frown slightly. However, he didn't say anything.
In addition, the appearance of three Profound-class Heaven and Earth Spirit Fires set off a climax in the Pill Pavilion's major exam. Although these flames were all at the low to mid grade of Profound-class, Heaven and Earth Spirit Fires were the most suitable flames for alchemy. Even if they were more suitable for refining tools, the effect of alchemy was still better than most Heaven and Earth Spirit Fires.
Moreover, these three Mystic Grade Spirit Fires were in the hands of the three pill refinement masters who maintained a success rate of more than 50% in the Late Blood Condensation Realm. Many cultivators were filled with anticipation. Many of them believed that the outcome of the exam would be decided today.
Tian Yue looked at the three Heaven and Earth Spiritual Fires and was slightly surprised. Then, a trace of regret appeared on his face!
The difficulty of the half-step Core Forging Realm pills varied greatly due to the number of thousand-year-old spiritual herbs used and the higher requirements of the pill refinement masters.
Even though there were slight differences between the Late Blood Condensation Realm pills, the difference was not big enough to affect the fairness of the competition. Even if some cultivators drew pills with different difficulties, they could only complain about their bad luck.
The previous method of Zhenling was to choose as many half-step Core Forging Realm pill recipes as possible as possible. Then, the pill refinement masters would draw randomly. Finally, the pill refinement success rate would be used to determine the level of their pill refinement skills.
However, Lu Ping was quite dissatisfied with this method. After that, he personally went to Tianlu Laozu and took out the Seven Step Marked Pill recipe he obtained from the East Sea. Tianlu Laozu immediately approved of his suggestion. This time, all the pill refinement masters would refine the Seven Step Marked Pill at the same time.
After the examiners saw the Seven Step Marked Pill recipe, they all agreed with Lu Ping's proposal. Because of this, Lu Ping extorted a batch of 3,000-year-old spiritual herbs from Tianlu Laozu. Daoist Xuan Yan, who was in charge of the Pill Pavilion's spiritual herb treasury, had a dark expression on his face. However, Lu Ping's Seven Step Marked Pill was indeed unique. Taking out this pill recipe could be said to benefit many pill refinement masters. It was only natural for him to obtain a batch of spiritual herbs from the sect to make up for it.
Strictly speaking, the Seven Step Marked Pill also had the meaning of seven lines. When the pill was formed, seven lines would appear on the surface of the spirit pill.
Unless one purposely chased after the perfect seven veined patterns, it was extremely rare for one to fail. Even if one couldn't concoct a pill with five or six veined patterns, it wasn't difficult to concoct a pill with three or four veined patterns. However, a pill with three or four veined patterns was only comparable to a Late Blood Condensation Realm pill. This proved that this cultivator wasn't qualified to concoct a half-step Core Forging Realm pill.
In fact, a Seven Step Marked Pill could only be considered a half-step Core Forging Realm spirit pill if it had more than four lines. It would also play a role in helping cultivators advance to the Core Forging Realm. Once a Seven Step Marked Pill was refined, one would only be one step away from a true Core Forging Realm spirit pill.
In the past, when Lu Ping and Chu Xuanting competed to refine a Seven Step Marked Pill, Chu Xuanting originally thought that if Lu Ping could refine a five or six line spirit pill, it would be good enough. However, she didn't expect Lu Ping to also refine a Seven Step Marked Pill. This caused Chu Xuanting to dispel her contempt. In fact, at that time, Lu Ping didn't even show his true alchemy skills. He didn't refine a Seven Step Marked Pill at all!
Lu Ping asked all 33 alchemists to refine a Seven Step Marked Pill. Based on the lines on the pills, one could easily determine the level of the alchemist's alchemy skills. Even if the same lines appeared, the alchemist's success rate would determine the level of the alchemist's alchemy skills.
At the same time, Lu Ping passed down the medicinal pellet recipe, which was extremely precious to Blood Condensation Realm cultivators. It was also a reward for the 33 alchemists for passing the third round of the exam. As one of the best medicinal pellets in the cultivation world that could help a cultivator advance to the Core Forging Realm, the 33 alchemists were very grateful to Lu Ping's medicinal pellet recipe.
The only unfortunate thing was that the appearance of the Seven Step Marked Pill seemed to make the fourth day's Alchemist Self-Selection Spirit Pill irrelevant. However, in this exam, there were a few alchemists who announced that they wanted to break through to the Alchemy Grandmaster level. Because of this, there were a lot of variables.
The difficulty of refining the Seven Step Marked Pill increased the time it took for the pills to come out of the furnace. By the time the pills reached the Core Condensation stage, the Alchemy Grandmasters could basically distinguish the alchemists' alchemy skills!
The first to open the furnace were 17 alchemists. Although these 17 alchemists had different success rates, they only managed to refine two or three lines. Obviously, they didn't have the qualifications to refine a half-step Core Forging Realm pill. It was a great pity.
Next were the eight alchemists who refined the Seven Step Marked Pill with four lines. Although the quality of their pills was the same, according to the different success rates, these seven alchemists could still be ranked. In fact, it was just to separate the ninth and tenth alchemists. As for the others, there was no need to separate them. In any case, the top 20 alchemists had the qualifications to enter the Pill Pavilion and learn from the Alchemy Grandmasters.
The remaining eight alchemists were the nine alchemists who had the highest success rate yesterday. Four of them refined the Seven Step Marked Pill with five lines. Among the remaining four, three were alchemists who used Heaven and Earth spirit fires. The only one who didn't use a spirit fire was Tian Yue.
After a while, an alchemist who used a middle-grade and low-grade Mystic-ranked spirit fire also opened his furnace. One of them refined four Seven Step Marked Pills with six lines, while the other refined three. This kind of alchemy skill and success rate were already considered very good among the quasi-grandmasters.
Although Lu Ping didn't know these two alchemists, he saw that they had asked Daoist Xuan Yue and Daoist Xuan Dian for guidance after the exam two days ago. He guessed that they should be their disciples. They were also one of the few early third-generation Core Forging disciples in this exam.
At this time, one of the two alchemists was Tian Yue, and the other surprised Lu Ping. It was actually the little female cultivator who had almost burned her furnace in fright when he left the field to patrol on the first day of the exam.
After a while, the two opened their furnaces one after another. Seven Step Marked Pills with seven lines flew out of the furnace. Tian Yue only refined two pills, but the little female cultivator refined three pills!
At this moment, all the cultivators watching the exam were in an uproar. Because Lu Ping suggested using the Seven Step Marked Pill for the third exam, the entire refining process and the result could be seen at a glance. Even a layman who didn't understand alchemy could see that Pill Pavilion's Tian Yue, who everyone had placed their hopes on, had actually lost to an unknown little female cultivator.
For a moment, all the cultivators present, including Lu Ping, became interested in this little female cultivator. Unfortunately, they discovered that they knew nothing about her identity. Only then did they realize that she wasn't an alchemist from Pill Pavilion, but someone from Zhenling's subsidiary faction.
"Brother Yan Shan, it's true that a famous master produces a brilliant disciple. Your disciple really shocked the world with a single brilliant feat. Even our Pill Pavilion's alchemists are inferior to your disciple!"
Daoist Xuan Fang chuckled as he congratulated Grandmaster Li Yanshan.
Daoist Xuan Fang and Grandmaster Li Yanshan were similar in age, cultivation, and alchemy. Moreover, they sat together on the stage and interacted frequently. Daoist Xuan Fang already knew that this little female cultivator was Grandmaster Li Yanshan's brilliant disciple.
Only now did people realize that this shy little girl was actually the disciple of the North Sea's famous alchemy Grandmaster. What was rare was that she also had such outstanding talent in alchemy.
"You're too kind. My disciple only relied on the Profound grade spirit fire in her hand. If not for that, how could she have defeated Martial Nephew Tian Yue!"
On the third day of the exam, there seemed to be some unexpected developments, and the cultivators who were watching the exam had a lot to talk about. This female cultivator named Pei Yan'er also made the eyes of the entire Pill Pavilion's exam light up!
However, because a few alchemists were determined to break through to the Core Forging stage on the last day of the exam, there was a trace of suspense in this exam!
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