After the cheers of the audience subsided, Host Xia Ke introduced the rules of the finals.
Each of the five finalists would make a potion. This time, there was no limit to the range of potions they could make. They could make Second Grade potions, the higher the grade, the better.
After the potion was made, the five potions would be used as five test questions. Each question was worth 100 points.
The five potioneers had to choose a different potion and challenge it. They could either make a potion with the same name but with a higher purity, or make a potion of a higher grade.
If they could do it, the challenge would be considered a success and they would be awarded 100 points. Otherwise, the challenge would be considered a failure. There was no punishment for failing the challenge, but the challenger would lose the opportunity to challenge the potion again.
Every potioneer had 100 initial points. If the potion was defeated by others, the potioneers themselves would be punished with half the points in the final tally. If the potion was not defeated in the end, the final points would be doubled.
The host, Xia Ke, also added that a potion that had been "defeated" could not be challenged again.
There was only one round in the finals. If the final points were the same, the five veteran potioneers of the conference would judge the potioneers with the same points.
Bai Xiaowen already knew the rules. He also knew why Huang Xuan was so confident and was not afraid of offending Master Yang Haogu, one of the judges of the conference. In the finals, the judges had the right to judge the potioneers, but only if the potioneers had the same points. If Huang Xuan was the only one with the highest points, he would not be afraid of the judges doing anything fishy.
Bai Xiaowen took out the herbs. When he took out the first set of high-grade herbs, the spirit world's laws notified him.
"You are trying to make a Second Grade alchemy potion. This is classified information. The classification is 0."
"If the information is leaked, you will be punished with 0 level penalty and the corresponding spirit points will be deducted."
"Do you agree to hide the potion-making process? If you agree, your potion-making process will be protected. Only those who know the formula and the steps will be able to see it. "
Bai Xiaowen chose to agree. A layer of faint white light appeared on his potion-making table. The people outside could only vaguely see the movements of Bai Xiaowen's hands, but they could not judge the amount of herbs he used. They could not see the steps of the potion-making process either.
This was the spirit world's law's protection of "classified information."
Bai Xiaowen let out a light breath.
Bai Xiaowen had used his Insight Innate Skill to measure these herbs beforehand. As long as they followed the steps Grandmaster Yang had taught them, they would be able to obtain a Second Grade potion with similar effects as Grandmaster Yang. If some correct discretion was added, the purity would even surpass Master Yang's.
Therefore, Bai Xiaowen was not nervous. The time limit for the finals was two hours. He had plenty of time, so he wasn't in a hurry to start.
Bai Xiaowen looked at Huang Xuan, who was on the No. 1 refining table.
At this moment, Huang Xuan was processing the medicinal herbs. His psychic senses were also very sharp. After Bai Xiaowen stared at him for a second, he turned his face to the side.
"Hmph."
Huang Xuan snorted through his nostrils. His medicine refining table also flickered with white light.
"Seeing how curious you are, I'll tell you the truth. The potion I want to concoct is called 'White Splendor.' It's Second Grade, Level 6. "Huang Xuan had a confident smile on his face." Don't waste your energy. This is already beyond your capabilities. "
Huang Xuan was so confident mainly because he was confident in the protection provided by the laws of the spirit world. If Bai Xiaowen did not know the formula and process of concocting the White Splendor Potion, he would not have been able to see through the thin veil of light. Naturally, there would not have been any impromptu learning.
Bai Xiaowen did not say anything. However, a red light flashed in his left eye. Then, Bai Xiaowen pressed it down without leaving a trace.
"You are trying to see through confidential information. The confidential information is blocked by the laws. Insight is not effective. "
"Unknown interference. Data is in disorder."
"Due to unknown interference, 10000 Spirit Energy points will be deducted. Do you agree? "
Bai Xiaowen sighed softly. The price to pay for going against the laws of the spirit world was not low.
In Bai Xiaowen's vision, the light on Huang Xuan's refining table had disappeared. Every medicinal herb he picked up was seen through by Bai Xiaowen under his Insight Innate Skill.
"Dream Leaf, Fran's Root, White Jade Tree Fruit."
Huang Xuan's steps in concocting the potion were also imprinted into Bai Xiaowen's mind.
Bai Xiaowen had indeed not learned the formula of Huang Xuan's White Splendor Potion, but he could copy it with his Insight Innate Skill.
Master Yang Haogu's teachings seemed to echo in his ears again.
"Pharmacology knowledge is also very important to you. You are the only pharmacologist I have ever seen who can see through the effective composition of medicinal herbs and accurately measure them. Only by mastering enough pharmacology can you increase or decrease the appropriate amount on the basis of other people's concoctions and create a potion with a higher purity.
"I just demonstrated the concocting process of the Cold Winter Mixture to you. My performance is considered normal. The purity is about 85%. Combine it with what you have learned in the past two days and make it again. My requirement for you is that the purity is more than 85%. "
...
Huang Xuan was very focused after he entered the concocting state. He did not seem to notice Bai Xiaowen's gaze.
However, the other audience members outside the venue saw Bai Xiaowen's fixed gaze. They felt that it was very strange and discussed it animatedly.
The audience could only vaguely see the movements on the potion table, but they could clearly see the appearances of the five finalists.
"That pharmacologist on the second potion table, I think his name is Bai Xiaowen, right? He seems to have made a mistake. Everyone else is concocting Second Grade potions. A rookie like him would have a hard time mastering Second Grade potions. The light on the potion table is probably just for show. "
"That's normal. The Pharmaceutical Development Commission is taking it too lightly to send such a rookie to the stage."
Li Shuyi and the others heard the discussions of the nearby pharmacologists and were worried.
"Why is the captain acting strange? It's been half an hour and he's still staring at Huang Xuan. Hurry up and do it. "Chen Guowei whispered.
Xiang Hui narrowed his eyes and asked Li Shuyi, "Has Bai Xiaowen ever concocted Second Grade potions before?"
Li Shuyi shook his head.
"Then will he do it?"
Li Shuyi shook his head again, "I don't think so. Now we can only hope that Xiaowen can learn Second Grade potions during the three days of Elder Yang's temporary training."
Everyone nodded in unison. Looking at the situation in the final circle, it was impossible to get first place with only First Grade potions.
Seeing that Bai Xiaowen had been staring at Huang Xuan without moving, most of the people were curious. After a while, they stopped talking and turned to look at the No.3 pharmaceutical table, the beautiful American pharmacologist, Monica. Why was the way this girl shook the reagent bottle so sexy …
What a round reagent bottle, what a white potion, what a big beaker …
This period of time when there was no time to concoct potions was actually a test of the host's skills. Fortunately, the organizers were prepared. They worked with the CCAV Television Station to prepare a program about the history of pharmaceutics and broadcast it on the big screen.
Time passed by slowly. There were only 45 minutes left.
Huang Xuan let out a long sigh of relief. After more than an hour of focused concoction, he had finally concocted the White Beauty Potion. It was Second Grade, Level 6!
Huang Xuan looked around. His gaze first landed on the fifth potion table, on Zhou Ziwang.
Due to the white light, Huang Xuan couldn't see the process of Zhou Ziwang concocting the potion. This meant that Huang Xuan didn't know the formula of Zhou Ziwang's potion.
"This bookworm is really something …" Huang Xuan was a little cautious. Not knowing his opponent's formula meant that he would have to concoct a higher grade potion to win in the later challenges. Second Grade, Level 6 was already Huang Xuan's limit.
However, Huang Xuan didn't believe that Zhou Ziwang had reached the level of concocting Second Grade, Level 6 potions. Compared to Zhou Ziwang's erudition, his practical ability was his weakness. His calculation ability was also inferior to Huang Xuan's …
Huang Xuan's gaze swept across the third potion table, Monica, and the fourth potion table, Ebner, from the European Union. A smile appeared at the corner of his mouth. The shielding light from the two of them couldn't obstruct him at all. He recognized the potions they were concocting.
"Potent Volcano Potion and Dragon Breath Potion … Hehehe, everything is within my control."
Finally, Huang Xuan's gaze landed on the second potion table, on Bai Xiaowen.
He paused for a moment. Bai Xiaowen hadn't started yet. Instead, he was staring straight at Huang Xuan.
Huang Xuan followed Bai Xiaowen's gaze and landed on the finished product he had just concocted – the White Beauty Potion.
"Haha … if you want to look, then look. You won't learn anything by looking at a bottle of finished product anyway. With your experience, you probably haven't seen many Second Grade items, have you? "Huang Xuan muttered in his heart." There's still forty minutes left. Let's see what you can do … "
Before this thought flashed through Huang Xuan's mind, Bai Xiaowen had already smiled at Huang Xuan. He then turned around and started concocting.
Huang Xuan's cold smile froze. He suddenly realized that his eyes couldn't see Bai Xiaowen's concoction process clearly!
"It's a Second Grade formula that I don't know about?! Impossible. Even if Yang Haogu taught you a Second Grade formula at the last minute, it wouldn't be beyond my knowledge … "
Every dog had its day. Now it was Huang Xuan's turn to stare at Bai Xiaowen's actions. A bad feeling rose in Huang Xuan's heart when he thought of the Level 10 Perfect Grade Potion from the preliminaries.
Bai Xiaowen's movements were very fast.
He had already copied Yang Haogu's concoction process in his mind. Meanwhile, the effective particles in the herbs that Bai Xiaowen had weighed before concocting the potion were basically the same as the effective particles in the herbs that Yang Haogu had used.
In other words, as long as Bai Xiaowen kept the same pace as Yang Haogu's in his mind, he would be able to concoct a potion of similar purity to Yang Haogu's.
However, that wasn't all. If Bai Xiaowen had been forced to memorize the formula, it wouldn't have taken him more than three days. With Yang Haogu's help, he had made some minor adjustments to the formula so that the ratio of the effective components in each part of the potion would be more reasonable.
Bai Xiaowen could concoct potions of higher purity while standing on Yang Haogu's shoulder.
Huang Xuan's bad feeling grew when he saw Bai Xiaowen casually concoct the potion. There was no expression of close observation, nervous thought, or complicated calculation. At this rate, Bai Xiaowen could concoct the potion within the allotted time.
"Fail, fail, fail …" Huang Xuan cursed silently in his heart.
However, until the bell rang to signal the end of the allotted time, the "Bai Xiaowen failed to concoct the potion" event that Huang Xuan was looking forward to did not happen …
"Alright, time's up … We can see that the five young master pharmacists have successfully concocted the potions. All of them succeeded on their first try, demonstrating their solid foundation in pharmaceutics."
"Now, let's begin our intense points challenge."
The LCD screen on the side of Bai Xiaowen and the other four pharmacists' potions table lit up. A large number was displayed on it — 100.
"Next, we will draw lots to determine the order of the pharmacists who will challenge the potion. The contestants can also postpone the challenge temporarily to give themselves more time to prepare. "
The results of the draw were displayed on the big screen.
Bai Xiaowen was the first to draw lots.
"I choose to postpone the challenge." Bai Xiaowen raised his hand to signal.
There was a low gasp of surprise in the hall.
The first pharmacist to challenge the potion would have an advantage. He could choose the potion that he was most confident in from the remaining four potions to challenge. This would greatly increase the success rate of the challenge. According to the rules, a potion that had been "defeated" could not be challenged again. The later the potion, the harder the challenge would be.
Bai Xiaowen was the first to draw lots. If he chose to postpone the challenge, he would be the last to challenge.
Yang Haogu, who was sitting at the judges' table, stroked his sparse beard.
Others might not know the reason, but Yang Haogu was well aware of it. Bai Xiaowen needed time to recall Huang Xuan's process of concocting the potion. He needed to make minor adjustments based on the ratio of the active ingredients of the herbs and Huang Xuan's steps.
For example, the best ratio of the active ingredients of Herb A and Herb B was that the two would react fully without any redundant ingredients.
However, due to the age, origin, appearance, and other factors of the herbs, no pharmacist could accurately grasp the ratio of 50: 50. Perhaps the extra two points were considered impurities and required the pharmacist's discretion to recover them. For example, decocting the potion for another ten seconds or adding some new herbs to neutralize the potion …
This kind of discretion could be effective or ineffective. It had to do with the pharmacist's knowledge, observation, and calculation ability. However, even if they could recover some of the impurities, it would not be as accurate as 50: 50 right from the start.
Bai Xiaowen watched Huang Xuan's entire process of concocting the potion. He was no longer the pharmacist Xiao Bai, so he could still understand some of the discretionary steps that Huang Xuan took. He now needed time to reverse engineer these discretionary steps and come up with a more perfect ratio of the active ingredients.
Bai Xiaowen did not plan to challenge other pharmacists at all. He did not have the ability to do so … It was already not easy to remember Huang Xuan's concocting process.
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