But when that person had just opened his mouth and his throat had just begun to tremble, before he could even make a sound, a large hand viciously slapped across his face.

With an explosive sound, that person’s facial bones broke and he strangely flew in an arc toward the distant Huo Wufang.

“What?!”

Everyone was startled. They saw Long Chen was still in his slapping posture. That slap had come from him.

They hastily looked back onto his stage and saw a translucent hand holding the furnace lid. Under his Spiritual Strength’s control, there wasn’t the slightest impact on his refinement.

The thing that shocked the people the most was that Huo Wufang’s position was behind Long Chen, but while Long Chen had slapped this person from the front, he strangely flew behind him.

Originally, when that person had been about to leave, Huo Wufang had stealthily given him a meaningful glance. That person had immediately understood, and he had just been about to use his full strength to let out the loudest possible roar.

But it was impossible for such a trick to escape Long Chen’s eyes. What kind of joke was that? From the start, Long Chen had been paying attention to everything that was happening.

That person’s furious roar became mute. As for the slap, just what kind of person was Long Chen? As the original creator of the face-slapping divine ability, he could send someone flying in any direction he wanted with a slap.

However, other people had never seen such a bizarre force. How could someone be hit from the front but be sent flying behind the attacker? This move had surpassed the scope of many people’s understanding.

Huo Wufang had always been paying attention to Long Chen. Now seeing this person flying over, his expression completely changed. If he was struck, it would be extremely troublesome.

Instead of messing with Long Chen, he had brought trouble to himself. He hadn’t expected Long Chen to have enough Spiritual Strength that he dared to leave his furnace.

The tower administrator didn’t have any intention of interfering in this. He just coldly watched.

In truth, Huo Wufang’s actions could not have possibly escaped his eyes. The tower administrator had simply wanted to see Long Chen’s ability to adapt.

A great alchemist not only required talent and perseverance, but also an unwaveringly calm heart. That was why he hadn’t done anything.

When Long Chen had been in trouble, he hadn’t done anything. Now that Long Chen had sent the trouble back to its originator, he also had no intention of doing anything.

“Flamecloud Palm!”

A ruthless expression appeared on Huo Wufang’s face. Waving his hand, a huge, golden flame palm slammed into that person.

BOOM! That person was sent flying by the flame palm. His entire body had been burned black. It was unknown whether or not he was still alive.

“The Earth Dragon Golden Blaze truly is terrifying,” said someone.

Alchemy could not be separated from Pill Flames. When an alchemist met with a flame attack, the Pill Flame within them would automatically protect them. But that person’s flame hadn’t had the slightest ability to resist the Earth Dragon Golden Blaze. The title of first rank on the beast flame rankings was not undeserved.

“To treat his subordinate like this, hehe, how cruel. How will he face his subordinates in the future?”

Some people clearly couldn’t stand Huo Wufang’s actions. These people were unaffiliated alchemists, so they didn’t have so many misgivings.

Huo Wufang was in front of tens of thousands of people. Furthermore, he and Long Chen were the focal points. Each of their actions was caught in the eyes of the spectators.

That little glance he had made was something quite a few people had noticed. They had all felt that as the number one disciple of the Huo family, acting like this was too shameless. Later, he had even gotten rid of that person as soon as he was done using him like a tool.

“As expected, the ancestor will give birth to the same kind of descendant. They’ll decline generation after generation,” sighed Chai Gaoyang.

Obviously, these words were an insult to the Huo family. Huo Changsheng sneered, “There are always losses and wins with split-second decisions. Can ignorant people understand that principle?”

Chai Gaoyang and Fang Mingyuan merely smiled, too lazy to continue fighting with words. In the arena, there were already people bringing away that charred person.

Over six hours had passed, and now only half of the competitors remained. Many people had already failed three times just from merging the medicinal powders.

However, this place was truly filled with elites. Even under this much pressure, so many of them had begun to seal their furnaces. Long Chen and Huo Wufang sealed their furnaces at the same time.

Following the two of them, Fang Chang and Chai Liehuo sealed their furnaces less than an incense stick’s time later. Sealing the furnaces represented the powders had all been merged, and it was time to truly refine the mixture into pills.

An hour later, there were over a hundred people who had also sealed their furnaces. But during this time, there were also quite a few people that had no choice but to leave.

The fact that Long Chen and the others had already sealed their furnaces caused even more pressure for them, and many were unable to stay calm, which increased their odds of failure.

“Pill fragrance! Someone’s completed the refinement?!” Everyone hastily looked toward the source of the fragrance.

They saw a man who kept three long whiskers as facial hair. When he smelled this pill fragrance, he was filled with excitement and nervousness. He hadn’t expected that he would be the first to finish.

Long Chen looked at that person and shook his head ever so slightly. As for Huo Wufang, he was sneering in ridicule. Quite a few people sighed upon looking at that person.

Bang! The furnace lid popped upon, and looking inside, the crowd sighed.

“Although it’s high grade, it has no rings.”

Even the alchemist was dumbfounded. He had already been extremely careful. There had been very few flaws in his merger. How could it be that there wasn’t even one ring?

“Ugh, another fellow with no foundation,” sighed an elder.

“Senior, what’s going on?”

“The Nine Revolution Life Pill is different from other pills. You can’t rush the formation of the pill. In fact, the slower you refine it, the better. It’s the opposite of ordinary pills.

“For ordinary pills, you want to refine it as fast as possible to avoid its essence dissipating into the air. But the Nine Revolution Life Pill contains a Birth Life Grass. When that grass is being refined, it absorbs a great deal of life energy from the air. Only by drawing that life energy into it will the Nine Revolution Life Pill truly have the power to save a life.

“As for this fellow, he clearly doesn’t understand the true medicinal effects contained in this pill formula. He refined it according to normal means, so of course there was no way for him to refine it into a ringed pill. This furnace of pills is essentially garbage.”

Everyone couldn’t help being surprised. They hadn’t been aware that the Nine Revolution Life Pill contained such a secret. But they were more shocked by how abnormal this generation’s Pill Emperor Competition was. Not only did you need to be familiar with various medicinal ingredients, but you even needed to be familiar with all kinds of pill formula.

For half of the people here, this was their first time even hearing about the Nine Revolution Life Pill. As for the mystery the old man had explained, over ninety-nine percent of them had been unaware of it.

“It’s no wonder Huo Wufang, Long San, and the others have simply kept a steady flame after sealing their furnaces.”

“The most difficult point of the Nine Revolution Life Pill’s refinement is to control the Pill Flame to its weakest level once the furnace has been sealed. But at the same time, you can’t allow the pill liquid to congeal. This pill has harsh requirements for the control of the Pill Flame and Spiritual Strength.

“This is something that has little to do with the strength of the Pill Flame. Instead, it depends on control. If you aren’t able to control it well enough, you won’t be able to give the pill enough time to absorb the life energy in the end. Even if the pill forms, it won’t have any rings.

“The fact that you need five rings to pass the elimination round is an extremely harsh requirement,” sighed the elder.

“In other words, those who finish the pill refinement last will refine higher grade pills?”

“Correct.”

While they had been talking, another two people had finished their refinements. But the result was just as the elder said: they had no rings.

These two had no choice but to leave, as this had been their last set of medicinal ingredients. It had been extremely difficult for them to finish the refinement, but regretfully, there were no rings.

“Another person’s finished! Ah, what a pity, there’s only one ring.”

That was someone who had been listening to the crowd and weakened the strength of his flame. But unfortunately, it had already been too late. His late adjustment only caused one ring to appear.

Following that, many more people also finished their refinements. But the results were the same. They were all eliminated. The highest grade was only three rings.

There was no way around it. It wasn’t that they hadn’t wanted to refine it slower, but simply that they were unable to control the flame at the perfect temperature. If they went slightly too low, the pill would congeal. Such a lump wouldn’t even be called a pill anymore. It not only had no effect, but it was also full of toxins.

“Heavens, someone finally passed!”

“Junior masters Fang and Chai are also finishing up! Amazing, they each have three five-ring pills!”

This was the fourteenth hour. The sky had already darkened. But lanterns kept the surroundings bright as if it were still day.

The remaining alchemists all opened their furnaces, but only eighty-seven people had managed to meet the requirements to pass the elimination round. The failure rate had been ninety percent.

Up until now, the one with the best result was Duan Tianqiao. She was the only one to have refined a six-ring pill, and she was filled with pride.

However, the competition was still not over yet. Long San and Huo Wufang were still refining at a low temperature. Both of them were icily staring at the other, their gazes filled with provocation. They were obviously competing.

One hour… two hours… three hours… Their control over their Pill Flames was absolutely shocking. They continued all the way until the sky brightened once more.

“Time is about up. You should prepare to open your furnaces,” said the tower administrator, pointing to the sand. These two fellows had been staring at each other for a full night.

Two bangs rang out. Huo Wufang slowly opened his furnace, causing startled cries to ring out from the crowd.