“Disciple gives up.”

Immediately, a portion of the disciples directly gave up.

These disciples were indignant. Many of their cultivation bases were at the Foundation Forging realm or below. Some were only at the Sea Expansion realm. They obviously couldn’t refine a ninth tier pill.

According to normal standards, a ninth tier pill could only be refined by a Jade Core expert. But in Pill Valley, those standards were overthrown.

Pill Valley always changed the difficulty of the pill to be refined. Sometimes it would be easy, sometimes it would be difficult. But this trial was held every two months, so failing this time wasn’t terrible. As long as their ranking didn’t fall out of the top thousand, they could try again.

Those people who had given up could only blame their bad luck and prepare to test their luck next time. They knew that just refining ninth tier medicinal ingredients into powders was their limit. As for refining a true ninth tier pill, it was a joke. Their Spiritual Strength couldn’t handle such exhaustion.

For almost half the contestants to leave at once didn’t surprise the Soul Transformation experts at all. They were indifferent to this, clearly having long since expected such a thing.

The remaining alchemists had bitter expressions. They had stayed behind, mostly by thickening their faces. They were quite sure they couldn’t refine it.

There were seventy to eighty Jade Core alchemists amongst the people being tested. But they felt even more panicked than the Foundation Forging disciples. Their higher cultivation bases also signified their ages far surpassed these people.

Within Pill Valley, the younger you were and the lower your cultivation base, the greater room for growth you had. Other sects’ disciples did their best to raise their cultivation bases, but Pill Valley’s disciples did their best to suppress their cultivation bases from growing.

The lower their cultivation bases, the easier it would be to comprehend certain alchemy techniques, and the more solid their foundation would be. Once their cultivation bases were higher, it would be difficult to fix the fundamental flaws in their alchemy.

It was like an adult and a youth had the same talent. The younger one would definitely be able to adapt easier, because their minds were still flexible.

Once these Jade Core disciples reached the Soul Transformation realm, their alchemy arts would no longer be up to par with Pill Valley’s standards for people of their cultivation base. They would be expelled from Pill Valley and sent to work in the Pill Towers without any chance of returning to cultivate in Pill Valley.

Although they were doing their best to suppress their cultivation bases, refining pills meant using their core flame, and that was a passive form of cultivation in and of itself. It was impossible for them to not advance eventually.

These Jade Core disciples looked young, but in truth, even the youngest was in his fifties. His cultivation base was about to reach the peak of the Jade Core realm. Once he broke through to Soul Transformation, he would be expelled.

Long Chen looked around. Seeing how nervous everyone else was about this pill, he relaxed quite a bit.

If their expressions had been relaxed, he would have felt much more pressure.

All of them began taking out their Pill Flames and warming their furnaces. All their movements were identical.

If the outside world’s alchemists were to come here, they would definitely die of envy. That was because all these disciples’ Pill Flames were Earth Flames.

It had to be known that in the Eastern Wasteland, the Earth Flame Long Chen had obtained had been the envy of all. Even the Pill Tower hadn’t had an Earth Flame, or the Chai and Fang family’s heads wouldn’t have wanted to kill him to take his Earth Flame.

Just thinking about it made him sigh. Long Chen wasn’t quite able to understand how Pill Valley was so rich but the Eastern Wasteland’s Pill Tower was so poor. Why weren’t they willing to give out a few Earth Flames? Otherwise, the Chai and Fang’s family heads wouldn’t have turned against him, and their fates might have changed.

At this time, people were already starting to refine their ingredients, and Long Chen didn’t tarry. To be low-key, he used the same alchemy techniques as all of them.

However, he couldn’t be too complacent. He had to show his value. Zhuo Tianxiang and the others would only have viewed him importantly if he was valuable, and that was his only chance at obtaining the Nirvana Scripture.

Long Chen’s Pill Flame suddenly began to grow stronger. He was starting to burn his Spiritual Strength to increase the power of his Pill Flame.

A terrifying heat rose, causing the surrounding people to jump.

“Hmph, what a flowery trick. How could a Foundation Forging disciple refine a ninth tier medicinal pill? He couldn’t possibly possess the soul energy required,” sneered some Jade Core disciples.

The Foundation Forging disciples present all felt that they had pretty much no hope. They were simply doing this to experience the refinement of this pill. They had no hopes of forming a pill. Most importantly, they wanted to see if others could refine this pill.

According to reason, a Foundation Forging disciple’s Spiritual Strength should have no problem refining the medicinal ingredients, and it should have no problem during the pill refinement process. It was only at the final moment that they would stumble. By the time they were about to condense the pill, they would have no more Spiritual Strength.

The final part, condensing the pills, took the most energy. Normally, alchemists would reserve fifty percent or more of their Spiritual Strength to control that final burst of energy.

For Foundation Forging disciples, just refining the ingredients would use up over half their energy. Without using up that much, it would be impossible to extract the essence within those tough ingredients.

For Long San, someone only at the Foundation Forging realm, to actually start wasting his Spiritual Strength to boost the power of his Pill Flame, it was viewed as making things even worse for himself. Despite knowing that he had no chance of succeeding, he still wanted to draw attention to himself.

Even that elder on his side who had spoken to him was startled. The higher-ups had told him to help Long San as much as possible, but he couldn’t figure out Long San’s current actions. The competition’s difficulty was already so high, but he was making it even harder for himself.

For it to be hard wasn’t bad, nor was it unfair. If it was easy, everyone would have good results, and the top three would advance. And if it was difficult, all their results would be bad, and it would still be the top three that would advance.

In any case, three people would be joining the Divine Pill Hall, and the three lowest ranking members of the Divine Pill Hall would be kicked out.

Disciples that were kicked out of the Divine Pill Hall weren’t simply allowed to try again. They would be forced out of Pill Valley and sent to the Pill Towers.

If you weren’t strong enough, then even once you entered the Divine Pill Hall, you would only get two months. If you didn’t advance enough in that time and were ranked in the bottom three, then you would only ever get those two months in the Divine Pill Hall.

It was precisely because of this high difficulty that all of Pill Valley’s disciples went all-out cultivating their alchemy arts. Even the Divine Pill Hall’s disciples were in danger.

But Long Chen’s current actions were very foolish, and people couldn’t comprehend what he was doing. However, with so many people present, even the people on his side couldn’t warn him. They could only watch.

Boosting his Pill Flame with his Spiritual Strength was like adding oil to fire. The power of his Earth Flame roared. One reason Long Chen did this was to show off his power, and another was to purify the medicinal ingredients. That way, his chances of succeeding in this refinement would be higher.

During this time, if he hadn’t come to Pill Valley, his alchemy arts would have been wasting away. During the Foundation Forging realm, he hadn’t refined many medicinal pills to assist his cultivation.

If he hadn’t been doing that stupid studying, he really might be worried whether or not he could refine a ninth tier medicinal pill.

A bang came from his medicinal furnace, and he poured all his medicinal powders inside, sealing the furnace.

“He’s sealed the furnace already?”

The other disciples were all startled. No one else had even refined half their medicinal ingredients yet.

“Hmph, is it amazing to exhaust your Spiritual Strength faster than everyone else? Do you want to show off?” sneered a Jade Core disciple not far from him.

This competition did not prevent disciples from speaking. As long as they didn’t maliciously try to distract them, the people overseeing the competition wouldn’t care.

Long Chen lowered his head and acted like he couldn’t hear that person. He had to act like a good student, an obedient child. This was very important.

That was why since arriving at Pill Valley, whenever someone provoked or even cursed him, he would always act very timid. This was what he wanted.

Just as the fastest Jade Core disciples had finished refining their medicinal ingredients and were preparing to seal their furnaces, a rumbling sound suddenly came from Long Chen’s furnace.

“He… he’s finished already?!” Those disciples were all shocked.

Only now did they realize that while his Pill Flame was like a blooming lotus wrapped all around his furnace, his Spiritual Strength hadn’t weakened at all. Instead, it gushed forth like a tsunami, increasing the power of his Pill Flame to its peak. It was no wonder he finished his refinement so fast.

Those disciples that had mocked him were now staring at him lifelessly.

Even the elders overseeing this, the ones whose expressions looked like they were frozen in eternal ice, were shocked. Long Chen’s Spiritual Strength was shockingly vast, practically endless.

The rumbling sound continued like a monster was struggling within, trying to break free.

“Now’s the critical moment!”

Many disciples were focused on him now. The fluctuations coming from his pill furnace suddenly began to weaken, but this was the calm before the storm, the dark before the light. Ninety-nine percent of pills that failed were ruined here.

BOOM!

His pill furnace violently shook and terrifying energy spurted out of it. If at this time, the alchemist’s Spiritual Strength was not strong enough, they wouldn’t be able to suppress this berserk energy. Once this energy escaped their control, all their efforts would be ruined. Even if the pill formed, it would be a garbage pill.

A spiritual hand slammed into the pill furnace, sealing it tight. It was like an unmoving mountain and was extremely domineering.

“Heavens, he still has the energy to use a soul art now? Just how much Spiritual Strength does he possess?!” All the disciples were shocked.

For most disciples, their souls would be exhausted at this point. They would need to form spiritual seals around the furnace in advance to seal the berserk energy.

But Long Chen hadn’t prepared anything. He had just slammed a spiritual hand down when the energy had been about to burst, completely suppressing it. That was too arrogant, wasn’t it?

Long Chen slowly opened his furnace, revealing nine round medicinal pills calmly lying within. He couldn’t help but shake his head.