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**
"Right, Xian'er, go and bring Qing Lin inside," Wei Yang said to Xian'er before stepping onto the stage.
"Oh? Master Wei still has friends outside? There's no need to trouble Madam; I'll go instead," the Tier 3 alchemist in charge of the assessment quickly stood up and offered.
"Qing Lin is a bit shy with strangers, so I'd better go," Xian'er politely refused with a smile, turning to walk toward the entrance.
Refining a Dou Spirit Pill without using an Heavenly Flame would take quite a bit longer — possibly a full day and night.
Therefore, it wasn't possible to just leave Qing Lin outside waiting alone.
...
After this little interlude, Wei Yang no longer paid attention to it and directly stepped onto the stage.
With a wave of his hand, he moved aside the standard-issue cauldron, and with a flick of his wrist—
Boom!
A bronze cauldron, half the height of a man, landed heavily on the platform.
"What a fine cauldron!"
Naturally, among the crowd below, there was no shortage of discerning individuals. Upon seeing this, their eyes lit up, and they secretly praised it in their hearts.
Wei Yang waved his hand again and took out a meditation cushion. He lifted the hem of his robe, sat cross-legged, and stretched out his palm.
With a thought—
Whoosh~
A ball of pure black flame danced to life in his palm, then was tossed into the cauldron, roaring to life.
This wasn't the Black Sun Burning Heaven Flame, just Dou Qi flames — but it still carried some of the properties of the Black Sun Burning Heaven Flame. As a result, its temperature was higher than ordinary Dou Qi flames, comparable to a slightly weaker Rank 6 Beast Flame.
While warming the cauldron, Wei Yang waved his hand again, and more than a dozen jade bottles and jade boxes floated out, landing neatly on the ground beside him.
It was honestly a little laughable.
In his possession, the most abundant and complete stock he had... was none other than the ingredients for the Dou Spirit Pill.
He had multiple complete sets, fully stocked.
Besides what he'd collected before, during his dealings with the Snake-People Clan and Queen Medusa, he had also kept three full sets of ingredients.
And since he had promised to help Ya Fei refine one Dou Spirit Pill, she had to provide him with three sets of ingredients in exchange.
Therefore, the one he was about to refine — barring any accidents — would be handed over to Ya Fei. By then, he would still have two extra sets of ingredients left.
Sweeping his gaze over the ingredients, confirming there were no problems, Wei Yang slowly closed his eyes, entering a meditative state.
Refining a Dou Spirit Pill without a Heavenly Flame — it wasn't his first time, but he still had to put in his full effort.
Otherwise, if he were to fail... not only would he waste a full set of rare ingredients, but more importantly, it would be an utter embarrassment.
Although everyone would understand, this was clearly not the kind of setting where failure was acceptable.
...
A moment later—
The large door creaked open a crack, and Xian'er entered, leading a curious Qing Lin and a somewhat nervous Ya Fei inside.
How could Ya Fei possibly miss such an occasion?
After asking Xian'er and learning that a gathering of top alchemy elders was happening inside — and that Wei Yang was about to perform a public pill refinement — Ya Fei simply couldn't bring herself to leave. So she thickened her skin and followed along.
Xian'er hadn't refused her either. Since they came together, and since Ya Fei wanted to come inside, she simply brought her along.
Upon entering the hall, one glance was enough for them to see Wei Yang seated cross-legged atop the stage, and in the front row below — seated there — were all the most prestigious elders of the Alchemist Association.
Seeing this, Ya Fei immediately became so tense that she didn't even dare to breathe too heavily, her footsteps becoming light and cautious.
But even though she tried her best to tread lightly, the sharp taps of her high heels still echoed crisply through the solemn and silent hall — a series of sharp tap-tap-taps — drawing quite a few displeased glances.
Even Wei Yang on the stage slightly opened his eyes to glance over.
Ya Fei lowered her head so much that her chin nearly buried itself into her ample chest, cursing herself bitterly — why did she have to wear high heels today?
"Madam Wei, and ladies, please sit here," the Tier 3 alchemist who had earlier stood up now quietly said, pointing to a spot beside him.
In the second row, two seats had been left open on purpose. Once he stood up, a third seat became available.
As for himself, he silently moved back and sat down in the third row.
Xian'er nodded to him with a smile, then led the two women to sit down in the second row.
...
Time passed slowly.
Yet no one present showed any sign of impatience — instead, they all sat like meditating monks, quietly waiting.
Finally, after a while—
The elders sitting in the front row slightly lifted their eyelids, a faint light flashing in their eyes.
At the same moment, Wei Yang also slowly opened his eyes.
The cauldron warming was complete.
He formed a hand seal.
Whoosh—
The flame inside the cauldron surged, burning even fiercer than before.
With a thought—
Whoosh~
More than a dozen jade bottles and jade boxes simultaneously opened.
The medicinal ingredients inside floated out, slowly rotating around Wei Yang.
Down below, everyone's eyes widened in disbelief, their faces filled with shock.
Such a scene— Could it be?!
Sure enough— Just as that thought emerged in their minds—
Swoosh~
All the floating medicinal ingredients flew directly into the cauldron.
Whoosh—
The black flames inside the cauldron surged, splitting into more than a dozen separate streams, each enveloping a single medicinal ingredient, beginning the process of burning and refining. Each group of flames operated clearly and distinctly, without interfering with the others.
Immediately, within the cauldron, a strange sight appeared — it was as if more than a dozen small black suns were orbiting, slowly rotating.
Seeing this—
Hiss—
A wave of sharp inhalations echoed from the crowd below.
Everyone was thoroughly stunned by this display.
After all, this was a Dou Spirit Pill!
Each medicinal ingredient was not only extremely precious, but they all required extremely precise control of heat, temperature, and timing — even the slightest error could cause complete failure.
And yet Master Wei dared to refine all of them at once?!
Either he was truly exceptionally skilled and confident—
Or he was simply ignorant of the danger, showing off without understanding.
But would Wei Yang be ignorant of such things?
Obviously not.
Not to mention, on an occasion like today, no one would dare to mess around.
And judging by Wei Yang's calm face, without even the slightest sign of strain — on the contrary, he looked completely accustomed to it — it was clear that this operation was effortless for him.
As a result, everyone was not only shocked but also filled with deep admiration.
"What a profound and exquisite fire control technique!"
"He's already reached such a level?" President Fa Ma murmured softly, his gaze complicated, filled with a mix of joy, relief, and a hint of self-mockery.
Then he bitterly shook his head and sighed, "I am far inferior to him — and not just by a little. I've really lived my years in vain!"
Beside him, Vice President Qie Mi Er also forced a bitter smile, full of admiration, sighing, "Even the president says so — then isn't the gap between us even greater? Sigh, truly breathtaking…"
The surrounding elders were all speechless.
The evaluations of the two guild leaders were not concealed but were instead spoken out loud in front of everyone, which only added to the shock in everyone's hearts.
Ya Fei was almost scared silly.
No matter how hard she tried, she could never have imagined that the Mr. Wei she had known and interacted with for years — who always spoke kindly, acted gently, and had no airs about him — would actually be such an absolute powerhouse, far more formidable than she had ever imagined!
As for Xian'er and Qing Lin, their expressions remained calm, as if used to this kind of scene.
Because Wei Yang often operated like this.
In their hearts, they simply believed — refining pills should always be done this way. There was nothing particularly surprising about it.
After all, Wei Yang had said before:
When refining pills, wasn't it natural to throw all the ingredients in together and refine them at once?
Unless it was a particularly special pill recipe or a unique ingredient that required specific handling.
Otherwise, refining one ingredient at a time would just be a waste of effort and time.
Can't manage them all at once?
If you're that weak, it just proves your alchemy skills aren't up to par. Even if you forcibly tried, your chances of failure would be far higher.
Since it's a forced effort, why waste rare ingredients? Better to keep practicing and wait until you're truly ready before attempting real pill refinements.
This was why, Wei Yang believed, the majority of alchemists — even when refining pills of their own rank — had a success rate of only around thirty percent, sometimes even less.
Because even though they stood at that rank, their skills barely matched it.
To have a thirty percent success rate was already considered qualified for their tier.
Wei Yang disagreed with this.
In his view, if you didn't have at least a fifty percent success rate, you had no right to call yourself that tier of alchemist.
If you lacked the skill, you lacked it. No point in pretending otherwise.
Without a fifty percent chance, how could you shamelessly claim the title and go around wasting precious materials?
On this point, Xian'er agreed deeply.
In her mind, wasting so much precious medicinal material was an utterly shameful act.
If you couldn't even guarantee a single pill out of three full sets of ingredients — such wastefulness was something she utterly despised.
...
Time flowed by.
Very soon, a full day and night had passed.
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