The barrier of mist seemed ethereal as it blocked everyone's line of sight, leaving everyone stunned at the sudden change.The familiar wizened voice was heard again. "After choosing a furnace, a barrier will be placed around you, cutting off all contact with the outside world. When you've refined a pill or decided to give up, you can get rid of the barrier."Fane raised an eyebrow at this and could not help but feel impressed by the competition's organizer. Everything had been properly arranged. With the barrier, he would be spared a lot of trouble.He did not have to worry about anyone interrupting him. After all, he would be separated from the outside the moment the barrier was up. The person inside would not know how others were progressing and thus would not feel pressured. They would be able to get past five days peacefully.Fane let out a sigh as he frowned and looked at the furnaces. He could not control what everyone else was doing, but his only thought was just to quickly
If he truly failed to refine a Purple Sun Pill, he would be laughed at after he got back to White Marsh Continent. Even if he said that it was much harder this time, no one would care. After all, the Purple Sun Pill was a middle seventh-grade pill. To them, it was not hard at all!Thinking about that, he sighed as he looked up and said to Ethan, "Ethan, do you think that they'll still laugh at me if I fail to complete the Purple Sun Pill if I tell them that it has nine hundred eighty-three ancient pill runes?"That person truly cared about his dignity. He was worried that he would be laughed at.Ethan snorted, not even bothering to look back as he replied, "You've forgotten how they are. Do you think they'll care about your excuses? Failure is failure."No matter how reasonable your excuses are, they'll still ignore them. You'd better make sure you can refine a Purple Sun Pill. Otherwise, you'll be laughing stock when you get back."Ethan did not exaggerate anything nor did he hav
After two hours, 50 ancient pill runes had been perfectly condensed, with only two not condensed at fifty percent.When he condensed the 57th pill rune, he made a mistake, causing all of the pill runes from before to collapse with an audible blast.Fane frowned as he watched the pill runes regress into mere pill aura and sighed regretfully. The ancient pill runes were more difficult than regular pill runes, he would admit.It seemed like he would need to spend a lot of time synchronizing his body and mind.Even though Fane's pace could not be considered that quick, it was far better than everyone else's. Other than Fane, the one most confident in his abilities among the twenty-nine other alchemists was Ethan from White Marsh Continent.At that moment, Ethan sat cross-legged. He was not as lucky as Fane to have the memories of an ancient hero. He needed to memorize all of the ancient pill runes before he attempted condensing them.Time started to tick away. After a whole day, Etha
Not long after, the green glow disappeared after it had absorbed the jade tube as if it had never appeared before. Fane raised an eyebrow, no longer dwelling on the question.He left the furnace and headed to where alchemists of Hestia had gathered earlier. He turned to look at the barriers around the other furnaces. He was the only one whose barrier had dissipated.It meant that he was the first one to finish refining the pill and leave the barrier. He made a mental calculation and realized that it was already noon on the third day.He felt like most alchemists would not give up that easily, so there should only be people coming out on the fourth day onward. Thinking of this, he took out a mat from Mustard Seed and placed it on the floor before he shut his eyes to rest.Sure enough, Fane's prediction came true. Even if they might not garner fruitful results, everyone did the best they could. They would not come out of the barrier unless they were forced to.A whole day had passed
"The others might still be in their barriers, but it doesn't mean they're better than us just because they haven't stepped out. They're probably so stubborn and want to keep trying until timeout."The gray-robed man nodded after hearing that. He patted the white-robed man on the shoulder and said, "There's no need to be sad. There's nothing to be that sad about. It's clear how difficult this task is. I refuse to believe that their results will be much better than ours. We stood no chance to get a prize, anyway…"The white-robed man nodded, saying helplessly, "I just feel like I'm both unlucky and useless. This competition showed me how lacking I am. I'm going to work harder when I go back!"The other two nodded, clearly feeling like they were lacking, especially when compared to the other two worlds. They would no doubt remember the humiliation their whole lives and use that as motivation to work hard.Fane merely raised an eyebrow as he quietly sat by the side silently.The three
Fane pursed his lips, answering calmly, "Of course I think I can win. Just because I'm here doesn't mean I'll lose."This response silenced all three men instantly. They looked at Fane speechlessly, feeling like they were talking to a wall.All they were speaking were reasons and facts, yet Fane refused to listen. The three of them sighed helplessly as they decisively gave up on talking to Fane about this.They felt like Fane would probably never listen to them. There was only half a day left in the end. The competition was about to end, and Fane would clearly see that he was useless without them needing to explain anything.The three of them shook their heads silently as they turned and started to talk about other things.As time passed, more people started to come out of the barriers, with most of them visibly despondent. Only some looked happy as if they were confident in their results.The time finally came for the last two hours.At that moment, out of the 30 barriers aroun
Fane lightly snorted. "How long I can keep it up has nothing to do with you. You should focus on yourself. Are you confident that you can get the grand treasure?"Fane had not wanted to ask that last part, but he did not want to dwell on the problem with Nash, so he changed the topic.In truth, he was curious as to how confident Nash was.Nash frowned as his expression stiffened. After a while, he confidently boasted, "I'm fifty percent confident!"Everyone immediately got excited at that. Nash was not someone who liked to brag. Since Nash said he had a 50-percent chance, then he meant it.In truth, for the alchemists of Hestia, splitting a black treasure might make them happy, but it was still not enough to excite them.The reason they got excited was that getting a black treasure would let them gloat a little and vent a quarter of their frustration, at least. After all, Ethan had insulted them so much earlier, even telling them to not participate in the later rounds.He had sp
Right after Fane said that, the arguments immediately got louder, "You're just not willing to accept it! Are you looking down on Nash?! What is the meaning of this?!""Whatever, let's not bother with him anymore. This guy keeps on doing strange things. It doesn't matter what he's thinking, as long as we think that Nash has a good chance of getting a black treasure!"Just as the arguments were escalating, the final two barriers finally dispersed. Ethan and Emilio appeared in front of everyone. The alchemists from White Marsh Continent and Chaos Continent immediately stood up and welcomed them.Ethan and Emilio both had similar calm expressions. The two of them exchanged a look, and both of them could see the anger in their eyes. Ethan snorted as he held his head up high while he walked toward where White Marsh Continent was.Emilion frowned, not saying anything as he returned to Chaos Continent's position.Ethan was the first to speak, "Don't worry. The golden treasure from this ro