Looking up at the round pill shooting forth, Xiao Yan's expression remained calm. With a simple hand gesture, he drew the pill into his palm with a gentle suction. At the very moment he grasped the pill, the final grains of sand within the massive hourglass completely cascaded down. Instantly, a hundred red lights illuminated across the vast plaza, rising from the stone platforms before the alchemists who had not yet finished refining their finished pills. Frowning at the flickering red glows, these alchemists only managed a weary shake of their heads, then returned their cauldrons and walked out of the plaza with heavy hearts. Standing behind the green platform, Xiao Yan watched the contestants file out one after another. Surveying the scene, he was somewhat surprised to find that, even in the first round of the competition, nearly one-third of the participants had already been eliminated—something that truly underscored the rigor and strictness of the event. Holding the pill in his hands, Xiao Yan turned his head and glanced toward Liu Ling, who was currently smiling proudly, tossing the pill gently in his hands with a look of satisfied confidence. When Xiao Yan looked at him, Liu Ling steadied the pill firmly in his grasp and smiled warmly, saying, "Mr. Yanxiao, your luck truly is remarkable—you managed to complete the pill just at the very last moment. You were the top performer in the internal testing, after all. If you hadn't cleared this round, that would indeed be quite a stretch." "Liu Ling smiled, knowing that he certainly didn't want Xiao Yan to simply erase his achievements with a single statement. "Hmm, perhaps that's true..." With a shrug, Xiao Yan didn't waste any more words, simply turned to the young princess beside him, bowed politely, and then raised his gaze toward Fang Ma on the guest platform, waiting for him to speak. Frank also wore a wry smile, with a touch of relief: "Well, at least we managed to complete the trial just in time. Otherwise, if the top performer in internal testing had failed even the first round, that would truly have been a major embarrassment..." Hearing this, Otto nodded in deep agreement. If that had really happened, he'd simply pack up and head straight back to Blackrock. Standing at the front, Falmah looked down upon the vast plaza with a calm, slightly amused expression, her gaze sweeping over the contestants—now reduced by a third—before giving a gentle nod. With a subtle press of her hands, the bustling crowd gradually fell into quiet. "Congratulations to all of you still standing on the plaza—your initial screening has been successfully completed. However, this is not yet the end..." Fama smiled. "I'm sure you're all aware that some clever ones always manage to introduce rather mysterious challenges. They may have successfully crafted pills that appear perfectly round, yet these pills offer absolutely no healing effects—essentially, they bear little or no relation to the very concept of medicine. Therefore, what follows is our assessment of whether your 'Bone-Reviving Pills' truly meet the original prescription requirements." Fama's slightly hoarse voice slowly echoed through each of the participants: "Now, please locate the green button at the lower left corner of your jade platform and press it." Upon hearing this, Xiao Yan glanced over the stone platform, finally settling his gaze on the less conspicuous corner in the lower left area, where he was somewhat astonished to find several small buttons of different colors arranged in a scattered manner. With his finger resting on the green button as instructed, he gently pressed it down. As the button was pressed, the smooth jade-like stone platform suddenly trembled subtly. On the surface, a stone slab slowly rose, and after rising half a foot, the surface stone slightly indented, eventually revealing a small circular hole. "This is a testing apparatus. Simply place the 'Reviving Bone Pills' you've prepared into it. If they meet the required standards, a green light will illuminate the jade mirror ahead; if not, a red light will appear—signaling failure. In that case, the outcome is elimination. The brighter the green light, the more closely your pills match the specific effects described in the prescription. Conversely, the more intense the red light, the less effective your pills are—indicating that you've actually produced something entirely different from a 'Reviving Bone Pill,' perhaps merely a bland, nourishing confection that at least provides sustenance." At this point, several alchemists had already begun casting their prepared pills into the testing apparatus. Not long after the pills were introduced, the once-empty plaza suddenly burst into vibrant hues—interwoven flashes of green and red light, alternating between bright and subdued, casting a mixture of joy and gloom across the scene. A bunch of old sticks... Thanks to all the effort I've put into combining those herbs, you still come up with a test! For heaven's sake—just a prescription, with nothing but the names of the herbs! What on earth am I supposed to do with that? As he spoke, his voice full of frustration, Xiao Yan couldn't help but feel both amused and a bit moved. He never expected someone so lively to pass such an intense evaluation. With this round of testing, at least a hundred pharmacists—some flushed, others red-faced—had already left the plaza. "Hehe, Mr. Yan Xiao, let's go together," the young princess said, tossing her prepared pill into the air and suddenly smiling at Xiao Yan. "Whatever..." Xiao Yan shrugged indifferently, turning his head to glance at Liu Ling, who was also intently staring at him. The air between them now carried a strong sense of competition. Xiao Yan smiled slightly. At the same moment, the three of them each tossed their pills into the dark testing chamber. Three beams of green light— the one on the left was slightly fainter, the one on the right a bit brighter—while the central beam of green light had already turned as vivid and lustrous as jade, its hue exceptionally appealing. … "Heh, indeed, Rock-Phoenix still holds the upper hand," said Fama, smiling gently as he gazed at the three brilliant beams of light rising from the plaza. "Had it not been for that young man's purple flame suddenly fading earlier, he would have surely finished preparing the elixir before Li Ling. Heh—he told me long ago that this youngster's skill in preparing medicinal concoctions was far beyond that of these fresh-faced apprentices." Hai Bo Dong beamed with pride. "That person..." The old man's eyes slightly narrowed, flashes of sharpness dancing in his cloudy gaze. Fama gently tapped the railing with his finger, murmuring, "That fellow seems quite strong..." "Oh?" Hearing this, both Haibo Dong and Jia La were momentarily surprised, their attention instantly drawn to the gray-robed figure. Yet, they furrowed their brows, expressing doubt, "We didn't notice anything unusual." "You're not healers, so your sensitivity to spiritual energy isn't particularly sharp. But in my perception, that man's spiritual energy is likely stronger than Li Ling's, Yu'er's, even Rock Xiao's—probably the strongest among all on the lower plaza. I remember when Gu He first participated in the Healer's Assembly; his spiritual energy wasn't quite as strong as this man's back then." Shaking his head, Fama frowned, his gaze fixed intently on the plaza below. Suddenly, a brilliant green light column erupted from the stone platform before the gray-robed figure, its brilliance nearly surpassing the green glow of Xiao Yan. The sudden surge of intense green light instantly captured everyone's attention. When the crowd realized that the one producing such a luminous column was merely a gray-robed figure standing in a quiet corner, they all stared in astonishment. The sudden surge of intense green light also captured the attention of Xiao Yan and his companions. Gazing at the beam of light, which was even more concentrated than his own, Xiao Yan was momentarily taken aback. He furrowed his brows, fixing his gaze on the enigmatic figure wrapped entirely in gray robes. He hadn't expected, at this very moment, to suddenly encounter such a remarkable individual—someone clearly not among the participants of the internal evaluation tests, both in stature and positioning. Staring in astonishment at the suddenly emerged strong competitor, both Princess Xiao and Liu Ling were full of surprise, exchanging glances with each other, looking utterly bewildered. ... "Chelsea, get me his profile," said Fama suddenly, turning to Chelsea at the front desk of the VIP section and speaking in a firm tone. When Chelsea noticed something was amiss at the moment when Hafm expressed surprise, she quickly identified the location number of the gray-robed figure and promptly drew out a stack of documents from the Ring of Power, flipping through them swiftly. After a while, the flipping slowed and eventually stopped, revealing a thin sheet of paper bearing the portrait of the enigmatic gray-robed figure. This time, however, the gray-robed figure featured a clear facial close-up—a young man with pale, cold skin and striking blue eyes, appearing to be no more than sixteen or seventeen years old, so youthful that it seemed strangely unusual. She handed the document to Hafm, who furrowed his brows and read it carefully. After a moment, his expression changed, and he said, "Is this the herbalist from the Chuyun Empire?" In strict terms, the Yashima and Gamma Empires are frequently at war, and due to Yashima's strong admiration for the profession of "Toxicists"—their arch-rivals—the legitimate pharmacists of the Gamma Empire hold a lukewarm regard for them. Most importantly, whenever the two empires go to war, the Toxicists consistently resort to underhanded tactics, releasing poisons, powders, and liquids at various points along the battlefield, resulting in a staggering number of Gamma Empire soldiers dying in each conflict. Within Yashima itself, however, the domestic pharmacists do not strongly oppose the Toxicists; some even collaborate with them. This has led to considerable anger and disdain among the Gamma pharmacists toward these very professionals, who seem to have betrayed the very principles of the pharmaceutical world. It is precisely for this reason that when Fama noticed the enigmatic gray-robed figure to be a native of the Yashima Empire, his expression grew somewhat displeased. "How can it only list him as a Second-Rank Alchemist? Based on the spiritual energy I sensed earlier, that person should be at least a Fourth-Rank Alchemist!" Mapha frowned, glancing at the rank recorded in the documents. "A Fourth-Rank Alchemist at seventeen? President, do you think that's possible? Regardless of how talented he may be, alchemy requires time and accumulated experience." Chelsea chuckled weakly. "My sense of spiritual energy hasn't failed me..." Mapha shook his head, his gaze firmly fixed on the young face. For some reason, he always felt this face slightly unusual. "Could it be that he's disguised? The skill with which he prepares the pills is far beyond what one would expect from a teenager." Mapha murmured softly. "If he's disguised, he certainly won't escape our notice." "Jia Lao smiled faintly. As he spoke, his eyes subtly swept toward the spot where Xiao Yan stood below the plaza—clearly, he had noticed Xiao Yan's disguise, though for some reason, he had not yet revealed it. "That man is hiding himself so well. During a competition like this, we simply can't pause the event and ask him to remove his hat, can we? Otherwise, people would say our Jia Ma Imperial Pharmacy Guild is overly domineering and impolite." Mafu sighed, speaking with a touch of resignation. "If he won't remove it himself, then perhaps we should do it for him..." Haidong stood up, approaching Mafu and murmuring a smile. "Will you... not be noticed?" Mafu's expression shifted, and he hesitated, asking. "Hehe, although my strength has slightly declined these days, I'm still capable of skillfully manipulating the cold flow—unconsciously turning that fragile robe into powder. This I can certainly manage..." Hai Bode chuckled, naturally knowing that if a Yun Empire alchemist achieved champion status at the Gamma Empire's alchemist gathering, it would be a significant embarrassment for the others, especially the Fahu family. "For such delicate, precise control—indeed, it's truly the perfect application of my ice-based qi. My qi tends to be forceful and powerful, capable of cleaving mountains and splitting rocks. But right now, it's not quite sufficient," added the elder alchemist, shaking his head. "Well then... I'll rely on you," said Fahu, nodding slightly after a brief pause and speaking softly. With a smile, Hai Bode gradually narrowed his eyes, extending his dry fingers from his robe, gently flicking them. As his fingers moved, a subtle, unusual ripple quietly spread outward. As Hai Bo Dong moved silently, Jia La and Fama approached him slightly, as though discussing something—yet in doing so, they effectively blocked the view of the others around them. "Looks like something has gone wrong at the assembly," murmured Yafei, her gaze thoughtful as she watched the trio of Hai Bo Dong a few paces ahead. With years of experience, she had clearly noticed that since the surge of green light earlier, Fama's expression had grown somewhat strained, and Chelsea's careful review of the documents confirmed certain developments. "Hm. That enigmatic gray-robed figure seems to have disrupted the assembly's order," nodded Tian Ye and Nalan Yanran, neither of whom were merely spectators. Everything Yafei had observed, they had also noticed. "The 'Reviving Bone Pill' crafted by that gray-robed figure seems even more outstanding than the ones prepared by Rock Hawk and the other two of them. We originally thought this championship event would be a fierce rivalry among these three, yet now, suddenly, a surprising contender has emerged..." Yafei furrowed her delicate brows, murmuring in quiet resignation. As Sea Po Dong tightened his grip, the gray-robed figure, who had just been about to shift his posture, suddenly saw his hat atop his head transform into a sudden flurry of powder, then cascade down. The hat vanished, and the youthful face concealed beneath it immediately came into view under the collective gaze of the audience. Instantly, a series of gasps echoed through both the audience and the贵宾 sections—no one had expected that the young man who had secured the top score in the first round would be so youthful and fresh-faced. The young man with blue eyes reached out and gently touched the spot where the hat had once been. After a moment, he suddenly lifted his gaze, fixing icy, piercing eyes upon Sea Po Dong and the three guests seated at the front of the VIP section. "This guy is no ordinary fellow—he doesn't just detect my cold aura; he can even pinpoint my exact location." Gazing steadily at the gray-robed youth, Haibo Dong rubbed his chin, chuckling coldly. "I don't know why he appears so youthful, but if he truly is just seventeen as the records state, then I, Haibo Dong, have no reason to continue showing myself. I could simply retire and spend my remaining days in seclusion." Fama and Jia gently narrowed their eyes, slowly nodding in agreement.