Chapter 00273: First Place
# First Place
Chapter 273
Novel: Abandon The Universe
Chapter 273: First Place
Liu Xunshang, who had purified the third-grade spirit herb, Star Melody Fruit, with a purity of 70.65%, secured the fifth position and advanced to the second round.
From a distance, Liu Xunshang pursed her lips and frowned slightly.
She had aimed for the top two, but ending up in fifth place was far beyond her expectations.
Fu Quanyu, who purified the third-grade spirit herb, Snow Copper Flower, with a purity of 71.23%, took fourth place and advanced to the second round.
Sitting in the front row, Fu Quanyu was equally stunned.
He had expected to be in the top two, but now he found himself in fourth place.
As the top disciple of Yi Yiming, the foremost alchemy expert of the Eternal Jade Alchemy Sect, he couldn’t accept not even making it into the top three.
Hai Chengjiang, who purified the third-grade spirit herb, Star Melody Fruit, with a purity of 72.75%, secured third place and advanced to the second round.
This result didn’t surprise anyone.
Although Hai Chengjiang was participating in the alchemy competition, he wasn’t a disciple of the sect.
He was an elder of the alchemy division, but his age still met the competition requirements.
Xin Wuhe, who purified the third-grade spirit herb, Star Melody Fruit, with a purity of 80.61%, took second place and advanced to the second round.
Seeing Xin Wuhe’s purification rate exceed 80% yet still only securing second place caused a stir among the crowd.
Xin Wuhe himself was puzzled.
Could there have been a mistake? His purification rate was over 80%.
In the Eternal Jade Alchemy Sect, he couldn’t think of anyone who could purify Star Melody Fruit better than him.
Not only Xin Wuhe, but even Yi Yiming and Sect Master Xiao Yueshui were surprised as they looked at Lou Qianyun.
The first round of the alchemy competition was overseen by Lou Qianyun and Guan He, but even they couldn’t directly determine the purity of the elixirs.
The purity was determined by a formation.
Could there really be someone in the Eternal Jade Alchemy Sect who was better than Xin Wuhe? Many eyes turned to Guang Jie.
Only fifty people remained in the competition area, and all of them were well-known within the sect—except for Guang Jie.
Dai Jingning was also dumbfounded as she looked at Guang Jie.
Could there have been a mistake? Out of the fifty people in the competition area, forty-nine had been announced, leaving only the first place unannounced.
Before anyone could ask, the ranking screen displayed the first-place winner.
Guang Jie, who purified the third-grade spirit herb, Scarlet Sky Three-Leaf Sprout, with a purity of 86.79%, took first place and advanced to the second round.
The square erupted into chaos.
This was clearly impossible.
How could the ranking screen show such an unbelievable result?
Leaving aside whether Guang Jie could purify a third-grade spirit herb to over 86% purity, even a fourth-grade grand alchemist would find it difficult to purify Scarlet Sky Three-Leaf Sprout to 86.79%.
How old was Guang Jie? How could she purify Scarlet Sky Three-Leaf Sprout to 86.79%?
Hu Tian chuckled as he looked at Dai Jingning beside him. “Guang Jie is your disciple, right? Impressive! She took first place and even purified Scarlet Sky Three-Leaf Sprout to 86.79%. Amazing.”
Dai Jingning sighed inwardly.
She ignored Hu Tian.
This misunderstanding wasn’t good for Guang Jie.
“Elder Lou, what’s going on?” Xiao Yueshui asked, puzzled, as he looked at Lou Qianyun.
Lou Qianyun stood up and said, “I’m not sure either. I’ve been paying attention to Guang Jie because she was the only one who chose Scarlet Sky Three-Leaf Sprout. I thought it would be impressive if she could purify it to around 30%, but I never expected her to reach 86.79%. Even I would find it difficult to achieve such a result.”
As he spoke, Lou Qianyun waved his hand, and a jade bottle appeared before everyone.
When the bottle was opened, Yi Yiming was the first to speak. “There’s no mistake. This is indeed close to 87% purity. Impressive, truly impressive.”
Xiao Yueshui laughed. “I never expected our Eternal Jade Alchemy Sect to have such a hidden talent.”
Before Lou Qianyun could speak, Yi Yiming stood up and declared, “We’ve just examined Guang Jie’s purified Scarlet Sky Three-Leaf Sprout. It’s indeed close to 87% purity. This result is valid.”
With Yi Yiming, a fifth-grade grand alchemist, confirming the result, no one dared to question it further.
Dai Jingning was even more stunned.
Guang Jie was her disciple, and she knew her capabilities well.
But how could this be? Even Elder Yi Yiming had confirmed Guang Jie’s result.
Hu Tian’s mouth hung open.
He had been certain there was a mistake, but now that a fifth-grade grand alchemist had confirmed Guang Jie’s result, it meant Guang Jie had truly purified Scarlet Sky Three-Leaf Sprout to 86.79%.
Guang Jie herself hadn’t expected to so easily take first place in the first round.
Back then, Xiaobu had once purified Scarlet Sky Three-Leaf Sprout for her to see.
According to Xiaobu, it was difficult to purify Scarlet Sky Three-Leaf Sprout to 100%.
Purifying it to over 90% would be enough to challenge the fourth-grade grand alchemist level.
At the time, Guang Jie hadn’t paid much attention to Xiaobu’s words.
But now, she wondered—had Xiaobu already been able to purify Scarlet Sky Three-Leaf Sprout to nearly 100%?
After Yi Yiming sat down, Lou Qianyun stood up again and announced, “The first round of the competition has ended, and a new disciple has given us a pleasant surprise. She purified Scarlet Sky Three-Leaf Sprout to 86.79%, making us even more excited for the second round of the alchemy competition. In the second round, there are two types of pills to choose from: the second-grade Immortal Yuan Pill and the third-grade Void-Breaking Pill. However, only those who purified third-grade spirit herbs in the first round can choose the Void-Breaking Pill.”
Hearing about the Void-Breaking Pill, the crowd grew excited.
The spirit herbs for the Void-Breaking Pill were extremely rare.
This pill allowed Golden Immortals to break through to the Profound Immortal realm, and each pill was worth a fortune.
Guang Jie didn’t hesitate to choose the Void-Breaking Pill.
She had refined this pill before.
Xiaobu was truly wealthy—among the spirit herbs he had given her, not only were there the main ingredients for the Void-Breaking Pill, but there were also the main ingredients for the Silent Yi Immortal Pill.
The spirit herbs for the Void-Breaking Pill were quickly delivered to Guang Jie.
She inspected them.
The main ingredient for the Void-Breaking Pill was Heavenly Profound Grass, which was relatively easy to purify.
However, when refining the Void-Breaking Pill, it was crucial to add the Heavenly Profound Grass last.
Guang Jie ignited the earth fire, cleaned the cauldron, and began purifying the spirit herbs one by one…
Unlike the first round, where many had focused on Xin Wuhe and Fu Quanyu, in this second round, almost everyone’s attention was on Guang Jie.
Especially Dai Jingning, who couldn’t take her eyes off Guang Jie.
If it weren’t for the rule against using divine sense to spy, she would have extended her divine sense to observe Guang Jie closely.
Seeing Guang Jie’s skilled purification techniques, Dai Jingning realized she hadn’t paid enough attention to her disciple.
This was not the same Guang Jie who had been stagnant in her progress.
Guang Jie had improved tremendously, and her alchemy techniques were clearly not what Dai Jingning had taught her.
It was evident that Guang Jie had her own opportunities.
Wait a minute…
Not only Dai Jingning, but others also noticed something unusual.
Why was Guang Jie adding the Heavenly Profound Grass last?
The steps for refining the Void-Breaking Pill had been studied and tested repeatedly.
It was widely accepted that the Heavenly Profound Grass had to be added first to maximize the chances of success and the quality of the pill.
Guang Jie’s divine sense was entirely focused on her cauldron.
Thanks to the earth fire, which was equivalent to a third-grade immortal flame, Guang Jie found the refining process much easier than before.
Purification, separation of dregs, cultivation of the elixir liquid…
Every step was carried out meticulously, with Guang Jie continuously casting alchemy techniques to nurture the elixir liquid.
Two hours later, Guang Jie cast the final technique and retrieved twelve Void-Breaking Pills.
Looking at the twelve pills in the jade bottle, Guang Jie was filled with excitement.
She had always doubted whether she was truly a third-grade immortal alchemist, but now she was certain.
She had refined five batches of Void-Breaking Pills before, with the best batch yielding one medium-grade pill.
The rest were either low-grade or duds.
But this time, she had refined three high-grade Void-Breaking Pills, seven medium-grade pills, and two low-grade pills.
It was a resounding success.
Such a success rate and pill quality undoubtedly proved she was a true third-grade immortal alchemist.
Dai Jingning was in awe as she watched Guang Jie.
She had just witnessed Guang Jie successfully refine a batch of pills.
Regardless of the final quality of the pills, the fact that Guang Jie had successfully refined a batch of Void-Breaking Pills confirmed that her first-round result was genuine.
Her disciple had become a third-grade immortal alchemist, and she hadn’t even known.
“Time’s up. Please stop what you’re doing and place your refined pills into the transmission array,” Lou Qianyun announced as he stood up.
Even those who hadn’t finished refining had no choice but to stop.
The earth fire had been extinguished, and continuing would only result in duds.
Everyone waited anxiously for the results.
Making it into the top ten would mean a bright future.
The results came out in just a few breaths.
Without even sitting down, Lou Qianyun continued, “The results of the second round are out. I’ll now announce the rankings. First place: Guang Jie, who refined the Void-Breaking Pill, producing twelve pills—three high-grade, seven medium-grade, and two low-grade…”
Even with the first-round result as a foundation, the second-round result still left everyone in shock.
Dai Jingning fell silent.
Even if she had refined the Void-Breaking Pill herself, she doubted she could have done better than Guang Jie.
Was it really necessary to add the Heavenly Profound Grass last?
Not only Guang Jie, but all the alchemists who had refined the Void-Breaking Pill and witnessed Guang Jie’s process began to wonder—should the Heavenly Profound Grass be added last when refining the Void-Breaking Pill?
Hearing Guang Jie’s result, Xin Wuhe sighed.
He knew he had lost.
He had always been the top alchemy genius of the Eternal Jade Alchemy Sect.
Even if others were better than him, so what? He was the youngest.
Eventually, he would surpass those who were better than him.
This was the first time he had lost to an unknown junior sister.
His batch of Void-Breaking Pills had only yielded one high-grade pill, eight medium-grade pills, and three low-grade pills.
Clearly, Guang Jie’s batch was superior.
(End of Chapter)