Starting as a supporting character in Doupo

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"boom!"

Under everyone's watchful eyes, the lightning dissipated, and a rich fragrance of elixir wafted from the young man's cauldron. Upon seeing this, the crowd cheered, and a smile appeared on the young man's face.

"It's done!"

The young man looked at the medicine cauldron in front of him, opened it, and a perfectly round pill lay quietly inside. He took out the pill and, as if to show off, held it up to display it to the surrounding audience before sitting down cross-legged.

By this point, he had already demonstrated his talent, and he knew that he wasn't at a level where he could compete for the championship, but he was already satisfied with what he had achieved.

The young man's success seemed to have given the surrounding alchemists a shot of adrenaline. As the first seventh-grade pill appeared, several more alchemists successively refined pills. Without exception, all the alchemists who succeeded in refining the pills were now seventh-grade.

However, not every alchemist is so lucky. During this process, some people failed to refine their pills due to their own fluctuations and were completely eliminated from the competition. Two other people's pills failed to withstand the pill lightning and were completely reduced to dust, causing them to collapse in despair.

Now, only twenty people remain on the entire floating stone platform!

Among these twenty people, Xiao Yan's gaze swept over the other alchemists and he noticed that the lowest level of the alchemist badges on their chests was at least a mid-level seventh-grade alchemist.

The highest-ranking three even reached the level of eighth-grade alchemists.

"Eighth rank..."

Xiao Yan's gaze swept over the group of alchemists. He was surprised to find so many powerful individuals among the remaining contestants. His expression became even more serious when he looked at the two eighth-grade alchemists.

"If I want to win the championship, they will probably be my biggest rivals..."

Xiao Yan's gaze swept over the two alchemists carrying eighth-grade alchemist badges, and then fell on Cao Ying. Now, the energy accumulating in the medicine cauldron in front of Cao Ying was extremely rich. According to Xiao Yan's guess, her strength had probably already entered the eighth grade.

"Zhongzhou... truly is a cradle of geniuses..."

Back then, a sixth-grade alchemist could roam freely in the Jia Ma Empire, but now, here, he's not even cannon fodder.

"However, I'm here to win the championship!"

Xiao Yan withdrew his gaze from observing the crowd and looked at the Black Demon Cauldron. A fist-sized ball of medicinal liquid was floating in the cauldron, and under Xiao Yan's control, it was constantly being cleansed of impurities by the strange fire.

The remaining twenty people are all genuine alchemy masters. After all, no one can pretend in such a situation. Their goal at the moment is to defeat the person next to them, or at least enter the top ten, and get the chance to subdue the Three Thousand Burning Flames!

Three more days passed, and the final competition of the Pill Gathering had lasted for nearly a month. At this moment, only ten people remained on the floating stone platform.

Among them, the pills refined by the seven people only reached the seventh grade. Two of them refined mid-grade seventh grade pills, and one refined a peak seventh grade pill. When the pill lightning fell, the rich medicinal fragrance caused the crowd on the observation platform to exclaim in surprise, thinking that his pill could reach the eighth grade and he would become the first alchemist to refine an eighth grade pill in this pill competition. However, in the end, the result was still that the pill remained at the peak of the seventh grade.

"Boom~~"

Just then, everyone suddenly noticed that a dark cloud had appeared above the floating stone platform in the already gloomy sky, and a terrifying wave emanated from the sky.

"This...this sounds like an eighth-grade pill being formed..."

An experienced alchemist, looking at the gloomy sky above, suddenly spoke, eliciting gasps from the stands. Their eyes swept across the floating stone platform, trying to see who it was that had pointed out an eighth-grade pill.

Then, everyone's gaze fell on Dan Chen in the center of the floating stone platform.

"It seems to be Dan Chen. The fluctuations in his medicine cauldron indicate that he's almost finished making the pill!"

In the stands, someone exclaimed and pointed to Dan Chen's position. Everyone's attention was drawn to him. Upon closer inspection, sure enough, the pill in the medicine cauldron in front of Dan Chen was about to take shape.

On the floating stone platform, Dan Chen's face was deathly pale. A month of intense refining would have left her completely exhausted if not for her extraordinary perseverance. In the Dou Qi Continent, there are alchemists who have died from exhaustion while refining pills, but such cases are rare.

At this moment, feeling the movement within her medicine cauldron, Dan Chen's face showed excitement. She then bit her tongue, spitting out a mouthful of blood that fell into the cauldron and subsequently merged into the pills under her control.

"boom!"

In an instant, a powerful and terrifying energy erupted from the medicine cauldron in front of Dan Chen, transforming into a massive pillar of light over ten zhang thick, which soared upwards and directly entered the tribulation clouds in the sky.

The cauldron used to refine the pills shattered completely under the impact of this massive medicinal energy, turning into countless fragments.

Amidst the astonished gazes of the crowd, a green beam of light shot straight into the sky, and the tribulation clouds in the sky gradually changed, transforming into blue and silver colors.

"Two-colored thunderclouds!"

Upon seeing the thunderclouds in the sky, the crowd immediately erupted in excitement.

Even Xuan Kongzi and the others in the Pill Tower looked at the two-colored thunderclouds in the sky with a hint of surprise.

"Hehe, this little girl from the Dan family is indeed extraordinary. An eighth-grade pill with two-colored thunderclouds—the Dan family has a worthy successor..."

Although there is only one step between seventh-grade and eighth-grade pills, this step has blocked the lives of countless alchemists.

The seventh rank is considered ordinary, while the eighth rank already possesses spiritual power.

No matter how good a seventh-grade pill is, it is still just an inanimate object. Apart from being more potent, it has no other special features. However, every eighth-grade pill has already possessed spirituality. This is why alchemists who have not yet reached the Spirit Realm in their soul realm cannot refine eighth-grade pills; they cannot imbue pills with spirit.

Eighth-grade pills can even be considered to fall within the category of living beings.

The classification of eighth-grade pills is no longer based solely on the alchemist's visual judgment, but rather on the quality determined by the thunderclouds that appeared when the pill was formed.

The higher the quality of the pill, the more colors of the pill lightning will be triggered when the pill is formed. If the pill lightning can reach nine colors, then the pill has a chance to advance to the ninth grade with the power of creation!

At this point, it wouldn't be an exaggeration to call it a divine pill.

Looking at the two-colored thunderclouds in the sky, Dan Chen smiled, her face full of satisfaction.

At this moment, regardless of whether she wins the Pill Refining Competition, Dan Chen of the Dan family will surely become a household name throughout the Central Plains for his alchemy skills.

"Dan Chen, you've really improved these past two years, but... I'm not bad either!"

At the center of the floating stone platform, Cao Ying looked at the two-colored thunderclouds above Dan Chen's head, smiled, and then with a hint of pride on her face, she patted the medicine cauldron in front of her. Then, in front of everyone's eyes, a silver pillar of light more than ten feet long rose up and plunged into the thunderclouds.

"Another Grade 8 pill!"

Watching Cao Ying's movements and feeling the activity within her medicine cauldron, the spectators became excited. This was the alchemy competition they had been waiting for. After a month of waiting, the most exciting moment had finally arrived!

Under everyone's watchful eyes, the thunderclouds summoned by Cao Ying's pills also revealed two colors, silver and blue, with extremely terrifying energy.

Looking at the thunderclouds overhead, Cao Ying glanced defiantly at Xiao Yan on the other side, raising her head slightly as if to show off to him.

Among the only two eighth-grade alchemists in the arena, an old man with gray hair and black clothes also fixed his gaze on Xiao Yan. When he saw the Black Demon Cauldron in Xiao Yan's hand, he already knew Xiao Yan's identity. After all, this cauldron had almost been his before...

"I wonder how much of Yao Chen's true teachings you've received..."

Sensing the gazes around him, Xiao Yan remained calm. Looking at the medicinal liquid in the cauldron, which had originally been the size of a fist but had now condensed to the size of a pigeon egg, Xiao Yan murmured with a hint of confidence, "My goal is the championship!"

As soon as he finished speaking, Xiao Yan slapped the Black Demon Cauldron in front of him, and a terrifying energy wave instantly spread out. A huge pillar of light, far surpassing the power of Dan Chen and Cao Ying just now, shot straight into the sky. The thunderclouds in the sky were insignificant under the terrifying energy ripples of Xiao Yan.

"Give it to me, Ning!"

Xiao Yan placed his hands on the Black Demon Cauldron, pouring his vast soul power into it, and the pills inside were about to solidify.

Above Xiao Yan, under everyone's watchful eyes, the thunderclouds quickly revealed silver and cyan colors.

"Two colors! Two-colored thunderclouds! His pills have also triggered two-colored thunderclouds!"

"Judging from the energy he draws in, the pills he refines are probably superior to those refined by the Cao family's demoness and Dan Chen..."

Then, under everyone's watchful eyes, a third color slowly emerged from the silver and blue thunderclouds!

Chapter 194 Eighth-Rank Officials Appear Frequently, Five Flames Emerge!

"Three...three colors! He triggered the Three-Colored Pill Lightning!"

As the third color slowly appeared in the sky, everyone's faces lit up with surprise, their eyes fixed intently on the thunderclouds above.

In the sky, under everyone's watchful eyes, the third red color rapidly spread, and within a few breaths, it became equal to the blue and silver colors, forming a three-way balance of power and occupying the thunderclouds.

"boom!"

In the center of the floating stone platform, Cao Ying, who had originally shown a proud expression, looked like a defeated rooster when she saw Xiao Yan's three-colored pill lightning. Her face fell instantly, and she looked at Xiao Yan with a complicated expression.

Having always been called a witch, this was the first time she had felt a sense of defeat among her peers. Even when she met Xiao Fan, who was at the Dou Zun realm, in the Cao family, she had never felt this way.

At that time, she thought Xiao Fan was just stronger, and that she was the best among her peers when it came to alchemy.

But now, looking at the pill lightning above Xiao Yan, Cao Ying felt a bitter taste in her mouth. Then, a determined look flashed in her eyes, and her gaze toward Xiao Yan was filled with resentment and fighting spirit.

Similarly, not far from Cao Ying, Dan Chen, his face pale, was also looking at Xiao Yan with a rather complicated expression. He had thought that his two-colored pill lightning was no weaker than Cao Ying's, but he never expected that this unknown young man would be the biggest dark horse of this pill gathering...

As Xiao Yan's three-colored pill lightning appeared, just when everyone thought the championship was his for the taking, on the floating stone platform, the gray-haired, black-clothed old man's medicine cauldron in front of him also erupted with terrifying energy. A beam of bright white light, comparable to the previous commotion, instantly soared into the sky.

"Another...another Rank 8 pill!"

Looking at the pillar of light in front of the old man, everyone's eyes lit up with excitement, eager to know how many colors of pill lightning his eighth-grade pill could attract.

Meanwhile, Xuan Kongzi and the others, who had been paying close attention to the Pill Gathering, looked at the gray-haired, black-clad old man with a hint of surprise on their faces. Xuan Kongzi said, "Old Monster Qinghua has not shown his face for a long time. Now that he is participating in the Pill Gathering, it seems that he is determined to win the championship!"

Hearing Xuan Kongzi's words, Xuan Yi looked at the medicine cauldron in front of Qinghua Old Monster, pondered for a moment, and then said, "The alchemy technique has improved a lot compared to the past, posing a considerable threat to Xiao Yan, but it's hard to say for sure who is superior..."

Just as everyone was discussing, another eighth-grade alchemist on the floating stone platform also had a pillar of emerald light rise from the medicine cauldron in front of him, and thunderclouds slowly gathered above his head.

"An eighth-grade elixir!"

As the two pillars of light rose almost simultaneously, everyone's gazes darted back and forth between the old monster Qinghua and the unknown eighth-grade alchemist, all very curious about whether their pills could surpass Xiao Yan's three-colored pill lightning.

Sensing the movement of the other alchemist, Qinghua Old Monster turned to look at him, then a complex hand seal appeared in his hand, and the pill lightning above his head immediately changed.

"Silver, blue...it's two colors now!"

The thunderbolts above Qinghua Old Monster's head, each of two colors, occupied half of the sky. Just when everyone thought it was over, a red light slowly emerged from it, and then expanded instantly, turning the entire thundercloud into three colors.

"It's also a three-colored thunderbolt!"

"Both of their Danlei are three-color, but we still don't know who the champion will be!"

Everyone looked at the three-colored pill lightning of the old monster Qinghua, and then their gaze fell on another eighth-grade alchemist. However, the pill lightning above the other person's head only stabilized at two colors and did not change. He was powerless to compete with Xiao Yan and the old monster Qinghua.

As for the few remaining alchemists in the arena, no one has paid any attention to the seventh-grade pills they are refining.

Everyone knows that the champion of this year's Pill Gathering will be decided between Xiao Yan and Qinghua Old Monster.

On the floating stone platform, Xiao Yan looked at the three-colored pill lightning above Qinghua Old Monster's head and felt the power brewing within it. Xiao Yan's expression also became slightly solemn, and his gaze fell on Qinghua Old Monster, who happened to be watching him as well.