Top-tier Unruly Master

At this moment, the Great Alchemy Competition is underway, and the audience outside is very lively. Clearly, this year's Great Alchemy Competition is quite worth watching, not only because of the participation of skilled alchemists like Elder Herr but also due to the emergence of a dark horse like Ding Lin. This is a continuous showcase of splendid alchemy.

Not long after, the eighth group of alchemists has completed the second round of the Great Alchemy Competition. Immediately, the staff handed over the pill recipes written by the ten participating alchemists to the judges. After a while, when one of the elder judges saw a particular pill recipe submitted by an alchemist, his expression froze.

This elder judge obviously did not expect such a powerful alchemist in the eighth group. For a moment, the elder judge was somewhat unbelieving of his eyes, and even uncertain about his judgment. Immediately, this elder judge handed the pill recipe written by the alchemist to Elder Wang for review. Clearly, only Elder Wang could make a decision on such a pill recipe.

Afterwards, Elder Wang looked at the pill recipe written by that alchemist, and his eyes sparkled. Obviously, he did not expect that besides Ding Lin, there was such a skilled alchemist here. For a moment, Elder Wang glanced at that alchemist, who was Zhang Hao. Elder Wang was clearly very surprised. When he saw the pill recipe from the other party, he couldn't help but be very shocked. The other party actually identified twelve kinds of spiritual materials!

This is simply outrageous!

Elder Wang knew that this elixir was refined from a total of fourteen kinds of spiritual materials. Although spiritual materials are not often used for ordinary elixirs, the difficulty lies not in this. It's important to understand that these fourteen types of spiritual materials are not commonly found spiritual materials. Some precious materials in the Cultivation World are so rare that ordinary cultivators find it difficult to find them or even recognize them.

There are already five types of such spiritual materials in this elixir, but the other party identified twelve, which is quite impressive. For a moment, Elder Wang was a bit overwhelmed. He clearly did not expect this year's Great Alchemy Competition to bring out so many talented alchemists. This is practically a fortunate event for Dancheng and the entire Alchemist Guild.

After all, the alchemists discovered in the Great Alchemy Competition would be key individuals for cultivation in Dancheng. For those talented alchemists, this clearly is a great choice, much stronger than researching alchemy on their own.

Immediately, Elder Wang's gaze fell on Zhang Hao. Boss Wang was curious to see who this person really was. It should be noted that the alchemist capable of writing such a pill recipe was likely at least a Grade Eight Alchemist. For a moment, Elder Wang truly felt speechless, wondering how these young alchemists managed to do this! Previously, Elder Wang had to acknowledge Ding Lin's alchemy level. Even that was above his own.

Now another Grade Eight Alchemist has emerged. For a moment, Elder Wang didn't know whether to be happy or not. Clearly, the new generation of alchemists have outstanding talent, fully surpassing the older generation of alchemists. From the perspective of the Alchemy World, this is certainly something to be happy about. After all, if the young alchemists are excellent, the future of the Cultivation World would be better, with increasing development.

However, the concerning part for Elder Wang is that those young alchemists are already so outstanding, some even surpassing himself. This might indicate a decline in his alchemy level, which is worth reflecting on. After all, regardless of experience or understanding of elixirs, they should be better than those young alchemists, yet he's falling behind in pill refinement.

Clearly, this is the gap. Elder Wang could become a Grade Eight Alchemist not merely due to luck, but also because of his reflective ability. Only by recognizing one's shortcomings can there be potential for improvement.

When Elder Wang saw Zhang Hao, he couldn't help but be taken aback. He had no impression of him at all. As the chief judge of this year's Great Alchemy Competition, he might not remember the names of many alchemists, but still retain impressions of many. Of course, those alchemists whom Elder Wang remembered were those who performed quite well in the first round of the Great Alchemy Competition.

But at this moment, Elder Wang looked at the opponent and truly couldn't recall anyone. He had absolutely no impression of him. Elder Wang felt a bit bewildered. He was very certain that if the opponent did not have the level of a Grade Eight Alchemist, he definitely couldn't write this pill recipe. Elder Wang knew that if you let him write a pill recipe without knowing the details, he would only be able to identify about thirteen kinds of spiritual materials. After all, even though he has been refining Grade Eight Medicine Pills for half a lifetime, he is still not very familiar with some of the spiritual materials.

This is very normal, as there are simply too many spiritual materials in the Cultivation World, with many valuable materials not yet recognized or discovered. For an alchemist, it's impossible to know all spiritual materials, especially those rare materials seldom used in regular alchemy.

Even for skilled alchemists, when presented with a spiritual material, by simply observing the material's scent, color, and appearance, they can deduce some of its attributes. This is basic knowledge that most alchemists should master. Of course, the more skilled an alchemist is, the more proficient they are in this basic knowledge.

Therefore, recognizing the Spiritual Materials isn't so important for an Alchemist. This is why the second round of the Great Alchemy Competition is so difficult for so many alchemists; it's even hard to write out the Medicine Pill's Pill Recipe.

It is evident that even Elder Wang wrote only about thirteen kinds of Spiritual Materials, but this person actually wrote out twelve types, which clearly shows that this person's Alchemy Level is almost on par with Elder Wang's, albeit slightly lower. However, it certainly surpasses the requirements for a judge at the Grade Eight Level Alchemist.

An Alchemist at Grade Eight, yet Elder Wang had no impression of him? Elder Wang couldn't help but feel a bit puzzled. He trusted his judgment. He had reviewed all the Medicine Pills refined in the first round of the Great Alchemy Competition, even after he and Ding Fan left. Elder Wang meticulously went through all the refined pills of competing alchemists after he returned.

Clearly, at the time, Elder Wang hadn't discovered such a Grade Eight Alchemist. So how did he suddenly emerge now?

"Someone! Bring me the information on this Zhang Hao!"

At this moment, Elder Wang addressed an elder judge beside him, and that judge promptly agreed. Before long, Elder Wang had Zhang Hao's details in hand and proceeded to read them carefully. Elder Wang couldn't help but be somewhat stunned by the simplicity of the information, which seemed very unusual.

Zhang Hao's details merely showed his family address, where he usually refined Medicine Pills, and the fact that he only managed to refine a Third-grade Elixir in the first round of the Great Alchemy Competition. For a moment, Elder Wang felt a surge of doubt, for the details of the other competing alchemists were rather comprehensive. Yet, Zhang Hao's details were so short, which was quite unbelievable!

Moreover, Zhang Hao's performance in the first round aligned with Elder Wang's assessment—it was just average. Such an outcome didn't leave any impression on Elder Wang since the first round's result was too ordinary, though it could suggest some Alchemic Talent, at least enough not to be eliminated directly. However, it clearly differed significantly from the talent he displayed now.

One must understand that the Pill Recipe Zhang Hao presented included twelve types of Spiritual Materials, a capability that only a Grade Eight Alchemist should possess! Did Zhang Hao simply perform poorly in the first round and then excel in the second round? Elder Wang couldn't accept this explanation. He knew that Zhang Hao had learned about the competition's topic in the second round, which would explain everything neatly. Elder Wang was aware that while he kept the first round's topic confidential, many people knew about the topics for the second and third rounds.

After all, the topics for the Great Alchemy Competition were determined well in advance. Elder Wang strongly believed his suspicions weren't baseless. Given his understanding, alchemists of Ding Lin's unmatched talent were exceptionally rare. Ding Lin's level was already astonishing; having another similarly gifted individual would be overwhelming for him.

A second such talent emerging would hit Elder Wang hard; it would be particularly challenging for an alchemist nearly a century old to accept someone outperforming him at such a young age!

The elders in the judge area observed Elder Wang's thoughtful expression, not daring to speak out. Everyone understood that this alchemist's achievements were somewhat shocking, making this year's Great Alchemy Competition very distinctive. The first round saw Ding Lin completing a Supreme Quality Madicine Pill in less than thirty minutes. Now, a contestant in the second round had written a Spiritual Material Pill Recipe with twelve ingredients, equivalent to a Grade Eight Alchemist's level. How could people not be astonished?

The crowd watched the expressions on Elder Wang's face, shifting from initial shock to delight and finally settling into deep confusion. Nobody could help speculating—was there something amiss with this alchemist?

Elder Wang's reaction this time was decidedly different from his reaction upon seeing Ding Lin!