Mo Wuji looked at the fist mark and the mess of blood on the floor in shock. He did not derive a half bit of joy from Ju Feiyang's death, but a strong sense of crisis.
Ju Feiyang was a Tier 4 Earth Pill Refiner; this was a high and superior existence within the Xinghan Empire. Even in the Formless Blade Sect, he had a status comparable to the sect head. However, he was crushed to death like an insignificant ant.
If he were to plead with Granny Linglong, and his words dissatisfied her, would he be casually killed too? Mo Wuji wasn't afraid of being targeted; he was only afraid that he might be too helpless to even fend for himself.
Power. He needed much more power.
Within the crowd, the Formless Blade Sect Head Gu Ran saw Ju Feiyang being killed with a single fist. His lips curved into a frown, but he could only silently acknowledge this outcome.
If he were to be honest with himself, he definitely had some regrets. If only he had listened to Yan Qianyin's words and allowed Mo Wuji to take part in the Five Elements Pill Competition, then his Formless Blade Sect would have more to reap. But now, not only did he lose Ju Feiyang who he had poured much resources into, he had also offended Mo Wuji, this pill refiner with a bright future. Fortunately, Yan Qianyin also managed to enter the second round, which gave him a tad bit of solace.
The square quietened down; no one else felt that there was anything wrong with Ju Feiyang's death. To dare question the fairness of the competition, Ju Feiyang truly got what he deserved. No one else was like Mo Wuji, who developed this deep sense of crisis. Everyone felt that it was normal. To offend an expert's pride, naturally, you would get killed. Moreover, Ju Feiyang offended the Five Elements Pill Competition and the Heaven Seeking Palace, killing him 100 times over would also not have been enough.
The only feelings which were aroused from the crowd was envy towards Pill Refiner 632. A Channel Opening Stage Tier 3 Mortal Pill Refiner, actually managed to emerge within the top 10 in the first two rounds of the competition. Many people had already started inquiring about the origins of Pill Refiner 632, and had already prepared to find him to purchase some placings.
Ju Feiyang's death, was but a small matter. Pill Master Ming Ning had already continued with the programme, "The third round is pill concocting. May all pill refiners stand in front of your pill furnace and choose the pill you wish to concoct."
The testing grounds had already been cleaned, and 150 pill furnaces had been put in place. Mo Wuji walked towards pill furnace 632 and stood firm. He took a quick glance at his surroundings and saw that Yan Qianyin was not too far off on his left.
Noticing Mo Wuji's gaze, Yan Qianyin smiled gently, "Junior apprentice brother Mo, your results in the previous two rounds were not bad. In the third round, you just need to choose a Tier 3 Mortal Pill. It should be enough to get you within the top 100."
"Many thanks senior apprentice sister Yan," Mo Wuji hurriedly expressed his gratitude.
Now that Mo Wuji's cultivation had advanced, and his spiritual will had also taken a huge leap, Mo Wuji felt that he could even take up the challenge of a Tier 4 Earth Pill.
However, knowing that his previous two results were within the top 10, and that the final results were cumulative of all three rounds, he gave up on doing so.
He did not wish to attain a higher ranking, he just needed to be within the top 100, and at least had a ranking higher than 97.
As the pill refiners all got into position, Pill Master Ming Ning's voice called out, "In the pill furnaces in front of you, there are more than 10 pill formulas for you to choose from. May everyone open your furnace and pick a pill formula. Thereafter, report the pill formula you have chosen to obtain the required spiritual herbs."
Like the other pill refiners, Mo Wuji opened his pill furnace and saw more than 10 slips of paper within it.
On the papers, they wrote: Tier 4 Earth Pill - Earth Yuan Pill, Evolution Pill, Earthly Soul Protecting Pill, Thoughtless Fire Pill, Devil Cleansing Pill.
There were five types of Tier 4 Earth Pills. If Mo Wuji had confidence in concocting Tier 4 pills, he would definitely have chosen the Earthly Soul Protecting Pill. Even though there wasn't any introduction to the uses of the pill, from it's name alone, Mo Wuji could roughly guess that this pill should be used to recover spiritual will.
He had the Spirit Strengthening Pill, which could enhance one's spiritual will. However, it was not able to recover spiritual will. If he had the Earthly Soul Protecting Pill, whenever his spiritual will was depleting, he could simply administer it to carry on. This would be extremely beneficial, albeit in combat or pill concocting.
However, Mo Wuji did not dare take this risk. What he truly needed now was a placing for the Five Elements Desolate Domain, so that he could save Yan'Er's life.
However, not choosing this pill meant that he would not be able to look at its full pill formula. Mo Wuji dejectedly shifted his attention towards the Tier 3 pills: Mortality Transcending Pill, Emptiness Pill, Spirit Depositing Pill, Phaseless Pill, Bone Tempering Pill, Facial Restoration Pill…
Wait, wait. Facial Restoration Pill. Can this pill restore Yan'Er's face?
If he had such a pill, he could fix the scar on Yan'Er's face. The rest of the Tier 3 pills were also useless towards Mo Wuji. Without hesitation, Mo Wuji picked the Facial Restoration Pill.
Mo Wuji pressed a button by the side of the pill furnace, and a service disciple immediately walked to his side, "Sir pill refiner, may I ask whether you have made your selection?"
Mo Wuji nodded and pointed to the Facial Restoring Pill, "I'll pick the Tier 3 Facial Restoring Pill."
"Yes. Sir pill refiner, please wait." With a simple response, the service disciple immediately left and quickly returned with a pile of spiritual herbs and a pill formula for Mo Wuji.
Seeing that the other pill refiners were still making their choices, Mo Wuji did not rush to start concocting to pill. He had already reached this stage, he did not wake to make any mistakes which might flout the rules.
After half an incense's time, a gong sounded from the round altar. At the same time, Pill Master Ming Ning stood up, "The various pill refiners have made their choices of pill formulas, and have also received their ingredients. The third round will now begin. The time allocated is 2 hours, and it will be graded out of 100."
Following Pill Master Ming Ning's announcement, the various pill refiners ignited their red firestones.
Everyone here knew that when compared to concocting pills in one's own pill room, the difficulty in concocting a pill here was much higher. This was the same, even for the same pill one might have concocted before.
Firstly, there wasn't an earth fire here. The fire source was a red firestone. Secondly, the pill furnace was not the same pill furnace as one would usually use. Thus, there would some sense of unfamiliarity. Thirdly, there were various sources of disturbances. Not only was there the noise from the crowd, the failures of neighbouring pill refiners would be a huge source of disturbance.
Mo Wuji opened the pill furnace and immediately got a shock. The first spiritual ingredient on the pill formula was a Gold Rockvine. In terms of tiers, it was a Tier 3 spiritual pill. Even though it was his first time seeing the actual herb, Mo Wuji was not a stranger to the Gold Rockvine. It was an extremely tough spiritual herb which was not inferior to the Iron Core Bodhi Fruit.
The only difference was that one was a Tier 3 spiritual herb while the other was Tier 4.
Mo Wuji stared helpless at both his hands. The hand which was injured while he purified the Iron Core Bodhi Fruit had yet to fully recover, yet he had met with another tricky ingredient.
If not for the advancements in his cultivation and spiritual will, this spiritual ingredient alone would have failed him.
Fortunately, he did have advancements in his cultivation and spiritual will. Even though it might be rather difficult, he should be able to concoct the Facial Restoring Pill within two hours. As he thought of this, Mo Wuji no longer bothered diverting his attention to look the other pill refiners. He hurriedly cleaned his pill furnace before starting to purify the Gold Rockvine.
If he was not able to purify the Gold Rockvine in time, Mo Wuji had already set his determination down to use the hand frying method again. Regardless of the danger, he would have to concoct the Facial Restoring Pill. Even if he had performed well in the first two rounds, he would fail to get within the top 100 if he did not manage to even concoct a pill in the third round.
Under the instigation of Mo Wuji's spiritual energy, the red firestone lit up. Mo Wuji inserted his hand into the pill furnace. He wasn't using his hand to fry the herb, but use the pill techniques hidden within his hand techniques to purify the Gold Rockvine. The reason why he inserted his hand into the pill furnace was because he was afraid of people discovering his pill techniques.
However, Mo Wuji did not expect that he could easily control the Gold Rockvine with his pill techniques. The Gold Rockvine easily melted, and its medicinal essence was quickly extracted.
Intense joy overwhelmed him; he did not even need to use the hand frying method. Mo Wuji would never have thought that a simple rise in cultivation level would have made such a huge difference.
No, that's not the whole truth. Mo Wuji came to realise that this big difference wasn't solely due to his advancements in cultivation, but his spiritual will. Even though he was using the lowest grade red firestone, his strong spiritual will allowed him to easily control the Gold Rockvine.
Spiritual will was truly a good thing.
In less than half an incense's time, Mo Wuji had already purified the Gold Rockvine. Thereafter, Mo Wuji added the rest of the spiritual herbs into the pill furnace, one at a time. Under the power of his strong spiritual will, the spiritual herbs within the pill furnace were speedily purified.
After an incense's time, Mo Wuji slapped the side of the pill furnace, and sent a pile of medicinal dregs out of the furnace.
After purifying the spiritual herbs, the fusion of the medicinal essences, the splitting of the pills and the condensation of the pills was simply a piece of cake for Mo Wuji.
In just a short hour, Mo Wuji had already started to retrieve his pills. This time, he did not specially use his pill retrieval techniques, but used his hand techniques to retrieve the pills.
12 light green pills were collected by Mo Wuji and sent into a jade vase.
Mo Wuji extinguished the fire under his pill furnace, and started to observe the people around him. This time, he was one of the first to complete. He was no longer among the last. There were not more than 10 people who had also completed their concoction; many of the pill refiners were still in the process of pill concoction.
Countless charred odours from failed essence fusions, and loud explosions from failed pill condensations could be heard. But all this did not matter to Mo Wuji. He was sure that his score should be able to get him a placing. His ranking did not really matter.
Mo Wuji mainly focused his attention towards Yan Qianyin. After all, she was the pill refiner he was most familiar with. At this moment, Yan Qianyin's state did not look very good; her expression looked rather heavy and forced.
"Peng!" The sound of an explosion resounded. Yan Qianyin, was already not far away from Mo Wuji, but her failure sounded so much more clear to him.
Yan Qianyin had failed, Mo Wuji sighed. He had seen Yan Qianyin's expression, and he already had some doubts. According to his understanding of Yan Qianyin's standards, even with a red firestone, she should not have failed to concoct a Tier 4 spiritual pill. Unless she chose an extremely hard to concoct pill?
Seemingly noticing Mo Wuji's gaze, Yan Qianyin turned over. Mo Wuji gestured to her not to worry. If he could obtain excess placings, he would definitely give her one.
Yan Qianyin nodded, and started to clean up her mess.
Mo Wuji turned and saw Zhang Ding; he had already finished his pill concoction, and he had a resolute expression on his face. It looked like he had concocted a pretty good pill.