Starting As A Clan Leader: My Rules Are A Bit Wild

Chapter 24: Strange and Clumsy, Overly Cautious?

There was a lot of discussion on the stands.

Many Alchemists remained silent, busy with their heads down.

However, their performances were vastly different.

Some were in a frenzy, looking nervous and afraid of making the slightest mistake.

Some were unusually calm, their movements flowing like clouds and water, effortlessly confident as if they had everything under control.

Xiao Ling'er had been observing carefully, especially when it came to dealing with Spirit Medicine that she had never encountered before. But she didn't just watch anyone.

She didn't pay attention to those who were in a frenzy or looked panicked.

Instead, she focused on those who were calm and composed...

Learning from them!

After about the time it takes to burn an incense stick, Xiao Ling'er closed her eyes. Everything she had seen played back in her mind like a revolving scene.

"So that's how it is."

"The key to improving the success rate of pill refinement with these auxiliary materials is the Five-Colored Flower."

She murmured to herself, "By extracting the essence of the Five-Colored Flower and using its characteristics of containing the five elements of gold, wood, water, fire, and earth, other auxiliary materials can be perfectly fused, achieving the state of mutual generation of the five elements."

"By using this mutual generation of the five elements, it can assist in pill refinement. Although it may slightly reduce the medicinal properties, the success rate of pill refinement will indeed increase significantly."

"It doesn't seem difficult at all. As long as the balance of the five elements in these auxiliary materials is maintained."

"At least for me, it's not a problem."

Xiao Ling'er finally made a move.

Bang!

With a casual pat, the lid of the pill furnace flew up.

This action was swift and elegant, immediately drawing the attention of many people around.

But Xiao Ling'er suddenly stiffened and stuck out her tongue.

"I almost forgot to hide my skills."

So, she began to practice.

Originally, she should have used her own Essence Qi to hold the lid of the furnace and then put the medicinal materials in before covering it herself. Not only was it efficient, but also very cool.

But at this moment, she dissipated her Essence Qi and let the lid of the furnace fall to the ground with a clatter.

The surrounding Alchemists: "(⊙o⊙)···"

"Sigh~"

Suddenly, there was a chorus of sighs.

Xiao Ling'er blushed and quickly picked up the lid of the furnace, then began to hurriedly throw the medicinal materials into the pill furnace.

Seeing her like this, everyone immediately lost interest.

With this kind of performance, she couldn't even pass the first round!

But Xiao Ling'er was happy about it. Although she seemed clumsy and in a frenzy, she actually understood everything.

And in the process, she could even chat with Liang Danxia distractedly, "Teacher, in your opinion, are there any Alchemists among them who can become my strong rivals?"

"Naturally, there are."

Liang Danxia spoke confidently, "Among the millions of Alchemists, even though the majority are ordinary, there must be some outstanding ones."

"I have been silent for many years and don't know much about the current situation, but from their performances just now, there are three worth noting."

"Oh?!"

"Please tell me, Teacher!"

Xiao Ling'er became interested.

"Follow my guidance with your divine sense. Do you see him on your left, the man wearing a feathered crown?"

"He refines pills with ease, has extraordinary control over various medicinal materials, and has a remarkable grasp of the heat. He will be a strong rival!"

"And the red-haired woman behind you, if I'm not mistaken, she practices the Fire Virtue Sect's supreme art of controlling fire. The Fire Virtue Sect is known for its artifact refining techniques, but this woman has taken a different path, playing with fire and excelling in pill refinement."

"Perhaps she still lacks some control over medicinal materials, but when it comes to playing with fire, you are not yet her match."

"It's them!"

Xiao Ling'er suddenly realized that she had also paid attention to them before!

"And who is the third person...?"

"To your right, the one who seems not very smart and even more clumsy than you."

"Ah?!"

Xiao Ling'er was taken aback, then quickly realized, "The teacher means that he is also pretending to be weak and acting like a tiger?!"

She carefully observed but couldn't find any flaws.

"The disciple can't see it."

However, Liang Danxia's expression became serious. "It's precisely because you can't see it that we should be more vigilant."

"This person is hiding very well and has excellent acting skills."

"But I am certain that his overall alchemy ability is not much weaker than yours, and this person is very strange. His cultivation... is questionable."

"Cultivation is questionable?"

Xiao Ling'er looked carefully again and found that the man who appeared 'simple and honest' and 'not very smart' was clearly at the Condensing Essence First Layer.

Hiding his cultivation?

Even so, it shouldn't be impossible for the teacher to see through it and describe it as 'questionable', right?

"This person..."

She frowned slightly. "He is indeed quite strange."

Although she didn't know the exact reason, since the teacher said so, it must be true.

"Indeed strange, remember to be careful of this person!"

"Yes, teacher."

...

Soon, half an hour passed.

One after another, people were refining pills, and the fragrance of medicine filled the air.

In the beginning, most of the alchemists succeeded in opening the furnace.

Because they had enough strength, they became the first group of furnace openers. Only a few failed and were extremely frustrated.

But as time went on, the failure rate increased sharply.

Some people succeeded in refining pills, but they didn't reach the Third Grade.

There were also some who couldn't even refine pills at all.

And even...

There were quite a few who directly caused the furnace to explode.

Xiao Ling'er barely managed to open the furnace in the last ten breaths of time and refined three Third Grade Condensing Essence pills.

It was really a struggle, but it was enough to enter the second round.

Afterward, she looked at the 'strange and simple-minded' alchemist and found that he was still refining pills.

And it seemed that the pill fire was out of control, and he was busy extinguishing the fire!

It wasn't until the last breath that he finally managed to put out the pill fire and open the furnace to retrieve the pills.

Two... Xiao Ling'er couldn't tell if they were Second Grade or Third Grade Condensing Essence pills, but the sight of the 'halos' on the pills made her mouth twitch.

Because the 'halos' on the pills were very unstable. Two halos were normal, but the third one was flickering and unpredictable.

It seemed like it could light up at any moment, yet it could also extinguish at any time.

Finally, it 'stabilized', but it was clearly much dimmer than the other two halos.

"Pretending to be weak and acting like a tiger, isn't he overdoing it?"

Xiao Ling'er was particularly speechless. If it weren't for the teacher's reminder, I would have really been fooled by him!

In theory, if he pretended to be like me, he shouldn't attract attention, right? But this...?

Is he being too cautious?!

Hmm?

Wait a minute, being too cautious...?

"I'm very familiar with this, seems like I've heard it recently?"

However, no matter how she thought about it, she couldn't remember where she had heard of such a cautious person, so she had to give up.

At this moment, the Dao Integration Realm cultivator took the stage again and said, "Those who have advanced, stay. Those who have been eliminated, leave."

Just ten simple words instantly divided the million alchemists into two camps.

What Xiao Ling'er didn't expect was that in just the first round, nine out of ten were eliminated!

There were now less than a hundred thousand alchemists remaining.

That 'strange and simple-minded' guy was one of them.

(End of this chapter)