Chapter 366: Watching You Play

With one sentence, Ye Yuan drew the hatred of all the alchemists.

At this moment, Steward Tong came before the five and said, "Alright, all of you have been carefully selected, and your strength is beyond doubt. I won't say much more; let's begin the assessment now."

"Hold on, Steward Tong!" An alchemist suddenly interrupted Steward Tong's words.

"Hmm? Do you have something to say?" Steward Tong frowned.

That alchemist pointed at Ye Yuan and said, "Steward Tong, letting a junior alchemist compete with us—isn't that an insult? I refuse to compete with him!"

"That's right, we don't want to compete with a junior alchemist!" The other three immediately chimed in.

Steward Tong's face darkened, and he said in a deep voice, "I have already tested him. He is no junior alchemist; like you, he has the soul realm of a grand alchemist! It's just that he hasn't participated in the Alchemist Guild's assessments for a long time, so he still wears the badge of a junior alchemist."

The few naturally didn't believe it. Not everyone in this world was like Xiao Ruyan.

A sixteen-year-old youth, becoming a grand alchemist? Even if he became a grand alchemist, could he be a high-level grand alchemist?

"Having the soul realm of a grand alchemist doesn't mean he can refine third-tier pills. I think Steward Tong understands this better than we do. If Steward Tong insists on letting him compete with us, I withdraw!" The previous alchemist played his trump card.

"That's right, I withdraw too!"

Steward Tong hadn't expected these few to try to strong-arm him, and he sneered, "Withdraw? Heh heh, in my view, you think our Xiao family is easy to bully, don't you? But let me tell you, a lean camel is still bigger than a horse!"

The Xiao family's situation was no secret. Now, rumors were circulating outside that the Xiao family was finished this time, and these alchemists had naturally heard of it.

But they didn't stop to think: if the Xiao family were intact, why would they have sought them out?

Sure enough, at Steward Tong's words, the few all changed expression.

At this moment, Ye Yuan grandly sat down on a chair and said, "Alright, alright, you go ahead and play. I won't participate, is that okay? But... if none of you can do it, it should be my turn, right?"

"You said that!"

"So what if I said it? I'll just sit here and watch you play. I want to see what tricks you can pull off!" Ye Yuan said.

Steward Tong secretly breathed a sigh of relief. Ye Yuan's voluntary withdrawal had indeed solved his urgent problem.

To be honest, the countermove by those few just now had been quite troublesome.

He could certainly use the Xiao family's power to suppress them, but if they were chosen and then threw the match during the Pill Duel Assembly, that would be no joke.

However, Steward Tong didn't have high hopes for Ye Yuan, so Ye Yuan's voluntary withdrawal was naturally the best choice.

He had already explained the situation to Miss Ruyan, and she had agreed to give Ye Yuan a chance. As long as Ye Yuan performed well, entering the Xiao family would naturally not be difficult.

But the difficulty of this assessment was far greater than the test Ye Yuan would take later.

"Heh heh, you still want to compete? No chance. Just sit there and behave!"

...

The assessment officially began. Steward Tong said to the four, "The assessment is simple. Here are prepared pill bases. Your task is to refine these pill bases into pills. If you succeed, you pass the assessment."

Obviously, this pill formula was very precious and naturally could not be leaked. If only the pill bases were provided, no matter how skilled these few were, they couldn't steal the formula.

Of course, this didn't include Ye Yuan.

Upon hearing this, the four were overjoyed. This was too easy.

It must be understood that the process of alchemy is extremely complex, and any oversight could lead to failure.

But now that the medicine base had already been prepared, they were only responsible for the final refining and pill formation, which was almost effortless.

Although they knew this pill would not be easy to refine, were they the kind of people to be easily daunted?

The four quickly took their positions and began refining simultaneously!

Perhaps intending to show off in front of Xiao Ruyan, their refining techniques were extremely flamboyant, giving off an air of a grand master.

Even Innkeeper Tong nodded secretly; these four were indeed carefully selected, their skills truly exquisite.

Ye Yuan watched the scene leisurely from the side, a rather amused expression on his face.

In fact, just like with martial artists, the rank of an alchemist did not equate to their true skill level.

An alchemist who obtained the title of Senior Grand Alchemist did not necessarily mean they could refine all third-grade upper-rank pills.

Even among third-grade upper-rank pills, the difficulty of refining varied greatly. Some third-grade middle-rank or even lower-rank pills could not be refined by a Senior Grand Alchemist!

Behind the partition, Xiao Ruyan watched the four alchemists refining with a nervous heart; this concerned whether the Xiao family could triumph in the Pill Duel Assembly!

In fact, even after the selection, Xiao Ruyan had no confidence in victory. The younger generation of the Tong family was actually stronger than the Xiao family!

But this concerned the Xiao family's development for the next ten years, so Xiao Ruyan had to rise to the challenge.

Her beautiful eyes stared intently at the four, hoping they would not make any mistakes.

However, what one fears comes to pass. After only half an hour, with a 'hiss,' one person had already failed, the pill burned to charcoal.

That alchemist looked dejected: 'What a cursed pill, why is it so hard to refine?'

The other three no longer had their initial composure; the difficulty of this pill had indeed exceeded their expectations.

Their soul power was completely locked onto the pill, not daring to slack off in the slightest.

Yet, this was of no use at all!

With another 'pop,' a furnace of waste pills was produced.

That person came to the side and, seeing Ye Yuan's smug expression, wished he could tear his face off.

But their attention was soon drawn to the remaining two.

The two were drenched in sweat on their foreheads; clearly, the difficulty of this pill was nearing their limits.

Soon, another one fell, leaving only one person still persisting.

The three who had failed stared intently at the last one, all hoping he would succeed.

Because through their peripheral vision, they had already seen the expression on Ye Yuan's face.

Earlier, each of them had looked down on Ye Yuan, believing they would be the one to win, but now only one remained.

Innkeeper Tong was also very nervous; the four carefully selected had dwindled to one in the blink of an eye, putting immense pressure on him.

Fortunately, the remaining one was quite skilled and had managed to barely complete the pill!

Condense!

With his sharp shout, everyone's hearts tightened—had he succeeded or not?