Another two days passed and the qualifying round had narrowed down the entrants from five hundred thousand to just five thousand, but still that was far too many entrants.
So the Alchemy Tower had no choice but to hold another qualifying round to narrow these people down to only one hundred.
They brought all the alchemists together once again and divided them in half, forming groups of two thousand and five hundred. From those groups, only fifty people would pass onto the next round.
Lin Fan was placed at one of the tables just behind the center position, so his position wasn't one that obtained plenty of attention, but it was still a spot that people paid attention to.
Right beside him, there was a fierce looking man with a scary looking cross shaped scar over one of his eyes.
This fierce looking man had a proud look on his face and when he saw Lin Fan, he immediately came over with a pat of his chest and said, "Kid, do you know who I am?"
Lin Fan looked at him before turning away, trying to ignore this idiot.
But it was too bad that this idiot didn't get the hint and kept coming forward to bother Lin Fan.
The fierce looking man continued to say in a loud voice, "Kid, you really are lucky today, you get to watch the famed Xiahou Dun's alchemy techniques. If you didn't get it earlier, I am Xiahou Dun!"
Lin Fan didn't turn his head at all, but that didn't bother Xiahou Dun.
Xiahou Dun just came over to Lin Fan and took him by the shoulder, "Little brother, as long as you follow me, I can guarantee that we'll enter the Alchemy Tower together and we'll one day rule over it!"
Lin Fan really couldn't tell what was wrong with this idiot, but when he was about to say something, the round had started.
Xiahou Dun saw this and he moved back to his bench, but he didn't forget to add, "Kid, you truly are lucky today being able to be by me. Even if you don't make it, don't forget that you were the one who was lucky enough to by me, Xiahou Dun when I refined the pill that made me famous."
Then he immediately began refining his pill.
This Xiahou Dun's techniques were truly sloppy, his control of his flame was non-existent and he didn't know how to separate his ingredients properly, causing them to cross and create impurities.
But the way he acted was like he was a master teaching a student as he continued to speak to Lin Fan during the entire process.
"Kid, do you see how I control my flames perfectly to melt down my ingredients?"
"Kid, do you see how I perfectly integrate these ingredients together to create the perfect pill?"
"Kid, do you see how I form my pill to make sure that none of the essence of my ingredients escapes?"
"Kid, are you seeing all of this?"
For every step, he made sure that he called out something to Lin Fan.
The only reason he didn't bother the person on his other side was that it was an old man who was actually quite the well known alchemist. Even if he was proud and arrogant, he wasn't that crazy.
So the only person he could show off to was Lin Fan.
When Xiahou Dun was almost finished with his pill, he turned to Lin Fan and saw that he hadn't started refining at all.
Xiahou Dun was shocked, but then he said in an understanding voice, "Kid, were you just too moved by my beautiful refining techniques and you forgot to refine your own pill? That isn't good! I know that my refining techniques are amazing, but you should focus on your own pill still, even if you were going to be kicked out in the first place."
Lin Fan just gave a cold snort at this before he said, "Since I've done the favour of watching you, you should do the favour of watching me."
Xiahou Dun didn't get the meaning behind his words at all as he said with a wide smile, "You were so moved that you wanted me to watch and teach you? While this is a bit below me, it is still something that I can do for a loyal fan."
Lin Fan just ignored him as he took his ingredients, but he didn't put them into his cauldron at all.
Lin Fan just held them in his hand as he released a flame from his palm.
The flame quickly spread and enveloped the ingredients, quickly melting them and extracting their essence.
The essence of each ingredient was held in a separate flame where it was refined once again at different temperatures, clearing out every single bit of impurity inside the essence of the ingredients.
Once the impurities were cleared, Lin Fan gathered the flames into a single ball of flames with all the different ingredients gathered together.
When they came together, Lin Fan finally allowed them to come together to form a single whirlpool of liquid medicinal essence. This whirlpool continued to spin faster and faster until all the impurities that came from mixing the liquid ingredients together was spun out.
Once everything had been refined, Lin Fan condensed all that liquid essence into a single pill. When the pill was done, the flames dissipated and the pill landed right on Lin Fan's palm.
Xiahou Dun couldn't understand anything that had happened, but he felt that everything Lin Fan did was a trick, so he said, "Kid, it isn't good to rely on flashy tricks like that. True alchemy is hard work, it takes time to refine a truly good pill like mine. It's a good thing that you still have another set of ingredients to give it another try, don't be discouraged."
When his voice fell, the judge had come over to inspect his pill after he had put up his sign signifying that he was done.
The judge that came over looked down at the pill and immediately shook his head before saying, "This pill is truly a mess. The control of the flames were completely off, so the ingredients weren't fully refined. Then when the different ingredients were mixed together, there wasn't a fine control and all different kinds of impurities were formed. This can't even be considered a pill, it is nothing more than trash."
Xiahou Dun had a shocked look on his face since he believed that he had created the best pill in his entire life. He naturally didn't believe what the judge had said, but he wasn't crazy enough to pick a fight with the judge.
The only thing he could do now was refine another pill, one that would match this judge's strange tastes.
The judge then moved over to Lin Fan's station and began inspecting Lin Fan's pill.
He acted the same way as he did when he inspected Xiahou Dun's pill, but instead of shaking his head, he actually jumped up on the spot.
The judge couldn't stop the tremble of his hand as he picked up the pill and inspected it from every angle. When he was finished, he couldn't help pinching his arm to see if he was dreaming. Then feeling the pain, he inspected the pill again just to make sure he wasn't making a mistake.
It was only after all that did he say, "!00% purity pill! This is a 100% purity pill!"
Xiahou Dun had just been about to start his refining and had just released his flames when he heard this. The moment he did hear this, he lost control of his flames and they exploded, burning away his second set of ingredients, but he didn't care at all.
Xiahou Dun looked over at the judge and shouted, "Are you sure? How can this brat who only knows flashy tricks refine a 100% purity pill? I saw him using his flashy tricks to play with the ingredients just now, I won't ever believe that he actually refined them properly!"
The judge just glared at Xiahou Dun who immediately covered his mouth before turning back to Lin Fan, "Contestant 133769 Fan Lin, you pass this round and qualify for the next round. Please come back tomorrow for your match."
Lin Fan just nodded and took the confirmation sheet from the judge before turning to leave. On his way out, he didn't forget to add, "It seems like my flashy tricks were better than your true alchemy. With your acting skills, it would be better to quit alchemy now. One day you might even win an award for acting."
He didn't give Xiahou Dun a chance to speak as he walked out.
Xiahou Dun just had a stunned look on his face as he stood over his burning ingredients in his cauldron.
There was not a single thing he could say since he still didn't even understand what had just happened...