Chapter 159 The exchange meeting begins The day before the exchange meeting started, Jian Lai came back. He also brought several letters written by Ruan Tao and Hu San. In addition to keeping in touch with each other, they also reported some information about their situation. Ruan Tao is already in the late stage of foundation building. The fairy said that her spiritual bones are very good, and when she was given the initiation, Ruan Tao had not fully digested the fairy's spiritual power. Fortunately, she has the Boundary Breaking Pill sent by Ruan Xing. I'm afraid that in a few months, she will be able to achieve the Golden Pill. It has only been two years of practice and he has already reached the late stage of foundation building... Ruan Xing was impressed by Ruan Tao's fast practice speed, and his dislike for Liuyang Study increased. If Ruan Tao was born in the outside world, even if she was born a mortal commoner, she could definitely live a good life in any sect with her qualifications. However, Liuyang Academy, for its own selfish interests, kept hundreds of thousands of mortals in the dynasty in captivity and even cut off the path for women to practice cultivation, so that a talented spiritual bone like Ruan Tao could only serve as a slave for mortal officials and merchants. There was no change in Hu San's cultivation. He said with shame that he had been busy with the affairs of the Fengling Yueying Sect and therefore had not spent all his time on cultivation. He is a very responsible person. He said at the beginning that he would keep an eye on the Red Head Gang for Ruan Xing. Even though Ruan Xing has cultivated to this level now and no longer cares about the benefits brought by that gang, he still keeps his promise. It's probably not enough to persuade Hu San with just the few words that Jian Lai brought. Perhaps she could go back after the exchange meeting is over. I also have to help Ruan Tao protect the formation. She can't endure the tribulation in the Mortal Dynasty, otherwise when the heavenly tribulation falls, the barrier will be the first to bear it and will definitely be discovered.
But if Ruan Tao is taken out of the barrier, she can't go back... However, Ruan Xing is already in the Nascent Soul stage. Although she doesn't know whether the owner of Liuyang Study is two small realms higher than her, if she prepares a few more little boys, she should have some chance of winning. I'll solve all the problems when I go back this time. There are already more than eighty disciples with a sense of Qi in the sect, and the best of them have already reached the Qi training stage. Demon cultivators and immortal cultivators account for almost half each. It seems that the fairy is also trying to compete with the Demon Lord, and will join if she can't beat him. The Demon Lord was not idle either. While teaching his disciples, he was also making trouble. He boldly went to the outskirts of the National Master's Palace to study the unknown life form. He was almost discovered by the National Master inside several times. However, the National Master was not very vigilant. There had been no problems in the Mortal Dynasty for thousands of years, so he did not take it seriously. In order to avoid any news that would attract the attention of the National Master's Palace, Hu San and his new disciples all kept a low profile. By the way, because of Jian Lai's practice last time, he built free charity cemeteries and cemeteries in several nearby towns. Jian Lai was somewhat happy, but this time he was just delivering a letter, so he only stayed for two days before leaving reluctantly. If I had known this would happen, I would have let Jianlai stay a little longer. She had to go back anyway. Ruan Xing touched Jian Lai's head and said, "It's okay. After the exchange meeting is over, we will go back again. You can stay in those places with heavy yin energy for a while longer." It’s strange to say, she has hardly ever encountered a place with heavy yin energy in the world of immortal cultivation. Could it be that after death, all cultivators’ souls will return to the world like those in the Guixu period? Jian Lai nodded, then gestured somewhat at a loss, and then his voice came into his mind, "Brother, he cried when he saw me..." He seemed very nervous and didn't understand why Hu San was crying. Ruan Xing was startled, and looked at Jian Lai's black hair and ruddy complexion. Although he knew it was fake, but... "Maybe he cried because he was so happy that he saw Jian Lai getting better and better." Jianlai lowered his head in confusion, not knowing whether he understood what she meant. "Master, never, ever cried." Jian Lai placed his cold fingers on Ruan Xing's cheek, "Why..." "Because tears are a way of expressing emotions." Ruan Xing answered without hesitation. Seeing Jian Lai's expression, which looked like an elementary school student in astronomy class, he smiled and said, "But I don't like that way. Problems need to be solved. Crying is useless. For everything I want, I will try my best to try and hold it firmly in my palm." That's why she was able to persist in the boring and repetitive simulations over and over again. "It doesn't matter if you don't understand. I will bring my sword with me to become an immortal together. After a hundred or a thousand years, maybe you will be like me."
Pinching the flesh on Jian Lai's cheek, Ruan Xing chuckled. The next day was the first day of the exchange meeting. Many monks who had been staying in their rooms and seldom coming out in the past few days, today almost filled up the small square in the middle of the corner tower. But there are still few people speaking. I guess many of the people here are socially anxious and are busy making elixirs. A table and medicine cauldrons had been set up in the middle of the square, and several waiters from Wanbao Tower were standing at the front. Ruan Xing poked an old man beside him and asked, "What are you waiting for?" The old man glanced at her and could not sense her cultivation, so he whispered, "Wait for the third floor master of Wanbao Tower to come and host the exchange meeting." Unexpectedly, he really knew. Ruan Xing's eyes turned and he asked, "Isn't this the first time that Daoist friend has participated?" The old man paused and said, "That's right. This is my third time at the exchange meeting." "Tell me?" Although the old man did not think that Ruan Xing would use force in Wanbao Tower if he did not speak, he was naturally afraid of people with higher cultivation than himself. This was also the experience summed up by the old man in the world of immortal cultivation for so many years. Although Ruan Xing's behavior was a bit overbearing, it was at least polite. He had to swallow his anger and said: "All those participating in the exchange meeting are alchemists from level one to level three. Alchemists who refine pills of different grades will compete in separate time periods. Level one pills are relatively simple and can usually be finished in the morning of the first day. Level two and level three pills take relatively longer, but the exchange meeting will not exceed three days in total, so those pills with long refining processes are not within the scope of the competition." Ruan Xing had already planned to refine the Boundary Breaking Pill. He nodded and asked, "You have participated in it three times, haven't you signed a long-term cooperation agreement with Wanbao Tower?" This old man's cultivation was not high, and Ruan Xing didn't know how good his alchemy skills were, but he felt that he was definitely not within the second floor master's selection range. "I am an alchemist who supplies pills to Wanbao Tower." The old man said slowly, "Fellow Daoist, you also know that the exchange meeting is for the second floor master to select a successor, but for other ordinary alchemists, even if they are not favored by the second floor master, this is also an opportunity for communication and improvement. It is very rare to be able to watch other alchemists making pills. Even if you are thick-skinned, you have to ask for an invitation from the building." That's right, when she first started simulating and trying to learn alchemy, it was very difficult. Ruan Xing nodded in understanding. So she doesn't have that many real competitors here. After a while, a man hurried through the corridor and walked to the front. Ruan Xing was a little surprised to find that the other person was the one who spoke to her at the auction that day. It turned out that he was the third floor master. It was hard for him to condescend to preside over this venue where the highest level was only at the Jindan stage. He cleared his throat, said some polite words, and then began to explain the rules of the competition. The waiters who were originally standing by the side also stood in front of the table, placed pens, ink, paper and inkstone on the table, and asked those who were interested in participating in the competition to write down the name of the elixir they wanted to refine and the required materials. Writing and preparing materials on the spot, Wanbaolou is indeed the number one chamber of commerce in the world of immortal cultivation. Although they are just some third-level materials, with so many alchemists, it must be a considerable expense. Ruan Xing also stepped forward and wrote down the Boundary Breaking Pill that he wanted to refine. When the waiter saw this, he was slightly surprised, then he put on his smiling expression again. Among the third-tier elixirs, the Boundary Breaking Pill is not the most difficult to make, but its raw materials are relatively expensive, and the recipe is hard to obtain. It is almost impossible to obtain it without a cultivator from a certain force. Maybe she was regarded as an abandoned disciple of a sect or a retainer of an aristocratic family. But it's not a big problem. Since it can be achieved through cooperation in the simulation, I believe Wanbaolou doesn't care about these small things.
The power of Wanbao Tower itself should be quite large. At least, Ruan Xing could not tell the cultivation level of the third floor owner, and the other two floor owners should not be simple either. Soon, the waiters organized the lists written by the alchemists in an orderly manner. After a while, several exquisitely carved carts loaded with various spiritual herbs and processed monster parts, which were placed in jade boxes and wooden boxes with suitable medicinal properties, lined up and entered the square. After clearing the space in the middle of the table with the medicine cauldron, the third floor master announced that the first-level medicine refining competition would begin now. Small barriers rose up one after another, and semicircular eggshells enveloped every alchemist in the venue. Most of them looked very young, with uncontrollable excitement on their faces. Some monks were still observing what recipes others had chosen, while some impatient monks had already started heating the cauldron. The old man was still standing next to Ruan Xing, and she poked him again and asked, "Do you think there is anyone among them who can catch the eye of the Second Floor Master?" "How should I know?" The old man was surprised. "I don't know what the second floor master's selection criteria are." "Based on the experience of the previous exchanges, what do the selected people have in common?" The old man was silent for a while, "From the beginning of the exchange meeting to now, no one has been selected." "Ah?" Ruan Xing was shocked. She couldn't help but fall into deep thought. How did she manage to enter the Wanbao Tower with a furnace of world-breaking pills? The text simulation also doesn't show her as many details. While the two were talking, one person in the field had already completed his work. It only takes a stick of incense. The cultivator watching from the side exclaimed, "This boy has a great character. He can calm down and make pills even when he is not in the alchemy room. He succeeded on the first batch!" "Don't you see what kind of pill it is? It's a first-level Qi-gathering pill. Ninety percent of the alchemists here should be familiar with it." "What a pity. Why did he choose the Qi Gathering Pill? This furnace can't be sold for many spirit stones. It's a waste of an opportunity." "Could it be that he wants to use the Qi Gathering Pill to win the favor of the Third Floor Master? How is that possible?" "Look!" The old man's eyes suddenly widened, "How many pills did he make?" The monk who succeeded first in refining the medicine in the field had already picked up the medicine bottles and was ready to fill them with pills. He filled one bottle, two bottles, three bottles... four bottles! The fourth bottle was not full. No matter what grade of auxiliary cultivation pills, there are usually six pills in a bottle, and he refined nineteen pills. “It’s actually nineteen pills, and they’re all made into pills in one go.” The old man murmured. Ruan Xing's expression was confused and bewildered. What happened to nineteen... When she first arrived in Yunyang City and made money by selling pills, she often made about 20 pills in one furnace! She could even make 22 or 23 pills! The old man explained to Ruan Xing: "The more pills he makes at one time, the less medicinal properties he wastes. He is very proficient in controlling the temperature of the medicine cauldron. I have also made a lot of Qi Gathering Pills, but until now I can only make 16 or 17 pills steadily, and never 19. His talent for alchemy is far better than mine!" Ruan Xing was a little puzzled and quickly said, "Wait a minute, tell me first, how many pills do you make on average per furnace?" The old man didn't understand, but still answered: "Most first-level alchemists can't control the temperature well. They are lucky to succeed in making pills. Wasting medicinal properties is inevitable. It's normal to only have eleven or twelve pills in a furnace at the beginning. After becoming proficient, you can probably make fifteen or sixteen. Of course, the success rate of second- and third-level cultivators refining low-level pills will be higher. The success rate of a third-level alchemist should be able to reach nineteen pills. In other words... this kid's control over the temperature is comparable to that of a third-level alchemist." "What about the twenty or so?" "I haven't heard of it." The old man's expression became indescribable, as if he was doubting whether Ruan Xing was an alchemist or not, and whether he had any common sense. "More than 20 pills means no medicinal properties were wasted at all? It's simply a fantasy. Maybe a fifth-level alchemist can do it, but how can a fifth-level alchemist refine a Qi-gathering pill worth a few low-grade spirit stones!"
Ruan Xing touched his nose and said nothing more. No wonder her profit from refining pills in Yunyang City was over 50 to 60 percent every time. She knew that her success rate and pill success rate were higher than those of ordinary alchemists, but she didn't expect it to be so much higher! The first-level alchemist competition ended after more than an hour. The one with the worst psychological quality tried four times before succeeding on the fourth furnace. People couldn't help but shake their heads and wonder where he got the invitation. The monk was sweating cold sweat of shame, and went back to his room in shame without waiting for the result to be announced. As expected, the cultivator who had successfully completed 19 pills came out on top, and he raised his head with some pride. The reward will not be paid out until the third day. After the eggshell-shaped barrier faded, dozens of waiters came up to clean the table and medicine cauldron. When the refining process failed just now, several people's furnaces exploded. Not only were they covered in dust, but the place was also a mess. Fortunately, the eggshell barrier separated the inside and the outside, and only the monk who was refining the medicine suffered some minor injuries. Next it was the turn of the second-level alchemists to compete. The monks watching around looked much more serious. When they watched the first-level competition just now, it was of little help to them. They just watched it for fun or with a critical attitude. The situation is different for the second level now. Those first level alchemists who didn’t get a place in the competition are standing aside, watching them making pills attentively. (End of this chapter)