Immortal Mortal

Including Pill Master Ming Ning, all five judges transversed across the 300 medicine beds and made their assessments on the individual Flower of the True Gods.

To be able to participate in this competition, and to enter the top 300 meant that these pill refiners were definitely not weak. None of the 300 pill refiners met situations where their seeds didn’t sprout. Moreover, there were very little instances like Mo Wuji’s, where the flower grew to be less than 10 centimetres tall.

After approximately an hour, the five judges returned to the round altar; Pill Master Ming Ning stood alone in the middle of the altar.

Everyone knew, the results were finally out. The pill refiners waited with bated breaths while Pill Master Ming Ning prepared to announce the results.

Pill Master Ming Ning nodded to the crowd of pill refiners before announcing loudly, ”The results from the second round has been decided. With the combined results from both rounds, the top 150 pill refiners are: 81, 711, 1021, 98, 34…”

Even though he knew that he was obviously eliminated, Mo Wuji still held a bit of hope as he listened to Pill Master Ming Ning’s announcement.

It wasn’t just Mo Wuji, the rest of the pill refiners were the same. They all wished to hear their own number.

”113, 632, 2…”

Pill Master Ming Ning had finally reported all 150 numbers. Mo Wuji was crestfallen; 150 numbers should have taken a long time to report, so why did it feel so fast?

”Congratulations to the pill refiners who have gotten through the first two rounds. At the same time, all pill refiners whose numbers have not been called are to leave the testing grounds. We will immediately start our third round of the competition.” Pill Master Ming Ning’s voice was clear and crisp, transmitting into the ears of every single pill refiner.

”This is not fair. Senior pill refiners, I know my words are going to sound outrageous, but I am not saying them just because I was eliminated. But the second round simply wasn’t judged fairly!” An abrupt voice broke the silence in the grounds.

All eyes landed on the person speaking; it was a young looking pill refiner. An expression of unwillingness and unfairness could be seen on his face.

All this while, no one actually dared to question the decisions of the five Tier 6 Earth Pill Refiners. After all, their discernment was impeccable, they definitely would not make a mistake in their judgement.

However, someone actually stood up to question them after the second round. Was the judgement really unfair? If it was, despite the immense prestige held by the Heaven Seeking Palace, all hell would break loose. In fact, the various powers might simply decide to end the practice of a pill competition there and then.

Mo Wuji looked at Ju Feiyang in shock; he never saw Ju Feiyang to be a person with such guts. He actually dared to cry out for injustice? Did this fella really think he could definitely get past the second round? He was originally going to leave the testing grounds, but because of Ju Feiyang’s cry for injustice, Mo Wuji momentarily stopped in his tracks.

As he gradually stopped walking, Mo Wuji suddenly felt as though he was missing something.

Before Mo Wuji could recall what it was he was neglecting, Pill Master Ming Ning coldly said, ”You dare doubt the standards of the five Tier 6 Earth Pill Refiners, and the fairness of the Heaven Seeking Palace?”

Ju Feiyang seemed to understand that there’s no way back for him, so he took a step forward with his fists clasped as he said, ”I don’t dare do that. But I’m very familiar with competitor 632. He was among the last to finish his purification in the first round, but he entered the top 300. However, I did not know the degree of his purification, so I kept quiet. However, he was definitely among the last for the second round; his Flower of the True Gods is not even bigger than a palm. Such a pill refiner actually managed to enter the top 150! That’s why I would like to ask: Where is the fairness?”

After these words left Ju Feiyang’s mouth, the crowd started to get restless. Ju Feiyang’s words were not without logic, and he even had evidence. If that’s the case, there was only one possibility: The judgement was truly unfair. The whole crowd started to surge, and there were even calls for a riot.

”Everyone down in the grounds are to calm down. Whether the judgement is fair or not is up to Pill Master Ming Ning to decide.” A voice thick in killing intent descended from the sky, and seemed to strike into every single person’s hearts. It caused many restless footsteps to momentarily calm down.

Mo Wuji was also shocked as he heard this voice; his mind started to clear up. He finally made sense of the situation: previously, he was simply waiting for Pill Master Ming Ning to finish reporting the 150 numbers, and he forgot that he was number 632. In actuality, 632 was called out, but he did not notice it and connect the number to himself.

A sense of excitement inundated Mo Wuji’s entire body; he had already completely ignored the legitimacy of Ju Feiyang’s words. No wonder why Ju Feiyang would actually call for injustice. He thoroughly hates me, and can’t wait to kill me. Now that I managed to pass while he didn’t, he must definitely be shocked and jealous.

Pill Master Ming Ning glanced coldly at Ju Feiyang before she said loudly, ”To all the participating pill refiners, as to the matter of Pill Refiner 632, even if no one fingered him out, I would still have talked about him. Actually, I have been paying attention to Pill Refiner 632 for a very long time. In the first round, where the Iron Core Bodhi Fruit was to be purified, his speed was among the slowest. However, he still managed to purify the Iron Core Bodhi Fruit within the time limit, and his purification degree was graded 71 out of 100, which was within the top 10.

This result would already be outstanding for a Tier 4 Earth Pill Refiner. To him, it would be even more so. Does everybody want to know why I said that? It’s because he’s just a Channel Opening Stage cultivator. It’s already a miracle for a Channel Opening Stage cultivator to become a Tier 3 Mortal Pill Refiner. Not only did he achieve that, he even managed to purify a Tier 4 Iron Core Bodhi Fruit with a red firestone.”

Pill Master Ming Ning’s words aroused various discussions within the crowd. Clearly, many people felt her words to be absurd.

”Perhaps some of you might find my words preposterous. But if you all know how he managed to achieve these results, you would no longer think so. Let me tell you, he got this results by frying with his hands. For a pill refiner, as long as it’s not a permanent injury, it might be worth it to use your hands to fry the herb, and achieve such stellar results.

But I’m sure all of you can only imagine the heart wrenching pain experienced from putting your hand through the heat of a firestone. How much determination was required to endure that pain?

Also, I believe all of you should know the huge damage this hand frying method does to its user. Once it reaches an irreparable state, his pill concoction foundations would be utterly ruined. I believe that a Tier 3 Mortal Pill Refiner would not actually have a pill which can mend an irreparable hand.”

As Pill Master Ming Ning said this, the whole crowd quietened down. There were many pill refiners in the crowd. Even they couldn’t dare confirm that they would achieve success through using the hand frying method. Moreover, they would not be willing to try it even if it got them selected.

It was as Pill Master Ming Ning said, the gains would never outweigh the risks. What if it caused a permanent damage to the hand? Not only would their pill concocting future be ruined, their cultivation potential would be lost as well. Furthermore, it was only the first round. Using such a harmful method might even affect their performance in the future rounds.

Pill Master Ming Ning continued solemnly, ”This wasn’t the greatest thing I appreciated about this pill refiner. What I appreciated the most, was that after he finished his purification, he endured the pain of his burns and forced himself to not consume any sort of pills. Initially, I did not understand the reason for his actions, but I came to understand when the jade vases were collected. He probably isn’t very familiar with the rules, and he thought that it was against the rules to administer pills during the competition. That’s why he chose to forcefully endure the pain.

He is the most devout pill refiner here. His sacrifice in this competition, and his desire to enter the Five Elements Desolate Domain definitely exceeds everybody else here. To obtain a placing, he did not even care about how his future could be ruined.”

By the side, Qu Wan’Er looked at Mo Wuji and sighed. This fella’s determination is still the same. Others might have doubts towards Pill Master Ming Ning’s words, but she completely believed it. She had seen Mo Wuji’s determination before. As he was struck by bolt after bolt of lightning, he still chose to pit his life against the lightning crocodiles.

At this point, Pill Master Ming Ning specially took a pause and looked at Pill Master Ju disdainfully before continuing, ”But these are just what I appreciate about him. As a judge, I definitely wouldn’t specially give him additional points for that.

If I knew that there would be such a person who was so sincere, and so determined, yet had such a low cultivation, I would have suggested rounds which have lower requirements of cultivation level. But there are no ‘if’s. For the second round, it was the growing of Flowers of the True Gods. Besides having high requirements of a pill refiner’s understanding towards spiritual herbs, this round had higher requirements towards a pill refiner’s cultivation.

Among the 300 competitors, 163 pill refiners chose the wood affinity flower, 90 chose the fire affinity flower, and 46 pill refiners chose from the earth, water and metal affinities.”

Pill Master Ming Ning’s gaze swept across the crowd, before speaking in a higher tone, ”Out of 300 pill refiners, only one person chose a Flower of the True Gods of a unique affinity. This is understandable. After all, pill refiners with unique elemental affinities are as rare as phoenix feathers and Qilin horns. At the same time, there is also another reason. The difficulty of growing a unique affinity Flower of the True Gods is multiple times higher…”

At this moment, everyone in the square started to probe around in the crowd. No one knew who 632 was, but everyone knew that Pill Master Ming Ning was definitely going to talk about 632, and Pill Refiner 632 was definitely within the crowd.

Looking at the crowd’s glancing eyes, Pill Master Ming Ning’s tone became a littler gentler, ”Yes, everyone guessed right. The pill refiner who chose a unique affinity Flower of the True Gods seed was Pill Refiner 632. The lightning affinity flower he grew is already as wide as a palm. Even though his results isn’t the best, it’s definitely within the top 10.”

Pill Master Ming Ning turned back, stared at Ju Feiyang and snapped loudly, ”Do you still think that our judges are pretentious, and that the Five Elements Pill Competition is unfair?”

”I, I… didn’t know…” Ju Feiyang’s entire mind turned cold. The jealousy he had towards Mo Wuji had utterly vanished. In its place, was only a deep, intense fear.

He hated Mo Wuji, which was why he momentarily lost his reason and cried for injustice. Who would have guessed that it would turn out like this.

”If everyone was like you, and decide to question the credibility of the Five Elements Pill Competition, then the Five Elements Pill Competition cannot carry on…”

Pill Master Ming Ning’s voice was icy cold. As her voice descended, an incomparably huge shadow of a fist appeared in the sky.

”Peng!” This shadow descended onto Ju Feiyang. Ju Feiyang didn’t even have the chance to plead for mercy. He was directly minced into bits of meat.