Eternal Cultivation of Alchemy

The single mention of disqualification immediately caught everyone's attention. They began wondering how they could possibly be disqualified while waiting for the Alchemy God to deliver more information.

The Alchemy God glanced all around him before continuing. "When the tournament began exactly 50 years ago, I believe I gave a couple of rules that you had to follow for your disciples."

"The rules were the likes of protecting your disciple to the best of your ability, having them follow all the same rules you would follow in other competitions, and ensuring they did not experience Qi deviation."

"There was another rule on top of that, which many of you surely believe you have followed—and I do believe you did. It was the requirement that, by the time this competition came around, your disciple had to reach the True Emperor realm at the very least and be capable of creating pills with more than 80% harmony."

"That was something we could have tested when your disciples came in, and we did test their cultivation base, but we decided to let go of testing their ability to make those pills."

The Alchemy God smiled slightly. "And that was not because we were benevolent or anything. Oh no, we let them go back then so we could test them now—and, in doing so, have them put on a show to entertain our audience."

"As the rule asked, your disciples must now create a pill with at least 80% harmony. It does not matter what sort of pill they use to reach that percentage. So long as they do, they will pass."

"If they do not…" The Alchemy God paused, seeing the realization dawn in everyone's eyes. "If they fail to reach 80%, they will be disqualified from the competition itself. That means all their effort and achievement from the past four competitions will be meaningless."

"They do not know this, and yet that will determine their fate—and, by association, yours."

A stunned silence spread through the room as the seriousness of the situation sank in. Slowly, everyone in the room realized that their disciples could not afford to mess up at all.

"Do you want to ask something?" the Alchemy God suddenly spoke up, gesturing to a man at the back who seemed to have a question.

Alex turned to look at the man. He was one of the alchemists in the Immortal Spirit realm—a top 10 ranker from the Endurance Test.

"Your Majesty, you mentioned that the tier of the pill will be considered for ranking our disciples at the end, did you not?" the man asked.

The Alchemy God could already see where this vein of questioning was heading, so he grinned as he slowly nodded. "That I did."

"And our disciples are aware of this, are they not?" the man asked.

"Oh, they very much are, Alchemist Tidalwave."

The man seemed worried now. Alex realized that if his assumptions were correct, he too would be very worried.

"If my disciple were to choose to make an Immortal pill, even if he makes a pill with less than 80% harmony, shouldn't it be considered better than a Saint pill of the same harmony? They shouldn't be compared in the same category, Your Majesty."

"No, they should not," the Alchemy God said. "And yet we shall still do it. Because reaching 80% was the rule we put forth, and it was a rule you should have remembered."

The Alchemy God looked at all of them now. "You were given a disciple to rear, and I hope you reared them for more than just their ability to make pills. The requirement on their cultivation base was just to force you to focus on them instead of neglecting them. All I wished was for you to take care of them as you would a true disciple."

"If you taught them right, I'm sure you have nothing to worry about."

The Alchemy God left after that speech, leaving the alchemists to dwell on their future. There was a chance that all of this would be for nothing.

Alex looked back at the Immortal who had spoken up. He had finally found the master of one of the Immortal disciples. He wondered who the other one was.

It took Alex just a moment to consider whether he was in any trouble. But even the thought of Momo doing anything other than what she needed to do was hard to summon. He had taught her well, and he believed she would do the right thing.

From the sounds of it, they were going to get a single chance to make the best pill they could, so all he could do for now was hope. There wasn't much to think about regarding this matter, so Alex diverted his attention and went back to watching the puppet display being performed for the audience's enjoyment.

* * * * * *

Pearl watched one of the beast puppets fighting a humanoid one. The beast looked feline, which made him wonder if one of his Creations could be a feline puppet of a similar nature. Would that be a good idea?

He quickly dismissed the thought. Ideas like this came and went these days, as he was still considering what his Creation could be.

He was watching the puppets when he saw Silvermist return. Silvermist had left a while ago and had only just found his way back. Explore stories at My Virtual Library Empire

Silvermist walked past him and sat in the open seat beside him.

"So, how did it go?" Grimsight asked from the other side.

"They wouldn't tell me," Silvermist said, a hint of annoyance in his tone. He crossed his arms and leaned back, appearing angry.

"So we still don't know?" Grimsight asked.

"No," Silvermist replied. "I waited until I found the Alchemy God himself. I talked to him for a moment, but he refused to answer anything. He said he could not give me any information, as that would be unfair and disadvantageous to the other masters and grandmasters."

"But you weren't trying to find out anything that would influence the participants," Grimsight said. "Did he at least hint at anything?"

"No," Silvermist said, sounding dejected. "All that waiting and I still have no clue if the final ranking will be based on the points they earn, or their overall ranking in the various competitions."

Grimsight sighed. "Did he at least say anything about whether her learning a Dao gave her any extra points?"

"Nope. No answer there either. I don't think we'll find out even after the competition ends," Silvermist said.

Grimsight shook his head. "Well… that's a shame. If the points counted, then that would be good for young Dawnblade, wouldn't it?"

"That it would."

Pearl listened to their conversation, slowly coming to understand their concern.

If the final ranking was based entirely on the rankings of the five tests, then Momo's chances of winning were still quite low. However, if her points were considered, her chances of winning the overall competition would be significantly higher.

With her replacing all ingredients in the replacement test and learning a new Dao mid-test, her performance was outstanding.

As a result, both Silvermist and Grimsight were hopeful that the final rankings would be based on points. However, as things stood, neither of them had any idea at all.