Battle Through the Heavens: Reap the Red Lotus Karmic Flame at the Start

"What's going on?"

"Xiao Yan actually caused the furnace to explode?"

"Tsk tsk tsk, is this the number one expert in the Pill Gathering that you all praise? He's not even a tenth or a twelfth as strong as Young Master Ling."

"At this level, I really can't imagine how someone could get a perfect score without using connections."

As Xiao Yan reached the final stage of refining the medicinal herbs, the elders of the Pill Tower stared wide-eyed, expecting to witness another great feat from him. Unexpectedly, they did witness a "feat"—Xiao Yan, in the final stages of refining the herbs, caused a conflict between the medicinal properties, directly exploding the alchemy furnace. Faint gray smoke billowed from the Black Demon Cauldron, announcing the final result of Xiao Yan's trial.

Wei Jiangyuan looked at Xiao Yan with some surprise.

"Senior brother, I'll thank you in advance for this Grade Nine precious pill."

"This shouldn't be happening..." Wei Jiangyuan pondered, "How could Xiao Yan only perform like this? Something's not right, something's very wrong!"

"It's alright. Although the furnace explosion was a rather big mistake, what alchemist can avoid making mistakes? This is something our teacher often nags about."

Wei Jiangyuan looked at Xiao Yan on the stage, somewhat puzzled, before saying, "His performance today was far too off-target. What has he been doing all this time? Could it really be that my taking him to the Dan family influenced him?"

……

"Young Master Ling, given the current situation, should we still try to lower Xiao Yan's score?" Zou Wu asked Ling Zhuo. After all, they had initially prepared with the expectation that Xiao Yan would achieve a perfect score, going all out to stop him. Now, with Xiao Yan's furnace exploding, they were truly caught off guard. The extraction of both medicinal herbs had completely failed, and his score was destined to be no higher than eighty points.

"No need. There's no point in suppressing him now. His mistake was only temporary. Even if we reduce his score to 60 this time, he won't make the same mistake again tomorrow."

"Then they'll just think that Xiao Yan's score dropped as soon as he participated, which will only make more people suspicious. What's wrong with giving him a score of seventy-something this time?"

Ling Zhuo was in a very good mood because of Xiao Yan's poor performance. It wasn't that he hoped Xiao Yan was only at this level; he knew Xiao Yan's poor performance was only temporary. But with so many people witnessing Xiao Yan's failure today, public opinion was naturally very favorable to him.

Moreover, Ling Zhuo's biggest concern was that Xiao Yan had achieved excellent results in all four trials. Even if his great-grandmother personally guarded the final trial, a sudden drop in Xiao Yan's performance would easily arouse suspicion among the crowd.

After all, Xiao Yan already wields considerable influence thanks to his two perfect scores and his status as a disciple of Yao Chen, the Medicine Venerable. In this respect, the Spirit Clan's long-standing seclusion and minimal contact with the outside world are actually a disadvantage.

Prejudice in people's hearts is a mountain. Once Xiao Yan breaks through the first four levels with unstoppable force, even if the fifth level successfully influences Xiao Yan, will so many people in Saint Pill City believe it?

For the Spirit Clan, the elaborate creation of the Heavenly Talents Ranking was purely for publicity. The most important goal wasn't simply to have Ling Zhuo win first place, but to allow the Spirit Clan to showcase its strength. Subsequently, at the Pill Gathering, Ling Zhuo decisively won the championship, completely conquering the Pill Tower.

Xiao Yan's appearance reversed the favorable situation back into the Pill Tower. Ling Zhuo believed that Xiao Yan's defeat today would be a major turning point.

Xiao Yan's mistake today will prove to everyone that he is not perfect and that he can make mistakes too!

With a Dou Sheng level expert guarding the fifth level, Xiao Yan's score plummeted again, which everyone could understand.

On the contrary, Xiao Yan's flawed academic performance only serves to highlight Ling Zhuo's all-around abilities. Ling Zhuo had already come up with the slogan for future publicity: Xiao Yan is indeed a genius, but even such a genius pales in comparison to the all-rounder cultivated by the Ling Clan.

"Young Master Ling is brilliant!"

"Xiao Yan, Xiao Yan, I really have to thank you for leaving me such a big opening." Ling Zhuo now showed a genuine smile.

At this moment, Xiao Yan, the true protagonist of the incident, was not greatly disturbed. The reason was simple: he felt that he was likely to make a mistake. The fact that the furnace exploded at the last moment was already a result of his efforts to control the situation and his good luck today.

Even the eight refined portions were flawed in Xiao Yan's opinion. If he were to directly condense them into pills, the success rate would probably be less than 50%.

As Xiao Yan felt the Red Lotus Heart Flame within his body, he knew that the reason his ability to refine medicinal herbs had declined to this extent was due to the influence of that night.

The Nine Netherworld Python's chilling aura was arguably the pinnacle of the entire continent, and Qing Lin was an evolved Nine Netherworld Python. Not to mention, Qing Lin's strength far surpassed Xiao Yan's, so even under those special circumstances, the Strange Flame was significantly affected.

Of course, this does not mean that the power of the strange fire is affected. The Crimson Lotus Heart Fire, formed by the fusion of the three strange fires, cannot really be killed so easily.

However, after that night, Xiao Yan's precise control over the strange fire deteriorated considerably, and he has not recovered to this day. Alchemy places great emphasis on precise control over the flame and the individual; even the slightest deviation can undo all previous efforts.

Xiao Yan had also intended to use this test to assess his condition, and it seemed that recovery would still take time. Xiao Yan felt helpless about this, as he couldn't control how things had unfolded.

No one knew they would encounter that mysterious old man, which would cause Qinglin's body to go out of control overnight. He really didn't know that his body would experience such a thing. At that time, it had reached a point where it had to be dealt with.

Since he couldn't solve the problem, Xiao Yan had already planned to use the time to attempt the other two trials first. At least he understood that the final two trials were unrelated to the precise control of flames, and the minor changes in his body would not have any impact.

As for the doubts and angry shouts from the sidelines, Xiao Yan completely ignored them. What these spectators were hoping for was not what he was hoping for; he only needed to complete the task assigned by the Pill Tower. The so-called perfect score of 500 and the feat of reaching the top were things Xiao Yan did not want to do; he knew that the tallest tree in the forest is the first to be felled by the wind.

In truth, Xiao Yan felt that the fame and praise brought by the Pill Tower's publicity were a bit excessive. He still hoped to win the Pill Tournament championship without attracting attention, and then calmly leave after receiving the Three Thousand Burning Flames.

Sometimes, when Xiao Yan gets caught up in these things, there's no option left for him to remain low-key and still succeed.