When I stopped licking, the lady panicked.

"This...this..." Fan Jiang was stunned as he saw the pill in his hand undergo a transformation as if it were shedding its shell.

Not only him, but the entire alchemy workshop, including the old man, was stunned.

What kind of alchemy is this? They've never heard of it before!

"What...what did you do?" Fan Jiang stared at Lin Xuan in shock and questioned him.

Lin Xuan calmly said, "The outer layer is just to ensure that the pills won't get cold from the wind immediately after they're taken out of the furnace, which would affect their quality."

"The condensation of the pill takes place in the furnace. When it comes out of the furnace, the pill has already cooled and solidified. How can it be said that it was cooled by the wind?" Fan Jiang questioned.

Lin Xuan smiled and said, "Making pills in the alchemy furnace can indeed prevent them from being blown away by the wind, but you have overlooked one thing, which is the impurities in the alchemy furnace."

"In addition to the impurities produced during this alchemy process, impurities that were not cleaned before will also remain in the furnace."

"Therefore, if one chooses to refine the pills in a furnace, the pills will absorb some impurities, affecting their quality."

"Therefore, I chose to form the pill externally. Before the pill is fully formed, I wrap it in an outer shell. Once it is fully formed, the shell will shed when the wind blows. That's why my pills are formed faster than yours."

After hearing Lin Xuan's explanation, not only Fan Jiang was dumbfounded, but the old man was also dumbfounded.

What kind of alchemy technique is this? He had lived for decades and had never seen such a strange alchemy technique before.

"Heh, you... stop with the mystification. The key to alchemy isn't the technique, but the quality of the pills!" Fan Jiang stammered, his previous confidence gone, his voice lacking conviction.

Upon hearing this, Lin Xuan laughed and said, "Is that so? Since the key isn't technique, why did you immediately judge me to have lost after seeing my technique?"

These words immediately left Fan Jiang and the old man speechless.

Indeed, after seeing Lin Xuan's alchemy techniques, they immediately concluded that Lin Xuan could not refine pills, and thus sentenced him to death.

But now, Fan Jiang says that the key to alchemy is not the technique. Isn't that just contradicting himself?

Fan Jiang felt his face burning, so he quickly changed the subject, saying, "Master, please take a look at the quality of this pill."

The old man nodded and accepted the pill, but his old hand was already trembling slightly.

He carefully examined the Three-Pattern Body Tempering Pill refined by Lin Xuan and found that the pill was perfect in terms of color, shape, efficacy, and fragrance.

Such skillful craftsmanship and such perfect elixir were actually made by a man in his early twenties; it was simply unbelievable.

Such a perfect pill shape could not be produced without more than ten years of alchemy experience.

"Wait a minute." The old man suddenly noticed something was wrong. "I asked you to refine a Three-Striped Body Tempering Pill, so why is there an extra half-striped pattern on your Three-Striped Body Tempering Pill?"

Upon hearing this, Fan Jiang immediately went over and indeed found that the pill had an extra half-striped pattern.

He was taken aback at first, then laughed and said, "Lin Xuan, you've refined it wrong! Refining it wrong means you can't win."

Lin Xuan smiled calmly and said, "You've been refining pills for so many years, yet you don't even know about the qualitative changes in medicinal herbs."

"The medicinal properties have changed?" Fan Jiang was stunned. "What is that?"

He looked at the old man, puzzled.

The old man was also completely bewildered, saying, "What kind of medicinal material changes? I've never heard of such a thing."

Lin Xuan said, "Of course you haven't heard of it. How many alchemy prodigies have you seen, and how many alchemy techniques have you come into contact with?"

"In this alchemy workshop, you are exposed to formulaic methods every day, and your mindset has long been fixed."

Lin Xuan's criticism made the old man's face burn with embarrassment. He felt that all his years of refining pills had been in vain, and he was being taught by a junior.

Ironically, he had previously intended to give Lin Xuan a hard time, to let Lin Xuan know the gap between himself and a genius alchemist.

As it turned out, Lin Xuan didn't feel the gap between himself and the genius alchemist, but the genius alchemist did see the gap between himself and Lin Xuan.

"I'll return this to you: there are always people more capable than you, and there's always something beyond your understanding," Lin Xuan said calmly.

Fan Jiang and the old man blushed.

"Don't talk nonsense! I've never even heard of any medicine changing its properties. This is definitely something you made up!" Fan Jiang retorted loudly, refusing to believe Lin Xuan's theory.

Because once he accepts Lin Xuan's theory, it means he accepts the fact that he is inferior to Lin Xuan.

As a genius alchemist, a prodigy who has been praised since childhood, it is absolutely impossible for him to admit that he is inferior to others, especially in his own area of ​​expertise!

The hardest thing to accept in the world is when someone defeats you in your area of ​​expertise, and you are defeated utterly.

"Whether it's fabricated or not, you can check the 'Heavenly Medicine Chart,' which records it in Volume 3, Chapter 27," Lin Xuan said.

The "Illustrated Manual of Heavenly Medicines" is the "Records of the Grand Historian" of the alchemy world, recording alchemy deeds from ancient times to the present, including various strange tales.

Seeing that Lin Xuan's words were so detailed and convincing, Fan Jiang panicked.

But his pride as a genius wouldn't allow him to back down.

Even though he knew that if he actually investigated and the situation turned out to be true, it would be tantamount to admitting that he was inferior to Lin Xuan, he still chose to investigate.

As Lin Xuan had predicted, the "Heavenly Medicine Chart" did indeed record the qualitative changes in medicinal materials, and even the number of volumes and chapters was correct.

This suggests that Lin Xuan may have already memorized the "Heavenly Medicine Diagram".

Memorizing a dictionary with millions of entries? Is that even human?

Fan Jiang slumped to the ground, his eyes lifeless, as if his soul had been drained away.

In this competition, Fan Jiang not only lost, but also turned all his efforts and honors in the first half of his life into a joke.

"So, did I lose?" Lin Xuan looked up at the old man.

The old man chuckled self-deprecatingly and said, "Lin Xuan, you win."

"Can I have some Spirit Berry and Blood Spirit Mushroom?" Lin Xuan asked.

The old man nodded and said, "Okay."

He pulled Fan Jiang up and asked, "What happened to the Spirit Berry and Blood Spirit Mushroom you took from the Wanzhen Medicine Warehouse?"

Fan Jiang said weakly, "We've used up all the Blood Spirit Mushrooms. There's only one Spirit Berry left."

"That's fine, something is better than nothing," Lin Xuan said.

Fan Jiang took out the Spirit Berry and handed it to Lin Xuan, saying, "It's yours now."

After saying that, Fan Jiang walked out of the alchemy workshop dejectedly.

Watching Fan Jiang's retreating figure, Lin Xuan said, "You've already done very well. Among the younger generation, you can be considered number one. Your future achievements will definitely not be inferior to mine."

Fan Jiang stopped, glanced back at Lin Xuan, forced a smile, and said, "Thank you."

After saying this, Fan Jiang left.

The old man clasped his hands in a respectful bow to Lin Xuan, a sudden and generous gesture that left Lin Xuan feeling flattered.

"It was my mistake, Your Highness. I apologize again," the old man said, bowing slightly.