Rise of the Alchemy God

in a vast, dark hall devoid of any living soul, a man seated on a throne at the center at the far end of the hall looked down at an object he held in his hand, with a neutral expression.

Due to the lack of movement from the figure of the man, an outsider might mistake him for a statue.

The object the man was staring at was a talisman, specifically one that had just arrived, containing a message sent by Jian Long.

The emperor didn\'t move for a long time after the message ended, continuing to stare blankly, lost in unknown thoughts.

Then, with a sigh filled with fatigue, he looked towards a point in the throne hall.

There was nothing there but the wall of the hall, yet he seemed to be looking at something beyond it.

There, a few rooms away, lay a large master bedroom, intact, and giving the impression that no one had visited it in a long time.

Even so, the room appeared to be tidy, and no trace of dust could be seen anywhere.

On one side hung a large portrait depicting a woman who was smiling.

The woman in the portrait had long black hair that flowed over her shoulders like a waterfall, and a pair of emerald green eyes that captivated anyone looking at her.

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She wore a gentle smile, which seemed to convey various emotions all at once.

Each time he looked at this portrait, Long Hao\'s mind calmed.

After an indefinite amount of time, he opened his mouth and spoke.

"We don\'t have much time left," he said in a calm voice, as if speaking to someone, though the nearly empty hall provided no answer.

"My time is coming to an end.

Do me a favor, my friend," he said in a weary voice, and again, no sound answered him beyond his own voice.

"Take care of the two of them after I\'m gone," he said, and silence returned to reign in the hall.

After a few seconds, a shadow behind the emperor\'s throne moved, and a voice echoed, breaking the silence in the hall once more.

"Very well."

***

With Hu Xingyan having just pulled out her final pill, only Ethan\'s results remained to be seen.

After understanding what level of pill she had created, many immediately thought the masked boy no longer stood a chance.

After all, he hadn\'t even produced a single pill in those three hours, while she had already produced several, and with that low-grade Level 3 pill, her victory seemed almost certain.

Several audience members began to speak as they waited to see the inevitable.

"Hmph, he acted arrogant throughout the competition, and this is the result," someone remarked.

"Well, you reap what you sow, and in his case, he\'ll reap defeat and the embarrassment of his arrogance."

"Though he has some skills, he never stood a chance against the White Tiger Kingdom\'s genius."

While there were those who naturally sided with Hu Xingyan, there were also those who still believed that the masked boy might have a surprise in store for them.

This hope was based on the fact that he had continuously surprised them throughout the competition, from scoring perfectly on the theory exam and landing in the Hall of Fame, to producing 12 pills in one go, all of high purity.

Many in the audience had already become his die-hard fans, and so, while some mocked him, others cheered him on.

"Nuyu."

"Nuyu."

"Nuyu."

The examiners, seeing this situation, couldn\'t help but shake their heads.

Whenever a particularly outstanding contestant emerged during the annual tournaments, something like this always happened, though this time, the intensity was slightly higher.

None of them paid much attention to the audience as they focused on Ethan to see what he had produced after all this time.

They had already failed once to predict his final result, which, instead of a disaster, turned out to be several high-grade pills.

Therefore, none of them dared to make a judgment, at least not until they had seen the final result of his work.

And so, with the sounds of the crowd on one side and the expectant gazes of many on the other, Ethan finally opened the lid, and suddenly, a faint colored glow emerged from the cauldron, illuminating his area for a moment.

At this phenomenon, everyone, regardless of what they were doing, turned to look towards his station.

"What is that?"

"I don\'t know, but it doesn\'t seem like anything good."

"Could the cauldron be about to explode?"

While another wave of conversations started about what might be inside the cauldron, the judges closest to it saw this phenomenon and immediately had one thought on their minds.

"It can\'t be."

As soon as they thought of it, all their expressions changed instantly, and just as in the last two rounds, they rushed from their positions to Ethan\'s station, surrounding it within seconds, as they looked darkly at what was slowly floating out of the cauldron.

Ethan didn\'t concern himself with their actions, and he used a bit of spiritual Qi to draw out what was inside the cauldron.

Everyone\'s gazes were focused on the floating object emerging from the cauldron, and as they finally saw what it was, many wore confused expressions.

A golden pill?

What kind of pill is that?

While many wondered what type of pill Ethan had produced, the judges closest to the station, upon seeing the pill, trembled, their eyes widening more and more at the sight of the pill.

"No it can\'t be… it\'s really that pill."

"Wait, how did he produce it? Even for us, refining it successfully is a huge task."

"Stop asking pointless questions and examine the pill first!"

At these words from one of them, who had just finished examining the pill, the others quickly sent a bit of their Qi into it, and immediately their expressions changed once again.

"This pill…"

"It\'s mid-grade, Level 3 pill."