Eternal Cultivation of Alchemy

Alex was in the final stages of completing the pill. He was done with the powder and the energy, and now it was time to bring it all together. He had been prepared for this moment for days, wondering every time if he was doing something wrong. But each time, he knew he had to do this.

He needed a ticket to go find his family and for that, he needed to be a Supreme Alchemist. This was the only way.

With no more thoughts or hesitation, he employed the Vortex of Perfection technique. The energy from the technique flowed into the cauldron, suddenly causing the gathered powder to fall into a sphere of perfect symmetry.

Then, a vortex appeared atop it, sucking in all the energy within the cauldron, into the individual combination of powder that lay in a unique structure, forming the pill.

When the pill was completed, Alex finally stopped and let the pill remain in the now-cold cauldron. He looked to the side and saw the Supreme Alchemist focused on the final bit of his pill-making process as well.

It appeared that he had intentionally taken it slow when making the pill as he had no need to hurry. He was only making a single pill and there was no need to hurry at all.

Ming Longxin finished on his own time and finally pulled the pill out of his cauldron, placing it onto a small bottle next to him. He turned to the side, looking at Alex with a smug smile, only to see Alex looking back at him with a smile of his own.

He was a little weirded out by the interaction, wondering what Alex was doing, staring at him like that. He simply waited and watched Alex, but seeing him unmoving made him confused.

He turned toward the judges, trying to discern if something had gone wrong that he hadn't noticed. Had the duel been canceled for some reason? Why was he not told?

He waited for someone to come and tell him what was going on, but no one did. He still waited and after a long while, the judges finally came back.

"What's going on? Are we shutting this down?" he asked the judges.

The judges said nothing, each looking toward Alex. "Are you done?" Bluehorn asked.

"I've been done for a while, senior," he said. "I have been waiting for you all to come."

Blurhorn looked back at Blackfrost who could only shrug. He didn't know Alex was going to stop at a single pill either.

Bluehorn looked at the time on a formation next to him for all the audience to see and said, "You still have 40 minutes left to go. You can redo your pill if you want."

"That's alright," Alex said. "I'm done with my pill."

"Done with your pill? At a single try?" Ming Longxin asked with a scoff. "They say courage and stupidity are separated by a single line. I can see the line is very much blurred for you. You never realized when you stepped over it."

Alex couldn't help but chuckle at the remark. It had been a while since someone had called him stupid in such a roundabout way.

"I feel pity for you, so I'll let it be this one time," the man said. "Seniors, let him try again. Let him make pills for all 3 times so he can try and surpass me."

Bluehorn turned toward Ming Longxin. "Are you sure, young Ming?" he asked. "You should know that the chances at making pills are very much over unless you give him that chance."

"I am benevolent enough," the man said. "I will give him that chance. Heck, I'll tell him what he needs to get to beat as well."

The man tossed the bottle with the pill over to the elder, who caught it.

"Are you absolutely sure you want to do this?" he asked. "If your pill is tested, you can't make another one."

"I'm confident I have won," the man said. "In fact, this is bullying on my end right now. I thought he would get 3 chances, so if he uses only one, I would feel bad myself."

Bluehorn nodded slowly and opened the bottle. A fragrant smell wafted out of the bottle as they tossed the pill out and used a pill tester to test the pill.

The pill tester was being used publicly, so everyone could watch it in action. The pill tester got to work, immediately showing everyone what the result of the pill made by Ming Longxin was.

94%.

He had managed to make a fantastic pill.

The crowd erupted on the outside, each person shouting at the result. The noise didn't make it past the barrier, but the movement of the crowd itself was enough to tell everyone how excited they were from seeing the result.

Ming Longxin himself was wide-eyed at the result, never expecting his pill to reach such a high quality. He had chosen an easy-to-make pill for this exact reason, but even then, he hadn't thought the pill would come out this good.

"Ha… hahaha…" he laughed a little, very much amazed by his own result. As of yet, this was the highest pill he had ever made in his life. For a moment. He had even forgotten that he was in a duel thanks to the emotions he felt. When he remembered, he put on a mocking smile. The smile was secretly directed at Blackfrost and Alchemist Han next to him, but Ming Longxin didn't dare show that to the two alchemists. Instead, his smile turned toward Alex, ready to see his expression.

When he didn't get the response he wanted, he became somewhat annoyed. "You saw my result. What do you think?" he asked Alex.

"I think it's commendable," Alex said, showing no emotion in his voice. "This is your first time reaching this, isn't it? Congratulations."

"Hah! You make it sound as though you've made pills with 94% Harmony before," the man said.

"94% Immortal pills? No, I can't say I have managed to make something like that in my time here," Alex said.

"Alright, so go back and redo your pill. Or you can just surrender and leave with dignity," the man said. "Your store, though, won't remain for long."

"Oh, that's perfectly fine. I have places to go to," Alex said before turning toward the judges. "I am done with my pill as well, so you may test it as well."

"Are you certain? You have time to make it again if needed," the man said. "I'm confident," Alex said and pulled the pill out of the cauldron, placing it into a small bottle before handing it over to the judges.

Blackfrost took the pill and stared at Alex for a long while before pulling out a pill tester. He placed the pill into the tester.

Blackfrost was surprised by the scent of the pill alone. He had handled many Blood Iron pills before, and this sort of scent only came from the best of the best pills.

'It can't be,' he thought. 'Can it?'

The possibility was there. The pill tester run, once again, publicly displaying the number that would decide victory or loss for either of the two people. Most people were certain who was going to be the loser in this match. It had been decided by many long ago.

However, when the final pill came and the true result was shown, it didn't leave the people in a fit of screams or cheering, as it had been with Ming Longxin's result.

Instead, it left them still, completely quiet, barely moving. They found it hard to believe what they were seeing, the possibility non-existent in their mind.

Even Blackfrost, Bluehorn, and Alchemist Han had been completely flabbergasted by the result. Ming Longxin stared at the result, unwilling to believe what he was seeing.

He had gotten 94%, and yet, this was so much higher.

99%

How the hell was that even possible?

The silence lasted only as long as it did for everyone to catch up with the fact that Alex had made such a high-quality pill.

"That's not possible," Ming Longxin cried out in panic. "Something is wrong. He cheated."

"The tester must have a problem," Bluehorn said and snatched the tester from Blackfrost's hand. "I will test it in mine."

Blackfrost let him have it. He had made a vow beforehand to be completely fair in the match, so he wouldn't do anything.

Bluehorn truly only placed it into his pill tester and got the very same result. 99%

"This can't be," Bluehorn said softly, taking out yet another pill tester, but the result was the same.

No matter how he tried to test it, it all came out the same.

Alex had managed to make a pill with 99% Harmony. He stood up, dusting his clothes as he looked at the result on Bluehorn's hand.

"So, the result is finalized, isn't it?" Alex asked the man who was still reeling in shock. "Isn't it time to announce it?"

"What?" Bluehorn asked.

"No, you cheated," Ming Longxin shouted. "You must have."

Alex turned to look at the man. "If you have proof, you're very much free to confront me with it. But if it is just a lie, I dare you to confront me with it."

Ming Longxin stared at Alex, about to say something when Bluehorn spoke again. "Quiet, you two. We have judged the match fairly and there has been no cheating happening on either side."

"So, on behalf of the judges, let me give you a verdict," he said and turned to address the crowd.

"Alchemist Dawnblade has successfully created a pill with 99% harmony. With that, he wins this battle."

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