That morning, Pill Sword Mountain was quiet as usual. It was a place no one dared to make much noise in. Despite it having well mapped silencing arrays unlike the nameless alchemy guild, it was more a matter of culture and propriety instead of necessity.
However, compared to Pill Sword Mountain, its affiliation hub, a place known as the true center of the alchemy world, was abuzz with life.
For lack of a better descriptor, this place could be considered to be a 'classy' bazaar. There were numerous merchants and bargaining was a common occurrence, but everyone was dressed like nobles and the cobbled roads were pure and without a speck of dust. In fact, if one looked closely, it was easy to see that the roads were paved of an empyrean grade marble more valuable than even many venerable grade treasures.
In such a place, it was rare for an Alchemy God to appear, but it was simultaneously the most likely place for them to appear as well. If one wanted a small chance at getting their hands on a legendary god pill, this was one of the few places on the Immortal Plane that it was possible.
However, for the everyday cultivator of noble birth, this place had a different beauty to it. Getting a God Pill was next to impossible, but this place had all sort of entertainment outside of this. Not only did it have the largest supply of empyrean pills, but it was also the home of the Alchemy Division.
The Alchemy Division was a competition board for alchemists all around. Not only did it hold a record of spars between the greatest alchemists to ever live, but it housed the leader boards held in the highest regard.
Young alchemists came here all of the time not only to hone themselves against worthy opponents and sell their own creations, but to also purchase the recordings of these spars. Or, rather, rent. There was a certain fascination with seeing Alchemy Gods who rarely stepped out into the public concoct pills.
Still, maybe the greatest attraction were those very leader boards. The Venerable Rankings, the Empyrean Rankings, and the God Rankings.
However, there was still one more leader board, a leader board reserved for youths younger than a million years old stepping into their first certification. It weighed not only age, but your score in the written exam and the pills you concocted in your practical exam.
These three facets were taken, weighted based on difficulty and performance, and then ranked amongst all the youths across the Immortal Plane.
And it was due to this very list that an uproar that spread across countless bubble worlds.
"Theo, I heard you entered the top thousand of the Certification Ranking. I guess it should be Venerable Theo now, huh?"
A youth teased a friend of his. But, Venerable Theo didn't looked very happy with this result.
Top thousand seemed impressive, but only the top hundred were maintained across generations. Anyone below the top one hundred were purged after a million years of being on the list.
The glory he held now would be purged soon enough, a reality that left him with an uncomfortable feeling in his heart.
In fact, this was how all of the lists worked. Only the top one hundred could 'rest' on their laurels. Everyone else had to prove themselves constantly, lest they lose their prestige.
As a result, there was a massive gap between number 100 on every ranking list and number 101. So, top 1000 might sound impressive considering how many trillions of youths there were on the Immortal Plane, but it wasn't enough for Venerable Theo to feel happy.
Venerable Theo gave his friend a fake smile, looking up toward the towering monuments with a bitter glint hidden in his eyes. He eventually found his name, sitting tidy at 986. It had the faint silver glow names between 101 and 1000 had, but even that didn't fill him with any sort of happiness.
986. Theo Lucine (254 623) – Middle Venerable Nascent Soul. Written Exam: 3671/10 000. Practical Exam: Wind Warping Pill – 82%, high-grade; Qi Coagulation Pill: 84%, high-grade; Soul Tempering Pill: 76%, high-grade.
With results like this, he'd never be poor a day in his life. To have a middle venerable nascent soul at not even 300 000 years old made him one of the foremost talents of the Immortal Plane especially since he was born with a lower venerable nascent soul. But it seemed he was destined to be inferior.
If only he was born with Empyrean Nascent Souls like those scions in the top 100. Why was life so incredibly unfair to him? Why weren't his parents more powerful, allowing him to skip the line and become a great genius revered by all?
It was at that moment that the Certification Ranking glowed, the lines of names beginning to slowly shift. This didn't happen often, but it wasn't exactly rare. So though many looked over in curiosity, it wasn't to the point of losing their minds.
However, after a few moments, everyone was confused. The glowing stopped, but they couldn't seem to find the new name. It was then that their eyes began to slowly travel upward and toward that lauded top 100 spots that hadn't been touched in billions of years…
In that moment, the entire Immortal Plane was lit afire.
3. Dyon Sacharro (286) – 6th Stage Star Grade Soul. Written Exam: 10 000/10 000. Practical Exam: Heart Cleaning Pill – 100%, top-grade; Qi Coagulation Pill: 100%, top-grade; Soul Replenishment Pill: 100%, top-grade.
A stunned silence filled the air.
Venerable Theo stood frozen for a long time, unable to move an inch.
6th Stage Star Grade Soul? He was a mortal?! Only 286 years old?! 100% purity every time without fail?!
Venerable Theo felt that his heart had leapt into his throat. The only reason this performance was ranked third and not first was because number one and two were less than half Dyon's age and concocted pills ranked far higher than this Dyon's in difficulty.
In addition, since they both had been born with Higher Empyrean Nascent Souls, they managed to concoct 4 times refined pills one time each for their best pills, while their weaker pills were at least 2 times refined.
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