Eternal Cultivation of Alchemy

Alex held the pill in his arm and wondered what he did wrong— what mistakes did he make?

As he stood up to take the pill to the front, he couldn't help but mull over that exact thought.

What did he do wrong?

There were 3 things in his mind that were wrong with the pill he just made.

First, there was a problem with the ingredients. It wasn't the amount that was the problem, but perhaps their age, or maybe how long they had been kept without a container.

Some of the ingredients had lost a bit of energy.

Alex reached the front and placed his pill into the tester. While not many waited for his pill to show the result, there were a few that were desperate to know that result.

That included Zhou Ren, as Alex alone now stood between him and victory. He tried saying something to Alex, but Alex wasn't hearing anything. He was lost in his own thought.

He was still thinking of the things that he did wrong today.

The second thing that was wrong in today's pill-making process was his method of putting in ingredients. Every time he put an ingredient inside, he needed to lift the lid of the cauldron.

While he did use Elemental Guidance to keep the energy inside like most Alchemists used on a normal basis, there was still a chance that the energy escaped and thus brought down his pill's overall harmony by a couple of percentages.

Alex watched the fog grow on the tester as it smoothly went past 40% and crossed 50% not long after.

As it went up, he thought of the third problem that might have occurred that caused his Harmony to be lowered.

The third problem was his pill-forming technique. While he had to admit that his technique was amazing, far superior to just randomly clumping up powder to make a pill, it was still a far cry from the technique that formed his split pills.

If he had that, he would certainly not have lost a single percentage of his pill's Harmony today because of the technique.

Aside from that, Alex saw no other problem today. His ingredients were properly measured, there was no downtown between the ingredients being powdered, the temperature was being perfectly manipulated, and there wasn't a single mistake in the pill-making process.

Even his cauldron just being a True grade cauldron didn't affect him at all due to his Dao of Heat that allowed him to instantly heat stuff.

It was just the 3 problems that hampered him today.

And that was why he couldn't reach 100%.

A small smile appeared on Alex's face as other people's faces were a mixture of shock and surprise.

"Tha-that can't be true," Zhou Ren mumbled to himself.

"How…" Xue Meirong couldn't even finish her sentence.

Most of the other people were simply way too speechless to say anything. In fact, the entire crowd was silent, including the people outside the competition ground that were watching the match on the giant, floating screens.

"This has to be a mistake, right?" Even the host himself couldn't believe the result.

"That tester must be broken," Zhou Ren said. "Test it again."

"Yes," the host agreed and empties another tester before placing Alex's pill into another one.

When he did that, the whole crowd leaned in closer to see the result again.

1%, 2%, 3%, the fog quickly started covering the glass as it blitzed through the early numbers.

10%, 20%, 30%, they passed in the blink of an eye.

Before people even realized what was happening, the fog reached 50% with no sign of stopping anytime soon.

55%, 60%, 65%. Alex was already reaching the Harmony that most other people barely reached in their lifetime. As they watched, it soon reached 70% and kept climbing up.

When it touched 75%, Zhanrou and Meirong quietly watched the fog. When it rose 1%, it was the same result as Zhanrou.

When it rose 1% again, it was the same result as Meirong. When it rose 1% again, it was now better than both of their results.

When it rose 1% again, Zhou Ren's face lost color as he got the suspicion that the previous answer was correct.

When it rose 1% again and reached 80%, his pill had been beaten as well. Alex had won today's round.

However, the fog was not showing any sign of stopping. 81%, 82%… it kept on rising as everyone watched with bated breaths.

83%, 84%, 85%… that was when it finally slowed down. Slowed, but not stopped.

The princess, Zhou Tianqiu, Zhou Zirong, Xue Mufan, and even the Emperor watched the retest with a shocked expressions on their face.

When the pill crossed 86% and reached 87%, Zhou Ren realized Alex now had the exact same points as him and was tied with him for the first place in the competition.

However, that didn't last long as the pill rose again to 88%. Now, Alex had won the competition with no question.

Still, no one cared about that for now, not even the host. He just wanted to see if the result that they saw previously was true, and it was coming dangerously close to being so.

89%, and 90%, the numbers increased once again, making people truly believe that what they had seen before was not a mistake.

So, if that were true, then…

91% and finally, 92%. The fog stopped moving and the result was the same as last time.

92%.

"Holy shit it's true," the host cursed out loud for everyone else to hear. "He did it, he actually did it."

The moment the host stopped speaking, the entire crowd went into a craze at the result. Whether it was the audience, the staff, or the contestants, not a single one of them could shut their mouths as they screamed miracle.

The numbers on the ranking above them flickered as Alex jumped from a 102, getting ahead of Zhou Ren who had a 189, and reached 194 as he obtained the first place.

Alex's name solidified on the final ranking, making him the victor of the Alchemy competition.