The applicants stood.
As they moved, the proctors quietly observed them.
One assistant proctor muttered, "Too many below 7th layer this time."
Another said, "The 5th layer ones are only here to fill numbers. The 6th layers might pass if their control is good."
Wei Cang's gaze passed over Qin Yuan.
It paused for less than a second.
Then moved on.
"1st layer Spirit Opening?" one proctor whispered. "How did he even qualify?"
"Probably bought enough basic recipe credits to register."
"Waste of materials."
Wei Cang did not disagree.
In his eyes, the real competition was already obvious.
Han Ziyue.
Shen Moxu.
And perhaps the 9th layer Mana Opening Witch standing near the left side, a cold-looking girl in black robes with silver moonlight runes around her sleeves.
Everything else was noise.
The exam began.
…
Qin Yuan entered his assigned refinement room.
The door sealed behind him with a soft hiss.
Inside, the room was simple.
One low-grade but well-maintained pill furnace.
One ingredient table.
One formation mat.
One spirit-flame control panel.
One recording crystal floating near the ceiling.
A screen appeared.
EXAM RECIPE: BASIC QI HARMONIZING PILL
TIME LIMIT: SIX HOURS
MATERIALS PROVIDED: FIFTY SETS
WARNING: MATERIAL WASTE ABOVE ACCEPTABLE LIMIT WILL REDUCE SCORE
Qin Yuan did not immediately begin.
He stood before the table and studied everything.
The herbs were not top-grade, but they were consistent.
Clear-thread grass.
Soft jade root.
Three-vein spirit leaf.
Mist-washed seed.
Low Common beast core powder.
He picked up each ingredient, smelled it, touched it, and used Spirit Sense to feel its inner structure.
With all of his new mental talents upgraded to greater levels, a change occurred within his system.
Notifications appeared quietly.
Pill Ingredient Recognition Experience +0.04
Medicinal Structure Analysis Experience +0.05
Fine Control Talent Experience +0.03
Spirit Sense Experience +0.02
Qin Yuan's gaze stayed calm.
As he expected, with the greater expansion of his mind and Spirit Sense, his system could also give him new talents under the right conditions.
For a moment, Qin Yuan pondered how he should take this exam.
Performing far too well could lead to potential disaster.
But barely performing better than the so-called great talents here would be too underwhelming.
So he decided to completely crush them.
Not in a way that exposed everything.
Not in a way that made him look like an impossible monster.
But enough that anyone watching would be forced to think one thing.
His comprehension talent was vastly superior.
With confidence and extreme ease, Qin Yuan placed the first ingredient into the furnace.
A pale flame steadily rose.
A faint fragrance began to permeate the air.
Outside the room, time moved.
In other refinement chambers, flames surged brightly.
Han Ziyue's furnace roared with crimson light. His attendants were not allowed inside, but even through the transparent formation door, his confidence was obvious. He refined three ingredient sets at once, using sheer cultivation and flame pressure to melt impurities quickly.
A proctor nodded.
"Strong flame control."
Another said, "A little aggressive, but his foundation is good. Crimson Furnace Spirit Sect did train him properly."
In Shen Moxu's room, the atmosphere was completely different.
His flame was mild green, wrapped with traces of water Qi. He was slower than Han Ziyue, but every drop of medicinal liquid inside his furnace floated separately, clean and stable.
Wei Cang's eyes showed approval.
"Green Cascade's balance method. Not bad."
The Wizard proctor looked toward the black-robed Witch.
Inside her room, mana-runes circled her furnace instead of ordinary Spirit Qi lines. Her flame was silver-blue, cold at the edges but hot at the center.
"Luna Veyne," the Wizard proctor said. "9th layer Mana Opening. Veyne Family branch. If her mana stability holds, her pill purity may surpass the martial applicants."
Wei Cang nodded.
"These three are the only ones worth watching."
Nobody mentioned Qin Yuan.
In Qin Yuan's room, he was only doing one batch.
And one batch was all he needed.
With all of his talents and experience, failure simply was not an option anymore.
His flame remained unimpressive from the outside, but inside the furnace, the heat moved with frightening precision. It slipped through the ingredients like a blade through silk, burning only what needed to be burned and leaving behind what needed to remain.
Refining like this caused his talents to level up.
Pill Mastery Talent Level Up.
Level 10 → Level 11.
Fire Mastery Talent Level Up.
Level 10 → Level 11.
Fine Control Talent Level Up.
Level 3 → Level 4.
Qin Yuan's eyes sharpened.
The furnace opened.
The pills inside were bright.
Mid Common Rank.
Time passed.
One hour.
Two hours.
Three hours.
Then—
Ding.
A completion bell rang through the exam hall.
The proctors immediately lifted their heads.
One assistant proctor smiled.
"Already? Han Ziyue?"
Another frowned. "Could be Shen Moxu if he chose fewer batches and aimed for quality."
Wei Cang stood.
"Check."
The room indicator lit up.
Refinement Room 37.
For a moment, the proctors were silent.
Then one of them looked down at the registration list.
"Room 37 is…"
His voice paused.
Wei Cang frowned.
"Who?"
The proctor looked up, confused.
"Qin Yuan. 1st layer Spirit Opening."
The interest in the room immediately faded.
One proctor snorted.
"Then he probably gave up."
"Or ruined his materials."
Wei Cang's expression became indifferent again.
Still, procedure was procedure.
He walked toward Room 37.
The formation door opened.
Heat rolled out.
Not chaotic heat.
Clean heat.
Wei Cang stepped inside, already preparing a few routine words about failed exams and wasted chances.
Then he stopped.
On the table before Qin Yuan sat three jade trays.
The first tray held twenty pills.
Low Common Rank.
The second tray held ten pills.
Mid Common Rank.
The third tray held five pills.
High Common Rank.
The room became silent.
Wei Cang stared.
One breath.
Two breaths.
Three.
His eyes widened.
"This…"
Qin Yuan looked up calmly.
"Instructor, should I place them by purity as well?"
Wei Cang did not answer immediately.
His throat moved.
When his voice finally came out, it sounded strangely tight.
"Do not touch anything."
Qin Yuan paused.
Wei Cang turned sharply toward the hall.
"All proctors. Come here."
His voice was louder than before.
The nearby assistants frowned and hurried over.
"What happened?"
"Did he cheat?"
"Furnace damage?"
Then they entered.
And froze.
The Wizard proctors arrived last. One of them lifted a hand, sending blue mana-runes drifting over the trays. The runes scanned the pills, the furnace, the ingredient residue, Qin Yuan's aura, and the recording crystal.
No cheating trace.
No hidden pill storage.
No outside flame insertion.
No altered materials.
No soul puppet control.
No spatial swap.
Nothing.
Only Qin Yuan's thin 1st layer Spirit Opening aura remained in the room.
The Wizard proctor's expression changed.
"He made these."
The assistant proctor's voice cracked slightly.
"At 1st layer?"
Another proctor stared at the trays.
"Twenty Low Common. Ten Mid Common. Five High Common. In three hours?"
Wei Cang picked up one of the High Common pills and examined it closely.
The pill surface was smooth. The medicinal fragrance was clean. The internal Spirit Qi rotation was stable, steady enough that even some old apprentices might not achieve it consistently.
He slowly looked at Qin Yuan.
"Do you have an affinity with the Fire Dao?"
Qin Yuan thought for a moment.
"I've studied several Fire Arts."
The proctors became quiet.
That was not the answer they expected.
Wei Cang narrowed his eyes.
"If you had a fire-attributed Spiritual Root, the entrance formation would have detected it."
Qin Yuan nodded.
"It didn't."
"So this is comprehension?"
Qin Yuan's expression remained unchanged.
"I suppose so."
The room went silent again.
One assistant proctor almost laughed, but the sound came out strained.
He studied Fire Arts.
He supposed it was comprehension.
A 1st layer Spirit Opening cultivator with an Eighth-Grade foundation had just produced results that would make late-layer apprentices sweat.
Wei Cang carefully placed the pill back down.
"Seal the results. Do not announce anything until the exam ends."
The Wizard proctor nodded quickly.
Qin Yuan watched them.
He understood their reaction.
He also understood the danger inside it.
Shock could become protection.
Shock could also become greed.
He needed enough value to be protected, but not enough mystery to be dissected.
For now, this was acceptable.
Wei Cang turned back to him.
"You will wait here until the exam concludes."
Qin Yuan nodded.
"Understood."
...
The remaining three hours felt longer than the first three.
The proctors kept returning to Room 37 in shifts.
Not openly.
Not obviously.
But often enough that Qin Yuan understood they were still confirming reality.
Outside, the exam continued.
Han Ziyue finished with a proud expression.
His result was excellent.
Thirty-two completed pills.
Most were Low Common.
Seven were Mid Common.
One was barely touching High Common.
For an entrance exam, it was outstanding.
Shen Moxu finished shortly after.
He produced fewer pills, only twenty-four, but nine were Mid Common, and one was High Common.
His purity was slightly better than Han Ziyue's.
The two stared at each other through the hall.
Han Ziyue sneered.
"Quality over quantity? How careful."
Shen Moxu replied, "Better careful than crude."
Han Ziyue's eyes chilled.
Before they could continue, the black-robed witch Luna Veyne stepped out of her room.
Her result stunned many applicants.
Twenty-six pills.
Eight Mid Common.
Two High Common.
And because she was a Witch using mana-assisted refinement rather than traditional Spirit Qi control, several Wizard proctors looked pleased.
The atmosphere became tense.
Everyone knew the top three would come from these names.
Lian Xiaowan also performed well.
Fifteen completed pills.
Four Mid Common.
No High Common.
For her age and cultivation, that was respectable.
She walked out tired but relieved.
Then she noticed Qin Yuan was not among the waiting applicants.
For some reason, her heart skipped.
Did he fail early?
She looked toward Room 37.
Several proctors stood near it.
Her expression became complicated.
Maybe something had gone wrong.
Finally, the exam bell rang.
All refinement doors opened.
The applicants gathered in the central hall.
Wei Cang stood at the front with the other proctors behind him.
His expression was unreadable.
"Today's exam has concluded. Most of you performed within expectations. Some exceeded expectations. Some should reconsider whether alchemy is the correct path."
A few applicants lowered their heads.
Han Ziyue stood with his hands behind his back, chin slightly raised.
Shen Moxu remained calm.
Luna Veyne looked coldly indifferent, but there was clear confidence in her eyes.
Wei Cang continued.
"Normally, the top results would be announced by grade category. However, today's highest result is unusual."
The hall stirred.
Han Ziyue smiled faintly.
Unusual?
Naturally.
He had pushed his flame control beyond his previous limit during the exam. Perhaps the instructor had noticed.
Shen Moxu opened his eyes slightly.
Luna Veyne's fingers tightened around her sleeve.
Wei Cang raised a document.
"Highest result. Twenty Low Common Rank Basic Qi Harmonizing Pills. Ten Mid Common Rank pills. Five High Common Rank pills. Completion time: three hours."