Chapter 219: Pill concoction-1

"Which recipe are you going to use for concoction?"

"After reading the recipes and medical journals, I decided to play with the mixture of the herbs and experiment with some of my theorized recipes."

The Keeper was surprised to hear this. A competition was under its way and Lu Ming wanted to experiment with some of his theorized recipes. The risk involved outweighs the possible result if succeeded.

"Are you sure about using a theorized recipe in the competition? A recipe is no small deal. It requires a huge amount of research and tests to finally form a successful concoction. I know that you have been involved in alchemy for a substantial time now but you shouldn't overestimate your capabilities. It will spell misfortune for you."

"I know the risks involved and I followed all the guidelines while experimenting. You must have seen me utilizing a large number of herbs within the garden to continuously perform alchemy."

"I began by specifying my objective and identified the herbs which are likely to go into the pill to get the desired effect. I then tried out various blends and noted the effect down. After I got my hands on 4-5 practical blends, I started to do further processing."

"The next step was to specify the special condition required to process each of the herbs and begin to experiment simultaneous refining at various temperatures until I finally reached a range of temperature where the herbs don't lose their properties."

"Even if you did reach this step, the next stage involves experimenting with the combinations of the herb blends so that you can establish a harmony between the components." The next step does prove to be a barricade that prevents many theories from becoming practical.

"I did hit a barrier there, but continuous trials helped me overcome it. I finally found multiple stabilizers which could help me establish a harmony between the components without affecting their effectiveness."

"But you would still find problems with managing the proper atmosphere around the cauldron to pull this off." The Keeper continued with the rain of questions.

"I was finding some difficulty while doing that, but ever since my soul has broken through the grandmaster level, I found it quite easy to manipulate the fire to control the environmental condition outside the cauldron."

The Keeper was shocked upon hearing Lu Ming's account of the whole process. He couldn't believe that he was able to do so many experiments within this short period of time. The last doubt remained in his mind

"How many recipes did you successfully concoct?"

"4" Lu Ming answered.

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"Why did he choose those medium grade herbs?" The Hall master couldn't help but get annoyed by Lu Ming's actions.

"Even I couldn't comprehend the reason behind Lu Ming's actions. He is skilled enough to easily verify the herb's quality and hence should be able to differentiate between the better-quality herbs. The only possible explanation is that it has something to do with the recipe he is going to concoct."

"Sometimes when the recipe is too difficult to concoct, an alchemist knowingly chooses lower grade herbs. Although the essence contained within the lower grade herbs is smaller than the good quality ones, it is easier to refine and control when concocting a pill."

"Is he trying to concoct a difficult recipe during this time? It is better to go with a recipe that he is familiar with."

"Your junior brother is not foolish enough to wager such a risky bet during such a high stakes examination. He must have a proper plan in his mind. I have another theory in mind, but it would be even more of a risk if that were the case here."

"I guess we need to wait and see."

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The audience member mingled in confusion regarding this choice.

"I guess we will get to see something extraordinary today." Xuan Ying couldn't help but speak up.

"Why do you place him in such a high esteem?" The young miss of the brown-stone guild was present here too. She was captured by Lu Ming and used as a hostage to extort huge benefits. She couldn't help but feel irritated at the sight of him.

"You need to train your mentality in the real world. Your father has decided to classify him as a person worth investing in. You will meet up with him at the end of the competition to apologize for the earlier incident."

"I am not going to do that." The young miss replied in an irritated tone. Xuan Ying simply looked at her with a grave expression, which led to a change of expression on her face.

"Fine, I will go up and ask for his pardon only if he can win this last round." Xuan Ying couldn't help but sigh. This young miss of his was a prideful person who didn't like to accept her defeat easily. He could only leave it on fate.

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All sixteen finalists chose their respective herbs and went into the respective concoction room provided to them. The elder in charge came forward and announced:

"The final round will hereby begin. All participants will be given a time period of 2 incense sticks to complete the concoction of their pills. Each of you will only get one set of herbs and once the time is over, no extras will be presented. I wish all of you the best of luck."

The audience cheered up and many proclamations were flying around the stadium.

"Teng Huan is going to win this round. He chose the best quality herbs present and is surely performing a recipe which he is extremely confident about. Although Lu Ming is an extremely talented genius, his over-confidence is going to result in downfall."

"We had the same ideas before, yet Lu Ming crushed all the other participants within the competition. We can't say for sure until the exam concludes."

"Just watch the exam, the participants are entering their respective rooms."

All eyes were glued to the massive screen on which the various rooms were being projected. Everyone could see the actions of the sixteen participants.