Liu Ping rubbed his eyes furiously in disbelief, but the scene before him remained unchanged. He wasn't hallucinating—inside the pill furnace, there were ten exquisitely pure, emerald-green Detoxification Pills.
Each one was identical in size, perfectly round, and flawlessly full, with an undeniable marketable appearance.
No matter how superior Liu Ping felt or how good his self-esteem was, he couldn't help but lower his proud head when faced with Chu Feng's flawlessly refined pill batch.
"You... how exactly did you succeed? Could you have cheated?" Liu Ping stared at Chu Feng with suspicion.
Despite his racking thoughts, he couldn't unravel the mystery. He had deliberately mixed all the Yellow Earth he had on him into Chu Feng's materials. By all logic, Chu Feng's success should've been impossible.
Yet reality was as bizarre as it was cruel.
"Hehe, ever heard of a blind cat catching a dead mouse by chance?"
"When luck is on your side, there's no stopping it! I just followed the steps Teacher Xie taught us, one by one, and somehow, I accidentally succeeded."
Chu Feng scratched his head with a silly grin.
The bystanders collectively froze in shock. They had thought Chu Feng must have some secret method, but it turned out to be so simple.
After Teacher Xie Bing carefully examined Chu Feng's pills, the astonishment on her face only deepened.
"Ten pills succeeded, scoring ten points. The color, shape, and density are all superior quality, so nine points for that—I won't give you ten, lest you get arrogant. And it only took less than two hours, so another ten points."
"Chu Feng, your total score is twenty-nine points, top of the class! Congratulations!"
"I hope you'll continue to work hard and perform just as brilliantly next time!"
This was the first time Teacher Xie had ever praised Chu Feng. In the past, he had always been her favorite target for criticism.
Liu Ping's face had already turned extremely sour, stiff and black as if he were a zombie.
The top spot was supposed to be his.
But now, he had only himself to blame. He had tried to humiliate Chu Feng, only for Chu Feng to exceed expectations and score an extraordinary twenty-nine points, leaving Liu Ping far behind.
"He really seems... different now." Lin Yuxin's cold, bright eyes fixated on Chu Feng in scrutiny.
Chu Feng pulled out a prepared porcelain bottle and carefully placed all ten Detoxification Pills inside.
"Teacher Xie, I earned the class's top reward—can I receive it right now?" Chu Feng was already thinking of how to earn his first pot of silver from alchemy.
Among first-grade elixirs, the cheapest ones were Detoxification Pills, which almost every pill master knew how to refine.
Being common goods, they naturally weren't valuable.
Among pills, the most expensive and hardest to refine were undoubtedly Talismanic Elixirs.
Talismanic Elixirs were much more complex than ordinary pills, requiring the engraving of mysterious alchemy symbols, which condensed into runes and gave the pills unique properties.
Examples included the Light Spirit Elixir, which granted a person agility like a swallow; the Great Strengthening Pill, which gave unparalleled strength; or the Flame Burst Pill, capable of annihilating strong enemies in an instant.
Every Talismanic Elixir had unique effects and was a one-time consumable.
With tremendous power and ease of use, Talismanic Elixirs were incredibly popular.
Many people kept them as life-saving trump cards.
Refining a Talismanic Elixir not only required exceptional alchemy skills but also mastery of the corresponding alchemy symbols.
Pill masters capable of refining Talismanic Elixirs were exceedingly rare, making such pills even more precious.
Their prices had always remained sky-high.
With his Abnormal Fire, Chu Feng thought refining a first-grade Flame Burst Pill was an excellent choice.
Moreover, the materials for the Flame Burst Pill were identical to those of the Blood Burning Elixir.
Upon hearing Chu Feng ask for his reward, Teacher Xie smiled and said, "Which pill's ingredients do you want? Just so we're clear—it can only be for a first-grade pill!"
"Even if you gave me second-grade ingredients, I wouldn't know how to refine them! Just give me a batch for a first-grade Blood Burning Elixir. I failed last time and want to practice again."
Chu Feng was bold enough to speak in a joking tone with Teacher Xie, which left many people holding their breath on his behalf.
But today, Teacher Xie was in an exceptionally good mood, responding surprisingly warmly.
"There happens to be a prepared batch of materials for the Blood Burning Elixir over there. Go and grab it yourself!" Teacher Xie pointed to an open cabinet of ingredients.
Sure enough, it contained a prepared set of materials for the Blood Burning Elixir.
"Teacher... since I've already mastered refining Detoxification Pills, and you're about to summarize the experience for the rest of them, can I skip it?"
"Can I go into the private alchemy room to refine the Blood Burning Elixir instead?"
Chu Feng shamelessly made his request.
Private alchemy rooms were usually off-limits to students, reserved typically for teachers or a handful of exceptional students.
The quiet environment allowed for undisturbed alchemy practice, equipped with superior furnaces.
"Go! It's heartening to see you becoming so diligent and ambitious. I hope you'll surprise me during the final exam—stop hogging the last place on the leaderboard!"
Teacher Xie's lighthearted remark drew waves of laughter from the crowd.
Chu Feng expressed his thanks and happily carried the Blood Burning Elixir ingredients into the only unoccupied alchemy room.
There were only four private alchemy rooms in total, and it was rare for one to be vacant, as the academy had many teachers.
Once inside, the first thing Chu Feng did was shut the heavy iron door tightly to prevent anyone from peeking or interrupting him.
However, the roof of the alchemy room wasn't sealed to allow airflow. Otherwise, occupants could suffocate to death.
The tops of adjacent rooms were connected, allowing air to circulate freely.
Chu Feng faintly heard the crackling sound of Earth fire burning in the neighboring room—someone was also refining pills. On the left-hand side, a voice repeatedly cursed aloud.
"Damn you, heavens! Why did I fail again?"
The voice sounded vaguely familiar, and Chu Feng immediately thought of someone—Niu Baotian.
It wasn't clear what kind of elixir he was attempting to refine.
Chu Feng snickered to himself. He decided to fully subdue Niu Baotian next time and then offer him some advice, so the guy wouldn't keep cursing the heavens so much.
Every time Niu Baotian failed at alchemy, he cursed the heavens. Even the heavens would feel wronged.
"Your failures have nothing to do with me, you old fool!"
"Last time, I gave this Alchemy Master Niu a life-saving recipe. Judging by the time, it should've taken effect by now. He'll probably come looking for me within the next two days!"
Chu Feng planned to fully take control of Niu Baotian then.
Using him as a pawn from now on.
Though Purple Mandala Poison was incredibly difficult to cure, for Chu Feng—a former Eternal Life Pill Master—it was as easy as flipping his hand.
He had deliberately withheld the full antidote to keep Niu Baotian's life in his hands, forcing him to obey.
"Let me refine the Flame Burst Pill first! A single first-grade Flame Burst Pill can fetch five hundred taels of silver with no issue. I can easily produce two to three pills in one batch."
He planned to sell two and keep one for emergencies.