Asura Emperor Venerable
Chapter 398 Divisions of the Ninth Grade

Chapter 398: Chapter 398 Divisions of the Ninth Grade

At this moment, Shi Hao did not pay attention to anyone and was solely focused on refining an almost perfect Elixir.

It was only with the use of Spiritual Fire that one could refine an almost perfect Elixir, which is why Pill Masters constantly aspired to obtain it.

Shi Hao did not need to truly possess the Spiritual Fire, he just needed to extract the Rune from it, something only he could do as the master of Flame Firmament.

An hour later, Shi Hao was finished.

—Refining a perfect grade Elixir does not mean spending more time.

On the contrary, due to the rapid changes in the heat of the fire, this process actually took less time.

After he finished, Shi Hao placed the Elixir into a Pill Bottle, stuck a label on it with his name, and handed it in.

Shortly after he completed his task, many others also finished their work and began to submit their Elixirs, so although he was the first to complete his refinement, he was not the first to have his Elixir’s quality appraised.

Lu Qi and Lu De also took little time, and after submitting their Elixirs, they started a series of routine taunts, successfully maximizing their hate value.

Finally, after two hours had passed, even those who had not finished had to stop.

"Hehe, let the old man act as a judge, if you don’t mind?" Zuo Duming chuckled.

Now that you’ve mentioned it, how could I mind?

Yuan Kang forced a smile, which was taken as his agreement.

The evaluation began.

Interestingly, the sequence was reversed, starting with the person who submitted their Elixir last because the Pill Bottles had been stacked layer by layer, and starting from the first would have required unstacking them all, which would obviously be too cumbersome.

"Hmm, medium quality," an official Appraiser said.

"Medium," the second Appraiser also nodded.

However, before the third Appraiser could finish, Zuo Duming intervened, snatched the Elixir, glanced at it, and showed a cold expression, "This can only count as Eighth Grade at most."

Eighth Grade?

What kind of assessment is Eighth Grade?

Seeing that everyone was confused, Zuo Duming sneered, "In our North Silver Continent, a qualified Elixir is divided into nine grades, with First Grade being the highest and Ninth Grade the lowest. However, there are also geniuses who can refine top-notch Elixirs, and even... almost perfect ones!"

"Only you would rank them simply as upper, middle, and lower grades!"

"This counts as middle grade? Haha, that truly makes me laugh."

Hearing his taunt, everyone felt indignant but was powerless to rebut.

The more detailed the ranking grades, the more advanced the level of the Alchemy in practice, and their middle grade being equivalent to Eighth Grade in the North Silver Continent shows just how vast the disparity in Alchemy Dao standards between the two continents is.

Thus, even though they felt belittled, everyone could only inwardly digest the insult.

"Next," Zuo Duming, unconcerned with others’ feelings, ordered to quickly bring the second Elixir for appraisal.

"Eighth Grade."

"Eighth Grade."

"Seventh Grade."

After the fourth Elixir, a "Seventh Grade" finally came from Zuo Duming’s mouth, and the three Appraisers agreed that it was indeed superior in quality to the previous three.

This confirmation led everyone to believe that although Zuo Duming was arrogant, his discourse on quality classification of Elixirs was not unfounded.

Yet, if a Seventh Grade Elixir could correspond to their high-grade Elixir, then how excellent must the Sixth, Fifth, and even the First and Second Grade Elixirs be?

Unfortunately, none of the following Elixirs surpassed Seventh Grade, they were either Eighth or Seventh Grade. There were no Sixth Grade Elixirs, but none were Ninth Grade either, indicating that all participants in the first round had some skills.

Since the results were consistently Seventh or Eighth Grade, everyone eventually started to get bored, but as the remaining Elixirs dwindled, their interest picked up again.

—The later it gets, the earlier the submission of the Elixir, and inversely, the better the quality.

"Seventh Grade."

"Seventh Grade."

"Seventh Grade."

The evaluation ’Seventh Grade’ kept popping out of Zuo Duming’s mouth; no Eighth Grade had appeared, indicating their standards were indeed high, yet there was not even a Sixth Grade evaluation, which kept everyone’s hearts suspended.

Could the gap really be that big?

Not to mention the top grades, from First to Sixth, there were still six missing steps, and not a single person from the Eastern Fire Continent had managed to climb such a ladder!

"It’s Lu Qi’s turn now."

"Let’s see what level of Elixir the Northern Silver Continent can refine."

"If it’s not even Seventh Grade, haha, I’ve already prepared words of humiliation."

The crowd suddenly became excited, as it was finally the turn of the two from the Northern Silver Continent.

At this moment, Zuo Duming kept quiet and did not even extend his hand, letting the three Appraisers take action.

"Hiss!" The moment the stopper was pulled out and they took a whiff, the three Appraisers were shocked.

Seeing this scene, everyone began to have bad premonitions.

Next, the three Appraisers poured out the Elixirs and examined them meticulously by looking and smelling.

After a while, one of them finally said, "The quality of this Elixir is too good, besides ’perfect,’ I can find no other word to describe it."

"I agree."

"I too agree."

The three Appraisers spoke one after another, their expressions a mix of heartache and excitement.

The heartache was because they had been utterly surpassed by the Northern Silver Continent, and the excitement was because it was the first time in their lives that they had encountered such a perfect Elixir.

One could say that even if the current president of the Pill Masters participated in the refinement personally, perhaps the Elixirs he produced would still not match in quality.

This was not Fu Ling’s fault, but a flaw in the whole Alchemy System of the Eastern Fire Continent.

Zuo Duming then smiled, took over the Elixir, inspected it, and said, "In our Northern Silver Continent, this would be considered as Fifth Grade."

Fifth Grade!

The Elixir which the three Appraisers deemed perfect, in Northern Silver Continent was only rated as Fifth Grade?

Everyone was shocked, yet they believed Zuo Duming was not exaggerating the capabilities of his juniors, as he could have easily inflated it to a top grade, given that the local Appraisers lacked the ability to properly assess it.

The gap, oh the gap was far too great.

"Haha, do we need to compare any further?" Lu Qi said arrogantly.

"Continuing would only be seeking further humiliation!" Lu De said coldly, filled with pride.

The two were so fiercely drawing animosity, yet everyone else was powerless to rebut.

When outskilled, what is there to say?

"Continue!" Yuan Kang waved his hand with a very stern expression, as there was still a third round to select the advancing participants.

Although he wasn’t a Pill Master, now that the competition had escalated to the level of two continents, he also felt disgraced.

The appraisal continued, but aside from Lu De, who also refined Fifth Grade Elixirs, the rest were still only producing Seventh Grades, without even a single Sixth Grade, posing no threat to Lu Qi and Lu De.

As the number of remaining Pill Bottles dwindled to fewer than a handful, everyone was utterly disappointed.

It seemed that their faces were firmly stuck.

"The last bottle!" The Appraiser picked up the Pill Bottle of Shi Hao.

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