Zhou Jie of the Black Sieve Sect looked on with narrowed eyes. A cold will gleamed in his eyes, mixed with an unprecedented sense of concentration.
“Seems somewhat familiar, like the aura of an old friend….” His eyes flickered as he looked at Pill Demon.
As the outsiders were shocked by Grandmaster Pill Demon’s actions, Meng Hao was walking up the steps of the path on Violet East Mountain. Occasionally he would look up ahead, but all he could see was mist. The peak of the mountain itself was not visible.
Time passed slowly. Meng Hao trudged up the steps, feeling more and more apprehension at how tall this mountain was. Five days had passed already. He had long since lost sight of the land below; clouds and fog completely surrounded him, obscuring his vision, making it impossible to see the world outside the mountain.
However… however high he was, Meng Hao got the feeling that when compared to the peak of the mountain, he was still at its base.
The higher he went, the thinner the air got. There was nothing that could put pressure onto his Cultivation base, but the further along he went, the more effort it took to take each step. Soon it took twice as much as it had when he started out.
Meng Hao had started out his journey along the path at a dead rush, and already exhausted at that. Add in the effort he spent struggling with the black pill furnace, and he could no longer race ahead. Now, he went one slow step at a time. Every once in a while he would pause and look around. The immediate surroundings were lush and verdant. Grass grew all around, which Meng Hao would occasionally pick.
From the perspective of the outside observers, Meng Hao had already fallen far behind. All the other candidates were much further ahead of him.
This was especially true of Ye Feimu, who was the first alchemist to enter the first of the four regions. Just up ahead of him was an enormous stone boulder which was covered with dense inscriptions. After examining it for some time, Ye Feimu sat down next to it cross-legged. After that he pulled out a pill furnace and began to concoct a pill.
The next day, the pill emerged. Holding it carefully with both hands, he proceeded past the boulder.
Not long after, Chu Yuyan also concocted a pill, and then proceeded forward. All of the other alchemists except for Meng Hao did the same.
The master alchemists of the East Pill Division began to discuss what was happening.
“No wonder Ye Feimu is at the peak of the Furnace Lord rank. His Cultivation base is extraordinary, and he was the first person to step into the first region. His ability to recognize medicinal pills as well as his pill concocting skill are both anything but sloppy. I bet he’s going to win.”
“Chu Yuyan is also doing well. This promotion trial by fire is most likely going to come down to a decision between the two of them. Earlier, I thought Fang Mu might have had a chance, but I never thought he would spend so much time getting a pill furnace. What a pity.”
“Right. If your first step is slow, then all of them will be slow….”
Most of the sound of discussion came from the ordinary master alchemists. The Furnace Lords and Violet Furnace Lords just watched on thoughtfully, opting to say nothing.
A few days later, Meng Hao finally reached the first region, and saw the enormous boulder. He looked at the inscriptions, studying them for a while, before glancing at the path which proceeded on upward.