“In addition to the above rewards, the reward for third place also includes two top-grade divine veins and ten Dao Essence Fruits. The second place will receive five top-grade divine veins, ten Dao Essence Fruits, and one Dao Fusion Fruit. As for the first place, they will be rewarded with ten top-grade divine veins, ten Dao Essence Fruits, and two Dao Fusion Fruits. On top of that, they will also receive one wood-attributed supreme-grade divine vein.”

Kong Lianbo’s words caused Ning Cheng to marvel secretly. The richness of this realm’s Pill Union went beyond terrifying. The first-ranked reward was a wood-attributed divine vein, but it was only one of the many rewards.

However, unknown to him, Kong Lianbo had yet to mention one other possible reward. That is, apart from the rewards mentioned above and distinctions, the first-place winner also had the possibility of obtaining the opportunity to discuss alchemy with Mu Zuoxiao.

After mentioning the rewards and waiting for the crowd’s voices to quiet down, Kong Lianbo continued, “Next, we’ll start with the first round of this alchemy competition, identifying the seeds. The time limit is one day.”

After Kong Lianbo finished speaking, a transparent barrier rose, covering each alchemist on the altar. The barrier prevented the release of one’s spiritual consciousness outside the covered range while also preventing the spiritual consciousness of those outside the barrier from communicating with the alchemists.

Once the barrier fully covered the alchemists, a black seed the size of a dragon’s eye appeared on the small teleportation platform in front of Ning Cheng. Picking up the seed, he could sense a faint and weak dao rhythm circulating around it. It felt as if this dao rhythm would dissipate at any moment.

Seeing this seed, Ning Cheng inwardly breathed a sigh of relief as he recognised it. If not for the Compendium of Celestial Flaura, he would have even known where to start. Without Lu Dongze’s book, he would have been eliminated in this first round.

If it were a fully grown divine herb, given a day, Ning Cheng might have been able to deduce their effects. However, even with his heaven-defying Mysterious Yellow Bead, he couldn’t have figured out the effects of this seed or what divine herb it would grow into within a single day or even in several years.

This was a fruit seed with a slightly peculiar name – “Fading Brilliance”.

Ads by PubFuture The fruit this seed produced contained not only the five-elemental dao rhythms of heaven and earth, but it would also derive the other elemental attributes at the moment of ripening, such as the law-infused dao rhythms of wind, thunder, ice, and others. However, these law-infused attributes were like a flash in the pan, as they would dissipate quickly. Truthfully, even the expression ‘a flash in the pan’ was an exaggeration, as the appearance and disappearance of these law-infused dao rhythms would only take an instant.

The Fading Brilliance Fruit belonged to the Dao Essence Fruit category, and its only purpose was to be refined into the Heaven and Earth Fading Brilliance Pill. Although this pill wasn’t considered the most precious Dao Essence Dao Pill, it was undoubtedly one of the most challenging to refine, with the primary function of assisting the consumer in comprehending the laws of the dao according to their current insights, somewhat similar to Ning Cheng’s Mysterious Yellow Formless.

For example, if you consumed it while trying to break through to the Dao Essence Realm, this dao pill could help you comprehend the worldly laws of the Dao Essence Realm. Similarly, suppose you’re attempting to advance to the Dao Fusion Realm while taking this pill. In that case, it can enhance your understanding of the laws of the Dao Fusion Realm.

If you’re focussing on comprehending a certain type of law-attributed divine ability while consuming the pills, the Heaven and Earth Fading Brilliance Pill could also amplify your insights into that particular law ability. This amplifying property made it quite popular among the cultivators.

However, despite its popularity, acquiring the seed of a Fading Brilliance Fruit wasn’t the most difficult part; refining the Heaven and Earth Fading Brilliance Pill was the most headache-inducing process. After all, there was no reliable method to preserve the Fading Brilliance Fruit long enough to be used for refining the Heaven and Earth Fading Brilliance Pill.

That’s because the primary fruit required for refining the Heaven and Earth Fading Brilliance Pill was undoubtedly the Fading Brilliance Pill. However, to refine the Heaven and Earth Fading Brilliance Pill, one must cultivate this fruit on the spot and then send it into the alchemical furnace when the Fading Brilliance Fruit’s dao rhythm is about to vanish and just before condensing the medicinal concoction into the Heaven and Earth Fading Brilliance Dao Pill.

This minuscule time frame alone showed how difficult it was to refine this pill. First, cultivating the Fading Brilliance Fruit went beyond the capability of ordinary individuals. It required precious materials and resources and demanded the alchemist’s profound understanding of heaven and earth’s laws and dao rhythm. Even a tiny mistake can cause the fruit to wither.

Secondly, even refining the Heaven and Earth Fading Brilliance Pill was equally arduous. The Fading Brilliance Fruit contained the elemental law-infused dao rhythm of the five primary elements and could even derive the law-infused dao rhythm of other attributes like wind, thunder, and ice upon maturation.

Thus, it became paramount that the alchemist master these law-infused dao rhythms within the fruit. As such, because of this sky-high requirement, only some people can successfully refine the Heaven and Earth Fading Brilliance Pill with all its law-infused dao rhythms intact. As a result, a Heaven and Earth Fading Brilliance Pill containing more than two types of law-infused dao rhythms can already be considered a top-quality pill.

Because of all these reasons, even if some alchemists manage to cultivate the Fading Brilliance Fruit, they wouldn’t be able to refine a Heaven and Earth Fading Brilliance Dao Pill, as they won’t be able to grasp the moment when the law-infused dao rhythms in the Fading Brilliance Fruit were about to dissipate. Or rather, they can’t grasp when the fruit is about to mature.

Ning Cheng took a jade slip and engraved everything he knew about the seed. He guessed the second round would likely involve refining the Heaven and Earth Fading Brilliance Pill.

As one day passed quickly, Kong Lianbo appeared again on the giant altar. “Fellow alchemists, the first round of this competition is over. Please place your jade slips onto the teleportation platform in front of each of you so they can be sent to the judging table.”

Ning Cheng placed his jade slip on the teleportation platform before him, feeling confident that he would pass the first round.