Sweeping his gaze across the reactions of the surrounding audience, Hu Jun noticed they looked puzzled, apparently unaware of who was behind the plot against Lin Yifan.

At this moment, he felt at ease, no longer as nervous or fearful.

The audience hadn't seen, and the elders likely hadn't either; as long as the elders hadn't seen it, he had the chance to argue his way out.

Xiao Fang loathed Hu Jun, although she wasn't entirely certain it was Hu Jun who acted, her intuition told her that besides Hu Jun, no one else would want to harm Lin Yifan.

If someone wins with skill, no one would object; but if they win through such despicable means, everyone would look down on them; thus, Hu Jun was doomed to pay dearly for his behavior.

The competition ended quickly, and as usual, the examining elder arrived to inspect the elixirs refined by the contestants.

Only, when inspecting Hu Jun, he took an extra glance at Hu Jun.

Witnessing this, Zhu Kang felt that Senior Brother Hu was in big trouble; that hidden weapon earlier was highly likely thrown by Senior Brother Hu; moreover, the elders were very likely aware.

He wasn't the only one with this feeling; even Hu Jun felt the same.

The gaze from the examining elder seemed meaningful, somewhat understood yet perplexing.

"Could the elders have discovered it?"

Thinking of this, he couldn't help but shiver; if it were true, he would inevitably face severe punishment.

The examining elder quickly finished checking the elixirs and did not question Hu Jun but moved directly to inspect the next disciple's elixir.

Hu Jun subtly exhaled in relief, calming his nerves.

Perhaps he was overthinking it; the elders hadn't really seen who did it, they were just suspicious of him.

As the inspections progressed, the examining elder finally arrived before Du Yuze and Lin Yifan.

Judging from the earlier refinement process, these two had very close levels of elixir refinement, and the champion would likely be decided between them.

They decided to lift the lids at the same time, extract the elixirs together, and publicly verify them.

Two golden pills appeared before the crowd; from appearance, the elixir refined by Du Yuze seemed to have a slightly better hue; however, analyzing the difficulty of refinement, Lin Yifan's elixir seemed more likely to win the championship.

Everything depended on the composition of the impurities inside, so the examining elder broke them in half and carefully observed and analyzed.

The results showed that the purity of Du Yuze's elixir was higher than Lin Yifan's; however, it was only higher by a few percent, and the difference wasn't significant.

Since the difficulty of Lin Yifan's Ascension Pill refinement exceeded Du Yuze's Marrow Cleansing Pills refinement by ten percent, in overall scoring, Lin Yifan was higher than Du Yuze, making Lin Yifan the champion in this alchemy competition's Divinity Transformation Realm group.

Hu Jun's elixir was directly excluded because the quality was too poor; although it was formed, it held no value and couldn't even enter the top five, much less discuss the championship.

Originally, Hu Jun was confident in refining a good sixth-grade pill, but everything was ruined by Lin Yifan.

The collapse in his mindset naturally meant he couldn't refine a pill of good quality.

Lin Yifan became a dark horse in this season's alchemy competition, winning the championship. This result was beyond everyone's expectations.

In fact, from the moment Lin Yifan's elixir appeared, the competing alchemists on the same field could no longer muster the confidence to compete because the experts knew whose elixir was good and whose was bad.

Their elixirs couldn't compare to Lin Yifan's, so why hold any hope?

"Oh my! Even Senior Brother Du is no match for him; could his alchemy level have advanced to the ranks of a True Master Realm expert?"

"It's terrifying; he's currently a cultivator in the Divine Transformation Third Realm, far away from the True Master Realm, yet his alchemy level has already reached the ranks of True Master alchemists."

"Why is there such a formidable person? In this period, even the elder brother may not be a match for him!"

"The position of the Young Valley Master is in danger."

...

Many people couldn't help but sigh, amazed by Lin Yifan's overwhelming strength; from being overlooked to bravely winning the championship, this process had slapped many in the face.

"I told you, there would definitely be a dark horse in this alchemy competition, and sure enough, I guessed right."

"Only now do I realize how clear Senior Brother Du's choice was; following such an infinitely potential master is indeed better than the second senior brother with fixed potential."

"If he were to have followers, I would be willing to follow him."

...

Many hesitant or neutral disciples wanted to pledge allegiance to Lin Yifan, the infinitely potential future Valley Master. Unfortunately, Lin Yifan seemed to have no intention of vying for the Young Valley Master position; so this thought only fleetingly passed through their minds.

Xiao Fang was extremely excited, Lin Yifan winning the championship was both within her expectations and beyond them.

Why say this? Because her intuition told her Lin Yifan could win the championship; but reason told her that Senior Brother Du and Senior Brother Hu were not weak, leaving Lin Yifan with little hope of winning.

That's why such contradictory psychology led to such contradictory predictions.

The elders smiled gratifiedly; despite such major interference, Lin Yifan was able to refine an Ascension Pill with such high purity and difficulty, suggesting his alchemy level had reached six-star, even seven-star above.

This was a terrifying achievement because within the Divinity Transformation Realm, there were not many six-star or seven-star alchemists; previously, it seemed only the Valley Master had the seven-star strength. This means Lin Yifan now possessed the strength of Medicine Saint in his youth.

Medicine Saint was a great alchemist; if Lin Yifan possessed such strength, his future achievements would certainly not be worse than Medicine Saint, and thus their Medicinal Saint Valley would flourish in another era.

They always considered Bai Chu as a good successor, but Lin Yifan's emergence shook their decision.

If Lin Yifan also competed for the Young Valley Master, they truly wouldn't know to whom they should cast their vote.

The second senior brother, who had been watching the competition all along, felt his emotions fluctuate like a roller coaster—at times exhilarated, at times dejected.

Upon seeing Lin Yifan seemingly struggling, he thought Lin Yifan would fail; yet Lin Yifan gritted his teeth and persevered step by step.

Then, when he learned that Lin Yifan was attacked, he again thought Lin Yifan would fail; yet Lin Yifan still stride across, successfully refining the Ascension Pill.

Now, hearing of Lin Yifan winning the championship, his heart was a complex mix of flavors.

There was envy, fear, jealousy, surprise, and panic, among others.

Lin Yifan had already become a formidable foe, posing a direct threat to his competition for Young Valley Master.

Facing Lin Yifan's excellence, the pressure was not felt by him alone, Bai Chu felt it as well.

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