After all the contestants had brought out their cauldrons, Elder Godari also did the same. A jade cauldron appeared in front of him.

He then tapped the side of the jade cauldron, causing it to enlarge multiple times. It became big enough that Elder Godari had to fly and hover slightly above the jade cauldron.

"It's a cauldron with a size manipulation array!" Someone exclaimed. This was a cauldron that they usually could only see in an advertisement.

With another flick of his sleeve, a gigantic watermelon almost as big as the enlarged cauldron appeared and floated beside Elder Godari.

Instead of the usual vibrant green rind with irregular wavy dark green stripes running vertically from top to bottom, this gigantic watermelon has a slightly different pattern.

It had sharp, angular lines of stripes resembling bolts of lightning. And if the gigantic watermelon was to be observed closely, it didn't just have lighting patterns, electrical discharges could be seen flowing through the patterns.

Elder Godari patted it and explained. "This is a Thundermelon, a watermelon that grew in an area that has constant lightning strikes. It had adapted to it and evolved to possess a lightning attribute. It is mainly used to make a Thunder Essence Elixir and Stormheart Pill."

"Thunder Essence Elixir is a potion that enhances the user's speed and reaction time by imbuing them with lightning Qi."

"While the Stormheart Pill increases one's lightning affinity, helping cultivators master lightning-based martial skills and techniques much easier."

"Although this Thundermelon is quite rare, due to its sheer size, if you find one, you can use it to make thousands of the Thunder Essence Elixir or the Stormheart Pill."

"I will personally extract the Thundermelon essence at 50% purity and send it to your cauldron. You must immediately contain it and start refining using the techniques that we had given."

"The points you will get in this round will be exactly the purity percentage of your essence refining. For example, if you refined it to 90% purity, you will get 90 points."

After finishing his explanation, Elder Godari immediately lowered the Thundermelon into the jade cauldron, closed the lid, and started using his fire-controlling technique to heat it.

At the audience seat, Leyvi saw Lilian beside him getting restless and her huge melons were shaking around.

"What's wrong Lilian? Couldn't bear to see a fellow huge melon getting heated?" Leyvi joked.

"Husband, I want that Thundermelon." Lilian looked at Leyvi with sparkling innocent eyes. She looked very cute invoking the desire to spoil her.

"Okay wait here, I'll rob that Thundermelon now," Leyvi said with a smile.

"WHAT?? Nooo!" The rest of the Leyan Family was surprised and tried to stop him.

"Relax, I'm just kidding. Hahaha!" Leyvi laughed out loud.

They immediately calmed down and sighed relieved except for Lilian. She looked dejected.

Leyvi was dumbfounded. This girl really wanted me to steal that Thundermelon. As expected of Lilian, she became a little extreme when it involved her plants.

Leyvi caressed her back and said, "Don't worry, when I have the chance, I will get one for you, okay?"

Lilian nodded and cheered up again. She hugged Leyvi's arm and buried it in between her melons, giving Leyvi a comfortable sensation.

Leyvi sighed in his heart. Lilian would only be extra affectionate if it's related to her gardening activities.

After the temperature in the cauldron reached the optimal level, the Thundermelon finally softened, ready to be extracted. Elder Godari performed his extraction technique by channeling his Qi enveloping the whole Thundermelon.

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The enveloping Qi started to extract the essence and sucked through a thread of Qi channel to the surface within the jade cauldron, accumulating slowly.

Using another hand, Elder Godari performed a containing technique allowing the extracted essence to pool at the top of the cauldron separated from the remaining dreg of Thundermelon.

After two hours, the extraction process was completed. Because the alchemy ingredient was too big, it took Elder Godari longer than usual to extract the essence completely.

"Alright, is everyone ready?" Elder Godari asked as he maintained the containing technique.

"YES!!" The contestants replied.

"Good! The second round starts now!" He removed the lid and carefully sent a small portion of the Thundermelon essences into every participant's cauldron.

They started by using their containing technique to prevent the essence from dissipating and then activated the fire-controlling technique they had just learned to heat their cauldron.

Most of them had difficulties using the fire-controlling technique as they weren't familiar with it yet. The temperature inside their cauldrons keeps fluctuating, making it impossible to start the refining step right away.

However, not everyone had difficulties with the fire control. The highlighted geniuses of this alchemy competition successfully maintained a suitable refining temperature without much difficulty, and their Thundermelon essence was ready to be refined.

Some alchemist also managed to do it with the help of their more advanced cauldron, readjusting the temperature to the desired level even if their fire-controlling technique was still slightly fluctuating.

Heh, this round is guaranteed to be mine. There's a reason why I'm called the youngest prodigy of Medicine Valley in hundreds of years. I have a unique body constitution that allows me to be a better refiner than anyone else! My Qi is exceptionally good at refining essence.

Although my unique body constitution wasn't considered one of the Heavenly Unique Body for some reason, I happened to have a high-grade fire-attributed spirit root, very compatible with my constitution. And just like that, I became the youngest alchemist prodigy of my sect in hundreds of years.

None of you would be able to match me in this round. I, Ori Oregano will claim that 15 spots to the Mystic Realm. I will bring my strongest followers and kill the second and the third placer in there! Hyahahaha!

AHH..... I've been humiliated a lot lately....I need to vent somehow....ah, that's right...I remember now why my body constitution wasn't considered one of the Heavenly Unique Body.

I can also refine a person and drink their blood essence to improve my cultivation. Emmm....I missed the taste of my dead senior brothers and sisters' blood essence. It's been a while since I tasted them.

Anda didn't hastily try to refine the Thundermelon essence. She practiced the fire-controlling technique first. The name of the fire-controlling technique was the Azure Flame Technique.

It was a technique that was very suitable to be used for refining ingredients. It produces a pure, steady, high-temperature blue flame that purifies the essence without damaging it.

Using her Alchemy Vision, she found the best way to perform the Azure Flame Technique and exercise it accordingly.

Elder Godari saw the Azure Flame Technique used by Anda and was extremely impressed. In just a short amount of time, she could already use the technique to such a high degree.

He could barely sense any fluctuations in the blue flames she produced. It was the main principle of this technique, to be steady.

"She is Anda Leyan, the overall second place right now. I wonder where she comes from and who her teacher is. Such a great talent." He murmured.

After Anda was satisfied with her Azure Flame Technique, she checked the Thundermelon essence with her Alchemy Vision, looking at its data.

It was indeed at exactly 50% purity without any deviation. This Elder Godari was extremely skilled. If she didn't have the Alchemy Vision, it was absolutely impossible for her to estimate the purity of an essence without hundreds of years of experience.

Anda continued looking at the data and determined the Thundermelon essence's optimal temperature for the refining step.

Just as she was about to start refining, a terrifyingly gross smell engulfed her. It wasn't her nose that detected the smell but her Heavenly Fragrance Harmony Body.

She noticed that the gross smell came from Ori Oregano, the young alchemist who messed with Selene, the one she beat in the last round. She had sensed previously that this guy was a terrible person, but it was overwhelmingly obvious at this moment.

She could sense many dark emotions full of resentment lingering around him. The last time she sensed this kind of dark emotion was from the bandits outside of the Triad Forest. Anda's heart started to become restless.

He must have done horrible and terrifying things to his victims too before killing them.

Moments later, the gross smell disappeared, leaving only the bad stench she usually sensed from him. Anda concluded that he must be thinking strongly about it just now for the smell to be amplified that much.

Anda looked up to where the Leyan Family was seated and saw Leyvi waving at her smiling. Her anxious heart calmed again.

Ah...my man is still the best. I'll find more unique women for him later. Is there a woman with three boobs?

After being distracted for a while, Anda focused again and started performing the essence refining technique.

The poop refining technique was actually called the Heart-Pulse Refining Technique. This technique involves using the Azure Flame Technique to heat the essence in cycles, pulsing the flame to a rhythmic beat. Each pulse targets impurities while preserving the essence's core properties.

The Azure Flame Technique and the Heart-Pulse Refining Technique were actually combo techniques made for the refining step.