I conquered the cultivation world with scrambled eggs with tomatoes.

Chapter 598 Best Participation Award

[Probably, maybe, three days. Even refining ordinary mid-grade pills would be difficult for me, let alone high-grade pills.]

Those alchemists who had a chance to take the top spot all entered the alchemy room at the start of the competition. Hongmu went to the poison cultivator ranking and took first place, then went to the medical cultivator ranking, which, if nothing unexpected happened, would count as taking first place again. Clearly, her mind wasn't on the alchemist ranking.

I think it's too early to say. I remember Hongmu was very confident in herself, so maybe she's sure of herself.

What's there to be confident about? The competition among alchemists is already fierce. If she really wants to make the list, she should prepare early.

Do you guys remember that uproar about the Free and Unfettered Sect back then? Everyone was questioning whether the sect could actually distribute high-grade pills. Then, a netizen with the ID "The Strongest Person in the Cultivation World" replied with a picture in the comments, which happened to be a picture of high-grade pills being produced. Many people speculated that the picture was AI-generated because the success rate was too high.

I remember, I remember. It was about how the Free and Unfettered Sect was poor and stingy. Because of this, many people doubted the authenticity of the elixirs.

Actually, many cultivators from the Free and Unfettered Sect later posted to prove they had obtained high-grade pills. At that time, I was still wondering if it was real or fake. However, after seeing Hongmu feed high-grade pills to the injured last time, I felt that the practice of offering pills upon entering the sect was probably not a hoax, and it was most likely true.

Wait, suddenly it all connects! Isn't the ID "The Strongest Cultivator in the Cultivation World" Hongmu's?

Yeah, that's why I've been emphasizing whether Hongmu actually knows how to refine pills. If she does, why would she post such obviously fake AI images, and why hasn't she gone to the pill refining room yet? It's all too suspicious. If she doesn't know how to refine pills, posting AI images would be understandable. It's just that this character's setup—like going to the pill refining room for three days and not refining any pills—makes it all seem quite reasonable.

I didn't understand. I caught the key words: Does redwood involve alchemy?

: Hmm, I'm getting totally confused, I feel like my brain is about to explode.

In short, I strongly suspect that Hongmu has absolutely no knowledge of alchemy!

No, no, no, that's too absolute. What makes you think the pictures she posted before were AI or other technologies used to create them? Is it possible, and I mean if the pictures were real, that the success rate of creating the pills would be as high as 70%?

Let me explain it this way: Do you think a cultivator around twenty-three years old can become a Grandmaster-level alchemist at the Nascent Soul stage?

Grandmaster-level alchemist? Are you crazy? How could that be?

Yeah, it's impossible! Haven't you all figured it out yet? These thirty-odd Rejuvenation Pills have a success rate of 70%, while the average success rate for alchemists in the cultivation world is around 20%. To exceed 30% is considered to have surpassed most alchemists.

Let me explain the ranks of alchemists. Low-level alchemists are divided into Iron and Bronze, with the latter being higher. Intermediate alchemists are divided into Silver and Gold. The highest level, advanced alchemists, are divided into Emerald, Grandmaster, and Sage. A 70% success rate already puts you at the Grandmaster level. Above advanced alchemists are top-tier alchemists, whose pills reach S-grade. Compare this to the previous example and you'll see how fake that picture posted by Hongmu really is.

Oh, if that's the case, then the picture is definitely fake. And by that logic, it means that Hongmu doesn't know how to refine pills!

The superior-grade Rejuvenation Pill, when refined using a commercially available alchemy furnace, yields approximately fifty pills per batch. This is based on my research.

I think her status as an alchemist might not be entirely fake. She might not even be a high-level alchemist; at most, she might be an intermediate-level one.

Wait, I have another question! Does Hongmu have a single-elemental spiritual root? How does she refine pills then? Aren't most alchemists fire-elemental spiritual roots?

Oh yeah! Holy crap! Such a huge bug!

While everyone on the StarNet was discussing Jiang He's alchemist level, Zhang Wan, who had specifically watched several times wanting to speak up for Jiang He, stopped typing. He silently looked up and saw that Jiang He had already entered the alchemy room.

Zhang Wan silently lowered his head and began to review his performance. He was an intermediate alchemist and knew that he was not qualified to be on the Heroes Ranking, so he did not participate in this year's Alchemy Cultivation Ranking.

Zhang Wan has plenty of time to browse the StarNet.

He has questioned all the points that people on the StarNet have questioned about Jiang He, whether it's the success rate of pill formation or anything else.

Of course, Zhang Wan had never seen Jiang He practice alchemy in public. Logically, he should have continued to question Jiang He's abilities, just like the netizens online.

But Zhang Wan was not convinced. He was absolutely certain that Jiang He was a high-level alchemist. Zhang Wan had met countless alchemists, and from beginning to end, Jiang He and Hongmu were the two alchemists he recognized and wanted to follow.

Zhang Wan was unaware of her spiritual root, but she knew that the spiritual food she made was undoubtedly of superior quality.

It's not impossible that Jiang He is a grandmaster-level alchemist.

Some alchemists can refine pills even without a fire elemental root, either because they can "borrow fire" or because they possess a "strange fire" within their bodies.

The former can be achieved through technology or other means, while the latter is either innate or comes from a great opportunity; the strange fire is something that can only be encountered by chance.

It's possible that Jiang He is the one who possesses this strange fire, which isn't surprising.

Zhang Wan automatically refined her explanation.

The news about Jiang He Ling Gen quickly spread offline.

When Pan Xiu and the other cultivators of Lingyun Sect learned that Pan Xiu had been expelled from the sect for his words, they not only did not shut their mouths, but instead blamed the Xiaoyao Sect for the incident.

If Pan Xiu hadn't clashed with the cultivators of the Xiaoyao Sect that day, there wouldn't have been a bet, and he wouldn't have spoken up during the sect competition.

They felt it was unfair to Pan Xiu, and upon learning about Jiang He's spiritual root, they immediately made a big fuss about it.

"Redwood has an ice spirit root, what's the point of refining pills with that? Signing up for the Pill Refining Ranking is simply ridiculous," a cultivator in the Lingyun Sect shouted.

The other cultivators watching the competition were puzzled upon hearing this:

"Does Redwood not have a fire elemental root?"

"That's not right. Why would Hongmu be on the alchemy ranking list? Alchemy definitely requires fire."

The Lingyun Sect cultivator said sarcastically, "What else could it be? It's just showing off. I don't know what the point of signing up is. If you ask me, they'll just go in and come out again. No wonder they wait until the fourth day to go in. It's a short trip, so they can come out quickly too."

"Haha, you know what, if there were a participation prize in the sect competition, it would definitely be redwood."

The cultivators of Lingyun Sect never hide their conversations from others. Many cultivators know that Jiang He has a single-element ice spirit root. Under the deliberate guidance of their words, most cultivators have preconceived notions that Jiang He cannot refine pills and that his participation in the Pill Refining Ranking is likely just a formality.

Most of the cultivators from the Xiaoyao Sect rushed forward to angrily shout at the first-class cultivators from the Lingyun Sect, but in the end, they were all stopped by Bai Zhizhou and Hua Xi.

"There's no need to waste words with these people."