"Excuse me, I need a breakthrough pill too."
Bai Shengyi was unyielding.
The situation was about to escalate.
Ximen Hongchun's face tightened as he struck first, smashing a hammer towards Bai Shengyi. Bai Shengyi flicked her spirit whip in response, and the two clashed, stirring up a massive vortex of spiritual energy.
"Sizzle—"
Blue-purple electric light burst forth where the spiritual lights met. Bai Shengyi and Ximen Hongchun simultaneously retracted their attacks and stepped back.
"You are indeed strong." Ximen Hongchun suppressed the taste of blood in his throat, his gaze fixed on Bai Shengyi. The interest in his eyes was almost tangible.
"Again!" Ximen Hongchun exclaimed, charging towards Bai Shengyi with his great hammer.
Lightning exploded outwards from the center of the hammer in all directions. There was no doubt that if it had struck a person, it would have torn them to shreds.
Bai Shengyi's eyes darkened. Leveraging the power of the Samsara Brush, she drew a defensive canopy in the air. Simultaneously, her spiritual power enveloped her entire body, and she charged into the crackling lightning, engaging Ximen Hongchun in close-quarters combat.
"Bang!"
"Bang!"
With two muffled thuds, Bai Shengyi, protected by her spiritual power and her familiarity with acupuncture points, succeeded.
Ximen Hongchun knelt on the ground, staring intently at Bai Shengyi. "You, you what did you do? Why can't my legs, my legs move?"
He had never expected Bai Shengyi, a woman, to choose close combat with him, so his evasion was somewhat delayed. Yet, even so, Bai Shengyi had only struck him in two places, so why couldn't his legs move? If not for his strong willpower, he would have been kneeling on the ground by now. Therefore, Ximen Hongchun was utterly shocked. This shock had surpassed his curiosity about Bai Shengyi's strength, and it had even made him overlook the fact that he had accidentally revealed his stutter.
"Sorry, no comment."
Bai Shengyi said, "However, as a friendly reminder, if you don't get off the stage for treatment soon, your legs might have lasting problems. So, fellow Daoist Ximen, do you concede?"
Bai Shengyi also had a string of tension within her. This was because, in fact, she had resorted to a clever tactic this time. She had taken advantage of Ximen Hongchun's lack of knowledge about her and dared to take a risk to push her limits, attempting for the first time to combine spiritual power with the Federation's healing arts. She had seized the opportunity to attack two vital points on Ximen Hongchun's body, thus achieving a narrow victory. However, if Ximen Hongchun had avoided close combat with her at that moment, with the dominance and aggression of his lightning spiritual power, she might have found this battle even more challenging.
Ximen Hongchun's cold face showed a hint of bewilderment. "Are you an alchemist?"
Bai Shengyi neither admitted nor denied it. But to Ximen Hongchun, it was an admission. Thinking of something, he decisively said, "I concede!" As soon as his voice fell, mist appeared on the stage, and he vanished before Bai Shengyi's eyes.
Immediately after, the patriarch of the Zhang family appeared before Bai Shengyi, handing her a white porcelain bottle and smiling kindly, "Thank you, young friend. This is your reward."
Bai Shengyi took the porcelain bottle and opened it. Inside was a golden pill, the size of a fingernail. The pill had exquisite patterns of mountains and rivers, and a refreshing aroma filled her nostrils.
"Supreme Grade Fifth-Rank Breakthrough Pill."
Even knowing that this was a hallucination and that it was all fake, Bai Shengyi's heart trembled as she read those words. A fifth-rank pill! In the Great Ning Dynasty, this was something that even ten thousand medium-grade spirit stones couldn't buy a single one! Even the Duke Rong's estate only possessed one fifth-rank pill, which was one of the Bai family's inherited treasures. This was because although there were many alchemists on the Divine Revelation Continent, high-ranking alchemists were extremely rare. To date, the highest alchemist realm was the seventh-rank alchemist at the Divine Revelation Academy. In the Great Ning Dynasty, there was only one fifth-rank alchemist, and they could only refine three types of fifth-rank pills.
Bai Shengyi, with a reverent heart, placed the pill into her mouth. She had wanted to savor how delicious her first fifth-rank pill was, but before she could taste even a hint of its flavor, the pill dissolved… However, Bai Shengyi still felt it carefully for a while and gave a fair evaluation: "It's not sweet at all."
As she spoke, she felt a surge of immense energy flow into her limbs and bones. Then, her dantian began to frantically draw spiritual power from her meridians, slowly condensing into a golden core.
Bai Shengyi tentatively unleashed a palm strike.
"Crack!"
The stage collapsed!
"Not bad! I feel like not only has my attack power increased significantly, but the aura in my dantian has also become more mellow…"
Bai Shengyi didn't rush to fight the demonic cultivator. She curiously continued to feel the various differences of the Golden Core stage. Before long, she was completely immersed in this mysterious realm.
"She's achieved enlightenment! She's actually achieved enlightenment!" Wen Jiuyin exclaimed excitedly. "Old man, I'm truly curious about her spiritual root grade now. To be able to enter enlightenment at this last moment! This talent, it probably doesn't lose to Li Shiqing, does it?"
Qin Si curved his lips slightly. "It's good, but she still needs to be observed carefully."
"Yes, Vice Dean. It's just that time is running out. Should we perhaps postpone the announcement a little?" Wen Jiuyin was a little worried about affecting this promising talent.
Qin Si replied without hesitation, "No need, everything proceeds as usual." Based on his understanding of Bai Shengyi, she didn't need such special treatment. Moreover, he even suspected that Bai Shengyi hadn't intended to get these 3 points from the start. Qin Si was indeed not mistaken; Bai Shengyi was not interested in eliminating the Golden Core demonic cultivator. She was most interested in the Golden Core cultivation itself. Primarily, since she already had over 30 points, she was sure to enter the fifth round, so whether she got these 3 points or not was not important.
"Everyone, the fourth round of assessment is concluded! The number of participants in this assessment was eighteen thousand three hundred and twenty. Five hundred people have advanced. All those who advance, use your recommendation posts to enter the city and rest at the inn prepared by the academy, awaiting the next round of assessment. The rest who are eliminated…"
A stern voice echoed in her ears. Bai Shengyi had just emerged from that mysterious state. However, when she opened her eyes, everything before her had changed drastically! She should have been in the bustling streets of Qianlian City, but now, she stood at the entrance of Qianlian City, which she had seen once before. The towering city walls were dozens of feet high, far exceeding the height of the city walls in the hallucination. Two cultivators of unknown cultivation guarded the city gate on the left and right. Just a glance made one feel the solemn and stern atmosphere, different from the Qianlian City in the hallucination. It turned out that from the beginning, they had never actually entered Qianlian City! They had fallen into a hallucination right at the city gate! Around her were many other cultivators who were as bewildered as Bai Shengyi. At first, everyone was somewhat lost and uncertain, but after hearing the academy's announcement, they no longer cared about their strange predicament. Everyone quickly checked their rankings. Upon looking, their eyes widened.
"35 points! Holy crap, who is this? Who's so awesome!"
"No way? Look at the rankings, Jiang Pengyu is only fifteenth!"
"What's this? Ximen Hongchun is only second, and wasn't he said to be amazing?"
"So, who exactly is this Bai Shengyi? She's actually surpassed so many proud sons of heaven! And how does she have so many points? I searched for three days and three nights for demonic cultivators with great effort, and I only got 9 points."
"Brother, you're already doing well. I only got 3 points, and I'm already outside the top thousand. I can't pass the assessment this year either…"
The city gate was filled with all sorts of voices – surprised, dejected, despairing… Everyone was chattering, but undoubtedly, all of them showed immense curiosity towards the first place. In addition to being able to see their own rankings on the recommendation posts, everyone could also see the rankings and names of the top hundred cultivators. And Bai Shengyi's name was simply too conspicuous among them.