Following Yu Kun, the twelfth talent of the Sky Dome Dynasty, was Ge Jun.
Ranked third, was the sixth talent of the Sky Dome Dynasty, Lv Yang.
Next, there was a slightly older expert from the Sect Martial Realm, clad in a black robe.
All these individuals were powerful second-level Alchemists, neither their personal strength nor their status were inferior to Yu Kun.
Although they did not secure the first place, they were unconcerned and remained very composed.
They all knew that this first round was merely an elimination stage where only one-tenth would advance, and that the decisive battle would be in the final round.
In other words, being the champion of the first round was not significant, and certainly nothing to boast about. In their eyes, people like Yu Kun, who showed joy over a first-round victory, were simply superficial.
Soon, more than fifty participants had completed their Alchemy and submitted their First-grade Elixirs to the Dan King Mansion for inspection.
"More than half have finished, and that brat still hasn't produced a mere First-grade Elixir — what a waste."
After waiting for a while and seeing that Zhao Letian was still performing Alchemy, Yu Qin became increasingly smug and sneered disdainfully.
His mood was exceptionally pleasant.
Half of this was because he had secured victory in the first round of the competition.
The other half, was because he had finally defeated Zhao Letian, somewhat restoring the face he had lost in the Imperial Palace and feeling a sense of crushing Zhao Letian.
At that moment, a glint shone in Zhao Letian's eyes, he opened the Pill Furnace, and a round, blue elixir flew out, emanating a powerful aura.
Witnessing this scene, Yu Kun's face darkened immediately, and he slightly furrowed his brows.
He genuinely hoped Zhao Letian would continue Alchemy for a while longer, preferably ranking beyond the one-hundredth place to be directly eliminated, or even better, fail to produce a First-grade Elixir in two hours.
Only then would his sense of defeating Zhao Letian feel stronger.
"Eh? Although it took him longer to complete, the quality of the elixir he has produced seems to have surpassed that of everyone else before him."
The purple-robed king seated in the center of the main stage suddenly showed a trace of emotion, regarding Zhao Letian's elixir with approval.
"That's right, this elixir can indeed be considered a fine piece among First-grade Elixirs. Such a level-one elixir recipe is rare even in our Dan King Mansion; this young man seems to be extraordinary."
The purple-robed King-level Expert beside him also nodded after taking a close look at Zhao Letian's elixir.
Hearing the words of these two King-level Experts, Yu Qin frowned.
This might suggest that his son's championship victory now seemed somewhat diluted.
"However, the time he took was significantly longer, and according to the rules, he can only be ranked sixty-sixth."
Another purple-robed King-level Expert spoke calmly.
"Taking a longer time indicates that his Alchemy Skill is limited; otherwise, he wouldn't have wasted so much time and would have succeeded much sooner."
"That's correct, a good quality elixir doesn't necessarily mean his Alchemy Skill is high; it only indicates that he has a good elixir recipe."
The others also expressed their opinions.
"While the elixir recipe is one aspect, managing to rank sixty-sixth still suggests that this young man has some talent."
Yu Qin spoke in a sarcastic tone.
He would never admit that Zhao Letian was stronger than his son.
Even putting Zhao Letian on the same level as his son was unacceptable to him.
Because he simply would not allow someone who had bested his son in martial prowess to also defeat his son in the way of Alchemy.
At the same time, the audience on the stage also heard the discussions from the chairman's stand, and all were stirred, turning their attention to the elixir in Zhao Letian's hand to scrutinize it carefully.
"Indeed, this elixir can rightly be called a fine piece among first-grade elixirs, better in quality than the ones we've refined."
"However, he did take a long time. If that elixir recipe were given to me, I'm certain I could produce this elixir in a much shorter time frame," Ge Jun and Lv Yang discussed objectively.
"Humph, before the competition started, the experts from Dan King Mansion made the rules very clear: the first round does not consider the quality of the elixir, but only the speed of refinement. Losing is losing, what use is the quality of the elixir if you've lost? If we really had to compare the quality of the elixir, this young master could refine a first-grade elixir even better than his," Yu Kun said disdainfully with a snort.
Hearing this, the crowd turned to look at Yu Kun with odd expressions on their faces.
Although Zhao Letian was only ranked sixty-sixth, he had nonetheless passed the first round and smoothly advanced to the second. There was simply no talk of losing, and Yu Kun's reaction was a bit too intense.
However, considering Yu Kun had once suffered a public defeat at the hands of Zhao Letian, losing face completely, the crowd could understand his feelings at this moment.
If it were them, they too would not bear to see their rivals doing well.
"Ranked sixty-sixth? That number is quite auspicious."
As for the discussions among the experts at the chairman's stand and the competing contestants, Zhao Letian turned a deaf ear, as if he hadn't heard at all, smiling indifferently and looking in the direction of Cheng Jiayin and her brother with a rather good mood.
At this moment, Cheng Jiayin and her brother were also about to finish.
Right then, the pill furnace before them was trembling slightly, indicating that the elixir inside was on the verge of taking its final shape.
However, this moment was also the most dangerous; a small mistake could lead to the furnace exploding.
"There are already ninety-five people who have completed. If they want to break into the top one hundred, they need to hurry up," Zhao Letian pondered as he observed Cheng Jiayin and her brother's situation.
If possible, he naturally hoped that Cheng Jiayin and her brother could also break into the top one hundred.
Because if they did, not only would they receive some rewards, but they might even have the opportunity to join Dan King Mansion.
It should be known that he was soon to leave the Sky Dome Dynasty and head to the Imperial Secret Realm, unable to keep Cheng Jiayin and her brother with him all the time.
Leaving the siblings alone in the Sky Dome Imperial City, he would not be at ease.
If he could see them join a powerful force like Dan King Mansion before departing, he could leave with peace of mind.
However, compared to breaking into the top one hundred, he was more hopeful for Cheng Jiayin and her brother to successfully refine their elixir, without the catastrophe of the furnace exploding. As time was running short, if the furnace exploded, they would not get a second chance at alchemy, and at that point, not only would the siblings have no chance to join Dan King Mansion, but they also wouldn't even be able to secure the title of a first-level alchemist.
Therefore, Zhao Letian still hoped that Cheng Jiayin and her brother could keep their cool and proceed with steady and measured steps.
Soon enough, with faces full of excitement, Cheng Jiayin and her brother completed their alchemy.