Starting as a supporting character in Doupo

"Then this lad thanks Elder Hao the most." With an excited expression, Xiao Fan cupped his hands in thanks to Elder Hao and walked off the stage without lingering any longer.

What? Why did you stop refining it?

The medicine cauldron is broken; what can we use to refine it now?

Oh? You mean those medicinal herbs? Didn't you see Elder Hao didn't take them back? Then they're naturally mine.

When they arrived at the area where Panmen was located, Yueyao, like a little ornament, immediately hugged Xiao Fan's arm, sweetly said congratulations, and then stopped talking.

Xiao Fan waved his hand as he looked at Xun'er, Hu Jia, Wu Hao, and the Panmen members who had gathered around him, and said, "Alright, let's wait for Junior Brother!"

Hu Jia moved closer to Xiao Fan, looked him up and down, and said in a sour tone, "I didn't expect you to be a fifth-grade alchemist."

"Hehe, alright, let's wait for Brother Xiao Yan to finish refining it first."

Xun'er pulled Hu Jia back with a wave of her hand, smiled at Xiao Fan, and then continued to focus on Xiao Yan's refining on the stage.

It must be said that after Xiao Fan refined the fifth-grade pill, Han Xian was distracted and ruined his second chance to refine it by his own mistake. Now, only the third chance remains.

Looking at Xiao Yan, who was still refining the product, with a gloomy expression, Han Xian also felt a bad premonition.

"Impossible! How could I possibly lose to Xiao Yan! His methods of refining those pills look incredibly crude, it's impossible!"

Han Xian dared to accept Xiao Yan's challenge because he had examined the refining techniques of the pills sold by Panmen. Although ordinary people couldn't tell the difference, alchemists like him could still detect it.

It was precisely because he was confident that if he had the pill formula, he could refine it even more perfectly by Xiao Yan and the others that he accepted the challenge.

However, he never considered that even with the best techniques at the beginning, Xiao Fan and his companion would inevitably end up with extremely rough methods when refining so many pills.

Just like when you're taking an exam, the first stroke of your pen is always written carefully, but what about when you look at the last stroke? It might turn into cursive writing that only you can recognize.

Under everyone's watchful eyes, Han Xian opened the furnace again to refine the Dragon Power Pill for the third time, which was also his last chance.

As time passed, Han Xian continued to carefully refine the medicinal herbs and fuse their essences. Having learned from his previous two mistakes, he was cautious this time as well, determined not to repeat them.

At this moment, Xiao Yan had finally reached the end of the refining process.

"Xiao Fan, do you think Xiao Yan can defeat Han Xian?"

After watching for a long time, Hu Jia got a little bored, so she started chatting with Xiao Fan casually.

"Don't worry." Xiao Fan nodded to Hu Jia, his gaze still fixed on Xiao Yan on the stage. "I have confidence in him; he will definitely be able to defeat Han Xian."

Hearing Xiao Fan's words, Hu Jia nodded. It wasn't that she lacked confidence in Xiao Yan, but mainly because she found it somewhat tedious to watch them constantly throwing medicinal herbs into the cauldron. Since she wasn't an alchemist, she only asked Xiao Fan a casual question.

Just as the group was chatting idly, another commotion came from Xiao Yan's side on the field.

"Done?"

Hu Jia asked in a loud and boisterous voice.

"No!" Xiao Fan glanced at Hu Jia, a smirk playing on his lips, his tone tinged with schadenfreude. "The medicine cauldron exploded."

Everyone:......

Although the people around didn't join in the conversation, they were all listening intently. After all, Xiao Fan had just proven his alchemy skills, and they trusted his assessment.

But what do you mean by commenting that the medicine cauldron exploded?

However, without Xiao Fan's explanation, the exclamations from the surrounding crowd brought everyone back to their senses.

"Look, look! Xiao Yan's medicine cauldron is covered in cracks."

"Does refining a fifth-grade pill always require sacrificing the cauldron?" a student who didn't understand alchemy asked.

After all, Xiao Fan's medicine cauldron had started to break before he refined the fifth-grade pill.

Xiao Fan: ......

Could I say that because my fellow disciples couldn't find a good cauldron and the flames we used were too violent, the cauldron couldn't withstand the power of the fifth-grade pills, which ultimately led to the explosion?

Seeing the puzzled looks on everyone's faces, Xiao Fan tried his best to appear calm and collected, but inwardly he was laughing hysterically.

It's none of my business anyway!

Chapter 179 Victory

Regardless of what the people in the audience think.

At this moment, Xiao Yan was somewhat helpless. He could only carefully control the flames inside the medicine cauldron and try his best to keep it going. He could only pray that the medicine cauldron could last until the end of this medicine refining process.

However, things didn't go as planned. Just as Xiao Yan was carefully controlling the balance inside the cauldron, a ripple of energy still burst out the moment the pill was formed.

Although Xiao Yan blocked it immediately, the impact still shattered the medicine cauldron instantly.

With his fighting spirit running wildly, Xiao Yan enveloped the Azure Lotus Earth Core Flame on the outside of his body, carefully controlling the temperature inside. He didn't even have time to do much to resist the explosion of the medicine cauldron, and could only carefully form a layer of energy barrier on his body surface.

After all, the pill was almost finished being made. If the refining process failed because the cauldron broke, Xiao Yan would probably be devastated.

As the smoke cleared, everyone looked curiously at the blurry figure on the stage.

"Could it be that the refining process failed?"

"The medicine cauldron exploded. With such a huge impact, it's impossible for the pills to have survived, right?"

"Brother Xiao Yan!"

Xun'er also looked anxious, wishing she could rush onto the stage immediately, but Xiao Fan grabbed her arm.

"Don't worry, Xiao Yan will be fine."

After comforting Xun'er, Xiao Fan looked at the people around him and said calmly, "Don't worry, you should have faith in him. Besides, even in the worst-case scenario, he still has one more chance to refine it."

Upon hearing Xiao Fan's words, the previously noisy Panmen members quieted down. Whether it was the successful refining of a fifth-grade pill or the impact he had left on their minds, it instantly calmed them down.

As the smoke and dust slowly dissipated, Xiao Yan's figure came into everyone's view. On his chest, a thin film of cyan flame formed. Xiao Yan carefully took out a pill from it, ignoring the wounds on his body caused by the explosion of the medicine cauldron. He looked up at everyone and grinned, "I have fulfilled my mission!"

"Alas!"

"Good! Boss, well done! Haha."

Upon hearing Xiao Yan's words, the crowd cheered. Elder Hao quickly suppressed the shouts and took the pill from Xiao Yan's hand, examining it carefully.

"The pill is still warm, and its essence has just been formed. It is a newly refined pill." Fearing that some people might say that Xiao Yan replaced the pill during the explosion, Elder Hao said to the crowd below the stage after checking it. Then he gave a wink, and two gray-haired elders also went up on stage.

After carefully examining Xiao Yan's pills and confirming their authenticity, it was clear that Xiao Yan's pills were related to his bet with Han Xian, and therefore needed to be convincing to the public.

As expected, when the three elders reached a consensus, the crowd below the stage understood. Elder Hao was indeed cautious and careful, leaving no room for criticism.

Just as everyone was rejoicing, a muffled sound came from Han Xian's medicine cauldron again. Everyone looked in the direction of the sound and saw Han Xian with a livid face, his hands clenched silently.

The medicinal ingredients inside his cauldron once again malfunctioned during fusion, leading to the failure of the refining process.

Taking a deep breath, Han Xian stood up, pondered for a moment, bowed to Elder Hao, and said, "This kid... admits defeat!"

"Boss!"

"Boss, you..."

Han Xian waved his hand to stop the noise from the Medicine Clan members below the stage, then turned to Elder Hao and said, "I failed to refine the pill in three attempts. Since Xiao Yan has already refined the pill and passed the test of the three elders, then I have naturally lost. The Medicine Clan will deliver the five positions I promised within the next three days."

After giving Xiao Yan a deep look, Han Xian bowed to Elder Hao, then led the Medicine Clan members away with a livid expression.

With the departure of the Medicine Gang members, the competition naturally came to an end.

The Panmen members remained where they were, shouting with joy. The other students, seeing that the competition was over, also left without lingering.

"Hehe, the younger generation is truly formidable." Elder Hao looked at Xiao Yan and nodded with a smile.

Seemingly noticing the astonishment on Xiao Yan's face, he then said to him, "Don't worry, since I'm the referee, the Medicine Gang won't dare to make a fuss about this. Whether they like it or not, they'll have no choice but to obediently hand over those five territories."

Hearing Elder Hao's words, Xiao Yan nodded. He was somewhat surprised that Han Xian had agreed so readily, and thought that the script of the other party refusing to comply even at the cost of his life would continue.

"Thank you, Elder Hao." Xiao Yan bowed to Elder Hao and then handed the Dragon Power Pill in his hand to Elder Hao.

"Hey!" Elder Hao pushed Xiao Yan's hand away with both hands and said with a smile, "I can't accept this anymore, you can keep it for yourself!"

"Kid, I have another one here..."

Before Xiao Yan could finish speaking, Elder Hao waved his hand to interrupt him and said with a smile, "Alright, alright, can you guarantee that you'll succeed every time? I've already obtained one. If I were to accept your pill as well, I would be completely shameless."

Seemingly seeing through Xiao Yan's thoughts, Elder Hao said with a smile, "Don't worry, you are now a fifth-grade alchemist. We'll have plenty of opportunities to interact in the future, and who knows, I might need to trouble you sometime!"

"Since that's the case, then I'll accept it." Seeing Elder Hao say this, Xiao Yan didn't refuse anymore and happily put the pill into his pocket.

"By the way," Elder Hao nodded after seeing Xiao Yan accept the pills, then continued, "Remember, two-tenths of your monthly income from selling pills must be handed over to the academy!"

"Huh!?" Xiao Yan was slightly taken aback upon hearing Elder Hao's words. "This..."

"You know how lucrative the sale of pills is. Even the Medicine Clan had to hand over their share of the profits before, otherwise the fire energy within the academy would be unbalanced."

Elder Hao looked at Xiao Yan and said with a serious expression.

Just then, Xiao Fan, who had just received the mission completion notification, arrived at the two people's side and heard what Elder Hao was saying. He then smiled at Elder Hao and said, "Well... Elder Hao, what do you think of our two fifth-grade alchemists? Could they... hehe."

Elder Hao gave Xiao Fan a disapproving look, then said with a smile, "I can't waive it for you, but you can pay only one-tenth of the share. However, the Medicine Gang must not find out about this."

"Hehe, thank you very much, Elder Hao. Don't worry, Elder."

Chapter 180 Let's just pretend he never met me.

Inside the Panmen Gate, in the council hall on the first floor.

Xiao Fan waved his hand and placed over a hundred jade bottles on the table. Then, he exchanged a glance with Xiao Yan and said to the excited Hu Jia, "Hu Jia, we really need to find some suitable alchemists to borrow our places quickly."

Xiao Yan quickly chimed in, "That's right. Since the alchemy competition, the sales of pills in Panmen have increased dramatically. My senior brother and I are just too busy to keep up."

Upon hearing this, Hu Jia nodded, pondered for a moment, and then said, "Recently, quite a few alchemists have expressed interest in joining the Panmen Sect. Let's see if we have any suitable candidates!"