"Brother, what's the deal with this fusion process?" Among the spectators in the manor grounds, there were quite a few who were as uninformed as Nie Kong.

"Haha, you asked the right person. Fusion? It just means you put the things you want to combine together."

"Nonsense! I'm asking how to combine the spiritual herbs!"

"Heh, little brother, you are truly amusing. If I knew how to do it, I would have become an Apothecary long ago. Why would I be standing here like an idiot watching a show?"

"..."

As the crowd below chattered in confusion, the thirteen Apothecaries on stage had already poured the 'Bamboo Leaf Pills' out of their jade bottles. True to their name, the 'Bamboo Leaf Pills' resembled miniature bamboo leaves—flat, elongated, with pointed tips and an oval center. Even their color was a vibrant emerald green.

Nie Kong pinched one leaf, brought it to his nose to sniff, but detected no medicinal fragrance whatsoever. He ceased pondering, reached into his robes, and retrieved his pill cauldron. However, this time, what emerged was not the genuine article cast for dozens of gold coins, but a counterfeit conjured by Xiang Xiang.

The little fellow had supplemented it with so much spiritual energy that it was practically vibrating with excitement. Upon being summoned, the 'Purple Luo Illusory Spirit Incense' pattern etched onto the cauldron’s body seemed to subtly writhe, clearly agitated. Worried that old foxes like Cheng Feiliu might spot something amiss, Nie Kong flicked his finger towards it with a sharp ding.

"Ah-yah-yah!"

A sound of pain echoed in his mind, and the little fellow instantly quieted down. Only then did Nie Kong lift the lid and toss the two 'Bamboo Leaf Pills' inside.

Just as he was about to begin the refinement, Nie Kong suddenly felt an intuition. He instinctively turned his head and saw Mu Xiaoling continuously winking her right eye at him.

This fourth trial did not forbid the Apothecaries from looking around. After all, this stage relied purely on intrinsic strength, unlike the previous rounds where cheating might still lead to success.

"?"

Why wasn't the little girl concentrating on refining the medicine? Nie Kong winked his left eye back at Mu Xiaoling, sending a massive, silent question mark flying across the space between them.

"Like this..."

Mu Xiaoling blinked her expressive eyes, delicately pinching the 'Bamboo Leaf Pills' between two slender, pale fingers. A faint crimson light flickered between her digits.

"Understood!"

Nie Kong suddenly grasped the meaning. He promptly retrieved the 'Bamboo Leaf Pills,' channeled a brief surge of power, and the two pills instantly disintegrated into powder, falling into the cauldron.

Mu Xiaoling froze, dumbfounded. All she had intended was for Nie Kong to infuse a stream of spiritual energy into the 'Bamboo Leaf Pills' before dropping them in, a technique that would boost the success rate of the final product. How could she have predicted he would use spiritual force to crush them into dust? This was disastrous; fusing already formed spiritual medicines was difficult enough, let alone dealing with mere powder!

"?"

Seeing Mu Xiaoling standing there with her mouth agape, looking utterly lost, another mental question mark shot from Nie Kong’s eyes. Receiving no response, Nie Kong refocused his spirit and slammed the cauldron lid shut with a thud.

On the far left, Cheng Zixuan had already noticed the subtle interactions between Nie Kong and Mu Xiaoling. Witnessing Nie Kong's final action, a mocking sneer involuntarily curled his lip.

Mo Xingtu, standing at the front of the assembled masters, hadn't paid much mind to Nie Kong and Mu Xiaoling exchanging glances, as the message the little girl conveyed was one most Apothecaries likely understood—it wasn't exactly cheating. But when he saw the end result, he couldn't help but let out a sudden laugh: what a catastrophic failure of communication!

"Tianxin, your disciple is truly too dense. He didn't even grasp such a simple instruction?" Not far away, Mu Zisi stamped her foot and sighed deeply.

"It was clearly your granddaughter who failed to convey her meaning clearly; how can you blame my disciple?" Lian Tianxin's entire face darkened, the corners of his mouth twitching uncontrollably.

"You..."

"It's too late to say anything now. If he had just thrown them in to refine, as he might have done before, there was still a decent chance of success. But now, crushing both 'Bamboo Leaf Pills' into powder makes achieving the final medicine nearly impossible." Hearing Mu Zisi and Lian Tianxin argue, Cheng Feiliu shook his head and sighed wearily.

"..."

Que Yu, Qu Tingyun, and Fu Erong also wore expressions of helplessness. It would truly be a pity if a young talent like Nie Kong failed to reach the final stage. Under the current circumstances, it was almost certain he was out of the fourth trial. With this thought, Que Yu and the others glanced down toward the audience again.

Seeing that Nie Xingyun hadn't noticed the scene unfolding, they secretly breathed a sigh of relief. Thank heavens; if that old man discovered the reason for his disciple's premature elimination, he would likely rush forward to fight Mu Zisi right then and there, rules be damned.

Mu Xiaoling pouted, overwhelmed by guilt. But Nie Kong had already pulverized the spiritual herbs and was beginning to infuse the cauldron with energy. Recovery was impossible. She suppressed the turmoil in her heart, channeling a stream of Fire Spiritual Energy into each portion of the pulverized Bamboo Leaf Pills before centering her focus to begin the refinement.

"Good heavens!"

Nie Kong muttered inwardly. The moment the spiritual energy entered the cauldron, the powder of the 'Bamboo Leaf Pills' violently erupted, crashing and ricocheting wildly inside the vessel.

The sheer force slammed against the inner walls, turning the cauldron into an internal firecracker, a continuous, crackling barrage of immense noise.

Nie Kong was genuinely shocked. He was fortunate that he was using the 'Pill Cauldron Illusion Body' manifested through the Purple Luo Illusory Spirit Incense. That vessel was both hard and incredibly resilient. Had he used the small cauldron from the first trial, it would have likely been blown into smithereens instantaneously by the rampaging 'Bamboo Leaf Pill' powder.

At this moment, Nie Kong faintly understood his misinterpretation of Mu Xiaoling’s intent. She likely meant for him to inject spiritual energy into the two pills, not use the energy to shatter them. Fusing powder that had been completely pulverized would be exponentially harder than fusing two intact pills.

But what was done was done; regret was useless now.

Nie Kong’s state of mind instantly cleared, becoming utterly transparent. The 'Wood Yang True Spirit Art' within his body spun frantically. His acupuncture points vibrated violently, and boundless spiritual energy surged and rolled through his meridians like crashing waves, arriving at his palms through his arms before shooting upward. Most of it scorched the bottom of the cauldron, while a smaller portion was injected directly into the cauldron’s interior.

Thanks to the mental link with the little fellow, not the slightest change inside the cauldron could escape Nie Kong's perception. Countless reactions and transformations among the fragments appeared in his mind—the sheer chaos nearly caused his brain to crash.

The collision between powder particles and the collision between powder and cauldron occurred relentlessly; the interior was a turbulent mess, impossible to manage. Especially stimulated by Nie Kong's mutated spiritual energy, the powder fragments collided with even greater frenzy, generating increasingly intense forces.

With a flicker of thought from Nie Kong, the little fellow let out a sharp cry. No change occurred on the cauldron's exterior, but the inner wall seemed to come alive, twisting and churning rapidly. In that instant, every fragment striking the cauldron, along with the force it carried, was violently rebounded.

Nie Kong had been waiting for this exact moment. Fully prepared, he seized the opportunity. He stopped scorching the cauldron’s base, and his overwhelming spiritual energy, like a primordial beast breaking free from its cage, surged into the cauldron from all directions with lightning speed, enveloping every last particle of powder...

...

P: A quick word on updates. Starting tomorrow, the afternoon update will move to between 11 AM and 12 PM, and the evening update will move forward to between 7 PM and 8 PM. This way, everyone can finish reading sooner. I used to release updates near midnight because that time slot generally resulted in slightly more votes. Cough, cough, please don't yell at me.>_