Chapter 551: Chapter 194 Unable to Get First Place

Outside the Array Platform, Yaochi Saint regained his senses, his expression somewhat gloomy.

The Soul Killing Essence he thought was within his reach was slipping away once again. Not only that, but his Fiery Sun Golden Crow Divine Stone was also at risk of being lost.

And the culprit behind all this was Zhou Yan!

Yaochi Saint didn’t think much about it. In his view, everything boiled down to a simple reason: because of Zhou Yan, he had lost a lot and even failed to achieve his goal, now risking the loss of an extremely important treasure.

All of this was caused by Zhou Yan!

He had already been displeased with Zhou Yan, and now with this added incident, his dislike had only intensified.

The initial shock he had felt due to Zhou Yan’s knowledge of the Tai Chu Rune Profound Meaning had completely vanished.

The fleeting sense of acknowledgment came quickly and left even quicker.

Yaochi Saint’s face turned ugly as he pondered, then suddenly asked Fairy Die, “Are you scheming against me?”

Upon hearing this, Fairy Die’s expression also turned cold, and she responded unabashedly, “Scheming against you? If you think so, then yes, consider it me scheming. What about it?”

“Hmm?”

Yaochi Saint’s expression froze. He hadn’t expected the usually gentle and uncompetitive Fairy Die to turn on him so suddenly. Little did he know, the hatred in his eyes towards Zhou Yan had already settled in Fairy Die’s heart.

Just moments ago, Fairy Die was highly in favor of Zhou Yan and had secretly admired him. Seeing Yaochi Saint’s behavior now, her mood soured completely. Hearing Yaochi Saint’s accusatory tone, she didn’t bother holding back.

Being Saints, in the end, neither really feared the other as there was no suppressive gap in their strengths.

Previously, the politeness was more about Fairy Die being willing to step back slightly. Now that she was angry, her attitude was naturally not pleasant.

“Oh? Can’t accept losing? If you can’t stand losing, you might as well keep that Golden Crow Soul Stone for yourself.”

Fairy Die retorted coldly.

She made no effort to hide her disdain for Yaochi Saint.

Blood rushed to Yaochi Saint’s head, and he was about to erupt in anger when Saint Yao said, “Yaochi Saint, there’s no need for this. If she really were scheming, she wouldn’t have been similarly worried and nervous earlier. She was ready to honor her loss with a treasure. You and I both know that’s no lie.

As for the turn of events, it just shows that Zhou Yan indeed has great talent.”

After Saint Yao finished speaking, the atmosphere at the scene eased somewhat.

Yaochi Saint snorted and said, “Willing to accept the outcome, previously I merely misspoke in a fit of anger. Naturally, I can accept a loss. A single Soul Stone is nothing. Take it.”

With that, Yaochi Saint took out a Soul Stone and handed it to Fairy Die.

Fairy Die, without any hesitation, took it and cheerfully examined the light golden, fist-sized stone with a figurative charm. Any dissatisfaction she had was gone, and her mood soared to its peak.

Seeing Fairy Die so joyful, Yaochi Saint nearly choked on his blood. However, he managed to restrain himself—despite feeling almost suffocated by the loss, he maintained his composure and demeanor, not letting his pain show and becoming a laughingstock.

“The Qiankun Rings have already been refined. After Zhou Yan, many cultivators have also started shaping theirs up nicely. Just wait a moment longer, and we can compare these Qiankun Rings’ grades. This time it’s not bad, the cultivators lacking in Artifact Refining Ability failed due to various anomalies, which actually saved a lot of time.”

Saint Yao looked around and said with a smile.

“Those who can refine artifacts under the pressure of Heavenly Mechanism, Qi Fortune, and Life Soul energy are surely very capable cultivators. Naturally, their Artifact Refining would not be slow.”

Fairy Die said with a smile.

Yaochi Saint snorted coldly, not participating in the discussion, his face darkened in a way that anyone could sense his mood.

Saint Yao pretended to be oblivious and pointed nothing out. Meanwhile, Fairy Die, without any reservations, didn’t care about Yaochi Saint’s attitude or expression and happily minded her own business, infuriating Yaochi Saint even more.

…

After the Artifact Refining was completed, Zhou Yan did not use the remaining nine portions of Refining Materials, nor did he continue refining.

Before him floated a light purple Qiankun Ring, a Top-Grade Soul Artifact Level Qiankun Ring.

After utilizing a substantial amount of power and fully exerting his refining skills, Zhou Yan, although he simulated the power of a Saint, still couldn’t refine a Holy Artifact.

This limitation lay not in the level of his Artifact Refining skills but in his insufficient Realm.

If he were to reach the Realm of a Sword Saint, perhaps refining a Holy Artifact would not pose any difficulty.

Moreover, this time, although the Refining Materials were excellent, they were not exactly Holy Artifact Materials, which was another reason for the limitation.

He looked at the Qiankun Ring refined by Zhuge Jiayue, which was also a top-grade Soul Device, and noticed that it, like his ring, exuded an extraordinary aura.

However, Zhou Yan believed that if the ring’s internal space, the stability of that space, and the ring’s defensive capabilities were considered, his Qiankun Ring would surpass those refined by Zhuge Jiayue and Jia Yongheng.

At this moment, after finishing the Artifact Refining, Zhou Yan was waiting for the subsequent judgment while integrating the insights he had gained from this session.

This time, his understanding of the Tai Chu Rune had deepened, almost mastering over half of the Profound Meaning of the Tai Chu Rune.

For all Tai Chu Runes, it was like recognizing words; he could understand and master nearly half of the Rune script.

In mastering them, Zhou Yan’s knowledge of the ancient beginning of the Tai Chu era also became more comprehensive bit by bit.

If the Tai Chu era represented the beginning years of the Nine Origin Universe, then the Tai Chu Rune was a language formed during the Heavenly Dao of the Tai Chu era, much like the high-level language of the life forms of that era.

Having mastered half of the Tai Chu Rune, Zhou Yan could now normally communicate with the elite of the Tai Chu era using their language.

Using this type of Rune for Artifact Refining or Alchemy would also lead to incredible enhancement effects.

“Although the Qiankun Rings they crafted are quite good, especially the rings crafted by Zhuge Jiayue, Jia Yongheng, Shiyin, and Zhuge Chunqiu, which are endowed with special Qi Fortune, Heavenly Mechanism, and so forth – truly supreme treasures for the average person – still, there is a gap from my Qiankun Ring crafted with the Profound Meaning of Tai Chu. This time, there should be no doubt in the Artifact Refining and Alchemy competition,” he thought.

As Zhou Yan thought, the top-grade Qiankun Rings flew out at this moment, aligning in a formation.

There were seventeen Qiankun Rings in the formation.

These seventeen Qiankun Rings, all of top-grade Soul Device Level, even though ten of them were crafted almost as if they were the last resort, would be something the crafters of these ten would find challenging to replicate.

But having crafted them, their abilities were still acknowledged.

Over ten thousand cultivators participated in refining artifacts, and in the end, aside from those who failed and left, only about three thousand managed to craft final products.

Apart from these seventeen top-grade Soul Device Level Qiankun Rings, there were also low, middle, and high-grade ones. Fortunately, none of the Qiankun Rings were below Soul Device quality.

The ranking of the remaining Qiankun Rings was easy and was instead set aside.

Three Great Saints came forward, each observing and sensing the structure and abilities of these seventeen Qiankun Rings; then they began to discuss amongst themselves.

As the Saints discussed, Zhou Yan unconsciously tuned into their conversation, but, perhaps because of their method of communication, he could not detect the content of their discussion, nor could he discern from their lip movements what was being discussed — clearly, they had placed some kind of barrier to block any Heavenly Mechanism during this exchange.

In Zhou Yan’s sensing, Fairy Die argued forcefully, Saint Yao occasionally voiced his opinions, but the Yaochi Saint seemed extremely sure of her own arguments.

And at this moment, their dispute also led to the appearance of the Emptiness Saint and the Wuxu Saint.

Upon their arrival, the Yaochi Saint said something, causing the face of the Wuxu Saint to darken immediately, but she nodded firmly afterward, then said something else.

The face of the Emptiness Saint turned slightly distressed, but after thinking it over, he seemed to propose another idea, and ultimately, everyone fell silent, then appeared to agree on some controversial decision.

At that time, the Yaochi Saint suddenly smiled enigmatically at Zhou Yan, her smile filled utterly with disdain.

Zhou Yan’s heart skipped a beat, knowing that this competition might not go as he had hoped.

His heart chilled, but he was not nervous. At this stage, if the Yaochi Saint did not know better, he would spare no effort, go all out and forcibly attempt to seize the Holy Daughter.

…

“Now, after our participation as Saints in testing, comprehending, and discussing, we have finally determined the rankings of this Artifact Refining competition,” the Yaochi Saint declared loudly.

After his words, the venue immediately quieted down, and the breathing of many cultivators could be distinctly heard.

“This Artifact Refining competition was impressive, producing seven geniuses that shine brilliantly through the ages. Among them, the Fate Goddess’s Life Chart Awakening, soon to enter the Destiny Ancient Palace and return to her own Holy Land, is particularly worth celebrating.

And Tianji Mountain, which nurtured the Fate Goddess, also deserves everyone’s respect.”

After the Yaochi Saint finished speaking, the many cultivators below the Array Platforms, and those Loose Cultivators and other family cultivators watching from the void outside the Southern Mansion, all started applauding, showing respect for these two mysterious forces.

The Yaochi Saint listened for a while, nodding in satisfaction, and then waved his hand, signaling the applause to cease, and the venue quieted down once again.

“In this Artifact Refining competition, it must be said that the Qiankun Ring crafted by Zhou Yan, previously first in combat power, did have excellent performance in all aspects and could be considered first. Unfortunately, he ultimately cannot take first place. Because this Artifact has a major flaw leading to this ranking, it cannot be upheld,” the Yaochi Saint announced loudly.

The venue was immediately dead silent, as all the cultivators seemed unsurprised by this result, as they couldn’t discern which cultivator’s Qiankun Ring was the best. On one hand, they did not believe their judgment was better than that of the Saints, and on the other hand, the Yaochi Saint mentioned that the ring had a significant flaw; thus, even if the refining process was astounding, it naturally could not take first place.

Among these cultivators, only Wu Ji glanced at Zhou Yan, pondering inwardly.