Both figures disappeared into the light-curtains.

The formation was the Daoist Muyang's own work. He would never have brought it out in front of all the peaks unless he was sure that, short of someone breaking it by force, not even the eldest senior brother could see through it by eye alone.

The disciples fell quiet again.

The third-generation disciples, the same generation as Ye Lan and Liu Ruifeng, were the real audience today.

Anyone who wanted a peak master's seat had to show some extraordinary ability. How else would they win people over?

But they had no objection to Martial Uncle Muyang using a formation to shut out the spiritual qi of heaven and earth and their senses. Watching pills being refined wasn't about the dull process anyway. It was about the radiance of kalpa force the pill gave off once it was done.

Anything could be faked, but that radiance couldn't.

What really interested them was how Senior Sister Ye Lan would respond.

The third-generation disciples had all seen what the Sixth Peak had done over the years. In everyone's eyes, Ye Lan leaving Shenxu Mountain had amounted to giving up control of the Alchemy Peak of her own accord.

But now, clearly, that wasn't the case.

The Sixth Peak might have been running the Alchemy Peak for years, but just as father and son were about to take the last step, Senior Sister Ye had stepped forward after all.

Only—was it too late to step forward now?

The third-generation disciples didn't think much of the newly arrived young man's chances. The reason was simple. Knowing the Sixth Peak's father and son, they would never have handed him an extra half portion of ingredients unless they already had his measure.

And what the disciples thought was more or less what the peak masters thought too.

Ye Lan stood straight on the summit, her chin lifted slightly. Her fair, delicate face looked as proud as ever, but to her elders it seemed full of strain, even a little pitiful.

Qianfeng, the Daoist Jinxue and the old man with crane-white…