Although Ding Fan knew that the opponent was indeed cheating at this moment, Ding Fan wasn't worried. After all, the opponent was merely cheating, but in Ding Fan's eyes, it was just a very weak existence. Moreover, Ding Fan had little interest in the championship of this Great Alchemy Competition. At this moment, Ding Fan was constantly scanning the surrounding audience of cultivators with his Divine Sense, naturally searching for Zhou Ruoran's whereabouts.

However, Ding Fan was somewhat regretful that he did not find Zhou Ruoran's figure. For a moment, Ding Fan couldn't help but feel a bit worried. At this moment, Ding Fan could only pin his hopes on He Qianyao. Whether or not he could get news of Zhou Ruoran would depend on He Qianyao. Ding Fan was somewhat anxious in his heart. If he couldn't get news of Zhou Ruoran in this third round of the Great Alchemy Competition, it would be even more difficult to find her later!

Ding Fan knew that the Cultivation World was indeed too vast. Wanting to find someone on the Donglai Continent alone could take several decades. After all, Zhou Ruoran had appeared once before. If he couldn't find the opponent in this Great Alchemy Competition, it would obviously become more difficult to find her in the future.

Immediately, Ding Fan expanded his Divine Sense to carefully search through the audience cultivators in the Great Alchemy Competition. Although Ding Fan had already entrusted He Qianyao to search for Zhou Ruoran, it wasn't that Ding Fan didn't trust her. On the contrary, Ding Fan trusted her very much. However, Ding Fan's longing for Zhou Ruoran was too urgent.

After all, there had already been news of Zhou Ruoran before. If she disappeared right before his eyes like this, Ding Fan would regret it immensely.

While Ding Fan was constantly searching for Zhou Ruoran with his Divine Sense, the first group of the Great Alchemy Competition was still in tense progress. The first group's competition time had already passed for some time. At this moment, at a slightly higher position on the platform, except for Zhang Hao, the other alchemists had been stalled for a long time.

In a short while, Zhang Hao had already rushed to the platform. Seeing this scene, everyone couldn't help but become excited. Obviously, he was the first alchemist to rush onto this platform. Regardless of whether the opponent was cheating, he indeed ascended this platform. After all, he was currently the first person.

At this moment, the audience outside couldn't help but feel a little excited.

"Look! That guy made it up there! That's absolutely amazing!"

"What's there to be happy about? The opponent must have cheated again! What was that alchemist's name? Seems like it's Zhang Hao, right? He's simply a blemish in this Great Alchemy Competition. Such an alchemist obviously cheated, but with no evidence, it's impossible to disqualify him! It's so infuriating!"

"It is indeed a bit detestable, knowing that his presence is utterly unfair to my Brother Dalin!"

"And to Elder Herr, the cheating opponent would clearly impact Elder Herr's ranking this time!"

"Is it okay for us to talk like this? After all, we don't have any evidence against him. What if he's really an alchemic genius who just didn't perform well in the first round of the Great Alchemy Competition?"

"You actually believe that, huh? I'm lost for words..."

"Poor Brother Dalin, clearly the champion, but with this guy around, Brother Dalin's championship position is hard to say now..."

"Yeah, truly pitiful for my Brother Dalin..."

"..."

The audience, momentarily shocked to see Zhang Hao ascend the platform, also felt it was somewhat unfair to Ding Lin. After all, Ding Lin had always been first in the previous scores, and this final round of the Great Alchemy Competition was already quite unfavorable for Brother Dalin, let alone with Zhang Hao's presence.

Clearly, Ding Lin's championship position wasn't a certainty.

Having arduously climbed the platform, Zhang Hao couldn't help but show a hint of excitement on his face, but he was also a bit nervous inside. It was evident that he hadn't initially expected his magic artifact could suppress the platform's pressure, but even so, the climb was still difficult.

Zhang Hao, now barely reaching the platform, felt an inexplicable sense of pride. Having personally experienced the difficulty of this platform, he knew that even with cheating, it was such a painstaking effort to climb up.

As for Ding Lin climbing up, it was simply a pipe dream!

Zhang Hao knew that Ding Lin was only a cultivator at the Emergence Stage, possibly even at the Nascent Soul Stage. The only impressive area about him was alchemy. It was evident that in terms of cultivation, he was probably the weakest among the participating alchemists.

Just from the opponent's age alone, one could determine that.

In Zhang Hao's eyes, Ding Fan dreaming of ascending the platform was out of the question; he couldn't even manage ten steps!

Feeling a bit smug, Zhang Hao reached the high platform and quickly noticed a tray on the table with a piece of white paper emitting a faint red glow. On it were some black words, clearly indicating the next pill recipe to refine. Naturally, Zhang Hao only had ten seconds to view this pill recipe.

However, Zhang Hao, evidently curious, couldn't understand why such a pill recipe was left here with no one touching it, and that it could only be viewed for ten seconds. Zhang Hao hesitated for a moment, though curious, he naturally didn't underestimate the rules of the Great Alchemy Competition.

Immediately, Zhang Hao swiftly picked up the seemingly ordinary but subtly strange pill recipe.

As Zhang Hao glanced at the first three spiritual materials on the recipe, the pill recipe suddenly ignited, becoming nothing in an instant. The blazing flame startled Zhang Hao, causing him to instinctively release the recipe, after which it completely vanished.

Zhang Hao roughly estimated that indeed, the pill recipe could only be viewed for ten seconds. Clearly, he hadn't seen the complete recipe, only carefully noting the first three spiritual materials.

At this moment, nearly over three hundred thousand audience members saw this scene, and couldn't help but take a cold breath. This is a bit too exaggerated!

"Does it have to be this difficult? The time is too short!"

"How can this be enough to remember? Not to mention remembering, even in the time it takes to yawn, we've already missed the pill recipe. It's simply impossible to remember the recipe, and without remembering it, how can one refine a medicine pill?"

"Indeed, it is clear that the pill recipe given in this Great Alchemy Competition must be unique in the world! Without remembering the recipe, how can one refine a medicine pill?"

"Obviously, this is somewhat ridiculous!"

"Perhaps in this final round of the Great Alchemy Competition, no one will be able to refine a medicine pill, as reaching the top of the high platform is already quite impressive."

"That's actually true! Being able to climb the platform is akin to comparing who has seen more spiritual materials!"

"It's truly too brutal..."

"I bet Zhang Hao never saw the pill recipe at all. I wonder how he'll refine a medicine pill! Haha..."

"This is called man proposes, God disposes! Haha..."

...

Once again, everyone was astonished by the difficulty of this year's Great Alchemy Competition. Clearly, the difficulty is not ordinary! Many audience cultivators, seeing Zhang Hao's situation, found it amusing. Evidently, everyone saw the recipe was in his hands for less than five seconds!

For Zhang Hao, it was indeed surprising, as he never imagined the recipe would be so abruptly exaggerated, self-igniting after just ten seconds; this is somewhat over the top!

However, Zhang Hao felt a hint of pride, despite only seeing three spiritual materials. Zhang Hao had already determined that these were from Sun Long's pill recipe, indeed the recipe for this year's Great Alchemy Competition. Thus, although Zhang Hao only saw three spiritual materials in the recipe, he was evidently quite familiar with the recipe.

Evidently, Zhang Hao was very familiar with the recipe, knowing that during the few days' rest in the competition, he was never idle, clearly continuously researching the recipe and refining medicine pills. With lessons learned from the second round of the competition, he couldn't imagine what bizarre things might happen with Ding Lin.

Clearly, facing Ding Lin, anything could happen, so Zhang Hao had fully prepared this time, knowing that there is no way to cheat in refining medicine pills. Therefore, even Sun Long couldn't help him; hence Zhang Hao could only diligently study the recipe.

In the past few days, Zhang Hao refined nearly a hundred medicine pills, which is already quite a lot, considering the break time during the competition was only three days. Zhang Hao studied the competition's pill recipe and refined elegant pills, knowing the recipe was not particularly unusual, apparently possible for a typical alchemist to refine. However, refining high-grade medicine pills would still be very challenging.

Zhang Hao refined many of the competition's pills, yet the best grade was only Fifth Grade medicine pill.

For Zhang Hao, this was already quite a breakthrough, his greatest limit. Although the grade wasn't high, Zhang Hao was filled with confidence.

Zhang Hao felt he had reached this final step in the Great Alchemy Competition, something most participating alchemists couldn't reach. Even if the grade of his refined medicine pills wasn't high compared to those alchemists, it was evident he could win with time.

After all, the final round of the Great Alchemy Competition was also timed. Evidently, even if others refined medicine pills of higher grade than his, the judge must consider time factors. Clearly, if someone used a whole day to complete this competition, whereas he finished in less than two hours.

Whose score would be higher is already apparent!

Thus, Zhang Hao directly walked to the designated place for refining medicine pills and began to refine medicine pills very smoothly.

At this moment, everyone—seeing Zhang Hao in action—was shocked, evidently not expecting Zhang Hao could start refining medicine pills without even seeing the complete recipe! His skill was somewhat unbelievable to the point of defying common sense!

Evidently, many people had doubts about Zhang Hao, and for a moment, discussions began among the crowd.

"So Zhang Hao indeed cheated! Knowing the recipe is unique, he didn't even finish looking before refining. If that's not cheating, what is?"

"That's not necessarily the case; although he began refining medicine pills, who knows what he's truly refining? Maybe he's just refining medicine pills from the spiritual materials he saw!"

"That's quite possible! But I, for one, still look down on him!"

...