The fourth trial was finally different from the first three, and this time, it was precisely because the problem to solve was rather ordinary. Of course, that did not mean it was easy. The real challenge this time lay in how demanding the formulas were. 

The earlier trials had tested an alchemist's foundation, from knowledge of medicinal ingredients and alchemical theory to the countless details involved in pill refinement. Yet beneath those differences, each had required the same thing: the creation of a new alchemical formula. This was a task reserved for grandmasters and those blessed with remarkable talent. For an ordinary alchemist, the first three trials alone could stall them for countless years.

Luo Chen knew this well. Even with the foundations he had built over the years, he would have needed far more than six or seven years to complete the earlier trials if he had relied only on his own deductions and repeated experimentation. Whether it was the Spirit Root Pill or the pair of pills meant to resolve the demons' weaknesses, both were creations that ordinary alchemists might pursue for decades, centuries, or even an entire lifetime without success. He had effectively taken a shortcut, allowing him to reach the fourth trial ahead of the Seagon Matriarch. 

Yet he had never expected this trial to be so… easy.

"Testing my alchemy skills? Heh." Luo Chen chuckled, his mood easing considerably. 

For someone with a cheat sheet like his, the road ahead was beginning to look far smoother. The earlier trials had been genuinely difficult because they required him to create formulas from nothing. This fourth trial appeared more demanding on the surface, but...