Strongest Scammer: Scamming The World, One Death At A Time

The bell rang—a deep, resonant gong that echoed across the mountain.

A voice rang out: "You may now begin your refinements!"

Han Yu's fingers moved like water over stone. He ignited the flame array with a tendril of his spirit sense—precise, unwavering. The cauldron glowed to life with a dull blue flame beneath it, and the herbs hovered in the air before him.

It was clear this was a high grade flame array as the flames that rose from it were blue instead of the usual orange or yellow.

First thing Han Yu picked was the dried and roasted Leaf of Mindvine, infusing it with a touch of wind spirit qi provided by a talisman. Then came the powdered root of Ghost Camellia, slowly melted in spiritual water. As the ingredients blended, a sweet, cloying scent filled his station.

And then came the crucial step.

The Twin Dust Blossoms and Flicker Ironwood Sap.

As soon as they met, a burst of violet vapor hissed upward. Han Yu's vision shimmered—he could see the haze starting to twist, form, take shape.

And then—Memory Echo activated.

A brilliant loop of mental clarity wrapped around his soul, muting the hallucination. The mist danced before him like smoke, but it held no sway over his mind. His hands moved like clockwork, tossing in the final herb and clapping the lid onto the cauldron.

Moments passed.

Seconds stretched.

The cauldron rumbled once—twice—and finally settled.

Han Yu slowly opened it.

Inside, a single glowing pill shimmered like a pearl dipped in liquid moonlight. No cracks. No burn marks. Just the soft glisten of success.

He leaned back, smiling faintly.

'Another good one down.' Victory was just beginning for Han Yu.

Han Yu gently lifted the pill from the cauldron with a specialized spirit-infused spatula, careful not to let any lingering heat or ambient qi interfere with the result.

The Mind-Mender Spirit Pill rested perfectly in the center of the jade-tinted dish—round, smooth, and radiating a faint pulse of calming spirit energy. A slight glow hovered around it, a sign of refined purity and stable form.

He examined it briefly.

No cloudiness. No energy leaks.

Its fragrance was restrained but rich, like clean parchment soaked in spiritual dew—exactly as it should be.

He sealed the pill in a transparent crystal case and marked it with his spirit sense before setting it on the small platform next to his station.

"Submission complete," he whispered, and the platform blinked once in acknowledgment, the pill being silently transferred to the judging chamber through a hidden array.

Around him, the test hall had already become a hive of activity. Dozens of alchemists were deep in their refinements, some sweating profusely as the mental fog of their own pills took hold, others desperately trying to maintain their cauldron's balance.

There was the sharp pop of a failed refinement two stations away—an explosion of red fumes and coughing. Han Yu didn't even glance over.

He simply leaned back, fingers locked behind his head, looking skyward at the towering jade statues above as if asking them, "Was that good enough for you?"

The next two hours passed in waves of tension, eruptions, failures, and silent triumphs. Several instructors and elders occasionally strolled among the rows, nodding at promising work and frowning at unstable brews.

When it was finally over, the overseer's voice rang out again:

"All participants, stand by. Judging will now commence. Finalists will be displayed shortly."

The cauldrons deactivated. Everyone's pills were now sealed in spirit-crystal cases and whisked away by an array toward the judging platform high above the hall. A set of five elders, each with a distinct robe color and a jade tablet, now sat at a half-moon table looking down over the test floor.

One of them—an elder with thin eyebrows and a silken beard—tapped his finger on the tablet. Glowing symbols danced into the air.

Above the heads of all participants, a large projection appeared in shimmering golden script:

Top 5 Pills – Evaluation in Progress…

A hush fell over the crowd. Even those who had clearly failed stood still, desperate to see the names. Han Yu, meanwhile, stretched and yawned theatrically, completely relaxed.

And then, finally:

1st Place (Provisional): Han Yu — Mind-Mender Spirit Pill — Grade: High Purity, Peak Stability

2nd Place (Provisional): Xu Renshu — Burning Meridian Pill — Grade: Medium Purity, Stable Form

3rd Place (Provisional): Lin Meng'er — Bloodroot Essence Pill — Grade: Medium Purity, Slight Instability

4th Place (Provisional): Yu Fei — Cold Silken Qi Pill — Grade: Low Purity, Stable Form5th Place (Provisional): — Under Review —

There was a collective gasp from the entire hall. A few disciples outright dropped their pill containers in shock.

Even in the observation balcony, some of the instructors leaned forward. One of them, a core elder with a sharp goatee, muttered aloud, "Han Yu… wasn't he that outer court brat Li Mei picked up?"

Another replied, "Didn't he just join the Alchemy peak a couple months ago? I heard Junior Elder Zhou and Xuan personally brought him in."

Han Yu watched all of it unfold with a faint smirk. His eyes caught flickers of Eight Emotions Energy drifting in the air—bright yellow of joy, soft green of admiration, even a few grey slivers of surprise and dull red sparks of irritation.

All beautiful, all useful.

Backstage in the small betting shed, the skinny disciple was holding the token Han Yu had given him, his eyes wide with disbelief.

He whispered to himself, "...This madman actually bet on himself and might win?!"

Then he gulped. If Han Yu truly placed first—and it certainly looked like he would—that meant the betting house would have to pay him double.

Three hundred thousand merit points.

The boy paled. He scrambled to alert his superiors so that they could adjust the odds and shift bets, but it was too late.

Meanwhile, Han Yu was being called to the front of the hall.

An instructor beckoned him with a neutral tone, "Han Yu, come forward. The judging elders wish to speak with you."