The silence that followed Sun Hao's feat was broken by a wave of deafening applause, but not everyone in the arena seemed capable of absorbing the impact.
Some of the twenty-five finalists, upon hearing the sound, and seeing the Rank 5 pill floating before Sun Hao, simply lost their focus.
A young man from the Huo Family let his flame waver for a fraction of a second. Enough for the cauldron to crack.
A controlled explosion of black smoke rose, and he fell to his knees, his face pale with frustration and shame. An auxiliary elder approached, evaluated quickly, and declared.
"Total failure. Eliminated."
Another participant, a woman attempting a Rank 4 purification pill, lost her rhythm when she saw the silvery light of Sun Hao's pill. Her red flame faltered, the cauldron shook violently, and exploded into fragments of molten iron.
She was removed from the arena in silence, her right arm burned.
At least four others gave up or failed in the following minutes.
