Chapter 32
From the arena's entrance, a middle-aged man wearing a blue robe with a large lotus flower insignia entered. His stride was full of grandeur and dignity, and his long hair fluttered in the wind. The man was Hu Ao, an elder of the Floating Lotus Alchemy School. He had planned to recruit Qin Lou as an inner or even core disciple, and he had a plan to poach her as one of his personal disciples. But he didn't know that while he was away on business, his old master would suddenly take a liking to her and publicly poach her first.
The old man in front of Qin Lou's table was actually Hu Ao's master, a solitary but legendary figure in the Floating Lotus Alchemy School and the outside world. He was known by many names, but to most, he was called the Saintly Alchemist. This was due to his ability and self-made skill to copy, deduce, and create new pills from any available ingredient or medicinal material through his spiritual sense. Hu Ao's master's goal was to pass this ability down to his disciples. Hu Ao was the most talented of them all; he had already grasped almost 70% of it after a long and arduous time of practice and experimentation. Though he lacked certain aspects, like deduction and analysis, he still became famous. This skill required a great amount of concentration and talent, and the key was a near-perfect control of spiritual sense, which Qin Lou now possessed.
"Hu Ao! What are you saying? I, your own master, am going to take her as my disciple. What does that have to do with you? Don't tell me you're going to fight me over this, you ungrateful brat! Ha! You're still too young to face this old man's awesomeness," the old man said with a smug look.
Upon hearing their discussion, the people around the arena were shocked.
"Wait a minute! That's Elder Ao's master? You mean he's that... that Saintly Alchemist, Lu Hao Duang?"
"Holy shit! I can't believe I would see the Saintly Alchemist today! This is too amazing!"
"People say he is too domineering. I guess it's true... he would even fight with his own disciple."
People's eyes widened as they whispered loudly to each other, exclaiming words of disbelief. Even the contestants couldn't believe they were in the presence of the Saintly Alchemist. As everyone discussed this, Qin Lou's heart was in turmoil. Who wouldn't feel that way? In front of her stood a legendary figure in the alchemy world. This old man would be considered the God of Alchemists in the land of cultivators, one of her idols.
"Master, it's not that I would fight with you. But I propose that we should let her be the one to decide who she would like to be her master," Hu Ao said as he arrived near the old man on the stage.
Hu Ao then looked at Qin Lou with admiration. He had truly made the right judgment, as she had even caught his master's attention, which was extremely rare. Even the current young genius of the alchemy school, Xing Meng, whom his master only saw as a good student, couldn't make his master ask to be his disciple. This meant that Qin Lou had enough talent to be like him, Hu Ao, or even better.
"We meet again, young one," Hu Ao said as he nodded toward Qin Lou.
"It's my honor to see both seniors..." Qin Lou said as she saluted the two.
In this situation, Qin Lou didn't know what to say. She just stared at the two towering figures in front of her. One was a famous elder of the Floating Lotus Alchemy School, while the other had a far more illustrious background as the Saintly Alchemist, well known throughout the entire cultivation land. Qin Lou was a little lost and excited at the same time because, although she was good at many things, alchemy was her favorite. Making pills and experimenting always made her happy. It was her source of comfort after experiencing the setbacks in her life. The world of alchemy was too vast and truly wonderful, with endless possibilities.
But in this situation, not everyone was happy.
"This is impossible... I can't believe that even the Saintly Alchemist would be interested in her. Who is she? She's just a newbie that didn't even get a chance to concoct pills before. She would always fail again and again... now she wants to soar like a phoenix? In her dreams... I will clip your wings for dreaming too high."
As this was happening, in the front area of the stage stood a young man with neatly divided black ink hair. His handsome face had a hint of cruelty, and he was glaring daggers at Qin Lou. This young man was the famous young prodigy of the Floating Lotus Alchemy School, Xing Meng.
Although his status in the school was already high, due to his characteristic of always wanting to be in the limelight, he would always join the alchemy contest and shame those below his talent. He would always act like a big brother and lecture them with a hint of shaming so that those people would not rise up to challenge him. The school just let this be, as it would also provide students with a hurdle so that they would work hard to improve.
Now that someone was in the limelight instead of him, Xing Meng's heart was unsatisfied. He gritted his teeth and walked forward.
"Elders, this junior came to offer his greetings to both seniors." Xing Meng cupped his hands in salute to both Hu Ao and Lu Hao Duang.
Upon seeing him, the two elders just nodded. Seeing that they didn't bother to talk to him, Xing Meng felt a little shamed. But he gritted his teeth, determined to show these two elders that he, Xing Meng, was the true genius and not this masked woman.
"Seniors, if I may. The competition is not yet done; you can both see more of her talent after the pill concoction is over, right? That way, you can see who the real talent is and who the fraud is," Xing Meng suggested with a hint of sarcasm that was almost not evident in his voice, as he bowed respectfully.
"Hmm... you do give a nice suggestion, young man. I think your master is too proud to have a disciple just like you," old man Lu Hao Duang said as he squinted his eyes in suspicion but still went with Xing Meng's suggestion.
Elder Ao just nodded, and both elders walked up to the judges' stand and took their seats. The rest of the people in the arena began to discuss the results of the refining and why the two well-known people from the famous alchemist school would be fighting over Qin Lou.
On the side where the judges sat, a large stone stele suddenly emerged from below, and the names of those who passed appeared with their current refinement results. Only five names appeared, and what shocked them all was the name at the top. Shin Jiao, who was keeping quiet beside Qin Lou, almost had his eyes pop out. Although he knew she had passed, without his instrument, he couldn't clearly judge the purity of the refined material. He could try using his short-range spiritual sense, but he had only gotten it recently and couldn't use it well. So he was truly amazed at the senior alchemists' ability to gauge purity without touching the material.
"I can't believe she could reach that high in purification... 95%... that is way too absurd, right?" Shin Jiao said to himself in disbelief.
He had actually thought she failed when she stopped. The only reason might be that she could no longer refine it any purer, as her spiritual flame had reached its limit.
While others discussed with amazement, especially the alchemists in the crowd, it was a known fact that the purer the refinement, the harder it would get. It did not only depend on the strength of the flame but also on one's spiritual control and understanding of the material. The longer it takes, the harder it is to concentrate.
"No! This can't be true!" Xing Meng's eyes were also wide in disbelief as his name was only second.
"This is... impossible, right? This can't be true," Xian Jian Feng also said, unable to trust what he was seeing.
In a hidden corner at the bottom of the stage, a hooded figure of a woman clenched her fist hard, her eyes red with jealousy. She had been scheming for a while, but none of her plans had worked so far. Now that Qin Lou had attracted everyone's attention, it would be hard for her to make a move. But she would not give up; she could not accept that Qin Lou would rise again.
Shin Jiao looked at the large stone stele and noticed the name, Susu Ling. This was the name of the young woman he had a good impression of. Seeing that she was able to refine up to 86% made Shin Jiao a little amazed. Not only did she abhor injustice, but she was also good at alchemy. Since she also had an impressive background, Shin Jiao was making some plans in his mind. As he was new to this world and wanted to spend his time learning more and gaining knowledge, having someone to support him would not be a bad idea. But of course, he needed to be careful as the rules of this world were different.
The people below were in a commotion. Some discussed the names on the stone stele, and others devised their plans, especially those from merchant families, hoping to rope in at least one of them. But not everyone had good intentions; some in the crowd had their eyes on these alchemists, not wanting any of them to grow, as it would cause a greater threat to them.
The old man with a long white beard stood facing the remaining contestants, who were already standing behind the five tables in the front. As usual, the elder's gaze scanned through them once more, but he double-checked Qin Lou's table as he couldn't believe there was an array formation that he didn't see. Seeing this, Shin Jiao now hesitated, because if he did it again, there might be a chance that Qin Lou would be disqualified and shamed. Even with the support of the two elders, she would still get hurt because of him. So he decided to just be vigilant.
"This is the final part of the alchemy contest. Your task is simple. You have already refined your choice of medicinal plant; now you must create a new pill or medicine out of that medicinal plant. The higher the grade of the medicine, the better... Good luck!"
After the old man said that, he returned to his seat, and everyone's attention was drawn to the five people. Although Shin Jiao was standing beside Qin Lou, people seemed to not see him and just treated him as if he were air. On the stage, the five began to busy themselves as they prepared the remaining materials they would use to concoct their pills. Shin Jiao and Qin Lou also began to move. Shin Jiao prepared the herbs and the mixture, while Qin Lou started to slowly heat the furnace. The Ganoderma that Qin Lou had refined was now in liquid form, and they had already put it in a small container.
Unknown to them, a sinister eye was watching closely, waiting for an opportunity to strike. It waited patiently, its eyes almost never blinking. Then all of a sudden, it lit up as a devilish smile appeared on its lips. A very small and thin object suddenly flew very fast toward the small opening of the pill furnace. This happened when Shin Jiao looked away to grab something, and Qin Lou looked back to do the same.
That small opening beside the furnace was an intake valve for the air, which was used to make the furnace's flame stable and, in turn, control the temperature. It was a very important part of the furnace because if there was any blockage, it would cause the furnace to explode. This would be disastrous for the alchemist, and they could not do anything to protect it except for defensive formation arrays.
"Hehe, let's see how you escape this now," the person said as its sinister eyes and figure disappeared.
Meanwhile, above the stage, Hu Ao was about to move upon seeing an object flying toward the furnace. He wanted to stop it, but an old hand suddenly held him down. Although the object's speed was too fast, people like Hu Ao and some of the late-stage Golden Core experts could still notice it.
"Let's just see what the lass would do," Hu Ao's master, Lu Hao Duang, said calmly.
"Um... but Master, I won't let you accept her as your disciple. I would lose face if a junior like her would have the same position as me... Let me just accept her as my disciple. It's the same as her accepting you as her grand master. Plus, people would criticize her if she entered our school with you as her master. They would say that she entered our school because she won your favor. That would be a little detrimental to her... right, Master?" Hu Ao said, trying to convince the old man.
He knew that the old man had a very stubborn personality, so his strategy was to trick him. As a long-time personal disciple of this Saintly Alchemist, he knew his master's heaven-defying ability. He also knew his weakness, and that was losing face to others. The reason why his master would not always go out and would rather spend his time researching pills was that he wanted to leave a legacy before his ascension or death. He wanted to solidify his prestige throughout the land with his knowledge and legacies.
As the two were talking, an explosion was suddenly heard. They subconsciously looked at the stage and saw that one of the contestants' pill furnaces had exploded as the pill didn't successfully form. His face was ashen, and his hair stood on end, with some electricity jumping from time to time.
"That guy is refining a Lightning Summoning Pill. It's used as a very powerful attack pill or a cultivation pill for those with lightning roots. Does he think he could improve a lightning pill by one stage? Haha, truly ignorant," an elder on the judges' stand said as he shook his head.
But before anyone could comment, another furnace exploded.