Chapter 152
"What's going on?"
The disciples at the Lecture Hall looked around with confused expressions as Elder Deng brought a second cauldron onto the stage alongside enough ingredients to make two Advanced Spirit Refreshment Pills .
"Are they doing more lectures today?" asked one disciple .
"No, not that I am aware of any . "
A few moments later, Elder Deng turned to face the crowd and began to speak, "A few minutes from now there will be a small competition between an honored guest and one of our own, Core Disciple Qing Shan, and you are all welcomed to bear witness of such event!"
His announcement instantly raised the crowd's excitement and caused the atmosphere to turn lively, and many disciples began appearing from every direction to witness this spectacle .
"We get to witness senior apprentice-sister Qing concocting pill? This is an extremely rare sight that I cannot afford to miss!"
"Could the guest be that handsome young man just now? He can also concoct pills?"
"If senior apprentice-sister Qing has agreed to compete with him, then his ability as an Alchemy Master must be quite remarkable!"
"He's not only handsome but also capable… Ah… I wonder if he's taken yet . "
Many minutes later when they finished setting up the stage, Su Yang casually walked up and picked one of the two cauldrons to sit down . Beside him was a small table that had just enough ingredients to concoct a single Advanced Spirit Refreshment Pill .
There are no rooms for errors during this competition, as a single mishap, even the slightest, could easily render the entire pill useless .
Sometime later, Qing Shan also showed up on the stage, but she was not wearing her normal sect clothes but robes made specifically for pill concoction . Because Alchemy Masters usually sweat buckets during the process, robes that could absorb all that sweat were made .
Before Qing Shan sat down, she looked at Su Yang's relaxed face and spoke, "Don't worry, I will wipe that arrogance off your face real soon . "
Su Yang did not reply to her and only smiled slightly .
Once both Qing Shan and Su Yang were seated behind a cauldron and the crowd was quiet, Elder Deng stood in the middle of the stage and said, "The two on the stage will be competing with each other with the Advanced Spirit Refreshment Pill as their goal . Whoever achieves the highest quality in the end result will win, and they will have four hours to complete the task . "
"It does not matter if one finishes faster than the other — if both of them are able to complete the pill within the allotted time, I will announce the winner based on the quality of the pill . If one of them burns the ingredient at any time during the process, it will be considered as a loss . "
"If neither of them are able to finish the pill within the allotted time or they burn the ingredients during the match, it will result in a tie . "
Elder Deng quickly explained the rules to the crowd .
"Only four hours? Even Elder Li took five hours to complete the Advanced Spirit Refreshment Pill, yet they are given only four hours?" One of the newer disciples said with a surprised look .
"This is senior apprentice-sister Qing that we are talking about! She has concocted the same pill in under three hours before, much less four hours! I'm sure that Elder Deng had increased the time because of that young man!"
"It's too late to back down now!" Qing Shan said to Su Yang, who looked a bit baffled by the rules, with a smug look on her face .
"F-Four hours?" Su Yang was indeed a bit shocked by the rules . He didn't think that they would be given four whole hours to concoct a mere Advanced Spirit Refreshment Pill! In his eyes, it was no different than taking an hour to boil an egg!
"I have to sit here for four hours or at least until she's finished?" Su Yang began regretting accepting the challenge but for all the wrong reasons .
"Are both of you ready?" Elder Deng turned to ask them after announcing the rules .
Qing Shan eagerly nodded whilst Su Yang nodded while yawning .
" . . . "
Su Yang, who was seeming uninterested in the event before it even started irritated Qing Shan even further, but because she was about to concoct an Earth-grade pill she forced herself to ignore him and clear her mind .
"That arrogance! I will surely wipe it off your face!" She thought to herself before grabbing the ingredients beside her to inspect each and every single one of them .
Although they were prepared by her own Sect and was guaranteed to be fresh, Qing Shan still decided to inspect them by herself, as any decent Alchemy Master should be cautious even with the simplest things .
There were twenty-eight different herbs and medicine required to concoct the Advanced Spirit Refreshment Pill, and it had taken Qing Shan over ten minutes just to look over them .
Once she confirmed that there was no fault with the ingredients and they were clean, she proceeded to take half an hour to grind the herbs one by one with the grinder on the other side of her .
Just the beginning steps have taken almost an hour from her limited four, yet she hasn't even begun to concoct the pill . However, Qing Shan was neither feeling worried or rushed, as her movements were slow and elegant, almost like she was performing an artistic performance .
After all the ingredients are grounded to powder, she began to heat up the cauldron by creating flames with her Profound Qi and controlling it so the cauldron does not become too hot too fast or take too long to heat up .
Controlling the flames is considered to be the most difficult part to Alchemy by almost every Alchemy Master out there, especially during the creation of the pill, so one would normally engulf themselves in controlling the flames and thinking about nothing else .
Meanwhile, Su Yang only casually sat there with his eyes closed, looking almost like he's asleep . Ever since the competition started, Su Yang closed his eyes and hasn't moved a single muscle since then .
"This little brat! He's clearly trying to mock both of us by not taking this seriously!"
This greatly angered Elder Deng, who thought he was simply fooling around and not taking his challenge seriously, but he resisted the urge to approach him and decided to wait until the entire thing's over before letting him have a piece of his mind .
However, in truth, Su Yang was actually awake, and he was Cultivating at that . Because he didn't want to waste any more time he decided to use these few hours to Cultivate the Yin Qi in his Dantian . Even if he does not manage to Cultivate all of the Yin Qi, he will at least relieve some of the pressure on his body .
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