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Chapter 69 - The Sapling\'s Changes

“Master, let’s go!” Ji Yang stood up. This was the first time he had spoken since entering the main hall.

“Pavilion Master Bi, take care!” Shangguan Cai simply cupped his fists together and left the courtyard with Ji Yang. Before leaving the courtyard, he glanced at Liu Wuxie’s room.

Once everything had calmed down, Lei Tao approached. He had been standing outside earlier and had heard their conversation, and he looked furious. “Serene Tomb City has gone too far! The competition is supposed to be fair. How can he come here and try to force us to give up?” Lei Tao vented his frustration by waving his fist. “Pavilion Master, should we inform the three judges and ask them to take action?” he asked.

If the news got out that Shangguan Cai threatened his competitor secretly, it would draw the public’s disgust to Serene Tomb City.

“Since they were bold enough to come here, they are likely not afraid of us reporting them to the judges. Besides, they didn’t leave any evidence behind, so it would be pointless to tell the judges without any proof,” Bi Gongyu said, shaking his head. Serene Tomb City had consistently placed first or in the top five in previous competitions, and Shangguan Cai was skilled at building relationships. As a result, most of the thirty-five cities had a good relationship with him.

If they were to make a big deal out of this, it could backfire on Azure Billow City, as Serene Tomb City would likely have more support. In that case, Azure Billow City would be the one left embarrassed.

“What should we do then? Are we just going to take their threats lying down?” Lei Tao asked through gritted teeth. They had already offended several cities today, and now they had to add Serene Tomb City to the list.

“We’ll figure something out as we go. They won’t dare to make a move in Zen City. After the competition, we’ll return to Azure Billow City immediately. They won’t dare to cause trouble in Azure Billow City,” Bi Gongyu said helplessly, and that was their only choice.

“Young Master Liu is the one who suffered the most!” Bi Gongyu and Lei Tao sighed as they returned to their room. They could only hope that Liu Wuxie would perform well in the next round and prove their enemies wrong.

When dawn arrived, Bi Gongyu and Lei Tao woke up early to wait in the yard.

Liu Wuxie changed into a blue robe. The robe had turned pale from washing, but it was clean. His face showed no emotions, as though he had forgotten what had happened the previous night. He greeted Bi Gongyu and Lei Tao before they headed to the venue.

As they walked, the other courtyards opened one after another. However, only a few people greeted Liu Wuxie, and it seemed as if Azure Billow City was being isolated. Liu Wuxie, Bi Gongyu, and Lei Tao had expected this, suspecting that it was an attempt by Shangguan Cai to isolate them and exert psychological pressure.

The competition venue had been rearranged for the day’s events. Only the observation and judges\' areas were untouched. Forty cauldrons had been placed in the center of the venue for the pill refining round of the competition. Each participant would be given identical herbs and would have to rely on their own skills to refine pills.

Liu Wuxie’s cauldron was the last in line, just as it had been the previous day. The observation area was already filled with people eagerly anticipating the day’s competition after the exciting identification round of the previous day.

As the second round of the competition began, the atmosphere among the thirty-five pavilion masters was tense, with less conversation than the previous day.

When the three judges took their seats, Deacon Hua came out with a somewhat stiff expression.

“We will now enter the second round of the competition, refining pills! Before each of you are a hundred herbs of identical age. You can mix and match them however you like!” The goal of this round was to assess each alchemist’s comprehensive strength. A qualified alchemist had to use the least amount of herbs to refine the highest possible quality pills.

Everyone was familiar with the rules, and some competitors already began sorting out the herbs, trying to figure out which herb was more suitable.

A cold voice rang out, “Liu Wuxie, I challenge you!” Du Mingze stepped forward, pointing at Liu Wuxie. The embarrassment of the previous day had left a stain on his life, and he was eager to challenge Liu Wuxie now that he had recovered.

“Liu Wuxie, I challenge you too!” Wen Song also declared as he stood up.

“Liu Wuxie, do you dare to accept my challenge?” Xiao Mingyi gritted his teeth, his face twisted with murderous intent. If he couldn’t vent his anger, his cultivation might stagnate, and Liu Wuxie would become a nightmare that haunted him and hindered his progress.

It was unprecedented for three people to challenge someone, and this caused an uproar in the surrounding area.

“Challenge me?” Liu Wuxie swept his gaze over the three of them with a sarcastic smile. He was starting to be impressed with how stubborn they could be. If that was the case, he might as well crush them so thoroughly that they would never be able to rise again. “What’s the challenge?” he asked.

Liu Wuxie’s voice was cold as he released his murderous intent.

“It’s simple. Whoever loses would have to kneel and kowtow,” Wen Song said, representing the three of them to reply.

“Sure!” Liu Wuxie agreed to the challenge without any change in his emotions, just as he had done the previous day. He didn’t even refute those words, surprising everyone. Many people were expecting Liu Wuxie to refuse the challenge.

“He agreed?” Wan Yichun was taken aback by Liu Wuxie’s straightforward acceptance of the challenge. They had thought of many ways to force Liu Wuxie to agree, but it turned out to be unnecessary.

The three judges frowned at the intense conflict in this year’s competition.

“We will now begin the competition, and this round will also last for six hours, just like yesterday’s!” Deacon Hua announced the beginning as the competitors began choosing herbs.

Liu Wuxie, on the other hand, was not in a hurry. He gently picked up a herb, and as he did so, the sapling in the world inside his dantian rustled and resonated with the herb. The sapling absorbed some of the wood essence from the herb, making its leaves even greener.

When the sapling released a stream of wood essence back into the herb, something strange happened: the quality of the herb in Liu Wuxie’s hand improved significantly.

“This...” Liu Wuxie was taken aback by what had just happened. The herb in his hand had originally been a three-year-old, ordinary second-grade herb. However, after receiving a stream of wood essence from the sapling, it had become comparable to a five-year-old herb and was now almost a third-grade herb.

A look of ecstasy briefly crossed Liu Wuxie’s face as he realized the potential this held for improving the quality of herbs in the future. However, the moment passed quickly and went unnoticed by the others, who were busy refining their pills.

Some of the competitors had already begun refining their pills, and the temperature in the area began to rise as flames of various shapes and sizes sprang up. Most of the attention was focused on Ji Yang and Qin Letian, who were widely regarded as alchemy geniuses.

As for Liu Wuxie, people only glanced at him occasionally. Of the forty alchemists present, he was the only one still selecting his herbs while the others were fully engrossed in refining their pills.

Ping Shao, the Pavilion Master of Eastern Capital, looked at Liu Wuxie with disappointment. “What is he doing? Is he still not starting? Six hours might seem a lot, but it’s only enough to refine two batches of pills. If he keeps delaying, he might have to bid his farewell to this round if he fails the first cauldron.” His attitude towards Liu Wuxie wasn’t bad, and he showed no malice towards him.

Yun Lan sneered in response, “Isn’t it obvious? He probably doesn’t know anything about refining pills.” After the previous day’s competition, Yun Lan had sent a letter to the patriarch of the Tian Clan in Azure Billow City to investigate Liu Wuxie. The reply had arrived that morning, and Yun Lan now had all of Liu Wuxie’s information.

According to the information provided by the Tian Clan’s patriarch, Liu Wuxie had always been considered a failure and had only recently risen to prominence. No one in Azure Billow City had ever heard that Liu Wuxie knew how to refine pills.

Only a few in the Treasure Pill Pavilion knew that Liu Wuxie was proficient in refining pills. Even Xu Yilin didn’t know about it, not to mention the Tian Clan. This was the reason why Du Mingze, Xiao Mingyi, and Wen Song dared to challenge him. They received news that Liu Wuxie knew nothing about refining pills.

“Have you ever seen someone who knows nothing about refining pills come up with the answers he did yesterday?” Ping Shao offered a different perspective. The information obtained through investigation might not be accurate, and Liu Wuxie might have been hiding his talent as an alchemist.

“We’ll know in a while. Let’s see how long he can keep on pretending.” Yun Lan couldn’t be bothered to argue with Ping Shao as he looked at Liu Wuxie with mockery before looking at Xiao Mingyi.

Two hours had passed, and most of the competitors had successfully completed their first cauldron of pills, with the strong aroma of the pills spreading through the air. They were already in the process of condensing the pills while Liu Wuxie was still selecting his herbs.

Bi Gongyu was covered in a cold sweat when he saw this scene. He was starting to feel anxious because Liu Wuxie wasn’t starting yet.

Suddenly, there was an explosion as Xue Chou failed the first cauldron. His performance was terrible the previous day, and he made a mistake in refining pills today.

“Look at Ji Yang! There’s a dense mist gathering above his cauldron!” someone exclaimed as a dense mist appeared above Ji Yang’s cauldron, indicating that high-quality pills were about to be produced.

“As expected of the Great Yan Dynasty’s youngest three-star alchemist. He’s truly impressive!” Compliments came from the surrounding as a smile rose on Shangguan Cai’s face.

Shortly after, a dense mist appeared above Qin Letian’s cauldron, causing another uproar among the spectators. Qin Letian and Ji Yang had been very close in terms of their scores in the previous year’s competition, and their alchemy skills were almost equal, with Ji Yang being slightly better.

“I thought there would be an intense battle today, but it turns out to be between those two!” The majority turned to look at Liu Wuxie. Compared to his performance the previous day, his performance today was disappointing. Almost half of the allotted time had passed, and Liu Wuxie still hadn’t started refining his pills.