Following the long corridor that seemed to go on forever, Qing Yi soon found herself in the middle of a large open space.
Looking around herself, Qing Yi quickly realized that she had made her way into the large hole in the ground that had been refitted for the alchemy competition. Looking up and seeing several hundred, if not more people looking down on her from above, was quite a nerve-wracking experience…
"Are you Qing Yi?"
"Ah!?"
Hearing someone suddenly call out to her, as she was just about to scan through the spectators above for her master and the other elders, Qing Yi almost jumped backwards in shock before turning towards the person that called out to her.
"Y-yes, I'm Qing Yi…" Seeing that it was an older person like the one she had given her identity to just a short time ago, Qing Yi quickly calmed down before answering with a somewhat flustered look on her face.
"Great! You should be the last person for this group… For now, you can just go over there and wait until the first part of the competition begins." Smiling happily upon hearing her name as he looked through a small notebook in his hand, the old man pointed her towards a place a few meters away from her where a group of people much like herself were nervously waiting for the start of the alchemy competition.
Whoosh~
"…"
Not even having a chance to say anything as the old man directly disappeared in front of her, Qing Yi made her way over towards the other participants and found a place to sit down and wait until the competition began.
All she could do now was wait and think about what the first part of the competition would be about.
At least from what she had managed to see so far, she and the rest of the participants had been split up into four groups, most likely to be competing differently based on whether they were more skilled in potion making or pill making.
Gazing over towards what could be considered the four other corners of the competition ground, Qing Yi could not help but feel a bit confused upon noticing the fact that the other groups were far larger than the one she had been placed in.
The other three groups having roughly a little over a hundred people in them, while hers only had a little over 10 people… And from what the older man from earlier had said, she was the last person in this group. Meaning there would not be any more people coming to join her group…
Maybe they expected more people to join the competition and just ended up like this due to some people not showing up on time…?
Not being able to come to any other conclusion about why her group was so small compared to the other three groups, Qing Yi once again turned her attention towards trying to figure out what the first part of the competition might be about.
…
"This should be it…"
Having found the spectating room that had been designated to them after asking a few of the guards, Xuan Hao could not help showing a slightly surprised expression on his face upon realizing just how large and luxurious the spectating room was compared to the other spectating rooms for the other participants guardians and elders that he had seen on his way over.
Perhaps the Iron Sky Kingdom already knew about the fact that he had reached the Domain Lord Realm and didn't dare to treat him and the rest of the Flying Sword Sect badly…
Thinking about this, Xuan Hao felt that it made sense. After all, given the large formation surrounding the capital of the Iron Sky Kingdom, the ruler of the Iron Sky Kingdom had most likely already noticed the fact that someone in the Domain Lord Realm had entered.
After which his identity as a member of the Flying Sword Sect had likely been uncovered…
"This is!? So many refreshments…"
Showing up just a few seconds after him, Chi Hu exclaimed in surprise upon seeing the luxurious and spacious spectating room… Focusing most of his attention towards the large variety of refreshments and snacks readily laid out inside the room for them.
"Wow…"
"This is so much bigger than the other rooms!"
"So many snacks…"
As the other elders showed up, each of them had a look of amazement on their face as they entered the room.
The only person not acting too surprised was Gong Bo, as he just silently entered the room before finding a good place to sit from where he had a full view of the large space for the competition below.
Sitting down on a seat besides Gong Bo, Xuan Hao quickly scanned through the large space below them before locking onto his disciple.
"Qing Yi is over there."
Seeing Gong Bo very clearly searching for Qing Yi among the large number of participants below, Xuan Hao kindly pointed out where she was, as Gong Bo gave a quick thanks before focusing his full attention onto Qing Yi and the small group of participants, she was placed in.
From this alone, Xuan Hao realized just how much importance Gong Bo had placed on Qing Yi doing well in the alchemy competition. Not to mention that she would help allow their sect to become more well known, her doing well in a large competition hosted by someone from the Sky Empire was sure to help the elders of the Alchemy Hall take in a few more disciples.
"Hm? Looks like the competition is about to start…" Muttering this to himself, Xuan Hao focused on a large platform located at the centre of the space below as an elderly man along with a young girl appeared at the centre of the platform.
Focusing on the elderly man, Xuan Hao directly ignored the young girl beside him. From what he could see, the young girl was only in the Core Formation Realm.
The elderly man on the other hand…
Bang!
Before Xuan Hao could finish his thoughts, the elderly man on the large platform waved his hand as large cauldron appeared in the air a few meters above him before slamming down into the large platform. Instantly causing everyone to quiet down as they focused their attention on the large platform in the middle of the large space below.
"Hello everyone! I see that I got your attention! I'm Fang Shi, the host of the alchemy competition and also an Artisan Alchemist of the Sky Empire. The competition will begin shortly, as all the participants are already here!" Smiling widely as he said this, the elderly man waited for a short moment as several people appeared before they brought out a large number of spiritual herbs before proceeding to set up several alchemy stations within only a few minutes in the large space.
"The alchemy competition will be split into four groups, three for those specializing in pills and one for those specializing in potions. Each group will be given a recipe for a potion or pill, both the potion and pill recipe require the exact same spiritual herbs! Shortly, when the competition begins, a limited amount of time will be given to each of you to make the potion or pill!"
Back in the small group of people only numbering a little over 10, Qing Yi felt herself grow nervous upon hearing that they would only have a limited time to complete what was likely to be a brand-new potion or pill for them, but what caused her to fell even more nervous was what the alchemist from the Sky Empire said next-
"The different spiritual herbs you need to make the potion or pill can be found here!" Pointing towards several large tables filled up with spiritual herbs surrounding the large platform in the middle of the large space that had been set up during the time he started speaking, the elderly Fang Shi smiled brightly before continuing with an even brighter smile on his face.
"You will have to search for them yourselves. Ah… I forgot to mention, there are over 3000 different spiritual herbs here. All looking quite similar to the one you need and there is only enough of the correct spiritual herbs for around two hundred of you… Only those successfully making the pill or potion before the time ends, will pass through to the next round!"
Listening to Fang Shi saying all of this with a bright smile on his face, Qing Yi and the other participants beside her could not help growing nervous as they knew that most of them would not survive through the first round of the competition.
Making a brand-new potion or pill without any practice before-hand was difficult enough. Now they would also have to identify the correct spiritual herb required among over 3000 spiritual herbs!
…
There were more than 3000 spiritual herbs on those large tables, and they would have to find the correct ones?𝓯𝙧𝓮𝓮𝒘𝓮𝙗𝙣𝒐𝒗𝒆𝓵.𝓬𝓸𝒎
At present, a lot of the participants felt grief at their current situation.
There were more than 300 people participating in this competition.. No one could guarantee that there wouldn't be any conflict between the spiritual herbs need by the participants. After all, there were only enough for around 200 people!