The current excited and curious persona should be how she normally acts…
Thinking this to himself as he answered yet another question about the size of the mountain he was living on and what his pavilion looked like, Xuan Hao and Yi Min both spent the next few hours talking together. Only stopping when Xuan Hao realized that the first part of the alchemy competition was about to end, as he quickly excused himself before heading back towards the spectator room where the rest of the elders from the Flying Sword Sect were located.
Staying with Yi Min to spectate was not really an option in his eyes, as from what he had learned about her during the last few hours of talking. Knew that he would not get a chance to watch the alchemy competition given the sheer amount of endless number of useless questions she had to distract him…
…
"This should be the last spiritual herb…"
At the same time Xuan Hao left Yi Min and made his way back towards the spectator room with the rest of the elders to watch the rest of the alchemy competition, Qing Yi had just finished adding in the last spiritual herb to her boiling potion mixture.
All she could do at this point was hope she hadn't missed anything along the way, as she carefully controlled the flame beneath the cauldron that the potion mixture was currently inside of…
Fwoosh!
Controlling the flames beneath the cauldron with ease, Qing Yi could not help but feel thankful towards her master. The Burning Heaven Mantra that she had been bestowed and had been practicing for close to a year at this point. Not only allowed her to increase her cultivation realm, but also granted her the ability to easily manipulate fire.
The ability to control fire was by far one of the most essential things for an alchemist. This was also one of the main reasons why it had become the norm for alchemists? to cultivate with a fire-based mantra, though there would always be a few unique people not following the norm…
The difference between Qing Yi's control over her fire and the rest of the alchemist participating in the competition, was with the sheer ease she did this. Not having to expend any attention or energy to manipulate the flames beneath the cauldron to keep the correct temperature, while the rest of the participants had to focus their full attention onto this task.
"How interesting…"? This scene of course did not escape the eyes of Fang Shi, as he narrowed both his eyes before gazing over towards Qing Yi with an intrigued look on his face.
"Master… Don't look at her like that or people will end up misunderstanding you… After all-"
"Dear disciple, please don't slander your master like that!" Hearing what his disciple beside him said, Fang Shi could not help feeling his face twitch before quickly rebuking his disciple.
Even worse, when he looked away from Qing Yi, Fang Shi managed to spot his old friend Yi Min looking over towards him with an amused look on her face from her private spectator room.
"…"
From the look alone, Fang Shi understood that she had heard his disciple's earlier slander towards him and to make things even worse, it also looked like the few guards and elders standing around the platform had heard it as well.
The main difference between them and Yi Min, was the fact that instead of looking over towards him with an amused look on their face, they were instead giving him a rather weird look before quickly looking the other way upon noticing that he was looking at them…
They clearly misunderstood something! I really have to punish that rascal later!
"Hah…"
Taking a deep breath as he calmed himself down, Fang Shi put on a stoic expression as he looked over the rest of the participants currently in the process of finishing up their Dragon Force Potion or Pill. Not intend on giving his disciple another chance to slander him again!
…
"Time will be up in another five minutes!"
Hearing the Artisan Alchemist from the Sky Empire announce this, Qing Yi looked down at her potion mixture that had already begun the process of cooling down at this point. Not the slightest bit worried about the fact that she only had five minutes left and soon enough, she carefully began to pour the potion mixture into three potion bottles upon seeing that it had cooled down.
"Finally done!" Looking down at the three Dragon Force Potions she had managed to produce, Qing Yi could not help smiling to herself as she put the three potion bottles on top of a table located just beside her cauldron.
With all of this, she had successfully managed to make a Dragon Force Potion! At the very least, she hoped this was the case. After all, given the sheer number of similar looking spiritual herbs that they had to go through to identify the correct ones, was no laughing matter and even up to this point, Qing Yi was not a hundred percent certain that she had used the correct spiritual herbs…
Thinking about this, Qing Yi slowly felt her earlier happiness from successfully finishing her Dragon Force Potion disappear, as she nervously began looking at the other participants around herself, to see if any of the ones who had finished their Dragon Force Potion looked similar to hers.
"No potions…"
Sadly, she quickly came to realize that none of the people around her had made a Dragon Force Potion. Instead, all the other participants around her, had made a Dragon Force Pill. Not a Dragon Force Potion!
Even if she wanted to compare herself to the other participants, Qing Yi could not spot a single person who had made a potion like herself when looking around at the participants located a little further away from her.
Instead, she came to the realization that she was the only one among all of the participants, who had successfully managed to finish a Dragon Force Potion!
"Everyone, stop what you are currently doing! The time is up!" Hearing the voice of the Artisan Alchemist echo out behind her just as she had come to the realization that she was the only person who had made a Dragon Force Potion, Qing Yi inevitably felt herself growing even more nervous as she looked down towards the three potion bottles on her table.
At this point, the only way for her to find out if her Dragon Force Potion was a success or not, was to wait until the Artisan Alchemist came to examine her Dragon Force Potion…
No looking over at the other participants finish products and comparing herself with them to find out if she had potentially failed or succeeded. The rest of the participants who had produced pills, however, were not the same…
"Damn! Why does mine have such a weird shape. This is the first ever square pill…! Ha… I might fail just based on looks alone… How would you even swallow a square pill…?"
"You are one to talk! Look at my Dragon Force Pill, it's the only pink one among all of the Dragon Force Pills here! There is no way I will make it through the first part of the competition! I knew that Red Dragon Sage looked a bit wrong…"
"Hmph, I came out with a perfect one! Haha, I will surely move on to the next stage!"
Listening in on both the sad cries of those who realized how wrong their pills looked when compared to the other participants beside them and the ones who realized that they had likely succeeded from comparing with others, Qing Yi felt a bit left out as she could not compare her Dragon Force Potion with anyone…
"Hah… I was so close to succeeding… Just five more minutes and my pill would have been done…"
"I feel you! I had my spiritual herb stolen early on and had to waste another twenty minutes searching for a new one. In the end, I was delayed for way too long and had no way to finish my Dragon Force Pill in time…"
At the same time, the people who had not managed to finish their Dragon Force Pill or Potion in time or had accidently ruined one of their spiritual herbs while preparing them, were conversing with together, with a depressed expression on their faces.
There was no way they would feel happy about having failed the first stage of the alchemy competition without even having finished a single pill or potion. Merely failing due to a small mistake or not picking the correct herb…
"Those who failed to make a Dragon Force Pill or Potion may leave the competition space! The rest will bring up their finished pill… Or potion… over to one of the tables around the platform and stand behind it, as I will judge you finished Dragon Force Pill or Potion!"
As the words of the Artisan Alchemist echoed across the competition space, Qing Yi and the rest of the participants who had successfully made a Dragon Force Pill or Potion made their way up to the now empty tables, while the rest of the participants who hadn't made anything were guided out of the competition space by a few elders.
When and how the massive number spiritual herbs had disappeared from the tables without anyone noticing… No one bothered to think about this, as their main focus was on whether they would move on to the next stage of the competition…