The only thing that still worried Xuan Hao and the other elders about Qing Yi's performance during the second stage of the alchemy competition, was the fact that she had chosen to use the Spirit Grade Spiritual Herb!
A Spirit Grade Spiritual Herb was not something used in Earth Grade Potions, but something used in Spirit Grade Potions!
The reason why Xuan Hao and the rest of the elders from the Flying Sword Sect were worried was because of this, Qing was after all still a Journeyman Alchemist and had yet to become an Expert Alchemist!
Xuan Hao was even more certain about Qing Yi's current alchemy realm compared to the other elders. After all, he had been spending his time teaching her over the past week leading up to the alchemy competition!
"Is she perhaps trying to make one of the more… Unique potions I showed her…?" Trying to figure out just what his little disciple might be up to, Xuan Hao suddenly had a bad feeling as he recalled how he had showed her a few recipes for Spirit Grade Potions during the past week.
The reason for this was that he wanted for her to see the difference between the Journeyman Realm of alchemy and the Expert Realm…
He had never expected for her to remember those recipes and even be bold enough to display one of them during the alchemy competition!
"This is… Troublesome…" Smiling wryly upon remembering the recipes he had shown her, Xuan Hao suddenly began growing worried for his little disciple. After all, the pill recipes he had showed her and had unknowingly allowed her to memorize… Were all from the system!
If there was one thing, he was certain of in the regard to the system, it was the fact that it did not have a single decent alchemy recipe! Every single one of the recipes he had gained was either useless or simply too embarrassing to make!
Glancing down towards the available spiritual herbs along with the herbs Qing Yi had taken, Xuan Hao could not help growing nervous.
"I… Hope she does not decide to make 'that' potion…" Remembering a certain potion among the potion recipes he had shown Qing Yi back then, Xuan Hao could not help wondering whether or not he should sabotage his own disciple…
I can't do that… And even if she really makes that potion, the person who will end up suffering should be that Artisan Alchemist, Fang Shi! Hehe, now I'm actually looking forward to it…!
"E-elder Xuan, is something wrong…?"
"Ahm, no its nothing, I just thought of something funny!"
Feeling a bit embarrassed that one of the elders caught his small evil chuckle, Xuan Hao quickly pretended that nothing had happened before looking back down towards his disciple.
"If you say so…"
The elder who had spotted had heard his evil chuckle didn't say anything more after that and also began watching the alchemy competition below again.
There was no way he would want to call out Elder Xuan on the evil expression he had just a few seconds ago, nor would he mention just how much he resembled a villain planning some sort of evil scheme…
…
Back down in the competition space, Qing Yi smiled happily to herself as she looked over the eight spiritual herbs, she had chosen among the twelve spiritual herbs.
During the last week that she had practiced together with her master, Qing Yi had already reached the Peak of the Journeyman Realm in alchemy and only needed an opportunity to breakthrough and become an Expert Alchemist!
During the second stage of the alchemy competition, Qing Yi decided that she would take the chance and try to make her first ever Spirit Grade Potion and officially become an Expert Alchemist!
The reason she took this risk, was not only because she wanted to show off in front of her master, but also because she was worried that she might not have a chance to make it through the second stage of the alchemy competition without making a Spirit Grade Potion.
After all, there were more than twenty people among the remaining participants that had already become Expert Alchemists! For her to enter the third stage of the competition, she would either have to hope that not all the Expert Alchemist had a recipe for a Spirit Grade Pill or Potion that used the spiritual herbs available to them… Or she could take the chance at trying to make a Spirit Grade Potion herself!
In the end, Qing Yi had decided to not put her hope in what recipes the other participants had learned!
Luckily the spiritual herbs for one of the Spirit Grade Potions that master showed me were present! With this I should be able to make my first Spirit Grade Potion and become an Expert Alchemist!
Thinking this to herself, Qing Yi felt her confidence soar as she began preparing the spiritual herbs she had picked out.
Among the spiritual herbs she had chosen, there was two Earth Grade Spiritual Herbs, five Mortal Grade Spiritual Herbs and finally, the Spirit Grade Spiritual Herb! The most important spiritual herb among the eight spiritual herbs and the core ingredient for her Spirit Grade Potion, Verdant Jade Bamboo!
Verdant Jade Bamboo of the Spirit Grade was not too rare among Spirit Grade Spiritual Herbs, and Qing Yi had seen the other elders from the Alchemy Hall use it a lot during her past visits to the Alchemy Hall.
Not only that, but Qing Yi had also learned how to prepare the Verdant Jade Bamboo in the past while she had observed the elders of the Alchemy Hall. The method was extremely simple and even if she wasn't an alchemist, she would still be able to easily do it on her first try! This was one of the main reasons why she had decided to take the risk and attempt to make a Spirit Grade Potion!
Not thinking about it any longer, Qing Yi quickly finished preparing her five Mortal Grade Spiritual Herbs and two Earth Grade Herbs before cautiously beginning to prepare the Verdant Jade Bamboo according to how she had seen the elders of the Alchemy Hall do it in the past.
…
"Looks like quite a few of the participants are struggling with what they should make… Hah, looks like the quality of these people are quite low~"
"You even chose the Verdant Jade Bamboo, the Expert Alchemists among the participants should have no trouble finding a recipe given how common it is… But look at the Earth Grade Spiritual Herbs you chose!? How on earth would they be able to make anything with those two spiritual herbs in the mix!? To be honest I'm surprised that so many people even had a recipe for something using those spiritual herbs to begin with!"
Trying his best to calm down as he heard his disciples playful voice while he observed the participants, Fang Shi began regretting the fact that he had handed over the second stage of the alchemy competition to her…
No matter what, from the looks of it, they would be lucky if there was even twenty people who managed to successfully make an Earth Grade Pill or Potion during the time that they had been given!
The Earth Grade Spiritual Herbs that his disciple had chosen was simply way too difficult to handle, other than that, they were quite rare.
Fang Shi had been surprised that there even was anyone among the participants who had a recipe involving those spiritual herbs!
His disciple had really been trying her best to trouble him over the best few days…
Thinking about this, Fang Shi could not help but sigh in his mind, he knew that the reason for his disciple's behaviour was because he would be taking in a new disciple.
The reason for the alchemy competition was for him to find a new disciple and from what he had experienced over the past few days, his only disciple so far, didn't seem so happy about the prospects of getting a junior brother or sister in the future…
"Hah, I spoiled her way too much in the past…" Sighing to himself once again as he reflected on how he had treated his disciple in the past, Fang Shi decided to not scold his disciple and just go along with it.
Even if there were less than twenty people who made it into the third stage of the alchemy competition, it did not really matter to him. After all, the people who could make it to the third stage even with his disciples meddling would be the best and it would not really interfere in his original objective of finding a second disciple to teach.
Not paying any more attention to his own disciple, Fang Shi once again looked around at the participants and soon spotted the Verdant Jade Bamboo on Qing Yi's table.
"Hm? That little girl from the Flying Sword Sect is trying to breakthrough to the Expert Realm during a time like this!?"
Feeling a bit shocked upon realizing that someone was trying to reach the next realm during such a time, Fang Shi narrowed both of his eyes as he began observing how Qing Yi was handling the different spiritual herbs in front of her.
I hope that little girl can breakthrough and become an Expert Alchemist, she has quite a lot of talent when it comes to alchemy…
Thinking this to himself as he watched how smoothly she handled the two troublesome Earth Grade Spiritual Herbs, Fang Shi slowly began looking forward to Qing Yi's performance....