The inspection was not much different from the first stage of the alchemy competition, as Fang Shi was similarly making his way around inspecting the participants pills one by one. The only difference from the last time, was that he did not say whether anyone moved on to the next stage or failed, while inspecting the participants pills.
Even then, Fang Shi did not forget to tell each of the participants how they could have improved their pills. Making sure that each of them knew that they could do better and how they could improve when they made the same pill again in the future.
This way, all the participants felt that they had a chance to move on to the next stage of the competition, as everyone had at least a few mistakes pointed out by Fang Shi when he went over the pills that they had made.
…
"Hm?"
Finishing his inspection of a Spirit Grade Qi Recovery Pill from a young girl, Fang Shi could not help but raise his eyebrows upon realizing that Qing Yi was the next person he would go over.
To be honest, Fang Shi had felt a bit curious about just what kind of potion she had ended up making after witnessing her breaking through to the Expert Alchemist Realm earlier.
"This is…" Looking over the potion placed in front of Qing Yi, Fang Shi showed a slightly confused expression before picking up the potion bottle to examine it more closely and find out just what kind of potion she had ended up making.
Narrowing his eyes as he even opened the potion bottle to try and find out what kind of potion it was, Fang Shi soon shook his head as he put down the potion bottle.
The potion clearly used the Verdant Bamboo as the core and the two Earth Grade Spiritual Herbs to further strengthen the effect of the potion… But it's not similar to any potion I have ever read about before, I… I don't know what potion this is…?
Realizing this, Fang Shi could not help but feel shocked inside. After all, as an Artisan Alchemist, he had seen thousands upon thousands of different Spirit Grade Potions and Pills before!
"I-is something wrong with my potion…?"
"Ah… No, nothing is wrong, I was just lost in thought for a moment. Might I ask what this potion is called?"
Hearing Qing Yi suddenly call out to him as he had stood in front of her in deep thought for quite some time, Fang Shi quickly answered her with a kind smile before asking her about the name of her potion.
"Hm… If I'm not wrong, it should be called skin… Ehm… Sorry, I don't remember the full name of the potion…"
"Haha, no need to worry!"
Seeing Qing Yi's face begin to turn a bit red in embarrassment upon realizing that she couldn't remember the name of the potion she had just made, Fang Shi stopped her as he already had some idea as to what the use of the potion should be from what Qing Yi had said.
She had mentioned it was called something related to skin. Given the fact that the Verdant Jade Bamboo was well known for being used in many skin strengthening potions, Fang Shi felt like the potion Qing Yi had made would most likely be a skin strengthening potion.𝚏𝕣𝕖𝚎𝚠𝚎𝚋𝚗𝐨𝐯𝕖𝕝.𝕔𝐨𝕞
Fang Shi knew just how many skin strengthening potions were out there, so he no longer felt that it was too weird that he had no idea about the potion Qing Yi had made.
After all, just from the spiritual herbs available together with the Verdant Jade Bamboo alone, Fang Shi knew over a dozen different skin strengthening potions…
These skin strengthening potions all had pretty much the same effect. Not one stronger or weaker than the other. The only difference being the ingredients used in making them.
"Would you mind if I test out your potion?"
Thinking that Qing Yi had made a skin strengthening potion, Fang Shi decided to ask her whether he could try out her potion or not. After all, if her skin strengthening potion was stronger than a normal skin strengthening potion that used the same spiritual herbs, he would have to make sure he got his hands on the recipe after the alchemy competition!
No matter the price, Fang Shi was sure he could pay the spirit stones that Qing Yi's alchemy teacher wanted for such a recipe. After all, at the end of the day, he was an Artisan Alchemist! If there was one thing, he had a lot of, it was spirit stones…
…
Not knowing why Fang Shi suddenly wanted to test out her potion, Qing Yi began feeling a bit nervous as she thought that there might be something wrong with her potion.
Maybe the reason why he looked over my potion for such a long time was because there was something wrong with it?! Or else, why would he want to test out my potion all of a sudden…?
"S-sure…"
"Thanks, I will test it out after going over the rest of the participants."
Feeling her body stiffen up as she barely managed to squeeze out a single word, Qing Yi nervously looked on as Fang Shi smiled at her before taking her potion and began walking over towards the person standing beside her.
"Did you do something to your potion? Why did it get taken away?"
"I-I don't know…"
Hearing the voice of the young girl standing beside her call out filled with curiosity the moment Fang Shi had moved away, Qing Yi could only shake her head as she also had no idea why Fang Shi wanted to take her potion away after inspecting it.
"Hm… Maybe your potion is the best among all of us and he wants to show it off or something? I remember the alchemy elders back in my sect used to do that during our competitions from time to time, to encourage the rest of us to improve!"
"Maybe…"
Not feeling the least bit confident in what the young girl said, Qing Yi could only nervously follow Fang Shi with her eyes as she waited for the inspection of the rest of the participants pills to finish…