Around the same time that things were finishing up outside the city wall with Yi Min's arrival, Qing Yi was making her way up the mountain towards the second test of the alchemy competition. Not knowing what awaited her this time around, while hoping that it would not be something similar to the first test.
Even if she was indeed an Expert Alchemist, her knowledge regarding different spiritual herbs did severely lack behind the other participants who had studied alchemy for years before she even made her first potion!𝒻𝘳ℯℯ𝑤ℯ𝒷𝘯ℴ𝓋ℯ𝘭.𝑐ℴ𝑚
The first test would have been way easier for her, if she recognized at least one of the spiritual herbs that she needed to find a substitute for…
It really looked like she would have to read through some more spiritual herb encyclopaedias when she returned back to the sect again. At least that way, she would not encounter a situation like she had during the first test. Not knowing anything about the spiritual herbs she needed to find a substitute for.
Just thinking about the spiritual herbs, she had ended up wasting due to her own weakness, Qing Yi felt even more motivated to increase her knowledge over spiritual herbs after the alchemy competition came to an end.
Maybe she could even get her master to help her out when it came to testing her spiritual herb knowledge in the future…
Lost in thought thinking about the future as she made her way up the narrow path slowly leading her higher up into the mountain, Qing Yi soon arrived at the second test!
Different from the first test, the second test was not inside a cave with everything needed for potion brewing. Instead, there were three stone pedestals in front of the path leading further up the narrow mountain path.
Each of the herbs had a different spiritual herb placed on top of each pedestal, as a small sign could be seen in front of the three pedestals followed by the small stone slab with her information on it.
"Pick one of the three spiritual herbs and move on to the next test. You will have to use the chosen spiritual herb for the next test! How interesting, looks like this is not the second test…" Reading out loud what was written on the small sign, Qing Yi ignored the small stone slab with her information on it and walked up to the three pedestals.
"Smoldering Earth Flower… Dew Touched Arteria Leaf and… Cave Moss?"
Inspecting the three spiritual herbs, Qing Yi could not help but feel a bit confused upon reaching the last spiritual herb. Cave Moss.
How what looked like simple moss had ended up being placed on the same level as two spiritual herbs very clearly at the Spirit Grade, Qing Yi had no idea. Even the name of the moss, was just cave moss. No special name that gave away anything about the clump of moss on the third pedestal…
Looking a bit closer at the Cave Moss, Qing Yi could feel a strong spiritual qi circulating inside of it. Not the least bit inferior to the Smoldering Earth Flower and the Dew Touched Arteria Leaf!
Having looked over all three of the spiritual herbs available to her, Qing Yi had no idea which one to pick among them.
No matter if it was the Smoldering Earth Flower, the Dew Touched Arteria Leaf or the ordinary looking Cave Moss, Qing Yi had no knowledge about any of them.
The only thing she managed to learn through her short inspection of the three spiritual herbs, was that the Smoldering Earth Flower was a fire related herb with a large amount of fire qi inside of it, while the Dew Touched Arteria Leaf seemed to contain both water qi and some sort of blood qi.
Needless to say, that Qing Yi immediately decided not to pick the Dew Touched Arteria Lead… After all, she had only ever witnessed blood qi during her encounter with the cultivator from the Black Rose Sect, who had directly devoured over a dozen people in front of her…
Lastly was the ordinary looking Cave Moss, while it did not look like some kind of high-quality spiritual herb, Qing Yi knew that its appearance was misleading, and a large amount of qi was hidden away inside it. The main element of the qi inside the Cave Moss was Earth Qi and Water Qi, both of which Qing Yi would not have a problem working with.
"So… The Smoldering Earth Flower, or the ordinary looking Cave Moss…"
With the Dew Touched Arteria Leaf already eliminated from her choices, Qing Yi was left with only two spiritual herbs to chose from, both of which would present their own unique challenges when it came to turning them into a potion during the second test…
"Smoldering Earth Flower it is…"
After thinking about it for a short moment, Qing Yi decided to pick the Smoldering Earth Flower. The main reason for this, was because she had a much easier time and was far more comfortable when working with fire related spiritual herbs compared to water and earth.
The cause of this, was of course her special physique along with the fact that she was someone who practiced a fire-based cultivation mantra.
Even if she was interested in the ordinary Cave Moss, Qing Yi did not want to take a risk just because she was curious about the Cave Moss. After all, she was still in a competition! Making things more difficult for herself would just be stupid…
Creak~
As she picked up the Smoldering Earth Flower, Qing Yi once again watched how the two other spiritual herbs began descending below the ground like the potion mixture, she had made during the first test of the Alchemy Trial.
Whoosh~
Different from before, Qing Yi did not wait for the spiritual herbs to disappear, as she directly tried to grab one of them before they disappeared-
Bang!
Only to hit some sort of invisible barrier that stopped her from taking away any of the two remaining spiritual herbs.
Other than that-
"5 points… I lost 5 points?!"
She had five points deducted after trying to steal away the spiritual herbs…
To say she was depressed over the sudden development would be an understatement, but what could she do about it?
"…"
Feeling a bit resentful after losing five points, Qing Yi slowly began making her way towards the second test that had become visible after the three pedestals disappeared and the mist behind them lifted.
Given that she already knew that she would be making a potion for the second test, Qing Yi was not the slightest bit surprised that there was a small alchemy station already prepared for her along with a dozen or so different spiritual herbs that she could use together with the Smoldering Earth Flower.
A few different potion recipes using the Smoldering Earth Flower as the main ingredient could also be seen on a small table located next to the cauldron.
The only thing that caused Qing Yi to worry a bit, was the fact that there were no extra Smoldering Earth Flowers… All she had was the one she had gotten from the pedestal!
This meant that she would only have one chance to make a brand-new potion she had never tried making before! Not only that, but the potion in question was also a Spirit Grade potion...
Feeling herself grow nervous upon thinking about this, Qing Yi made her way over towards the small table with the different potion recipes on it before beginning to thoroughly read through them. Not wanting to make a mistake when choosing what potion to make using the Smoldering Earth Flower and end up with a potion that was way too hard for her to make.
She had only just become an Expert Alchemist less than an hour ago, the Spirit Grade Potions she was capable of making was limited to one…
Just thinking about this caused Qing Yi to feel even more stressful.
The Alchemy Trial truly was difficult for a newbie Expert Alchemist like her…
…
At the same time Qing Yi was about to begin with the second test of the Alchemy Trial, her master had finally made his way back to the alchemy competition.
"Looks like something quite interesting happened while I was away…"
Having made his way back into the spectator room where the elders from his sect were located, Xuan Hao instantly caught sight of the large light projections displaying what was happening inside the Alchemy Trial.
Asking one of the elders watching Qing Yi as she read through a dozen or so different alchemy recipes, Xuan Hao quickly came to understand what was happening and at the same time also felt curious about the large cauldron located at the middle of the platform below.
Just what kind of artifact was the large cauldron that contained what could be considered a small world inside of it?