Making her way up the narrow mountain path, Qing Yi soon climbed up a few steep stone steps etched into the rocky mountainside.
"This should be the fourth test…"
Reaching the top of the steep stone steps, Qing Yi could not help widening her eyes in amazement upon witnessing the large open garden that appeared in front of her filled with all sorts of different spiritual herbs.𝑓𝑟ℯ𝘦𝓌𝘦𝘣𝑛𝑜𝓋𝑒𝓁.𝑐ℴ𝓂
Feeling a bit confused over why there was suddenly such a large spiritual herb garden in front of her, Qing Yi soon began to inspect the spiritual herbs inside of it.
"Earth Root Flower, Blooming Fire Lotus… Scorching Earth Flower!?"
Not only could she see several Spirit Grade Herbs growing inside the giant herb garden, but she even managed to catch a glimpse of the Scorching Earth Flower, a Soul Grade Spiritual Herb, and the upgraded version of the Spirit Grade Spiritual Herb, Smoldering Earth Flower, that she had used during the second test!
From this alone, Qing Yi realized that the fourth test was already on a level of its own compared to the past three tests she had gone through!
For a Soul Grade Spiritual Herb to be present, it likely meant that the fourth test might require her to make a Soul Grade Potion!
"There is no way…"
Just thinking about making a Soul Grade Potion made Qing Yi lose any confidence she had at making it through the fourth test.
Not to mention making a Soul Grade Potion, Qing Yi had never even seen a Soul Grade Potion before! The strongest alchemist she had seen was her master, who's level she still had no idea about.
Other than that, Qing Yi had only really interacted with the alchemists of the Alchemy Hall, who were all at the Expert Realm, with the best being half a step into the Artisan Realm!
Now that she understood the difficulty of the upcoming fourth test, Qing Yi could not help but feel that her chances of making it to the fifth test was non-existent…
"Hah… No use thinking about it, I will just do my best and make sure master is proud of me!"
Muttering this to herself as she quickly shook her head, Qing Yi made her way up the last stone step and made her way along the small path going through the garden filled with spiritual herbs. Trying her best to control herself from attempting to take away any of the spiritual herbs…
…
"Ei, I got eliminated, I wonder what the fourth test was about. Only three people managed to reach it so far…"
"Everyone! Two of them are out! Let's go and ask about the fourth test!"
At the same time outside the alchemy trial, both the crown prince and the young girl who Qing Yi had been chatting with during the earlier stages of the alchemy competition had come out and were currently being surrounded by the other participants as they asked them about the fourth test of the alchemy trial.
The reason for this was because the light projections showing what was happening inside the alchemy trial were located high in the sky at a relatively awkward angle that prevented those not in the spectator seats from seeing clearly, so all of them were curious about what the fourth test was about.
After all, compared to the elders from the Iron Sky Kingdom, these young alchemists had not yet developed their divine sense and simply had no way to watch what was happening inside the alchemy trial.
All they could do was ask each other or the elders located around the platform with Fang Shi and the giant cauldron on top of it.
In that regard… The elders were less than useful… All the information some of the young alchemists had gathered about the fourth test was that it was something about spiritual herbs…
Truly… The young alchemists had no idea what to say when they got this answer…
It was alchemy! Which part of it doesn't involve spiritual herbs!?
"Haha, both of you did really well during the fourth test! From the looks of it, it will be quite close when it comes to the top three!"
Before any of the participants could make their way over towards the young girl and crown prince who just came out from the alchemy trial, Fang Shi beat them to it, as he came over with a look of praise on his face. Clearly the two young alchemists had managed to impress him during the alchemy trial.
"Thanks a lot for your praise elder!"
Bowing her head politely upon receiving the praise from Fang Shi, the crown prince of the Dark Sky Kingdom had a completely different reaction, as a surprised expression appeared on his face.
"Top three!? How can that be!? I should clearly be the best…"
Quietly muttering this to himself as he gazed down towards the relatively small young girl who had come out along with him, the crown prince did not know what to say as he suddenly realized that his plan of becoming the second personal disciple of Fang Shi no longer seemed as certain as before…
Not to mention first place, from what Fang Shi said, the crown prince quickly realized that he was not only competing with the young girl who came out alongside him, but also someone else!
He really had no idea what to do if he ended up getting third place… That would simply be way too embarrassing!
"Hm? Where is the last person…?"
Realizing that only one person had come out alongside him, the crown prince could not help but turn towards Fang Shi, whom he had ignored until now, to ask him about the person in question while looking over towards the participants who had come out before him and the young girl.
"… She is still inside…"
"Impossible! Is she perhaps a Peak Expert Alchemist!?"
Already feeling quite annoyed at the behaviour of the crown prince, Fang Shi instead turned his attention towards the young girl who had also just come out of the alchemy trial. Ignoring him completely!
If not for the fact that he had some background in the Sky Empire…
"Hello little one, my name is Fang Shi! Might I ask what your name is?"
Having already turned his attention towards the young girl looking like she was between thirteen and fourteen years old, Fang Shi tried to put on his kindest smile as he asked this.
Even if he already knew her name from when he had gone over the list of participants before the start of the alchemy competition, Fang Shi still decided to ask her after introducing himself. After all, there was a high chance that he would be taking the young girl in as his second disciple after the alchemy competition ended.
"I-I'm Li, Li Yao!"
Seeing how nervous the young girl, Li Yao, had become, Fang Shi could not help but smile to himself as he remembered how his first-person disciple was just like that in the past when she was still small…
Ah… How time flies, that young girl is already grown up and is more than happy to cause trouble for her old master…
"Li Yao? That's indeed a fitting name… You can go over to the rest and the participants and wait until the alchemy trial ends, there is still one person left inside on the fourth test!"
Nodding his head smilingly as he said this, Fang Shi soon turned his attention back towards the cauldron as he focused Qing Yi who was about to begin the fourth test.
Compared to the others, she had fallen quite a bit behind due to her struggle during the first test, but Fang Shi did not really mind this, as he had already understood the reason for her slow progress during the first test was likely due to her lacking knowledge on spiritual herbs. Something that he could easily fix with time!
"There is indeed still someone at the fourth test!"
The crown prince of the Dark Sky Kingdom who had been wondering whether the other person was just resting somewhere inside the alchemy trial looked towards Fang Shi who still ignored him with a shocked expression.
The person he had been wondering about was indeed still undergoing the fourth test! Did this not mean that she lasted longer than he did…?
Thinking this far, the crown prince showed an? even more shocked expression.
"Hey, hurry up and get down from the platform!"
Only when one of the elders standing around the platform called out to him, did the young crown prince wake up before listlessly making his way down the platform and sitting down in a corner of the small space prepared for the participants.
The current expression on his face was nothing short of a depressing sight as he longingly looked over towards Cai Yu from time to time…
"What the…"
Cai Yu who was on the receiving end of the longing look quickly hid away behind her master before glancing over towards Li Yao from time to time.
In her eyes, the innocent looking Li Yao was by far the best choice if she had to chose between who would become her future junior sister or brother…