"You are…"
Seeing someone suddenly appear beside Qing Yi all of a sudden, Fang Shi was caught off guard, as he tilted his head with a confused expression slowly appearing in his eyes. Not expecting for someone to suddenly show up beside Qing Yi.
Not to mention the fact that he had not even sensed the person approaching before the other party was already standing there!
From this alone, Fang Shi understood that the other person was likely someone stronger than him! Maybe he was even someone who had already comprehended a pseudo domain!
"Qing Yi's master, I don't think there's a need for her to become your disciple!"
"This…"
Hearing the person who just appeared say this, Fang Shi suddenly smiled wryly as he realized that he had just talked about asking her master regarding him taking her in as his disciple. Even proclaiming that her master could test out his skills if he wanted to… However, from the looks of it, her master was far stronger than he had first expected!
For him to become angry was a given. After all, he had just been talking about taking away his disciple!
"To be honest, I did not expect for Qing Yi's master to be this strong, I wonder if you were the one who taught her alchemy as well?"
Knowing that his cultivation was likely inferior, Fang Shi decided to probe the other party's alchemy skills.
After all, in his eyes, Qing Yi should be someone focused on alchemy and cultivation should be a secondary focus to alchemy. Much like what he himself had been doing over the years…
With this in mind, Fang Shi was confident that he could convince the other party with his alchemy and convince him that he could do a better job in helping Qing Yi's alchemy realm reach a new height!
"Yes, I was the one who taught her! I'm an Artisan Alchemist as well!"
Nodding his head to Fang Shi's question, Xuan Hao directly told him that he was an Artisan Alchemist as well. Hoping the other party would just directly give up any plans he had regarding his disciple.
"I see, I wonder if you would want to have a competition with me...? I'm sure I will be able to impress you-"
"No."
"…"
Not the slightest bit intimidated upon hearing that the other party was also an Artisan Alchemist, Fang Shi tried challenging the other party. Only to be shot down instantly.
Was he not supposed to agree with his challenge and try to use it as an opportunity to show off how in front of his disciple?
"It's already late at this point and I don't think anyone wants to see another drawn-out competition…"
Hearing Xuan Hao follow up with this, Fang Shi suddenly realized that the sun had already disappeared as the stars shone down from above.
Not only that, but he also noticed that the spectators around the competition space were slowly beginning to leave following the end of the alchemy competition.
Having a competition at this point where everyone had already been exhausted and were making their way back home was a little…
"Hah… I understand what you mean... How about this, we can have a small and simple competition using the cauldron here. It will only take a few minutes at most. If I win, I'm sure you will be convinced with me taking Qing Yi as my disciple!"
Still not giving up on competing with Xuan Hao and taking in Qing Yi as his third personal disciple, Fang Shi signalled towards the large cauldron that contained the alchemy trial.
"Fine… But are you willing to give up your disciple if I Win?"
Knowing that the other party would not be convinced to give up with just words and the fact that he was quite interested in the large cauldron with the alchemy trial inside of it, Xuan Hao decided to agree to the old Artisan Alchemist's challenge.
Of course, not forgetting to put forward a small request himself.𝘧𝓇𝑒𝑒𝑤ℯ𝑏𝓃𝘰𝑣ℯ𝘭.𝘤ℴ𝘮
"This…"
"Isn't it only fair that you give me your disciple if I win?"
"Fine… But I hope you will uphold your side of the deal in case you lose…"
Not knowing what to say upon hearing the suggestion Xuan Hao had put forward, Fang Shi ended up agreeing to it in the end. No matter what, he was confident in his alchemy and didn't feel like Xuan Hao would have a chance to win against him!
Whoosh!
Following Fang Shi reluctantly agreeing, he waved his hand as Xuan Hao suddenly felt himself getting pulled towards the large cauldron in the middle of the platform.
"How interesting…"
Not resisting the pulling force of the cauldron, Xuan Hao muttered to himself with a smile on his face before he allowed himself to get pulled inside together with Fang Shi.
…
Looking around himself and discovering that he was currently inside of a large ancient hall, Xuan Hao linked it together with the hall that Qing Yi and the other participants should have found themselves inside of before the start of the alchemy trial, though he was not sure, as he had not been there to see it for himself and could only go off what he had heard from the other elders upon returning…
Other than that, he did not get sent somewhere else after appearing inside the large ancient hall like the elders had told him happened to Qing Yi and the other participants, as each of them was transported to a mountain where the alchemy trial itself was located.
"Hm?"
Finished looking around at the ancient hall that he now found himself inside of, Xuan Hao began to observe the shinning symbols that covered the walls and pillars of the ancient hall.
From inspecting the several large symbols covering the walls and pillars, Xuan Hao quickly deduced that he should be inside some sort of formation core… But with his current level, he could not understand how it worked. All he could make out was that it was an incredibly terrifying formation far surpassing his current level in formations.
Even if he used all his strength, Xuan Hao doubted that he would even be able to put a single scratch on the formation! How Fang Shi even managed to get his hands on something like that was a complete mystery to Xuan Hao…
"I will not be showing off what is happening in here to the people outside, so we can have complete privacy in here."
Seeing Xuan Hao lost in thought as he looked at the symbols that covered everything inside the ancient hall, Fang Shi smiled with a look of understanding.
He understood what Xuan Hao was feeling. After all, they were currently inside the core of the small realm located inside the large cauldron and also at the centre of the formation that kept everything running smoothly inside of it. This included the alchemy trial and the many other functions!
From growing the spiritual herbs used in the alchemy trial to keeping the space inside stable. Everything was done by a single massive formation. All of this without requiring someone to manually manage it!
"Let's get this over with… I wonder what kind of competition you planned?"
Hearing what Fang Shi said, Xuan Hao didn't continue inspecting his surroundings any longer, as he returned his attention back towards Fang Shi.
No matter what, he did not forget that he had to make sure this old alchemist stopped coveting other people's disciples and wanted to quickly get done with the competition, so he could quickly take his disciple far away from here before someone new showed up and targeted his disciple…
"Haha, we are going to do a simple pill refinement-"
"I thought you said this would not take a long time…?"
Interrupting Fang Shi before he managed to finish speaking, Xuan Hao narrowed both his eyes as he asked the old man.
The main reason for this was because concocting a pill would easily take a few hours. Especially given that both of them would most likely be making something at the Soul level…
"No need to interrupt me before I finished explaining… We are indeed going be making a pill, but instead of normal pills, we will be making Qi Gathering Pills! We will be competing in who can make the most Soul Grade Qi Gathering Pills within fifteen minutes!"
Listening to what Fang Shi said, Xuan Hao's frown disappeared, as he quickly recalled what little he knew about Qi Gathering Pills.
Qi Gathering Pills, as the name suggested, were used to increase a cultivators cultivation speed. Not only that, but Qi Gathering Pills were one of the most simple and easiest pills to make.
At the same time, it was also a unique pill that did not have a potion version like most other pills!
The pill was in essence just a bunch of spirit stones that had been refined into a pill and became easier to absorb for cultivators.
However, there was a fatal flaw in the creation of Qi Gathering Pills and that was the fact that only 50 percent of the qi inside the spirit stones used would be left after the Qi Gathering Pill had been made!
While the pill did make it easier for someone to absorb the qi contained inside spirit stones, the qi wasted in the process was simply not something anyone was willing to endure. This was also the main reason why the Flying Sword Sect did not use Qi Gathering Pills, as it was simply a waste of spirit stones and didn't really bring about enough benefits so as to be considered worth it.
Only people with too many spirit stones to spent would ever make Qi Gathering Pills-
"Ah…"
Suddenly recalling how the beast tamers of the Flying Sword Sect had given away thousands upon thousands of spirit stones to the demon beasts of the sect on a daily basis, Xuan Hao's expression turned for the worst as he decided not to think about how wasteful Qi Gathering Pills were any longer…
"Hah… Let's get started…"
Shaking his head as he tried erase the image of demon beast swallowing dozens upon dozens of spirit stones with each mouthful inside the stables of the Flying Sword Sect, Xuan Hao agreed to the competition proposed by Fang Shi.