"Contestants — please place your pills inside to begin the testing."
Xiao Tian and the other three were in no rush.
Across the arena, many alchemists had already inserted their pills. Green and red lights, varying in brightness, flickered and wove together like a churning sea of color.
All at once, expressions across the stage shifted into a thousand shades of emotion. Those whose pills shone green wore ecstatic smiles — some even leaping to their feet in joy.
Those whose pills burned red, however, reacted far more dramatically. Some turned pale as ghosts, some flushed in shame, and others simmered with raw fury — faces twisting in quick, tragic succession.
"Damn it — just make the pill. Why all this useless testing?"
"I finally fused all the powders together, and now these old fossils pull *this* on us?"
"…"
Some of the red-light failures shook their heads and slunk away in defeat, while others stormed out of the square with flicking sleeves, cursing and muttering under their breath.
The refining round alone had eliminated nearly half the contestants. Now, this second trial had cut down nearly a hundred more.
Those who remained on stage were, without exception, alchemists of real skill.
"Mr. Yan Xiao — I wonder if you'd be interested in comparing pill quality with me?"
Liu Ling turned to Xiao Yan and issued his challenge.
*Hmph. Yan Xiao — how good can that rushed, last-second pill of yours possibly be? I'll make you lose face in front of Yanran. Then let's see how you dare to show yourself before her again.*
*The advantage is mine.*
"Not interested."
"Is Mr. Yan Xiao afraid, perhaps?"
Xiao Yan ignored him entirely and gave a small nod to Xiao Tian and Princess Yao Yue.
"Mr. Xiao Tian, Mr. Yan Xiao — shall we go together?"
Princess Yao Yue lightly shook the jade bottle in her hand, smiling at the two. As for Liu Ling — ever since his confident analysis last time had caused her to miss her chance at befriending them, she had carried a quiet displeasure toward him.
Xiao Yan gave a faint nod. Xiao Tian, however, shook his head. Seeing this, Princess Yao Yue didn't press the matter.
"Xiao Tian — do you dare to compete with me? You finished refining so early. Or could it be… that you only produced a defective product?"
Liu Ling's face darkened at being ignored by Xiao Yan, and he turned his attention instead to Xiao Tian.
"Idiot."
Xiao Tian glanced at him with open disdain. *Is his narrow-mindedness shrinking further still? Snapping at everyone in sight. Clearly a spoiled brat who has never tasted true setback.*
Xiao Tian's gaze drifted past Liu Ling — to a figure standing in a secluded corner, entirely wrapped in a gray robe.
The moment he saw that attire, Xiao Tian knew: *This must be Yan Li — Vice President of the Alchemist Guild of the Chu Yun Empire.*
"Beat him first — then we can talk."
Liu Ling, ignored now by both of them, trembled faintly with rage.
He followed Xiao Tian's gaze.
"Isn't he just a Second-Rank Alchemist? Who exactly are you looking down on?"
Liu Ling saw the Second-Rank badge on the gray-robed man's chest and spoke coldly.
"Fool. I only hope you'll still be this confident in a moment."
The gray-robed man felt Xiao Tian's gaze settle on him, and an inner tension rose quietly in his chest. He lifted his head — icy blue eyes flicking toward Xiao Tian — and the faintest, coldest smirk curled his lips.
*A Fourth-Rank Alchemist? Still not enough to impress me.*
Xiao Yan and the other two placed their pills into the testing machines. As the most prominent contenders, they were among the top three favorites to win the convention.
The machines hummed to life, and the jade mirrors flared with dense green light — their hue noticeably deeper than any green seen across the arena before.
"Such intense light — as expected of the seeded contestants!"
Cheers and praises rose from the audience below.
Among the three, Xiao Yan's light was the deepest — a green as rich as jade. Liu Ling's came next, and Princess Yao Yue's last.
Liu Ling's mouth twitched slightly. His hands, hidden in his sleeves, clenched so tightly he wished he could smash the jade mirror before him.
"What is Xiao Tian doing? Why hasn't he tested yet? Is he not confident in the pill he refined?"
Seeing Xiao Tian's prolonged stillness — and his focus not on his own platform but on the corner — Otto's voice, from the VIP platform, was laced with confusion.
"I still have every faith in his strength. That shouldn't be possible." Frank frowned slightly as well.
"Hm… that gray-robed man Xiao Tian is staring at — something is *very* wrong with him."
Fa Ma, too, had been puzzled by Xiao Tian's behavior. He followed his gaze — and let out a soft *"Hm?"* His once-hunched back straightened sharply.
"I don't see anything amiss," Hai Bodong murmured, following suit and probing carefully.
"You're not an alchemist — of course you can't tell. Under the sensing of my soul power, that man's spiritual strength is staggering. Even when Gu He competed at the Alchemist Convention, his soul power was not this deep."
Fa Ma shook his head, his brow knitting.
Yan Li, meanwhile, felt Xiao Tian's gaze upon him. The hand about to insert his pill paused in the air. He raised a single finger and, slowly, tauntingly, wagged it back and forth at Xiao Tian — a cold smirk curling his lips — before placing the pill into the machine.
"A crowd of mediocre, useless fools."
The gray-robed man's laugh was thin and sharp.
A moment later, a brilliant pillar of green light erupted from the stone platform before him — brighter still than Xiao Yan's.
"Damn it — where did this guy come from?"
Liu Ling's face turned dark as storm clouds. He had thought Xiao Tian was afraid of him and merely using this man as a convenient shield. Who could have imagined Xiao Tian might genuinely fall short compared to this gray-robed stranger? Anger and confusion warred endlessly in his eyes.
"This man appears to be an alchemist from the Izumo Empire."
Princess Yao Yue had noticed a badge on the gray-robed man — a brilliant sun rising slowly from the horizon. The mark of the Izumo Empire.
"Someone from the Izumo Empire?" Liu Ling muttered, recovering himself. "I've already lost to Xiao Yan. Must I now lose to a rival nation as well? How insufferable… this is going to be interesting."
"Chelsea — bring me his information. *Now.*" Fa Ma's voice dropped low.
Chelsea had already sensed something was amiss when Fa Ma and Hai Bodong were speaking earlier and had already prepared the file.
"Guild Master — here is the information on that man." Chelsea swiftly handed it over.
"A Second-Rank Alchemist from the Izumo Empire? But in my senses, his soul strength is at least Rank 4."
Fa Ma's expression shifted as he scanned the page.
"At registration, he declared himself a Second-Rank Alchemist. Guild Master — a seventeen-year-old Rank 4 Alchemist… do you truly believe such a thing possible?"
Chelsea spoke with a bitter smile.
"My senses are never wrong. Something is certainly off about that man — yet he doesn't appear to be in disguise."
Fa Ma's brows furrowed deeply. "We cannot rule out a special concealment pill — but such pills have all but vanished from the world."
"Then — how does his soul power compare to Xiao Tian's?"
A thought struck Hai Bodong, and he asked.
"Xiao Tian's is far stronger than his. The only reason we noticed this man at all is because Xiao Tian spotted him first." Fa Ma thought a moment, then turned to Hai Bodong as though a realization was settling in.
"Xiao Tian hasn't tested yet. Perhaps he's waiting for him." Hai Bodong offered the quiet reassurance.
"Now, we can only rely on Xiao Tian." Fa Ma exhaled a long sigh. An alchemist from an enemy nation outshining their own would be an unbearable humiliation for the Alchemist Guild.
Xiao Tian calmly placed the pill in his hand into the testing machine.
The machine hummed and trembled — and within the jade mirror, colors began shifting, one after another…