Seeing that things were not going well, the man in black immediately turned and ran. He seemed to be very familiar with the terrain, and in the blink of an eye, he had disappeared.
Shi Xuan looked around, but the sect leader still hadn't shown up. It seemed that he wouldn't make a move unless his disciples were in mortal danger.
Lu Wenxing made a move to give chase, but after assessing his own strength, he decided against it. He looked at the half-sleeved robe on the ground and pondered, "Could this be an assassin sent by Fan Hongde to kill you?"
“It doesn’t seem like it,” Shi Xuan picked up the half of the robe sleeve and examined it closely. “What does this symbol mean?”
Inside the sleeve of the robe was a totem with an eye pattern, an open, angry eye, with the lines on both sides extending outwards, curving, and finally connecting into a dense pattern surrounded by a circle.
The disciples gathered together, all staring at the pattern. After a long while, they all shook their heads, indicating that they had never seen it before.
Shi Xuan said, "I feel like it's an organization's mark. Let's take it back and ask the sect leader or elders."
"If it's an organization, they could actually be assassins? But he did say something about stealing the tree stump you bought, right?"
“Hmm,” Shi Xuan pondered, “It could also be some kind of evil organization.” Otherwise, why would he have come to rob the Soul-Nourishing Wood?
"Let's not worry about that for now, let's go back quickly," Lu Wenxing urged. Although he escaped unharmed after this incident, he still felt that danger lurked all around him.
Back in the sect area, the group showed the half-sleeve of the robe to Shu Yuanguan and the sect leader. Neither of them had seen the totem before, so they had to put the matter aside for the time being.
When they went to find the sect leader, they were praised by him.
"You all performed very well this time. Even when facing high-level cultivators, you remained calm and cooperated with each other. You were neither afraid of death nor blindly threw your lives away. This is the demeanor that we Sword Sect members should have!"
Shi Yi hurriedly said, "It's all thanks to the sect leader's timely rescue, otherwise we would probably all be dead by now! The sect leader's decision to go out with us was truly wise and brilliant!" She had to keep up with this flattery. Putting aside the fact that the sect leader protected their safety, that bag of spirit stones alone was enough for her to flatter him five hundred more times.
Shi Mingxiu laughed and said, "You little rascal, you know you're too weak, so you should work hard to cultivate. You can't always have someone following you when you go out."
Lu Wenxing already had a smug expression on his face: "The sect leader saw it all. I was so brave back then, using my Golden Core body to withstand a Nascent Soul cultivator for three hundred rounds! I was stunned by myself when I came back!"
Shi Mingxiu twitched his lips, but didn't embarrass him. "Your performance today was indeed commendable. You had the courage to protect your junior brothers and sisters. Not bad! If you cultivate more diligently in the future, you will be even better. If you were at the Nascent Soul stage this time, I wouldn't need to take action."
Although this disciple looks impressive, he's reliable in crucial moments. This year's disciples are all exceptionally talented. The sect leader was very pleased.
*
The following day, the Six Schools of Alchemy Competition officially began. The Fuyuan School held a grand opening ceremony for this occasion.
The first round of the competition was held in the largest outdoor square of the Fuyuan Sect. A stage was set up in front of the square, where judges and sect leaders from the six sects sat. Each sect sent one judge, who were the most outstanding alchemists from the six sects.
Dozens of elite alchemy disciples from the six sects stood neatly in the square, each with a spot containing prepared spiritual fire, ready for the disciples to take out their alchemy furnaces and use them.
The sect leader of Fuyuan Sect, Lü Changyi, stood on the stage and announced the rules: "This alchemy competition will be divided into two rounds. The first round is a test of designated basic pills. The content of the test will be determined by drawing lots from all first-grade pills. Everyone will refine the same type of pill. Finally, the evaluation will be based on the grade of the pill, the success rate, and the time taken to refine the pill. The one with the highest score will win and the top ten will advance to the next round."
The second round is an individual self-selected pill refining assessment. Selected disciples can choose their most proficient pill to refine, but cannot repeat the same pill from the previous round. The judges will then rank the participants, with the top three receiving prizes prepared by our sect. First place: three sixth-grade spiritual herbs and a high-grade magic weapon pill furnace; second place: three fifth-grade spiritual herbs and a mid-grade magic weapon pill furnace; third place: three fifth-grade spiritual herbs!
The auspicious time has arrived, let's begin the lottery now!
As soon as he finished speaking, a disciple of the sect brought out a jade box and walked closer. Lu Changyi channeled his spiritual energy into the jade box, and the wooden plaques with the names of the pills inside jumped out of the box. After a moment, they fell back into the box. The one that jumped the highest was left on the surface and did not return to the box.
Another disciple stepped forward, took down the wooden plaque indicating he had won, and loudly proclaimed, "Pain Relief Pill!"
After speaking, he raised the wooden sign and displayed it around the platform.
Upon hearing that the first round of assessment would be the Pain Relief Pill, the disciples of the Lianfeng Sword Sect were overjoyed. This pill was Shi Xuan's creation during his challenge at their Hundred Herbs Peak, and they had all been personally trained by the big boss. Now, facing these disciples from the six sects, they were full of confidence.
After the first round of the competition was set, disciples filed in and distributed the necessary materials to each disciple participating in the competition.
Seeing that everyone was ready, the disciple in charge of the Fuyuan Sect struck the gong on the stage, signifying the official start of the competition.
Dozens of alchemists immediately lit their spiritual fires to heat the furnace, and while the furnace was heating up, they began to select medicinal herbs, adjust the proportions, and then began to process the herbs, proceeding step by step in an orderly manner.
Except for Shi Xuan.
She had clearly heard that the time it took to refine the pills was one of the evaluation criteria. To save time, she simply put all the selected medicinal herbs into the pill furnace at once, and then used her divine sense to process and refine them collectively inside the furnace.
Fan Hongde, one of the judges on the stage, had been observing her ever since she arrived. In their Divine Cauldron Sect, this little bitch had never shown any talent in alchemy. Now, seeing her throw all the medicinal herbs into the furnace, he couldn't help but sneer, "Absurd!"
The high-level cultivators on the stage also released their divine senses to observe each disciple in the arena. Seeing Shi Xuan's actions, they knew who Fan Hongde was criticizing. However, she did seem to know nothing about pills, and in such an important competition, she actually put all the materials into the pill furnace at once.
Does the Lianfeng Sword Sect really have no alchemists left? How could someone like this be selected to represent the sect in the Six Sects Alchemy Competition?
Only the cultivators of the Lianfeng Sword Sect remained calm and unmoved.
However, they soon changed their minds. Shi Xuan was proceeding smoothly and methodically, and none of the burning, exploding, or ruined pills they had imagined occurred. On the contrary, her movements became increasingly graceful, and a faint fragrance of pills gradually wafted from the furnace.
Could it be that she really knows how to make pills?
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