Chapter 193: Chapter 137: Preliminary Round, Dazzling
Translator: 549690339
Standing on the high platform, Qin Ming, who was hunched over but full of energy, looked at the bustling venue and chuckled, “Now, all contestants, please enter your respective competition areas and seats according to your entry numbers.”
Although the venue was massive and the atmosphere was intense, Qin Ming’s voice reverberated like a giant bell in everyone’s ears, showing the extraordinary strength of this old man.
As Qin Ming’s words landed, numerous young and talented Alchemists on the contestant seats stood up. Some of them were talents from the Ling Province’s 36 Prefecture Alchemist Alliance, while others were high-level disciples trained by independent alchemists.
At this moment, they all shared one common identity – contestants of the Alchemy Conference.
Similarly, for the next forty or fifty years, they would be the backbone of the Ling Province’s Alchemists.
In the center of the venue, there were two fan-shaped areas.
The left fan-shaped area was the competition area for Second Grade Alchemists.
The right fan-shaped area was the competition area for Third Grade Alchemists.
Lu Yun entered booth number 156 in the Third Grade Alchemist area according to his entry number.
With a glance, he instantly saw the entire layout of the competition booth.
First, a red Alchemy Furnace came into view, its structure similar to the one he used in the past at the Sun View Second Floor Alchemy Room in the Spirit Martial Prefecture.
Inside the furnace was a few black stones, which were fire stones often used by lower-level Alchemists.
There was an incredibly smooth green stone platform nearby, neatly stacked with a pile of spirit herbs, at least twenty kinds. Next to the herbs, an ancient-looking scroll lay quietly.
Besides, a jade mirror was placed in a corner of the green stone platform, its faint glow flickering. It showed the surroundings of the Alchemy Furnace and projected the scene clearly.
Lu Yun’s gaze shifted, sweeping across the entire venue. He found that huge screens in the corners of East, South, West, and North showed different scenes, resembling four different competition booths.
The projection in the eastern corner was Chu Yuanyao’s competition booth.
Standing by the green stone platform, Chu Yuanyao rested her cheek on her jade hand, her beautiful eyes staring at the spirit herbs and the ancient scroll before her. Her mesmerizing waist and elegant posture appeared on the gigantic screen like a celestial maiden.
“Awoooo… Yuan Yao, the little fairy…” The sight of the lovely and beautiful Chu Yuanyao captivated many young Alchemists in the audience, who howled like wolves.
Facing such a heated scene, Chu Yuanyao mischievously smiled on her innocent face, once again igniting the venue.
However, this explosive scene did not last for too long. The image of Chu Yuanyao disappeared from the screen, replaced by a shabby-looking young man who would’ve likely been drowned in saliva by the audience if not for the very conspicuous Third Grade Alchemist Badge on his chest.
The projections in the four corners were all different, with the East and West corners projecting the Third Grade Alchemist area, and the South and North corners projecting the Second Grade Alchemist area.
Every competing Alchemist had the opportunity to appear on the screen.
“An Alchemy Conference turned into a live broadcast,” Lu Yun said with a faint smile, withdrawing his gaze.
At the same time, he finally understood why such a conference attracted so many Alchemists.
The jade mirrors on the green stone platform accurately projected the techniques and processes of these talented alchemists, providing a rare learning opportunity for most Alchemists.
Regaining his composure, Lu Yun picked up the ancient scroll on the green stone platform and found that it was a Third Grade pill recipe.
What surprised him was that this pill recipe was different from the ones he had seen before.
Pill recipes were usually not recorded on ordinary paper because they had to be engraved with Spiritual Power by Alchemists, which required the use of special scrolls to bear the imprint and ensure that it would not be damaged or faded for years or even decades.
Furthermore, a pill recipe engraved with an Alchemist’s Spiritual Power could be read quickly as long as one used Spiritual Power, enabling the content and important points to be memorized in the shortest time possible.
However, the pill recipe on this scroll was not engraved with Spiritual Power, but directly copied, containing only information about the required spirit herbs, their quantities, and a rough refining method, without any detailed descriptions.
This undoubtedly posed a great challenge for most Alchemists.
After all, it was impossible to have refined every type of Third Grade pill or be familiar with the properties of all spirit herbs.
Another thing that puzzled Lu Yun was the wide variety of spirit herbs on the green stone platform, almost twenty in total.
Among them, each herb had at least one or two similar-looking counterparts with vastly different properties and effects.
“No wonder it’s the Alchemy Conference. Its difficulty is far greater than any ordinary Alchemist examination,” Lu Yun said, a faint smile at the corner of his mouth as he held the scroll.
In a sense, this competition encompassed a lot.
It included the identification of spirit herbs, control of fire, refining pills, and so on…
For others, it would be extremely difficult..