Chapter 415: Trouble Brewing~

Carefully observing the spiritual herbs that had been placed on the several large tables around the platform that the Artisan Alchemist from the Sky Empire was currently standing on top of, Qing Yi tried her best to identify the different spiritual herbs on the large tables.

However, this was to no avail as she quickly realized that she at most had the ability to identify a few dozen of the spiritual herbs present of the large tables. The rest of the spiritual herbs seemingly blended together with the others, as she found it hard to tell them apart from each other.

"H-how are we going to find the spiritual herbs we need?"

"I can only identify a few dozen of the spiritual herbs in there..."

"I really hope that I know the spiritual herbs we will have to find..."

Listening in on the other participants nervous talking about the upcoming first part of the competition, Qing Yi knew that she was not alone in her thoughts about how difficult it would be to identify the correct spiritual herbs among the thousands other spiritual herbs that looked similar to the one they would need.

"Haha, I see that all of you are getting quite nervous now! The recipe will be given to all of you shortly, along with an in-depth description of the different spiritual herbs you will need. No need to worry about someone already knowing the recipe beforehand, as its one of my personal recipes that I finished just yesterday for today's competition!"

Hearing the Artisan Alchemist laughing upon seeing how nervous everyone had gotten before he proceeded to motion for a group of people to hand over the recipe along with a description of the different spiritual herbs, Qing Yi and the other participants immediately began reading through both of them.

The recipe in question was split into two, one for a pill and another for a potion. The name of the pill and potion in the recipe, was Dragon Force Pill, or Dragon Force Potion.

According to the short description of the pill/potions effect, it would momentarily raise a cultivator's strength by three minor realms! The side-effect of such an increase in strength being that the user would enter a state of weakness lasting a few days.

Other than that, the only real limit to the Dragon Force Pill/Potion, was the fact that it could only be used by people in the Core Formation Realm and below.

Even then, Qing Yi still understood just how valuable the Dragon Force Pill/Potion was for a cultivator!

Caught in a dangerous situation, a momentary increase in strength comparable to raising one's strength by three minor realms, would in some cases be the determining factor between life and death.

"Now that all of you have the recipe and description of the spiritual herbs needed, the competition will officially begin! You have three hours to make either a Dragon Force Pill or a Dragon Force Potion! Those unsuccessful, will be disqualified!"

Just as she was about to look over the spiritual herbs she needed for the Dragon Force Potion, along with the in-depth description of the spiritual herbs in question. The Artisan Alchemist from the Sky Empire interrupted her train of thought, as he officially announced the start of the alchemy competition.

Whoosh!

Along with the start of the competition, a large portion of the participants rushed towards the large tables placed around the platform at the centre of the competition ground.

"..."

Qing Yi did not do this, as she instead just looked over at the flock of people rushing towards the large tables filled with spiritual herbs for a short while before focusing her attention onto the recipe of the Dragon Force Potion.

Looking over the recipe, Qing Yi quickly focused onto the spiritual herbs she needed before turning to look at the in-depth description of the spiritual herbs.

Overall, she needed five different spiritual herbs for the Dragon Force Potion, each of them being Earth Grade Spiritual Herbs!

The first spiritual herb she needed was a spiritual herb called Red Dragon Sage...

Reading through the description on how to identify the spiritual herb, Qing Yi quickly continued on wards and before long, she had remembered the different characteristics of the five spiritual herbs that was needed for the Dragon Force Potion.

Whoosh~

Not wasting any time, Qing Yi quickly rushed towards the large tables filled with spiritual herbs as she joined the other participants in searching through the large pile of spiritual herbs, while she tried to find the correct spiritual herbs among the large quantity of similar looking spiritual herbs.

Searching through the large pile of similar looking spiritual herbs, Qing Yi for the first time since she had started on the path of alchemy. Realized just how many different spiritual herbs were out there...

Just the number of herbs looking extremely similar to the five that she and the rest of the participants needed to find. Numbered over 3000!

Through this, Qing Yi resolved herself to read up on more spiritual herb encyclopaedias when she got back to the sect...

...

Watching how Qing Yi had begun to search through the large pile of spiritual herbs on top of the large tables around the main platform below, Xuan Hao could not help feeling a bit worried for her.

After all, he had no idea how knowledgeable Qing Yi was when it came to spiritual herbs. However, she was clearly at a disadvantage compared to the other participants, as she had only been learning alchemy for a year.

Knowledge on spiritual herbs was not something that could be done in a short time.

Well, outside how he had gained knowledge of different spiritual herbs with the help of the system...

Thinking about this, Xuan Hao felt even more nervous when he watched her pick up a wrong herb before she soon put it down and searched somewhere different to his relief.

How did he know the spiritual herbs needed for the Dragon Force Potion that Qing Yi was going to make?

Well... Given his current cultivation realm, he could easily peek at the recipe from a distance. Even without using his divine sense...

As for knowing about the spiritual herbs... The knowledge about spiritual herbs he had gained from the system was no laughing matter and out of the over 3000 spiritual herbs piled up onto the different large tables, Xuan Hao could easily identify most of them!

All of which, were used in all sorts of different potions and pills.

Take the Red Dragon Sage Spiritual Herb as an example, it was used in a potion that... Allowed someone to burp like a dragon, as for what a dragon burp looked like, Xuan Hao had no clue and at the same time. Not plan to find out...

Not really the most useful thing an Earth Grade Spiritual Herb could be used for...

...

Time slowly passed and after half an hour, Qing Yi had successfully managed to get the spiritual herbs needed to make the Dragon Force Potion, as she began getting ready to make the potion.

Thump!

"Hm?" As he was keeping an eye on Qing Yi together with the rest of the elders, Xuan Hao was suddenly alerted by the quiet sound of something hitting the ground.

Looking around at the other elders, Xuan Hao quickly realized that none of them seemed to have heard anything, as they were completely focused on Qing Yi's performance.

Elder Gong Bo was the most focused, as Xuan Hao clearly saw the clear look of terror on his face whenever Qing Yi was about to make a small mistake before showing a blissful look on his face when she corrected herself just in time.

To be honest, it was quite entertaining to watch how much his expression changed from watching Qing Yi compete below...

"..."

Not saying anything about what he heard just a moment ago, Xuan Hao quietly stood up from his seat before making his way over towards the entrance to their room to check out where the sound had come from.

"Come on! Qing Yi! You can do it!"

"That's right! Show them how it's done! Make the Alchemy Hall proud!"

"Ah-! Don't do it! You should never cut Blood Spirit Leaves like that!"

Casting one last glance over towards the Qing Yi fan group compromised of a bunch of old men and women. The youngest being at least 60 or so years old, Xuan Hao could not help smiling wryly to himself.

At least, Qing Yi did not have to watch her elders act in such a shameful manner. Looking like a group of fangirls cheering on their favourite idol...

Thinking this to himself, Xuan Hao soon heard yet another sound similar to before. The only difference being that it was fainter and more distant than before.

"How troublesome..." Upon leaving the room, Xuan Hao could not help muttering this to himself as he saw a guard laying in a small pool of blood only a few dozen meters away from him.

At least he manged to find out where the sound of something quietly hitting the ground had come from...