Cultivation Pet Shop

That night didn't just end there, there was another meeting that was being held, but this one was held at the Mu Manor.

Elder Hua rushed over as soon as she had received the message from Lin Fan. 

Based on the tone of the message, it seemed like it was urgent, which probably meant that Lin Fan was finally going to tell her his plan. However, the plan that he told her completely surpassed her expectations.

She never would have expected that Lin Fan's plans would cut so deep.

When she arrived, she was at first confused hearing Lin Fan's plan, but then that confusion quickly turned into surprise before shock and worry.

Elder Hua said in a concerned voice, "Owner Lin, are you sure you want to do all of this? If you do this, you would completely anger the upper realm faction and their wrath might not be something that you can handle."

Lin Fan just revealed a confident smile as he said, "I have my own trump cards, so there's nothing for you to worry about. You just need to come to the tournament tomorrow and we'll take care of it then."

Elder Hua still looked concerned, but she couldn't help being inspired by Lin Fan's confidence. 

And when she thought about it, she felt that it made sense.

Lin Fan had that unknown force behind him and the Alchemy King Hall wouldn't start a war just for a lower realm force. So they should be fine as long as they didn't take things too far…

But there was still a bad feeling that filled her when she left the Mu Manor.

…

The next morning, Lin Fan went to the store for the usual morning rush since the tournament was starting at the same time as yesterday.

When Elder Hua and Elder Gu came to the store, they had sombre expressions on their faces.

Elder Gu had heard about Lin Fan's plan from Elder Hua last night, so he couldn't help asking, "Owner Lin, are you certain that this will work?"

Lin Fan just nodded and said, "You just have to do your part, I'll take care of the rest."

While his words didn't really calm Elder Hua or Elder Gu down, they still chose to believe in him. He had already shown them enough miracles that there was an unspeakable trust in him that was already developing.

So when it was time to head off, Lin Fan sent the two elders off first before making his way to the stadium.

But when Lin Fan arrived, the scene was much more tense compared to yesterday since he had arrived at the same time as Elder Hua and her group of elders.

While Elder Hua and Elder Gu had left earlier than Lin Fan, they had gone to meet up with the other three elders and all five of them came to the stadium together.

Anyone who knew anything about the Alchemy Tower knew that there were currents under the calm surface. There were two factions that were in the Alchemy Tower, one led by the Alchemy Master and one led by Elder Hua.

When everyone saw the Alchemy Master and the five elders under him being introduced at the event yesterday, it made it clear that this was an event that was being held by the Alchemy Master's faction. However, Elder Hua was now leading her faction to attend the event of the Alchemy Master's faction.

If someone said that she wasn't here to cause trouble, no one would believe it!

But they were after all elders of the Alchemy Tower, so the staff had no choice but to arrange seats for them.

The five elders easily made their way into the stadium, but of course everything was reported to the Alchemy Master.

When the Alchemy Master heard this report, he couldn't help knitting his brows, "What is going on? Why is that old hag here with all those other old men? What is their goal?"

But the envoy wasn't worried at all as he revealed a smile, "They must have noticed that something was wrong last night, but it doesn't matter since it's already too late. We've already stolen their geniuses, so what else can they do?"

The Alchemy Master was worried at first, but then he also revealed a smile, "You're right, they're too late. We can at least watch a good show today when they see their one hope collapse in front of them."

…

Lin Fan made his way into the contestant waiting room just like yesterday, but today the format for the tournament was different from before.

Because the number of contestants were even before, they could have an even number of pairs and an even number of matches.

However, there were only twenty five contestants today which meant that there would be one left over if they followed the same format as yesterday.

After the planners had discussed it, they had decided to leave one spot as a bye. They would continue with this until they would be able to reach an even number, which would be the top four. So there would be a bye for the next three rounds.

The person who would receive this bye would be determined by the drawings. Namely, for this first round, there would only be twenty four balls with sheets with numbers and there would be a single ball with a sheet that had a star on it. The person who drew the one ball with the star sheet would be given the bye.

Just like yesterday, Lin Fan was the first one to be called to the stage and just like yesterday, he went to draw his ball.

When the host took the ball from Lin Fan and opened it to reveal his result, he was surprised to find that Lin Fan had drawn the sheet with the star, meaning that Lin Fan would be allowed to move on without having to compete.

The crowd was disappointed since those that had been here yesterday had witnessed Lin Fan's dominating performance. Those that hadn't been here wanted to see if the rumours they had heard were true.

As for the other contestants, they were feeling disappointed at first, but then most of them felt relieved.

They had all worked hard to get to this point and being matched up with this monster was equal to a death sentence. No one wanted to be sent out here and if they weren't matched with him, they would at least have a chance to move on.

But there were a few contestants that were genuinely disappointed since they felt that this Fan Lin was just lucky yesterday. He had relied on a few tricks to win, but when he faced real alchemists like them, he wouldn't stand a chance.

So, just like that, Lin Fan got to sit inside the contestant waiting room and watch the other contestants compete.

After this round was over, Lin Fan was once again called up to the stage to draw his number.

Lin Fan dug around in the box and spun it a few times because he didn't want to draw the bye again since he wanted to test himself.

It was too bad that he didn't get this chance.

When the host opened the ball he drew, he was surprised to find the sheet with the star once again.

Lin Fan had once again received this bye and was allowed to move on to the next round.

Many people in the audience couldn't help thinking that this Fan Lin really was lucky, he had drawn the bye twice in a row.

So once again Lin Fan sat in the waiting room, waiting for the round to finish.

Once it finished, Lin Fan went back to the stage one more time to draw his number.

But too bad when the host opened the ball again, what he saw was another piece of paper with the star on it.

When the crowd saw this, they couldn't help giving a few doubtful whisperers.

"Could it be that this drawing is rigged? Perhaps Fan Lin has some connections to the organizers?"

"But we've never heard of Fan Lin before, so that's probably not the case."

"Could he be the illegitimate child of one of the elders? Maybe even the Alchemy Master?"

Lin Fan just headed back to the contestant waiting room feeling confused about this as well.

Was he just lucky or was there something else at play here?

The funny thing was that what he didn't know was that the Alchemy Master and the envoy had rigged the drawings for him. They felt that since he was going to be on their side, it was a waste of time for him to compete with these less talented alchemists. Therefore, they rigged the drawing to let him rest and build up mystery around him before he crushed them all in the final round.

In the end, Lin Fan didn't care since he just needed to win this tournament to realize his plan and this strange series of events actually made it easier for him.