“This guy’s mental strength is too good! Isn’t he tired at all?”
“Look at his face. Does he even look tired?”
“Nope. He looks perfectly energetic.”
“This brat is so mentally strong that it’s scary.”
“Exactly. After refining pills for a whole day, he’s the only one who hasn’t taken a break.”
“He’s so powerful at such a young age. He’ll definitely be a heaven-defying existence in the future.”
“An Array Master, has a contract with the King of the Rocs and is an alchemist to boot. With this kind of talent, it would be great if we were able to pull him over to my sect!”
“Hmph, even if he were to choose a sect, he would choose ours. He would have a brighter future at our sect as compared to yours!”
“Your clan? Forget it. No matter how talented he is, it’d just be neglected?”
“Both of you, stop fighting. He definitely won’t choose either of your sects. There’s no point to you fighting!”
“What is the meaning of this?!”
“Simple. Your quarrel is distracting me from watching the competition!”
“Who are you? You dare butt into our affairs!”
“Noisy!” Shi Qian Zhi waved his hand, and that person immediately grabbed his throat, unable to say another word.
“Shut up. You’ll naturally be able to speak once the competition ends. Otherwise, you can forget about ever speaking for the rest of your life!” Shi Qian Zhi turned back to watch Sima You Yue refine pills once he was done speaking.
Although the two men were disgruntled, they dared not make a fuss because they saw something symbolic on Shi Qian Zhi. A red fan.
There was nobody in the inner regions who did not know about Shi Qian Zhi’s proficiency in poison. If they dared to mess with him, they would definitely meet a poor end.
Since he said that he would cure them of the poison once the pill battle was over, staying silent was the best course of action.
“Divine Envoy, will this not cause trouble?” A lady beside Shi Qian Zhi asked.
“What trouble?” Shi Qian Zhi said as he looked at the two men, “Will you cause trouble for me?”
“Mmmph Mmmmph-” The two men hurriedly shook their heads, showing that they definitely wouldn’t!
The person saw the clear unveiled threat and shook her head helplessly.
“Divine Envoy, Sir Right Emissary, he…”
“Relax. Nobody else will be able to tell.” Shi Qian Zhi said, “Although there may be some that wonder why he has changed his method of revenge, just let him do whatever he wants to do. Just take note of any needs he might have.”
“Understood.”
Shi Qian Zhi looked at Sima You Yue’s….. front, to the person in front of her, and asked, “Just wait till your face is slapped!”
Sima You Yue’s attention was completely on the medicinal liquid inside the furnace. She did not notice those around her watching her and neither did she care.
“If you achieve stellar results in this competition, your father would definitely be proud.”
This single sentence kept swimming around in her mind. What kind of results would make her father proud? She didn’t know. She only knew that the better they were, the better.
Fusing, binding, she did every step cautiously and methodically right until the pill was refined successfully.
A smooth journey!
Those who were looking at the platform were stunned. Ever since she started refining her first batch of pills, she had never stopped right until she finished refining them all.
Furthermore, she didn’t halt or make a single mistake. It was as if she had refined those pills a hundred times before.
“This amount of mental strength. It’s just…”
“I’ve never seen this perverse amount of mental strength even from the people in the first group.”
“I wonder how he would fare competing against those from the first group
“Forget it. How young is that guy, and how old are the others. He’s lived for but a small fraction of the time they have. His mental strength is also far beyond theirs. If he was able to surpass them, it would be impossible.”
“He may not be able to now, but he may in the future.”
“That’s right, we’ll wait and see…”
“…”
Sima You Yue placed her fully refined pills on the table before giving a wave. A person in charge of recording the results came over immediately to take down her score, time, rank, quantity of pills and so on.
Once he was done, Sima You Yue walked off the stage and looked around the entire place. She was the first one to finish.
“Yue Yue, you’re so powerful!” Little Seven excitedly raised and waved her little hand.
“Not bad.” Mao San Quan nodded satisfactorily.
Sima You Yue walked back to her seat and felt like there was a very peculiar set of eyes watching her. She raised her head and took a look.
Shi Qian Zhi held his teacup in his hand and slightly raised it to her in salute. Then, he drank the rest of the tea.
Sima You Yue furrowed her eyebrows lightly and seemed to have realised something as she lifted her head up to look towards the stage.
The person standing in front of her, the stranger that seemed familiar…
As time dragged on, more and more people started to complete the refinement of their own pills. Once it was twelve in the afternoon, Ji Qing Yuan announced the end of the competition. Nobody else could continue refining pills, and the person in charge of recording the scores went around to take them down.
“We need half a day to tabulate the scores and will notify you of your respective positions tomorrow afternoon. The next round of the competition will commence the day after.”
After speaking, he left with those who had kept the scores.
On the morning of the second day, everyone was discussing the results of the battle this year, trying to guess whether or not they would be able to enter the semifinals.
As for Sima You Yue, she was inside the room, but nobody was interested in that.
“You’re saying that the person is Jiang Jun Xian?” Han Miao Shuang’s eyes went wide as she cried out excitedly.
“I’m guessing that it should be him.” Sima You Yue said, “I saw Shi Qian Zhi when I was looking at the platform. If Eldest Senior wasn’t here, based on his character, he wouldn’t come just to watch the competition.”
“Could it possibly be someone else?” Su Xiao Xiao asked.
“Does anyone else feel familiar?” Sima You Yue threw the question back at her.
“No.” Han Miao Shuang and Su Xiao Xiao shook their heads.
“Then that’s that.” Sima You Yue said, “Although his outward appearance is different and others can’t recognise him, the gaze with which he looks at us is a little different. This is why he feels familiar but is also a stranger.”
“So you’re saying that the person really is him? Didn’t he initially represent Jiang Jun Zhe? Why has he decided to attend the competition in this way instead?”
“He must have thought it through. This would cause the Jiang clan more regret, and give them a good slap to their faces.” Han Miao Shuang shrugged.
“If I were him, I would defeat Jiang Jun Zhe then reveal his identity to let them feel like they missed out on such a talented individual. Then, he would kill them, causing them to die with regret.” Su Xiao Xiao said.
“How troublesome.” Little Seven stepped on the table and said, “If i were him, I would just beat Jiang Jun Zhe up a few times, till his own parents wouldn’t be able to recognise him. Then I would break his arms so he would never be able to refine another pill again!”
A directly brutal approach!
“There are times where a psychological blow is more tortuous than pain to the body.” Sima You Yue said, “However, I feel like he may not necessarily not do what Little Seven said.”