447 A Dark Horse Appears!
Back inside the alchemy trial, Qing Yi had found a potion she wanted to make using the Smoldering Earth Flower and had begun picking out the rest spiritual herbs that she needed for the potion, among the ones available to her during the second test.
The entire thing took no more than a few seconds, as Qing Yi soon began carefully preparing the different spiritual herbs she had just picked out. Leaving the Smoldering Earth Flower to the side for now.
Quickly, a few minutes passed…
"That should be it!"
Qing Yi finished preparing the spiritual herbs needed, with only the Smoldering Earth Flower left.
Taking a step back, Qing Yi soon began to inspect the spiritual herbs that she had just finished preparing. Wanting to make sure that she had not made any mistake along the way.
"Now, all that is left, is the Smoldering Earth Flower…"
Glancing over towards the Smoldering Earth Flower, Qing Yi could not help growing a bit nervous.
Not only was the Smoldering Earth Flower a Spirit Grade Spiritual Herb, but it was also an extremely dangerous spiritual herb to prepare from what she had managed to understand through the potion recipes.
The main danger brought about by the Smoldering Earth Flower, was even more odd, as it could explode if not handled correctly. The explosion itself was more than enough to kill someone at the Qi Condensation Realm according to what she had read through the different recipes…
Learning about this, Qing Yi had slowly started to regret the fact that she did not chose the ordinary looking Cave Moss. After all, it should be far less dangerous that the Smoldering Earth Flower that she had ended up picking…
"Hah… No use regretting my choice now…"
Muttering this to herself as she cautiously looked over the Smoldering Earth Flower currently placed on the table in front of her, Qing Yi slowly began to cut it according to the pill recipe. Making sure not to make any mistake in case it blew up in her face like the different potion recipes had described…
As Qing Yi was slowly starting to prepare the Smoldering Earth Flower, the rest of the participants were also currently at the second test of the alchemy trial. All having their own unique Spirit Grade Spiritual Herb for the test…
Among the participants, Qing Yi was the last person to have reached the second test and because of this, some of the other participants had already begun finishing up by the time Qing Yi was still preparing the spiritual herbs.
"Ah-! No-!"
Like this, the first person among the last twenty participants was eliminated during the second test, as he was directly transferred out of the alchemy trial the moment he failed.
…
"Yang Kai, 15 points. You can go over there and wait until the rest gets out!"
Seeing the first person being eliminated, Fang Shi could not help but sigh silently to himself while he directed the confused looking young man towards a small resting place that had just been set up for the participants to wait for the alchemy trial to finish up.
<br/>To be honest, Fang Shi already knew that the second test would end up eliminating quite a few of the participants due to its difficulty being quite a challenge for someone in the Expert Realm compared to the first test that was mostly used to test the alchemist spiritual herb knowledge.
The second test of the alchemy trial could be considered the test the weeded out most of the people, while the third test would signify the true start of the alchemy trial… As for the fourth test and above? Fang Shi honestly did not expect any of the participants to pass more than the third test…
The main reason for this, was that for one to pass the third test, one would be considered to have the qualifications to be called an Expert Alchemist of the Sky Empire, while passing the fourth test would signify that one was already at the Peak of the Expert Alchemist Realm, close to becoming an Artisan Alchemist!
Passing the fifth test was not something someone in the Expert Alchemist Realm could do…
"Looks like that kid might have a chance to pass the fourth test…"
Glancing over towards the crown prince from the Dark Sky Kingdom, Fang Shi could not help but feel a bit surprised as he watched him easily pass the second test before moving onto the third test.
If things progressed like this, it looked like he would be taking in the young crown prince as his second disciple…
Given the talent he displayed, Fang Shi felt that even if he ended up offending his first disciple, Cai Yu, he would have to accept him!
The crowd also noticed that someone had managed to pass the second test and had moved through to the third test, as all of them focused their attention onto the crown prince of the Dark Sky Kingdom while cheering.
All of them were curious what the third test of the alchemy trial was all about…
"Hm? Who is that…?"
Having been focused on the crown prince of the Dark Sky Kingdom who just entered the third test area, Fang Shi suddenly blinked both his eyes as he realized someone else had just entered a few minutes after.
From this alone, Fang Shi could already tell that the person should be extremely talented like the crown prince. The only problem was the person in question was a little girl that did stand out during the last two competitions…
But this did not matter to Fang Shi, the thing he cared the most about was talent and the little girl very clearly displayed her talent by passing through the second test just a few minutes after the Dark Sky Kingdom's crown prince!
If Qing Yi was there, she would have realized that the little girl that had just made it to the third test was none other than the little girl she had been talking with during the second and first stage of the alchemy competition!
The little girl really did not stand out at all during the two past stages and only started to show off her talent during the alchemy trial!
All of a sudden, the spectators also began to notice the little girl also passing through to the third test of the alchemy trial, as they all felt like the two were likely to be the ones competing for the first place in the Alchemy Competition and the right to become the second person disciple of the Artisan Alchemist from the Sky Empire!
Even if the ordinary spectators were just normal citizen of the Iron Sky Kingdom, they still knew about the Sky Empire and just how powerful it was! It had to be remembered that the Iron Sky Kingdom was only considered one of the many kingdoms under the Sky Empire!
…
Blob~
At the same time that both the crowd of spectators and Fang Shi were eagerly watching the little girl and the crown prince begin the third test of the alchemy trial, Qing Yi had successfully finished preparing the Smoldering Earth Flower, as she had begun the brewing process.
The brewing process itself was not simple at all, as she would have to add in each of the spiritual herbs she had prepared beforehand, while carefully controlling the temperature of the flame. Making sure the unfinished potion mixture did not get too hot or cold.
At the very least, this process was far easier for her than any other alchemist, as she both practiced a fire-based cultivation mantra and had a fire related divine body…
For Qing Yi, controlling the temperature of the fire was the least of her concerns and soon enough, she had finished adding in all the spiritual herbs except the Smoldering Earth Flower without any problems…
"Hah!"
Taking a deep breath as she knew that the most difficult part of the brewing process was about to start, Qing Yi gently placed the Smoldering Earth Flower into the potion mixture.
If she was not careful during this process, Qing Yi knew that the fire qi inside the spiritual herb might end up going out of control. Ruining the potion mixture and directly eliminating her from the alchemy trial!
Fwoosh!
As the Smoldering Earth Flower entered the potion mixture, Qing Yi instantly felt the temperature of the mixture increase rapidly, as the colour changed into a crimson red.
FWOOSH!
This was already something she had expected, and Qing Yi did not only not try to lower the temperature of the unfinished potion mixture, but instead did her best to increase it even further.
This was the final step of the brewing process for the potion she had chosen to make, and it was also the most dangerous part of the brewing process.
During this process, Qing Yi would have to increase the temperature constantly until reaching a certain point, or the unfinished potion mixture would explode.
The reason for this, was that after adding in the Smoldering Earth Flower, the potion mixture changed from a mostly harmless mixture, into what could in essence be called an active bomb that would explode if it got too cold…
Why this happened? Qing Yi had no idea and the potion recipe did not explain why the Smoldering Earth Flower turned the relatively harmless potion mixture into some sort of weird bomb that would explode if it got too cold and the temperature didn't increase fast enough…
FWOOOSH!
For now, all Qing Yi had to do, was make sure she kept steadily increasing the temperature of the potion mixture!
