Chapter 349 (1/2)

”What are all of these people doing here? Did a star elder grace us with their presence?”

A person asked after arriving at the pill-making competition. This sect member was just interested in seeing the disciples compete.

For some reason, there were a lot more people here this year. The pill hall had a large building and the competition would be taking place inside.

There were two parts to this competition. One would be picking out the right materials while the second one would be pill creation. Both were important processes that a pill maker needed to know. They had to have the ability to distinguish the materials while also knowing how to put them together.

”You don't know brother?”

”No, what happened?”

”Well listen well, a new genius has appeared.”

”A genius?”

The person nodded while explaining about the new rising star called Dai Rong.

”Won three competitions already? Even the blacksmithing one?”

”Yes, everyone is taking bets if he can win the fourth one!”

While the two were talking a chime sounded which caused everyone to quiet down.

”The pill-making competition will commence now, we from the pill hall wish for everyone to be silent.”

Zhang Dong found himself being stared at. The place they were doing this competition was another large hall building.

It was quite spacious but also somewhat stuffy. There were about a hundred participants. There were many tables in this hall, on them large piles of dried herbs. He instantly knew what this was about. Even before being given the pill to make, they would be tested on their knowledge of materials.

”Welcome to this year's pill-making competition, this year we will be making the Crystal mountain establishment pill!”

The people around started whispering while the young alchemists looked down. This pill was quite hard to make as it allowed a person to push through a large realm. It was a mortal grade pill but a tricky one to make for these new pill masters.

”When the chime sounds, you will have an incense stick time to pick the herbs. If you don't know the recipe you will be asked to leave!”

Even before it started a few people let themselves out with heads lowered. This was quite shameful so they were greeted with laughs and smirks.

Zhang Dong was well aware of the crafting process and what herbs he needed to get. This was all thanks to raiding the two libraries.

'This pill requires a small lesser mortal grade beast core and then various herbs...'

He looked at the piled-up herbs and other materials. For a normal person, it would be hard to pick up the right item. Even an experienced master could make a blunder.

Not every herb increased in quality over time. Some m.a.t.u.r.ed early while other ones could take millennia to m.a.t.u.r.e for a few minutes before withering away. A master would need to then be ready to fashion something out of this material before it was wasted.

Zhang Dong on the other hand could just scan the items with his system's identification skill that he bought all these years before. He was sure to level it up to the maximum, with this he would be able to find any hidden gems in this pile of greenery.

'After I get the materials I need a pill furnace…'

In this competition to keep it fair, the pill furnaces were provided by the sect. Due to the number of participants, the pill furnaces were rather lacking in quality. This meant that if the pill maker made too many blunders they risked the furnace exploding or ruining the pill.

An important part of these furnaces was the fire. It was a treasure in itself and depending on the rarity the heat varied. These flame tongues could be kept in special spatial rings that kept them suspended in time. Depending on the rarity they could even burn for centuries.

There were various pill forging techniques that worked like magic. The pill maker would push their spiritual energy into this pill furnace and mix the ingredients inside. The special flames would also need to be controlled by their Qi. Infusing more would cause these flames to burn faster but also use up its limited usage.

Just as the furnaces the flames would be provided by the sect. These flames were quite lacking in quality and would not last for long. With this, the pill makers needed to create a pill while the time ticked against them.

While waiting for the elder to finish making his speech Zhang Dong continued looking around. He could tell that there were some Martial Grandmaster realm elders around watching him. This was a bit disheartening as he hoped to get a Martial Saint interested.

With someone of that caliber, it would be guaranteed that he would make it into the inner sect as a disciple. Regretfully there weren't any Martial Saints in the outer sect. All of those elders were experts that didn't need to attend such events. From what he knew only at the battle competition one of them would be forced to attend.

”You are getting ahead of yourself.”

While waiting he heard someone's voice next to him. It was a thin youth in a pure white robe and long dark hair. He looked quite handsome but a bit thin.