Chapter 532: Admitting defeat at the Grand Medicine Testing Convention (2/2)
How shocking!
The noisy crowd fell silent once again. Everyone exchanged glances of disbelief. Such levels of handiwork required massive practice. Head Elder Xie exchanged glances with the Xie Clan Head and revealed a satisfied smile. The Xie Clan ace had set the world on fire with a single brilliant feat!
Meanwhile, Wang Gong glanced at the remaining ingredients on Xie Peng’s table and sucked in a cold breath as he came to a sudden realization. Xie Peng busied himself with writing down the prescription before handing it over with the pill at the same time. The emcee glanced over the paper and nearly dropped the pill in shock.
Just what kind of medicine had Xie Peng made?
The folding screen between Wang Shuchen and Xie Peng was taken away, revealing the opponents facing each other. Wang Shuchen stepped forward with a slight bow, his hands clasped before his chest. He had a smart and elegant carriage, but Xie Peng only glanced at him before ignoring him outright.
“Rude little rascal!”
“All he knows is some fancy tricks, how could he be so arrogant?”
“Young Fourth, don’t put yourself on the same level as that suckling babe…”
Beneath the stage, the Wang Clan members were all feeling ruffled by Xie Peng’s attitude, but Wang Shuchen didn’t speak. He returned to his spot with a peaceful expression. Despite this, Xie Peng laughed coldly and said, “I’ve never paid respects to losers. He’s not worthy!”
Despite his youth, he had quite the haughty air. Wang Gong only furrowed his eyebrows unhappily at the sight. Wang Shuchen couldn’t hold his expression after a slight like that, and said coldly, “The winner’s yet to be determined. Don’t talk big!”
“Dare to make a bet with me?” Xie Peng asked loudly. Wang Shuchen hadn’t replied before he added, “If you lose, call me your grandpa!”
The audience burst into laughter at those words. Someone else shouted, “Peng, you brat, wouldn’t that mean the clan head has to call you ‘father?’”
Bang! Wang Shuchen slammed his fist on the table, furious. “Head Elder Xie, are we continuing this competition or not?”
In the distance, Ouyang Ningnuo laughed out loud as well. “Your Excellency Pill Fiend, even you weren’t as aggressive as this boy when you were young, right? They haven’t even picked a winner yet. If he really claims the championship, he might not even put you in his eyes, right?”
Long Feiye simply ignored him. When he saw Wang Gong look uneasy, he knew that the situation had turned bad.
“Of course we have to continue. Otherwise, how will we determine the victor?” Though Xie Peng’s proposed bet never came to pass, Head Elder Xie’s words were filled with mocking!
The master of ceremonies handed Wang Shuchen’s pill to Xie Peng and Xie Peng’s pill to Wang Shuchen, then passed on the two prescriptions to the Council of Elders. Anxiety stole upon the crowd again. As the various Elders examined the prescriptions, their expressions turned both serious and strange. Onstage, the true competition had begun. Wang Shuchen was carefully testing the pill by weighing it in his hand and examining its color, smell, and taste. He sliced it into bits, ground parts of it into powder, and mixed it with water, among other things, to test it repeatedly while taking notes. There were countless details to take note of, such as the ingredients included in the pill and their respective quantities, the order of mixing in the ingredients, the amount of water used, and its market value and drug potency.
While doing all this, Wang Shuchen tuned out the rest of the world, but they had tuned him out as well to focus wholly on Xie Peng. All he did was pop the pill in his mouth and chew on it a bit while taking notes on a piece of paper. He even looked careless and absent-minded while doing it.
Both competitors were given the same length of incense to test their respective pills. This time, Xie Peng quickly handed over the prescription of Wang Shuchen’s pill, while the latter was still laboring to figure out the various ingredients. He had started out strong but ended up crossing out and re-writing many of his later entries, completely uncertain.
Time waited for no one, so gradually he began to panic. Many times, he lifted his head to look at the incense stick as he grew increasingly nervous. At the same time, the Council of Elders had already reviewed Xie Peng’s written prescription and saw that it matched Wang Shuchen’s original list exactly.
“Xie Peng’s prescription is completely correct!” the emcee declared loudly.
Wang Shuchen grew even more desperate. He wrote a few more strokes before giving up altogether. “I lost!”
The crowd broke into an uproar. Even though there was still some time left, Wang Shuchen had given up so easily! Admitting defeat and being declared the loser were two completely different things!
What happened?