Blue Phoenix

by Tinalynge

  In front of the Alchemy Guild was a large crowd. This was the alchemists and their masters.

  "I will go join them," Hui Yue told his family who all nodded their heads. They found locations around the stage where they could watch everything which happened.

  Landing in front of the Alchemist Guild, many of the participants and their masters took notice of Hui Yue. This was mainly because of his high rank. Knowing that he was an Emperor meant that he had much more spiritual energy than many of the other alchemists who had only unlocked their middle dantians. Although they had extra time to learn about alchemy, Hui Yue had a great advantage due to his high rank.

  Although Hui Yue was high ranked, he was not the only Emperor participating in today’s contest. Looking around, he found two others who were competing as well. Their masters were also Emperor ranked, and they looked fairly old compared to Hui Yue and the others. Seeing them, he instantly understood that they were the ones who had waited for years before participating. Clearly, they did this to almost guarantee their win.

  Hui Yue was not interested in the prize for winning; he only wanted to save Sha Yun.

  Shaking his head, Hui Yue decided not to spend any more time worrying about these old geezers. Their reasons for practicing for ten years before becoming alchemists, was their choice. No matter how strong they were, Hui Yue had no intention of losing to any of them.

  Thinking about who would be his biggest competition, Hui Yue was strangely not too worried about these common experts. Not even the ones who had trained for a decade or more. No, the only one he truly feared was Zhong Hei.

  There was enmity between him and this other expert, and Hui Yue did not doubt that this expert was willing to do anything to win. He wanted to win so that Hui Yue would lose and thereby lose his only chance to protect and get back Sha Yun.

  "Welcome, Mister Hui." One of the alchemists said. It was a newly appointed alchemist who had taken the same exam as Hui Yue and someone who had also made a medicinal pill during the final exam. Although his pill was not perfect, it was definitely enough to make him a two-tier alchemist.

  "Master Bu," Hui Yue nodded, and the two slowly stood by each other's side. Neither of them had any master present, and because of this they were feeling slightly lost. Standing next to each other, they no longer felt lost as they observed more and more alchemists arriving.

  The sun slowly moved in the sky and finally it reached its highest position. As the hot sun shone down on everyone, the woman from the exams before came out from the Alchemist Guild. Her face was straight as she looked at the many people in front of her.

  The many people waiting outside the guild split like the sea, making a road between them that no one dared block. This road made it possible for the woman to reach the stage with any problems, and as she stood on the stage, everyone quieted down. The audience became so silent that one could hear a needle if it dropped on the ground.

  "Welcome to the annual alchemist’s contest." The woman started, her voice booming throughout the entire square. Everyone heard every single word she spoke, and their hearts starting to beating quickly. Everyone was filled with excitement for what they were to about to see.

  "This annual alchemist’s contest is split into three days." The woman continued, "the first day’s contest will half the amount of alchemists present. Today we will request everyone to make the same pill, the Monkey's Strength pill. This pill is a third tier pill." The woman explained, and as she spoke her eyes swept across everyone in the audience.

  "Although you might think that this is an easy task, it is really not. You need to remember that to become part of this contest one cannot have been an alchemist for more than a year. Anyone who has been an alchemist for longer will instantly be disqualified. How hard is it to become a rank three alchemist in a year? I will let you decide on your own." Her voice sounded slightly arrogant as she knew that some would feel that the first test was quite easy.

  "Every participant find a table and get ready. There will be a recipe on each table, but the materials and cauldrons you need to bring yourself. If you do not have the items, then you are instantly disqualified." The woman said, and suddenly everyone rushed to the stage.

  Hui Yue and master Bu were not in a hurry. Both of them felt rather certain in their ability to deal with this first test and thus they took their time to find a table ready for them.

  As soon as Hui Yue arrived at the table, he found a memory stone placed in the middle while the rest of the table was completely bare.

  "You have two hours! Start!" The woman's cold voice sounded once more throughout the entire square.

  After she had spoken, every expert on top of the stage picked up the memory stone and placed it to their foreheads. Blue light after blue light shone forth as the information was imparted into the minds of the many experts.

  As the information passed into Hui Yue's mind, he took a few moments to fully understand the entire formula. The formula was not challenging for Hui Yue who had been creating pills of the seventh-tier but even so he dared not be complacent.

  Opening his eyes, he waved his hand and the herbs he needed appeared on the table in front of him. Moments after he waved his hand again and the beautiful cauldron appeared as well. Having found all his items he took a deep breath. He had found three sets of the herbs in the case that he accidentally did not refine them perfectly. He knew that the majority of the alchemists present would be able to create the pill, therefore he needed to ensure that his was perfect.

  This pill allowed for the consumer to gain the strength of the Black Emperor Monkey, a monkey which was known throughout legends as one of the most dangerous beasts alive.

  The pill required a total of five Emperor ranked beast cores on top of a large portion of medicinal herbs, a few of them which were very rare.

  Had Hui Yue not emptied the Black Market Auction House and bought a lot of items in the marketplaces, then even he would have problems providing three sets of materials.

  Hui Yue, who was fully focused on refining the first herb the thousand tears root, had no time to look around; however, if he had he would have noticed that of the seventy experts four had already left their tables.

  Although this Monkey's Strength pill was only a third-tier pill, it was at the very limit almost becoming a fourth-tier pill. Not only that, the materials for it were even more precious than most five to sixth-tier pills.

  Hui Yue was focused solely on the herbs he had within the cauldron. He controlled his flame perfectly, making it the right temperature whenever he switched from one herb to another. After what seemed to be an eternity, but which had only been an hour, he finished refining all the herbs. It was now time to refine the beast cores.

  Picking up one beast core, he dropped the temperature of the flame within the cauldron, and as the beast core entered the cauldron, it started to crack. As he increased the heat more and more, cracks appeared on the surface core. This slowly caused the energy within to leak out.

  This energy from the beast core was the energy which the magical beast had used in their cultivation. It was not Qi, nor was it spiritual energy, or Wu Wei, it was a completely different energy. It was an energy which was hard for humans to absorb unless it was in the form of medicinal pills and pastes which had been refined. It could also be used in weapons as fuel to increase their power.

  Having finished the refinement of the first Emperor beast core the entire core itself cracked into thousands of small shards which burned into nothingness. The energy itself now floated around the refined pastes of the herbs.

  Another beast core entered the cauldron and was quickly refined. Soon all the beast cores had been refined, and all the materials were ready. Now all Hui Yue needed to do now was merge all the pastes and energies together and place them within a dragon pearl.

  A dragon pearl was a pearl which was much larger than a normal pearl. To be able to contain the powerful energies within the Monkey's Strength pills one had to use a Dragon Pearl.
These pills were without question some of the most expensive ones on the market, but due to their ability to grant an outstanding increase of strength, there was always people willing to buy them.

  Looking at the cauldron Hui Yue's eyes were fully focused on the task in front of him as he started merging the various energies.

  Chapter 425 - The Contest

  * * *

  Chapter 425: The Contest

  Looking at the different energies within the cauldron, Hui Yue slowly took a dragon pearl which was laying on the table and placed it within.

  Sweat poured down his forehead, but with a swift wipe of his robe, he once more focused on the ingredients that were within the cauldron. As the dragon pearl entered the cauldron, a white mist evaporated from within the pearl and the previously hard shell became soft. Focusing on the materials, Hui Yue slowly merged all of them together, a process which took him an entire half hour. He took his time merging them very slowly, and ensuring that all of them did not lose any of their potency.

  First, he merged all the plant pastes together after which he very slowly added the energy from the beast cores. Finally, he ensured that all of these merged perfectly before he slowly forced them into the dragon pearl.

  Touching the soft shell of the dragon pearl the merged medicine slowly dripped into the pearl, one drop at a time. Without rushing, he allowed for this medicinal paste to fill the pearl.

  The moment all the medicine was inside the pearl Hui Yue turned up the temperature of the flame within the cauldron, and once more the soft shell of the pearl was heated up. The more heat it absorbed, the softer the shell became.

  It no longer looked like the pearl it had been earlier with its lustrous white light. Instead, the pearl was now red with beautiful golden lines. These colors were the color the medicinal paste had been, the red was the medicinal pills, the golden lines were from the beast cores.

  Removing his flame from within the cauldron, Hui Yue reached inside and picked up the medicinal pill. A strong medicinal scent started to waft out from the pill in his hand, and with a very careful gesture, Hui Yue place the pill inside a jade bottle. This jade bottle was then placed at the front of his table after which he waved his hand and withdrew everything into his Universe Box.

  Looking around, he found that he was not the only one who had finished his pill, at least a fourth of the experts on the stage were done. Of the many people who still had not finished, some were struggling while others had serious expressions but were clearly on the right path.

  Everyone who had finished their pill was confident that they would head to the next part of the competition. Amongst these alchemists were the ones who had trained for more than ten years.

  Although these experts were certain that they had done well enough, none of them sought to craft a perfect pill. To form a perfect pill, especially one of the difficulty of the Monkey's Strength pill meant that they needed far more time than the two hours they were given.

  Because of this may of them were certain that they would go far. They knew no one would be able to trump their achievements, and they had looks of arrogance on their faces as they looked over the many alchemists present. Even looks of contempt were in their eyes as they noticed that Hui Yue had finally finished his pill.

  As a person who was of the Emperor rank, they had taken him to be one of their greatest challengers, but seeing how long it had taken him to concoct a mere third-tier pill, they now started to look down upon him.

  Meeting the many gazes, Hui Yue was not in one bit bothered by their thoughts and the clarity and pride within Hui Yue's eyes made the other's look away after a short while. None of them were able to stand his gaze without getting uncomfortable.

  In the crowd, Jo, Lao, and Wang Ju Long were all standing with their hearts beating fast. When they saw Hui Yue was having a hard time they had been nervous, but when he finished his pill they cheered loudly. They were all there to support him with all their might.

  Hui Yue, who had finished his pill also looked over the many opponents, and his eyes landed on Zhong Hei. The moment he saw him his heart grew cold and a killing intent rose around him. He quickly suppressed the hate he was feeling, but every time he looked at Zhong Hei, he swore that he would win the first price. He swore that Sha Yun would become free once more, free to return to Hui Yue and his family.

  Looking at Zhong Hei, Hui Yue noticed that although he was still refining, he was also aiming for a perfect pill. The moment he noticed this, Hui Yue gritted his teeth. He knew that the other experts would be troublesome as well, but he was not worried about them. He had Silvermoon's Pill to use so he should be able to win this tournament; however, something about Zhong Hei made him worried. He felt that as long as Zhong Hei was part of the competition, winning would not be as easy as he had expected.

  Zhong Hei was part of Zhong Fai's Frozen Army. This army had a great many secrets, and it would not surprise Hui Yue if they had outstanding secrets about alchemy. Knowing this, he gritted his teeth and hate flashed through his eyes.

  "Bring it on." He mumbled. "Anything you can do, I can do better." He said mumbling to himself. Hui Yue finally calmed down, and his eyes left Zhong Hei moving to all the other experts that were participating in the contest.

  It was clear that many of these contestants were incapable of creating the pill. They had become alchemists just recently, and they were truly only one-ranked or two-ranked alchemists. For them to try and create a third-tier pill was simply asking too much.

  The time slowly ticked by and soon the two hours passed. The woman who was judging the competition suddenly stood up, and her cold voice once more resounded through the square, "step away from your tables!"

  Everyone did as they were told; some did it with regret, others with excitement on their faces.

  "Anyone who failed in concocting the pill, leave the stage." The woman called out, and slowly one alchemist after another followed her order. They packed up their things in memory stones and slowly made their way off the stage. Almost half of them left on their own as they had not finished the pill.

  "Five more will also be eliminated," The woman announced to everyone who had successfully refined and concocted the pill. "Stand in line and come up here. The five worst will be placed to the side. Every time someone has a worse pill than these five, they will be replaced. Eventually, the five with the worst pills will be asked to leave."

  Looking around everyone was frowning. They had all completed the pill and thus expected to pass. Who would have thought that even five of the ones who succeeded would have to leave?

  Standing in a line, everyone held their jade bottle in their hands. Slowly the line made their way to her, and people were judged on their pill. The first five were naturally chosen to be the worst but quickly were replaced by people with lower quality pills than them.

  By the time it was Hui Yue's turn he handed over his pill to the cold woman, and for the first time since the line had formed she opened her cold eyes showing a hint of surprise. Letting the pill roll out from within she observed it from every angle. With a smile, she could not help but praise it. "To think that you were capable of refining a perfect pill in only two hours!" She said amazed. Although her words were not as loud as they had been when she made announcements, her voice was strong enough for every alchemist to hear, alongside many of the closest audience.

  Hearing that he had managed to create a perfect pill in such a short amount of time, everyone present looked at him with new eyes. They were all shocked to hear that he had succeeded in making such a pill and those who had looked at him with contempt no longer did. Their eyes were filled with disbelief instead. They now placed him as their most challenging opponent.

  Hui Yue nodded and stepped to the side; he was not in the running for the last five spaces.

  The pill was taken by the woman much like she took every pill before. Although the alchemists provide the materials, the pills belonged to the Alchemist Guild. That was the rule, and no one qu
estioned it.

  After Hui Yue, it only took around ten minutes before it was Zhong Hei's turn to be examined, and he too had produced a perfect pill. The moment he was praised by the woman, the man looked directly at Hui Yue with a smirk on his face. Everyone present could feel the tension between the two, yet at this moment Hui Yue just returned the smile with one of his own.

  Hui Yue, although feeling slightly threatened by Zhong Fai, was also aware that he had the skills to win. He had to do his very best. He had to be constantly focused so he would not mess up, only then would he be capable of winning the competition.

  "These are the five worst," The woman announced harshly, and her voice once more filled the entire square. "You five leave the stage." Her order was not rushed, but the five all struggled to accept that although they had managed to create the pill, they still failed in proceeding to the second round.

  "The next test is tomorrow at noon, make sure to be here by then!" The woman said and then left the stage with all the pills in her storage stone. She moved directly into the Alchemist Guild as many in the audience looked at her with greed and jealousy in their eyes as she had so many valuable pills on her.