The Sword God of the Universe

Chapter 530: Chapter 230 This is Impossible!

As the white-robed elder’s voice faded, several figures leapt down from the highest steps.

These individuals began collecting the answer sheets from the Pill Masters before them.

Moments later, one of them approached Jing Yan.

”Pill Master number sixty-six?” the person asked Jing Yan, expressionless.

”Yes!” Jing Yan nodded in response.

Then, the person picked up the pen on the desk and wrote the number sixty-six at the top of Jing Yan’s paper.

”Any problems?” the person asked again.

”None!”

After Jing Yan responded, the person collected his answer sheet before moving on to gather the others’.

Moments later, all the answer sheets had been collected and were taken back up to the highest steps, placed before the ten judges.

”Participating Pill Masters, you may now move freely. However, you must not leave the staircase plaza where you are currently situated,” the white-robed elder said with a wave of his hand.

”My God! It’s too hard, this Alchemy Competition’s Medicine Identification is seriously tough!”

”Yeah, damn it, I’m afraid I didn’t even get fifty correct.”

”How many did you identify?” the Pill Masters, just having finished the Medicine Identification, began discussing among themselves, with hardly a single one of them looking pleased.

Some even had darkened faces with reddened eyes, their bodies trembling.

”Alchemist Jing Yan, how many Spirit Grasses did you identify? This year’s Alchemy Competition is really difficult, much harder than the last,” Qiu Fang quickly came over to ask Jing Yan.

The other Pill Masters representing Golden Sparrow Commerce also gathered around Jing Yan. These individuals were unaware of Jing Yan’s previous Alchemy contest with Qiu Fang, but given Qiu Fang’s superior abilities, they held him in high respect. Therefore, they were also very polite to Jing Yan, at least superficially.

The matter of Jing Yan’s competition with Qiu Fang that day was known to only a few within Golden Sparrow Commerce. Aside from the president Qing Ru and Prince Lan Qu Zhou Shangyun, the others were all directors of Golden Sparrow Commerce who were loyal and also shareholders, so naturally, they would not leak internal news without reason.

”It is indeed quite challenging,” Jing Yan nodded.

”Hm, I wrote less than fifty answers, and many of them I’m not certain about. Alas, I might not be able to pass the first stage,” a female Pill Master from Golden Sparrow Commerce said, shaking her head helplessly.

”I’m not much better than you, I wrote over sixty answers, but I’m not sure if some of them are correct,” Qiu Fang said after glancing at the female Pill Master.

”That’s quite a blow!” another person said with a bitter smile, ”Alchemist Qiu Fang, this time we might have to rely on you. Among us, you’re the only one confident of advancing to the second stage.”

This Pill Master was also a fifth-level Alchemist, but obviously not on par with Qiu Fang. Qiu Fang had the Seventh-level Alchemist Ximang as his teacher, which was good fortune the others lacked. Even in Pill Country, finding a High-level Alchemist as a master was no easy feat.

”You are mistaken, I can’t compare to Alchemist Jing Yan,” Qiu Fang said, waving his hand.

”Oh?” The others were slightly taken aback.

They could sense that Qiu Fang’s attitude was sincere and not false modesty. Noticing this, they all turned their eyes to Jing Yan.

Jing Yan simply smiled, not saying much.

Up on the highest steps, the ten judges were reviewing the answer sheets of the Pill Masters.

”Ah, this one got thirty-seven correct!”

”This one is good, forty-nine correct!”

”This one is a bit poor, only twenty-five correct! They probably don’t have a chance to advance!”

While reviewing the answer sheets, the judges shook their heads and sighed.

”This year’s Medicine Identification is indeed challenging. I’ve reviewed over a dozen papers here, and not a single one has gotten over fifty correct to score fifty points,” a female judge mentioned to the other judges.

”The same here, the highest score I’ve got is forty-six points!” another judge nearby said with a smile.

”It seems that this time, getting forty points might be enough to advance to the next stage,” an elderly judge said with narrowed eyes and a faint voice.

The review process was swift; each judge was an eighth-level Alchemist with exceptional capabilities in the Alchemy Dao. Moreover, they all knew the answers beforehand and could tell at a glance how many answers on each sheet were correct.

”Wow, this one is good, seventy-nine correct, nearly eighty points!” someone suddenly exclaimed, eyes shining with a sharp light.

”What? Seventy-nine points? Let me see!” other judges crowded around immediately, looking at the answer sheet with some excitement.

A score of seventy-nine was exceptional, exciting indeed.

Truth be told, the greater the difficulty of the Alchemy Competition, the more it reflected a Pill Master’s abilities and foundation. If it were too simple, everyone would get over eighty points, and the differences would be few. Eighty points to one hundred points only differ by twenty. But now, with increased difficulty, the gaps were significant.

”Truly not bad!”

”Hmm, this number eighty-nine, very good. This person is probably a young Pill Master from an Alchemy Dao Family,” someone said with admiration.

Several judges from Alchemy Dao Families exchanged glances.

They were unaware if this answer sheet belonged to someone from their own family; the sheets only had numbers, not names, so they could not know which family’s Pill Master it belonged to.

As time passed, more answer sheets were reviewed. Occasionally, high scores would emerge, but high-scoring sheets were so rare that most were below fifty points.

”This one’s amazing, eighty-three points, indeed impressive. Given the difficulty of this Medicine Identification, I’d reckon even some High-level Alchemists could only achieve eighty points,” someone said, holding an answer sheet with a joyful expression.

”Ha-ha, I have one with eighty-six points!” another person immediately laughed.

”It’s impossible! This cannot be!”

Suddenly, a voice rang out!

All the judges turned to look in that direction.

”Alchemist Sun Qi, what’s wrong?”

”Brother Sun, what’s the situation? What’s impossible?”

”...” The other judges looked toward this Sun Qi with puzzled expressions, asking what had happened.

Sun Qi was a disciple of Hu Donghe. Across the entire Heavenly Origin Continent, he had a prestigious reputation as a powerful Pill Master, highly respected. The other judges held him in high regard.

At that moment, however, Sun Qi’s face was flushed red, and he appeared extremely excited. The other judges were baffled, and so they began to ask what had happened.

”Inconceivable! It’s a bit outrageous; where did this number sixty-six come from?” Instead of answering the questions of the others, Sun Qi continued to speak to himself.