Blue Phoenix

The sun rose in the sky bringing with it a new day. A day where many alchemists within the city would gather in front of the Alchemist Guild. Today was the first day of the annual alchemist’s contest, and Hui Yue had prepared the best he could do.

He had filled the Universe Box with herbs from his own world alongside the many herbs that were there from his trip to the Grave of the Unknown. He had enough herbs to create at least ten different pills, and even if he were to fail a few times, he would still be able to make these pills. He had truly emptied the Black Market Auction House of herbs this time, and he even scoured the marketplaces for rare herbs as well.

Standing up in his room, Hui Yue left it only to find that Wang Ju Long, Jo, and Lao were all waiting for him outside. Seeing his family, Hui Yue could not help but smile happily.

"Let us go then," he said, and the three nodded their heads. They were all excited about today. They knew that this contest was not simply a contest to Hui Yue, but the only way to get Sha Yun back.

Lao and Jo did not have much interaction with Sha Yun since she had done everything in her power not to be home as she wished to avoid Hui Yue. Though the few times they had met her, she had overwhelmed them with her friendliness. She had been warm and never judged their past. The impressions they had of her were all good.

Knowing how much this snake-woman meant to Hui Yue, and how friendly she had been to them, Jo and Lao were both eager to support Hui Yue during this contest. Therefore they had waited for him since dawn, not wanting for him to go alone.

Seeing that his family was willing to wait for him so long, Hui Yue felt his heart grow warm. A smile shone on his face as everyone left the mansion on flying swords headed towards the square in front of the Alchemist Guild.

The stage where the auction was held the evening before had been removed, and so had all the seats. Instead, a new stage had been erected in the middle of the square. On it tables were placed in one row after another for a total of seventy tables that were lined up in rows.

Hui Yue looked at the stage, and although he was not too worried about his ability, he could not help but feel some pressure. To him, this was so much more than a simple contest.

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.