Cultivating Disciples to Breakthrough

Making their way to the competition ground through the busy streets of the capital, Xuan Hao and Qing Yi cam to a stop in front of an enormous mineshaft that had been repurposed for the alchemy competition, with seating spaces being carved out into the sides of the mineshaft itself for the spectators to watch the competition.

The mineshaft itself was not deeper than a few dozen meters and instead covered an extremely large area. Looking at it from another point of view, the mineshaft should not be a finished one, but instead a new mineshaft under construction.

If not for the fact that a few things were still left on the sides of the huge, repurposed mineshaft in construction that indicated the large hole in the ground's true purpose, Xuan Hao would have easily believed that the competition ground had been made just for the purpose of the alchemy competition...

"So large...!" Opening her mouth in surprise upon seeing the huge hole in the ground easily the size of a small town.

In essence, the hole in the ground was not much different from the giant mineshaft that was located beneath the first town they had visited upon entering the Iron Sky Kingdom. The only difference was the fact that the hole in front of them was nowhere near as deep as the mineshaft they had witnessed beneath the town close to the borders of the Iron Sky Kingdom.

That mineshaft was at least a few thousand meters deep... Not like the unfinished one in front of them.

"So, this is where the alchemy competition will be held..."

"It looks quite similar in size to the mineshaft in the town we saw back at the borders..."

Arriving a little later than Xuan Hao and Qing Yi, Chi Hu and Gong Bo both looked at the giant hole in the ground in front of them.

"Let's get going, we still need to get Qing Yi to the other participants before the start of the competition!" Seeing the other elders show up as well behind Chi Hu and Gong Bo, Xuan Hao didn't intend to just stand around at the entrance of the competition ground and made his way inside together with Qing Yi.

""Yes!"" Hearing what Xuan Hao said, the others quickly followed him inside.

The guards at the entrance didn't stop them either after having seen the invitation given to all the participants by the Alchemist from the Sky Empire.

Like this, the group soon split off from Qing Yi, as she made her way towards the area where the participants of the competition would stay until its start, while Xuan Hao, Chi Hu, Gong Bo and the rest of the elders made their way towards a spectating area reserved for the people who came along with the participants.

"Hah... Wait-"

Barely managing to catch a glimpse of one of his friends from the Alchemy Hall as he entered the competition ground, the elder from the Alchemy Hall who left the manor last. Felt a wave of panic running through him as he watched his friend disappear out of view.

"Hm? What are you screaming for?"

Having heard the elder's scream, one of the guards standing at the entrance came over and asked him with a suspicious look on his face.

"I was a little late to show up and my friends entered before me..."

Saying this with a sad look on his face, the elder knew very well that he would likely not have a chance of entering now that the others were already inside...

"Sure, sure... If you want to enter, I recommend using the entrance over there, this one is only used for participants and the people coming together with them!" Rolling his eyes upon hearing what the elder said, the guard pointed towards a giant entrance located a few hundred meters away from the one they were guarding.

"..."

The only problem was the fact that an enormous line of people was currently queued up in front of said giant entrance...

Will I even be able to get a spectator seat by the time it's my turn...?

Knowing very well that he had missed his chances of getting in with the others, the elder sighed deeply to himself before making his way towards the large line of people in front of the giant gate.

No matter what, he would not be able to get anything out of getting angry with the guards or trying to talk his way inside. After all, in their eyes, he was just someone who had come to skip the line and enter without waiting...

Thinking about this, the elder reluctantly lined up at the back of the massive line in front of the giant entrance...

Hopefully he would be able to meet up with the others upon entering...

...

Having separated from her master and the rest of the elders who had come together with her to the Iron Sky Kingdom, Qing Yi felt a bit nervous as she all by herself for the first time since her arrival at the capital of the Iron Sky Kingdom.

Walking along a mostly empty corridor inside the rocky wall surrounding the enormous hole in the ground that had been repurposed for the alchemy competition, Qing Yi finally came to a halt in front of a small doorway with the words [Participant Registration] written on it.

"This should be the place..." Muttering this to herself, Qing Yi opened the door and entered the room behind it.

Creak~

"Hm?"

Upon entering the room, the first thing that caught her eyes, was a few other young people like herself sitting down as they curiously looked over towards a young man that could be seen talking to an elderly man sitting with a small book in front of him writing something down.

"So, you are Luo Jin from the Fire Sky Kingdom?"

"Yes!"

"I see, go through the second door over there and the person on the other side will instruct you on what to do next!"

Nodding his head upon hearing what the elderly man said, the young man soon disappeared through one of the four doors located behind the elderly man.

"Next one!" Seeing that the young man had left, the elderly man pointed towards a girl sitting down just a few meters away from Qing Yi.

Soon enough, the young girl was asked a few questions about where she was from, he name, age and so on before she was also sent towards one of the four doors behind the elderly man.

As this continued for the next few minutes, Qing Yi noticed that most of the people inside the room were all weaker than her when it came to cultivation.

The strongest outside of herself was another girl who had reached the Fourth Stage of the Foundation Establishment Realm...

Thinking a bit about this, Qing Yi realized that the people around her had most likely spent all their time on alchemy. In turn, the girl who had reached the Fourth Stage of the Foundation Establishment Realm might actually be worse than the other young people inside the room when it came to alchemy...

This thought caused Qing Yi to grow a bit nervous. After all, she herself had not spent more than a year or so learning alchemy!

Would she really be able to go up against someone who had focused on learning alchemy far before her...?

"Next one!"

Feeling the gaze of the elderly man focus on her, Qing Yi flinched slightly as she quickly got up from the chair, she had found for herself to sit on after entering the room.

"What is your name and where are you from?"

"Qing Yi, I'm from the Flying Sword Sect!"

Feeling herself grow nervous being stared at by the elderly man in front of her, Qing Yi bit her tongue to calm herself down a bit before answering the question.

"Qing Yi, Flying Sword Sect..." Muttering these things, the elderly man quickly scanned through the book in front of him before writing down a few things.

"Qing Yi, what part of alchemy are you the most proficient in? The Art of Potions or the Art of Pills?"

"The Art of Potions!" Hearing the question, Qing Yi did not hesitate in the slightest as she answered.

Alchemy could be split up into two major sides, the alchemist making potions and the ones making pills.

Although there was really no difference between the two overall, there still was a few unique aspects to both sides.

When talking about this, Qing Yi had practiced making potions way more than pills. Even when she had been taught by her master over the past week, it had mostly been in regard to potions.

From the start, she had not learnt too much when it came to pills and had mostly been focusing on the aspect of potions when it came to alchemy.

"I see, go through the fourth door over there and the person on the other side will instruct you on what to do next!"

Getting almost the exact same line she had heard when she had first entered the room, Qing Yi nervously made her way towards the fourth door behind the elderly man.

Creak~

Opening the door and seeing a long empty corridor appear in front of her, Qing Yi slowly made her way into the corridor...