Under the intense gazes of everyone present, Qin Yu turned over the remaining two answer sheets.
President Song couldn't help muttering, an unbelievable thought crossing his mind. “Could it... be...?”
He turned to look at Master Ji and saw the exact same conjecture reflected in his eyes.
Their previously calm minds instantly churned with turbulent waves once more.
Under the gaze of the entire audience, Qin Yu read out slowly, “The remaining two are tied for first place. They correctly identified all twelve spiritual plants for the Mind-Soothing Pill recipe.”
Immediately following that, he announced both their names: “Pei Yanji, Shi Yu.”
Hearing those names clearly, Yin Wenzhou and Qin Qingmu turned abruptly, looking toward Shi Yu standing behind the crowd in utter disbelief.
The young woman wore no makeup, her expression elegant and refined. While her features were not overwhelmingly striking, she certainly qualified as a beauty. Upon hearing she had tied for first place, her expression hardly changed. She simply stood there quietly, exuding an aura that felt otherworldly and detached from mortal concerns.
Yin Wenzhou's expression darkened and brightened unpredictably. Meanwhile, Qin Qingmu secretly bit her lip, feeling thoroughly embarrassed by her earlier bows and curtsies toward the audience.
Below the stage, President Song, Master Ji, and the others were overcome with emotion, their faces flushed with excitement. “Good! Excellent!”
However, to most people, both names were extremely unfamiliar. Neither of them was an established, renowned alchemist. Not only were the spectators utterly bewildered, looking at one another in confusion, but even the cultivators responsible for controlling the shadow-recording stones had no idea where to aim, unsure of who these two were.
Beside them, Yin Shixiu frowned slightly and called over a proctor in a low voice to inquire about their identities. After flipping through records, the proctor lowered his voice and reported, “This young lady named Shi Yu is an alchemist from Lingtai Prefecture, participating in the conference for the first time.”
Lingtai Prefecture? That remote, barren place could hardly be called a cradle of talent. It was truly surprising.
Although the Mind-Soothing Pill was not particularly difficult to refine among Tier-2 pills, its recipe had never been made public. Deducing the required spiritual plants in just three hours based solely on a single finished pill was by no means an easy task.
Even Yin Wenzhou—whom Yin Shixiu painstakingly groomed as the next association president and placed high hopes upon—had only identified eleven spiritual plants correctly despite receiving subtle hints beforehand.
Although identifying ingredients from a pill did not entirely reflect an alchemist's true skill level... to a certain extent, it still spoke volumes.
When had Lingtai Prefecture ever produced such a figure?
The proctor stole a glance at Yin Shixiu's face and added hesitantly, “Furthermore... she is only seventeen years old this year.”
Seventeen years old?! While Yin Shixiu maintained a neutral expression, his heart surged with shock and dismay.
Being able to deduce the pill recipe was astonishing enough, but hearing her age turned that astonishment straight into horror.
For a seventeen-year-old alchemist, being able to proficiently refine Tier-1 pills was already considered exceptional. Since when could someone of that age reach a level where they could deduce a Tier-2 pill recipe?
If Yin Shixiu were not certain that only he possessed this pill recipe, he would have suspected that Shi Yu had somehow used underhanded means to obtain the correct answers in advance.
Taking a deep breath, Yin Shixiu asked in a heavy tone, “What about the other one?”
The proctor was still leafing through the files. Finding it with great difficulty, he hurried to say, “Pei Yanji—”
Just after reading the name, his voice faltered.
“What, another young prodigy?” Yin Shixiu glanced at him, displeasure evident in his eyes.
Trembling nervously, the proctor spoke with difficulty: “Pei Yanji, thirty-six years old... hailing from Wanchou Prefecture.”
The moment he uttered those words, the proctor felt an abrupt, stifling silence envelop them.
Wanchou Prefecture was like a cancerous tumor among the thirty-two prefectures of the vast East Continent. The Five Elements within its boundaries were severely imbalanced, filled with poisonous swamps and toxic miasma, breeding countless evil cultivators. Furthermore, it bordered Changyuan Prefecture, and friction between the two had always been fierce. Slaughter on the border was a frequent occurrence, with blood flowing like rivers.
In terms of the Mortal Realm, the hostility between the two prefectures was akin to two warring nations.
Having an unknown alchemist like Shi Yu from a small, insignificant place like Lingtai Prefecture take first place was acceptable enough—after all, she was still an alchemist from Changyuan Prefecture.
But now, someone from Wanchou Prefecture had emerged... That was truly difficult to accept. Without a doubt, this person had come specifically for the Yanyang Spiritual Realm and the Yanyang Xuancang Flame.
Yet, the Alchemy Exchange Conference had never established a precedent forbidding alchemists from outside prefectures to participate.
Yin Shixiu and Qin Yu exchanged a look, both discerning the anxiety and urgency in each other's eyes. Since neither Yin Wenzhou nor Qin Qingmu had taken first place, the two found themselves temporarily standing on the same front.
For now, they had to figure out who these two were and keep a close eye on them in the future.
Nodding imperceptibly, Qin Yu raised his eyes and scanned the high stage, asking with a smile, “May I ask which two you are? Please step forward.”
Shi Yu stepped forward. Under the varied gazes of the surrounding alchemists, she stepped out of her designated booth and slowly walked to the front.
The alchemist named Pei Yanji, who stepped out along with her, was a man with handsome features.
He wore loose black robes over a tall, slender frame, his skin as pale as snow. At first glance, he possessed a somewhat romantic charm, yet his demeanor was extremely eerie, faint odors of rot wafting off him as though he were a walking corpse.
The corners of his lips curved upward slightly in what seemed like a mocking smile.
The shadow-recording stone promptly focused on the two of them, provoking hushed discussions throughout the audience.
“These two... I've never seen them before. Who are they?”
“That man's aura feels strange. Could he be an evil cultivator?”
“This young lady looks so young. I wonder what her bone age is.”
Qin Yu spread open their answer sheets and, as was customary, projected them before the shadow-recording stone.
Both answer sheets held identical answers, listing the twelve spiritual plants that Yin Shixiu had just announced.
Suddenly, someone voiced a question: “Huh? Wait... why did that girl named Shi Yu write down thirteen spiritual plants?”
At those words, everyone looked toward Shi Yu's answer sheet. The handwriting was extraordinarily elegant and fluid. Beside the twelve announced spiritual plants, there was one additional spiritual plant listed: “Tianqing Flower.”
The rules stated that leaving a blank earned no points and a wrong answer deducted two points, but they said nothing about how writing an extra answer would be handled.
As if seizing upon a flaw, Qin Qingmu glanced at Shi Yu and chimed in, “Could it be that Miss Shi wasn't sure between two spiritual plants, so she simply filled in both? Wouldn't that be considered taking an unfair shortcut?”
This argument sounded reasonable, and many in the crowd nodded along.
If guessing one out of two still earned full credit, it would indeed be unfair to the other competitors.
Qin Yu frowned and looked at Qin Qingmu, gesturing for her to stop talking.
If it were merely Shi Yu taking first place, it wouldn't matter if his daughter raised doubts.
However, someone from a hostile prefecture was standing right there. Considering the bigger picture, could they really allow an alchemist from an enemy prefecture to take top honors instead? What would that look like?
Qin Qingmu pressed her lips together, her eyes turning cold.
Someone else remarked, “At least she got all twelve correct. Even if she added an extra one, it doesn't really harm anything.”
“Worst case, treat it as a wrong answer and deduct two points. That still leaves her with thirty-four points, placing her in second.”
Hearing that Shi Yu's score would still be higher than hers even with a two-point penalty, Qin Qingmu couldn't help digging her fingernails into her palm.
The evil cultivator named Pei Yanji swept his gaze with keen interest between Qin Qingmu and Shi Yu, nonchalantly playing with his jet-black fingernails as he looked up and asked, “So, what is the result?”
He likewise believed that he alone deserved the title of first place.
To everyone's surprise, Yin Shixiu gave Shi Yu a complex look. Infusing spiritual energy into his voice, he allowed his words to slowly reverberate across the entire square: “She was not wrong.”
“Among the one hundred and eighty-eight spiritual plants provided to you, this 'Tianqing Flower' was not included.”
Only then did the crowd realize—he was right.
Tianqing Flower was indeed not among the options on the display racks.
Then how had she written down an answer that wasn't even among the choices?!
Yin Shixiu let out a bitter laugh, resolving everyone's confusion: “What she wrote was the complete pill recipe.”
“Had 'Tianqing Flower' been included among the choices, the difficulty for all participating alchemists would have increased by two whole tiers. That is because Tianqing Flower reacts violently with several other spiritual plants, causing complex medicinal transformations that are extremely misleading.”
“I asked all of you to select twelve spiritual plants specifically to lower the difficulty.”
The crowd erupted into an uproar.
So Yin Shixiu meant that even without Tianqing Flower provided as a candidate answer, Shi Yu had solely relied on her mastery of medicinal properties to deduce that one herb was missing and supplied it herself?!
This was simply... far too incredible.
In the spectator stands, President Song and the others were so overcome with emotion that they were rendered speechless.
Master Ji's face flushed red, his breath hitching: “No wonder Little Yu'er dragged it out until the very last moment... She actually, actually restored the true, complete pill recipe!”
Qin Qingmu's expression turned unsightly, finding such an outcome hard to accept. Yin Wenzhou fared no better, his eyes glued to Shi Yu's answer sheet as if trying to stare a hole through it. Meanwhile, Pei Yanji knitted his brows sharply, looking at Shi Yu with an unreadable gaze; only after scanning her still-youthful face did his expression gradually soften.
Most of the remaining alchemists on stage wore stunned or bewildered expressions, filled with either envy, awe, or curiosity.
As association president, Yin Shixiu harbored both admiration and faint wariness toward Shi Yu. Had Pei Yanji from Wanchou Prefecture not been present, he likely would have been quite displeased with this result.
However, Pei Yanji's true depth remained unknown, and the two prefectures shared an old enmity. Now, having Shi Yu claim first place was far better than letting Pei Yanji take it.
With mixed emotions swelling in his heart, Yin Shixiu announced: “Therefore, we shall award Little Friend Shi three additional points, bringing her total score to thirty-nine points.”
Thirty-nine points versus thirty-six points—first and second place were thus decided, and no one dared to voice any objection.
Regardless of the thoughts swirling in everyone's minds, the grand competition would continue.
Rate on N.U.
