Chapter 72: The Preliminary Round

When Lin An and his companions arrived at the royal city of the Jia Ma Empire, there were only three days left until the Alchemist Grand Competition. Lin An stayed with the Nalan family; both Nalan Su and Nalan Jie now regarded Lin An as their son-in-law. As for Xiao Yan, in their hearts, he could not compare to Lin An at all. Only a young man as outstanding as Lin An was worthy of being Nalan Yanran’s husband.

Lin An did not make any particular effort to inquire about Xiao Yan. After all, there were many ways Xiao Yan might sneak into the Alchemist Grand Competition, and Lin An even suspected that Xiao Yan might not use the name Yan Xiao this time. After all, if Xiao Yan participated as an alchemist from the Chu Yun Empire, he would likely be drowned by the scorn of the Jia Ma Empire’s people. At the same time, the Chu Yun Empire would surely become wary of him and likely never trust him again.

At last, the day of the Alchemist Grand Competition arrived. Before dawn, the royal city of the Jia Ma Empire was already bustling with people. Alchemists, rare to see on ordinary days, now appeared in groups along the streets. Outside the square, fully armed troops were stationed to maintain order. Such a grand event gathered countless powerful figures from all directions; if chaos were to break out, the imperial capital would suffer tremendous impact, so the Jia Ma royal family took extreme precautions.

At the entrance of the square, inspectors from the Alchemist Guild were stationed. Only guild members and competitors could enter from there, while the audience had separate entrances. Led by Gu He, Lin An and his group entered the square without any hindrance, walked up a raised approach, and then the vast, imposing square finally unfolded before Lin An’s eyes.

The square was circular, with countless seats arranged on either side—those must be for the audience. Facing the seats, a row of obviously much more luxurious chairs was set aside for the guild's high-ranking members and the leaders of the empire’s great powers.

Already, many contestants had arrived in the square, quietly seated on stone chairs behind blue stone platforms, waiting for the contest to begin. As time passed, more and more alchemists poured out of the passageways, searching for their assigned spots according to their contestant tokens.

Lin An and his companions had their seats specially arranged. As the contest had not yet begun, they simply sat and waited for it to start. In the end, more than thirteen hundred people had registered for this competition. As for how many of them were third-tier or even higher-ranked alchemists, no one knew. Lin An estimated that the number would not be small. This Alchemist Grand Competition was no longer the same as in the original story.

As time passed, the start of the competition finally approached under the anticipation of thousands. When a crisp chime of a bell rang out above the square, the previously soaring cacophony of voices fell into sudden silence.

“In the name of the President of the Jia Ma Empire’s Alchemist Guild, I hereby declare the Seventh Alchemist Grand Competition—open!” announced President Fa Ma.

As his voice faded, the whole venue erupted into enthusiastic cheers that echoed for a long time.

Afterward, all the alchemists began making their way to their designated spots. Lin An did the same.

“This year’s Alchemist Grand Competition differs from previous years,” President Fa Ma declared, “as you can all see. Therefore, the pill to be refined this time will be a third-tier prescription provided by the Alchemist Guild, along with the necessary spiritual herbs!”

No sooner had Fa Ma finished speaking than a wave of doubts arose.

“A third-tier pill? Only third-tier alchemists can refine such a pill. Had we known, we should have set the entry bar at third-tier from the start.”

“That’s right! Even just refining it is extremely difficult, and knowing the competition, the herbs provided are probably suspect as well!”

“Isn’t President Fa Ma overestimating everyone? A third-tier pill—does he intend to eliminate almost everyone from the start?”

Many raised objections, and even the young contestants below changed expressions upon hearing that the preliminary round required refining a third-tier pill. After all, this was just the first round.

Lin An smiled to himself. A third-tier pill was an effortless task for him. The Pill of Breaking Adversity, a third-tier pill, was usually used when attempting a breakthrough. Among the herbs provided by the guild, three were not needed for this pill. If any of those three were used, not only would the pill be ruined on the spot, there could even be danger.

With his sharp insight, Lin An instantly saw through the trick with a glance.

On the field, some had already begun refining. Half an hour later, people started failing and leaving the stage. As time went on, more and more contestants were eliminated.

“This competition is simply unfair! Why didn’t they announce beforehand that a third-tier pill was required in the first round?”

“That’s right! In past competitions, third-tier pills were only required in the final round. This is just too much!”

“I’m sure very few can actually refine the Pill of Breaking Adversity. This is practically the final contest already!”

Many of the eliminated alchemists voiced their doubts about the fairness of the event, and President Fa Ma’s face grew ugly. It had been Gu He who had approached him, vowing that the bar should be raised for the preliminary round, as this would be an unprecedented grand event.

Yet so far, not a single person had succeeded in refining the Pill of Breaking Adversity, and to make matters worse, the prescription provided was misleading. Even an experienced third-tier alchemist would find it nearly impossible to succeed. If almost everyone was eliminated at this stage, it would be truly humiliating—especially before the other empires’ alchemist guilds.

But regret was useless now; all Fa Ma could do was pray that someone would succeed soon.

Just as Fa Ma was falling into despair, at last, someone succeeded in refining a third-tier Pill of Breaking Adversity. The alchemist was unknown, mysterious, with no one knowing his origins or mentor. Perhaps because someone had broken the ice, more and more contestants managed to refine the pill.

Only then did Fa Ma breathe a long sigh of relief.

Seeing that the time was right, Lin An also finished refining his Pill of Breaking Adversity and handed it to the guild’s appraiser. Once it was confirmed to be up to standard, Lin An left the arena directly.