From the Heavens Descended an Immortal Sister
Chapter 185 - 185: 183 Chapter: Will Our Relationship Change_1

"Subversion?"

Chen Cheng was stunned. The weight behind these two words was immense—could his understanding of alchemy be so easily subverted by a junior?

Yet, on the other hand, Lin Bozhong was not one to make groundless claims. If he was unsure, he would never say such things—that was impossible.

Regarding this, Chen Cheng maintained an attitude of half-belief, half-doubt.

...

As the aristocratic scions and their parents in the stands began to chatter incessantly, some of the students below, who considered themselves of no lesser status, also started to show their disdain.

"Ha, for an elder of a first-class Alchemy Guild to talk about elementary-level topics at such an event, how childish!"

"How is society these days? Everyone knows it. Instead of spending so much effort stressing about all that superficial stuff, it would be better to think how to make people speak of my household's contributions, a distinguished name for thousands of years."

"If I believed what he said, then I might as well have lived all these years in vain. What's the use of high quality if it's not about strength being supreme? A Xuanyang Realm master could say anything distasteful, and you have no right to resist—do you talk about quality with such a person?"

...

Seventh Elder's face grew more and more livid as he listened to some of the aristocrats' words.

The reason he had said all that was for their own good. If they truly angered the princess of the Bai Family or Young Master Fang of the Fang Family, any of the families could wreak havoc on them all.

Fine, since they wished to court death themselves, he certainly couldn't stop them. He did what he had to do. As for the princess and Young Master Fang, he had already maxed out their goodwill towards him. In any case, he had nothing to lose.

"Elder, the competition time has arrived; distribute the medicinal ingredients," said Ah Si, who was also standing in the center of the arena. Seeing the Seventh Elder being rebuffed by a group of aristocrats, he felt secretly pleased, but on the surface, he ran over earnestly and reminded the Seventh Elder to watch the time.

The Seventh Elder glanced at Ah Si with some disdain. This fellow, although talented in Alchemy, was petty-minded and overestimated his abilities—his achievements in life would not be very high.

Ignoring Ah Si, the Seventh Elder continued, "Due to the withdrawal of a large number of students from two universities, we will reduce the original five rounds of competition to four. The first three rounds will determine some superior competitors to participate in the fourth round, eventually selecting five to enter the finals…"

"As for other matters, I have already spoken yesterday. Today, I will not repeat them here. I hope everyone is clear on that," emphasized the Seventh Elder, then added, "The competitors for the first three rounds will be determined by drawing lots. There is no restriction on the range of elixirs and methods of refinement.

Whoever can produce the highest quality elixir in the shortest time will be the victor. Of course, any form of cheating by the competitors in the arena is strictly prohibited."

The reason he specifically mentioned "competitors" when referring to cheating was that he felt the princess and Young Master Fang were merely there to observe, thus not included among the competitors.

After briefly mentioning other matters, the Seventh Elder waved his hand grandly, "Now, each school's students called by name, go to your campus's signpost to draw lots and write the names of the required medicinal ingredients on the back of your lot."

As the Seventh Elder's voice fell, the invigilators in front of each school began to call names.

At Yangming University, there was only Fang Ren, so the invigilator didn't even call out. He just placed a box for drawing lots in front of him and then immediately left.

Watching the invigilator's dismissive departure, Fang Ren didn't bother with it and instead stepped forward, reaching into the box to randomly grab a piece of paper.

Glancing at the number on the paper, he was in the first round. He then quickly took the lot and a pen nearby, swiftly writing down the names of eight medicinal ingredients.

Just as he was about to place the paper with ingredients written on it onto the table, Bai Qi suddenly came over and grabbed his hand.

"What's the matter with you?" Fang Ren asked, looking at her.

Bai Qi shook her head slightly, "Let's withdraw."

Fang Ren was taken aback, then laughed, "What are you talking about? We've come this far."

After speaking, he put the paper on the table and walked towards where he had been standing before.

Bai Qi stayed by the table, looking down at the ingredients he had written. Then her brow furrowed and she turned, running after him.

"What exactly are you trying to do?" Bai Qi asked in an utterly bewildered tone, "The ingredients you listed are all for making a Fourth-order elixir. Surely you're not so blatant about cheating, right?"

Fang Ren froze; the girl had been silent before, he wondered why she suddenly became like this.

"No need…" Bai Qi shook her head again, her voice low, "I won't go, I don't want to anymore, let's go back, okay?"

Fang Ren sounded somewhat helpless, "I've told you, I'm not going to cheat. Can you believe me a little?"

Bai Qi shook her head, "No, I'd rather just go back with you and attend school properly. I don't want to face Brother Song."

"Why all of a sudden you don't want to see him?" Fang Ren really couldn't understand her, and quickly said, "Don't think too much. The main reason I took part is not purely to help you; I have my own things I want to do."

Bai Qi lowered her head in silence for a while before speaking as if after much consideration, "You said, if we come back from the finals, our relationship won't ever be as good as it is now, will it…"

Fang Ren didn't expect her to switch to this topic so suddenly. After being silent for a bit, he wanted to say yes, but just at that moment, an invigilator had already taken his lot and was approaching from the signpost area.

Bai Qi, with her back to the signpost, couldn't see the approaching invigilator, only the silent Fang Ren.

His expression, landing in her eyes, was the aftermath of the turmoil following a conversation they had the night before.

"What are you messing around with!" The invigilator walked over furiously, holding the piece of paper and shouted, "If you don't want to participate, just withdraw! Don't cause trouble here!"

Bai Qi, already in a bad mood, heard someone yelling behind her and turned around to retort angrily, "Don't interrupt me!"

The invigilator was stunned. A student from Mediocre University dared to speak to him like that?

The invigilator immediately replied with anger, "Believe it or not, I will disqualify you right now…"

He hadn't finished his sentence when the Seventh Elder suddenly appeared in front of him, grabbed him, and said with a furrowed brow, "Give me the lot, step back."

"Seventh Elder, these two students are clearly just here to cause trouble!" the invigilator protested with a frown.

"I told you to step back!"

The Seventh Elder snatched the lot from his hand, his voice growing increasingly displeased.

Seeing this, the invigilator couldn't understand what the Seventh Elder was trying to do, but since the Seventh Elder had spoken, he could only shut up and step down.