From the Heavens Descended an Immortal Sister
Chapter 188 - 186: Three Elderly Grandfathers_1

"Why are all these grandfather-aged people here?"

Bai Qi's face was filled with panic, and she dared not look back again.

The three elders who had just spoken were all from the Tianjiang clan, a group of seniors. Although their family's strength wasn't on par with the Bai or Fang Families, it wasn't much less.

Among the aristocratic families, the Bai Family took the lead, with the Fang Family following. All other families were ranked behind them. And the three elders behind Bai Qi were the chief stewards of the Liu, Wang, and Cao Families respectively.

Bai Qi glanced at the group of noble students in the field but didn't recognize any familiar faces. Logically, she should have seen the younger generations from these three families, but in her memory, those young members of these families were at Tianjiang University, while none of the competing universities here were from Tianjiang University.

"The champion of this regional competition seems certain to be West Peak, under Old Brother Liu's hand," joked the elder from the Wang's family as the three chatted.

"Ah, I don't know about that; I think the little genius from Wang's family who has yet to show his face has a better chance of taking the first place" replied Old Master Liu with a smile.

...

Bai Qi, listening to the three elders' conversation, realized they were not there for some direct descendants of their families, but rather for some younger members with relatively lower status. That's when she understood why there was not a single face she recognized in the field.

From the conversation of the three elders, Bai Qi discovered they never mentioned the issue of the Seventh Elder referring to Fang Ren as "Young Master Fang." She didn't know if they hadn't heard it, or if they were chatting themselves when the Seventh Elder and Fang Ren were talking, or if the Seventh Elder used some method to confine the sound of the conversation to a small area.

While Bai Qi was listening to the elders, the Seventh Elder had already rushed to Fang Ren's side, speaking with a worried expression, "Young Master Fang, I will change the medicinal ingredients for you now. After the exam, I will definitely punish those scoundrels severely."

Fang Ren looked at the Seventh Elder, whose face was filled with panic and complexity, and waved it off, saying, "It's fine, these ingredients will do."

The Seventh Elder was conflicted for a moment. To him, Fang Ren's words meant that since cheating was inevitable, it didn't really matter whether the medicinal ingredients were of good or poor quality.

"Very well then, Young Master Fang, I assure you that these ingredients will be returned to the Central Area intact," the Seventh Elder said.

Fang Ren glanced at him and then looked at the audience in the distance before speaking, "Calling me Young Master Fang outright like this, aren't you afraid that others will see through my identity?"

"No, elder has used a special method to isolate our voices," assured the Seventh Elder.

Upon hearing this, Fang Ren felt relieved and said, "Then, those ingredients, don't bother returning them to the Central Area later, just give them to me."

He chuckled to himself. He was utterly at odds with the Central Area! Return the ingredients? Impossible.

"But... Young Master Fang, what do you need them for?" asked the Seventh Elder, startled.

"Later, I'll give you an 'Entering Void Elixir'; give me the ingredients," said Fang Ren.

"An... Entering Void Elixir?" the Seventh Elder's eyes bulged.

One such elixir was far more valuable than those ingredients. After all, even if all the ingredients were put into the Pill Furnace, the chance of a successful concoction was still very slim, but obtaining an Entering Void Elixir directly could buy twice the amount of ingredients.

"If you remain silent, I'll take it as your agreement," said Fang Ren. "Alright, fetch me a Pill Furnace; I didn't bring one with me."

"Certainly, elder will fetch it for you right away."

The Seventh Elder nodded repeatedly and turned to return to the center of the field, requesting an examiner to send a Pill Furnace to Fang Ren, and then glanced at the time.

The onlookers were confounded by his actions, and they all probably had some speculations: How could a useless student from Yangming University get the Seventh Elder to bow and nod repeatedly? It simply wasn't possible, his identity must be far from ordinary.

After this scene unfolded, the jeers directed at Fang Ren slowly subsided. If the Seventh Elder had sought out Fang Ren for an issue earlier, then what did this bowing and nodding signify now?

Although they were all somewhat astonished by the student from Mediocre University, the idea of that guy attempting to concoct a fourth-order elixir was still considered an absurd joke in their eyes.

"Time's up! The exam officially begins!"

As the Seventh Elder's voice fell, the entire exam venue burst into activity, with every candidate's face turning tense and serious.

After all, the results of the alchemy exam were tied to time—the faster, the better. No one wanted to waste a second on trifles, perhaps affecting the grade of the elixir.

As soon as Fang Ren obtained the Pill Furnace, he didn't say a word, just filled it up with water.

Then he threw a Cold Fire underneath the Pill Furnace and finally rolled various medicinal herbs into a ball with his hands, stuffing them into the Pill Furnace.

In an instant, only a red paper was left on the ground from the eight precious herbs in front of him.

This sequence of actions took less than thirty seconds, but it baffled everyone present.

What kind of operation is this?

Is this alchemy or cooking rice?

Even cooking rice wouldn't be done like this; using Cold Fire to cook rice, it wouldn't be done until next year.

"Do you know how to do alchemy? Filling the Pill Furnace directly with water, wouldn't the herbs be boiled into soup? And using Cold Fire, even soup can't be cooked! Simply clueless about alchemy!"

"This guy is clearly fuming with embarrassment, just wanting to spoil the herbs and pretend to be more than he is,"

"But I don't understand, if this guy is clueless about alchemy, why did the Seventh Elder treat him so specially?"

"Were we wrong before? The Seventh Elder never meant to be polite to this guy?"

...

While a group of students were discussing, the three elders behind Bai Qi also began to discuss the matter.

"It seems I was wrong before, this guy from Yangming University is nothing like I was when I was young, he can't take a bit of hardship," the elder from the Cao Family said with a frown, looking at Fang Ren in the field: "He's just needlessly destroying valuable resources!"

"Such a waste of public resources, to call him petty isn't too much," the elder from Wang's family also frowned and said, "But I can't understand why the Seventh Elder from the Orchid Bamboo Guild was so polite to a student just now? And why were their conversations isolated by True Qi?"

Old Master Liu frowned and cast his gaze onto Bai Qi, who was sitting not far in front of him, and said, "If I remember correctly, that student from Yangming mentioned something about cheating as soon as he entered the venue, could it be related to the Seventh Elder of Orchid Bamboo?"

Following Old Master Liu's words, the elders from both the Cao and Wang families also turned their gaze toward Bai Qi.

This girl was the attendant of that young man, and it was just the two of them who had discussed the cheating issue earlier, which inevitably led the three of them to think of some disgraceful tricks.

If the young man really dared to cheat on this occasion, and the Seventh Elder of Orchid Bamboo dared to shield him, the three of them would stand up for all the students present and ensure justice.

"Young lady, come here for a moment," Old Master Liu took a step forward and spoke to Bai Qi.

Bai Qi was taken aback, not expecting Old Master Liu to speak to her at this moment.

Meanwhile, not far away, Lin Bozhong and Chen Cheng saw Bai Qi sitting alone in the stands and, fearing she might feel lonely, began to walk towards her.