Chapter 672: The Competition Begins

Translated by Crystal of Exiled Rebels Scanlations

The second round was easier because it was only refining pills.

In most competitions, refinement was placed last, but here it was only the second round. There was still three hundred and thirty competitors, it wouldn’t be easy to pick out the top ten here. Even if it was, the judge should have explained the situation.

This round of rules were simple, simply refine the designated magic pill in a set amount of time and the materials would be provided by the XiaoYao Institution. It was an incredible sight, three hundred and thirty mages all refining together.

The day before, the plaza was still a flat land with tens of arenas lined up together. Now, it was completely different, and not just the arenas but also the audience. The first three rows in the audience got switched into individual pill refining platforms making it a grand sight.

You XiaoMo stood on the pill refining platform in the second row. Beside him was Jiu Ye and Qiao WuXing, in front of him were a few familiar faces.

Zu Ma, whom he achieved a deep grudge and hated, was one of them. When he looked over, Zu Ma’s gaze was much colder and it met his sinisterly. Her killing intent for him now matched hers for Ling Xiao.

Other than that, there were two others. These two were quite interesting as well, they were Su Lang and Yan Hui. Every since Yan Hui instigated Su Lang, Su Lang had thought of him as an enemy, although it was only one-sided. The two hadn’t even met before and he already detested You XiaoMo to no end.

You XiaoMo understood his resentment. Many geniuses with high pride were like that, believing that they were the smartest in the world. Once someone stronger appeared, taking away their title, they would hate them without a reason.

In his previous life, both his elementary and middle schools were private schools. But it wasn’t all rich kids, some were normal people who got in through their grades, so most of them topped the class in that regard. So, obviously they were picked on, it was fairly common.

You XiaoMo became aware of this from the initial conversation Su Lang had with Yan Hui. Su Lang was that genius who was pampered to be highly egoistical and believed that he was the greatest genius of the TongTian Continent. But after Yan Hui’s words, he came crashing down.

After one to two years, You XiaoMo discovered that Su Lang was still the same level. It was at that point he knew how big of an impact Yan Hui’s words had on him.

As for Yan Hui, he looked at You XiaoMo with a veiled gaze. The gaze wasn’t complicated, but it got You XiaoMo very confused and clueless as to why. That was because his gaze was veiled and overcast, as if he was the thorn by his side.

Before Yan Hui attended the Mage Assemblage, he figured he would met You XiaoMo. Although Yan Hui initially approached him with a purpose in mind, he was never really close with him. Thus, when he discovered his true intentions, he didn’t feel anything. It was because of this that he didn’t think there was any long-held-grudges or hatred between them.

But when he looked over again, Yan Hui had already retracted his gaze and his expression was calm, as if nothing happened. It was as if everything had been his imagination.

The XiaoYao Institution principal quickly announced the other rules for the second round. To ensure the fairness of the match, the pill recipe was for a level ten magic pill, since the entry requirement was at least being level ten. Although different cultivation levels would cause a difference, it was impossible for a level ten mage to get to the top ten anyways.

Other than that, there was another important rule. The second round needed to eliminate a lot of mages too, so it was not just about refining pills. The organizer set a time limit, so they must all finish within the time. Thus, not only did they have to think of the time, they must also produce a high quality pill by the end of it. If the quality wasn’t good enough, even if they finished on time, the referee would call it a failure and they would be eliminated.

You XiaoMo stared, surprised at the magic herbs set on the pill refining platform. The magic herbs given varied from high, mid, and low grade. Not only that, there was only one of each. What they had to do was make a high or mid-grade magic pill out of the given herbs. If it was a lower grade, they were eliminated.

This situation was very demanding on the mages.

With the varying grade level of the herbs, there was a higher chance of failure during the refining process. One mishap could even lead to failure and they were only given one chance. It was not only a test of skill but also luck as well.

He had to give it to them, the XiaoYao Institution really thought of an ingenious idea.

When most mages are refining pills, they usually find herbs of the same quality. Only when it’s impossible do they compensate, like for rainbow mages who are making transcendent level pills. The markets for transcendent level magic herbs were already small, so there was a slim chance of gathering up all mid-grade herb for a recipe.

You XiaoMo was no exception either. He had never tried to refine pills in this situation, since he only had one quality of herbs in his dimension, and that was high. There was no chance for him to use lower or mid-grade herbs.

You XiaoMo took a look at the pill recipe, it was a level ten magic pill called the Flaming-Cloud Pill.

He had seen this pill in the jade drive left behind by his ancestors. But, there wasn’t much value to it and it was an obscure recipe too, so there wasn’t many mages who would make it.

The Flaming-Cloud Pill could incite the hidden potential in a practitioner, but only temporarily and only for five minutes. Not only that, it also had side effects, thus the Flaming-Cloud Pill had never been popular for mages and practitioners alike. By now, they were almost unheard of.

You XiaoMo didn’t think that the XiaoYao Institution would pull this out, however it was quite fair. No matter the cultivation level, none of them would have refined it before, but that didn’t include him.

Once he thought of that, You XiaoMo couldn’t contain his smile.

He had Ling Xiao to thank for that, because he always took magic pills as snacks and only ate the ones he made, even now he hadn’t changed that. Due to that, in his eyes, there was no difference between the Flaming-Cloud Pill and others, even if it was not valuable.

He had plenty of materials then, so often You XiaoMo would look through the recipes in the jade drive and make the unfamiliar ones. Like the Flaming-Cloud Pill, which had no value, he would give it to Ling Xiao.

“Brother XiaoMo, you look quite confident.” On his right, Qiao WuXing turned around just to see his faint smile, clearly a sign of his confidence. Hearing that, Jiu Ye turned to look as well.

You XiaoMo smiled, “I have refined the Flaming-Cloud Pill before.”

Qiao WuXing was a bit shocked, the Flaming-Cloud Pill was considered an odd recipe and a very obscure one at that. He had heard from his teacher that some of these eliminated pills were from the ancient times, so not many owned them, adding to the fact that it wasn’t popular, there were even less of it.

“Looks like you’re pretty lucky. Good luck, I’m looking at you for first place.” Qiao WuXing laughed.

It was then when Jiu Ye suddenly asked, “Your aim isn’t the first prize grade water right?”

You XiaoMo wasn’t surprised at hearing that. When he first attended the XiaoYao Institution entrance exam, he took the test in front of a lot of people. Although there was a bit of an accident, with their intelligence, they must have figured out that he didn’t need the prize. If he said he was for first place, they would be the first to call him out.

“It’s because of the Holy maiden Zu Ma right?” Qiao WuXing added.

You XiaoMo blinked towards them and laughed, “As long as you know, just keep it in your heart, no need to say it out loud.”

Qiao WuXing didn’t know whether to laugh or cry.  Jiu Ye’s cold expression warmed up little by little.

The previous match was just the beginning, now was truly the start of Zu Ma’s unluckiness. Getting the attention of You XiaoMo, someone whose level was on par with hers, her road to victory would be much harder.

The principal got someone to carry out a hourglass to calculate the time, then the match finally began.

The second round didn’t take much time, most people needed three hours for a level ten pill, but here, they were given two and a half hours.

You XiaoMo comfortably threw in the magic herbs one by one. With the variation in grade, the difficulty of distilling them at the same time increased, but he still threw in quite a bit.

He usually took less time refining a pill than other mages, which had a lot to do with distilling multiple herbs at the same time. It wasn’t only him though, it was the same for the others, after all, the refining process couldn’t be shortened.

With intensity, the second round continued.

As You XiaoMo was focused on refining pills, he didn’t notice that Ling Xiao suddenly left the audience. The competition was guarded by Old Man Shen and Lei Gong, with many others, no matter how arrogant the TongTian Palace was, they wouldn’t barge in now.

At the same time, in the Mage Association, a middle-aged man walked into the front gates of the Association and greeted the members along the way. As he walked in, going through many hallways, he finally appeared in front of a mushroom like building.

The building was considered the icon of the Mage Association, the reputation and authority of the place, as well as being the most heavily guarded. The guards stopped the middle-aged man, and let him in only after he showed his identification.

When the middle-aged man walked past the guards, his lips curled into a faint smile.

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