The righteous path punishes Heaven

Chapter 145 Playing the Mystery

The Western Regions, Firemelting City Alchemy Competition.

Looking at the audience below the stage who were cheering and showing their support for her, Apollo Linda's mood calmed down a little. She cleared her throat, and her speech became more fluent.

"The first competition is gem refining! The association has given each contestant a raw alchemy stone. You need to refine the impurities from this stone and improve its quality as much as possible!"

Alchemy gems are mined from a place called Mount Olympus. When they are first mined, they are raw alchemy stones with many impurities.

Professional alchemists are needed to refine the raw stones, remove impurities, and elevate their quality to gemstone standards.

Different qualities can be divided into six categories based on the color of their appearance, with the lowest quality being black gemstones, which are almost indistinguishable from rough stones.

The slightly better ones are green, and they are already taking shape and can be used in alchemy and spellcasting.

Better are blue, then purple, red, and finally, the best and highest quality alchemical gems are seven colors like crystal.

Zhang Yunling naturally knew the truth. The highest-grade seven-colored alchemical gemstones that Xue Minghua used to refine potions and bribe nuns were all of this kind.

He had also studied how to refine gemstones, so he was quite confident about it.

"Two hours are allotted. The competition begins!" As Linda's voice fell, all 325 contestants took out their furnaces from their storage bracelets and began refining.

Those who participated in this competition were all well-prepared, and the furnaces they used were naturally not cheap; they were all high-end furnaces, which could be seen from their appearance alone.

Zhang Yunling didn't care about any of that. Ever since he inherited this alchemy furnace from Granny Wang when he was young, he had never been willing to replace it with a new one. He had a special affection for this rusty alchemy furnace.

Looking at the alchemical ore in front of him, Zhang Yunling did not rush to make a move. Instead, he slowly closed his eyes and began to recall the scriptures he had seen in the alchemical magic book.

When the other contestants saw Zhang Yunling standing there in a daze, and then saw his outfit as a novice alchemist, they all thought he was a greenhorn who was stunned by the grand scene, and they began to laugh at him in hushed tones.

"Sigh, Firemelting City is getting worse every year; any Tom, Dick, or Harry can sneak in now..."

"Who says otherwise? Alright... ignore him, let's hurry up and refine it, two hours is quite a tight schedule..."

Everyone got busy and gradually no one paid attention to Zhang Yunling, the fledgling alchemist.

As time goes by, many contestants are close to completing their refinement. Some are still working hard to improve their quality, while others are not skilled enough and have only reached the green and blue quality levels, unable to go any further.

They are undoubtedly the real new recruits, and they will likely be eliminated soon.

All eyes were on the five contestants in the very center of the arena. These five were seeded players from the Firemelting City Alchemy Association, and all of them were high-level alchemists.

While the others were still locked in a fierce battle, the five of them remained calm and methodically carried out the refining process. Three of them had even refined the gems to purple quality, but they were still not satisfied and continued to refine them.

Linda gradually became more experienced, and her initial awkwardness and shyness had almost disappeared. She began to commentate on the match:

"Ah, it seems that many players' talents have already been revealed in just the first round! Especially these five most promising young prodigies, it seems that the bosses who bet on these five players are going to make a fortune!"

It turns out that this alchemy competition also has a betting business. Wealthy people from the Western Regions would place bets on these contestants. They could choose to predict the champion of the competition or the contestants who would make it into the top three. If they bet correctly, they would receive dozens of times the return.

If they lose, they have to hand over all their bets to the association, and they may even lose more money depending on the odds.

However, the odds of winning are quite high if you choose to bet on these five contestants. Everyone knows that these five teenagers are quite famous in Firemelt City and even the entire Western Regions, and they are representatives of the younger generation of alchemists.

Some people will also place bets on other players. They dare not gamble on the extremely high odds of those five players, but they will also pray that the player they bet on is a dark horse who can make them rich overnight.

Half an hour had passed, and half of the contestants had completed the refining process, with many stopping at the purple quality level.

But for the younger generation, it is already quite an achievement to refine the gemstone to purple quality in such a short time.

Strangely, in an inconspicuous corner at the edge of the arena, a person stood motionless, seemingly having made no move since the start of the match. This unusual behavior caught the attention of the audience and the host, Linda.

"Huh? At such a tense moment, why is contestant number 280 standing still? Has he given up the competition? Or is he preparing his trump card?"

The person who was standing there dumbfounded was Zhang Yunling. Despite the commotion around him, he remained expressionless. Instead, he slowly opened his eyes, lit the fire in the cauldron, and was finally ready.

"Chosen one has started! He's about to begin refining! But there's only one hour left. How far can he go? Let's wait and see!"

Linda's commentary drew everyone's attention to Zhang Yunling, who then shouted, "Universe in the Sleeve!"

In an instant, golden light emanated from the cuff of his left sleeve, from which several items flew out and landed on the table, all of them exotic flowers and rare herbs.

This scene caused an uproar among the crowd.

"Herbal medicine? Does this guy not understand the rules of the competition?"

"This isn't about making alchemical potions; why would we need herbs to refine raw materials?"

Surrounded by a cacophony of questions that relentlessly attacked his attempts to focus, Zhang Yunling refined these criticisms to make them more challenging, and everything was ready.

With a thought, purple flames instantly ignited, swirling around his hands. Using telekinesis, he picked up the alchemical ore and five medicinal herbs from the table and threw them into the furnace in front of him.

"This...this technique...is truly rare..." the intermediate alchemist beside him couldn't help but exclaim.

The flames burned the layer of rubble on the surface of the raw stone into ash, revealing the obsidian-like alchemical gem inside. At the same time, the flames intensified and continued to burn it, constantly pouring in its own fire-elemental spiritual energy to squeeze out the impurities from the black gem.

On the other side, the five medicinal herbs were slowly refined over a low flame, gradually condensing into a medicinal essence. This essence was then combined with the alchemical gemstone to facilitate its final extraction!

Zhang Yunling combines alchemy and elixir refining, possessing both the fierceness and decisiveness of alchemy and the gentleness and gradualness of elixir refining. The two complement each other, achieving a balance of strength and gentleness.

"This...this profound technique...is actually the work of such a young, novice alchemist? Could he be the dark horse of this competition?!"

Linda was excited; she had discovered a sixth prodigy besides the five seeded players.

"Come on, let me see your comprehension." Zhang Yunling added fuel to the fire, and the purple flames burned brighter and brighter, even gradually turning red.

As if hearing Zhang Yunling's call, the alchemical gem began to make a "crackling" sound in the furnace. The black rock layer on the gem became more and more lustrous, but its color remained unchanged.

The five seeded players in the center of the arena had also completed their refining process. Without exception, all five had refined their gems to red quality, making them the best performers among the more than three hundred contestants.

At this moment, only Zhang Yunling remained on the field, continuing to refine his technique. Tens of thousands of people, including the audience, all had their eyes on Zhang Yunling.

He's been behaving strangely since the start of the competition. Is this mysterious young alchemist a genius or a fool?

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