Chapter 2076: Alchemy Opponents
“Brother Fu?” Ling Han called as he looked at the dazed Fu Yue.
Fu Yue’s entire body was stiff, and he remained unresponsive even as Ling Han waved his hand before his face.
Only after a short while did Fu Yue finally jump up as if someone had stepped on his tail. He jumped a meter high before violently grabbing the person who had just spoken, questioning, “Are you certain that person is called Ling Han?”
The person was given a fright. He was only at the third severance, so he naturally couldn’t resist Fu Yue’s strength. His voice trembled as he replied, “Young Master, are you asking about the two ferocious cultivators who killed Tian Qingyue?”
“Nonsense!”
Spittle splattered across the person’s face. However, he didn’t dare to wipe it off as he hurriedly replied, “Yes, yes, that person is called Ling Han. According to rumors, he’s seven feet tall, and his arms are so long that they reach his knees. His balls are as big as boulders, and he’s as vicious and ruthless as can be…”
Ling Han was astonished upon hearing this. So be it if they said that he was seven feet tall. But what the hell was that about his balls being as big as boulders?
“Hahahaha!” Hu Niu clutched her stomach in laughter. “Ling Han, are you seven feet tall? Your arms aren’t that long, either…”
Meanwhile, the Empress also couldn’t help but smile. This rumor was far too exaggerated.
“Brother Ling, they were truly killed by you?” Fu Yue asked as he loosened his grip on that person.
“I already told you, but you refused to believe me,” Ling Han said with a smile.
“Heavens!” Fu Yue clutched his head, and exclaimed, “You’re only at Yang Soul!”
“So what?”
“What do you mean ‘so what’? When you reach Heaven Soul, won’t you be powerful enough to slay even Immortal Palace Tier elites?!” Fu Yue exclaimed. He had initially thought that the powerful cultivator who had killed Tian Qingyue and the others was definitely at Heaven Soul, just that they were slightly more freakish.
However, to his shock, his imagination hadn’t been wild enough. As it turned out, this freak was only at Yang Soul!
“Heh, who knows?” Ling Han said with a shake of his head.
The gulf between Dividing Soul Tier cultivators and Immortal Palace Tier elites was far too great. In fact, this gulf was even greater than that between Severing Mundane Tier cultivators and Dividing Soul Tier cultivators. After all, Severing Mundane Tier monarch tiers could still rival cultivators at Yang Soul. However, it was simply impossible for anyone at Heaven Soul to rival First Secret elites.
Anyhow, if he could obtain nine divided souls, and if he could elevate his minor level an extra five times above Heaven Soul, perhaps he could overcome this gulf to the Immortal Palace Tier?
He could only wait and see.
The five of them chitchatted as they walked up to the second level, leaving the two cultivators gaping in daze and shock.
The young man just then… was Ling Han? The fearsome person who had killed Tian Qingyue and the others?
Heavens!
After entering a private room on the second level, Fu Yue became filled with enthusiasm as he asked Ling Han about his battle with Tian Qingyue and the others. Ling Han had no option but to briefly recount his experiences to this curious child. He wasn’t someone who enjoyed bragging, so he only gave a very brief account of the events.
Even so, Fu Yue still sucked in breath after breath of cold air. In fact, he even jumped up in emotion and waved his arms around when Ling Han reached climactic parts of his story.
“Brother Ling, you’re truly impressive,” he said as he raised his thumb. He gave his praise without any reservations. “Oh, that’s right, the gathering of alchemy is about to commence soon. I’ve heard that in addition to many experienced and renowned alchemists, there are also a lot of young and upcoming alchemists who are attending.
“Brother Ling, if you want to enter the top three, the difficulty will definitely be insane.
“Come, I’ll introduce some competitors to you.”
Fu Yue started counting on his fingers, saying, “Let’s talk about the older generation first. This time, Alchemist Mu Yang is also attending. He already became a Three-Star Alchemist tens of millions of years ago, and it’s rumored that he’s also mastered the Five Refinement. He has hopes of becoming a grandmaster.
“In terms of the younger generation, there are far too many prodigies.
“Wu Zixu from Water Cloud City is a supreme prodigy, and he became a Three-Star Alchemist before the age of 10,000,000. Not long ago, he more so reached the Fourth Refinement. Although that was only recent, with the help of the Time Cultivation Chambers, he might reach the Fifth Refinement at any moment.
“Although Xie Yuezhang from Hundred Flowers City isn’t as brilliant as Wu Zixu, his progress has been extremely steady. It took him a whopping one billion years to become a One-Star Alchemist, and no one took him seriously at that time. However, after another one billion years, he became a Two-Star Alchemist. Another one billion years, and he became a Three-Star Alchemist.
“This time, it’s coincidentally one billion years after he became a Three-Star Alchemist. Thus, everyone is speculating that he’s going to become a Four-Star Alchemist.
“Pan Luoling from Sun Chasing City is a breathtakingly beautiful woman. According to rumors, she obtained the memories of an ancient alchemist grandmaster, allowing her alchemy skills to improve at an astonishing speed. She’ll definitely be stiff competition for you.
“No, it’s very likely that they’ve already decided on a placing for her internally.”
Ling Han found this slightly strange, and he asked, “The competition hasn’t even begun, so how can that be?”
“Heh, it’s because you don’t know about this. Among the several alchemists from the Ancient Alchemy Tower, one of them is the grandson of Elder Yuan. His name is Yuan Tongguang, and I saw him accompanying Pan Luoling a few days ago. Moreover, he was trying his best to impress her.
“Say, with the support of an elder’s grandson, is winning a placing not an extremely easy task for Pan Luoling?” Fu Yue mused.
Ling Han involuntarily chuckled, saying, “Why you… Your views are far too negative.”
“You don’t believe me? Then let’s wait and see,” Fu Yue said with a shake of his head. “Anyhow, Brother Ling, you killed Tian Qingyue and the others, and that’s truly a huge issue. The forces behind them definitely won’t let you off easily.”
A smile spread across Ling Han’s face, and he said, “The larger the commotion is, the better.”
If the commotion grew large enough, it was possible that Lu Hairong might hear news about them. At that time, she could hurry over to take them away. Otherwise, it was hard to say what other troubles they might come across during their journey to the Roc Palace.
Fu Yue was rendered speechless. He couldn’t help but feel that Ling Han was far too audacious. He had already caused such huge trouble, yet he was still acting with such boldness and confidence?
In contrast to the Hundred Dragons Mystery Realm, the alchemy competition would allow spectators for the entire duration. Thus, this competition also became a topic for gambling, with many people placing bets. Many people placed bets on who they thought would become the top three.
Sure enough, the skill of the alchemists was reflected in the potential winnings. The payout for placing a bet on Alchemist Riyang, Wu Zixu, Xie Yuezhang, and Pan Luoling was only around two. Meanwhile, the payout for some people was a whopping one to 40. The gulf between them was astonishing.
Ling Han naturally belonged to the group of alchemists people didn’t favor. His payout was one to 10. It wasn’t extremely high, and this was because he had needed to fill out his alchemy level while signing up for the competition. As a Three-Star Alchemist who had reached the First Refinement, his payout naturally wouldn’t be too high.
Anyhow, there were several other people who were also strongly favored, with relatively low payouts. Even though their payouts weren’t as low as those of Wu Zixu and the others, it was still a lowly one to three or one to four. This was a reflection of the confidence that people had in them.
Of course, there were always dark horses that would appear during the alchemy competition. For example, Feng Tianyun was a prodigy who had emerged during the previous alchemy competition. In the beginning, people hadn’t paid much attention to him. In the end, however, he surprised everyone time and time again, eventually becoming the victor.
“What’s the prize for winning this time?” Ling Han asked.
Fu Yue’s mouth was agape, and he couldn’t utter a single word.
The competition hadn’t even started, and he had more so told Ling Han about all of the prodigies that he had to face. Each of them had the ability to win. Yet, the other party wasn’t paying any attention to them at all?
He shook his head, saying, “The prize for coming first is a map that leads to an ancient mystery realm. It’s extremely likely that there’s a Great Herb of hundreds of billions of years old in this mystery realm!”
Hundred of billions of years old!
This was incredibly astonishing. Generally speaking, Celestial medicines could be considered mature once they became 10 billion years old. At that time, they could be placed in medicines. To reach an age of 100 billion years wasn’t as simple as becoming 10 times as valuable. Instead, the value of such medicine would be 100 times or even 1000 times greater.
Ling Han’s heart thumped in excitement.