Chapter 626: Tournament 1
The competition island was on the seventieth ring of the Zhenyue Archipelago.
At a glance, it had one super-sized arena, ten small arenas, and one thousand small stages.
"The huge arena can seat one hundred thousand spectators." Ao Tian proudly declared.
"Our Zhenyue Archipelago has less than five thousand people." Jiang Yue stated in a flat voice.
"Yue’er, why are you not ambitious? It’s only a matter of time before there are one hundred thousand people in the archipelago."
Hearing this, Jiang Yue shuddered.
The thought of so many people living in his archipelago was discomfiting.
’I hope that day never comes.’ He thought.
[Don’t worry.] Yu Nianzhen transmitted in a soothing voice.
[Cultivators are not very fertile. It’s unlikely the population will rise to one hundred thousand people. Also, when the martial artists leave, the population will increase more slowly.]
[Speaking of children...] Jiang Yue turned to Ying Yi.
"Ying Yi, how many children have been born since we arrived?" He asked.
"Ninety-six among the martial artists and eleven amongst us."
"How many are thirteen and older?"
"Sixty-five." Ying Yi answered and soon continued.
"They have better aptitude than their parents and grandparents."
"It’s to be expected." Jiang Yue sighed.
Soon after, Yu Nianzhen, Jiang Yue, Ao Tian, Xiaolan, and the Ying guards entered one of the small arenas.
"This one can seat twenty thousand people." Ao Tian said.
"It’s more than enough for the tournament." Yu Nianzhen said, leading Jiang Yue to sit in the main viewing box.
After Yu Nianzhen and Jiang Yue settled down, Xiaolan flew to the middle of the arena.
With a childish voice, she announced the program.
"The first competition is the alchemy competition." She said and quickly continued.
"All alchemists, please come to the stage."
When they heard that, the alchemists began to head to the stage.
Among them, Jiang Yue recognised a few familiar faces.
"Isn’t that Gu Feiyan; Gu Dong’s granddaughter?" He asked.
"It’s her." Yu Nianzhen nodded.
"Next to her is Xue Ling and Fang Die."
"Fang Die was an alchemist on Earth. But why did Xue Ling become an alchemist? Wasn’t she a swordsman?"
"Who knows." Yu Nianzhen shrugged.
In fact, he didn’t care about these people.
However, his memory was good, and he rarely forgot things.
"Yu Chang and Ying Ba are also on the stage." Jiang Yue observed.
Including Yu Chang, Ying Ba, Gu Feiyan, Xue Ling, and Fang Die, there were forty-two alchemists on the stage.
Seeing this, Yu Nianzhen nodded.
"Based on the total population, less than one per cent are alchemists." He said.
"Sounds about right." Jiang Yue said, looking at Yu Nianzhen.
"Who do you think will win?"
"I don’t know enough to conclude." The swordsman said with a helpless look.
"You are right. Let’s just watch."
At this point, Xiaolan began to explain the rules.
"Please look carefully." She said, flapped her wings, and a screen appeared in the void.
Rule one: For the competition, alchemists must choose among these five pills- the bigu pill, the rejuvenation pill, the qi gathering pill, the disguise pill, and the body tempering pill.
Bigu pill – 1 point
Rejuvenation pill – 2 points
Qi gathering pill – 3 points
Disguise pill – 4 points
Body tempering pill – 5 points
Rule two: Alchemists can freely choose which level of pill they will refine.
Level one – 10 points
Level two – 20 points
Level three – 30 points
Level four – 40 points
Level five – 50 points
Rule three: Every alchemist will receive three sets of herbs. Consequently, alchemists will only have three chances to refine the chosen pill.
Rule four: The time limit is eight hours.
Rule Five: The grading criteria are as follows.
Low-grade pill – 0 points
Mid-grade pill – 1 point
High-grade pill – 2 points
Peak grade pill – 3 points
"Does everyone understand the rules?" Xiaolan asked while looking at the alchemists.
When she saw no one had any questions, she proceeded to announce the rewards.
Similar to the rules, a screen appeared in the void.
First place: Level three Beast Fire, level four furnace, ten million immortal stones.
Second place: Level four furnace, five million immortal stones.
Third place: Ten stalks of level three herbs, three million immortal stones.
Fourth to tenth place: Two million immortal stones.
Eleventh to twentieth place: One million immortal stones.
Additional rewards: permission to enter a small secret realm.
Seeing the rewards, the alchemists were immediately motivated.
Even the careless Yu Chang had a determined expression.
’I must win first place.’ He decided.
After explaining the rules and rewards, Xiaolan flapped her wings, and two long tables appeared at the edge of the competition stage.
On one table were piles of herbs, and on the other, were standard, level three furnaces.
"Tian’er, did you do anything to the herbs?" Jiang Yue asked, and Ao Tian smiled.
"We have played a few tricks." Ao Tian confirmed, and Jiang Yue nodded.
"If the alchemists are not competent enough to choose the right herbs, they don’t deserve a good prize." He said.
Soon after, the alchemists began to choose their furnaces and herbs.
"Ying Ba and Fang Die are choosing the herbs for the level three body tempering pill." Yu Nianzhen observed.
"Yu Chang has chosen the level three disguise pill." Jiang Yue said and soon continued.
"Gu Feiyan and Xue Ling have chosen the qi gathering pill."
"From this, we can roughly guess their level." Yu Nianzhen said, and Jiang Yue nodded.
An incense stick later, a furnace exploded.
"Fool." Ao Tian sneered.
"He didn’t properly clean his spiritual herbs." Jiang Yue sighed.
"He is not the only one." Yu Nianzhen frowned.
Although the two were not alchemists and didn’t know the technical details of refining pills, they could still spot obvious mistakes.
"A few rushed to refine pills without properly cleaning their furnaces and herbs."
"Another group chose the wrong herbs. It’s only a matter of time before their furnaces explode."
"Fire control is also a problem."
"Everyone is self-taught, and inheritances tend to ignore obvious steps." Yu Nianzhen said with a thoughtful expression.
"What are you thinking?"
"We need instructors."
Hearing this, Jiang Yue frowned with a resistant face.
"You want to invite outsiders to our archipelago?" He asked, but Yu Nianzhen shook his head.
"Major sects and big families usually hold public classes. These classes lack technical content but are heavy on common sense. We can buy the image stones of these classes."
"That’s a good idea." Jiang Yue excitedly nodded and quickly continued.
"We mustn’t let our people develop bad habits."
"It’s too bad we didn’t think of it when we were visiting the Cangxing sect and Alchemy City."
"It’s not too late to think about it now." Yu Nianzhen said, rubbing his lover’s hair.
While the two were talking, several more furnaces exploded.
Fortunately, the favourites were still going strong.
At a glance, Yu Chang, Ying Ba, Fang Die, Xue Ling, and Gu Feiyan had successfully purified their spiritual herbs.
Seeing this, Jiang Yue sighed.
"What’s the matter?" Yu Nianzhen asked.
"The Jiang family doesn’t have a decent alchemist." Jiang Yue said while pointing at a Jiang family’s alchemist.
"He chose the right herbs for the pill, but one had been tampered with. Because he didn’t check carefully, his first furnace exploded."
"However, he didn’t reflect on his mistake. Instead, he assumed he wasn’t skilful enough in refining the qi gathering pill and has switched to the bigu pill."
"The bigu pill is simple enough. He..." Yu Nianzhen started but couldn’t finish.
Seeing this, Jiang Yue nodded and sighed again.
"He has picked the wrong herb this time."
"Maybe the third time is the charm." Ao Tian said.
Unfortunately, his optimism was unwarranted.
After the second failure, the young man became anxious.
As a result, he failed to control his pill fire and accidentally burnt his herbs.
"Alchemists are not made in one day." Yu Nianzhen encouraged, but Jiang Yue rolled his eyes.
"That one is more absurd." Ao Tian excitedly pointed at a martial artist.
Like the Jiang family’s cultivator, the martial artist also panicked and burned his spiritual grass.
However, instead of accepting his fate, the person poured water into the furnace.
"Is he trying to make a rejuvenating soup?" Ao Tian laughed, and Jiang Yue couldn’t help but smile.
"Generally, our people aren’t doing worse than the martial artists." Yu Nianzhen observed.
"That’s a consolation. I don’t want to hand all the rewards to the martial artists."
"It will likely be fifty-fifty."
"Only in the arts." Ao Tian said and then continued.
"Our people can’t compete with the martial artists when it comes to fighting."
"It’s to be expected." Yu Nianzhen nodded.
After all, the martial artists had been training since they were three.
Considering that, one decade was not enough for the Zhenyue people to catch up with the martial artists.
"Azhen, I have another good idea." Jiang Yue suddenly said.
"I hope it’s not another tournament..."
"It’s not a tournament but has something to do with fighting. Can you guess?"
