Demoness, Stop! - Chapter 41 - Chapter 41 – Genius Girl

Kunlun Cave Heaven.

Lingxu Peak.

Within the Kunlun Cave Heaven were many renowned peaks—such as Yuxu Peak, the cultivation site of the sect leader, or Yuzhu Peak, where the Nascent Soul stage ancestor Xuanzhen lived in quiet seclusion. Compared to these, Lingxu Peak’s name was rarely brought up in everyday conversation among the disciples.

But on the seventh day of the twelfth lunar month each year, nearly all eyes in Kunlun would be fixed on this very peak.

That was the day of the annual Alchemy Apprentice Competition, held exclusively at Lingxu Peak.

Although it was only a contest for alchemy disciples, the sect attached great importance to it. Lingxu Peak was normally covered by a grand formation, only opened on the day of the competition.

Every alchemist started as a disciple. The sect’s eight alchemy grandmasters all once won first place in the apprentice competition. For alchemists, this was a tremendous honor on their alchemy path.

This caused the annual competition to be especially fierce.

Some alchemists, despite already having the skill to qualify as first-tier alchemists, deliberately postponed taking the rank assessment just to compete for the championship and leave a brilliant stroke on their alchemy careers.

For some reason, this year’s Alchemy Apprentice Competition was even more intense than in previous years.

The cause lay with the sect’s newly issued restriction on purchasing Meridian Clearing Pills. Even some elder’s disciples were facing shortages, so more people have turned their sights to the alchemy competition.

If they could achieve a good ranking, they can receive considerable rewards of Meridian Clearing Pills. Previously, many didn’t value these rewards, but this time they were willing to fight tooth and nail for them.

At this moment, the grand formation surrounding Lingxu Peak had already been lifted.

Atop the mountain was a wide platform where thousands of stone pedestals stood in neat rows. Each pedestal was enclosed in its own formation—transparent to the eye but able to block the wind—ensuring the competitors within wouldn’t be disturbed.

Beyond the platform, the surrounding grounds were already packed with disciples there to spectate.

Even the trees in the distance had vague silhouettes of people perched on them.

Up in the sky, several massive spirit boats floated leisurely. Some elders and stewards of the sect sat aboard, sipping tea as they watched this grand annual event unfold, occasionally chatting idly among themselves.

“Who do you all think will win this year’s competition?”

“By rights, it should finally be Daoist Danyang’s beloved disciple’s turn. Zhao Wuliang has been able to refine first-rank pills for some time now, but he’s delayed his rank assessment just to claim the championship here. Sadly, every year a dark horse appears. If I’m not mistaken, he’s come second for four years running…”

“I’m more optimistic about Master Changchun’s disciple. That little girl is only fifteen but cultivates four spiritual veins. The sect clearly intends to groom her as the next alchemy grandmaster…”

“She’s only fifteen, plenty of time ahead. I still favor Zhao Wuliang.”

“Well, I heard that just a month ago, she lit her first furnace and produced five top-grade pills in a single batch. Forget these apprentices—even most second-rank alchemists can’t match that kind of quality rate. Now that’s talent…”

“There’s also He Jin under Senior Brother Wang, Deng Qingsong under Senior Brother Liu, and Liu Ren under Senior Brother Feng. They’re all competing this time. This should be the most exciting competition in recent years. Let’s wait and see…”

…

Lingxu Peak.

Summit platform.

Li Yu stood beside a rectangular stone platform. On the platform were placed some medicinal herbs, a jade jar, a jade bowl, and a pill furnace. To prevent cheating, all the alchemy materials had been prepared in advance by the sect.

Zhou Zixuan stood next to him, her eyes fixed on the herbs on the platform, her fists clenched tightly, her finger joints turning pale from nervousness.

Li Yu couldn’t help but laugh, saying, “I’m the one competing, why are you more nervous than me?”

Zhou Zixuan pressed her lips together and asked, “Aren’t you even a little bit nervous?”

Li Yu shrugged and said, “It’s just a small event. Relax, relax…”

His expression was calm. If he got flustered easily, he’d have died who knows how many times already. In his previous life in Southeast Asia, there was a time he had a gun pointed at his head in front of nearly a thousand people—and he’d still managed to chat and laugh with the guy holding it. Compared to that, refining pills in public? This was nothing worth getting worked up over.

However, glancing around, many people nearby showed various degrees of nervousness on their faces.

This was normal. Alchemists were used to refining pills in quiet, enclosed environments. Suddenly being put on such a big stage would make anyone uncomfortable. This was also a test by the sect on their temperament.

But there were also those like Li Yu who were as steady as old dogs.

Next to him was a girl about fifteen or sixteen years old, charming and delicate, showing no signs of nervousness at all. She leaned casually against the stone platform, humming an unfamiliar tune.

Even her young female assistant beside her showed no sign of stage fright, chatting and smiling happily with her.

Li Yu kept up a casual conversation with Zhou Zixuan to help her shake off her nerves. Before long, the air was pierced by a few deep, resonant bell chimes. A sonorous voice echoed above them:

“The Alchemy Apprentice Competition officially begins!”

As the voice fell, the crowd stirred. Around the thousand stone platforms on the square, everyone immediately started to bustle.

The first round of the competition lasted for only one shichen (about two hours). Assistants purified the medicinal liquids as quickly as possible, while the alchemists stood by their pill furnaces, trying their best to adjust their state to the optimum to ensure the best possible refining.

The competition was divided into three rounds, each with different rules.

In the first round, one thousand participants competed; after the round, ninety percent would be eliminated, leaving only one hundred.

The requirements for this round were relatively lenient. Each stone platform had three sets of materials. Every alchemist needed to refine ten Hemostatic Pills, each with at least three pill markings.

Anyone who failed to refine ten high-quality Hemostatic Pills from the three sets of materials would be eliminated immediately.

If more than one hundred people qualified, advancement would be based on the least material consumption and pill quality to select the top one hundred.

This round’s requirement was to refine the most and best-quality pills using the least amount of materials.

While other alchemists were adjusting their state, Li Yu watched Zhou Zixuan extract the spiritual liquid. She specialized in this at Biyun Peak—her movements were smooth and efficient, well-organized. Even the girl next to her glanced at her a few more times.

Soon, one batch of pill liquid was ready.

Li Yu poured the prepared pill liquid into the main chamber of the pill furnace and began refining. Almost at the same time, the young girl beside him also started refining.

At the beginning, Li Yu needed nearly an hour to refine one batch of pills.

As his cultivation improved, the time required shortened steadily. Now, the fastest he could manage was about 30 minutes. But since this was only the first round, he only needed to pass—it wasn’t necessary to give his all.

During the refining process, accidents frequently occurred across the entire competition platform.

Crack!

One alchemist, too anxious, accidentally dropped the jade bowl holding his pill liquid. The bowl shattered on the ground, and the loud noise startled another alchemist nearby.

That alchemist had just sealed his furnace and begun refining. Suddenly frightened, his hand trembled, and the flame flickered.

Puff…

A plume of black smoke rose from his pill furnace. That batch of pills was ruined.

He glared fiercely at the one who caused the disturbance but didn’t dare to delay. He hurriedly urged his assistant to prepare the second batch of materials.

As time went on, such blunders kept cropping up across the platform. One person got startled, then startled another, setting off a chain reaction. One participant, after being disrupted twice in a row, lost his composure completely and broke into a fight with the one who’d ruined his concentration.

The outcome? They were taken away by the order-maintaining disciples and banned from competing again for three years.

About a quarter of an hour later, within a ten-foot radius of Li Yu, only that same girl from before remained.

Earlier, the two alchemists next to him had gotten into a scuffle, triggering a domino effect that threw the surrounding competitors into disarray. Several had wasted all their materials and had no choice but to forfeit.

Li Yu glanced over. The girl beside him was not very old but had a rock solid mindset. Such a commotion nearby hadn’t affected her at all.

The flame under Li Yu’s pill furnace remained stable.

Soon, he caught a strong fragrance of pills.

It seemed the girl beside him had already sealed her furnace.

Ten pills—two were top-grade, eight were superior-grade.

Just from the fragrance, Li Yu could judge the quality of that batch of pills because he was very familiar with the scent.

This surprised Li Yu. Indeed, heroes could not be underestimated. Kunlun Sect was truly a place full of hidden talents. This girl, at such a young age, had already reached about fifty to sixty percent of his own level in pill refining…