Demoness, Stop! - Chapter 43 - Chapter 43 – A Role Model for Us All

“Li Yu — 5 superior-grade pills, 5 high-grade pills, pill patterns 35.”

On the huge water screen inside the formation, more characters appeared. With the last participant finishing the pill refining, the top ten of this competition were all revealed. Outside the formation, in the sight of all the watching disciples, the same water screen appeared.

The names of the top ten in the competition showed up on the water screen.

As the competition went on, the number of figures gathered at Lingxu Peak grew increasingly large.

Every year, the most watched part of the alchemy competition was naturally the final round.

It should be noted that the one thousand alchemy apprentices participating in the competition were already the cream of the crop, selected from thousands of disciples in the sect. The final ten of the third round were the elite among this thousand—perhaps the future grandmasters of alchemy were among them.

Among the Kunlun disciples, everyone had their favored candidates for champion.

“Sigh… Senior Brother Zhao is still ranked first. He has to win this time!”

“Junior Sister Zheng is already at her peak from the moment she debuted—I’m with her all the way!”

“Senior Brother Zhao, Junior Sister Zheng, Senior Brother Deng, Senior Brother He, Senior Brother Liu, Li Yu… these are all familiar names. Wait, there seems to be a strange one in there!”

Someone looking at the names on the water screen suddenly realized something.

“Li Yu, Li Yu—that name sounds familiar!”

“Isn’t he Junior Sister Jiang’s childhood sweetheart, the so-called ‘king of soft rice’?”

“He actually participated in the competition and made it into the top ten, tied for fifth with Senior Brother Liu?!”

“Could it be someone with the same name?”

“Very likely.”

…

After Li Yu’s name appeared, the conversation among the watching disciples outside veered off-topic. This name had been mentioned frequently among Kunlun disciples over the past few days, for one reason naturally being Jiang Li.

Another reason was that he single-handedly bought up all the Meridian Clearing Pills to the purchase limit, creating quite a legendary story.

This act benefited the lower-ranked disciples, so many of them held a favorable impression of him.

Of course, this didn’t stop them from feeling envy and jealousy toward Li Yu.

Most of the Kunlun disciples had originally thought he was just a pretty-faced freeloader, good-looking but otherwise useless.

But this competition changed people’s opinions of him.

To break through from among a thousand outstanding alchemy disciples and enter the top ten was not something an ordinary pretty face could achieve.

That guy might actually have some real skill.

No—he had a lot of skill.

At first, some disciples suspected it might be a case of two people with the same name. But soon someone pointed out that they had just seen Li Yu refining pills inside, and that distinctive handsome face was the very same figure stirring up a storm.

Some disciples who had come over from Danding Peak just to watch were so shocked they were speechless.

Li Yu had entered the sect with them only a few months ago, yet he had already fought his way into the top ten of the alchemy competition. Meanwhile, they still hadn’t managed to produce even one decent batch of pills. It was really enough to make one depressed by comparing themselves…

In a certain corner, even Han Tiancheng—who had been the one to suggest Li Yu participate in the competition—had a look of extreme surprise on his face.

Although he had recommended Li Yu to join, when Li Yu actually advanced round after round and made it into the top ten, Han Tiancheng still found it unbelievable.

Studying alchemy for only three months and making the top ten on his first competition was probably a first in Kunlun Sect’s history.

…

On Lingxu Peak, out of one hundred stone platforms, only ten remained occupied.

Each stone platform was spaced at least ten zhang (about 33 feet) apart to ensure the participants wouldn’t interfere with each other while refining pills.

Li Yu and Zhou Zixuan stood behind one of the stone platforms. Not far in front of the platform, two steward disciples were closely watching their every move—preventing cheating and also available to answer any questions Li Yu might have.

The final round had not yet started; Li Yu quietly waited for the bell to ring.

At this moment, more than ten figures stood outside the formation.

One second-rank alchemist held a slip of paper and said incredulously, “This Li Yu’s cultivation is only Qi Refining Stage, Level Two? That can’t be right. In decades, this is the first time I’ve seen someone with only Level Two Qi Refining make it to the final round. Is there a mistake on this list?”

A third-rank alchemist with three pill patterns on his chest withdrew his gaze from inside the formation and said, “No mistake. He really is Level Two Qi Refining. But he cultivates five spiritual veins simultaneously, and each of them is Level Two Qi Refining…”

“What? Five veins cultivated simultaneously?” The second-rank alchemist exclaimed in surprise, “Is he crazy? Does he think he’s Junior Disciple Qin or Junior Disciple Jiang? Where would he get that many Meridian Clearing Pills to build his foundation? And what will he do after foundation establishment?”

At this, another second-rank alchemist standing nearby said, “I know this Li Yu. Originally, he only cultivated three spiritual veins. When he bought Meridian Clearing Pills on the black market, he was tricked with a Qi Gathering Pill and ended up opening a fourth vein. Later on, not sure if he gave up or what, but he actually opened a fifth vein too…”

“That means his cultivation progressed way too fast, right?”

“Rumor has it Junior Disciple Jiang gave him tens of thousands of spirit coins, maybe even some Meridian Clearing Pills. This kid’s luck is really something.”

Their conversation continued drifting off course, until the Golden Core–stage third-rank alchemist cleared his throat and said: “Alright, time is almost up. Let’s start this round of competition. I’m quite curious to see who will take the championship this time…”

…

After waiting for a while, Li Yu and Zhou Zixuan finally heard the familiar bell toll.

One steward disciple stepped forward and asked, “Junior Brother Li, you understand the rules of this round, right? Do you want me to repeat them?”

Li Yu nodded and said, “I understand.”

The third round was more difficult than the first two.

On the stone platform was only one set of materials to refine the Peiyuan Pill (essence strengthening pill), meaning they only had one chance—success was mandatory; failure meant no second set of materials.

The final result would be judged by the total number of pill patterns in the finished batch.

If one batch produced five superior-grade pills, the total score would be twenty-five pill patterns. If it produced ten high-grade pills, the total would be thirty pill patterns. The winner would be the one with the highest total pill patterns.

This meant all contestants had to balance quality and quantity—a dilemma they would need to solve themselves.

Zhou Zixuan immediately prepared the pill liquid for him. Li Yu was in no rush to start; even if he wasted half the time, the remaining time was still enough for him.

As the bell rang, the huge water screen in the sky also began to change.

A young man with an extremely serious expression appeared on the water screen.

“That’s Mirror Flower, Water Moon — a high-level water attribute spell!”

“An elder at the Golden Core stage has made a move.”

“Wow, that’s Senior Brother Zhao Wuliang! Senior Brother Zhao looks so charming when he’s seriously refining pills!”

…

Mirror Flower, Water Moon is a high-level water attribute technique that requires the power of a Golden Core stage cultivator to cast. It can enlarge and project real scenes onto the water screen, allowing everyone outside the formation to clearly see the competition process.

The image lingered on the young man for a moment, then switched to a young girl, who also had a serious expression. Facing an opponent like Senior Brother Zhao in this competition, even she had to take it seriously.

“It’s Junior Sister Zheng—it’s her turn!”

“Zheng Junior Sister looks so cute when she’s seriously refining pills…”

The scenes on the water screen switched between different contestants, each lingering briefly. This was the final and most important round, and everywhere shown, everyone was diligently refining their pills.

When the image switched to the last person, the tone suddenly changed.

The handsome, suave man on the screen was casually leaning on his stone platform, chatting and laughing with the woman beside him, completely unaware that their every move was being live-streamed, watched in real-time by countless disciples of Kunlun Sect.

Though there was no sound, it was obvious from their smiling faces that they were having a pleasant conversation.

For some unknown reason, the woman blushed and lightly punched his shoulder. That shy gesture caught the eyes of many male disciples.

Even the Golden Core elder responsible for the projection seemed unprepared for this scene, as the image stayed on the two of them for twice as long as it had on the previous contestants.

After realizing this, he quickly switched the image back to Zhao Wuliang.

The competition was a serious event; scenes like that were inappropriate for all disciples to watch.

Outside the formation, disciples watching from various places exploded in uproar after uproar.

“What’s going on?”

“The finals of the competition, and this guy isn’t refining pills but flirting with a female disciple?”

“So arrogant! He clearly doesn’t take anyone else here seriously!”

“Absolute respect. That guy’s a role model for all of us!”