Miss Loser is too enchanting
Chapter 317: A High-Stakes Gamble (2)_1

Chapter 317: Chapter 317: A High-Stakes Gamble (2)_1

"Is there really such a story?" Dugu Qianye exclaimed in surprise, "I didn’t expect to see my senior brother always joking around and seemingly carefree, to have such a past. I thought his sleeping habit was innate. Do you know who that woman was? Why didn’t they end up together?"

Zi Xiao shook his head: "He didn’t say, but she must be from some major power. Otherwise, with his status, he wouldn’t have been so severely injured and poisoned."

Dugu Qianye glanced at Hao Pengyou’s room door and then looked at Zi Xiao with a mischievous smile.

"I have a task for you..."

The next morning, Hao Pengyou was standing energetically in front of Dugu Qianye’s door, calling her out with a vigor that showed no trace of the previous day’s sadness. Dugu Qianye opened the door, saw his demeanor, and without bringing up yesterday’s events, joined them for breakfast before heading to the competition grounds.

Yesterday’s three thousand and two competitors were down to two thousand and two today, a quite significant elimination rate. The spectators in the stands were even fewer than yesterday, likely because some were there just to witness the grand scene of three thousand people performing alchemy at once.

Before leaving the hotel, Dugu Qianye had called out Mo Feng to follow Zi Xiao and the others to the stands to watch the alchemists below perform their craft.

Mo Feng was now able to concoct seventh-grade advanced elixirs. In the Refining Demon Pot, he persisted in practicing alchemy no matter how exhausted he was after each training session. Dugu Qianye thought it was a rare opportunity to observe so many people performing alchemy and wanted him to learn as much as possible.

The process was similar to the day before last; after the judges took their seats, the competition host announced the rules for today’s match. Today, they would be concocting the sixth-grade Xuanqing Pill, and the elimination rules were much the same as yesterday’s—cutting down by a thousand, with the results to be announced the next day.

Dugu Qianye and Green Emperor Xiahou were at the very back, as usual. The competition area, which had seemed a bit cramped the day before, now felt much more spacious.

Unsurprisingly, the first to finish was Shayan, and the second was Green Emperor Xiahou. To avoid encountering the number 222 again, Dugu Qianye deliberately slowed down her pace even further, waiting until a sufficient number of competitors had finished before completing her task. As a result, when she checked the rankings the next day, she had moved from 222 to 322.

"Hmm, that’s progress. One less two," Hao Pengyou said thoughtfully, which earned him a kick from Dugu Qianye.

The third round of the competition was down to a thousand and two competitors. This time the elixir was still a sixth-grade one, the Yixin Pill, and the competition time was set at four hours.

As soon as the host finished announcing today’s rules, many contestants exclaimed in dismay at the difficulty!

The Yixin Pill, an elixir for calming the mind when one is on the brink of deviation during cultivation, is categorized as a sixth-grade elixir because the medicinal herbs required are not very precious. But the process of making this elixir is quite complex; although the herbs are not difficult to extract, there are seven to eight hundred varieties! Their sequence must be precise and cannot be mixed up! Normally, it takes four to five hours to concoct this elixir, but today, they were required to finish within four hours, making it all the more challenging.

Moreover, there were only two sets of materials prepared on the table, meaning each participant only had two chances!

Due to the time limitation, many participants didn’t hesitate to start alchemy as soon as the host said ’begin’, without observing if the order of the herbs was correct. Some spent time rearranging the herbs before proceeding with their alchemy.

Dugu Qianye also checked; it was her habit to review the order of the herbs before starting alchemy. Green Emperor Xiahou did the same. It seemed that not only was his strength formidable, but his alchemy habits were also very good.

In fact, in the first two rounds, the order of the herbs was arranged according to the extraction sequence, which led some people to assume this round’s order would be the same. Those who didn’t check found the order mixed up during the alchemy process when it came time to extract a certain herb and realized they didn’t know where it was. A frantic search ensued, wasting a lot of time, and due to poor sequencing, some concoctions were ruined, while others produced elixirs of lower quality, turning what could have been advance level elixirs into intermediate level or even lower.

"Bang!" Someone’s alchemy process directly resulted in an explosion of the pill furnace, provoking a series of sighs among the audience. The person gathered their things and quickly left the competition arena.

After that, a few others scrapped a furnace full of materials, and the sounds of failure kept coming. Soon, the smell of something burnt began to waft through the competition area, causing many to feel even more tense.

Dugu Qianye, however, did not pay attention to the others’ situations. Even the most advanced alchemists should be fully focused when concocting even the simplest elixirs!

Three hours passed, and Shayan was once again the first to successfully complete the process. Compared to his previous two rounds, he took a relatively long time this round, indicating a significantly higher difficulty. Soon after, the Green Emperor Xiahou also finished his elixir. Having heard about Meng He, who came third, from Hao Pengyou last time, she paid special attention to him this time. Not long after the Green Emperor finished, Meng He also submitted his work.

Dugu Qianye chose to finish neither too early nor too late, which allowed her to avoid drawing too much attention at the last moment and to advance steadily.

"Brother,"

When Dugu Qianye came out, she saw Zi Xiao, Mo Feng, and Hao Pengyou waiting for her outside. Seeing her, Mo Feng waved his hand and called out to her. She walked quickly to join them, and they headed towards the hotel.

"How was today’s viewing?" Dugu Qianye asked Mo Feng.

"There are still some very impressive people; their alchemy techniques are quite special," Mo Feng said, "But they’re not as good as the ones sister taught me. They’re all too flashy, except for the one next to brother, the Green Emperor Xiahou."

Dugu Qianye nodded, "That person is an impressive alchemist, aloof in demeanor, yet calm and collected when practicing alchemy. By the way, did you notice his technique? Does it resemble ours to you?"

Mo Feng recalled and suddenly exclaimed, "I hadn’t noticed until you mentioned it, but many of his techniques are similar to ours, yet not exactly the same. However, when it comes to infusing spiritual power into the Solidifying Pill, his technique is identical to ours!"

Zi Xiao and Hao Pengyou both showed surprise upon hearing Mo Feng’s words.

"Could it be that there’s some historical connection between him and us?" Hao Pengyou guessed.

After thinking for a moment and recalling her surprise when she first saw his pill furnace, Dugu Qianye said, "We have no connection with him, but my pill furnace definitely has something to do with them! His furnace’s appearance is the same as mine, although it looks precious, it lacks the divine charm of mine."

"What is your pill furnace?" Hao Pengyou asked impulsively.

Dugu Qianye paused for a moment, then replied, "The Shennong Cauldron."

"The Shennong Cauldron," Hao Pengyou repeated, sounding as though it was very prestigious. It took him a few seconds to register what she said before he gasped, "Shen, Shennong..."

Dugu Qianye quickly covered his mouth, and seeing his shocked eyes, she nodded. Once certain he wouldn’t shout it out again, she released her hand. If he really shouted it out loud in the street, she could forget about having peaceful days ahead; probably everyone on the continent would madly seek her out, even to kill her.