The Arrogant Little Consort: Your Highness, Come Catch a Bug

Chapter 182: The Contest (Part 2) “You young people still lack experience. Though this fire’s temperature is high, it is remarkably balanced and gentle. As a result, this intense heat not only fails to destroy the medicinal properties but actually accelerates the purification of the spiritual herbs, yielding an even purer essence of the plants.” “Moreover, a fire like this should already be classified as a Heaven and Earth Anomalous Fire. It has the potential to evolve further. This girl’s future is truly limitless.” Old Sun picked up on the master’s remark, his tone dripping with such envy and resentment that it was almost sickening. “Old Ghost Feng has really struck gold this time.” Knowing the truth, Old Feng smiled with feigned profundity, though inside he was brimming with smug satisfaction. You bunch of unappreciative bumpkins. My dear disciple’s fire isn’t just a Heaven and Earth Strange Fire—it’s clearly an Ancient Divine Fire. It inherently contains the Dao of Yin and Yang giving birth to one another; when cultivated to its peak, it can spontaneously evolve into a world of its own. While the old men below discussed Hua Lingqin’s fire seed with great enthusiasm, they paid not the slightest heed to the feelings of their own disciples on stage. Seeing the usually confident and arrogant prodigies now with furrowed brows and on the verge of tears, one could tell just how anxious they were inside. Most of them also possessed flames fused with seeds of exotic fire within their bodies. Yet those ordinary exotic flames, which usually appeared so arrogant and boastful, now stood before Hua Lingqin’s Nine-Yang Netherfire like chicks facing a hawk—each one cowering in fear, too terrified to move. How could there be any comparison? Hua Lingqin alone was enough to dominate the entire arena. It wasn’t long before the bigwigs, having regained their composure, finally had the energy to pay attention to the others. Feeling the glances their masters had finally deigned to cast their way, the group’s mournful stares nearly caused the plant essences Hua Lingqin was refining to explode. Feeling he’d finally had his fill of showing off, Old Feng adopted a nonchalant demeanor. “Young lady, keep a low profile. Look how you’ve frightened them.” Though he told Hua Lingqin to be modest, the sheer arrogance radiating from Old Feng’s face was enough to make anyone want to punch him. “My apologies, old friends. My apologies. My young disciple is reckless and impetuous—it’s all because I haven’t disciplined her strictly enough. Not strictly enough.” Seeing that Old Master Feng had finally had his fill of showing off, Hua Lingqin controlled the Nine Yang Netherfire and subtly reined in her aura. Only then did the flames in the others’ cauldrons begin to flicker and burn. By the time the others began tossing their first-tier plant essences into the alchemy furnaces, Hua Lingqin had already started refining her second-tier spiritual herbs. She tossed three spiritual herbs into the alchemy furnace at once, completely disregarding the astonished glances from the first-tier experts below. After all, the most skilled among their disciples could only refine third-tier pills, and even then, they approached second-tier pills with the utmost caution. Whenever they guided their disciples in pill refinement, they would nervously extract the ingredients one by one, fearing that the slightest mistake might lead to failure. Only a fourth-tier alchemist could typically manage to toss three herbs into the furnace at once like this. After all, controlling three spiritual herbs and the flames simultaneously required a level of spiritual energy that most people couldn’t handle. A master alchemist grabbed Old Feng’s shoulders. “Old Feng, your disciple can’t possibly be a fourth-tier alchemist, can he? This is simply unbelievable!” “I must be dreaming…” In truth, Old Master Feng was deeply shocked as well. After all, Hua Lingqin had always followed the standard procedures when refining elixirs in the past. However, to maintain his prestige, Old Master Feng put on a calm facade and smiled as he accepted the praise from the others. Well, for Hua Lingqin, this test was practically a walk in the park. After all, with the Nine Yang Netherfire and her past-life experience in bug cultivation, this competition was essentially a walk in the park for her. If she couldn’t even manage this, she might as well slit her own throat and end it all. What Old Master Feng and the others didn’t know was that she wasn’t refining all three spiritual herbs simultaneously. Although her abilities would have allowed her to do so flawlessly, that would have been a massive waste of spiritual energy. Instead, she split her spiritual energy into three parts, controlling the refinement of each herb separately. This method demanded even greater mental focus but allowed her to conserve her spiritual energy much more efficiently. However, to prevent Elder Feng and the others from being so shocked they’d pull their own beards out, Hua Lingqin decided not to reveal this. The entire competition venue had become Hua Lingqin’s personal stage. Two third-tier spiritual herbs were tossed into the cauldron as well. With practiced ease, she split her spiritual energy in two, placing the herbs one on the left and one on the right within the cauldron. The Nine Yang Netherfire gradually rose. Gentle tongues of flame licked at the two spiritual herbs, gradually filtering out the impurities. Their original shapes were no longer recognizable; only two wispy masses of spiritual essence remained, floating in the air. The Nine Yang Netherfire once again enveloped the two clusters of essence, burning even more intensely than before. The essence of the spiritual herbs was purified once more. Hua Lingqin used her spiritual power to draw the nearly liquid essence out of the cauldron. Seeing such highly concentrated essence, the elders were once again stunned. If it weren’t for the fact that Old Master Feng’s strength surpassed theirs, they would have thought he wasn’t capable enough to be Hua Lingqin’s master. The elders were at a loss for words, glaring at Old Master Feng with resentment. “With such a brilliant disciple, why have you been hiding him all these years? If we’d known you had such a monstrously talented disciple, we never would have set up these competition rules. Isn’t this just asking to be humiliated?” The descendants of the other renowned masters were equally resentful. “Fine, you used fire to suppress us at the start—we could let that slide. But now you’re crushing us in strength and tormenting us mentally? All our pride has gone to the dogs… What if this leaves us with psychological scars for future matches?” “I suppose you have no objections to my little girl taking first place now.” Old Master Feng knew when to stop, and decided to call it a day while he was ahead. Everyone kept nodding. Admitting Hua Lingqin was first now at least allowed for a peaceful conclusion. If they waited for her to show off her skills, would they even be able to hold their heads up in public afterward? And so, Hua Lingqin advanced to the second round with an absolutely dominant performance in the first. She packed away her alchemy furnace, stepped down from the competition arena, and sat beside Old Master Feng, watching the contestants on stage vie for victory. Of the five remaining contestants, in Hua Lingqin’s estimation, Qian Fu was undoubtedly the strongest. Judging by the aura he had inadvertently revealed, his strength far surpassed that of Qian Duo. To possess such strength yet endure being overshadowed by Qian Duo all these years, biding his time without making a move—his ambitions must be immense. Hua Lingqin mused to herself that she would have to be careful around him in the upcoming matches. “Master, could you give me the formula for the Hemostatic Pill?” Hua Lingqin cautiously approached Old Master Feng. “What do you need that for?” Old Master Feng looked at Hua Lingqin with a puzzled expression. Given the strength she had demonstrated, shouldn’t she be able to refine a Hemostatic Pill with her eyes closed? “I don’t know how to refine hemostatic pills.” Hua Lingqin didn’t see anything wrong with not knowing how to refine them; after all, she was a latecomer and a complete novice. “What?” Old Master Feng blurted out in shock. Realizing everyone was watching him, he lowered his voice again and said to Hua Lingqin, “You don’t know how to refine this kind of pill? It’s a first-tier pill.” “Master, I’m a latecomer to this field.” Hua Lingqin had no choice but to remind Old Feng once more. “Master, you’ve forgotten—I’m a poison master. The Guild Master only allowed me to become your disciple because he saw I had talent.” “Well…” Old Master Feng suddenly realized how little he actually knew about his own disciple. He’d thought this would be his chance to turn the tide and make a name for himself… but his previously jubilant mood plummeted instantly. “Don’t worry, Master. Even if I’m cramming at the last minute, I can still pull off a stunning debut for you.” Hua Lingqin took the jade slip engraved with the Hemostatic Pill formula from Old Master Feng’s hand. She scanned it with her spiritual energy, and the formula was firmly committed to memory. By then, the results of the first round had already been announced, and Qian Fu had indeed advanced to the second round. A period of one incense stick’s duration was set aside between the first and second rounds to allow the contestants to recover the spiritual energy they had expended. This time was neither long nor short—partly because extracting the essence of low-grade spiritual herbs wasn’t particularly taxing on one’s spiritual energy, and partly because the Hemostatic Pills required for the second round posed little challenge. During that incense stick’s worth of time, Hua Lingqin mentally rehearsed the Hemostatic Pill’s refinement method over and over again. Although the method was simple—even simpler than the most basic bug refinement—Hua Lingqin was, after all, a complete novice with virtually no experience to draw upon.