Translator: Silavin
In the Tower Masters’ view, this New Apprentice was simply ignorant and senseless!
Even the Northern Region Alchemy Tower Master Zuo Xuezhen felt it was inappropriate, let alone others.
“Forty orbs, not bad, not bad. Looks like his Spiritual Energy is at the Early Stage Spirit Realm…” Qiu Yushu spoke to Zuo Xuezhen with a smile, though his tone held no praise, instead sounding as if he was talking about something extremely amusing.
This was understandable – those participating in the Alchemy World Summit generally had Spiritual Energy cultivation at the Partially Accomplished Spirit Realm. For a mere Early Stage Spirit Realm youngster to dare act so arrogantly was simply asking for humiliation.
After about a quarter hour, more than half of the Soul Testing Orbs above everyone had fallen.
When an Apprentice from the Southern Region caught another Soul Testing Orb, his Spiritual Energy hand suddenly sank under the pressure, and several Soul Testing Orbs pierced through his palm.
*Pa!* As these Soul Testing Orbs fell, this Apprentice’s face stiffened. He immediately guarded his mind and withdrew his Spiritual Energy hand, no longer daring to catch the falling Soul Testing Orbs.
He knew this was his limit. If he forced himself any further, he might lose everything he had gained.
Noticing the forty-three Soul Testing Orbs in his Spiritual Energy hand, the Apprentice secretly sighed in relief. For someone in the Early Stage Spirit Realm, this result was considered quite good.
As his gaze casually swept around, when he saw a certain scene, his pupils suddenly constricted and his mind trembled, nearly causing his Spiritual Energy hand to collapse.
“My god, what a freak!” The Apprentice secretly sighed, hurriedly withdrawing his attention to maintain his Spiritual Energy hand, not daring to look toward the position of the three from the Northern Region Alchemy Tower.
Following the first person’s stopping, more of the remaining fourteen gradually stopped as well.
As time slowly passed, Zhao Ritian and Wang Daoyun’s faces gradually reddened, their breathing becoming somewhat rapid, clearly approaching their limit.
*Huff huff…* After persisting for several more minutes, Wang Daoyun finally let out a long breath, looking at the Soul Testing Orbs in his Spiritual Energy hand, it was exactly sixty!
When Wang Daoyun stopped, Zhao Ritian also felt his Spiritual Energy had been pushed to its limit. At this point, just one more Soul Testing Orb would make him like a camel broken by the last straw…
“Fifty-eight orbs, eight more than last time, damn it! Each additional orb is so difficult…”
Zhao Ritian cursed inwardly. Wang Daoyun’s count should be slightly higher than his, so his gaze immediately turned to Qin Yichen.
*Thump thump…* Upon seeing the dense cluster of Soul Testing Orbs in front of Qin Yichen, Zhao Ritian was stunned, and three or four Soul Testing Orbs immediately fell from his Spiritual Energy hand.
“Holy crap!” His Spiritual Energy hand nearly collapsed under the weight of the Soul Testing Orbs. Zhao Ritian cursed loudly, quickly concentrating his Spiritual Energy to maintain the hand.
“Qin Yichen, what the hell? Didn’t I tell you to hold them in your Spiritual Energy hand?” Zhao Ritian’s angry shout soon echoed across the quiet square.
“Hmm?” At this point, almost everyone had reached their limit. Hearing Zhao Ritian’s curse, those still catching Soul Testing Orbs could not help but look over.
“Pfft… Hahaha!” Seeing a New Apprentice making all the Soul Testing Orbs float in front of him, Lin Yi could not help but burst out laughing. However, his laughter stopped abruptly the next instant.
Because in that moment of distraction, several Soul Testing Orbs had pierced through his Spiritual Energy hand and had fallen.
*Thump! Thump! Thump! Thump!*
“…” When everyone saw Qin Yichen’s actions, the sound of falling Soul Testing Orbs became constant. Even a Apprentice from the Central Province had his Spiritual Energy hand completely collapse, all his Soul Testing Orbs scattering on the ground.
This… was probably the first time in Alchemy World Summit history that such a large-scale ‘tilting’ incident had occurred.
Yet the instigator of all this, Qin Yichen, seemed completely oblivious to the others. He was almost mechanically catching each Soul Testing Orb, placing them carefully, then continuing to catch more…
By now, the Soul Testing Orbs in front of him had reached sixty!
Soul Testing Orbs continued falling, and on the field, only Qin Yichen and Qiao Huang had not stopped.
After another moment, Qiao Huang finally stopped after catching one more Soul Testing Orb. In his Spiritual Energy hand were seventy-one orbs! Seeing that even Qiao Huang had stopped while Qin Yichen was still mechanically catching Soul Testing Orbs, the Tower Masters on the high platform finally began to show changing expressions.
“Is he cheating? Is he using Yuan Energy? How could someone with Early Stage Spirit Realm Spiritual Energy possibly do this?” Qiu Yushu’s somewhat trembling voice muttered, earning only white-eyed stares in response.
Under the watch of so many Tower Masters and the Alchemy Peak Master, who could possibly cheat?
Seeming to realise how foolish his words were, Qiu Yushu’s old face reddened. Then he secretly wondered, could there be something wrong with the Northern Region’s Soul Testing Orbs?
However, seeing Wang Daoyun and Zhao Ritian’s reddened faces, he remained uncertain.
“Damn it, I don’t believe you can maintain so many Soul Testing Orbs…”
Finally, Qiu Yushu took a deep breath, staring with wide eyes. He wanted to see the scene of the youngster’s Spiritual Energy collapsing and all the Soul Testing Orbs falling!
“Sixty-five…”
“Sixty-six…”
“…”
Unconsciously, counting voices began to rise softly from the watching crowd.
“Seventy!”
“Seventy-one!”
“Heavens, he has exceeded Qiao Huang!”
“Eighty-one…”
“Eighty-two…”
By now, the Soul Testing Orbs in front of Qin Yichen had surpassed the Alchemy Peak’s individual record, and the watching crowd seemed to have forgotten in their stupefaction.
Finally, when eighty-eight Soul Testing Orbs floated in front of Qin Yichen, there was no Soul Testing Orbs left. All those above him had all fallen, and had been caught.
When the Soul Testing Orbs stopped falling, this should have marked the end of the first event.
However, at this moment, the Alchemy Peak Master still had not spoken.
“Eighty-eight orbs! You amazing fellow. You are truly worthy of being our Northern Region Alchemy Tower’s New Apprentice!” Suddenly, a loud shout burst from Zuo Xuezhen’s mouth, with the words ‘New Apprentice’ emphasised several times louder.
“Ei…eighty-eight orbs…”
Hearing Zuo Xuezhen’s shout, the Alchemy Peak Master’s body trembled. It was as if he was awakening from a trance. Looking at the contestants with reddened faces from maintaining their Spiritual Energy hands, an embarrassed look flashed across the Alchemy Peak Master’s face.