Seeing him walk away with a flick of his sleeves, Feng Jiu began laughing softly and she stepped up with light steps to follow behind. But before she could get close, Feng Jiu was stopped by Chief Ke who came approaching her from the front.
"My little Ghost Doctor brother, the grand meet is about to begin. Come over here quickly so I will tell you a little about your opponent." Chief Ke said, gesturing for her to go over to where several Medical Cultivators from the black market were gathered.
Seeing that, Feng Jiu immediately kept her smile away and followed Chief Ke to go to the spot where the Medical Cultivators were. She then listened to Chief Ke introduce her to the names and proficiency levels of several other Medical Cultivators on the opposing side a distance away as he pointed them out, and he told her about their individual areas of expertise as well.
Roughly about an hour later, when everyone was still making their final preparations, the eight judges from the Medical Cultivators Guild announced that the Miracle Medicine Grand Meet had officially begun.
The first stage was an elimination round and the Medical Cultivators themselves did not need to personally step up to compete. The contest would be based on the level and type of medicine that the Medical Cultivators presented up to them. All the medicine would be judged by the eight judges and given either a passing or failing grade, and the elimination decided from there.
"Success Joy Medical Store, Pain Killer Compound, too common, fail!"
City South Ruan Family, Gas Dispersing Fluid, unevenly concocted, taste too overpowering, fail."
"Compound Medical Guild, Blood Clotting Medicine, effects slow and inferior, fail."
Hearing the eight Medical Cultivators from the Medical Cultivators Guild announcing the participants failing one after another, the people standing below were becoming more and more nervous. Actually, the things they had presented up for the contest were medicine that they had thought would be able to make the grade. But when they were placed in the hands of the orthodox Medical Cultivators, they were thought to be so highly picky that they were failing everything, so strict that their hearts were all lodged within their throats, afraid that the medicine they presented up would fail to make the mark as well.
After the sweeping first round, the almost a hundred Medical Cultivators from various places who had rushed all the way here had only thirty people left who advanced to the next stage. Those that managed to get a passing grade were mainly powers or families of higher repute from different places and among them, was a teacher of Medicine from the Starry Cloud Academy.
"My little Ghost Doctor brother, with the kind of medicine you are capable of producing, the only person that would be able to compete with you will only be that teacher of Medicine from the Starry Cloud Academy, and that elderly old man from the Herb Guild."
Chief Ke gestured and then continued to say: "The teachers teaching Medicine in the Starry Cloud Academy had never taken part in the Miracle Medicine Grand Meet in the past years and it is not known where they had taken part this year. As for that old man from the Herb Guild, he has taken the first position for the past three years. He is a Honorary Medical Cultivator of the Herb Guild and he is a seventh level Medical Cultivator."
"What about the Medical Cultivator from the Starry Cloud Academy? What level is he?" Her eyes flashed, as an idea formed in her head.
It was said that it was extremely hard to gain admittance into the Starry Cloud Academy. But, if she were to go in there as a Medical Cultivator to take on the position of a teacher, wouldn’t that give her even more freedom to peruse the books in the Starry Cloud Academy’s library?
"The Medical Cultivator emblem he wears on the front of his chest shows that he is a third ranked Grand Medical Cultivator, his medical proficiency above even that of the old man." After saying that, Chief Ke could not help but let out a sigh, already feeling that it was no longer possible for them to win this year.
If there was only that seventh level Medical Cultivator here, it would have been slightly better, but alas, the teacher of Medicine from the Starry Cloud Academy had come as well, which had completely stoppered their way forward. It looks like his position as the Chief was about to come to an end.
"My little Ghost Doctor brother just needs to try his best. Faced with a third ranked Grand Medical Cultivator from the Starry Cloud Academy, it wouldn’t be humiliating to lose afterall."
When Feng Jiu heard that the corners of her mouth curled up slightly, to reveal a faint smile as she said: "We’ve not even competed! How do you know we’ll lose?"
"Now, we will proceed with the second round’s assessment. Will the thirty Medical Cultivators who were selected please come onto the stage?"
The words that floated down from the stage caused everyone within the surrounding crowd to go silent. They saw a long table placed upon the stage that was filled with a huge messy pile of herbs and the thirty Medical Cultivators who advanced came walking out from the crowd, to walk towards the stage.
Feng Jiu who was walking up to the stage suddenly felt a force pushing her from behind, and her entire body fell, falling off the stage.....