Biting his teeth, Qiao Sheng’s gaze swept across the whole room, especially at the strikingly beautiful Lin Yuxin.
"I’ll bet with you! The loser pays the other ten thousand taels and must bark like a dog!" Qiao Sheng’s heart raced uncontrollably.
A bet of ten thousand taels is not a small sum.
If he were to lose, he would probably only be able to faint in the restroom from crying.
"Words are no proof, let’s put it in writing!" After Chu Feng flashed several thousand taels of silver, the innkeeper and the waiter looked at him differently, with a fawning taste.
Hearing that Chu Feng wanted to put the bet in writing with Qiao Sheng, the innkeeper immediately had the waiter bring over paper, ink, brush, and inkstone.
The service was exceptionally thorough.
A student who can readily take out several thousand taels of silver is very few and far between in the entire Alchemy Academy. These are all potential big patrons of the future.
So long as they are served well, there might come a time when they spend handsomely at the inn.
Under Chu Feng’s insistence and in front of so many classmates, Qiao Sheng was in a tight spot and had no choice but to finalize the bet with Chu Feng. He consoled himself secretly that he would certainly not lose.
Qiao Sheng had absolute confidence in his own alchemy skills.
"Chu Feng, you’re destined to lose! When the time comes, just wait to be completely taken by this young master!" Qiao Sheng didn’t understand, why Chu Feng could be so rich?
"If Young Master Qiao is so confident, why are your hands shaking so badly? And, is it not hot? You’re sweating like rain!" Chu Feng smirked, easily choking Qiao Sheng with just a couple of sentences.
His handsome face turned red, and his expression turned particularly ferocious.
But his blustering yet inwardly timid appearance caused everyone to secretly snicker.
By the afternoon, Teacher Xie Bing indeed took the whole class to the outside of the Alchemy Room.
At this moment, nearly six hundred students from the entire academy had all arrived here.
Each being led by their homeroom teachers.
Chu Feng, with a low-key and casual demeanor, stood at the very end of class five, unremarkable. Many people were focused on Lin Yuxin, Liu Ping, and others from class five who had the best grades.
A sinister gaze fell upon Chu Feng’s face.
He looked up only to see that it was the teacher from class one, Ouyang Xiu, staring at him with an unfriendly look.
"Xie Bing, isn’t your student Chu Feng supposed to be capable? In this Alchemy Competition, I suggest he forfeits to avoid embarrassment. He is going to be eliminated in the first round of the Fire Control test!"
Ouyang Xiu always liked to speak with an air of superiority.
He believed that the students from his class were all Heavenly Prides, while the students from Teacher Xie Bing’s class were nothing but the bottom tier.
All six hundred students from the academy were set to participate in the Alchemy Competition.
To efficiently select the most outstanding ten participants, a special preliminary round was established.
The most important aspect of alchemy is Fire Control.
The first round is the Fire Control test. No matter how strong your other abilities are, if your Fire Control Ability is lacking, you certainly won’t be able to produce any good elixirs.
"Chu Feng, you mustn’t be influenced by anyone! The teacher believes you are the best."
"Even if you do fail, it can serve as a learning experience!"
Teacher Xie Bing didn’t even spare Ouyang Xiu a glance, and as his hideous countenance revealed itself, she grew increasingly disgusted with him. It reached the point where she felt nauseous and too indifferent to bother with him.
But Ouyang Xiu, shameless as ever, kept pestering her.
"Rest assured, teacher, I definitely won’t pay any mind to those barking mad dogs!" Chu Feng’s reply almost had Ouyang Xiu choked with rage to death.
This damned arrogant student, he actually dared to insult himself as a mad dog in front of everyone.
He was so angry that he was clenching his teeth and trembling all over.
It wasn’t long before it was the lower grades’ turn to be tested.
After the Class One students entered, a total of eleven ended up being the ones who remained. This also meant that these eleven had passed the first round of eliminations and successfully advanced.
True to the reputation of the top class among the lower grades, their overall strength was extremely formidable.
The following classes, however, were not as impressive.
In particular, Class Five, including Chu Feng, only had three individuals qualify for the finals.
They were Lin Yuxin, Liu Ping, and Chu Feng.
Chu Feng’s successful qualification blinded everyone with surprise and made him Class Five’s biggest dark horse.
Teacher Xie Bing did not seem surprised at all.
As for Ouyang Xiu, who had been hoping for Chu Feng to be eliminated, his expression was not looking great.
The doors of the Alchemy Room were all opened to allow those outside to watch the competition.
The total number of students who had qualified was around eighty.
Each one was a competent alchemy elite. At the very least, their Fire Control skills had already reached an impressive level.
The Dean, dressed in full regalia, with a stately expression, swept his gaze across the crowd and boomed, "Children, there is no first place in literature, and no second in martial arts. The path of Alchemy Dao is the same."
"I will not mince words; I hope each one of you can perform at your highest level to compete for the top ten spots. Allow me to introduce the benefits of reaching the top ten. Not only can you bring honor to your class, but you will also catch the attention of powers such as the Alchemy Master Guild, various Alchemy Families, and the Treasure Pill Pavilion."
"Furthermore, the top three winners will have a considerable advantage when they later attend the assessments of Great Sects like the Ten Thousand Sword Sect. They will be given priority admission."
The Dean’s words sparked a burst of lively discussions, and everyone was visibly excited, gripping their fists tightly.
This was especially true for the upper-grade students.
Facing imminent graduation, securing a spot in the top ten could almost guarantee a good job opportunity.
"For the sake of fairness, the competition will be split into two batches and carried out in a random order! Each participant will be given the same main medicine—a hundred-year-old sample of Red River Black! As for auxiliary medicines, you may freely choose any five or fewer."
Having the same main medicine ensures the highest degree of fairness.
The choice of auxiliary medicines allows the students to demonstrate their individual talents.
It seems that the Alchemy Competition does not only test the students’ alchemy skills but also their overall abilities, such as understanding of medicinal properties and familiarity with various elixir recipes.
And the flexible combination of limited ingredients to concoct the most valuable elixirs.
Red River Black is a potent medicinal herb that does not demand much from its growing environment, requiring only ample sunlight. It is suitable for mass cultivation, is easy to manage, and can be ripened swiftly using certain secret techniques.
With proper cultivation methods, it can be rapidly matured to a hundred-year standard within approximately twenty years.
The academy chose it as the main medicine considering cost factors.
"I happen to know an elixir recipe that, with the addition of three auxiliary medicines, can be used to refine an extremely valuable Fierce Sun Elixir! It is of significant help in improving the cultivation of those with the Fire Element Sword Vein," Chu Feng thought.
Pitting Chu Feng against these students was like letting a doctoral student bully kindergarteners.
He wasn’t planning to stand out too much, just enough to barely surpass the other students.
"I choose three auxiliary medicines—Yellow flower pollen, Yao Stone, and ginseng," Chu Feng reported his needed three auxiliary medicines to the teacher.
Ouyang Xiu was quietly observing him, and upon hearing Chu Feng’s choices, a cold smile appeared on his face.